- checking login information
Loading...Louisiana Governor Thinks Women Are Like “Criminals”
In Louisiana, abortion clinics will now be required to display certain signage, informing women about alternatives to abortion. This is due to new legislation, signed earlier this week by Gov. Bobby Jindal, which is clearly designed to deter women from exercising their right to an abortion. Jindal admitted as much when he signed the bill into law in front of a Baptist church in northeastern Louisiana.
“Women deserve to know their legal rights and the protections already afforded to them under the law,” he said. “We are confident that the more they know, the more they’ll choose life and alternatives to abortion.”
For Jindal, it seems unthinkable that women who already do know their “legal rights and protections” might still choose abortion. Far from providing a fair spread of options, ranging from abortion to adoption, from which women could choose, the signage pushes women toward adoption.
According to the Monroe Star-Ledger, the law requires that ”signs be posted around abortion facilities and include pertinent information about a woman’s rights, including the fact that it is illegal to coerce a woman into getting an abortion, that the child’s father must provide child support, that certain agencies can assist them during and after the pregnancy and that adoptive parents can pay some of the medical costs.”
Physicians are also required to give women the link to a website, featuring information about informed consent and abortion alternatives.
It would seem preposterous if, in the name of providing women with “options,” a state required adoption agencies to post information about abortion around their facilities. But, considering that Louisiana legislators apparently consider women seeking abortions to be comparable to “criminals,” it makes sense that this new law would treat them this way. Jindal, as he was signing the law, explained that he simply didn’t understand why anyone would oppose such a law.
“When officers arrest criminals today, they are read their rights,” he said. “Now if we’re giving criminals their basic rights and they have to be informed of those rights, it seems to me only common sense we would have to do the same thing for women before they make the choice about whether to get an abortion.”
Jindal, of course, is forgetting that abortion is a legally protected measure, upheld by the Supreme Court. But clearly, he has decided that his own opinions on abortion’s morality trump that high court’s decision. He explained his commitment to “creating a culture of life,” adding, “we’ve got to fight to defend the lives of the most innocent and most vulnerable among us, especially unborn children.”
As Igor Volsky points out on Think Progress, Louisiana already has some of the harshest anti-choice legislation in the country. Naturally, the state also mandates abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education in its schools (when sex education is offered – such classes are not required), so preventing unplanned pregnancies does not seem to be high on Jindal’s list of priorities, only punishing women afterward.
So there you have it: according to Jindal and Louisiana’s legislators, creating a “culture of life” means treating the state’s women like criminals.
Read more: abortion alternatives, abortion clinics, adoption, anti choice, anti-abortion, bobby jindal, louisiana, pro-choice, pro-life, reproductive justice, reproductive rights, sex-education, war_on_women
Photo from dsb nola via Wikimedia Commons.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
Recent Comments from Causes
I have been speaking up for cameras for a long time. If you do the crime then you do the time. The…
Seriously? And what other catastrophies are going to be the result from that sort of mining? Not to mention…
thanks for the article
meet our writers
223 comments
+ add your ownI totally agree with you Annmari L. But all of this comes as no surprise, seeing Jindal is who he is and belongs to the GOP which along with the tea-party are and have always been against women and women's rights (and human rights in general). It makes me sick. I can't believe some people out there actually side with Jindal/GOP/tea-party on this issue. That's their right though, the same way it's a women's right to choose and nobody should be allowed to infringe on that right or try to take it away from her altogether.
I think that in as important a matter as abortion, women should have all the information possible before they make their decision. Maybe knowing that she could legally get child support from the father or adoption help, would make some overwhelmed young women decide not to terminate. No gross pictures though! The important thing is that the woman has all the facts and the power to choose. Signs are good, information good. Crowds of people blocking the way, no longer legal.. I don't see that Gov. Jindel has done anything wrong here.....
I don't think abortion is a good choice but every woman has the right to choose.
Shameless...
Why should women be the ones keeping their legs closed, Jeanne P.? What about the men? Why not have them neutered? Why put all this responsibility on women? And why shouldn't women be allowed to have sex?
I'm pro-choice, meaning I believe women should have a choice when it comes to pregnancy. Either a temination or carry full term. But it should be a WOMAN'S choice! Not a politician, religious representative, a repuke/teabag of any gender.
I'm luckily not affected personally by any of this but I will still fight for a woman's right to chose!
@Wendy H - 90-95% of all abortions performed are for non-medical reasons, i.e. elective procedures. EVERY non-medically necessary is a 'convenience' abortion. So yes, reminding people to really *think about what's happening, reminding them that they wouldn't be going in for an abortion if they weren't PREGNANT with a BABY (aka 'living human being') is *not a bad thing.
Posting such signs at abortion clinics works only to perpetuate the myth that women are stupid and having abortions for "convenience".
Both abortion and adoption are lesser evils than bearing an unwanted child and then proceeding to tell that child every time you look at it that it is the worst thing that ever happened to you. An acquaintance of my sister and brother-in-law did just that--telling her child that he was the worst thing that ever happened to her, repeatedly. What choice did her son ever have in the matter?
Either way I don't even find the law necessary, though it may be helpful if we ignore the Govener's comment and just move on in life. What's done is done, even though the past may be painful. Let us not dwell on the negative.
CHRISTOPHER S. says "I think that abortion providers and adoption agencies should be required to post a photo of Michelle Bachman as a warning of the kind of monster that will likely detain and indoctrinate your unborn, should you opt for adoption over abortion.'
That would cut down on the abortion rates since many of the pregnant women would become suicidal.
login to add your comment
use your care2 login
add your comment