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Another Republican revolution, against women’s right to choose
TweetMost of the media attention given in recent weeks to the effects of increased Republican margins in statehouses following the November elections has centered on legislation aimed at curtailing or eliminating collective bargaining for state employees. Those efforts have brought out tens of thousands of protesters, most notably in Madison, Wisc., and in Columbus.
But there’s been an equally dramatic yet less visible campaign being waged by new Republican majorities, a campaign to severely restrict the right of a woman to choose an abortion.
In Ohio, legislation that clearly runs counter to the Supreme Court of the United States’ Roe v. Wade ruling has been introduced. It’s called the “heartbeat bill” because it would outlaw an abortion any time after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. That can be done in the early weeks of a pregnancy, months sooner than a fetus would be viable outside the womb, which is the standard for regulating access to an abortion that was established by Roe.
In South Dakota, Gov. Dennis Dugaard says he intends to sign a bill working its way through the Legislature that would require a woman seeking an abortion to wait 72 hours before having the procedure, during which she would be required to undergo counseling at one of several state-approved “pregnancy help centers,” all of which seek to persuade women not to have abortions.
The South Dakota Legislature has a history of anti-abortion activism. It passed legislation in 2006 and 2008 to ban virtually all abortions in the state, only to have voters reject those laws through statewide referendum.
These legislative actions call into question the “conservative” credentials of their sponsors. It is hardly politically conservative to pass laws that clearly run counter to the law established by the nation’s high court. And it is certainly not fiscally conservative to pass laws that the Legislature knows are going to be challenged, almost certainly successfully, and which the state will be required to spend millions of dollars to defend.
The Washington front
And in Congress, anti-abortion fervor has gained such political clout that House Republicans voted to ban federal funding to the nation’s largest provider of contraceptive services, Planned Parenthood, and to vacate all federal funding of Title X, the nation’s contraception program for the poor.
There is no logic to those who oppose abortion making it more difficult to obtain contraception. What do these folks think happens when couples don’t use contraception, for whatever reason. Did they close their eyes during health class, or are they just closing their eyes now to the obvious consequences of their actions?
And by what perverse logic is it conservative for advocates of smaller government to make efforts to constantly expand the government’s ability to tell a woman what she can or cannot do with her body — or to make her jump through hoops as if she were a child before she can do what she feels she has to do.
It is conservative only in its reflection of fundamentalist theocracies in which a religious minority — or even a religious majority — seeks to impose its faith on everyone else.
However strongly anyone may feel that abortion is wrong — that it is sinful — should have no standing in law in the United States of America. Tens of millions of religious and nonreligious people alike in this nation do not share the particular view of abortion held by the most fervent opponents of abortion.
The decision on whether to have an abortion should be made by a woman and her doctor. Whether she chooses to seek counseling from a relative, friend, therapist or clergyman, is her decision. She should not have to meet the expectations of legislators she has never met and who hold religious views that she does not share.
This is the United States, not Iran or Saudi Arabia — or, in the opposite extreme, China, where the government is antipathetic toward religion and encourages abortion as a means of population control.
Comments
Yeap. In fact, did you know that Currently, many insurance companies do not allow adult children to remain on their parents' plan once they reach 19. Companies cannot do that any more. Search onilne for "Wise Health Insurance" and you can insure your kids if you are in the same boat.
But the GOP does not even want low income women to have access to affordable birth control, since they want to cut all funding to Planned Parenthood.
Sorry ladies :( But this is what you voted for . What you did think they were going to do . Did you the rigth forgot !!!!!!
to republicans, a human life is the most precious thing in the world and they will do anything to protect it......until that human life is actually born. after that, they really don't give a rats *** whether that child eats, has a doctor to go to, or has a decent education.
Republicans: "You must live a pure life like we do. You will go to hell if you believe in abortion because the unborn are God's children!"
Homeless/Poor Mother: "Please help me. There are no jobs and my children are starving and have no place to live."
Republicans: "Go to hell! People like you don't deserve to live!"
Exactly right, jrolley. But I'm not sure that identifies only Republicans. I notice an insidious movement to pack our legislatures with evangelists, who will force their views and those of their fellows on the rest of us through the passing of laws. Their religion cannot affect our lives, but their laws can. Brings to mind a quote from Sinclair Lewis: "When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving a cross." The answer? Repeal their laws through referendum and then vote them out of office, I hope. And to this specific case, could I point out that many pro-choice people are anti-abortion? It's about choice, not about abortion. In other words, mind your own business.
The killing of the unborn is an industry that creates wealth for those killing the ones with no voice or choice . The murder of the most innocent is in vogue in The United States of America . Only those with satanistic souls condone this barbaric act !
When it comes to abortion it is always framed as the right to choose." Why does the right to choose become irrelevant when it comes to, shool vouchers, belonging to a union, how Social Security taxes are only to given to the Government. How about not killing an innocent baby and have the mother give it up for adoption? Because it is too inconvenient for this mother to be, who was irresponsible enough to get herself in this condition. The answer is not calling the Republicans names for standing up what they believe in. The rag Vindy once again proves how biased they are.
May I (tiresomely) repeat: Pro-choicers are not necessarily pro-abortion. It boils down to a woman's right to do whatever she chooses --- pierce her face, work two jobs, have tattoos, have abortions, have a dozen children, wear a burkha or not -- with her own body. If men can't handle that, they can be a little more careful where they plant their seed... when men have to bear the burden of parenthood as much as women do, then they can presume to dictate what happens after too-often-casual sex.
FOOLS the GOP will choose for you
What did you think was going to happen ????? HO that's right they were only going to pick on the poor black woman . BIG SMILE , BIG SMILE FOOLS This is what you voted for. get over it and get bearfooted and get in the kitchen woman
Republicans and the Tea Party state over and over and over again how they want less government in their lives...EXCEPT on the issue of abortion. Then, they want the government to mandate/legislate what a woman can do with her own body. Once again, their hypocrisy leaves me speechless.
Ah yes, the liberals show their satanistic souls when they champion the freedom to kill those still in the womb !
Sloganeering.
'Right to choose' is a slogan. It's not an analysis.
If you want body art, have at it.
If you want multiple piercings of your face, go ahead, it's YOUR face. I might think you're a fool and it looks awful, but again, it's your face.
Abortion is murder, murder most foul, murder of the most helpless. Pretending otherwise is something known most frequently as "lying". It is a lie, it is an abominable lie, it is an obvious lie. And those pretending otherwise are contemptible.
'Roe v. Wade' was as awful and evil a decree as was the Dredd Scott decision, or Plessy v. Ferguson, or Kelo. Potter Stewart, Harry Blackmun, W. O. Douglas, and their co-liars should have been unemployed the very same hour and should have lived out their lives under assumed names, emptying bedpans in tropical leper colonies. In truth, they made it up as they went along, and damaged the entire nation in so doing. This was NOT the voice of the citizens, acting through our elected representatives, as is the constitutional structure of this republic. This was the decree of seven old men, who determined to behave like a council of barons.
And that is, in part, why the matter is and remains a source of conflict. The ruling and the attitudes behind such are profoundly corrosive to a once-free nation.
Amen Stan. Once again the tired old cry of choice is trotted out. TheLadyRides blames only the man who planted the seed. How about the woman who received it and took no precaution to avoid it. All the woman has to say is "no condum, no sex". That would eliminate 98% of unwanted pregnancies. Once again I ask, where is choice when it comes to school vouchers, FICA tax dollars, belonging to a union to keep a job? Choice then goes out the window.
TheLadyRides brings up a point that has always puzzled me. If a woman has the right to do what she chooses with her body, why is prostitution illegal? I am not saying I support legalizing it,but just pointing out the inconsistency.