Republicans here and in other states have now clearly decided that if any woman anywhere decides upon an abortion, she's by definition making a choice that's not fully informed. Because, to conservatives, being fully informed means you must agree with them entirely (laughable, of course, in that these same conservatives routinely seek to quash all data undermining their views).
Thus, a woman who chooses to proceed with an abortion must, by conservative reckoning, be subjected to even more "information." This imposition will, I suspect, continue to escalate. What happens when the nth round of new barriers still fail to dissuade some number of Wisconsin women from having an abortion? What might our conservative masters enact then? How about a law requiring a one-year cooling-off period before a pregnant woman can make her own "fully informed" choice?
it's true, a full year would give any woman plenty of time to do what Republicans want her to do (unless, perhaps, she is a Republican, albeit a wealthy one who can afford to fly somewhere beyond Wisconsin where stupid, irrational and inequitable pro-life laws won't inconvenience her).
What, you say? By the time a one-year waiting period is up, a woman's body will, one way or another, have made the entire issue moot? Well, then, the mission of the GOP handmaids will be complete. The re-education and informing of the mother will have succeeded. Alive or dead, she will become a prime example of how you must not disregard the will of the puritan, authoritarian, and very hypocritical conservatives whom for now hold sway.
Now, I admit the above, absurd proposal is only a thought experiment. Stretching out the abortion "information" process will never really go that far. Indeed, what Republicans actually are doing in Wisconsin and other states is erecting more abortion barriers while shortening the time women have in which to make a choice. But the effect is the same. It's an engineered delay, quite consistent with the widespread Republican tactic of interfering with implementation of laws and with rights until both wither. If you can't stop 'em, the GOP has decided, then spread tacks along the road.
Bad as it is, the state's new "ultrasound" law would appear a lot more absurd if Republican laws were written in more straightforward fashion. Fact is, a one-year waiting period would have much the same effect as the law Scott Walker just signed. His goal isn't to "help" women, it's to prevent abortions, and he and his minions in the legislature are doing that by creating new restrictions and layers of oversight into what used to be (and what remains in the nation's prime law on the subject) private, personal matters. Just like Voter ID, Wisconsin's new anti-abortion law is meant to thwart, not help.
A federal judge has temporarily halted one part of the "ultrasound" law pending a full civil suit against it. Nevertheless, the Walkerites have spoken: Let the Iron Law of Social Darwinism rule all! Except, of course, for those very few among us who can afford other, very private, very expensive options. Your life is an open book; theirs, not so much.