Michigan Anti-Abortion Law Sparks Sex Boycott, Vagina Fear
It’s gonna be a dry summer in Michigan, boys.
Michigan lawmaker Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) is calling for a statewide sex boycott after the state legislature's lower house passed a slate of bills designed to restrict access abortion services—under the guise of protecting women's health.
Opponents have loudly protested against the measure that has been jammed through the legislature — it was introduced on May 31 and a committee approved it last week — and Democratic lawmakers spoke out against it before the House passed the bill
“We’re launching a war on women. Stop having sex with us, gentlemen, and I ask women to boycott men until they stop moving this through the House.”The 45-page cockblock in question aims to regulate nearly every aspect of reproductive health services, from rigid restrictions on health centers to targeting physicians who provide abortion services. Taking a cue from restrictive legislation passed in Virginia, Alabama, and Georgia, one of the nation’s most severe anti-abortion bill burdens both women and health care providers with onerous regulations by:
Here’s what you should know about these far-reaching anti-abortion bills:
1) Bans Abortions After 20 Weeks, Even For Rape And Incest Victims: A woman would not be able to have an abortion after 20 weeks of gestation based on the widely disputed idea that a fetus can feel pain after that point. The only exception would be if a woman’s life was in danger. The legislation also includes new regulations related to the disposal of fetal remains, though penalties would be civil infractions rather than felonies.
2) Transforms Doctors Into Detectives: The Republican-backed legislation would make it a crime for anyone to coerce a woman into having an abortion. Doctors will have to give their patients a questionnaire to inform them of the illegality of coercion and determine if the woman had been coerced or is the victim of domestic abuse before the abortion procedure.
3) Limits Access For Rural Women: Under the omnibus bill, doctors would have to be physically present to perform a medication abortion, thus preventing a doctor from administering abortion-inducing medication by consulting via telephone or internet. This would especially hurt rural women, who may have to travel hours to meet in-person with a specialist.
4) Requires Doctors To Purchase Costly Malpractice Insurance: If HB 5711 goes into effect, then doctors would be required to carry $1 million in liability insurance if they perform five or more abortions each month or have been subject to two more more civil suits in the past seven years, among other requirements. But the qualifications are so vague that almost all doctors who perform abortions could be required to carry the additional liability insurance at a potential cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
5) Regulates Clinics Out Of Existence: HB 5711 would create new regulations so that any clinic that provides six or more abortions in a month or one which advertises abortion services would have to be licensed as a “freestanding surgical outpatient facility.” That means that even if a clinic does not offer surgical abortions, it would be required to have a full surgical suite.
Now that the state House has passed the largest of the three bills, it will likely approve the two companion measures as well. Even though lawmakers rushed the bill through the House, the state Senate is not expected to vote on the measure until September. The body is composed of 26 Republicans and 12 Democrats.
State Rep. Mike Shirkey (R-Clark Lake) told a local television station on Wednesday that he supports the bill and hopes it will end abortion in Michigan. "This [abortion] is nothing short of infanticide. Until we completely eliminate abortions in Michigan and completely defund Planned Parenthood, we have work to do," he said.
Supporters of the bill maintain that the legislation is designed to protect women and their health. What remains unclear, however, is exactly how tricky regulations, threats of criminal sanction, and unnecessary equipment will help achieve that end.
The bill passed by a vote of 70 to 39, with all Republicans and six Democrats voting for it, after two days of protests and an emotional debate in the House chamber.
Democrats said the regulations were unnecessary and that the bill's purpose is only to shut down abortion providers in the state. Some of the female lawmakers tied the legislation to the so-called Republican "war on women."
State Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) suggested that women withhold sex from men until they stop the bill. "Stop having sex with us, gentlemen," she said. "And I ask women to boycott men until they stop moving this through the House.”
What Michigan women need more than ever is an open, honest discussion of the issue at hand—but even that seems impossible for the Great Lake State. Michigan state Rep. Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield) was prohibited from speaking in the legislature on its final day in session after using the word vagina in a floor speech on Thursday. Because there's definitely no good reason to use the appropriate medical term for a female reproductive organ during a hearing on abortions, right? Perhaps next time, Brown can show a little self-restraint and use an appropriate euphemism: "Mr. Speaker, I'm flattered you're all so interested in my vagina. But no means no."
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