EXPANDING ‘JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE’ EFFORTS…. It was rather shocking last week to learn about South Dakota’s “justifiable homicide” bill. The way the proposal had been crafted, it seemed to open the door to making it legal to kill medical professionals who perform abortions. When a national controversy ensued, the bill was shelved indefinitely.

The underlying idea, however, appears to be popping up elsewhere. Take Iowa, for example. (via RWW)

Currently, abortion is also settled law in Iowa. But House File 153, sponsored by 28 Republicans, challenges it. Under that bill, the state would be mandated to recognize and protect “life” from the moment of conception until “natural death” with the full force of the law and state and federal constitutions. Essentially, the bill declares that from the moment a male sperm and a female ovum join to create a fertilized egg that a person exists. House File 7, which has been sponsored by 29 GOP House members, seeks to expand state law regarding use of reasonable force, including deadly force. Current state laws provide that citizens are not required to retreat from their dwelling or place of business if they or a third party are threatened. The proposal would significantly expand this to state that citizens are not required to retreat from “any place at which the person has a right to be present,” and that in such instances, the citizen has the right to use reasonable force, including deadly force, to protect himself or a third party from serious injury or death or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.

A criminal defense attorney in Des Moines told the Iowa Independent, “[House File 7] explicitly provides that people have a right to defend themselves or others at any place they are legally allowed to be. That would definitely include sidewalks or streets outside of clinics. They could attempt to kill a physician or a clinic worker, and if they did so while believing they were protecting another person, which would be defined under House File 153 as a fetus, then, under this law, they would have the right to do that.”

In Nebraska, meanwhile, Republicans are pushing a bill that’s nearly identical to the one that got pulled in South Dakota.

The legislation, LB 232, was introduced by state Sen. Mark Christensen, a devout Christian and die-hard abortion foe who is opposed to the prodedure even in the case of rape. Unlike its South Dakota counterpart, which would have allowed only a pregnant woman, her husband, her parents, or her children to commit “justifiable homicide” in defense of her fetus, the Nebraska bill would apply to any third party. “In short, this bill authorizes and protects vigilantes, and that’s something that’s unprecedented in our society,” Melissa Grant of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland told the Nebraska legislature’s judiciary committee on Wednesday. Specifically, she warned, it could be used to target Planned Parenthood’s patients and personnel.

For all the ridiculous paranoia on the right about creeping “sharia law,” there are now multiple state proposals, published by Republicans, to make it legal to assassinate medical professionals as part of a larger culture war.