I’d say something this crazy and stupid doesn’t have a chance in hell in passing, but we are living in the dumbest timeline…
22 Likes
"American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to issue a statement in 2017 that reads, “Claims regarding abortion ‘reversal’ treatment are not based on science and do not meet clinical standards.”
Since when does actual medical fact mean anything to these assholes? This will not even register with them.
19 Likes
I’ve seen doctors say something to the effect of, “[State] law requires that I tell you X, but that claim has not been supported by any valid medical study or practice.”
They can be forced to say the thing they’re required to say (although that seems like a blatant constitutional violation), but they can’t be forced not to say other things as well.
16 Likes
I was also confused what the point is, but then something occurred to me: They believe it.
They believe the bad, unsupported research that says you can reverse a drug-induced abortion within 48 hours. They want doctors to tell patients this so patients know they can change their minds 24 hours after beginning the procedure. They think women will change their minds.
They don’t play anti-science for the cameras, they genuinely think science is wrong and evil. Has the one doctor’s work not been replicated? That’s because it’s being suppressed by the evil scientific baby-killing community.
Honestly this is the only way this makes sense to me.
26 Likes
There is a procedure to reverse abortions in Oklahoma … the side effect is that your kid may look like this.
2 Likes
Exactly. The procedure requires 2 pills 48 hours apart. After the first the fetus is dead and it can’t be undone. Anti-abortion activists have confinced themselves this is not true, and that they still have 48 hours to convince the woman not to have an abortion. Lawmakers are legally requiring doctors to lie because they genuinely believe the abortion can be undone.
Its stupidity, not psychological gamesmanship.
Also it gives them ways to threaten abortion providers with felony charges to scare them out of town
10 Likes
What happens when that woman later regrets her decision and realize she can’t have the baby back. Does she sue the doctor? The lawmakers? It’s America, she has to sue someone.
3 Likes
I can imagine doctors saying, “By law I’m required to tell you this. As a doctor I’m required to tell you it’s nonsense.”
I think expecting some kind of coherent, logical plan from these people is probably too much. Looking at these kinds of Republicans, they believe some crazy shit and they’re incredibly irrational and ignorant. Shockingly so. They believe in Mediæval-level nonsense. Even if they’re aware what they’re saying isn’t true, this could just an attempt to sow chaos.
So my best guess is that this isn’t some clever, “five-dimensional chess” move. It isn’t even a game for them - it’s just wild monkey flailing.
They really are that dumb.
It’s hard-won knowledge, but I’m finally realizing there is no low that’s too low for these people, no level of idiocy to which they cannot sink.
20 Likes
Yet.
Bonus chars
3 Likes
Alternate ending that has the same truth value.
3 Likes
This is really what it comes down to. Now that the GOP has enough federal judges and a SCOTUS majority in place, the Xtianist politicians are mounting a multi-front offensive on womens’ reproductive choices.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/opinion/abortion-supreme-court.html
9 Likes
So. . . you get an abortion, and then 6 months later it’s magically reversed when you suddenly give birth? “Wait, I thought I had an abortion??? Oops, I guess it must have been one of those “reversible” abortions!”
3 Likes
No shit!
It’s not just because it’s America. Someone stone-faced lies to you and says, “Take this pill, in 48 hours you come back and take a second (let’s call it red) one and your abortion is complete, but if you change your mind before then we have this blue pill that will undo it and you can keep your baby.” Then it turns out you do change your mind and the blue pill is a complete fantasy.
If you would not have taken the first pill had you known that, then you can sue someone regardless of what country you find yourself in (assuming it has a functioning judiciary and some notion of human rights). Sure, in America the damages might be comically high compared to what you’d get in Canada, but honestly I think the damages for intentionally defrauding someone to prevent them from having a child are pretty high no matter how measured your judicial system is.
If I were a doctor I would be pretty worried about this. “I was just following the law” sounds a lot like “I was just following orders” if you start trying to use it as a defense.
7 Likes
Does the law also forbid the physicians from prefacing the mandated statement with, “The State requires me to tell you the following lie:”
? Because that sure sounds like prior restraint to me.
4 Likes
The courts are going to shoot that down in a jiffy. The AMA uses its lobbying mojo with a vengeance when Legislators try to dictate medical procedures to licensed practitioners.
1 Like
I’m not sure which is the most crazy part: the part where conservatives just can’t stand to let women control their own bodies? The part where conservatives can’t stand science? Or the part where it is possible to make a law that legally enforces a provable untruth?
5 Likes
Real life idiocracy is much less amusing than it was in that movie.
2 Likes
8 Likes
Even that bill never became law. (But not for lack of trying, I’ll grant you.)
2 Likes
The movie featured a functioning healthcare system!
