By Maya Dusenbery • @mayadusenbery • 10 years ago

5 things that are people according to the impeccable logic of Senator Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham, US Senator from South Carolina and Expert on Pregnancy, defended the 20-week abortion ban he’s introduced in Congress by noting that parents sometimes sing to their fetuses. Ergo: fetuses are people. 

“If you’re telling parents to sing to the baby because they understand your voice, really should we be aborting a child at the stage of the pregnancy?” Graham asked, claiming that anyone who doesn’t “get this” is an “extremist.” I certainly wouldn’t want to be accused of extremism, so I just want to make sure I really get it. According to Senator Graham’s logic, I believe the following are also people entitled to the full protections and rights afforded under the law:

Dogs

Cats

Plants

Cows

Chicks

Is that right? I’m sure I’m missing some, so help a girl out.

Maya DusenberyMaya also sings to her sourdough starter and was disappointed to find little corroboration for that one.

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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