Michigan is one of several states where Republican lawmakers — who make up the majority in both chambers — are eager to curtail abortion rights. Thankfully, however, Michigan is a state where the governor is a Democrat. So all the GOP bluster about the evils of abortion probably won’t get anywhere.

It won’t stop them from trying.

One of the proposals on the table, House Bill 4320, is a ban on dilation and evacuation, the procedure that usually ends pregnancies in the second trimester. Several doctors have testified that the D&E ban would make abortions more painful for women (because a different procedure would be necessary) and that the women would be more at risk. Another bill, HB 4321, would punish doctors who perform a D&E with a prison sentence of up to two years on top of a maximum $50,000 fine. (There are companion bills in the Senate that say the same things.)

None of that matters to Republican State Sen. Kim LaSata.

On Tuesday, she celebrated the idea that women would suffer if this bill went into effect. Start watching around the 1:59:50 mark in the video below.

“Of course it should be hard!” the senator from St. Joseph exclaimed. “And the procedure should be painful! And you should allow God to take over!! And you should deliver that baby!” … LaSata told colleagues she had delivered a stillborn baby after her own D&E procedure went awry. LaSata cited her traumatic experience as evidence “of God looking out for me,” and suggested that all women carrying medically unviable fetuses would be better off delivering their babies. “You should allow God to take over and deliver that baby,” she said, “and it shouldn’t be made easier for you.”

Silly me. I thought Republicans just wanted to inflict suffering upon refugees. Nope. They’re perfectly fine hurting any woman who is already suffering. Because that’s what God wants.

To be clear, the women who would undergo such a procedure at that stage are likely the ones who received horrible news about a wanted pregnancy.

This isn’t even about a potential life, then. The fetus is never going to live. This is strictly about making women suffer.

That’s what the Republican Party wants. That’s what conservative Christians are longing for. That’s what you’re getting anytime you support a Republican at any level of government. That’s what any sensible voter with any morsel of compassion ought to push back against at every opportunity.

The GOP’s faith-based cruelty doesn’t belong in a secular country.

(Thanks to John for the link)

