Michigan Republicans say they need to pass a sweeping set of new regulations against abortion -- starting with criminalizing most abortions after 20 weeks -- to help women. If you watch tape from the House hearing last week, though, you can see that it's really about putting the constitutional right to abortion out of reach.
Bonnie Bucqueroux of Lansing Online News put together the video above from the hearing. She reports that the committee chair gaveled the meeting closed with witnesses against the bill still waiting to testify. At the 3:40 mark, you can watch as one of those witnesses gives her testimony anyway.
WOMAN: I am a voter and I am a mother. At 43 years of age, I became pregnant with quadruplets.
MAN: They've got another meeting coming in, so…
WOMAN: I'll be fast. The chances of a woman delivering healthy quadruplets is minimal. I was forced with the agonizing decision of deciding to selectively reduce or risk all four of my babies. Not a one of you has the right to tell me what decision I should have made. My babies, my body, my decision. Thank you.
The woman almost shouts to be heard, and no one listens.
Bucqueroux says the full Michigan House is expected to vote on the anti-abortion bills tomorrow. That gives you time to read them. They're not light reading, exactly, but they are in plain enough language that you can get what's going on: Michigan House Bill 5711, Michigan House Bill 5712, and Michigan House Bill 5713.
(H/t Eclectablog)
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this is what they're about....they want into women's wombs
this legislation is happening in EVERY Republican governed state. We ALL HAVE THE SAME ATTACKERS AS THese" War on women, unionhs, public schools, minorities, tuition, post office, fraking, social security, right to work for less, FREEDOM TO MARRY..OCCUPIERS...etc..time to UNITE..We r stronger in numbers...stop the attacks on ALL AMERICANS! SOLIDARITY..UNITE!
On the one hand I'm sorry that WE as a nation are having to re-litigate abortion; on the other hand I think this is what happens because 1) people have become apathetic to voting and being knowledgeable regarding the issues, and 2) by strictly voting GOTP this is what you've asked for!
And if people really look at it - our home-grown American Taliban is disenfranchising US all!! Stop them at the voting booth in November!
Too many people in the US have no intention of thinking and want the American Taliban to tell them what to do.
Although I'd never use terms like "American Taliban" myself (oops, just did!), I think you're basically correct. Some people don't like having choices, especially open-ended choices, and apparently find a kind of liberation in having choices closed off.
Especially if you're a Libra born on the cusp and you can't function without perfect harmony.
and again how does this create jobs?
They have to hire government employees for OB/GYN offices to monitor Transvaginal probes....that is the only the only employment tax these fundamentalist will pay for....
Simple - if all child-bearing age women are busy bearing children, they are out of the employment pool, presumably with the jobs going to white men, the main beneficiary of this law.
Michigan remember in November
They are not listening to women now, but come November they are going to wish they had. Maybe women should pass a bill in that State which requires men to undergo a second circumsission, to insure clean sperm.
Some men believe in a woman's right to choose. This is just bull@!$%# that this is happening.
You cannot even get the results of an amniocentesis by then to find out if the fetus has a catastrophic disease, not only that, but most people have a 20 week ultrasound to rule out devastating diseases...so again, the cutoff would be before you could make any of your own medical decisions...this might lead to people aborting perfectly healthy fetuses to beat the clock...for example...my sister in law just got back blood work at 19 weeks saying that there is a high risk one of her twin fetuses has a neural tube issue (spina bifida etc,)..what would happen if someone was forced to make a decision because there was no time to do any follow-up testing to prove or rule out a diagnosis...? finally, you either do, or do not want the government in your own private business...bunch of hypocrites!
Women again under the boot of an unholy alliance. I just can't watch but I'll read. Meanwhile, who's the 12-year-old boy on the panel at left? Ha. Gotta find some humor somewhere.
I guess ones faith has the right to take anothers faith/voice /human rights/life away. I also guess that is why America was founded, to keep that from happening.
Not trying to be a pain here but your comment can be taken two ways. It can be taken as meaning you support their actions or you don't support them. Maybe because I haven't seen many earlier posts from you, I'm not sure which. I'd like to think your comment is in support of an individual's right to choose.
I've said it to friends of mine but my personal choice doesn't have to be the same as anyone else's choice. I like to believe that my beliefs shouldn't be forced upon anyone else, nor should theirs be forced on me. It's just too bad not everyone feels that same way. This world might be a bit more peaceful if they did.
I had a classmate die of a botched abortion when it was illegal--is that what everyone wants again? I can remember how awful it all was--can no one else remember? Why do you want to go back to that?
I'm sure that the people who are leading the forced-birth crusade think it is peachy keen that women could die from botched abortions. Retribution, doncha know. :-/
Also the affluent will always be able to get secure abortions for their own kin. They will not go as far as Ireland once tried (unsuccessfuly) to close the borders for pregnant Irishwomen, so they could not leave the country and maybe get an abortion abroad.
jtokc, Yes, another means of decreasing the surplus population.
What a sick bunch of pricks! They don't want to help children or families that need it, they want to take away every program that would do that. Who do they think is going to take care of all these unwanted children? George Carlin was right, " They love you when you're a fetus, but @!$%# you after you are born!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW CAN A STATE LAW OVERRIDE A FEDERAL LAW??????
Where is the DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ??? There is no hope at all in the Obama administration when these people get away with this ! Where are the DEMOCRATS?!
You must not live in michigan... the governor is republican scum and so are most of the people that are working under him. I hope that gives you some insight as to where all the democrats are. Also: Obama can't really do anything to stop states from doing things like this, so blaming him isn't going to help or change a thing.
@sarah you are exactly right. i dont know how we let the repubs get control but we really need to unseat them. now not later........keep up your good work!
By all means, force women to have babies, no matter what. Then just to show how pro-life you are, severely reduce or eliminate any assistance to help those kids grow up healthy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/29/michigan-welfare-cuts-children-cash-assistance-lifetime-limits_n_1387873.html
Agreed, they are not only forcing women to have the babies, "no matter what", they are also taking away any chance of attaining affordable birth control, thus exacerbating the problem. And these are the same guys that don't want us to have affordable health care.
leta ---i wonder how many of these objectors have adopted kids? i totally agree with you---instead of focusing on jobs they bring up this crap. always wanting to get into our vaginas.....a bunch of perverts. PLEASE VOTE IN NOVEMBER.....WE HAVE TO ALL VOTE TO GET RID OF THESE SCUMBUCKETS.
When are women going to wake up and run for office so that they can control what happens to them?
Yep, same tactic. Shrink the government so it fits in a woman's uterus.
What do you expect with the recall of walker failing the republicans now think they can get away with anything.
Problem there is that you only get into office if you ride the party line and the Republican party line will not have women supporting the right the choose. Not right now.
TONY ,,,,not right now or any other time in the future.
The recall might be misleading. I think many voters were denouncing recall. But on the subject of abortion, I saw this movie based on 1950's Britain having illegal abortions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Drake
The point being, women will do them anyway, might as well have low cost contraception and sterile environment with people who know what they are doing.
It is definitely none of my business to act like I know these people or force anything. These people that don't like it pretend to rescue babies, but why are there so many babies going without, then?
Except, Mr. Representative, that is not what the witness said.
I think that the minimal qualifications for being able to draft, vote on, or enact legislation concerning when life begins and abortion should be knowing the stages of gestation. Let us at least start there so people can know what they are talking about at a base level.
Just wait til they succeed in banning birth control. You'll need a prescription from your Congressman to even buy a condom.
The upside to all these abortion shenanigans is that this will spur women to run for office. This is how political change will occur at the state and federal level. Not all of these women will be Dems, but they certainly will not be hard core anti-abortion fanatics.
Not all wemon are Democrats but all wemon will be subjected to what ever the Republicans Mind-Set decides to put into law .
Affluent families will not be affected, as is traditional. And the agenda is driven by rich GOPsters.
Ladies .... 1 question:
Are you either a multi million dollar corporation or a holy figure from the christian bible ?
If neither of these .... then you simply don't matter to these prostitutes from the GOTP. End of story. It's just that simple.
Vote them out if you want your own personhood back.
Women need to stop having sex with conservatives. This is not a difficult thing to do.
that made me laugh thank you!
But there is no war on women. Sure there isn't. Small government that can fit into a woman's uterus.
Gays, God, and Gynecology...I mean Jobs, Jobs, Jobs !!!!I find it very hard to empathize with the women ONLY because women are helping to put these men into positions of power!! I hope you take this as a rallying cry to go to the polls this November and show the gov't they work for YOU!!
Voting is a very private matter, if you get my drift. No women in her right mind is going to vote for any measure that prohibits women from doing anything. Once you start down that slippery slope, watch out. There are a lot richer men in this world that support womens' rights, then all of the congressman combined.
Not THIS woman, and I am trying to educate as many women as possible about the right's war on women. We all need to WAKE UP!
i just dont understand women that vote repub. unless you are anne romney etc. its like shooting yourself in the foot.
And, hepette, I can't help but wonder if Anne Romney is doing any inner questioning. Being Mrs. Romney is a choice, being female is not. This affects all women, even Anne Romney. Ladies, please, pay attention and vote in November! The process works, but it has to be implemented. Women represent more than 50% of the population. Makes me also wonder, how smart can these guys be when their political platform alienates more than half the voters?
Romney cant tell what he will do if elected , it would become fodder for the Obama camp . and he really dont have a plan , his plan now is only to bad -mouth our President .
So they allways resort to Abortion Laws to save lives , and then to selling Guns to kill people , they will take on any voter base , and even paying Churches to run their agenda from the altar , they will lie to get into the White House and then screw up the Economy for another 4 years , and then hide the tax money they collect after they borrow it from China .
Pay careful attention. This is how Republicans win; by running over people.
That's what happened in Wisconsin last week. The corporations bought my state.
My question is to these legislatures and too those who are and vote republican. What is the cost to society if a woman has an abortion? What is the cost to society if the woman has the child? How much is the abortion procedure in comparison to the cost of prenatal care and labor in the hospital? What is the cost to society and the community to raise this child providing, food, housing and education?
Get used to it, this is what governance looks like in the 21st century. If you think it is going to get better you are fooling yourself. When the voters become a flock of sheep the government becomes a pack of wolves. This is what you get when more people participate in selecting American Idol than vote in a Presidential election. Enjoy the new Corporate States of America because it is exactly what was predicted 30 years ago when this process started.
You are absolutely right Fred, Wisconsin was bought by the Koch brothers and other corporations. I work for one of the corporations that bought Wisconsin last week. I am not proud of it either, I got my review cannot wait to see what crumbs I will receive off the owner's table this year.