If you happen to have a problem with a Sasquatch trampling your lawn or unicorns eating your shrubs or a leprechaun's running amok in your garage, just call state Representative Steve Montenegro or state Senator Nancy Barto -- they seem to have a knack for solving problems that don't actually exist...on your dime.
The Arizona House of Representatives voted yesterday to send a bill penned by Montenegro to the desk of Governor Jan Brewer that would force any doctor who performs an abortion to sign an affidavit confirming that the reason for the abortion wasn't the race or gender of the fetus.
The bill also allows the father of the fetus -- as long as he's married to the woman who gets an abortion -- to sue a doctor if he thinks an abortion was performed based on race or sex.
A violation of the proposed law would be a class 3 felony.
"This legislation really is needed. Sex-selection abortions are happening in this country, and it's time that we address it head on," Barto told Cronkite News Service yesterday.
Prove it, Nancy.
So far, there's been no evidence to suggest that abortions performed for either of those reasons are even a problem in Arizona.
"There is no indication that this is even an issue," Planned Parenthood Arizona spokeswoman Cynde Cerf told New Times.
Cerf, rather, feels that the bill "is just to further damage the reputations of women who get an abortion."
Rather than simply take Cerf's word for it, we e-mailed both Barto and Montenegro demanding just a sliver of evidence to validate their claim that these types of abortions are enough of a problem in Arizona to justify the proposed law -- and the amount of their time (and your money) they spent pushing it through the legislative process.
See an excerpt of the e-mail below:
i have sent each of you e-mails in the past asking for a single shred of evidence that suggests abortions being performed for either of those reasons is even a problem in arizona. neither of you have gotten back to me. sen. barto, you recently said "This legislation really is needed. Sex-selection abortions are happening in this country, and it's time that we address it head on." do you have any information whatsoever to back that up? i'm not sure if you've seen anything i've written about this, but i'm very critical of the bill because i've seen absolutely no evidence suggesting it's a problem. my problem with this bill is not that you want to prevent these types of abortions from happening, my problem is that it seems like you're wasting your time, and my -- and every other taxpayer in arizona's -- money by even discussing it when there's no evidence to support your claims that it's even an issue..if you have any evidence to support your claim that abortions being performed for either of these reasons is a problem in arizona (not china), i'm all ears. and you may even change my mind. if people are actually doing this, it is a problem that needs to be addressed. that said, i've seen no evidence suggesting it's a problem, and my guess is you haven't either.
please get back to me.
thank you
The lawmakers' response: crickets.
Neither Barto or Montenegro bothered to get back to us.
The bill now heads to the desk of Brewer, who -- based her strong stance against abortion, and her proclivity for ignoring common sense -- will probably sign it.
