I know, it totally sounds like a joke, right? But April Fool's Day has come and gone and this is as real as it gets. A new Arizona bill has declared that a woman is pregnant two weeks before conception. In other words, if you're ovulating in the next two weeks and you're lucky enough to live in Arizona, guess what? You're pregnant!
The point of this legislation is to outlaw abortions after 20 weeks, but the wording regarding how to calculate this time frame makes it so that the start of an unborn baby's life is before conception, essentially banning abortion after the 18-week mark.
Check it out: Under H.B. 2036, lawmakers are proposing that a baby's gestational age should be "calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman." In other words, you don't even need to have sex to be pregnant in Arizona. WTH?
This is so absurd that even though I want to cry in disbelief, I actually can't help but laugh out loud at how far these lawmakers are willing to take things to push their agenda. The whole thing is just so ridiculous that I seriously doubt a bill like this will ever see the light of day. Then again, let's not forget this is Arizona. The infamous state that passed the nation's most draconian and discriminatory anti-immigration law, SB 1070, back in 2010.
Besides the fact that this is ridiculous, outlawing abortion after 18 weeks, could keep a lot of parents from catching potential life-threatening conditions and other impairments since many medical tests aren't performed that early on.
The bill, which passed in the Senate last Thursday, will now go before the house. I think politicians in Arizona have proven once and for all that this really should be none of their business. It's time they get out of our bedrooms and start respecting our rights!
What do you think about this bill?
Image via Trevor Bair/flickr
