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Fagala-fearing Arizona Congressman Trent Franks has reintroduced legislation that would place a federal ban on race/gender-based abortions — which would be fantastic news if either were actually a problem in the United States.
Franks today once again introduced his “Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act,” which outlaws abortions based on the race or gender of
the fetus — which historically has been a problem in countries like China and India. In the United States, though: not so much (more on that below).
In a letter to Congressional colleagues, Franks writes the following:
“[T]he Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, or “PRENDA,” … restricts
sex-selection abortion and race-selection abortion, and the coercion of a
woman to obtain either. The woman seeking an abortion is exempted from
prosecution, while abortion providers are held to account.”
Arizona passed a similar bill banning abortions based on gender or race
earlier this year. It was signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer in
March, despite there being no evidence to suggest that these types of
abortions are even happening. The intention of such bills, pro-choice
advocates argue, is to further vilify women who seek abortions.
Planned Parenthood, which according to the pro-life publication Life News,
performs nearly 30-percent of the abortions in the U.S. In other words,
the organization knows a thing or two about ending a pregnancy — and
why people choose to do so.
Earlier this year, when the far-right-wingers in the Arizona Legislature
were ironing out the details of the state’s new race/gender-based
abortion law, we spoke to Cyndi Cerf, a spokeswoman for Planned
Parenthood, to see if there was any need for the new law.
“There is no indication that this is even an issue,” she told New Times.
Cerf, rather, feels that the bill “is just to further damage the reputations of women who get an abortion.”
Franks introduced a similar bill in 2009 — it never got out of committee.
