Pacific Views

No Medical Privacy For Texas Women

The Texas legislature is considering a law that would jail women and their doctors for not making their medical history and care details part of the official record whenever they have an abortion or follow-up care for one. The scope of this invasion of privacy, and the potential exposure of women and their doctors to retaliation by anti-abortion terrorists, is truly frightening.

Yet it shouldn't be surprising. This is the logical consequence of deciding that the state has a compelling interest in whether or not women can choose to become parents on their own terms. This is what happens when the highest court in the land rules that women are incompetent to make these decisions for themselves. This is what happens when people who view pregnancy as a punishment for sin get taken seriously in policy discussions, instead of being regarded as flat-out, full-stop, barking mad in their lunacy.

Because that's what this is: Lunacy. Police-state madness. A proposition that's inherently fascist, though its advocates will lie through their teeth about their concern for the woman and the sweet little babies. It's about a group of people committed to enacting deranged levels of control over the lives of women, while remaining comfortably allied with other groups of people who believe it's an unconstitutional infringement on personal liberty for the government to know whether or not you've bought a gun.

Because the state has no compelling interest in knowing whether or not I've got a machine designed exclusively for maiming and killing at a distance. Nosiree, Bob. That's private. But having a body part that could produce an entirely new life that I'd be legally responsible for? See, now that right there's a major public concern, being a weapon of mass creation and all.

Posted by natasha at May 16, 2007 10:00 PM | Women | TrackBack(1) | Technorati links |