Death + Taxes, February 22, 2012
It’s pretty easy to get bogged down by how offensive and ludicrous all these anti-abortion measures are, so it’s a nice change when when politicians have a sense of humor about things. The Georgia legislature is debating whether to allow abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and state Democrats have replied with a healthy dose of snark. Rep. Yasmin Neal, who represents Jonesboro, introduced a bill banning vasectomies. The legislation purposefully borrows the melodramatically emotional language often found in abortion bills. “It is patently unfair that men avoid the rewards of unwanted fatherhood by presuming that their judgment over such matters is more valid than the judgment of the General Assembly. … It is the purpose of the General Assembly to assert an invasive state interest in the reproductive habits of men in this state and substitute the will of the government over the will of adult men.” It’s true that vasectomies aren’t exactly the male version of abortion. There is no male equivalent of abortion, which is kind of the point, so they had to go for the next best thing. Obviously, no one really expects this legislation to pass, and it was only introduced to make a point that the government should be worrying about more important things than what women are doing with their bodies. Besides, as Rep. Neal says, “It’s still not my place as a woman to tell a man what to do with his body.” Now if only lawmakers would figure out the inverse of that. Watch the video [here] to see Rep. Neal introduce the bill. Comments are closed.
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