Don't you just love it when politicians pose as doctors?

Indiana state Rep. Troy Woodruff (R) on Wednesday said he has filed a bill (HB 1096) that would make abortion illegal in the state unless continuing the pregnancy to term would cause "substantial permanent impairment of the life or physical health of the pregnant woman," the Evansville Courier & Press reports.

What actually constitutes "substantial and permanent impairment" is in the eyes of the beholder... or the politician.

The bill would change state law to make performing an abortion a Class C felony, which can carry a two- to eight-year prison sentence. Woodruff said he introduced the bill in part because a state must pass a law and then appeal it to the U.S. Supreme Court to see if Roe v. Wade -- the 1973 Supreme Court case that effectively barred state abortion bans -- would be overturned.

This is what comes of conservative judicial activism: precedents be damned -- we'll just keep passing illegal laws until we stack the courts with enough sympathizers to make what's illegal legal and make what's legal illegal.

The net effect of this is that conservatives are making this into a nation ruled by men, not by laws. They're not even shy about it. Just look at "Christian" leader and proud misogynist Jerry Falwell:

The Reverend Jerry Falwell says he’s backing Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito because he trusts that President Bush picked someone who opposes abortion.

But the Lynchburg minister and Liberty University chancellor says that senators shouldn’t ask Alito whether he would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

No, we can just wink-nudge-say-no-more on that. Besides, we already know that Alito wants to overturn Roe. And conservatives like him because he's consistently against individual liberties.

Alito's endorsement of expansive presidential authority can be found in speeches he made to the conservative Federalist Society and in a memo he wrote as a Justice Department lawyer in 1984, Schumer said.

In a separate news briefing, Kennedy added that in addition to the speeches and memo, Alito's 15-year record as an appellate judge also reveals a pattern of deferring to government authority. "We have to ask ourselves, is there any limit to executive authority that this nominee will recognize?" Kennedy said.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a key Alito supporter, sought to downplay the issue, though he acknowledged senators from both parties likely would question him about the balancing of security and civil liberties.

Already, the top two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have written letters to Alito asking about his views on the NSA program, as well as the scope of presidential power. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the committee chairman, and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking Democrat, sent the letters following revelations about the NSA program.

At issue is the "unitary executive" theory, which Reagan officials promoted when Alito worked in that administration.

As Alito put it in a 2000 speech, "The president has not just some executive powers, but the executive power - the whole thing."

When a federal judge is making grandiose statements like that, one wonders if he even believes in democracy and elections -- you know, freedom stuff.

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