North Dakota Republicans Will Join Pro-Choice Rally To Protest New Abortion Restrictions

North Dakota lawmakers recently passed the worst abortion ban in the nation, outlawing the legal medical procedure after just six weeks of pregnancy, and are currently advancing an even more stringent “personhood” restriction to ban all abortion services altogether. But not all of the state’s legislators support North Dakota’s recent shift toward a far-right anti-abortion agenda. Spearheaded by state Rep. Kathy Hawken (R), a group a Republican politicians are speaking out against the new affronts to women’s reproductive rights.

Hawken and her fellow GOP lawmakers think their party has “stepped over the line” with the new restrictions, and will join a “Stand Up for Women” rally on Monday to raise their voices in opposition. As Hawken explained to the Huffington Post, she believes the new bans are too extreme, and simply distract lawmakers from the real legislative priorities they ought to be tackling in North Dakota:

“It’s to say, hey, this isn’t okay. We have stepped over the line,” said state Rep. Kathy Hawken (R-Fargo) in a phone interview with The Huffington Post. “One of the key tenets of the Republican Party is personal responsibility. I’m personally pro-life, but I vote pro-choice, because you can’t make that decision for anyone else. You just can’t.” [...]

Hawken said the personhood bills are so extreme that she and approximately 10 of her Republican colleagues in the state legislature — both men and women — were inspired to speak out in defense of women’s rights.

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Full article here: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/03/22/1760521/nd-republicans-oppose-abortion-bans/