The Atheist Pig

October 2012
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Sep		Nov »
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Arizona State Senate Passes ‘Ignorance is Bliss’ Pregnancy Law

by andrewhall on October 24, 2012 at 8:22 am

Posted In: Blog

The Arizona Senate has passed bill 1359, otherwise known as the ‘Ignorance is Bliss’ pregnancy law. If passed by the Arizona House and signed by Governor Brewer, the statute will require doctors and other medical professionals to refrain from telling an expectant mother she is pregnant. The bill also protects the medical team from being sued due to adherence to this law.

A. A PERSON IS NOT LIABLE IN ANY CIVIL ACTIONS BASED ON A CLAIM OF MEDICAL INCOPMPETENCY DUE TO AN ACT BY THE DEFENDANT NOT INFORMING A WOMAN SHE IS PREGNANT.

B. WHILE CARING FOR A PREGNANT INDIVIDUAL THE MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WILL ADHERE TO THE GUIDELINES PRESENTED BY THE CHRISTIAN HEALTH CARE SERVICES CORPORATION.

C. THE SALE OF SCIENCE-BASED HOME PREGNANCY TESTS ARE FORBIDDEN IN THE STATE OF ARIZONA.

D. THE ONLY HOME PREGNANCY TESTS ALLOWED WITHIN STATE BORDERS WILL READ ’NOT PREGNANT ‘ OR ‘NOT PREGNANT, BUT GO TO YOUR DOCTOR RIGHT NOW!’

E. THE MANUFACTURER OF THE STATE APPROVED HOME PREGNANCY TESTS – THE CHRISTIAN HEALTH CARE SERVICES CORPORATION – IS SHIELDED FROM ANY LEGAL ACTIONS DUE TO THEIR PRODUCTS FUNCTIONING. - bill 1359

The bill sponspor, Joshua Abraham, stated that this bill will ensure that the rights of the unborn are protected from the evils of secular abortionists. The reasoning goes that if women do not know that they are pregnant, then there is no way that the baby will be killed.

Mr Abraham is also CEO of the Christian Health Care Services Corporation, the organization that has prepared a booklet of ‘Christ centered’ rules and regulations that health care workers are to follow when the bill passes into law. The rules are designed to safely shepherd a soon to be mother through the entire process without informing her of her actual condition. Mr Abraham explained the guidelines.

When a pregnant woman enters her doctor’s office for the first time she will be informed that she has Pseudocyesis (hysterical pregnancy). Pseudocyesis is a a serious psychological condition that mirrors the actual gestation of a child. The only way to treat such mental illness is to behave as if one is with child. That means she needs to follow all the normal procedures a real mother would do such as going to ultrasound appointments, eating well and so on. Of course, at the end of the process a real baby is delivered. The doctor simply has to say “Oooopsie!” and walk away with no fear of legal action by the family involved. God is happy; Mom is happy with a brand new baby; the State of Arizona is happy — it’s win-win-win.

The bill passed the Senate with a 28-1 vote. The only politician who was against the measure, Andrew Khannard, stated that bill did not completely protect the rights of the unborn. ”We have the technology to monitor what every expectant mother is doing with her body 24-7,” he stated. ”We need to ensure that every Christian baby is brought to term, and this bill does not do that.”

Yes, this is a Poe.

Here I am working diligently to undermine the religio-industrial complex. When I’m not writing, I’m working with people who have a disability, taking my kids to karate and wondering if my free-range chickens really respect me or that they’re simply tolerating my presence in their yard.

You can follow me on Twitter.

Here I am on Facebook.

And I’m also on Google+

Thomas Farrell

As a gay man I have enough batshit crazy BS from republicans to deal with on a day to day basis without you making up more. Congratulations, you’ve driven away a reader.
- http://www.laughinginpurgatory.com/ Andrew Hall
  
  As an atheist, bisexual man who is raising his children and has to deal with batshit crazy on a regular basis, I’m sorry to hear that.
- sleepingkirby
  
  You do realize that the article is a satire, but the bill is real?
  - http://www.laughinginpurgatory.com/ Andrew Hall
    
    There is an actual bill 1359 (there is a link stating the actual bill and another link to the Huff Post article about it in the first sentence)nicknamed the ‘wrongful birth’ bill. The real bill stated that a doctor couldn’t get sued for withholding information about the fetus (in cases where the fetus had a disability). The bill seemed so outrageously wrong that it needed to be satirized.
    - Joshua B
      
      I personally would much rather that you focus on the actual bill. I know this is your site, but it’s this reader’s opinion.
- moongrimm
  
  Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out….oh too late.
- Derek
  
  While not about pregnancy, this is not a joke, it’s copy-and-pasted verbatim from the 2012 platform of the Texas Republican Party:
  Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.
Mat.B

Shit like this makes me grateful that I live in europe
- Tomas (the doubter)
  
  Yes indeed!
- Derek
  
  I live in Canada, it’s a bit like having neighbours with some seriously stupid kids.
Mina

DAMN YOU! I got to C before it clicked. I’ll be over here, sobbing that it’s all too close to the truth.
- http://www.laughinginpurgatory.com/ Andrew Hall
  
  I heard about the real bill from feminist comedian Katie Goodman (who is really funny BTW) and felt it was so tragic that it needed to be made fun of.
  - Derek
    
    All such thinking should be made fun of, it’s just that any degree of insanity from the 3 R’s (Right-wing, Religious Republicans) seems frightening possible.
http://lefthemispheres.blogspot.com/ Steve Barry (@uzh77)

Amazing that people don’t understand the power of satire to diminish the reality of a ideology through the absurdity of it.
Joshua B

Yeah, one more of these things and I’m unsubscribing as well. These are pretty annoying.
- Herm
  
  I’m toying with unsubscribing myself. I get satire perfectly well (I’m from British-land, don’t yer know, old bean); it’s just that I prefer when it’s funnier.
  
  Besides which, there’s such a thing as outrage exhaustion from too many Poes. Too much of this and there’s a chance I won’t bother fighting actual Godidiocy.
  - heathenveganoz
    
    Boo, bloody hoo. Lighten up. Y’all won’t be missed.
http://www.lauriesjobsearchtidbits.wordpress.com Laurie

Good one, Andy! Guess there are some who don’t get the satire concept – or maybe being fooled by the first half of the post pissed them off.

I’ve heard that the Oooooopsie Clause is widely used among medical malpractice lawyers….
Hoho

From where is that Abraham’s quote from? I’d like to cite it but can’t find the source anywhere.
- Hoho
  
  Doh, never mind. It’s too early in the morning here
Steve

The shown text is not the actual text of the law. Please let’s not do what politicians and non-atheists do, lie or stretch the truth and fear monger. I’m not commenting on the bill itself, just the facts of the actual content of the bill. The actual text is:

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
2 Section 1. Title 12, chapter 6, article 12, Arizona Revised Statutes,
3 is amended by adding section 12-718, to read:
4 12-718. Civil liability; wrongful birth, life or conception
5 claims; application
6 A. A PERSON IS NOT LIABLE FOR DAMAGES IN ANY CIVIL ACTION FOR WRONGFUL
7 BIRTH BASED ON A CLAIM THAT, BUT FOR AN ACT OR OMISSION OF THE DEFENDANT, A
8 CHILD OR CHILDREN WOULD NOT OR SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN BORN.
9 B. A PERSON IS NOT LIABLE FOR DAMAGES IN ANY CIVIL ACTION FOR WRONGFUL
10 LIFE BASED ON A CLAIM THAT, BUT FOR AN ACT OR OMISSION OF THE DEFENDANT, THE
11 PERSON BRINGING THE ACTION WOULD NOT OR SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN BORN.
12 C. THIS SECTION APPLIES TO ANY CLAIM REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE CHILD
13 IS BORN HEALTHY OR WITH A BIRTH DEFECT OR OTHER ADVERSE MEDICAL CONDITION.
14 D. THIS SECTION DOES NOT APPLY TO ANY CIVIL ACTION FOR DAMAGES FOR AN
15 INTENTIONAL OR GROSSLY NEGLIGENT ACT OR OMISSION, INCLUDING AN ACT OR
16 OMISSION THAT VIOLATES A CRIMINAL LAW.
- Isilzha
  
  I think many of you are missing the point. This is such a ridiculous law that Andrew’s post is really not THAT much more ridiculous than the actual text. A pregnancy is a MEDICAL condition and this law seeks to allow people to give inadequate medical care to women. What if it was about prostate or penile cancer. What if it said that a person (ie, medical “professional” couldn’t be held liable for KNOWINGLY withholding a cancer diagnosis from a patient? What if it then went on to say that a person who did so would not be held liable for purposefully withholding medical information? Yeah, the satire doesn’t seem so ridiculous now, does it?
Joshua B

The satire, to me, does seem pretty ridiculous. Maybe some of you disagree, but I don’t think it’s very funny, really just obnoxious. Both of these articles I’ve read, I got to a certain point and realized it was satire, and both times I found it highly annoying.
- sleepingkirby
  
  Well, this is more in line with Jon Swift’s “a modest proposal”. You won’t get the joke until see the writer’s true intent. When I first read it (A Modest Proposal), I too was horrified. Because, compared to the writings of similar topics at the time, it wasn’t too far off. But Swift manage to pull it extreme enough for [some] people to see how far they’ve come. Even now, A Modest Proposal isn’t that funny. In fact, it’s only funny to a few. But it does point something out in a way that is hard to do any other way
  - Anonymous
    
    A Modest Proposal is only funny to a few? We read that in both high school and college English classes and practically everyone in both classes loved it.
    
    My high school English teacher silently handed it out to us and sat at her desk watching as we read, waiting for us to look up in shock and horror. That was pretty funny too, especially since a lot of people (if not most, especially at that age) can’t tell if things are satire unless someone tells them.
moongrimm

The problem with Satire: when it comes to satirizing Conservatives- it’s difficult to differentiate from reality.

Got Tod Akin?
salahhe

I enjoy good satire more than most people. But this article commited the ultimate sin: it wasn’t funny. It was boring, exagerated, not plausible, “i could tell from the second paragraph” “fuck you, asshole” kind of useless piece of writing. Like a magic act where you can see the card in the sleeve from the very beginning. Do you know how much good satire is on the internet? Your really think anyone is going to waste time to read crap without getting pissed for wasting their time? Think twice, publish once.
- sleepingkirby
  
  I’ll admit this isn’t the best satire in the world but what rule states a satire has to be funny?
  - Joshua B
    
    None of this is about rules. It’s just several of us that are letting the author know that we aren’t going to stick around if this is the direction the author keeps going. He’s well within his rights to do it, and I do not know if I’m in the majority in my opinion or not. But, take it or leave it, it’s honest feedback.
    - sleepingkirby
      
      What we’re saying/asking is. A) What’s so bad about this satire? We kind of need to know what’s wrong with this that so offends people? B) This is a guest entry, not the pig himself. C) We understand that this type of thing isn’t for everyone. We’re not doing this to attract readers or to be popular. There’s criticism and constructive criticism. The former simple goes “this sucks! you suck!”. The latter says with good reason as to why it’s bad and how it can be improved. If you don’t like it, we’re not saying you need to like it. Feel free to unsubscribe. We just ask for some constructive criticism.
      - Joshua B
        
        I think salahhe hit the nail on the head. It just isn’t funny. Nor is it particularly witty.
    - The Atheist Pig
      
      Thanks for the feedback Joshua, it’s appreciated. Andrew will still be writing pieces for the site, and while I’d love for you to stick around, I understand that you may not like where the site is going and may choose to leave.
      
      If that’s the case, let me say thank you for reading and being a fan up to this point.
GOTTSCHLICH

This is a joke,right?
Herm

Hmm, maybe you could add a “comics only” feed for those who aren’t into the blog posts…
ladydisturbedone

So this is a joke? Or some is and some isn’t? Wow.

Donate

Hit up the Forum

Arizona State Senate Passes ‘Ignorance is Bliss’ Pregnancy Law

Subscribe

Archives

Recent Posts

Follow The Atheist Pig