On Tuesday, May 18, at 9 pm I’ll “discuss” (debate) women’s reproductive rights (or, as right-wing people are programmed to say, the murder of millions of beautiful little lives that an all-loving deity can’t save from surgical procedures) on “Mouthwash”, John Schmitz’s FB podcast.

My opponent will be State Rep. John Jacob, whose views are entrenched. My view is that I am not a woman, cannot get pregnant, and so should not tell women what to do with their lives. (So why are two males debating?) I infer Rep Jacob is against exceptions to bans on abortion.

One category of exceptions is when the pregnancy is the result of rape. Some people prefer not to dwell on unpleasant things, such as the brutality suffered by a woman who is raped. The LAST person she ever wants to encounter - this is for some males who read this - is the rapist.

She is forced, for nine months, to carry inside of her something implanted in her by the rapist. If she survives the pregnancy (and this overlaps another exception, abortion when the life of the mother is in danger), matters do not improve. The are finances to consider.

She also has huge amounts of time that have been taken from her by the rapist, so that she can raise the little bundle of joy his injected sperm bestowed upon her. If you think matters improve now, think again. That rapist, as a biological father, has rights.

In Indiana those rights include visitation, parenting and possibly a say in the child’s upbringing. The man who brutalized her is part of her life. A sick course of events now metastasizes. She needs to hope she does nothing to call into question her ability to parent.

Examples: a party she attends is busted (frequenting a common nuisance) or she flunks a BAC (OVWI). You get the picture. The rapist gets to challenge her for custody. If he wins, then she can be ordered to pay child support to the rapist, perhaps until the child is 22 years of age.

If she gets behind on child support, she could be charged with a criminal offense. Of course, in the eyes of (too) many she brought it on herself. If she had not tempted, with her charms, that poor male, none of this would have happened.

On his website Rep Jacob says: “God is the Author and Creator of all life. God created all human beings in His image. Every human life is a gift from the Creator. It is an irrefutable scientific fact that human life begins at conception.”

God might exist, and if so probably has a penis After all, only someone with a prick could screw up this World so much as to produce this iteration of the GOP. I look forward to this debate. I ask people who follow me on Twitter: please watch the podcast. Should be fun!