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I cannot believe this is happening in Georgia.
...and I'm pretty proud and gleeful about it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/georgia-vasectomy-ban_n_1293369.html
Georgia Democrats Seek Vasectomy Ban In Response To Abortion Bill
A group of female Democratic legislators in the Georgia House of Representatives has proposed a bill that would ban men from seeking vasectomies.
"Thousands of children are deprived of birth in this state every year because of the lack of state regulation over vasectomies," said bill author Yasmin Neal in a statement. "It is patently unfair that men can avoid unwanted fatherhood by presuming that their judgment over such matters is more valid than the judgment of the General Assembly, while women's ability to decide is constantly up for debate throughout the United States."
The proposed legislation is a response to HB 954, a bill sponsored by Republican Doug McKillips that seeks to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Current legislation prohibits abortions after the second trimester, or approximately 24 weeks. The measure, which has been moving quickly through the House, is intended to prevent late-term abortions on fetuses that proponents say can already feel pain at 20 weeks.
The Georgia House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take up HB 954 on Wednesday. In response, Democrats scheduled a 3 p.m. hearing to introduce the vasectomy ban.
"The Republican attack on women's reproductive rights is unconscionable," said House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams in a statement. "What is more deplorable is the hypocrisy of HB 954's author. If we follow his logic, we believe it is the obligation of the General Assembly to assert an equally invasive state interest in the reproductive habits of men and substitute the will of the government over the will of men."
McKillips, the author of HB 954, was unamused by the apparently tongue-in-cheek nature of the Democrats' proposal.
"I think it's disappointing that they would make light of something as important as protecting life," he said. "It's just not a joking matter, and it's a time for serious issues and serious discussion."
Re: I cannot believe this is happening in Georgia.
YAY Georgia! I love this.
They should also start regulating the language used at men's procedures.
BFP #4 It's a BOY!
CP: July 2011
BFP #3: 11/3/2011 M/C 12/12/11
We miss you and love you always, little firecrackers!
There's been a few proposed bills like this - masturbation is MURDER! It irks me that they end up withdrawing them (heh, pun not intended) because the authors aren't serious about them.
I think it'll take regulating a man's reproductive rights before this country gets its head out of its ass.
Resident pro-lifer chipping in, but I only have 3 minutes before the interweb is blocked.
The initial grounds for allowing abortion is the strict scrutiny test. Gov't can regulate a fundamental right (decisions for your body), ONLY if it has a compelling gov't interest. The preservation of human life IS a compelling gov't interest, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is why viability week (24) is the boundary for abortion. However, with medical advancements, the age is getting younger. The youngest surviving preemie is 21 weeks, 5 days. So, theoretically, a baby is viable earlier than 24 weeks. 24 weeks is just the point the baby has greater than 50% chance of survival.
Every sperm is sacred.
The Princess of Anything is Coming!
Had a dream I was queen.
Woke up. Still queen.
Then people need to work on making it illegal, not chipping away at things like contraception and putting forward this "have a dildo ultrasound' BS.
**Coming out of lurking**
Abortion cases are no longer decided using a strict scrutiny standard. After Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992, the Supreme Court imposed an lesser "undue burden" standard, which is having "the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus." In doing so, they overturned previous abortion regulations in 2 cases that had been decided using the strict scrutiny standard.
Viability is tricky, considering medical advancements, but it is a better formula than the strict trimester formula that was used in Roe v. Wade.
I respect your Pro-Life status, although I am Pro-Choice, but the right to privacy and the right to decide when to have a child are also fundamental rights that the government should not intrude on. My vagina and its contents are no one's business but mine and my doctor. And occasionally my husband
**Back to lurking**
Pipe down, you had your chance!
I like that they're making a stand for equality as far as reproductive rights/ responsibility goes, but I don't think that an abortion as compared to a vasectomy is equitable.
Ideally, a vasectomy would completely prevent sperm meeting egg, and the follow process that would ideally create a viable human being. An abortion interrupts the process that's already started.
And it would seem that if more vasectomies were performed there would be less need for abortions, which I would imagine are far more invasive and probably dangerous for the woman than a vasectomy is for a man.
I'm all about the concept of this because it's going to get all of the men who are perfectly happy to tell women what their rights are to take a pause. BUT, I think it's ultimately probably going to distract from the real issue at hand with the debate that's happening even in this thread about the fundamental differences between the two procedures and where they occur in the pregnancy process.
I still don't at all understand why this is such a volatile issue. Abortion and gay marriages... if you don't like them... just don't have one. Why do people think either of these have an affect on their personal lives? Just leave each other alone!
Well, it's an issue because people who are pro-life believe that the value of human life, and the very right to live, is the most important right there is. They believe that abortion is murder because you are extinguishing a human life. And that's my opinion as well. It's not that I think an individual shouldn't have a right to make decisions concerning reproduction or his/her own body; it's just that I believe another human being's very right to exist trumps anything else.
And I understand your inclination to compare this to gay marriage (and I agree with you that gay marriage shouldn't be anyone else's business), but it is a flawed comparison. The duo in the relationship are happy in the relationship and their relationship isn't harming anyone else. But, by it's very definition, a human is being destroyed during an abortion, so you can't exactly so "no one" is being harmed during that procedure.
I understand the views on when an embryo/fetus becomes a human life vary greatly. Some think conception, some think heartbeat, some think brainwaves, some think viability, so obviously an idividual's views on that come into play signficantly. But even if you use viability, infants can survive earlier than 24 weeks, so the current standard doesn't make a lot of sense, in my opinion.
You're correct about the undue burden standard being the one governing review of current abortion statutes as they come up. I forgot that was the current standard. Forgot might be a misleading term. I probably zoned out that day in Con Law. I knew subsequent rulings had abandoned the first trimester boundary established in Wade.