Dear Friend and Reader,<\/p>\n
Oppression tastes good in Arkansas<\/strong><\/a>, so good that the state has started banning things that have already been banned. Last Thursday, Arkansas’ State House and Senate simultaneously passed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.<\/p>\n Translating this to Astrology for Conservatives, Obama’s actions during the first week of his presidency were probably overload, and it is playing out in a Saturn opposite Uranus face-off that will likely continue through 2010. It’s a progressive vs. regressive face-off. It represents a cultural split that is not inherently political;\u0412\u00a0 it is something in the human race right now, reflected in the astrology of Saturn and Uranus.<\/p>\n The two primary blows to conservatives were the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act<\/strong><\/a> and overturning the Mexico City Policy<\/a>, and <\/span><\/strong>Conservatives responded last week with a “feel-good” ban on late-term abortion. While I’m no expert, I’d venture a guess that the most misunderstood procedure in the realm of reproductive rights would be the easiest to pass a law against, especially if the procedure has already been banned. Abortions performed after 20 weeks’ gestation fit the bill.<\/p>\n You see, Arkansas’ Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act would<\/em> make late-term abortions illegal — if it weren’t already illegal. Everyone’s favorite president signed a national ban on late-term abortion into law on Nov. 5, 2003. So what’s with all the hullabaloo? Ak. is hoping that, just in case the national ban is overturned during Obama’s presidency, their state won’t have to reinstitute the procedure.<\/p>\n Like many taboo subjects, it would do a lot of good to get the abortion out in the air. I read an article on Nerve’s website this week by Lauren B. called “Roe vs. Wade vs. My Boyfriend,<\/a><\/strong>” in which hers addresses the reaction men have to her abortion. In my experience, it doesn’t have to be a personal account to get negative feedback. While researching for this article, I asked my guy friend and fellow writer what his position was on late-term abortion. He wrote back one thing: “Gross.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Word. It is gross: most surgery is, and Arkansas definitely capitalized on the “ew” factor in this case. If you’d like specifics, read the pdf of Act 196<\/a><\/strong> and scroll down to Section 3. My point, which I promise I’m getting around to making, is that “ick” is not a reason to ban something. If it were, there’d be no such thing as proctology.<\/p>\n The ban<\/em> on late-term abortion is the truly horrible part of the procedure. Of the personal accounts I’ve read (here’s one<\/a><\/strong> and here’s another<\/a><\/strong>), I’ve come away with feelings of emotional pain and intense sorrow for would-be parents that went through this. These are cases of anecephaly, spina bifida and stillborns — not healthy fetuses and pregnant women in denial or a state of sudden cold feet, as the state of Arkansas and the Bush anti-choice team [of men] would lead us to believe.<\/p>\n It’s strange and disturbing to think that with all the good the Obama administration is attempting to do, there is an equal and opposite reaction from the Right. But I don’t think Arkansas would be as successful at becoming the scariest place in the country if we let go of shame and came out. I’m not just talking about sexuality here: after hearing about Arkansas last week, and South Dakota’s near-miss in November, it’s beginning to look like reproductive rights is the biggest closet case in the heterosexual world.<\/p>\n I’m saying this because I can’t remember the last time I saw an “Ask Me About My Abortion” pin or t-shirt. So come out and tell us about it and help out a southern sister: times are tough down there.<\/p>\n Yours & truly,<\/p>\n Rachel Asher<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Friend and Reader, Oppression tastes good in Arkansas, so good that the state has started banning things that have already been banned. Last Thursday, Arkansas’ State House and Senate simultaneously passed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. Translating this to Astrology for Conservatives, Obama’s actions during the first week of his presidency were probably … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1,392],"tags":[1149,1150,36,52,1152,1147,1148,117,170,1151],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}