We’re in the Friday Feminist Fuck You!

I love this. I love Feministing and I’ve always loved the Friday Feminist Fuck You segments. I’m not exactly proud that Montana is mentioned right off the bat this week, but I agree completely with what Miriam and Ann are saying in this installment: Anti-choicers Gone Wild!

Allow me to add some Montana specific details:

There are three bills right now that have my hackles up. First are a lovely pair of bills that have passed the Senate and will be transmitted to the House. SB 406 (Constitutionally Define a Person) and SB 46 (Protection of Unborn Life as a Compelling State Interest). You can find the bill info (who voted for or against) here SB406, SB46 and the actual bills here: SB406, SB46.

Why are these bills bad? Well, for one thing, they directly contravene the Montana Constitution’s right to privacy. Article II, Section 10 of the Montana State Constitution states: The right of individual privacy is essential to the well-being of a free society and shall not be infringed without the showing of a compelling state interest. (See what the sponsor of those bills did there?) Medical decisions between a woman and her doctor are most certainly private.

Also, defining a fetus as a person grants full rights to a fetus. This could potentially cause all kinds of craziness, including women being investigated for criminal endangerment in the case of a miscarriage. Did she eat right? Did she take any drugs that were bad for her fetus (but possibly necessary for herself)? Did she knowingly do anything that could possibly have endangered her fetus?

I’d also like to point out that Montana voters already pretty much rejected exactly this kind of legislation by failing to provide sufficient signatures for CI 100 last year.

Sen. Shockley has also introduced a rather entertaining bill, SB 497, which protects Clinic Protesters from being harassed the people entering a clinic. (Yeah, you read that right. Apparently the PROTESTERS need protection from the people entering the clinic.) The folks over at 4&20 Blackbirds have written about it. Again here is the bill info and the bill language. This bill is still in the Senate, as of this writing.

I am hoping that all of these bills fail in the state House. In the event that they pass, I have a hard time imagining that Gov. Schweitzer will sign them.

However, I don’t think it’s a good idea for any of us to sit back and expect them to fail. We must all contact our Representatives and let them know how we feel about these bills.

I know who my Senator and Representative are, and I’m lucky enough that they tend to agree with me on most things. However, if you’re not sure who your Senator and Rep are, it’s easy to find out and even easier to contact them.

1. You need to know your full zip code, which you can find here.
2. Using that zip code, the folks at Project Vote Smart will tell you who your Senator and Representatives are (scroll down).
3. Once you have that info you can go here to use the handy online form to contact your representatives. OR
3a. Between sessions you can go here to find their direct e-mail addresses.

I cannot overstate how important it is to contact your representatives to let them know that you want them to vote against these bills. Please write to them right away, even if (especially if?) you’re lucky enough to have representatives who agree with you.

And I’d like to say Thank YOU to the lovely ladies at Feministing, especially Miriam and Ann, for this week’s installment of Friday Feministing Fuck You. I hope my fellow Montanans will see it and contact their legislators right away.