Bizarre Loophole Will Criminalize Abortions, IVF, And…

Rabidly right-wing presidential hopeful, Senator Raphael “Ted” Cruz (R-Texas), proved again that he doesn’t care about women, the Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court, or their rulings. Sen. Cruz happily announced that he found a bizarre loophole that lets him get around that pesky Constitution – and the Roe v. Wade ruling, and allow him to ban abortions and IVF, among other legal procedures.

During his short stint as a junior senator, Sen. Cruz has proven his ignorance and spewed his hate multiple times, but this latest attack in his personal war on women is clearly the most egregious.

The Personhood Movement

Sen. Cruz says all he has to do is convince Congress to use a “strict interpretation” of the Fourteenth Amendment to declare fertilized eggs as “persons,” according to Bustle, and then enforce the Equal Protection Clause to protect it.

This originally came out during an interview with Robert George on his EWTN Catholic talk show in November, “Candidate Conversations 2016.” More recent conversations about the loophole has Sen. Cruz saying he has the Pope’s blessing, according to Right Wing Watch.

He claims the loophole will protect embryos from abortion and other harmful acts, such as the aftermath of IVF, birth control and the like, but that’s not the case. This is actually just another attempt at getting a personhood bill or amendment passed.

Pro Abortion Reform by Cory Doctorow
Original 1972 Pro-Abortion Article by Corey Doctorow via Flickr/CC by SA-2.0

This is in spite personhood bills repeatedly failing in even the deepest, darkest blood red of states. Why, you ask?

Put simply, because personhood laws criminalize everything that might harm an embryo. That list includes some outrageous things.

Sen. Cruz promised to get personhood passed when he signed a Right to Life PAC contract – and it’s no wonder, since as a result, they endorsed him and donated to his presidential campaign. Talk about being beholden to special interests…

Unexpected Consequences

Sen. Cruz will take every personhood bill provision ever attempted nationwide and roll them up into the loophole. To make it work, Congress must define when the embryo becomes a “person.” Sen. Cruz wants to define that as the moment of conception, as most evangelicals do.

He doesn’t really care what the bible actually says, just so long as the way he make everyone believe him. Way to go twisting the bible to suit your needs, Teddy boy.

Bad evangelicals! That is not what God intended, and anyone who has read the bible know that Exodus 21:22-25 says a fetus isn’t a human life until it’s born. Oh well, what do you expect from he same senator who introduced what’s been called the “most anti-woman bill” in history?

Ultimate Goals

Make no mistake – outlawing abortion in every case is the ultimate goal, whether Sen. Cruz and other personhood supporters admit it or not. The loophole will outlaw anything that interferes with saving a potential baby – no matter the consequences.

Abortion will be entirely criminalized in every trimester, and the woman and doctor penalized for performing one. You’ll also say goodbye to the rape and incest exception. Instead, say hello to the following scenario – one which Sen. Cruz advocates:

You shouldn’t have let him rape you. So what if you’re 11, or it was your father? You asked for it. Deal with it.”

While that’s just a made up scenario in this case, a real version happened in another country recently. If Sen. Cruz gets his way, it’ll start happening here. That’s not the worst of it, though. There’s more. Much, much more.

Collateral Damage = Women, IVF, And Chocolate

The unintended consequences and collateral damage that the strict interpretation will cause is concerning, at best. First up? Miscarriage and stillbirth would be criminalized, according to Politifact. This would happen the same way state fetal homicide laws criminalize them, according to the National Council of State Legislatures. So will already existing “chemical laws,” according to ProPublica. These jail women for taking prescribed medications.

Next on the list is birth control, ectopic pregnancy treatment, and In Vitro Fertilization since some birth control methods stop fertilized eggs from implanting, ectopic pregnancy treatment destroys embryos to save the woman, and IVF’s extra embryos are routinely destroyed.

Interesting, though, how the “right to life” movement applies a double standard to IVF, whcih has left these women alone. Not to worry, though, because Sen. Cruz will fix that.

Drinking coffee, not taking prenatal vitamins, rough sex, eating chocolate (containing the chemical caffeine), bike riding – and anything else that could “harm” the “person” inside – will be criminalized and get a woman jailed.

What? It’s already happening? According to one study, hundreds were convicted of the above “crimes,” and that number doesn’t even include the thousands convicted of crimes that don’t actually exist, according to RH Reality Check.

But who cares? These women had a choice – they didn’t have to have sex. The resulting embryo didn’t have a choice, and must be saved at all costs. Unfortunately, that’s what every anti-choice evangelical believes right down to the very core of their being, including Sen. Cruz.

I wonder though… If Sen. Cruz’s wife ever had a miscarriage, or his wife or daughters were ever raped (and I hope they’re not, of course), would he make an exception for them?

I shudder to think of the answer…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr_yshI9D7A]

Featured mashup – original images by DonkeyHotey and Mike Licht via Flickr/CC by SA-2.0