Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Republicans in disarray!

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Republicans do not trust women.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Women's Rights / The War On Women / Tennessee Lawmaker Wants to Force Women to Listen to an Ultrasound if They Don’t Want to Look At It.

Tennessee Lawmaker Wants to Force Women to Listen to an Ultrasound if They Don’t Want to Look At It.

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repubs_vaginaTennessee Senator Jim Tracy introduced an ultrasound bill yesterday. This, in and of itself, is not particularly newsworthy since ultrasound bills have become all the rage in the last couple years. What is newsworthy is just how far Forced Birthers will go to ensure that women who choose to have an abortion are traumatized by the experience.

If women don’t want to view the ultrasound, the new Tennessee bill, SB 632, will require abortion providers to explain the results of the ultrasound in grave detail.

[read full post at ABLC]

Reader Interactions

82Comments

  1. 1.

    Alison

    Okay, sure. No problem. If I can force him to look at my fist. UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. IN THE FACE.

    Fuck these fucking bastards.

  2. 2.

    karen marie

    Two pieces of legislation I’d like to see proposed and passed: a ban on pharmaceuticals like viagra and criminalizing masturbation.

  4. 4.

    David Brooks

    What a new and controversial issue that I’m sure everyone in the blog will have a unique and distinct opinion about, and new thoughts and ideas will be formed through a Socratic tension of the mind. Interesting of you to bring this up.

    I’m so tired of other blogs and their focus on non-controversies like the legal rational with which to assassinate U.S. citizens. Such things distract from the true intellectual endeavor of remembering that REPUBLICANS ARE SUBHUMAN SCUM! ONLY WE CAN DEFEAT THEM. SAY IT LOUD AND SAY IT PROUD!

  6. 6.

    karen marie

    Got Nationwide Insurance? Consider replacing the policy. Jim Tracy is one of their agents.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    My suggestion is that pro-choice groups go on the offensive. In pro-choice states, they should start pushing for legislation guaranteeing women abortion rights. Start establishing some standards, instead of reacting to what the anti-choice groups do. And if you get enough of a popular movement going in the states, maybe it will be possible in a few years to have that debate at the federal level, and put the GOP back on their heels for a change.

  9. 9.

    Aji

    Okay, was it reeeeeeaaaaaalllllly necessary to put that image at the top? Because just the sight of it with that caption on it makes me want to crawl out of my skin.

  11. 11.

    David Brooks

    @Alison: @Alison:

    I’m not mad. In fact, I am marvelous. I am humbled and prostrated before the level of new analysis and timely wisdom delivered to us in the relevant and contemporary OP.

    It’s not everyday someone takes a hard stand against Republican anti-choicers. In fact, I’ve never seen in done before! This of all times as an ideal time in which to do it. Such is beyond any sort of Foucaultian narrative issues.

  13. 13.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Alison: David Brooks is apparently the latest nom du troll for ABL’s stalker. infested the last thread with typical derailing techniques.

    On-topic, that p-shop is hilarious.

  17. 17.

    Alison

    @David Brooks: It must be so nice to not have to care about the fact that half the government, more or less, wants to set up shop inside your body and demand final say-so on whatever you do with your uterus. Lucky you to get to spend more time thinking about something that doesn’t actually directly affect your daily life.

  19. 19.

    Cassidy

    @Alison: BUT, BUT, BUT DROOOOOOOONNNNNEEEEEZZZZ. You see, theoretically, that black guy can now kill you with his ebil dronez if he doesn’t like your criticism. Nevermind that isn’t reality.

  21. 21.

    David Brooks

    @Alison:

    Oh for sure. I can definitely see how posting these articles about Them, on this site, can definitely be more productive than analyzing the trivialities of the assault on due process by the democratic president.

  28. 28.

    Alison

    @Cassidy: OMGZ UR RIGHT ANY SINGLE ONE OF US COULD BE AT RISK, except we’re not, because contrary to what some supposed liberals think, our President is not actually a psychotic bloodthirsty maniac, throwing darts at a map and screaming BWHAHAHA THOSE SHALL BE THE NEXT TO DIE.

  31. 31.

    Alison

    @David Brooks: Right now I’m more concerned about the assault on my last nerve by your bullshit whining and dismissal of the actual lives of people with reproductive systems. Because you can pretend otherwise all you want, but your ass is far far far less at risk from fucking drones than mine is from these anti-choice fetus-worshipping legislators. And excuse the fuck out of me and ABL and others if we think keeping informed about what these assholes are doing is important.

  34. 34.

    dance around in your bones

    Like any woman who gets an abortion doesn’t already FUCKING KNOW it’s a potential baby. Jeebus Christ, it’s something all us women types know from the time we are able to get pregnant and doing our best to NOT get pregnant unless we WANT to.

    These guys really think women are stupid, don’t they?

    What corresponding procedure could we force THEM through? Listening to all their little sperms die every time they masturbate? After all, those sperms are potential life too. And every sperm is sacred, right?

  35. 35.

    David Brooks

    @Alison: I agree. It’s far more important to tell people about another planned ultrasound variant, than it is about the current assassination of U.S. nationals by the liberal president. Fully agreed 100%. Full stop. Period.

  36. 36.

    arguingwithsignposts

    I notice you didn’t hang around the last thread very long, you ignorant fuck. just got a thing for ABL, I guess.

  51. 51.

    Jeff Spender

    @Alison:

    I was smitten from comment one. Your sarcasm and rapier wit actually made me laugh out loudly.

    Idiot trolls suck, but when you can actually respond back like that and reveal them for the sanctimonious idiots they are (well, really it depends on the class of troll we’re dealing with) it makes the whole experience worth it.

    So, by all means, feed this troll. You’re doing a great job making him look like an asshole.

  54. 54.

    Cassidy

    @Tonybrown74: This is an ABL thread. We never discuss the post; that happens at her website. No, we just amuse ourselves with her constant string of stalkers.

    @Raven: I know. It happened twice.

  56. 56.

    dance around in your bones

    @efgoldman:

    I get your ‘fixed’ point in a way, but it really doesn’t make sense….I mean, if every woman was forced to carry through with an unwanted pregnancy, wouldn’t that place a huge burden on the men who impregnated them? I mean, assuming that they were held responsible for the birthed baby (which is doubtful with this mindset)?

    I mean, they just never seem to think it through! The social/emotional/financial cost to families, society, government…..

    I just think that these (usually male, but sometimes female)types are stuck in the mindset of ALWAYS identifying with the fetus/potential baby, and never with the already existent life of the mother. It’s like, “don’t kill me, mommy!” Maybe they feel like it could have happened to them.

  57. 57.

    Jeff Spender

    @Alison:

    It was not sarcasm. Feeding trolls is a dangerous business, and often they are best left alone.

    I think the idea behind the troll’s message is a dangerous one, though. When you devalue issues that don’t directly impact you in favor of another issue that doesn’t directly impact you, what you risk is developing tunnel vision that devalues the real and vital conflicts people find themselves in.

    What this troll is doing is, essentially, that. While I am disquieted by drone warfare and the idea that a President can order the death of a US citizen, it is one problem among many that demand attention. I can’t claim to know much about the implications and consequences of the drone issue, and I’m not a woman, but I do know from direct experience how important reproductive health is.

    Keep up the good work.

  59. 59.

    arguingwithsignposts

    Troll

    Feed Troll

    Random on topic comment

    Stop Feeding Trolls!

    Rinse, repeat

    Yep, an ABL thread for sure!

  60. 60.

    dance around in your bones

    @efgoldman: Yes, I have heard that quote before.

    I would just like for these men who want to impose this kind of onerous legislation on women to be able to get pregnant – accidentally, via consensual sex or rape, or even just forgetting to take your birth control pill or even perhaps in your very first sexual encounter (which happened to a girlfriend of mine) and then have to deal with the next nine months of what is – even in the case of intentional pregnancy – a complete invasion of your body with all the attendant risks and dangers – and then, at the end, have to push a 9 pound watermelon out their butt.

    Perhaps then they would have a little empathy or compassion or understanding. Of course, this will never happen.

    Having a baby is a HUGE undertaking (as I am sure you well know) – it’s not like taking a big dump one day and then forgetting about it. And it lasts your entire life (parenthood, or the guilt/grief/perhaps relief? of giving up a baby for adoption).

    I know I am preaching to the choir here, but gawddamn it makes me angry that there are stupid legislators out there who think these kind of regulations make sense or would cut down on the number of abortions. You know what would cut down on abortion? PREVENTION OF PREGNANCY. So of course they have to shut Planned Parenthood down and revile the ACA’s provision of free birth control.

    I’m not yelling at you, of course, just shouting at the clouds.

  61. 61.

    mainmati

    @Baud: I think this is a good idea. Dems pushed back strong in PA, OH and FL on voting rights restrictions and it worked. This should be the strategy as well for choice rights.

  62. 62.

    MomSense

    “in grave detail”

    Is there any other kind?

    @Alison:

    I have been involved in too many conversations with men who think that somehow this is some peripheral issue–not that important compared with serious issues. Having autonomy over your owned darned body seems pretty central to me.

  64. 64.

    Yutsano

    @dance around in your bones: You should see the video of the two (HAWT!) Dutch guys who decided to have simulated labour pains. The one couldn’t even do the two hours the sim was planned for. That’d fix a whole buncha attitudes right quick!

  65. 65.

    MomSense

    @Baud:

    The intentional strategy of the forced birth movement in the early 80s was to take this issue to the states so that they could erode reproductive rights and access–and keep the pro-reproductive rights groups very busy and cash strapped. Unfortunately it has worked very well.

  67. 67.

    dance around in your bones

    @Yutsano: Linky?

    I have done it – labor/baby (in Amsterdam, midwife, no drugs) and believe me it is REALLY FUCKING HARD. I think the fact that you WANT that baby makes it worth it, and you forget the pain rather quickly.

    I can’t imagine what it would be like if you didn’t want the baby.

    On a kinda-sorta related note, I remember reading about a study done years ago where healthy athletes tried to imitate every motion of young toddlers, and were wiped out after an hour or two – so I have no trouble believing guys simulating labor would give up quickly.

    The thing about labor is that you CAN’T give up – once you’ve bought the ticket you’re on the roller coaster and you can’t get off the ride until it’s over! It’s a weird feeling :)

  68. 68.

    JasonF

    People complain that Republicans don’t care about the disabled, so a Republican introduces a bill to help provide blind women with the same thing other women have and do you thank him!? No. Some people are never happy.

  71. 71.

    dance around in your bones

    @Yutsano: Oh, thanks! That was quite amusing!

    And oh yeah, those guys were cute. I found it funny that they were laughing in between ‘contractions’ at first but then it got real. At least they weren’t cursing each other and kicking the other in the balls.

    Also, who the hell thought up that nefarious machine? And can we use it on all those crazy legislators? Just for a few hours anyway?

  73. 73.

    Yutsano

    @dance around in your bones: Electrostimulation machines are actually quite common in physical therapy clinics. I’ve been hooked up to one before and it’s pretty damn magical. I’ve also had my hips ultrasounded which amazingly enough made them feel much better. But yeah they can go from healing device to absolute torture in nothing flat.

  74. 74.

    dance around in your bones

    @Yutsano:

    Actually, I got interested enough that I am now watching an Australian doctor go through ‘labor’ on the same kind of machine (he’s pretty cute too, though hetero) and it gives me a kind of cheap thrill. Still want to hook up some of these goober legislators to the machine and see how long they would last.

    ETA: Watching this guy makes me remember how I would say “Just give me ten minutes to rest, and then I’ll start again, I swear!” But…..no rest. You buy the ticket, you take the ride.

  75. 75.

    Mnemosyne

    So just to be clear, if a woman doesn’t want to look at the ultrasound of her anencephalitic fetus before the pregnancy is aborted, the doctor will be legally required to sit there at her side and describe to her in detail how the bones of the skull did not fully develop, so the baby’s brain is currently floating in the amniotic fluid outside of the head and the eyeballs are floating on stalks, etc.

    What is the point of this other than sadism? “Well, you shouldn’t have decided to get pregnant with a fetus that has a fatal defect, missy!”

  76. 76.

    serena1313

    Because of Roe v. Wade terminating a pregnancy today is a safe medical procedure performed by qualified, licensed physicians in hospitals & clinics. Reversing Roe v. Wade would be egregiously irresponsible & unconscionable. Yet that is exactly what anti-abortionists have in mind as we’ve been seeing all across the country.

    The process of just making the decision to terminate a pregnancy for most women is deeply personal notwithstanding extremely traumatic. Yet anti-choice legislators are hellbent on making the entire experience especially prior to the procedure even more excruciatingly agonizing & heart-wrenching or better described as cruel & unusual punishment.

    Anti-choice politicians & anti-choice advocate groups are tenacious in their quest to turn back the hands of time when abortions were illegal. Before Roe v. Wade became settled law, abortions were performed in dirty dingy quarters tucked away in back alleys & out of sight from public view. The procedure involved using coat hangers, dull kitchen knives, broken glass — whatever was handy — which needless to say were not sanitized. Women were literally being butchered either by their own hand or an individual, an unlicensed “physician.” Thousands upon thousands of women died from infections or bled to death. It was a recurring nightmare that finally ended with Roe v. Wade.

    But as long as anti-choice advocates hold positions of power in government or have sway & influence over policymakers, the nightmare of butchers & back alleys could very well turn into reality once again.

  77. 77.

    Lee

    I read an article earlier than doctors in Texas are just refusing to do the procedure.

    They print out a sonogram image that is made of the bedsheet and comment ‘conductivity issues’.

  78. 78.

    sparrow

    While I find this a deplorable, judgmental law, I have to echo what others have said: Do they think this will really stop a woman who wants an abortion? Because it wouldn’t have stopped me. I knew EXACTLY what I was doing, and there is no way that a picture or description would have surprised or moved me in any way. fuck these assholes.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @efgoldman:

    Marshall added, with regard to rape, that “the woman becomes a sin-bearer of the crime, because the right of a child predominates over the embarrassment of the woman.”

    That’s just beautiful. Women are the sin-bearers. What are the children, then, the eventual result of the forced delivery, the sin made real?

    Won’t find that kind of straight talk on a Susan B. Anthony site!

    Women have no agency in these scenarios. They’re simply blind, dumb and wholly passive. They have no past and no future. They come into being at the moment of conception and then exist for that nine months, and then disappear. It’s appalling, on a gut level.

    I am so grateful to the abortion opponents who tell the truth. I have much, much more respect for them than the groups who use all those soft-focus greeting card images of women and children and carefully market-tested language.

  80. 80.

    Snarla

    Why why why are they so convinced women are abortion viable babies? Abortions occur early, we’re talking about embryos, not fetuses. Good luck showing me that a thumbnail-sized agglomeration of cells looks just like the Gerber baby. It is not going to happen.

    More like, “See that smudge there?” “There?” “No, this one here.” “That dark area?” etc.

  81. 81.

    xian

    @David Brooks: oh, thanks. didn’t understand your point the other seven times you posted. repeating it passive-aggressively is totally going to make a difference here, there, and everywhere.

    proceed, purity troll.

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