On Tuesday, every single woman in the Utah Senate walked out in protest during a vote on a bill designed to traumatize women seeking an abortion.
Unsurprisingly, the bill was proposed and supported by men. These forced-birthers would like to compel providers to not only perform ultrasounds on women seeking abortions, but to force the women to look at the ultrasound pictures and listen to the sounds of the heartbeat, where available.
If providers refused to traumatize their patients in this way, they'd be fined $100,000 the first time, and $250,000 each subsequent time they protected their patient from an unnecessary, invasive procedure designed to make them feel guilt and remorse for seeking legal medical care.
According to The Hill:
State Sen. Diedre Henderson (R) said in a statement that the walkout was not a planned protest, but a decision made to highlight their concerns about the bill’s “invasive nature,” The Associated Press reported.
Henderson said she opposes abortion, according to the outlet. State Sen. Luz Escamilla (D) tweeted Tuesday “Love my sisters in the senate” and “A spontaneous decision not planned of sisterhood against the invasive nature of HB 364 #epic #sheroes #utleg."
Love my sisters in the Senate ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
A spontaneous decision not planned of sisterhood against the invasive nature of HB 364 #epic #sheroes #utleg pic.twitter.com/FzmSTrzmq7— Sen. Luz Escamilla (@SenatorLuz) March 11, 2020
Of course, the bill still passed, but this bi-partisan group of badass women have made a powerful statement.
Democratic Utah Senate Minority Leader Karen Mayne said she was disappointed that the women lawmakers had to tell their own stories as they spoke in opposition to the bill, the AP reported.
“Why do we have to explain to you why this is not right? Why?” she said.
That's a GREAT question, Senator Mayne. Why, indeed?
The person lacking a uterus or a vagina who proposed the amendment answered thusly:
Well, Sen. Bramble, I realize this is not a perfect parallel, because a woman's bodily autonomy, health, decision about becoming a parent is much more sacred and personal than one's decision to own a gun, in my opinion. And men's need to control the bodies of women, manifested in their obscene regulations of birth control and child-bearing is not the same as their need to own a gun. But hear me out, since you are so concerned about the lives of children.
Perhaps whenever one of your constituents attempts to purchase a gun, they should be forced to look at before and after photos of children who have died in mass school shootings. How would that be? I mean, it just seems that if you're going to buy a weapon that might take the life of a child, it seems appropriate that you get the best information about the development, the stage of development, heartbeat, drawings they've made, hear their voices in school concerts, watch videos of them dancing as toddlers, you know, just so you have the information you need before you purchase that weapon that might end up being used to end that ALREADY ALIVE child's life.
