4.05.2007

The tide turns on the ultrasound bill?

At yesterday's State Senate hearing about the ultrasound bill (a hearing that, again, was called with around 24 hours' notice so that those of us who have jobs couldn't possibly be there), Attorney General Henry McMaster told senators that he thinks the bill is illegal. He's changed his mind on this, by the way--last week he said it was legal. I hope that our emails and calls had something to do with that.

This is good news because his opinion gives senators an out. Apparently it's politically untenable to be pro-choice in this godforsaken state, so pro-choice senators who didn't want to vote for the bill can now go to their anti-abortion constituencies and say that the reason they didn't support the bill is because it would tie us up in needless lawsuits, which wouldn't be good for South Carolina. Which is true. It's sad that the "needless lawsuits" argument is probably much more compelling than the "women's reproductive rights" argument, but I'll take what I can get.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You wrote, "in this godforsaken state." Isn't that a bit rude? Who pays your salary? What influence do you expect to have after insulting South Carolina? Love it or leave it!!

Biffle said...

The state pays her salary.

To teach women's studies.

A state considering the passage of an unconstitutional bill, to punish women, for pursuing a legal option, concerning what they do with their own bodies, is indeed godforsaken and it desperately needs Alison to do her job.

Anonymous said...

"Love it or leave it" is entirely too simplistic in this case and in most. I have lived in SC my entire life and I love a lot of things here--my college, my friends, my family. I want to change SC politically because I love it. That's the mark of truly loving something in that sense, changing it when you see a problem, not letting it go on as is or blindly supporting every policy the legislature puts out.