Apple’s newest emoji forced upload includes these images.

Headlines are being made this week nationally by Apple facilitating reproductive appropriation by men in the emoji section of iPhones. I’m waiting for tiny “trans-man” labels to be added by Apple so parents can’t even avoid the subject with children. I’ll be calling them tiny beer gut emojis for as long as I can.

Not to be outdone, members of the Connecticut legislature have given us another reason to “troll” HB 5414, AAC Protection for Persons Receiving and Providing Reproductive Health Care Services in the State. It removes “pregnant women” from the statute and replaces them with tiny pregnant men emojis a generic term. Are we ready to return to the era when the words “men/man/mankind” were used to exclusively reference both genders? We are nearly there.

Representative Fiorello summarized it best in her Facebook post about the bill. Here is what she highlighted . . .

HB 5414 IS UNNECESSARY: “[HB 5414] ADDRESSES A HYPOTHETICAL PROBLEM: Part 1 of this bill is outrageous. It’s a “just in case” bill that addresses a problem that does not exist but the proponents are afraid could. It protects CT abortion providers from an out-of-state lawsuit for performing an abortion on an out-of-state person in our state. Meaning, this bill stops the scenario where, for example, someone in Texas sues an abortionist in Connecticut for doing an abortion in Connecticut where it is legal but on a person from Texas where it is illegal. Read that again bc it is so convoluted. There is no existing legal framework in which such a lawsuit would be allowed. We passed a bill to protect against a scenario that does NOT exist.”

HB 5414 ERASES WOMEN: “Part 2 does two things:(a) CANNOT SAY WOMAN: It removes the words “pregnant woman” and “her” from existing abortion law and uses instead the words “patient” and “patient’s”.”

HB 5414 IS DEMONSTRABLY DANGEROUS: “(b) NURSES, MIDWIVES, PA’S CAN DO ABORTIONS, NOT JUST DOCTORS: In addition to doctors, other medical professionals can now do medical and aspiration abortions aka vacuum abortions Some supporters say this is a needed expansion of access to abortion; other supporters say RNs, midwives and PAs could already do abortions, this bill just codifies it.” AND THEN THERE IS THIS . . .”Having midwives perform abortions is not without serious risks. See this 2021 CT lawsuit wherein a midwife misdiagnosed a lady as being 6 weeks pregnant and did an abortion on a 22 week old baby!! That was dangerous and traumatizing to the pregnant lady.” https://www.liveaction.org/…/uploads/2022/03/lawsuit.pdf

Also from Representative Fiorello . . “GROUND SHIFTING…the conversation on abortion in CT had a tectonic shift. Democrat Rep McGee gave a powerfully compelling floor speech. You could hear a pin drop in the chamber… The final vote? 86 Yes vs 60 No, 14 Democrats voted No 
This is something to celebrate…absolutely…praise.”

Please check out these speeches on the floor of the House. There is still time to contact your Senator. Use our Action Center now to contact them to oppose this unnecessary and harmful bill.