Screenshot: Nebraska Legislature
Forward of a Thursday vote on a invoice to ban abortion at roughly six weeks, which finally failed, Nebraska State Sen. Steve Halloran (R) mused aloud, “We’ve been in a state in our nation the place, for 50 years, abortion has grow to be regular, and phrases resembling ‘forcing ladies to be pregnant’ are used.”
He added, “Nobody’s forcing anybody to be pregnant. Being pregnant’s a voluntary act between two consenting adults.”
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“We gained’t go into particulars, we’re all adults right here and there could also be some kids right here, however nobody’s forcing anybody to grow to be pregnant,” Halloran mentioned, in footage of his ground remarks shared by Heartland Sign.
I can solely assume that Halloran was in a room stuffed with pacifists, as a result of nobody punched him. Abortion bans just like the one he was arguing for drive individuals to be pregnant, by definition. And I assumed this is able to be stating the plain, however apparently some individuals want it spelled out: Consenting to intercourse is just not the identical as consenting to being pregnant! If somebody has intercourse, turns into pregnant, doesn’t want to stay pregnant, and is denied abortion, then they’re, in reality, being compelled to be pregnant and subjected to state gender-based violence, whether or not Halloran likes these phrases or not. Advocates and survivors have likened abortion bans and their impression on survivors to “a second rape.”
Additional, sexual activity—, the factor that truly is ideally a “voluntary act between two consenting adults”—is, in loads of circumstances, sadly in no way “consenting,” and plenty of sexual assaults end in being pregnant.
However Halloran appears to take better concern with the phrases individuals use to speak about compelled being pregnant than the precise, devastating impacts of abortion bans, which have resulted in case after case of individuals experiencing extreme being pregnant issues being denied life-saving abortion care. Tragic tales proceed to emerge from each state with an abortion ban: a toddler rape sufferer in Ohio compelled to journey throughout state traces for care; an Oklahoma mom of three advised to attend in a hospital car parking zone for her cancerous being pregnant to worsen earlier than docs may legally present care; a six-hour ambulance trip out of Tennessee to the closest state with out an abortion ban as a girl confronted life-threatening being pregnant issues.
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The toll of abortion bans has been immeasurable, however Halloran appears solely involved with abortion rights supporters stating the plain: that persons are being compelled to be pregnant. That, and/or he simply…doesn’t know what intercourse is.
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