Why don't they just keep 'em chained up in the kitchen. Barefoot of course.

Some people have been taking comfort in the thought that even if some states do criminalize abortion, women who live in them, and are in need of one, simply have to go to another more enlightened state to get the procedure performed there.

Setting aside for a moment that this penalizes poor women, who often have no means of transportation, certainly can't afford an airline ticket, and can't easily leave a job or kids they may already have for days at a time, we might also now want to consider what will no doubt be a growing movement by the anti-choice crowd: the punishment of women who do cross state borders to get a legal abortion.

A law has been proposed in Ohio to do just that. The Chillicothe Gazette reports:

“Ohio house bill 228 introduced by Tim Brinkman, R-Mount Lookout, in April would make it a felony for a woman to seek to terminate her pregnancy and holds the same penalty if she chooses to leave the state for the medical procedure.

Additionally, anyone who helps coordinate an abortion or transportation to leave the state for one could be charged as well.”

Think about that. You're pregnant. You live in a state where abortion is illegal. You have an opportunity to cross over the state line to get the procedure at a medical facility. But if discovered you could be punished - fined, jailed?

Is this America any more?

The bill is apparently stuck in committee, as it may be too much even for some anti-choicers. It also likely would not stand up to an appeal if a women is actually prosecuted under it. Not to mention, how the hell could it be enforced? Would they actually expect people to spy on their neighbors and report that a pregnant woman disappeared for a few days, and then came back not pregnant and without a baby?

But it shows the mentality of the neanderthals behind the increasing movement in this country to steadily chip, chip, chip away at women's rights and return them to second-class status.