the bill is senate bill 51 (S51), and is called the "unborn child pain awareness act". it states that congress believes (yes, it says "congress has determined, not "science has determined") that fetuses feel pain, and that women who want abortions must have a statement read to them stating that they may choose anesthesia for the fetus. then she must explicitly choose to accept or decline said anesthesia. abortion providers would be required to keep an anesthesiologist around at all times in case someone opts for this.
now that's pretty weird in itself (i'm sure abortion providers do have someone on staff who can administer anesthesia to the woman, but how do you anesthetize a fetus? and how on earth can you do that without endangering the mother?), but the creepiest part can be found in the "definitions" section:
The term woman means a female human being who is capable of becoming pregnant, whether or not she has reached the age of majority.
pretty simple. if you can get knocked up, you're a woman. if you can't, you aren't.
so elizabeth dole, one of the bill's sponsors, who is clearly way too old to get pregnant no matter how much viagra bob eats, is not a woman under this definition. my 59-year-old mother is probably no longer a woman either (though she used to be at some point). any female of any age who has had her tubes tied, or worse yet, had a hysterectomy or similar procedure, is not a woman. but your neighbor's 13-year-old daughter... now that's a woman.
the bill doesn't say what these non-women females actually are; jeff at have coffee will travel suggests the term "unwoman" as coined by the handmaid's tale, but you could probably use any term you want, depending on just how dehumanized you want these ex-women to be: bitch, neuter, thing, dyke, it, skank, ho, fuck-toy, hey you get over here... of course i'm being intentionally offensive, but it's a valid question: since this bill would define these persons as less-than-woman, obviously we'll need to call them something.
