If God Had Meant For Pregnant Women To Travel, He Would've Given Them Constitutional Rights
It's been all downhill since we let them vote and get credit cards
What happens when you get the American Taliban, Right-wing politicians, and a shit-ton of unfuckable incels all up in women’s business? You get Congressional Republicans determined not to help women travel to other states to do the ‘bort when they can’t one in their home state.
Never mind that the Constitution guarantees the freedom to travel from state to state. Women, second-class citizens that they currently are, shouldn’t worry their pretty little heads about things like constitutional rights. They only need to do what their men tell them, and everything will be all right, no?
Well…no. HELL, no.
Senate Republicans yesterday blocked a bill that would have protected the right of Americans to travel from states where abortion is banned to states where it remains legal. The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act, sponsored by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada), would have prohibited individuals or government officials from preventing or punishing travel across state lines "to receive or provide reproductive health care that is legal in that State," and would also made it illegal for states to pass laws prohibiting travel outside their state to get an abortion. The proposal seems particularly apt this week as we've seen how necessary interstate access to legal abortion is for residents of abortion-restricting states.
Ever since women have been allowed to vote and have credit cards, it seems as if they haven’t been satisfied with what men have allowed them. They want abortion on demand, they want to be able to travel out of state to get it, and they don’t want to seek permission for an abortion. What next? Before you know it, they’re going to want complete bodily autonomy.
Oh, wait. That’s what most have had since Roe v. Wade in 1973. No wonder they’re furious.
Among those objecting to the bill was Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana), who explained that guaranteeing the right to interstate travel, none of your business why, was "very, very extreme," and would even allow guerilla abortion attacks on peaceful residents of red states. Behold his logic and despair!
“This bill would give fly-in abortionists free rein to commit abortions on demand up to the moment of birth,” Daines said. “This bill also protects the greed, frankly, of woke corporations who see it’s cheaper to pay for an abortion, an abortion tourism, than maternity leave for their employees.”
OK, Sparky, how about we dial things back just a wee bit? First of all, no one is advocating or even talking about abortion on demand up to the moment of birth. That’s a pretty revolutionary medical procedure used only in severe cases. It’s not an everyday thing doctors hand out willy-nilly like baseball cards, ‘kay??
Second, “Woke corporations” believe “it’s cheaper to pay for…abortion tourism than maternity leave for their employees?” Seriously? Corporations and businesses who’ve announced they will help pay for employee abortions are doing so because they’re concerned about what the Supreme Court is doing. It’s a gesture of compassion, not one of “FUCK THE MAN!!”
Third, “abortion tourism?” WTF? Hey, I went to Paris and had an abortion! Want to see my pictures of the Eiffel Tower? Abortion is in most cases a traumatic event in a woman’s life, NOT an opportunity to sneak a little sightseeing. So what in the Hell are you even thinking?
We really would like to know more about these "fly-in abortions," which we presume would involve picking up patients and then whisking them elsewhere for the procedure, which would remain illegal on the ground. I suppose providers could try distributing abortion medications to passengers once they're airborne but you just know Texas would send the Air National Guard to shoot down the planes.
I can see it now; Gov. Greg Abbott and Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton ordering the Texas Air Guard to patrol west Texas and conduct sorties against suspicious unmarked planes flying at low altitudes.
We figured they were drug smugglers or abortionists flying pregnant Texas women into New Mexico. Either way, we were going to shoot them down and let God sort ‘em out.
If you might have been thinking that accusing the GOP of trying to turn America into Gilead might have been hyperbolic…well, here’s your sign. It seems that such an accusation might have been well-founded after all.
At least Sen. Murray thinks so:
It's disgraceful that anyone would object to making sure people can travel to other states for reproductive healthcare," she added in a statement. "It's morally repugnant. By objecting to this bill, Republicans are rejecting any appearance of fighting for people's rights, and embracing all-out oppression of women like never before."
Moral repugnance and abject cruelty have long been GOP and American Taliban specialties, particularly when it comes to women’s rights. They believe that women shouldn’t have significant individual rights independent of the men in their lives. That includes bodily autonomy, which should only be granted by State diktat.
Ah, we have much to learn from Iran and Saudi Arabia, no??
Of course, regardless of what Republicans in the Senate decide to do, they can’t bar pregnant women from interstate travel. Nor can individual states. That right is guaranteed by the Constitution and can’t be abolished simply because an anti-abortion state wants to extend its authority into a state where abortion is legal. So a pregnant woman may hold a Texas driver’s license, but nothing prevents her from traveling to, say, Oregon or Washington to obtain an abortion.
States cannot hold pregnant women hostage despite what laws legislatures in red states may pass.
That said, I think the idea of an Abortion Dirigible might have some promise. At least until Abortion Time Travel becomes a reality. It’s a helluva lot safer than flying from Texas to New Mexico.
