Now that we have arrived at the plot points of both George Orwell’s “1984” and “Animal Farm,” in American society, it only makes sense that Republicans continue down the line of dystopian novels to Margaret Atwood’s “Handmaids Tale.”
This week, Arkansas Republicans introduced a law which, if passed, would allow a rapist to sue his victim in order to force her to carry the product of that rape to term, preventing her from obtaining an abortion if she desires it.
This sick new law claims to be pro-life but completely disregards the trauma it would create.
Republicans feel they can get away with this by proposing the law allowing fathers of an unwanted fetus to sue to prosecute abortionists or even block an abortion from taking place. This law makes good on the frequent pro-life and Men’s Rights Activist talking-point that men are the real victims of abortion because they have no legal standing to prevent an abortion.
“A clause in the legislation also states the husband of a woman seeking an abortion, if he is presumed to be the baby’s father, can file a civil lawsuit against the physician for monetary damages or “injunctive relief” ― a court order that would prevent the doctor from going ahead with the procedure.
The woman’s parents or legal guardians can also sue to stop the abortion, if she is a minor.
Although a husband cannot win money in cases of “criminal conduct” against his wife ― namely, spousal rape ― he could still sue to block her from having the abortion.”
This is quite frankly a dangerous and unlawful proposal. If the law were to by some miracle be passed into law, it would most definitely be challenged for violating Roe V. Wade at the very least.
This would usually mean that it would eventually be struck down at the Supreme Court level, but of course with a SCOTUS shifting its ideological views every day, we can no longer depend on this check and balance system to protect women from invasive and terrifying laws.
Luckily, we’ve got a female-dominated population who is more active and perceptive than ever. If the scumbags who proposed this ill-conceived law get anywhere close to signing it into law, there will be hell to pay.
