Tonight's citations are listed after the jump...
Va Senate GOP springs redrawn Senate lines on Dems
Virginia Republicans move for permanent majority
Va. Republicans push through rewrite of Senate districts
Senate GOP surprise move to redraw district lines; Dems cry foul
McDonnell displeased with GOP redistricting push
Virginia gov would really like everyone to stop talking about GOP's sneak redistricting now
Jan 18, 2013 - McDonnell signs disputed abortion ultrasound bill
Legislation would remove 'winner takes all' in Va. electoral votes
Justice Alito mouths 'not true'
Number of state abortion restrictions, by year enacted
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The American People, as a general rule, have also forgotten who was the first elected executive office holder in the US to sign legislation legalizing abortion.
It was Ronald Reagan, as Governor of California, who would not survive the current GOP presidential primary process.
I don't think the issue should be as much about life or death of a fetus, but a woman's right to choose what happens with her own body. Nobody should be able to force a woman to do anything with her body that she doesn't want to! Can you imagine if they tried to pass some sort of legislation about a man and his body?? It would never happen! And men should have little to no say about it, because guess what, it's not their body!! Do you think women could ever have a say over a man's body? Do you think we (women) could mandate that men were not allowed vasectomy's or viagra or some such thing? It's time that women stop being treated like second class citizens!
The American people have forgotten what it was like before _____________.
There is a movement that wants to turn the clock back to a time that never existed except inside their faulty memories.
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Is it possible that the fight against abortion , Birth control , redmapping , gerrymandering & the closing of plan parenthood clinic's all march to the beat of the same drummer ? The Republican base is I believe 90% white and are taken back that minorities are having more children than whites for the first time in history. Therefore I put this question to Rachel and anyone that can tie this ends together . Could the Extreme Right with taking over districts in their states and with control in Congress be pulling string to limit resources for women ( especially white women ) trying to up the White population to be the top breeders in America again ? What are the percentages of white women to other minorities that take Birth Control and the same question for Abortions ? Is this part of the Rights Long Term Plan to : and I quote an offensive shirt from the campaign : " Put the white back in the white house " as well has keeping whites as the ruling class ? After everything I have seen since Nixon on up to now has shown me to never under estimate how low the Republican Party will go to maintain control of this Nation .
Could be! But don't forget the old white man's love of "property". Old white men still think of women and their offspring as their exclusive "property". How dare a women decide on her own what to do with the man's "property". Only the man can decide that and if he wants to throw away his "property to starve", well, that's his right! He can do anything he wants with his "property", but nobody else has any rights to his "property".
I am always amazed at the amount of women who are "anti-abortion" - I guess it shows you what good propaganda can do !! Why these women can't see that they are being "used" to promote a system that allows men to consider them "property" and to treat them as "property" is beyond me.
The pale, stale and male establishment is in fear of losing it's influence.
This is a multi racial country. It's what makes America the stand out nation on this Earth, the combined American population guarantees that we will forever be a racially mixed society, and this is driving the fear. No where else will you find a country such as ours, that is so inclusive, so diverse. It's the magical great thing of America.
The idea of maintaining a white majority is pretty slim. It's got their knickers in a twist. They are losing, they know it, and they are resorting to fascist tactics to try and keep it.
Even if you could control some aspects of women's health in regards to pregnancy, you can't control who they decide to bear children with. Women still have the ultimate power of choosing who they wish to procreate with, so don't be shocked and suprised that the pale, male and stale are not on their list of choices.
There are better fish in the seas, indeed.
Yes, it's about fear, but not about property rights or whitening the demography. It's an issue of religion's influence in government and our personal lives.
The world is an uncertain, scary place. Religion was developed to bring comfort and a sense of certainty to humans, because they couldn't control their lives. However, to serve those comforting and reassuring functions, religion had to be seen and felt as absolutly and unquestionably true. Science and rational analysis undermined much of religion's power, thus weakening its ability to bring comfort and certitude to any but those who clung to religion in spite of the growing body of scientific evidence that undermined it. This holding on despite contrary evidence is what we call faith, and it's seen as a virtue among the religiously inclined.
After debunking religion's creation myths, religion still held sway when it came to control of sexual behavior. I'm 66, and up through my teens, sex outside of marriage was an unmentionable disgrace in polite society and the media. A woman or girl who had sex outside of marriage was roundly condemned, and the fear of pregnancy, and the condemnation that came with it, kept women from having sex outside marriage. A baby produced by premarital sex was used as a scarlet letter. In other words, a religious way of controling sex and marriage was sanctified by society as well as religion, and those inclined towards religion internalized it.
Abortion and contrraception made this established, religion-based view obsolete and, more importantly, unworkable. Without the fear of pregnancy and condemnation, the religious way of controling sex and marriage went the way of the religious explanation of creation and existence. Religion's ability to impart comfort and certitude was dealt another crippling blow. It's hardly a coincidence that a surge in creationism coincides with a surge in anti-abortion and anti-conrtraception activity.
The opposition to reproductive freedom is rooted in religion, not male property rights or resistance to demographic change. The fanatics who harrangue women outside abortion clinics wave Bibles and talk about Jesus. HOWEVER, to put this dogma into law in this country, they have to circumvent the First Amendment. They came up with the idea that forcing women to give birth against their will was an act of compassion and caring for the unborn, instead of a violent intrusion into a woman's personal life. This public relations deception was capped off when they called themselves "pro-life."
These people are desparate, fighting for the comfort and certitude that religion gives them, so long as they can suspend rational thought and analysis concerning religion. Being forced to accept their religion as merely their religion, rather than undeniable and absolute truth, scares the hell out of them. To so-called "pro-life" fanatics, death from botched abortions is an acceptable way of enforcing their religious beliefs on everyone.
Why has nobody asked the pro-life legislators the most important question...if you want all these women to have babies then why do you shame these same women when they are forced to go on welfare and then want to cut welfare and treat these women as criminals looking for a handout? And if these men think they have the right to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body, then we woman should have the same right and force some of those men to have a vasectomy so there isn't a chance of an accidental pregnancy.
Oh, now you are trying to bring rationality and realism to the abortion issue? Good luck with that!
You want to see "deer in the headlights" looks? Go ask one of these anti-abortion people carrying their signs and acting all righteous what they are doing to take care of the babies after they are born. I've done it MANY times!!
These people are so imbued with the "propaganda" that reality never enters into their thinking!!
If you criminalize abortion then physicians will just let the mother die if she has an ectopic pregnancy, and it is unconstitutional to establish any kind of law that intentionally establishes any situation that would deprive the living mother of life in favor of a fetus where life is anything but certain.
Anything you do with law that takes decisions away from qualified physicians threatens the mothers life.
That is the fundamental problem with abortion regulation.
Roe vs. Wade establishes an excellent case that permits states to regulate abortion during the third trimester when the fetus has over a 50% chance of live birth, but in no case will the government be permitted to interfere with a private medical decision between a physician and patient.
There is no possible excuse for why Roe vs. Wade should ever be revisited.
That includes garbage like confiscating money from Planned Parenthood.
Is it possible to change one word to make pro-life people to think twice. When someone takes the life of a doctor who performs abortions don't say they killed the DR. Say that they aborted the doctor's life. (They are aborting the Dr's life after x number of years vs an abortion at x number of days.) ALSO: The Dr's mother may have been pro-life and that is why the Dr was alive to choose his/her path to help women who are pro-choice or may need abortion.
Regarding abortion rights in Arkansas: i am surprised that only one gynecologist is available to provide such medical care remains. This is because Bill (and Hillary) Clinton, who are tremendous advocates for the rights of women and girls across the world, have not more ardently campaigned for wider access to this health care service within the state where he was a popular Governor. Perhaps I am naive to the politics in that state.
THIS is what it was like before Roe v. Wade.
Read When Abortion Was a Crime. The author traces the history of abortion through court and autopsy records. Hospitals had wards dedicated to botched abortions. The book is free online. I highly recommend it.
http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft967nb5z5&brand=ucpress
And from the great state of South Dakota which has a single abortion provider.
http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2013/Bill.aspx?File=HCR1002P.htm
Maybe I should send them a copy of When Abortion Was a Crime.
I posted this elsewhere, but if you haven't seen it, check out the Op Ed from yesterday's NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/opinion/leeches-lye-and-spanish-fly.html?_r=0
It would be great if Texas' Governor Rick Perry could start enjoying the national notoriety of Virginia's Governor Ultrasound. I think fitting names for Perry would be, say, "Governor Vaginal Probe" or "Governor State Rape" or "Misogynist Rick." He and his comrades in the Texas War on Women really are dangerous and must be stopped.
http://youtu.be/vn7tlJWNvck