by guest blogger Jess
Georgia house reps passed a bill commonly referred to as the “fetal pain bill” by Georgian Republicans and as the “women as livestock bill” by everyone else, HB 954 garnered national attention this month when state Rep. Terry England (R-Auburn) compared pregnant women carrying stillborn fetuses to the cows and pigs on his farm. According to Rep. England and his warped thought process, if farmers have to “deliver calves, dead or alive,” then a woman carrying a dead fetus, or one not expected to survive, should have to carry it to term.
http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012/03/31/at-11th-hour-georgia-passes-women-as-livestock-bill/
This is a remarkable example of the cruelty that language can illuminate. There is no amount of personal censor to quell Rep. England from literally comparing a human to something less than human.
ReplyDeleteThis, in conjunction to recent sentiments against (and yes I mean against) women through legislature situates the American female in a horrific breaking point in modern politics.
I feel like this case along with the contraception debate have highlighted the fact that our society is taking a huge leap backwards in our progressive efforts. Even more disturbing to consider, maybe we have not progressed further than we would like to believe considering the large amount of sexist mentality and language that exist in our everyday vernacular. I would like to believe that we have progressed since women gained their rightful place at the ballot booths, but to be honest, legislative action did not prompt a significant enough of a shift in our mindset.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like this election term as well as President Obama's entire presidency has been about polarization to the extreme. The deadlock in congress has illustrated this polarization on the most prevalent social issues. I feel like the debates we use in the classroom setting to introduce argumentation are all moving to the forefront of political discourse. Issues such as abortion rights, civil rights, healthcare, euthanasia, and racial profiling among others have all been the majority of political discourse. And why? because it forces people to choose where they stand regardless of logic and an election campaign thrives on that.
But before I start sounding like a conspiracy theorist to some who will not agree with me, I will step back from the political argument. All I will say, is that the legislation passed in Georgia is an exercise in spectacle. It gets people's attention in this election year and those people will have to stand to the right or the left.