Maybe we should enlist PETA
by digby
You've probably heard of the Illinois Republican attempt to pass a state rape bill. But I didn't know the committee involved was taking time away from its duties legislating farm animal policy, although I should have guessed:
Illinois women who want to get abortions might be required to either view an ultrasound before the procedure or decline to do so in writing, under proposals that passed an Illinois House committee Tuesday.
The two measures call for more regulations on centers that perform abortions -- including requiring doctors to ask if the patient wants to see an ultrasound and additional building regulations on the actual clinics -- were passed overwhelmingly in the Agricultural Committee. They head to the House floor for debate.
[...]
Rep. Deborah Mell, a Chicago Democrat, was one of the two members voting against the bills and criticized the assignment to a committee that generally handles farming issues.
"We're not talking about abortions for cows and pigs, right? We're talking about women?" she said.
According to the article, it was assigned to the agriculture committee because it's dominated by conservatives --- which means there's not much difference. Women are just another form of livestock to these fine folks. When you buy yourself a nice brood mare or a good milker, you want to get your money's worth. These folks are there to make government policies that protect your investment and ensure a plentiful supply.
The rest of the article discusses another gambit that's being tried all over the country as well as Illinois --- demanding hospital building and staffing standards for any clinic that performs abortions. This is all part of a bigger strategy to restric access to abortion called a TRAP bill:
TRAP stands for Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers. TRAP bills single out abortion providers for medically unnecessary, politically motivated state regulations. They can be divided into three general categories:
a measure that singles out abortion providers for medically unnecessary regulations, standards, personnel qualifications, building and/or structural requirements;
a politically motivated provision that needlessly addresses the licensing of abortion clinics and/or charges an exorbitant fee to register a clinic in the state; or
a measure that unnecessarily regulates where abortions may be provided or designates abortion clinics as ambulatory surgical centers, outpatient care centers, or hospitals without medical justification.
It's kind of ironic that the anti-regulation right wing is using this particular method to stop women from exercising their right to abortion, but they actually delight in such hypocrisy. Someone should ask Ron Paul what he thinks of this sort of thing. I'd be interested in knowing the answer.
h/t to VW