2 Fetuses Called As Witnesses in Ohio Court. Say What?

Yes, you heard me right. I just read that two fetuses were called as witnesses in an Ohio courtroom. It sounds laughable, doesn’t it? I mean, seriously. How can a fetus be a witness?

But this is no laughing matter.

These fetuses little heart beats offered “expert testimony” before the Health Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives last Wednesday. They were shown to legislators in a crowded courtroom via ultrasound projector so everyone could see and hear their beating hearts as testimony for what they are calling “The Heartbeat Bill,” or HB 125.

HB 125, a blatant attempt to overthrow Roe vs. Wade, would ban abortion as soon as a heartbeat could be detected (which usually happens at about 5 ½ weeks of gestation, only 3 ½ weeks after conception actually occurs). Many people don’t even know they’re pregnant at this point, since they may only be a few days late for their period.

This bill is just the latest in a slew of Republican-driven attempts to undermine a woman’s right to choose. I also read about another bill, HR 3 (the “No Taxpayer Paying For Funding Of Abortion” bill) threatens to pull all public funding for abortion, including having Medicaid pay for pregnancy termination (if a woman keeps the baby, however, Medicaid will cover her much more expensive pregnancy.)

The scariest part of HR 3 is that it makes an exception for women who have been forcibly raped. Date rape doesn’t count. Neither does statutory rape, even if you’re twelve and some 25 year old dude knocked you up. But if you’ve been drugged, bound, and held at gunpoint while whipped, you can get your abortion.

Since when did we start redefining rape in such demeaning ways?

What Is Happening to Women’s Rights?

When I read about things like this, I feel sort of lost. In fact, it makes me want to defect and move to Canada. What is the matter with us? Why do we feel the need to question a woman’s right to choose in this way?

If you don’t like abortion, don’t get one. Period. But DO NOT make me live in a country where the government gets to decide whether I keep my baby, even if I’ve been non-forcibly raped. Do not make me live in a country where fetuses are called as witnesses in court. Do not force me to raise my daughter in a society that devalues her, that diminishes her right to make choices about her own body, that wants to control her just because she has a uterus.

I’ve told you before how conflicted I feel about abortion, as an OB/GYN and as a woman. I’ve told you how I’ve made peace with my own values regarding this issue. So I won’t repeat myself.

But suffice it to say that we must, simply MUST, keep the government from making choices about whether a woman must become a mother. Nobody has the right to make that decision but the woman herself. Nobody.

What do you think? Does this rile you up? Do you agree with these bills? How will you vote?

Standing for women everywhere,

****

Lissa Rankin, MD: Founder of OwningPink.com, motivational speaker, and author of What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend and Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide To Creating Fine Art With Wax.

Learn more about Lissa Rankin here.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Ellie D.

5:51PM PDT on Oct 8, 2011

if abortion is outlawed, women will start dying on their table from giving themselves bortions with coat hangers like the movie "if these walls could talk"

send a green star

5:49PM PDT on Oct 8, 2011

KS G.

6:44PM PDT on Oct 7, 2011

Thanks for the article.

TQ M.

5:53PM PDT on Jul 15, 2011

I won't get started with my beliefs on abortion, but I cannot accept that they would only include 1 type of rape. Rape is rape regardless of the particulars of the situation. There is only 1 exception and that is with statutory rape; i.e. a 17 yr old boy goes to jail for having consensual sex with a 16 yr old girl.

Beth W.

3:17PM PDT on Jul 13, 2011

You are absolutely right!!!! People should have the right to make their own decisions, not the decisisions for others!!!!

Lika S.

2:59AM PDT on Jul 11, 2011

The government needs to stay out of my vagina. The only people allowed to be in my vagina or even talk about what's right or wrong with it? Me, anytime I feel/need to. My doctor during a health consult. Whom ever has the consent to sex matters. If you don't have permission, mind your own business.

If a 12 year old is pregnant due to a pedophile raping her, it's up to us to protect the 12 year old, NOT the pedophile's paternal rights, because he has NONE!!!!!

Why is this even an issue? Like we have to keep questioning everything? During a health issue like rape, incest or the health & life of the mother, better believe it should be legal, safe and accessible at will, with NO complaints from ANYBODY.

The rest of the morality issue? That's between the individual and their God (and conscience, too).

Robyn L.

10:02PM PDT on Jul 10, 2011

It's time for a stronger protection of the right to life: the right of a present, productive member of the human race to live her life without a forced pregnancy.

Mary B.

4:26PM PDT on Jul 10, 2011

I've read that the Dali Lama has predicted that it will be Western women who 'save the world' by leading the change movement toward economic justice,peace, food, water, and air quality. All those things that would hold business structures and over paid people accountable for the damage they do to the environment and people who are kept out of the power loop.Actually, this prediction goes back way farther.It was called empowering the feminine, The Goddess returns,even the return of the Christos. Jesus embodied and taught an ethical standard that too few who call them selves Christians aspire to.And that standard was the return of female qualities that allow homes and communities to thrive. Instead they distort it to a threat of damnation if you don't fallow their dogma.So it's no wonder that the Right Wing politicals are trying to take woman back to the dark ages thru their reproductive system. They are terrified of spiritually, emotionaly, and financialy empowered woman who know they are the sole owners of their own bodies.

Mary M.

7:02PM PDT on Jul 9, 2011

Thank you for speaking out on this issue. Women should be allowed to decide what decisions they make about their own bodies and futures. I find these bills and similar ones throughout the country truly frightening and wondering where and why did this war on women start?

Deborah L.

9:14AM PDT on Jul 9, 2011

Susan, we all pay for this court appearance of these non-verbal, unborn and therefore no yet existing actual living people who are currently in the stages of evolving into a future human being from a fetal stage of development. In other words, they do not actually exist as a living human being and anything they would say-no pun intended, would not be deemed valid and legal in a court of law as these witnesses do not exist as a legal person. Also they cannot be sworn in and as it has become apparent, the woman's body which carries these fetuses, no longer has control of her own body once pregnant, so the woman cannot testify for the unborn fetus that is testifying in court. As for laws trying to give the yet unborn more rights than the woman's body in which they reside for the time being is ridiculous and insanity at it's finest.

Ask the IRS when you are recognized as a living person and they will tell you, once you are born and not before. Otherwise, these pre-born fetuses would be allowed as a tax deduction. This is just another way to strip women of their rights and throw them back to the dark ages of medical care for pregnant women.

Talk about making a mockery in the court system. No wonder things never get done in a timely manner. It is time for all of these fanatics to get out of the uterus's of the American women and concentrate on more constructive things like jobs to support the already born people we cannot afford now.