What Do Vaginas Have to Do With Motorcycles? Ask North Carolina Republicans

If the Republican party was as passionate about banning access to abortion as they were about political accountability, I could enjoy my lunch breaks without being interrupted by the nonsensical insertion of an anti-abortion legislation into a motorcycle safety bill. Because nothing says safety like jeopardizing the health of thousands of women by closing down almost every abortion clinic in the state of North Carolina! Yes this just happened. Thanks to Republicans, #MotorcycleVagina is trending on Twitter. You just can't make this stuff up.

According to Huffington Post, the "Senate legislation would require abortion providers to meet strict licensing standards and would mandate that a doctor is present for the entire procedure." It was slipped into an unrelated motorcycle safety bill, without any public debate or notice given to Democrats to discuss the bill. This happened only days after the Governor McCrory had threatened to veto the previous anti-abortion legislation that was slipped into an anti-sharia legislation. It's as if Republicans in North Carolina were concerned with job creation, but only in the late-night comedy industry. Don't they realize how ridiculously undemocratic this all this?

Democrats were floored. State Rep. Joe Sam Queen (D) took his anger out on Twitter.

What will the bill do? It could close almost every abortion clinic in the state of North Carolina making abortion virtually impossible.

"House Republicans tweaked the Senate legislation: A doctor would have to be present when the first drug in an abortion procedure is administered — rather than for the entire procedure — and clinics would not have to meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers," the Huffington Post reports.

As you may have guessed, these new regulations are not meant to make women safer, they are meant to restrict their bodily autonomy. Medical experts agree, draconian anti-abortion laws like this one are detrimental to women's health. According to the Huffington Post, "the state's top health official has called for lawmakers to slow down on the abortion legislation."  But who are you going to believe? The lady who went to medical school or the guy who inserts laws regulating your uterus into motorcycle bills? Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

UPDATED: According to the Huffingon Post, the author of Texas' anti-abortion bill, State Rep. Jodie Laubenberg (R), has argued against health care for the unborn because "they're not born yet." Back in 2007, she tried to pass a bill that would force expecting mothers to "to wait three months before they could begin receiving prenatal and perinatal care under the Children's Health Insurance Program." When asked "You do know, don't you, that these are U.S. citizens?" Laubenberg answered "But they're not born yet." 

Pro-life? Yeah. Sure.

For more updates on North Carolina and some fun vagina motorcycle puns, follow me on Twitter: @feministabulous