They're just falling all over themselves. It's a veritable womb rush for government! Seize your wombs, politicians! Control your women!

In Mississippi:

Gov. Haley Barbour said Wednesday he would probably sign a bill under consideration in the state House that would ban most abortions in Mississippi.

The measure, which passed the House Public Health Committee on Tuesday, would allow abortion only to save a woman's life. It would make no exception in cases of rape or incest.

Barbour, a Republican, said he preferred an exception in cases of rape and incest, but if such a bill came to his desk: "I suspect I'll sign it."

The full House could vote on the bill next week, and it would then go to the Senate.

In Missouri:

The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld a 24-hour informed consent abortion law in a unanimous decision, ruling that the law does not violate the Missouri constitution. The law requires doctors to wait 24 hours after consulting with women before performing abortions.

Update: But wait, there's more!

South Dakota has done it. Mississippi is considering it. Now Missouri is the latest state to propose legislation banning nearly all abortions.

Republican State Senator Jason Crowell introduced the resolution yesterday. It would ban all abortions in Missouri, except when giving birth would put the mother's life at risk. If the legislature endorses it, voters would decide on the ban in November.

While the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken on the matter with Roe versus Wade, Crowell wants them to reconsider. He hopes a new state law will force a future showdown in the courts. Crowell says, "The only way in which to overturn a Supreme Court decision, is with a new Supreme Court opinion."

He adds, "This is about no longer playing on the fringes of abortion, and putting squarely before the Missouri voters, an up or down vote."

In Michigan:

A petition drive to place a strict anti-abortion law before Michigan voters this fall appeared to be going nowhere -- until Tuesday, when the state's two representatives on the Republican National Committee fired off letters supporting the controversial ballot proposal.

Chuck Yob and Holly Hughes gave the effort some instant credibility when they sent letters and e-mails to 3,000 Republican and anti-abortion activists to "help protect the lives of the unborn right here in Michigan."

They urged people to join the Michigan Citizens for Life campaign to collect 317,000 signatures and put on the November ballot a state constitutional amendment giving the right of due process to a fetus. The proposal would eliminate abortion in the state and, if passed, could prompt a national legal battle targeting Roe v. Wade, a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

In Georgia:

A slate of abortion-related bills passed in the state Senate on Thursday, requiring doctors to offer women seeking the procedure a look at an image of the fetus and clearing pharmacists who don't want to give out abortion pills they say go against their beliefs.

A third bill would create a murder charge any time a fetus is destroyed in an attack on a pregnant woman.

The Unborn Victims of Violence Act expands Georgia's current law, which says a fetus must have a chance to stay alive outside the womb for its destruction to be considered a murder. The new bill would call for a murder charge at any point in the pregnancy.

In Massachusetts:

Lunging to the right on two red hot social issues, Gov. Mitt Romney said he would sign a bill outlawing abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, and agreed to meet with the state’s Roman Catholic bishops to discuss their bid to exempt Catholic Charities from gay adoptions.

On abortion, Romney spokeswoman Julie Teer said the governor would back a state ban on abortion if, as occurred in South Dakota, lawmakers passed such a measure.

“If Gov. Romney were the governor of South Dakota he would sign it,� Teer told political newsletter The Hotline yesterday. “The governor believes that states should have the right to be pro-life if that is the will of the people.�

So where are the Democrats on all this? Oh, wait--

One of 55 House Democrats who've signed a "Catholic Statement of Principles" says it's an effort to keep abortion from becoming their single defining issue.

Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro says she and other Catholic Democrats are "very proud of our spirituality," but reserve the right to obey conscience rather than church teachings.

The 55 signers say they "agree with the Catholic Church about the value of human life and the undesirability of abortion" and "do not celebrate its practice." But the House members add that they "accept the tension that comes with being in disagreement with the church in some areas."

Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life says Catholic Democrats realize that support for legal abortion is costing them votes and are "trying to put as good a face on their position as possible."

Yeah, we can't have politicians doing anything like standing up for anything like moral principles when the Catholic Church is weighing in on American governmental policy. Forced pregnancy is just too damn popular and sexy in today's political climate for Democrats to risk defending human rights.

For the political theorists out there reading this, we're looking at the top of the political compass. You won't find many Democrats -- let alone Republicans -- down at the freedom side of the circle.

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