Alaska Lawmaker: Women Should Obtain Permission From Men Before Undergoing An Abortion

Alaska Lawmaker: Women Should Obtain Permission From Men Before Undergoing An Abortion:
Like several conservative states across the country, Alaska is considering anti-abortion bills that would mandate ultrasounds for women seeking abortions and prohibit state agencies or employees from referring women to “abortion counseling, or another abortion-related service.” Such extreme measures have been rejected — and mocked — by the general public, and have also exposed the sexist and patronizing world views of their sponsors. For instance, a lawmaker in Idaho was recently forced to walk back his suggestion that “a doctor should ask a woman who says she was raped if the pregnancy could have been ’caused by normal relations in a marriage’ and now an Alaska legislator is facing blowback over an insensitive comment of his own. The Mudlfats reports that State Rep. Alan Dick recently “said that he doesn’t believe that when a woman is pregnant, it’s really ‘her pregnancy’” and “would advocate for criminalizing women who have an abortion without the permission via written signature from the man who impregnated her.” “If I thought that the man’s signature was required… required, in order for a woman to have an abortion, I’d have a little more peace about it,” he said. Such remarks suggest that the GOP’s effort to restrict access to abortion aren’t just about outlawing a particular procedure — they’re also aimed at ensuring that women are subservient to men.