A primary strategy the right uses is to feign responsibility and pretending to be reasonable. It usually doesnt pass scrutiny but it allows them to seem reasonable, and responsible.

It's like fiscal republicans talking about reducing inefficient government spending, and reducing the deficit to balance the books. On the surface this sounds responsible like a household balancing their own budget. In practice some deficit is useful, and they forget all about it when they are funding military spending and giving tax cuts to the wealthy.

It's the same as this. They arent going to outright ban abortion(yet) its a free country! But they will give a "reasonable" time frame based on an old man's limited knowledge of female anatomy. They can then pretend that if a woman needs or wants an abortion after the deadline it's the woman's fault for first not using protection, and then not knowing her own body.

Never mind that these same people also limit sex ed and healthcare that would provide birth control.

I know that’s their intent, but I don’t understand why they aren’t just going for an all-out ban.

because 6 week bans are already unpopular, and total bans even moreso. even most anti-abortion advocates are not in favor of a total ban.

Some further flavor to reinforce this: as I understand it, abortion is legal in the Netherlands until the fetus is viable, which was estimated to be 24 weeks but due to better care for premies IIUC it’s moving toward 22. After this time it is only legal in the case of serious medical problems: eg a risk to the life of the would-be mother, or because the fetus isn’t viable due to a defect. Until this year there was also a 5-day waiting period for abortions; I think that’s no longer legally mandated but the doctor still has input. I believe they also require more medical scrutiny after the first trimester.

IMHO these are common-sense restrictions, though you could argue about the exact details. Abortion is accessible if you need it, but after a certain point a fetus is close enough to a person that its interests must also be taken into account.

The official abortion rate in NL is slightly over 1/3 of that in the US. It may or may not actually be the lowest in the world: it’s hard to collect statistics in some places, especially where abortion is discouraged or illegal, or even in places where you would get one with no medical supervision (by pills taken at home).

The Netherlands also has a low maternal mortality rate, around 1/5th of the US, and also one of the lowest in the world (says CIA world factbook), though I’m not sure how consistent these measurements are across countries.

The US could achieve these things too, and likely have a lower abortion rate than it can achieve even through draconian restrictions. But it would require proper education and medical care, and that’s not what certain states want… they want the crueler option.

But that still leaves a major question: What's the point of the cruelty? ~Strawberry

Eventually it'll bite themselves in the ass. Sadly, it will take way too long before they realize it and everyone has to suffer, at least, until then.