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| Capitol Building, Nashville, Tennessee |
Christian talibangelicals, seeking to impose theocratic laws on Americans despite the constitutional bar on the establishment of any religion in the US, have scored a minor triumph in Tennessee, with a law which effectively denies the women of Tennessee the same rights as other American women as established by the Supreme Court in Wade vs Roe.
Tennessee legislators yesterday passed a bill which makes termination of pregnancy a criminal offence, punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $10,000 dollars, if performed after the developing embryo has a detectable heartbeat. The only exception is when the mother's life is threatened by continuing the pregnancy. Pregnancy resulting from rape or incest are not exempt.
Under the provisions of the bill, before proceeding with a termination a doctor would need to carry out an ultrasound scan and display the image, inform the woman of the gestational age, and check for a fetal heartbeat and play it out loud to the mother before proceeding. It is an offence to perform the termination if the doctor knows it has been requested because of the gender or race of the fetus or because of a diagnosis of Down's Syndrome.
Centres which perform more than 50 terminations a year will be required to display a notice informing patients that a medication-induced abortion can be reversed if the second dose has not been taken, despite there being no scientific evidence that this is the case.
Under existing law it is illegal to perform termination where the fetus is viable, so the only purpose of this law is to prevent non-viable terminations.
Evangelical Christians regard every pregnancy as a gift from God, although they appear to believe this god is prepared to use rapists and incestuous fathers and brothers to deliver its gifts.
The political purpose of this bill is to seek a review of the abortion laws in the US by the Supreme Court and get Wade vs Roe overturned, now the conservative right believe they have a majority in SCOTUS and can begin to roll back the progresses in human rights over the last half a century and more. Tennessee is just one of several Republican-controlled states to restrict access to termination services in the hope of triggering a SCOTUS intervention.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood and several abortion services providers have already applied to have the Tennessee law blocked by a federal court by filing suit against Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery and other state officials.
Judges have so far blocked similar bills in 8 other Republican-controlled states.
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