More fantastically depressing news on the government regulated abortion front: North Carolina Republican State Rep. Jacqueline Schaffer addressed the North Carolina State House on Monday to pass a 72 hour waiting period for abortions.
“The poorest decisions that we make are the ones that we make under pressure and on impulse and so we want to ensure that women have ample amount of time to receive that information so that they can make the best decision.” Schaffer said, “These young girls, when they go in there, some of them very abrupt, very quickly they make that decision that they’re going to get rid of this baby.”
Frankly, we find the assumption that women are making this huge decision out of impulsivity to be condescending and offensive. There is also a clear implication that the “best decision” would be to choose against the abortion. This is the unfortunate product of believing that all abortions are mistakes made in the mal-adjusted minds of the misguided and the ill informed. We are tired of the expectation our society and our government has in our inability to think for ourselves and our bodies.
Senate Minority Leader Arthenia Joyner, Tampa Democrat, said it best when it came to Florida passing a 24 hour waiting period: “Let me tell you, no woman wakes up and says, ‘Oh, I’ll have an abortion today.’ They’ve thought about it. Only a woman carries a child and only a woman should have the right to decide if that’s what she wants to do.”
The House passed the bill 74 to 45, largely along party lines, and it is on its merry way to the state Senate. North Carolina would then join Missouri, South Dakota, and Utah with the longest waiting periods for abortion (24 other states have waiting periods of 24 hours, despite democratic reps push-back.)
All in all, although claiming to be for the benefit of women, this bill is really just enforcing an arbitrary amount of time that allows the government to further control women’s bodies and rights. Those three days say, “You are making a huge mistake that you need to think about before you regret it for the rest of your life.” Which is not only wrong, but completely out of line.
Image via Charlotte Observer
