ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

This week, Georgia became the fifth state to ban abortion at six weeks after a last menstrual period, before many people even realize they are pregnant. Its ban goes further than the others, criminalizing doctors and others who help induce abortions, as well as making those who are pregnant, potentially liable for murder if they prompt a pregnancy loss. They could even be liable if they do it in another state. On Thursday, Alabama postponed a vote on what could be the country’s most restrictive abortion ban.This is where we are headed on abortion. (Cari Sietstra, 5/11)

Dear Hollywood: Get the hell out of Georgia. Now. I understand the tax breaks are terrific, the geography diverse, the cost of living cheap and heaven knows it’s hard to beat an ice-cold glass of sweet tea when you need a pick-me-up. But by criminalizing abortion after six weeks, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp just turned the millions you save, and the billions you infuse into the state economy, into blood money. (Mary McNamara, 5/10)

I was trying to schedule a sonogram last year when my understanding of a basic scientific principle was totally upended. The nurse, attempting to discern how pregnant I might be, turned out to be utterly uninterested in the date of conception. She only wanted to know the date of my last period. That, she explained, is how pregnancy is calculated. Which meant that as far as the medical community was concerned, I was technically five weeks along, even though there was no way I could physically be more than three. Those two previous weeks, I guess I was . . . pre-pregnant? Pregnant-in-waiting? Truly, this was stunning news. (Monica Hesse, 5/13)

Happy Mother’s Day! Your mom is the best! Save, of course, for mine. And my wife. And, I rush to add, my mother-in-law. I can’t think of any group of people more selfless and loving than mothers. But this celebration of motherhood is also hypocritical: For all our rhetoric, we routinely fail mothers here in the U.S. and around the world. (Nicholas Kristof, 5/11)