Arizona’s new 20-week abortion ban goes into effect Thursday, with very real effects for families expecting babies with fatal fetal defects. The Arizona Republic reports on volunteer services rising to the challenge of helping parents cope with the trauma of watching infants die within minutes, hours, or days of birth.
House Bill 2036, which measures a fetus’ gestational age from the first day of the woman’s last period, prevents abortion after 18 weeks of pregnancy, making it the most extreme ban in the nation. Most fetal abnormalities are detected during this period, but the ban forbids abortions even when the doctor discovers a fatal defect. The woman must then carry to term a baby who will almost certainly die as soon as it is born.
MISS Foundation and Embrace are non-profits specifically working to develop birth plans for such families, provide counseling, and prepare funeral services. The Legislature has allocated no funding for these services, which are expected to kick into high demand once the abortion ban goes into effect.
About 100 pregnancies are terminated after 20 weeks in Arizona each year. According to Joanne Cacciatore, the CEO of MISS Foundation, one or two families a month currently seek their help preparing for a fatal birth. But they expect their resources to be stretched past maximum capacity soon.
Two Michigan state representatives were told that they wouldn’t be recognized to publicly speak on any matters before the House because of comments they made.
Barred from speaking for saying the word, “vagina.”
What the fucking fuck?
Five lesbians who say they were attacked because of their sexual orientation are angry with the D.C. police officers who responded for releasing the attackers and not taking a report.
Early Saturday morning, the women were walking in the 3100 block of 14th Street NW when two men confronted them. First, the men flirted, but after one of the women rebuffed their advances by saying she was with her girlfriend, the men began hurling obscenities at them, the women said.
It allegedly escalated to a physical confrontation when one of the women was punched in the face. When other women in the group went to her aid, more punches allegedly were thrown by both men.
“A very violent attack, leaving bruises on their faces and black eyes,” said A.J. Singletary, of Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence.
A bystander called police, but what happened when officers arrived was not what any of the victims expected. Police released the men.
“The police response kind of brushed off the attack,” Singletary said. “They said the women were hysterical, which is understandable. I mean, if you’re attacked, especially in that violent of a fashion, the expectation is that you’d be very upset about that, so the fact that the police said they were hysterical and even threatened to arrest the women themselves because they were so hysterical is absolutely unacceptable.”
The department’s gay and lesbian liaison took reports later, and Chief Cathy Lanier has spoken to the victims.
“The great response after the fact doesn’t make up for the poor response in the beginning,” Lanier said. “For four or five officers to be aware of a crime and not take police action, that’s a very serious allegation.”
An internal investigation of the officer’s actions is under way, Lanier said, and police have good leads in the alleged hate crime itself.
This incident follows two recent crimes against transgender women – one in which the victim was killed and another in which she was shot at. Police don’t believe the incidents are related.
