New pre-abortion requirements passed in Nebraska: Mental screening, for one

By GottaLaff

Do you hear that sound? It's the chip-chip-chipping away at Roe v. Wade. Legal abortions are less accessible, physicians who perform them are being assassinated, and restrictions on women who might need one are getting tighter.

This must be the liberty conservatives rave about so often. That whole "coming between you and your doctor" thing? Yeah, it is not the progressives who condone that:

LINCOLN, Neb.—Nebraska lawmakers on Monday gave final approval to a first-of-its-kind measure requiring women to be screened for possible mental and physical problems before having abortions. [...]

It's also likely be challenged in court. National abortion-rights supporters have called it a drastic shift in abortion policy that would block abortions by scaring doctors who might perform them.

Doctors would be required to screen women to find out if they were pressured into having abortions. Then they could determine whether someone is likely to end up with mental or physical problems after the procedure.

That's awfully subjective, and it occurs to me that a woman would feel pressured by the question about feeling pressured. Could this be the birth (no pun) of "pressure panels"?

The patients would have to be told whether they are at risk, but would still be allowed to have an abortion.

If I were told I were at risk, that would stress me out enough to be diagnosed as being stressed out, but I wouldn't necessarily be able to identify the source of my stress. Especially if I were a very young woman, as in teenager.

And after having worked with teens for years, I can safely say that they feel pressured if you so much look at them wrong.

Or if you tell them you're about to look at them wrong.

Or if you ask them if they feel pressured.

If a screening was not done, a woman could file a civil suit.

Doctors would not face criminal charges, nor would they lose their medical licenses.

So what's the problem?

"It's too vague," said Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha, one of just nine senators who voted against the measure on Monday. "I don't know if a physician faced with civil action can know all the risk factors," cited in journals, he added.

Chip, chip, chip....

Utah House Passes Bill Outlawing Nonmedical Abortions

By GottaLaff

Awhile ago I posted about a Utah bill that criminalized miscarriages. Remember? It got a lot of attention, not only here at TPC, but in the media:

A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate this week and waiting for the governor's signature, will make it a crime for a woman to have a miscarriage, and make induced abortion a crime in some instances. [...]

While the bill does not affect legally obtained abortions, it criminalizes any actions taken by women to induce a miscarriage or abortion outside of a doctor's care, with penalties including up to life in prison. [...]

In addition to criminalizing an intentional attempt to induce a miscarriage or abortion, the bill also creates a standard that could make women legally responsible for miscarriages caused by "reckless" behavior.

Today we have a postscript:

The bill still would make abortions not performed by a doctor through a medical procedure illegal. [...]

The new version says a woman is not guilty of criminal homicide if the abortion is caused by a reckless act of the woman.

So as it now stands, if a woman miscarries because she crashes into a tree while skiing, she's in the clear.

How compassionate.

AUDIO: Lawmaker denies he said disabled kids are punishment from God

By GottaLaff

Earlier today I posted about a lawmaker who, it was reported, said disabled children are God’s punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy.

Now you can hear his response:



So God made nature, and nature is the culprit, but if you had an abortion, you are the culprit, because nature made you do it, but God made nature do it, but God had nothing to do with it.

Clear?

UPDATE: For more, go here:

"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children. In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There's a special punishment Christians would suggest." [...]

"It's nature's take on vengeance, it's not God," Marshall told WTOP. "It's a natural consequence. You're taking a muscle that's tight to hold the pregnancy in place and you are rupturing it, and it injures the muscle so in future pregnancies, it's not as strong."

"This is nature talking to us, our limits in nature." he says. "It's not God throwing lightning bolts down at people."

H/t: Gr8RDH

Lawmaker: Disabled kids are god's punishment

By GottaLaff



Yesterday I posted about a Utah law that criminalizes miscarriage. Yes, you read that right.

Seems Big Government is fine and dandy when it comes to eliminating abortion rights, despite the fact that freedom of choice is, you know, legal.

Apparently, that's hard for one Virginia lawmaker to accept:

RICHMOND – Western Prince William Del. Bob Marshall, R-13th, says disabled children are God’s punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy.

This doesn't sound like a guy who likes kids. Love the blastocyst, hate the child.... I wondered if any moms will ask him why he considers their son or daughter a punishment. Or any son or daughter.

“The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children,” said Marshall, a Republican.

“In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.”

How Christian of him. How loving toward his fellow human.

I don't think Mother Nature would appreciate his attitude.

Delegate Brenda Pogge, R-Williamsburg, has joined Marshall in co-sponsoring a budget amendment to eliminate state funding for Planned Parenthood. [...]

The press conference was held by a group called Virginia Christian Action. Its members presented a petition calling on Gov. Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to stop funding for Planned Parenthood. All three top officials are Republican.

The petition was signed by a number of prominent Christian leaders, including the Rev. Jonathan Falwell of Lynchburg and the Rev. Pat Robertson of Virginia Beach.

Remember, Pat R. was the same dingbat who refused to let me use the words "toilet paper" in a joke for a ventriloquist's dummy that I wrote for his Family Channel a few years back.

Now that's a guy whose judgment we can all trust.

Here's another one:

[Dean Nelson, executive director of the Network of Politically Active Christians] suggested that the organization be called “Klan Parenthood,” saying that the group’s founder, Margaret Sanger, made racist comments in the 1930s and that the organization has shown a “willingness to take donations from people who are racist.”

How Christian of him.

But Jessica Honke, director of public policy for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, said the only state funding Planned Parenthood receives is from Medicaid reimbursements.

[The Rev. Joe Ellison, vice president of the Council on Biblical Principles] said he was “declaring war against Planned Parenthood.”

Conservatives seem to have a real obsession with violence. I'm no expert on religion, but my guess is that Jesus would not approve.

Utah Bill Criminalizes Miscarriage

By GottaLaff

Incrementally, inch by inch, law by law, the anti-choicers are trying to take away women's reproductive rights:

A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate this week and waiting for the governor's signature, will make it a crime for a woman to have a miscarriage, and make induced abortion a crime in some instances.

According Lynn M. Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, what makes Utah's proposed law unique is that it is specifically designed to be punitive toward pregnant women, not those who might assist or cause an illegal abortion or unintended miscarriage. [...]

While the bill does not affect legally obtained abortions, it criminalizes any actions taken by women to induce a miscarriage or abortion outside of a doctor's care, with penalties including up to life in prison. [...]

In addition to criminalizing an intentional attempt to induce a miscarriage or abortion, the bill also creates a standard that could make women legally responsible for miscarriages caused by "reckless" behavior.

Using the legal standard of "reckless behavior" all a district attorney needs to show is that a woman behaved in a manner that is thought to cause miscarriage, even if she didn't intend to lose the pregnancy. Drink too much alcohol and have a miscarriage? Under the new law such actions could be cause for prosecution.[...]

Such a standard could even make falling down stairs a prosecutable event, such as the recent case in Iowa where a pregnant woman who fell down the stairs at her home was arrested under the suspicion she was trying to terminate her pregnancy.

This reminds me of the Ugandan anti-gay bill:

The government of Uganda is considering passing a law to execute gay people. Execute as in by hanging a, quote, “serial offender” or an HIV-positive person who commits same sex act. If enacted, this law would also impose a three-year prison sentence on anyone who knows of a gay person in the country but doesn‘t report that gay person to the government within 24 hours.

Here's the truth of the matter:

Paltrow says this bill puts a lie to the idea that the pro-life movement cares about women.

"For all these years the anti-choice movement has said ‘we want to outlaw abortion, not put women in jail, but what this law says is ‘no, we really want to put women in jail.'"

Blastocysts matter. The rest of us? Not so much.

H/t: Dawgs529

"How come my uterus doesn't get as much protection as your gun?"

By GottaLaff

Mcjoan over at Kos wrote up a very short post that you should read. Link.

The blog title I posted is actually her tweet. Her piece starts out with:

Is there anything our political "leaders" won't do for the NRA? Check out this, from the new manager's amendment [pdf].

Focus on the Family moves to D.C., but not "primarily to beat up Obama"

By GottaLaff

James Dobson hands over the reins of Focus on the Family to Jim Daly and his crew, and look what happens:

For the first time, the conservative Focus is opening a Washington office. Tim Goeglein, the group's vice president of external relations, says his job is not primarily to beat up on President Obama's policies but to get Focus's mission better known. "If social conservatism is the spear, then Focus is the tip of the spear," says Goeglein. He is uniquely qualified. A senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, he was former President Bush's aide de camp on conservative and Christian issues. "Tim brings with him a wealth of experience and relationships that will prove invaluable to our efforts to defend the sanctity of human life, protect the institution of marriage, and ensure the religious-freedom rights of Christians," Daly says.

In other words, their efforts include divesting women of their rights, proselytizing bigotry, and breaking and entering government institutions, courtrooms, and classrooms with the intent of leaving a trail of religious residue.

Beating up on Obama will just have to take a back seat to all of that. That's all there is to it.

VIDEO: President Fetus

By GottaLaff

Misleading? Repugnant? The answer to both is a resounding "yes":


Via David Weigel:

This ad has been making the rounds in pro-life circles and among pro-choicers who find it disgusting. [...]

For one, nobody who has profiled Barack Obama’s family has encountered evidence that the 18-year-old Ann Dunham and the 25-year-old Barack Obama, Sr. conceived their son by accident. [...]

It’s rather silly of Mark Hemingway to “speculate what a 19-year-old (sic) Ann Dunham would have done if abortion had been a legal option.” She wanted to have a baby.

It's also a despicable use of Obama 's image. Count me in as one of the "pro-choicers who finds it disgusting."

President Obama to Overturn Ban on Funding International Family Planning Groups that Provide Abortion

Huzzah!! There were some grumblings yesterday as to when he would do this.

ABC News has learned that later today President Obama will sign an executive order overturning the "Mexico City Policy," which prohibits Non Governmental Organizations that receive international family planning assistance through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from providing or actively promoting abortions as a method of family planning in other countries.

The policy -- called the "Global Gag rule" by supporters of abortion rights -- was first instituted by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, was overturned by President Bill Clinton in 1993, and was re-instituted by President George W. Bush in 2001.

Rachel Maddow: Bush Rolling Back Reproductive Rights

I will back the "Amish Bus Driver Law" wholeheartedly.

VIDEO: Rape Victim Assails Sarah Palin On Choice

By GottaLaff

It's a fitting reminder of how McCain and Palin would extend the intrusive hand of government into affairs in which it should hold no sway. I'd also remind you that McCain thinks that the those who are concerned about the health and well-being of women are "extreme." I'd remind you that when McCain and Palin disclosed Palin's daughter's pregnancy, they took pains to state that Bristol "made the decision on her own to keep the baby," which makes no sense, since they do not in any way acknowledge that Bristol's choice in the matter, matters. I'd remind you that Sarah Palin believes that rape victims should bear the cost of investigating their own cases. And I'd remind you that when asked to consider what a rape victim should do, given Sarah Palin's antipathy to her plight, a die-hard McCain/Palin supporter said, "She should die." All of these things are worth remembering.

Via Huffington Post

H/t: Palin's No Hillary

Planned Parenthood: John Sidney McCain is no moderate

By GottaLaff

Via Planned Parenthood:

It's shocking how many people still think Senator John McCain's positions are "moderate" when it comes to reproductive health care and rights, when the opposite is true.

Then again, there are so many shocking things that we keep finding out about John McCain. This is just one of them.