Good news, ladies! The Arizona legislature has just sent a bill to Governor Jan Brewer to sign that says pregnancy begins TWO WEEKS BEFORE CONCEPTION!
A provision in AZ House Bill 2036 defines gestational age as “calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman,” which would move the beginning of a pregnancy up two weeks prior to conception.
State Rep. Matt Heinz (D-Tucson), a physician, said that current medical science can only determine gestational age to within a 10-14 day range. Meaning that doctors can’t give an exact time/date of conception. But your all-knowing Arizona politicians think they can and are trying to make it state law.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill to prohibit abortions after the 18th week of pregnancy; a bill to protect doctors from being sued if they withhold health information about a pregnancy that could cause a woman to seek an abortion. In other words, if a doctor finds that a fetus has birth defects or even fatal issues and doesn’t tell the mother about the situation because the doctor doesn’t want the woman to pursue an abortion, this law will prevent that doctor from being sued no matter what happens to the fetus or the mother during or after the pregnancy.
I only include that information so you don’t think that money isn’t involved in this freak show of a bill.
Oh … and there’s a stipulation in the bill to require public schools to teach students that adoption and birth are the only acceptable outcomes for an unwanted pregnancy.
Click here to read the full text of the bill as it will appear on the governor’s desk tomorrow.
So now, when a man and woman make eye contact in a bar in Arizona and begin flirting … BAM! THEY’RE PARENTS!
You may want to contact your legislators and the governor if you think this bill is as ASININE as I do.
This bill proves that Republican life begins at misconception.
Contact the Governor: http://www.azgovernor.gov/Contact.asp
Contact your Legislator: http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp
Gary St. Lawrence
Kat
April 13, 2012
Read H.B. 2036. 36-2159 A. This is referring to probable gestational age to determine if the age would be less than 22 weeks. Nowhere in the bill is there a definition of life.
Gary St. Lawrence
April 13, 2012
Top of page 8, part 4: “Gestational age” means the age of the unborn child as calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman.
Now, being a man, I’m not exactly Doctor Ruth. But I’m fairly certain that “the last menstrual period” must, by biological science, PRECEDE THE PREGNANCY, because once the woman is pregnant, she no longer HAS menstrual periods through the term of the pregnancy. Please correct me if that’s an incorrect statement.
Therefore, if these politicians are defining the life span of the fetus as beginning BEFORE the pregnancy, then they are declaring that LIFE BEINGS BEFORE CONCEPTION.
I’m sorry if that clashes with your political views. I know how averse most Republicans are to these “scientific theories” as opposed to “documented fact” like creationism.
Pat Flickner
April 30, 2012
AC-tually, Gary, some women DO continue to menstruate while pregnant. Many of these women don’t realize that they are pregnant just because of this, and by the time they realize it, they’re either at the doctor’s office complaining that they’re unable to lose weight over the past few months, they’re in the emergency room complaining of horrible abdominal pain, or they’re giving birth, thinking they had to go to the bathroom. I know personally two women who fell into the first two categories, and read about the last one years ago whose husband called 911 when he heard his wife screaming.
Nonetheless, with the wording of this law, virtually every single woman that is still menstruating is pregnant until proven otherwise. It doesn’t matter whether they actually engaged in any kind of sexual activity; they’re pregnant until the GOTP says otherwise. See? No more need for doctors; if you’re not rich, just go to your local GOTP representative.
And people wonder why I’m running for office again.