Abortion and Child Rape

May 13, 2019

A new legal ban on abortion—just passed in Georgia—goes even further than previous attacks on women’s rights to decisions over our bodies. The new law not only bans abortion at 5 or 6 weeks but also grants full legal “personhood rights” to fertilized eggs at 5 or 6 weeks.

The decades-long reactionary strategy of incremental attacks and restrictions on abortion has now reached its final goal: full legal “personhood” rights for embryos.

If this new law in Georgia stands, what does it mean on a practical level? Backers of this law argue that embryos will now count as legal dependents on tax returns! They say embryos will count as “persons” in the next U.S. census! Will the next step be to put the date of conception on birth certificates?

With “personhood” starting so early, any miscarriage could now lead to a murder investigation for girls and women in Georgia. This law also criminalizes doctors and healthcare workers who assist with abortion. This law makes it illegal for a woman to go to another state for an abortion and illegal for someone to help a woman to do so.

Seven states have passed laws banning abortion—at 5 or 6 weeks. Abortion bans passed in Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio...

A case in Ohio of an 11-year-old girl who was raped by an adult man and became pregnant brings home the horror of these laws. The current ban on abortion in Ohio could force this child to give birth to her rapist’s baby!

These monstrous attempts by politicians to control women and their bodies cannot be accepted as final and binding. Righteous anger and the mobilization of women were at the beginning of many a revolution. It needs to happen again!