These are the laws your representatives are trying to pass
This is a list of bills that are currently introduced in the North Dakota State Legislature–yeah, the same guys who decided to make cross-dressing illegal in 2023. If you, like me, think these are absurd and useless bills, please contact your reps to let them know you don’t want this in ND!
HB 1373: Redefines “murder” to apply to fertilized eggs. This is a bad move for many reasons, not the least of which being that this could lead to women who miscarry through no fault of their own being charged with manslaughter. The bigger issue here, though, is that this could lead to dangerous situations where doctors don’t provide women with necessary care for fear of being prosecuted against. Last year, wife and mother Porsha Ngumenzi bled to death after a miscarriage because doctors in Houston, Texas, did not perform a dilation and curettage procedure to remove the last of the miscarried tissue (ProPublica). A dilation and curettage is a standard procedure in miscarriage management that is also used for some abortions, but in this case the fetus was already dead. However, Texas’s restrictive reproductive laws meant that doctors were too afraid to perform this extremely safe procedure, resulting in Porsha Ngumenzi’s death. Laws like this have already gotten women killed and we don’t need them here, too.
HB 1226: Makes it illegal to wear a mask in public “for the purpose of intimidating…or concealing one’s identity.” The vague wording means enforcement is up to individual cops, and this is clearly an attempt to open the door to peaceful protesters being arrested for wearing masks. Also, how would you know if I’m trying to conceal my identity with a mask? If I walk like the Hamburglar while I have the flu, am I going to get a misdemeanor?
HB 1144: Wants to crack down on not allowing trans students to use the bathroom they prefer. Maybe I would care about this at all if anyone in North Dakota had ever been assaulted by a trans person who transitioned in order to gain access to women’s bathrooms and then harm them (if it sounds convoluted and insane, that’s because it is). However, this has never happened. This is all a bunch of nothing meant to discriminate against innocent trans people. Do not let this pass.
HB 1145: Would require every classroom (including universities) to post the Ten Commandments. Pardon my hyperbole, but if I see another bill like this I’m going to scream and cry until I throw up. This is so incredibly dumb and useless and is taking up space when our representatives COULD be working on actually improving our K-12 system in any meaningful way. Also, are we pretending “separation of church and state” means nothing now? Guys.
After all that, I would like to note that not all is lost. Lots of bills have been introduced and some of them are quite promising, like HB 1114, which would cap the cost of insulin and diabetes supplies to $25 for a 30-day supply. This would benefit thousands of North Dakotans, and prevent the unethical price gouging that major pharmaceutical companies love to inflict on the sick and dying. However, I wanted to draw attention to some of the more concerning bills that have already been introduced in our state legislature this year. The focus on federal politics can be overwhelming, but local politics are equally important and affect our day to day lives. I, for one, see no reason to put the Ten Commandments in every NDSU classroom.