If abortion were banned how could it be enforced?

[bluestateguy]

This is an especially important issue in light of the recently enacted "partial birth abortion" ban passed by Congress. Even if Roe vs. Wade were overturned Congress and legislatures can pass all the laws they want, but they don't mean a damn thing if the laws are not enforced. In fact, a law that is not enforced is arguably not a law at all. So what if abortion were banned in a particular state or locale? How would such laws be enforced? What if there was resistence to such laws?

[Vogon_Glory]

1. By OR Spies and Provocateurs

If abortion was outlawed, I fear that the ban could be enforced using many of the same techniques already being field-tested by anti-abortion extremists.

The most obvious one is the "Nuremburg File" technique of photographing every person entering a health clinic and posting his or her name and address all over the internet.

The other technique already favored by social reactionaries is to send in ringers either supposedly seeking abortions for themselves or to provide abortions for their alleged under-aged relatives. This latter technique has already been touted as a potential tool and clinic workers who fell victim to this scam have been reported to the authorities.

[aldian159]

8. yeah, its really sad

that those bastards do that.

I had to take a friend of mine who got raped to a clinic and we passed through one of those damn lines. It was the saddest day in my life, let alone her's. The damn process is hard enough to get without those fools standing there in the name of God.

[kixot]

2. wonderful point

It's the same one I use when confronting fundies.

"Would it be better to have abortion made illegal if it meant that people having abortions would have to be moved to back rooms and filthy hotels and medical amateurs rather than a regulated, sanitary medical environment?"

There is no way to enforce such preposturousness. You'd have cases like that in "Ciderhouse Rules" if that were the case.

[izzie]

3. Think it would go back to how it was.

Rich went to Eur, or had them but doc called it something else. Poor will go to the underground places and cops will be out after them.

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. As soon as the rabbit dies, incarcerate the poor unfortunate

soul in a reproduction factory until delivery. :shrug:

Hello Handmaid's Tale. I really can't see any viable way of enforcing this takeaway of rights. It will be more babies in garbage cans and toilets.

[maine_raptor]

5. Number One

The Mother of All Piss Tests (no pun intended).

Manditory testing of all fertile females. Any found to be pregnant would be told to report weekly to a gov approved doc unles the baby is born. Those failing to report or those whose pregnancy ends before term and in a suspicious manner are bound over for investigation and prosecution.

Any resistance would be deemed "Obstruction of Justice" and could be delt with thusly.

[dobak]

11. stop now....

That is too scary to think about..

:scared:

[Stone Cold]

13. man...

....that statement has "1984" written all over it. Abortion bans will never happen. If they were to ban abortions, women would get them elsewhere, back alleys or whatnot. And those primitive procedures could kill the mother.

[bluestateguy]

18. Also

I think groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL would raise money to send poorer women to countries where abortions are legal, until the Right banned that too (no passports for people getting abortions, etc.).

[Cleita]

6. Doctors could lose their licenses.

This was how it was enforced before legalized abortion.

[sable302]

7. Go after the doctors

They will go after the doctors, not the patients. There are fewer doctors than patients, and after all, to them the doctors are the ones doin' all the baby killin'.

[stanwyck]

9. There will continue to be abortions

since there will be money to be made. Won't have to be doctors risking their licenses. Other "practitioners" will do the procedure. The wealthy and middle-class will be able to find someone to terminate pregnancy. The poor or young and scared will suffer the most. The statistic that anti-abortion people don't want to discuss is that crime is indirectly proportional to abortion availability. Where abortion is readily available, crime is less. Children deserve to be wanted and loved.

[DuctapeFatwa]

10. abortion itself could not be "banned"-only abortions in a medical setting

Instead of going to a doctor's office or clinic and having the procedure performed by an accountable qualified practitioner, women would just have to take their chances with seaweed, quacks, and the ever-popular coat hanger - just like most poor women do now.

[Some Moran]

12. If abortion is banned...

The rich will go to Sweden and the poor will go to the street corners.

[Orangepeel]

14. The same way it was when it was banned before

The laws don't stop abortions. They just stop safe abortions performed in a sterile environment by a trained professional.

[tsipple]

15. OK, I Got It...

1. All women of childbearing age would be required to wear a "conception monitor." This device, much like a home monitoring system for prisoners, would constantly monitor the woman's pregnancy status and report into a central database.

2. Women who do become pregnant would be evacuated to a closely supervised facility for healthy fetus care.

3. Once born, mother and baby would be left outside to fend for themselves. The conception monitor would be reattached to the mother before release.

4. Costs of this "service" would be paid through a combination of government borrowing and poll taxes.

[A HERETIC I AM]

16. If men got pregnant, not only would abortion be legal;......

the waiting rooms would be cocktail lounges and it would be mandatory in certain cases. Izzie is right. Abortions will not stop. The rich will just fly to Sweden or drive to Toronto, etc. Outlawing abortion affects the folks who disproportionately need it the most and can afford the alternative the least. It strikes me that the (now) largest corporation in the world (Wal-Mart) is anti-choice as a corporate policy and in many locales, is now the dominant pharmacy chain. Kinda fits perfectly, doesnt it?

[leftofthedial]

17. tariffs on coat hangers?

tax breaks to incentivize child birth?

Repukes don't know how to execute anything but inmates.

[A HERETIC I AM]

19. If men got pregnant, not only would abortion be legal....

the waiting rooms would be cocktail lounges and it would be mandatory in certain cases. Izzie is right. Abortions will not stop. The rich will just fly to Sweden or drive to Toronto, etc. Outlawing abortion affects the folks who disproportionately need it the most and can afford the alternative the least. It strikes me that the (now) largest corporation in the world (Wal-Mart) is anti-choice as a corporate policy and in many locales, is now the dominant pharmacy chain. Kinda fits perfectly, doesnt it?

[Exultant Democracy]

20. Not with the abortion pills out there

and a porous border to the north. If they banned abortions in the U.S. organized crime would be more then happy to take over keeping the US well supplies with abortion pills.

[MrPrax]

21. Be like the old days...

Middle class 'ladies' would get DNCs and poor 'sluts' would have babies or punctured abdomens...

Oh yeah it would be enforced...just like current drug laws are being enforced for say Rush Limpballs and say another else...