
Indiana lawmakers made sure not to do one thing last Friday when they banned most abortions in their yee-haw state. They made sure not to let their citizens vote on it. It’s a lesson they learned from Kansas.
Indiana is the first state to create new limits on abortions after the Supreme Court overruled its predecessors and declared it’s not a constitutional right. This vote was just three days after voters in Kansas rejected a measure to strip abortion from the state constitution, and after a ten-year-old fled Ohio, where nearly all abortions are banned, to abort her rapist’s fetus in Indiana.
Republicans nationwide were eager to ban abortion after the SCOTUS ruling but Kansas has slowed their roll. State Republicans in Florida, West Virginia, South Carolina, Nebraska, and Iowa were talking a lot of shit until the conservative voters in Kansas spoke out. The question every conservative needs to ask who plans to enact a state ban on abortion is: Is your state more right-wing fucknut fundamentalist than Kansas? It’s a good question and someone’s actually studied it. More on that in a minute.
Indiana’s fucknut Governor Eric Holcomb signed the new ban into law faster than Josh Hawley could run from a MAGA riot he helped instigate (I’m gonna be using this one for a while). The signing was within minutes of its passage, which was from a special session he called just to ban abortion. They knew not to let their voters vote on it.
In Kansas, Republicans thought it was a safe bet their voters would ban it, but just in case, they put the measure on the primary ballot, NOT the general election ballot. Gee, why is that?
Fewer people vote in primaries than in general elections. But, Republicans, I’m sorry to say, are much more consistent than Democrats in voting in primaries and special elections. Republicans are also much more motivated by wedge culture war issues like abortion than are Democrats. But, Kansas found out that even conservatives didn’t want to totally ban abortion. And, when it finally comes down to banning abortions, Democrats turn out the vote among themselves and Independents. The GOP just learned that the hard way in Kansas. It was like that time Eddie Murphy found out the hard way his hooker was a dude.
Indiana Republican goon legislator John Young said, “I know the exceptions are not enough for some and too much for others, but it’s a good balance.” Really? It’s a good balance to take away a woman’s right to control her own body and health? If John Young had a uterus, I bet he’d have a totally different definition of a “good balance.”
A good balance would be to let Indiana’s voters vote on it. Give more women a say in how their bodies are regulated. Don’t just leave it up to goons like John Young Governor Holcomb.
Right-wing and Indiana cartoonist Gary Varvel did a cartoon of it snowing in Hell because it’s such an unlikely occurrence that yee-haw state Republicans would ban abortion. What. A. Shocker.
Protestors were at the state capital demanding their legislature allow them to vote on it. Todd Huston, the Republican Speaker of the House said, “We’ve talked about the fact that voters have an opportunity to vote, and if they’re displeased, they’ll have that opportunity both in November and in future years.” That sounds like a statement from a goon in a safe district. By his logic, Indiana shouldn’t ever have measures put on ballots, just candidates.
Jennifer Drobac, a law professor at Indiana University Bloomington said, “Law made in haste is often bad law. This highlights the fact that these guys are not anticipating how unworkable this legislation will be. This is going to impact thousands of people who get pregnant in Indiana alone.” But they didn’t anticipate how unworkable it is because they don’t care if it’s unworkable. If it forces children to have rapists’ babies, that’s workable for male Republicans. They’re not shooting rapists’ babies out of their pee-holes.
The most recent unworkable Republican law made in haste that comes to mind is the one in Florida where fascist Ron DeSantis and other fascist Floridians stripped away Disney’s special district, leaving a giant tax burden on voters in the state which they haven’t figured out how to repair yet. Their knuckles have to be raw after dragging them on the ground so quickly.
So, which states would ban abortion if it’s left up to voters? That’s a good question and Nate Cohn of The New York Times might have the closest thing we’ll get to an answer without every state holding elections on the fundamental rights of abortion.
According to the Times’ analysis, support for abortion rights is below 50 percent in ONLY seven states, and it’s close in each of those seven. In fact, it’s only within a point or two in Utah, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Even in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, it’s within four or five points. These are close or within the margins of error. It’s possible that if left up to voters, not one state in this nation would ban abortion.
Even in Florida, where Republicans are talking big shit about banning abortion, 57 percent of its voters favor abortion rights. Texas and West Virginia are both at 52 percent in favor of abortion rights. All other MAGA-voting red states are also above 50 percent. Ohio, which has banned abortion even in the case of rape and incest, is at 61 percent. And in Indiana, which just banned abortion without letting the voters have a say, the support for abortion rights is at 58 percent. Keep in mind, Kansas overwhelmingly approved of abortion as a state constitutional right by 59 percent.
Knowing that they’d have the exact same results as Kansas, Indiana Republicans chose not to their voters made the call on abortion rights. But don’t worry. The fundamentalist fucknut goons took care of it for you.
Republicans are on the wrong side of every issue, but especially abortion, they had to steal three Supreme Court seats to overturn Roe. They’re changing election laws in multiple states to make it difficult for minorities to vote, but even with that, they should allow voters to vote on abortion. These GOP legislators are too cowardly though.
What they should do is put it on November’s general election ballot. That would increase voter turnout which is the last thing fascist Republicans want. A proven fact is that when more people vote, Democrats win more seats. Republicans are morons but they know they can’t win on the issues. It’s why they create bullshit like Critical Race Theory and gay textbooks.
Republicans, if you really want to ban abortion in America, then let Americans vote on it.
Cowards.
Music note: I listened to Queens of the Stone Age’s “Rated R” album and some Joan Jett.
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