Handed out on the street in Wyoming.
If you've been wondering, like we have, whether the federal government will step in to protect women's rights to abortion, part of your answer just showed up in Indiana. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tells the New York Times it will intervene in Indiana's new law defunding Planned Parenthood. The statement, as it appears in the Times:
"Federal law prohibits federal Medicaid dollars from being spent on abortion services. Medicaid does not allow states to stop beneficiaries from getting care they need — like cancer screenings and preventive care — because their provider offers certain other services. We are reviewing this particular situation and situations in other states."
Those other states include North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Kansas, where providers tell us they need more federal help. Last month, the Department of Justice did move to protect a doctor we've covered in Wichita, Kansas, after an anti-abortion extremist sent her a threatening letter. That activist now says her First Amendment rights are being violated. The anti-choice crowd is unhappy that the Obama administration is enforcing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances -- or FACE -- law.
Much as the legislative chipping away at Roe v. Wade moves from state to state, so the anti-abortion street movement pops up all over. Some of the same anti-abortion crowd we've reported on in Kansas spent last week protesting a clinic in Wyoming. A viewer who saw them sends the flier above, redacted by us, which he says group members were handing out to passerby and to local stores. This is an everywhere and anywhere problem.
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About damn time the federal govt stepped in! I will feel better when they move on Oklahoma. This place has been a joke for entirely too long!
I totally agree. Oklahoma is as far looney as you can get. I am ashamed at how love thy neighbor this state isn't.
It's so lonely being a liberal/progressive in Oklahoma, isn't it?
This news raises my hopes for women nationwide. I've never used PP, but let's stand up for the rights of others to have access to this life-saving organization.
Its like walking through an insane asylum where everyone is speaking in tongues and you keep listening for English. Sometimes you actually find people who are sane. But not very often.
This is the first positive news I've heard on this front in far too long. I hope the feds rake over the coals any state that has voted to defund Planned Parenthood.
i want a new country, mine is broken.
My state is a third world nation. And the conservatives regard it as the model they want for the rest of the nation. Be very afraid.
Don, You must live in AZ.
Close, Oklahoma. Just marginally better than Arizona.
Don, I know Oklahoma & South Carolina have to be neck & neck on the third world title;) At least damn close.
I was a policeman in S.C. and worked under a pro-life nut. we were told to do nothing to stop protesters from throwing water ballons at cars, blocking the driveway to clinics, jumping out in the middle of traffic with graphic signs of dismembered babies and posting huge billboards of the same across the street from schools and playgrounds. I've been gone 20yrs... don't miss it at all!!!
I moved from South Carolina to California a year and a half ago and the difference in health care is remarkable. Oddly enough, I live in a more rural area in CA than I did in SC.
this is a direct result of fact that most citizens of SC are borderline ignorant. but that is not their fault it is the culmination of years of minimum quality education enforced by the legislation and the republican dream. "KEEP THEM DUMB AND IN THE FIELD"
We've got something similar in Oklahoma. We've not been around as long, but as a state we absolutely hate property taxes so we fund our per student expenditure within the bottom three of the nation. We make up for it by being within the top four in number of people incarcerated, and tops in number of women in prison.
i too was wondering when they were going to step in. Erosion of women's rights by the forced birth crowd has been happening at a frightening rate, thanks to an orchestrated, coordinated onslaught by Republican state legislatures in a number of states. they have not only been doing a frontal assault , but have been making quite insidious laws via health care providers, geographical proximity, and throwing up all kinds of barriers. even defining morning after pill as an abortion...
Feds need to step in NOW to uphold the law and the rights of women
Manyamile, I haven't heard that "forced birth crowd" phrase but it is remarkably apt. When people ask me how I can support abortion, I start with the fact that I just can't imagine forcing anyone to go through pregnancy and childbirth, especially not a young girl with her whole life ahead of her.
I am also very creeped out by the possibility that small-town big-men will get the power over women to investigate their miscarriages. Did you know 1 in 8 women will experience a miscarriage in their lives? I can't fathom ceding that much power over women in a situation in which, historically, women have taken a beating. Literally.
Whatever we can do to fight this attack on women... I'm in.
Its one huge area of over-lap between Christo- and Islamo-fascists. They both agree on the amount a woman is allowed say over her own body and about LGBTs. I repeat...Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals are a bigger threat to American freedom and liberty than any Muslim!
Very well said Don and thank you...
Good, grief, don't they know that picture is famously "shopped?" They obviously know nothing about actual human female anatomy and pregnancy if they haven't caught on to that by now. Even at term there is no way a fetus's foot can show that clearly through the chorion, amnion, uterus, abdominal muscles, fat and skin of an actual woman. *sighs*
Actually, you can see feet and hands that clearly. It happened with my daughter when she was pregnant. However, if someone is that far along isn't it true that they cannot legally abort?
Yes. The Guttmacher Institute has good information on state laws if you want to know what the time limits are.
S'cubed: ;) that is a good website. Went there after I saw DQ's post about AZ. Figured I'd check up on my state. :) Didn't check to see if it's worse than OK, tho.
I did, however, discove that AZ passed more restrictions this past April, with little to no fanfare. I had no idea. Narry a word in the paper. Big surprise. The right-wing rag here is called the Arizona Republic. Guess which side of the fence they fall on? What with the legislature going after unions and public workers and all the protests with that...they couldn't be bothered to let people know about the abortion bill. Hell, they didn't even report the worker bill until people started showin up at the capitol.
So...DQ...I'm gonna assume that yes, your state is better than mine. ;)
I've told you before Cyn...Arizona is one of the few places I would less rather be than here in Oklahoma. It hurts my heart to know that there are good Goddess fearing folk, liberals, trapped within those borders as though stuck in the brimstone belly of some giant infernal beast. I am really sorry.
Don't forget that not all the recently-signed bills are on there yet. For instance, Governor Brownback just signed a nifty piece like Nebraska's (and I forget where else) arbitrarily banning abortion at 20 weeks based on the notion of "fetal pain". There was a bunch of other egregious crap in it (taking abortion coverage out of private health plans) but it doesn't come into effect until July 1 so it's not on Guttmacher's monthly update yet.
Hell, DQ....don't be sorry. ;) This is my home. I love this state. And I love Phoenix. I choose to live here and I will do what I can to make it better. And believe it or not...but Phoenix is actually quite the liberal, open-minded hub. It kinda has to be...the diversity in this city is amazing. That's one of the things that I love about it. Phoenix and Tuscon both. It's the outlying desert towns that can get the narrow-minded folk. But not always.
And good news!!! Sheriff Joe Arpaio might be goin' dooowwwwn. Yes! He's being investigated. Misapropriation of funds. 100 million dollars of tax-payer money over the last 8 years. I'm crossing my fingers.
Imagine that! Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Scubie, we've already got the 20 weeks fetal pain thing AND the mandatory vaginally inserted ultrasound.
Seriously? the vaginally inserted ultrasound is mandatory? OMG.....I'm surprised women are still having sex there. That is unbelievably invasive. Perhaps the feds will step in there, too.
I'm really glad to see the feds stepping in. It's about damn time.
From what I understand, only if there's no way to get the image from a trans-abdominal one. But still, the arguments I've read justifying it have been along the lines of "why should that matter, she obviously doesn't care what goes in there anyway". Disgusting.
http://abortiongang.org/2010/04/new-oklahoma-law-is-intrusive-beyond-belief/
I'm afraid so. If you weren't violated and humiliated before, you will be. It's odious.
too bad the folks who wrote and handed out that preposterous flyer weren't raptured this weekend. then we'd all be happy.
Seriously! Just imagine how much nicer and open minded our country would be. *sigh*
All the good folk were raptured. 86 dogs, 45 cats and 8 horses. The rest of us now have to deal with "the hell on earth" which includes these extremist butt-nuggets that were left behind.
ha!
I think it likely that they would be willing to forgo federal dollars and let the born children go without Medicaid provided health care if it would prevent one abortion.
It seems unsane, but many of the elected representatives in these states chose to run for office exclusively for the purpose of ending abortion services in their state and they are willing to kill however people necessary to achieve their goal.
It may be likely that the legislators that passed these atrocities would be willing to forgo those federal medicaid dollars, but I guarantee you (at least here in Kansas), their constituency won't be.
Our state is generally much more level headed than this, and there are a lot of older women who remember the times before R v. W and the things they had to go through, and they don't want their granddaughters to have to suffer like that.
You are correct about their motives for running for office. One party went home mad, one party went to sleep, and found themselves taken over by the religious right. Now both parties are going to have to wake up and fix this mess!
Not to mention that she's clearly about 8 months, 3 weeks and 6 days pregnant
Look at that picture. Let's call the baby John. John grows up gets good grades and goes to med school. graduates and gets a job with a women's health provider. this same kid that they claim to have saved his life. They will follow him to church and shot him. or they will put a bomb under his car and kill him and anyone near his vehicle. Pro-Life? Really?
Oh yeah.. all the pro-lifers care about is a fetus. Once born, the kid is screwed. Then it's a whole 'nother game. What a joke.
Not to mention that pic is a known internet fake.
Anyway, if people are so interested in feet, check this out.
What a wondersul photo they use to inflame their followers. The Roe v. Wade decision and federal law would not permit an abortion at that late stage of pregnancy, unless it was necessary to save the life of the mother. And a woman who is THAT far along would not be aborted at all. They would deliver the baby in hopes that it could survive a (potentially) premature birth. The woman in the photo is clearly more than 7 months pregant, and I would wager she is actually 8 or 9 months along.
Yeah, that's the anti-abortion activists putting up a strawman argument. Terminating a pregnancy when the fetus is viable isn't an abortion. This is about the D&X procedure and many advocates for choice don't support that in the 7-9 months unless it's medically necessary.
Most people have a nuanced position. But if we were debating when it should be legal rather than if it should be legal then the anti-abortion extremists would lose.
Putting religin aside:
Killing or "Saving the Soul of this Doctor" does not solve the abortion problem. Education, on all sides, a fair wage to raise children in decent living conditions with good medical care will go a long way to slowing the problem especially for women and children.
Always been around... Always will be.....
When the government became involved in this problem, It was already too large a Social Justice issue.
No, Brianna, they don't know that. That would require attending horrific things like health class, where sex education and male/female anatomy are taught.
Whether you have a left or centrist view on abortion, the rallying cry has to be the fact Christians are ever-increasingly shoving their religious beliefs and morality down the throats of everyone under the guise of "saving" us, or helping us "find Jesus". Attempts to kidnap our government and constitution are simply a means to obtain their end (of the world).
You hit the proverbially nail on the head with that comment. Also, when did these nutjobs start holding elected office without a secular view on the bible & policy? Maybe never, I suppose but it didn't seem to present itself to the public in such a frank way.
I would give any of them $1,000 if they found the word god in the constitution...
Bu bu bu but I thought Christians were the oppressed minority
Let's not lump all Christians into the crazy pot. In fact, I don't consider right-wing extremists to be Christians at all. They are just nutjobs who need some reason to feel superior to others. They can't do it through brains, physical prowess, financial prosperity or sense of humor so they just claim that they are the "chosen" ones and they get to judge anyone else they don't like. Real Christians are feeding the poor.
Christ was too much of a pinko socialist and threat to authority to make it in this nation. He'd be as radical now as he was then and exactly as welcome. What's different is that the Pharisees who helped engineer his crucifixion are now operating under his name. Believe it, when he comes back he's going to be PISSED!
True elizabeth, but that is not the argument the conservative "Christians" make. They pretend that their "Christian" values are under assault every day by the left-wing. You are correct; real Christians follow the teachings of Christ (hence the name Christian) to implore things like charity, hospitality, kindness, love, non-judgement. But these particular Christians would say that you're misrepresenting Christianity and that you don't know what you're talking about by trying to implore those values (go check out conservapedia.com if you don't believe me unghhh). They operate from the world view that to disagree w/ them is to oppress them. That if their values aren't maintained by the society then the society is outright rejecting to them. Equality in their world means everyone is homogenous and no one differs. It's really quite psychotic.
Mickey Mouser: I get all that. I wasn't saying that THEY didn't think of themselves as Christians. I'm just saying that they are extremely mistaken on what that actually means. Anyone can use any ideology to hate and I don't want to lump real Christians, who are lovely people, in with these hateful and angry extremists. I live in Indiana and have to deal with Mike Pence probably becoming our next governor. I don't need lectures on people who distort the Bible for their own greed. I get to witness it first hand.
Maybe if pro-choice folks start printing news paper adds on the people who do this and their families (outing them so-to-speak), the playing field of fear and harassment would be even? I'm just sayin....
Al, that strikes me as being a very good idea - fight fire with fire, so to speak.
I don't understand the ferocity of these pro-lifers. They seems to be almost rabid about this issue, which leads me to wonder what their underlying reasons are. It seems to be more than just the subjugation of women - something a lot more unhealthy.
Joy, dont know if you realize you just introduce a field profile question that has several answers. 1. what a perfect environment for a killer to hide. if i love to plan murders and my fantacies can be made reality....and i will be protected and encouraged. 2. I get kill and dont have to brag about it ...my community of nuts will praise me everyday. 3. In this community, a nobody can become somebody fast and in a hurry...easy to motivate a lonely soul. Manipulate a mentally ill person. this is how they recruit.
Vamp, your points are interesting but kinda scary. Am I interpreting correctly that the pro-lifers are fantasizing about a lust for killing in an environment that will protect them, such as the abortion issue? Could be.
Actually, nothing surprises me much anymore. Although I am inclined to agree with the poster who postulated that preoccupation with sex might be one reason some of those religious nutjobs act the way they do. Who knows?
I guess that even Psychiatrists aren't able to plumb the depths of the mind completely.
Crazy people look for places to feed their disease. If these people lived in the Middle East, they would be rushing to join Al qaeda or joining in on the stoning of an adulterer. They just need ways to feed their "crazy" monster and these groups provide them ways in which they can hate and terrorize people and feel like they are doing the just thing. SCARY
Something like that is working for a guy in Maryland; he's the landlord of a doctor, and the forced-birth crowd decided to target him (as well as the doctor, of course), sending hate mail to him and his family, as well as neighbors, renters, and even his dentist. He got a group together, some research was done to find out who the members of the hate group were, and they started calling them - always being polite, mostly just letting them know that they weren't anonymous anymore. It hasn't totally stopped the harassment yet, but it has cut it way down, and they're starting to do the same for other victims.
That is good news about Planned Parenthood and the clinics that provide abortions services. But that is not going to stop the war on abortion. Long jail terms and huge civil fines will deter some of the activity, but it will just move to different groups and individuals. The groups and individuals are fungible and that is the problem with enforcement of the law. This is the same problem with the white neo-nazi groups. There is no single solution to the problem.
'fungible'? Are you saying fundgible? I know many anti-abortion people keep saying that Planned Parenthood received taxpayer funds and said funds are used for abortion. It is not. Accounting processes makes sure that the only money for abortions are donations, which have risen since the attempts by states to defund Planned Parenthood's women's health services. All tax payer's moneys given to Planned Parenthood are used to pap smears, breast examination, prevention, etc.
I think my use and meaning of the term "fungible" is clear. That same argument is used in relation to the funding. But it is possible to separate the funds for abortion for services. The reimbursement rate for the other services are standardized. If funding is based on operating costs then, any funding would be proportionately reimbursed after subtracting the abortion services and all operating costs attributable to those services. It is easy to calculate what goes to abortion services. The funds all go to the same bank accounts for PP, but that does not mean the funds are being used for abortion services.
The Supreme COurt already determined that Americans have a right to abortion as protected by the Constitution. That means that the federal government is obligated to amke sure that any American who wants to get an abortion is allowed to and to ensure that there are as few limitations as possible on legally obtaining them, just as it is the federal governments job to step in to protect 2nd or 1st amendment rights.
It is not a first amendment right to be able to threaten and intimidate people. The anti-abortion people need to re-read their Constitution, or perhaps re-take their American government class.
Absolutely on the mark, Cora. Threats and intimidation need to be dealt with by law, IMO.
Posted this a little while ago under morning maddow, but might be more appropriate here. Just goes to show how much thought many "conservatives" give to rape victims. Also some good commentary on the (lack of) fallout this will receive:
I just don't get it. If I was a women I COULDN'T vote for any of these guys, even if I agreed with them on all other policy issues. Respect has to come first. How did they all get elected?
Just to be clear liberals, democrats, libertarians and Progressives don't like abortion, they just don't want to inhibit a woman's right to self determination.
From Texas, want scrotum sonograms!
2 Questions:
1) Why aren't these groups pushing for vasectomies for men?
2) How many female state senators and house reps serve in the legislative branches of the various states now proposing restricted abortion rights?
1) I agree!
2) The sad part is that a great many of these bills are written or introduced by women!
The latest federal amendment regarding preventing the teaching of abortion procedures in medical schools was introduced by Virginia Foxx, Rep for North Carolina.
Wow really????
Two abortion protesters arrested in Jackson, Wyoming for violating court order:
What happened to the link? Here it is again.
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=7324
I would say they believe its murder. Whether you agree with them or not, that is how they see it. The murder of innocent children. How would you behave if that was what you believed?
Then I would be writing my representatives to fund Planned Parenthood in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and I would take seriously the fact that sometimes abortions are performed for medical reasons.
^^^^
This, this, THIS!!!
How would you behave if you believed that banning a medical procedure would put the lives of women-your mother, wife, sister, daughter, granddaughter-at risk?
If it's that they believe the fetus is an innocent child and a woman who gets pregnant unintentionally is a dirty sinner because she had sex and thus doesn't deserve reproductive rights, well I disagree with them there too.
It is for the pregnant woman to decide whether the fetus she is carrying is indeed a life. There are plenty of pro-choice women who would not have an abortion themselves because they understand that when life begins is a matter of a belief, not a universal law.
There are people who believe that taking someone in a vegetative state off of life-support is murder, and yet there is some consensus or at least concession that it's up to the person responsible for that person on life-support to decide and not the government.
The bottom line is that you can believe what you want, but you can't make other people believe what you want.
Preventing unwanted pregnancies is great, but it does not resolve the issue of what to do when an unwanted pregnancy does happen.
Over 70% of abortions are performed for social reasons not medical reasons. That is a lot of abortions that could be prevented if those social reasons were eliminated. This is something many Pro-Choice politicians used to emphasize. Al Gore once said,
"We abhor and condemn any coerced abortion, whether the coercion is physical, economic, psychological, or in any other form."
Vice President Al Gore, "Meet the Press," 1994
Who would disagree with that! The Pro-Choice movement needs to remind people of what "choice" means - that it includes having the option of motherhood. It also needs to remind people of how badly the GOP budget undermines that choice for many women.
Hillary Clinton had the right idea in 2005: http://www.slate.com/id/2112712/ but didn't go far enough. I wish she had included programs that support women and infants, such as schools like Catherine Ferguson Academy, etc. The aim should be for a real Pro-Life world.
By the way, many abortion opponents do recognize that abortions are sometimes necessary for medical reasons - they call them "indirect abortions" and admit that sometimes a pregnancy must be terminated in order to save the life of the mother.
Well, it looks like you've answered your own question about what one should do if one believes abortion to be murder: support contraception, promote programs that support mothers and children, and don't interfere with medically necessary abortions.
Terrific summary - thanks!
It's about time someone higher up jumps in. Geez. We have destructive bill after destructive bill here in Wisconsin. Each day brings a new nightmare. Those that want women not to get abortions also want to end free medical care for those woman who agree to have the child by defunding planned parenthood. In other words, they don't give a crap about the life that child will be brought into...maybe hunger, maybe depression, maybe a mother needing to hold two min. wage jobs to pay for this child. They need to make up their frickin' minds....they want the baby to live but want to rid food stamps, planned parenthood, medicare, and so much more because they don't want any higher taxes.
From our dearly departed George Carlin:
"Boy, these conservatives are really something, aren't they? They're all in favor of the unborn. They will do anything for the unborn. But once you're born, you're on your own. Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to nine months. After that, they don't want to know about you. They don't want to hear from you. No nothing. No neonatal care, no day care, no head start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing. If you're preborn, you're fine; if you're preschool, you're f****d."
http://www.justsomelyrics.com/1789807/George-Carlin-Abortion-Lyrics
@Jimbo: Truly awesome. Carlin was a genius.
He was a profound philosopher of the modern era.
What part of Hyde amendment don't these 'pro-life' activists don't get?