In China, they force abortions. In North Dakota, they force birth. The common denominator between the two: big governments overstepping their bounds.
North Dakota doesn’t have much to boast about. From rolling plains to more rolling plains, it’s kind of close to Mt. Rushmore and not much else.
However, North Dakota is in the process of becoming the most abortion-restrictive state in the nation.
Last week, the North Dakota legislature sent two bills to the governor, both of which are expected to be signed into law.
The first bill, and undoubtedly the most controversial, bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
Last Friday, less than a week ago, I wrote about how Arkansas now has the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, after the state banned abortions past 12 weeks of pregnancy.
In less than a week’s time, a slightly redder and less populated state said, “You think you hate women more than us? Nobody hates women like North Dakota.”
So what is the justification behind North Dakota’s proposed bills?
The state claims that, according to “experts,” the fetal heartbeat is first detectable at six weeks, thus abortion should be illegal and equitable to murder past six weeks.
That’s so funny, North Dakota, because about a week ago, Arkansas passed its anti-abortion law under the justification that a fetal heartbeat is first detectable at 12 weeks, not six.
So which is it? The same event can’t possibly have two deadlines. Does the fetal heart start beating at six weeks or 12 weeks? Can anybody tell me?
No, nobody can tell me. Why? Because so-called “experts” are brought in by the states to reassure and coerce scientifically illiterate legislatures into believing whatever the Republican party wants them to believe.
The fetal heart either starts beating at six weeks or 12 weeks. It can’t possibly be both.
If there is one thing I know about science, it’s that it’s not arbitrary. Real, hard data about fetal heartbeats surely exists, but we’ve allowed political parties in red states to skew the data and convince the population they are indeed correct and should be trusted.
I have scoured the Internet in search of a definitive answer, yet it eludes me. No one can come to a consensus about when the fetal heart actually starts beating.
Maybe that’s the problem — different doctors in different regions of the country have many different political leanings.
And what is the result? Fifty different states with 50 different opinions on when the fetal heartbeat begins and thus at least 50 different laws regarding abortion.
North Dakota has no more right than any other state or government to restrict an individual’s access to abortion. This fight has been going on for 40 years, and it’s time a certain party accepted defeat.
Every North Dakotan (Is that right? Who cares.) is screaming at the federal government to stay out of their homes when it comes to the Second Amendment.
“God damn guvment can’t tell me what to do,” said every Republican ever.
Which is funny, because they love telling everybody else what to do: who they can marry, what they can and cannot put into their bodies and what they can and cannot do with their own bodies.
If we don’t have control over our own bodies, then who does?
“Obama,” said every Republican ever. The scapegoat for everything that’s wrong in the world.
My advice to conservatives: Listen to yourselves.
Throw off the shackles of big government – just don’t put them on anybody else.
