Sunday, April 24, 2016

Making Deals With God in Oklahoma: If Our Wimminz Behave, Will You Take Care Of Our Economy?


This would be hilarious if I read it in some movie about a goofy kind of theocracy on some other planet.  But sadly, Oklahoma is on this planet:

An Oklahoma bill that could revoke the license of any doctor who performs an abortion has headed to the governor, with opponents saying the measure in unconstitutional and promising a legal battle against the cash-strapped state if it is approved.
...


Under the bill, doctors who perform abortions would risk losing their medical licenses. Exemptions would be given for those who perform the procedure for reasons including protecting the mother or removing a miscarried fetus.


...
Supporters of the bill said it will help protect the sanctity of life.
"If we take care of morality,” bill supporter David Brumbaugh, a Republican, said during deliberations, "God will take care of the economy."

Emphasis is mine.

How did Mr. Brumbaugh make that deal with his version of the divine (cell phone conversation? voices inside his head?)?  What kind of morality is covered in the contract?  Is corruption in the government now on its way out?  Will all married male politicians now stop committing adultery? 

Such fun, to ponder that.  Here is a picture of of Mr. Brumbaugh:







Given the above story, it's surprising that many of the initiatives he has supported in the Oklahoma House are about right-wing economics, given that short-cut to fix all economics by making abortion unavailable for most women.

Hmm.  But of course we all know that Mr. Brumbaugh is just feeding the hungry fundamentalist lions in his zoo, the ones who vote on the basis of a Taliban-ish interpretation of the Christian Bible.

What might the real world consequences of revoking the licenses of all physicians who perform "unnecessary" abortions be?  Let me think. 

Could it be that physicians would become more reluctant to perform even those abortions which Oklahoma Republicans grudgingly accept as possibly necessary, because it might be difficult to prove that necessity afterwards?  So which way do you think borderline cases might go?

All this is political performance art, by the way.  What's sad is how very many people see nothing much wrong with it.  We don't have corporations canceling conferences and investments in Oklahoma because of what the theocrats there are planning for wimminz.