Is it even a little bit surprising that North Dakota, the state with the most “overall freedom” according to the Koch-funded libertarian group Mercatus, just passed a law banning all abortions?
The data Mercatus used, as far as I can tell, are largely from 2011. But these laws wouldn’t do a thing to change’s North Dakota’s ranking, because Mercatus doesn’t take reproductive rights into account at all. In fact, no issues specifically related to women’s rights are taken into account. Same-sex marriage is included, but not housing employment anti-discrimination rules. They do weigh “‘smoker protection’ in employment,” though. (I think they are in favor of laws barring companies from firing smokers. Isn’t that the government interfering with the employer’s Freedoms?) There is also a list ranking the states in terms of friendliness to Bachelor Parties.
We’re talking about a movement which has as its bible a book featuring rapey sex, which has as its hero the broiest bro who ever bro’ed, Paul Ryan, and whose chief journalist is the Fonzi of Freedom. It’s no wonder that their rankings are more concerned about the ease of hiring strippers than the possibility of getting an abortion, or even getting Plan B from the local pharmacy.