by Daniel Nardini
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed legislation that would ban all “non-emergency” abortions at and after 20 weeks. The new law will only allow abortions to be performed at or after 20 weeks to save the life of the mother, but will NOT make any exceptions for rape or incest. This makes Wisconsin the fifteenth state that will ban abortion after a certain period of time. To me, banning abortion, which is a legal right under federal law regardless of the time period allowed, is a crime. Walker has signed this law clearly as a publicity stunt to get him in cozy with the right wing of the Republican Party and for his bid to become president of the United States. Heaven help us all.
To put it mildly, this new law is troubling and anti-woman. Whatever one may think of abortion, there is a major, major problem with this law banning abortion altogether (except in emergency circumstances) after a certain period of time. It should not matter how many weeks that a woman should be able to obtain an abortion—it is a right under federal law since the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roe vs. Wade in 1973. So Wisconsin’s new law is a slap in the face of federal law. There is another problem of denying women and girls who have been innocent victims of rape or incest. This law smells to high heaven, and is ethically wrong on just about every count.
One other major problem is that Wisconsin has only eight providers that perform abortions. In Illinois, the number is 37. Most of these abortion providers in Wisconsin are in the eastern part of the state. This means that a woman who decides to get an abortion may have problems getting one because of geographic location as well as waiting time. The new law only makes the situation worse. The U.S. Supreme Court basically ruled for the most part that any abortion should be a private issue between a woman and her doctor (the exception are for minors and limitations of public funding). Here, Scott Walker has made the issue a state matter. Worse, he has introduced an extremist religious aspect to what is and is not acceptable on the issue of abortion.
This is in total contradiction to not only allowing abortion as stated by federal law, but wiping out the separation of church from state line at the same time. This is exactly what the Taliban in Afghanistan want—no line between their extremist religious beliefs and the running of the state. In the former Taliban-run Afghanistan, women could not go outside the home alone, could not receive an education, could be easily divorced for whatever reason, and could not vote. In other words, they were made to be little more than total property of men. It seems that Walker is heading in the same direction. America fought a war against the Taliban because of not only their support for attacking America on September 11, 2001, but also because of their insane extremism. Perhaps, that fight should be carried on here in America against Taliban-like demagogues.
Taliban Scott Walker
by Daniel Nardini
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed legislation that would ban all “non-emergency” abortions at and after 20 weeks. The new law will only allow abortions to be performed at or after 20 weeks to save the life of the mother, but will NOT make any exceptions for rape or incest. This makes Wisconsin the fifteenth state that will ban abortion after a certain period of time. To me, banning abortion, which is a legal right under federal law regardless of the time period allowed, is a crime. Walker has signed this law clearly as a publicity stunt to get him in cozy with the right wing of the Republican Party and for his bid to become president of the United States. Heaven help us all.
To put it mildly, this new law is troubling and anti-woman. Whatever one may think of abortion, there is a major, major problem with this law banning abortion altogether (except in emergency circumstances) after a certain period of time. It should not matter how many weeks that a woman should be able to obtain an abortion—it is a right under federal law since the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roe vs. Wade in 1973. So Wisconsin’s new law is a slap in the face of federal law. There is another problem of denying women and girls who have been innocent victims of rape or incest. This law smells to high heaven, and is ethically wrong on just about every count.
One other major problem is that Wisconsin has only eight providers that perform abortions. In Illinois, the number is 37. Most of these abortion providers in Wisconsin are in the eastern part of the state. This means that a woman who decides to get an abortion may have problems getting one because of geographic location as well as waiting time. The new law only makes the situation worse. The U.S. Supreme Court basically ruled for the most part that any abortion should be a private issue between a woman and her doctor (the exception are for minors and limitations of public funding). Here, Scott Walker has made the issue a state matter. Worse, he has introduced an extremist religious aspect to what is and is not acceptable on the issue of abortion.
This is in total contradiction to not only allowing abortion as stated by federal law, but wiping out the separation of church from state line at the same time. This is exactly what the Taliban in Afghanistan want—no line between their extremist religious beliefs and the running of the state. In the former Taliban-run Afghanistan, women could not go outside the home alone, could not receive an education, could be easily divorced for whatever reason, and could not vote. In other words, they were made to be little more than total property of men. It seems that Walker is heading in the same direction. America fought a war against the Taliban because of not only their support for attacking America on September 11, 2001, but also because of their insane extremism. Perhaps, that fight should be carried on here in America against Taliban-like demagogues.