Sex Education for California, Heartbeat Bills for the Heartland
Dig deeper than the worship of money on the so-called Christian right and you’ll run right into the biggest bugaboo of them all: sex. The rules of the game for the righteous dictate male dominant relationships, with the closer-to-God man/father always at the helm.
In the world of politics this belief system plays out in several ways. Suppression of knowledge about biology and physiology is one them. Controlling education is another.
The intersection of these elements in politics comes to the fore whenever the topic of “Sex Ed” arises. As the American Library Association dutifully reminds us each year in September, the number one reason that books are banned remains “sexually explicit content.”
The California Department of Education approved changes to the state’s health and sex education framework on this week. Included are new guidelines for elementary school grades about sex trafficking, sexual orientation and how to support transgender and non-conforming students in the classroom.
Cue the outrage. There have been protests against inclusion of such topics, along the way. State Senator Brian Jones, whose district encompasses the northern and eastern parts of San Diego County, was a featured speaker at a March 28 rally, organized by a group calling itself Informed Parents of California.
Via the Sacramento Bee:
“It’s important that you let the bureaucrats hear your loud voice when it comes to raising your children,” State Sen. Brian Jones, R-Santee, said to the crowd. “It’s also important that your local school boards hear about you.”
California schools are not required to implement the framework. What was adopted were recommendations for teachers and administrators. And students can opt-out from lessons about sexual health.
Students can’t opt-out of lessons including gender identity, discrimination and explaining social issues such as the Supreme Court ruling on same sex marriage. This is too much too soon for right wing family groups.
Via the Sacramento Bee:
…“There are all kinds of alternatives, but they want to teach sex ed with the guise that they were trying to prevent sexual transmitted diseases and prevent teen pregnancy,” said Greg Burt, director of California Family Council. “Now we are teaching kids how to have a robust sex life. Not everything under the sun needs to be taught to our kids, with no moral judgment.”
Ah, that old moral judgement excuse…
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https://twitter.com/astoldbyhailey_/status/1125834434215907337
Another front in the right’s crusade to save male dominance is the topic of abortion.
“Heartbeat” bills, banning abortions at any stage of pregnancy after the detection of “embryonic or fetal cardiac activity” (typically sex weeks after fertilization) have been signed into law in six states – Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio and now Georgia – just since the beginning of this year.
The real purpose of such bills is to create a pathway to a Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
The two latest iterations of this legal strategy are especially cruel, providing insight into the misogyny inherent in creating them.
In Ohio:
A judge has set a $1 million bond for an Ohio man accused of raping a now-pregnant 11-year-old girl.
Police said Juan Leon-Gomez, 26, of Massillon, was arrested Wednesday after a mother reported that her daughter was missing.
...Ohio’s new “heartbeat bill” means that the 11-year-old girl will likely be forced to carry the child to birth, regardless of the fact that she was raped.
According to NPR, the “Human Rights Protection Act,” as the heartbeat bill was renamed, bans abortions as early as five or six weeks, before many women even know they’re pregnant. It adds criminal penalties for doctors who violate the law, and does not include exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
In Georgia there is an exception for rape or incest, provided the victim filed a police report. Given that only 31% of rapes are reported and/or an 11-year-old is highly unlikely to report being assaulted by a relative, this is bullshit.
...starting on January 1, 2020, any woman who has an abortion in Georgia after 6 weeks (when most women don't even know they're pregnant) will be considered to have committed murder, and is therefore subject to the potential for life in prison or the death penalty…
...And a woman who miscarries because of her own conduct—say, using drugs while pregnant—would be liable for second-degree murder, punishable by 10 to 30 years’ imprisonment. Prosecutors may interrogate women who miscarry to determine whether they can be held responsible; if they find evidence of culpability, they may charge, detain, and try these women for the death of their fetuses...
...A woman who travels out of Georgia to obtain a legal abortion elsewhere could still be prosecuted under the new law, and imprisoned for up to ten years…
https://twitter.com/DonCheadle/status/1126522273869877248
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Email me at DougPorter@WordsAndDeedsBlog.com