California recently introduced a bill (AB 583) that would create a “doula” program to provide physical and emotional support to underserved women during and after pregnancy. It’s not a terrible idea in and of itself, but, to paraphrase Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, “You keep using those words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean.”
AB 583 serves as a window into leftist lawmakers’ wholesale rejection of the rules of language, logic, and biology.
For example, AB 583 would provide doula care during the prenatal, perinatal, and postpartum periods. According to the bill’s sponsor, the postpartum period is defined as “the one-year period following the end of pregnancy [emphasis added].” In every other context, postpartum is defined as the period following childbirth. The word literally means after birth: post = after, partum = bringing forth.
As it turns out, lawmakers intentionally chose to misdefine postpartum because they want to provide publicly funded emotional support for women during and after abortion. It’s not enough that California provides free abortions up to birth or that insurance companies can charge copays for women who carry their babies to term but are prohibited from charging any out of pocket expenses for women who abort (a law we are fighting). Now pro-aborts are intent on using taxpayer dollars to nurture women who choose to kill their babies.
Well, not women specifically. Under AB 538, pregnant women — i.e., mothers — are only referred to as generic “pregnant, birthing, and postpartum persons.” The left has cancelled women.*
Moreover, AB 538 requires doulas to demonstrate competency in, among other things, “Understanding of basic anatomy and physiology in…chestfeeding.” I’m sure you’re thinking that lawmakers must have included a robust means of determining competency. No. No they did not. They merely redefined “competency” to include “lived experience.” If in your “lived experience” men can nourish babies from their chests, then you are competent to serve as a state-paid doula. Not too long ago, that belief would have rendered you incompetent.
Finally, under a newly enacted California law (AB 2223), women can self-induce abortion throughout pregnancy and can select an assistant to help. The woman and the assistant are immune from prosecution for any outcome of a DIY abortion, including killing a baby who is born alive up to one month after birth. Now, taxpayer funded “doulas” can double as abortionists and even commit infanticide without fear of criminal or civil sanctions.
*For example, the Biden administration prides itself on replacing references to mothers with “birthing persons,” USA Today gave its 2022 “Woman of the Year” awards for 2022 and 2023 to men (including Assistant HHS Secretary Rachel Levine), and the U.S. State Department bestowed the International Women of Courage Award on a man. Men are taking titles in women’s sports and even beauty contests.