During spring break (just check out seniors gone wild for some cool pics), crazy stuff went down under the Gold Dome in Atlanta.
For those of you who do not live in our fair state, that is the capitol building – a beautiful, historical structure, where what are supposed to be the brightest minds in the state spend our tax dollars; and now, without our asking, the current House and Senate have also assumed (and we know what happens when we ass-u-me), they should decide how to protect the female citizenry from their doctors.
On February 29, the Georgia House passed HB 954. You can read the AJC account I just linked or check out the The Cobb County Republican Examiner. You can do a search for yourself and read about Rep. Doug McKillip, R-Athens, the bill’s primary sponsor, and his political past (jumped ship from Democratic Party to Republican in 2009 AFTER accepting donations from Planned Parenthood – said he was born again.)
The politics of this reprehensible legislative move are not what matter. This is not about saving babies as the proponents claim. Although deplorable, the fact that this bill is once again an invasion into a woman’s privacy means nothing to the anti-abortionists. What is really at the core of this bill is an effort to establish a platform for opportunistic politicians to interject themselves into a patient/physician relationship. And as a result of the 102 lawmakers who voted for it, an out-and-out attack has been waged on the doctors who care for pregnant women. If you read the bill, you will see that any physician who performs an abortion on a woman after 20 weeks, EVEN IF THE BABY IS DEAD, can be prosecuted and sentenced to as much as 10 years in prison. It’s true. As Dr. Ruth Cline, an obstetrician from Athens, said in the AJC, “It is time for the government to get out of my examination room and my office. If you legislators want to practice medicine, go to medical school!”
The bill passed and has gone to the Georgia Senate. I urge you to get in touch with your state senator and tell him or her (yes, I know it is hard to believe but a few Republican women did vote in favor of this legislation) to VOTE NO. I read where my senator, “Republican Sen. Josh McKoon, insisted ‘that the war that’s being waged is on a religious minority in this country that has strong beliefs’ and predicted that both measures would pass the House, where the GOP has control.” I sent him a text this morning. No reply yet, but I’m not done. I intend to advise him not to go against his beliefs and get an abortion should he find himself knocked up.
As for my state rep Kip Smith, who is a Republican, I am very proud of him. He, along with the entire Columbus delegation [Richard Smith (R) and Debbie Buckner (D)], voted against HB 954. As far as I am concerned, however, the 102 Yea’s should pack their bags and get a day job. Check out the 102 list and find your state lawmaker. See when he or she is up for reelection and make it your goal to make sure it doesn’t happen. We simply must take back our state capitol from the buzzards who are roosting in its rafters. We simply must take our sovereign state away from those who are hell-bent on dragging all of us into their Draconian pool of self-ordained superiority. Enough is enough.
And as for what would Lysistrata do…she’ll talk to us tomorrow.
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