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It's a Trap!
Author: TriSec
Date: 08/17/2013 11:54:08
Good Morning.
We're going to do a little traveling this morning. Our first stop is Cloud-Cuckoo land, or maybe North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, or many more states that are interested in superseding constitutional rights.
Imagine for a minute that we're traveling by plane. Over the past two decades or so, aviation has become increasingly safe and reliable, and even something like on-time percentage has improved. But suppose that a powerful lobby group decided that flying was "against the laws of God!!" and went on an all-out effort to kill the industry. Oh, they could legislate it out of existence in one fell swoop, but suppose the Supreme Court had ruled in "Roe v. Ground" that aircraft and aviators are constitutionally protected?
Well, it's easy. Aviation is no more dangerous or unsafe today than it was yesterday, but our Congresscritters could mandate personal airbags at every seat, an emergency parachute device for every aircraft, "Free Flight Zones" that keep airplanes away from population centers, mandated seat pitch and doorway widths, forcible viewing of pre-flight videos that are nothing but lies, 24 hour waiting periods before you can board, and who knows what other kinds of regulation. A brave few airlines would swallow the vast expense to keep operating, but the reality is most of them would go out of business and there would be no more free access to air travel in some parts of the country.
Think it's a fantasy? I shouldn't have to tell you to change "Aviation" to "Abortion" and it's a pretty clear picture of what's happening in some Republican-dominated state legislatures. It's so prevalent that there is a term for it, they're called TRAP laws. Not because the law "traps" abortion providers by making rules they can't possibly comply with. It's an actual acronym - "Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers".
It's only the latest tactic in a long string of assaults on what should be a basic right. It's in the preamble...we provide the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Unless of course, you have an ulterior motive to restrict those things.
The trouble is, I can't figure out what that motive is. Don't Republicans, Religions, and plain old Rubes love, live with, and maybe even have babies with women? Maybe even she-babies of their own? It's been a mystery to me for most of my adult life….what is it that makes these politicians so hell-bent on restricting, usurping, and perhaps even endangering 50% of the population for some nebulous "belief"? I've said that for years...I'm glad you're a Christian. More power to you, in fact. Now please tell me why YOUR beliefs need to be the law of the land?
It is right there.."Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…" The Founders felt this was so important that it's the very first sentence in the bill of rights. Allowing women free choice, with their doctors, to determine the best course of care on their persons prohibits the free exercise [of religion] thereof how, exactly?
It must be a power trip of some sort. It's very difficult for me to grasp what the GOP and their religious allies are trying to preserve, protect, and defend. It was their mantra in the 2012 campaign, to "Take America Back!!". To what, exactly? Some idyllic dystopian fantasy that never existed? For much of society's history, women did only one thing - have babies. Only in the 20th Century did women finally begin to get a modicum of equality and began to vote, work outside the home, run for public office, and do a whole host of other things that were the traditional bastion of men.
I can only speculate that the increasingly aging, power-hungry, and indeed disconnected base of the GOP only sees women as a threat to their establishment, and they are doing everything in their power to keep half of American society 'barefoot and pregnant' as it were. It's very troubling indeed.
We're going to do a little traveling this morning. Our first stop is Cloud-Cuckoo land, or maybe North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, or many more states that are interested in superseding constitutional rights.
Imagine for a minute that we're traveling by plane. Over the past two decades or so, aviation has become increasingly safe and reliable, and even something like on-time percentage has improved. But suppose that a powerful lobby group decided that flying was "against the laws of God!!" and went on an all-out effort to kill the industry. Oh, they could legislate it out of existence in one fell swoop, but suppose the Supreme Court had ruled in "Roe v. Ground" that aircraft and aviators are constitutionally protected?
Well, it's easy. Aviation is no more dangerous or unsafe today than it was yesterday, but our Congresscritters could mandate personal airbags at every seat, an emergency parachute device for every aircraft, "Free Flight Zones" that keep airplanes away from population centers, mandated seat pitch and doorway widths, forcible viewing of pre-flight videos that are nothing but lies, 24 hour waiting periods before you can board, and who knows what other kinds of regulation. A brave few airlines would swallow the vast expense to keep operating, but the reality is most of them would go out of business and there would be no more free access to air travel in some parts of the country.
Think it's a fantasy? I shouldn't have to tell you to change "Aviation" to "Abortion" and it's a pretty clear picture of what's happening in some Republican-dominated state legislatures. It's so prevalent that there is a term for it, they're called TRAP laws. Not because the law "traps" abortion providers by making rules they can't possibly comply with. It's an actual acronym - "Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers".
TRAP laws generally fall into one of three categories: health facility licensing schemes, ambulatory surgical center requirements, and hospitalization requirements. A number of states impose more than one of these types of TRAP laws on abortion providers.
*Health facility licensing schemes vary widely in their breadth and scope, but generally require that abortion facilities (but no other comparable offices or clinics) become licensed by the state and meet a range of regulations governing such matters as physical construction, staffing, and procedures.
*Ambulatory surgical center ("ASC") requirements mandate that abortion providers – including, in at least one state, those that provide only first-trimester medical or surgical abortions – be licensed as ASCs, which are sophisticated facilities designed for the performance of a range of out-patient surgeries. These requirements go far beyond the recommendations of the national health organizations in the field of abortion care, and converting a physician’s office or outpatient clinic into an ASC can be too expensive for many providers.
*Hospitalization requirements mandate that abortions beyond a certain gestational age (generally at some point in the second trimester) be performed in a hospital. Although many states have some type of hospitalization requirement on the books, the vast majority of those laws are unenforceable because they have been declared unconstitutional by a court ruling or state official, or have been superseded by another law.
It's only the latest tactic in a long string of assaults on what should be a basic right. It's in the preamble...we provide the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Unless of course, you have an ulterior motive to restrict those things.
The trouble is, I can't figure out what that motive is. Don't Republicans, Religions, and plain old Rubes love, live with, and maybe even have babies with women? Maybe even she-babies of their own? It's been a mystery to me for most of my adult life….what is it that makes these politicians so hell-bent on restricting, usurping, and perhaps even endangering 50% of the population for some nebulous "belief"? I've said that for years...I'm glad you're a Christian. More power to you, in fact. Now please tell me why YOUR beliefs need to be the law of the land?
It is right there.."Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…" The Founders felt this was so important that it's the very first sentence in the bill of rights. Allowing women free choice, with their doctors, to determine the best course of care on their persons prohibits the free exercise [of religion] thereof how, exactly?
It must be a power trip of some sort. It's very difficult for me to grasp what the GOP and their religious allies are trying to preserve, protect, and defend. It was their mantra in the 2012 campaign, to "Take America Back!!". To what, exactly? Some idyllic dystopian fantasy that never existed? For much of society's history, women did only one thing - have babies. Only in the 20th Century did women finally begin to get a modicum of equality and began to vote, work outside the home, run for public office, and do a whole host of other things that were the traditional bastion of men.
I can only speculate that the increasingly aging, power-hungry, and indeed disconnected base of the GOP only sees women as a threat to their establishment, and they are doing everything in their power to keep half of American society 'barefoot and pregnant' as it were. It's very troubling indeed.
