So I’m surfing the web (Fark.com, specifically), and what headline do I see but this:
The South Dakota GOP is attempting to legalize the murder of abortion providers
Now, Fark is known for being pretty snarky. So it was with some skepticism that I opened up the link to the actual news item, which was titled:
South Dakota GOP pushes bill to legalize ‘homicide’ in defense of the unborn
That’s a bit vague. But the article jumps right to the meat of the matter with this:
a group of Republican state legislators have crafted a bill that would expand the legal definition of “justifiable homicide” in a way that’s plain and unambiguous: they’re trying to legalize the murder of abortion doctors.
And that article links back to a “Mother Jones” article with a less ambiguous title:
South Dakota Moves To Legalize Killing Abortion Providers
On the one hand, I’m all kinds skeptical. On the other hand, leave it to the Republicans to shoot themselves in the foot with dumbassery. And on the gripping hand, there’s the actual text of the law in question:
“Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person while resisting any attempt to murder such person, or to harm the unborn child of such person in a manner and to a degree likely to result in the death of the unborn child, or to commit any felony upon him or her, or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person is.”
What this translates to is: it is justifiable for you to kill someone who is in the process of trying to kill you… or if someone is trying to kill your unborn child. The “such person” legalese means that it’s legal for the person being attacked to kill in self defense.
What surprises me is that this apparently wasn’t already the law. Who in their right might would convict of murder a woman who fights back and kills someone who is, say, violently clubbing her about her baby-bump? Pregnant women got the right same as anyone to live and try to kill people.
But the thing to pay attention to is the commenting on the Fark thread. At last count there were 402 comments, which from a quick skim through, the vast majority hold this law to be a “legal to kill abortion providers” law. There are a few who point out that that’s not what it is, and that it cannot be used to justify that position. But the thought is now firmly embedded, and comes with the expected sort of responses:
The people that proposed that law should be banned from ever representing a group ever again.
Republicans want live babies, so they can grow up and become dead soldiers.
This is so patently absurd that it should just be noted as business as usual for Republicans, the GOP, or whatever the fark those cowards call themselves. When they’re ready to come back to the real world, we might be able to have a conversation. Until then, when they’re done advocating murder to prevent abortions, they can be treated with contempt.
And so on.
