By Maya Dusenbery • @mayadusenbery • 11 years ago

Kansas Gov signs massive anti-choice law, writes “JESUS + Mary” in notes

Last Friday, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed a sweeping anti-choice into law. Among other things, the bill requires doctors to lie and tell patients that abortion is linked to breast cancer, and defines life as beginning at conception in the state constitution.

Before the signing ceremony, Gov. Brownback added a few hand-written notes to his remarks. According to a photo snapped by the AP, the words “JESUS + Mary” are scrawled front and center across the top.

Gov. Brownback signing anti-choice bill

Image via Gawker

I was under the impression that we still maintained a pretense of a separation of church and state in this country, so I’m not sure why Jesus and Mary should be making an appearance at an official governmental event. Plus, I’m not really sure what Jesus and Mary have to do with an anti-abortion bill to begin with, since neither seemed to have a position on the matter, and most Christians in the US today support reproductive rights.

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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