Women Strike Back! Georgia Leads the Way

It's payback time for recidivist Republicans. Georgia law to bar vasectomies and Virginia women lower the boom on the right wing.

By Michael Collins

Georgia Democratic Representative Yasmin Neal has an answer to recidivist Republicans in Georgia, Virginia, and across the country seeking to limit a woman's right to manage her reproductive health. She introduced a bill in the Georgia legislature to bar vasectomies for men. Unlike the recent vaginal invasion bill proposed by Virginia Republicans, this measure doesn't invade the bodies of men, it protects them, along with motile spermatozoa. (Image)

Georgia House Bill 1116 states:

"It is patently unfair that men avoid the rewards of unwanted fatherhood by presuming that their judgment over such matters is more valid than the judgment of the General Assembly. ... It is the purpose of the General Assembly to assert an invasive state interest in the reproductive habits of men in this state and substitute the will of the government over the will of adult men."

The bill places the Georgia General Assembly right in the doctor's office of men seeking help with reproductive health. If there is a medical emergency, then vasectomies are allowed. Otherwise, it's tough luck.

Ironically, the bill shares an embedded assumption with the Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum's philosophy. Santorum agrees that life begins at conception. In a very real sense, by casual stopping vasectomies, the Georgia bill actually honors the potential for new life, male spermatozoa.

Carry me home to … the Old Dominion

Meanwhile back in Richmond, Virginia, the blowback from the attempt to require transvaginal ultrasound procedures for all abortions continues to build. The procedure, not required for abortions, was an attempt to humiliate women and discourage abortions. It also violated state law against object penetration. (Virginia is for Misogynists Feb 22))

Virginians opposed the law overwhelmingly in public opinion surveys. Irate citizens, mostly women, were in the state capitol building yesterday shouting down one of the sponsors of the invasive bill and generally raising their voices in opposition to the other abortion limiting measures.

The Republicans tried to sneak by a bill that would define "life" as beginning at the moment of conception, thus outlawing all abortions.

Republican governor McDonnell did an about face on all of the offensive legislation and rumors abound that there is a wave of regret and shame overcoming Republicans. Keeping with the medieval nature of the Republican proposal, some groups, unnamed as of yet, proposed a means of expiation and cleansing popular in the Middle Ages, available to this very day (see image to right).

The list of those volunteering to pay the price for their errors is said to be growing at a rapid pace and there is no shortage of volunteers to help the Republicans pay for their attempted assault on the women of Virginia.

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Appendix: Full Text of Georgia Bill

http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2011_12/versions/hb1116_LC_21_1703_a_2.htm

12 LC 21 1703

House Bill 1116

By: Representatives Neal of the 75^th, Fullerton of the 151^st, Hugley of the 133^rd, Abrams of the 84^th, Parent of the 81^st, and others

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT

To amend Article 5 of Chapter 12 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to abortion, so as to make certain legislative findings; to prohibit the performance of vasectomies in Georgia; to provide for an exception; to provide for penalties; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:

SECTION 1.

The General Assembly makes the following findings:

(1) Thousands of children are deprived of birth in this state every year because of the lack of state regulation over vasectomies;

(2) There is substantial evidence that unregulated vasectomies result in fewer unwanted pregnancies and, by extension, fewer births;

(3) It is patently unfair that men can avoid the rewards of unwanted fatherhood by presuming that their judgment over such matters is more valid than the judgment of the General Assembly;

(4) Fewer unwanted pregnancies result in fewer children living in poverty and a lower prison population, and this is job killing in a time when social workers, police officers, and prison guards need the employment to feed their families; and

(5) It is the purpose of the General Assembly to assert an invasive state interest in the reproductive habits of men in this state and substitute the will of the government over the will of adult men.

SECTION 2.

Article 5 of Chapter 12 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to abortion, is amended by adding a new Code section to read as follows:

"16-12-141.2.

(a) As used in this Code section, the term 'vasectomy' means a surgical procedure performed on males in which the vas deferens are cut, tied, cauterized, or otherwise interrupted in such a manner that the semen no longer contains sperm and conception cannot occur.

(b) No vasectomy is authorized or shall be performed in violation of this Code section. In determining whether a vasectomy is necessary, no regard shall be made to the desire of a man to father children, to his economic situation, to his age, to the number of children he is currently responsible for, or to any danger to his wife or partner in the event a child is conceived. A vasectomy may only be performed to avert the death of the man or avert serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the man. No such condition shall be deemed to exist if it is based on a diagnosis or claim of a mental or emotional condition of the man or that the man will purposefully engage in conduct which he intends to result in his death or in substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.

(c) No vasectomy is authorized or shall be performed unless the vasectomy is performed in a licensed hospital, in a licensed ambulatory surgical center, or in a health facility licensed as a vasectomy facility by the Department of Community Health.

(d) A vasectomy shall only be performed by a physician licensed under Article 2 of Chapter 34 of Title 43.

(e) Any person who performs a vasectomy, and any person permitting a vasectomy to be performed on him, in violation of this Code section shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to community service of not fewer than 1,040 hours in the field of service to needy families, caring for or counseling abused and neglected children or wayward teens, or performing service to inmates in a jail or correctional institution."

SECTION 3.

This Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its becoming law without such approval.

SECTION 4.

All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.