GOP Lawmakers Want to Put Your Abortion Records Online

by Jen Nedeau · 2009-10-09 08:57:00 UTC
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In case you missed this story yesterday, yes it's true: Republicans in the state of Oklahoma are trying to mandate the collection and online publication of abortion medical records.

Here's a list of some of the items that will be published ONLINE if this law passes:

  1. Date of abortion

  2. County in which abortion performed

  3. Age of mother

  4. Marital status of mother (married, divorced, separated, widowed, or never married)

  5. Race of mother

  6. Years of education of mother (specify highest year completed)

  7. State or foreign country of residence of mother

  8. Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother

  9. Number of pregnancies that ended in live births

  10. Number of pregnancies that ended in miscarriages

  11. Number of pregnancies that ended in induced abortions

The law is intended to "prevent abortions" - not through accessible contraception or comprehensive sex education - but public shaming. Why not just add on another item on this horrific list that says, "Every woman who has ever had an abortion must wear a red A on their shirt" as well? Perhaps we can even get Nathaniel Hawthorne to rise from his grave and write a sequel to The Scarlet Letter.

Talk about government interfering with your privacy. This is one of the most absurd legislative attacks on women I've ever seen. It disgusts me that Republicans are actually considering this as a tactic to block women from having an abortion and move their anti-choice agenda forward.

My colleague at Air America, Megan Carpentier, gave a great explanation of this f*cked up legislation on the Rachel Maddow show last night. Check it out here.

Photo credit: quinn.anya

Jen Nedeau Jen Nedeau is a media relations professional and a writer based in New York City.
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