America’s New Rule of Thumb

By Sabrina Hornung

sabrina@hpr1.com

Is Texas Senate Bill 8 only the beginning?

If it wasn’t so insulting to primates, it looks as if some of the most vocal anti-abortion lawmakers in North Dakota wish to adapt a monkey see monkey do attitude, according to a September 2 AP article quoting GOP State Sen. Janne Myrdal, who is one of the Legislature’s most vehement anti-abortion lawmakers. She “assumes” legislation will be crafted, eventually, that uses the Texas law as a template. There are currently seven states examining this law including North Dakota.

Well, you know what they say about assuming too, but then again with the aforementioned that also might be an insult to asses. Janne, as a lawmaker, you can’t just cite passages from the Constitution like you cite passages from the Bible to fit your agenda.

A women’s right to abortion is protected by the Supreme Court decision of Roe V. Wade (1973). Not only is this proposed legislation unconstitutional. You also seem to be forgetting about the separation of church and state and if that’s the case you should really reconsider your position as a lawmaker due to your clear bias and unwillingness to uphold the Constitution.

Can you imagine if folks were as adamant about protecting human rights as they are to protect gun rights? In case you missed it, last April Gov. Burgum announced North Dakota as a “Second Amendment Sanctuary State.”

Actually, can you imagine if our lawmakers were as adamant about making laws about men’s bodies as they are about women’s bodies? Is it hyperbole to assume that guns have more rights than a woman’s body, it’s almost as if guns are treated like an extension of the male anatomy in America.

According to a Sept. 11 facebook post Sen. Myrdal was quite incensed over President Biden’s proposed vaccine mandate, “The mandates that keep coming from the Biden administration are unconstitutional, unreasonable, a vast overreach of government and frankly ridiculous. We’re already facing worker shortages across North Dakota AND the entire country. Requiring (“mandating”) employees to be vaccinated goes against their right to medical privacy, AND their medical freedom! Furthermore the Bill of Rights fully protects any individual from this tyrannical overreach.”

To quote Alanis Morisette, “Isn’t it ironic… dontcha think? It seems like Sen. Myrdal is speaking out of both sides of her mouth here. If it wasn’t so sad it would be funny. You can’t really make this stuff up. Myrdal was also adamant about cutting funding to NDSU back in March due to its ties to Planned Parenthood. These ties range from “academic affiliation agreements” to online sex education trivia events.

Don’t let the propaganda fool you, Planned Parenthood may perform abortions but they do wonders for reproductive health such as STD/STI testing, cancer screenings, and they also provide birth control and contraceptives on a sliding pay scale-- which is a LIFESAVER to many college students and low income individuals.

I hate to break it to you Sen. Myrdal, but the more people are educated about sex and the better the access they have to contraception, there will be fewer unwanted pregnancies -- and fewer abortions. If you think that severing ties or defunding Planned Parenthood will result in less abortions, that is about as effective as teaching abstinence--ignorance is NOT bliss.

Sen. Janne Myrdal introduced Senate Bill 2308 during the last legislative session. This bill allows schools to post the Ten Commandments. According to a NDNA newsbrief she said, “Fifteen years after we took prayer and the Ten Commandments out of schools, pregnancy rates of girls 10 to 14 rose 400%,” According to her own research, of course, “Pregnancy rates of girls 15 and older, out of wedlock, rose 148%, and divorces rose 300%.”

Also according to the article, she said she is “tired of the government putting Band-Aids on all the scary things in society.”

If that’s the case, we need to find a really big band-aid for Sen. Myrdal. If you don’t like abortion just don’t get one. It’s a complicated issue-- there’s no such thing as black and white-- women don’t look forward to abortions, women don’t plan abortions-- they’re a terrifying thing and a last resort for many. If they’re rendered illegal, they’ll find a way to terminate their child regardless and this could very well result in the death of the mother, leaving blood on the hands of our lawmakers. Frankly, that doesn’t sound very pro-life to me.

If North Dakota adapts this legislation, what’s next? Will we see the Rule of thumb make a comeback? If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase, it was a common law that allowed a husband “the right to whip his wife, provided he used a switch no thicker than his thumb.”

If our lawmakers are so adamant about letting their religious convictions affect their representation of us, maybe we should mandate a sliding fee scale for the church so they can pay taxes like the rest of us.