The Assault on Womens Sexual and Reproductive Rights

[Nomad]

Todd Akin - Member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology - Doesnt Know Where Babies Come From?

[Kobi]

Originally Posted by Nomad

Todd Akin - Member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology - Doesnt Know Where Babies Come From?

"In asserting that women have the superpower to repel rape sperm, Akin ratcheted up the old chauvinist argument that gals who wear miniskirts and high-heels are “asking” for rape; now women who don’t have the presence of mind to conjure up a tubal spasm, a drone hormone, a magic spermicidal secretion or mere willpower to block conception during rape are “asking” for a baby."

[Kobi]

It is the delineation of the strategy being used that is so amazing and scary about this article.

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From transvaginal ultrasounds to attacks on Planned Parenthood, Americans United for Life is targeting reproductive rights one state at a time.

AUL's mission is to end all abortions in the United States. Founded in 1971 by a Unitarian minister from Harvard Divinity School, AUL first focused on reversing Roe v. Wade flat out, but in the 1990s it turned its attention to rolling back reproductive rights incrementally at the state level.

Lately, it's been chipping away at abortion access at an ever-faster pace. Its team of lawyers has written dozens of model bills, which are collected in a playbook, Defending Life, and delivered to every state and federal legislator.

All told, 92 anti-abortion restrictions were passed throughout the country last year, an all-time record; AUL can claim credit for 24 new laws. So far in 2012, 17* laws promoted by AUL or based on its model legislation have been passed. Invasive vaginal ultrasounds in Virginia? That was AUL's bill. Trying to shut down all the abortion clinics in Kansas? That was AUL, too.

"Our model legislation enables legislators to easily introduce bills without needing to research and write the bills themselves," AUL's website boasts. The organization's foes see it as the pro-life equivalent of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the corporate legislation mill. "It's troubling when you see the same bill language introduced in 27 states that you know came out of an anti-abortion think tank in Washington instead of coming from the concerns of the sponsor or that particular state," says Jordan Goldberg, a lawyer at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is trying to block AUL-backed laws in Arizona, Kansas, and Texas

Yoest says her focus is on a "post-Roe nation" in which states will again be the sole arbiters of when, where, and whether women can get abortions. "The real question is what do the states do," she says. "And so in a sense, we're leapfrogging over [Roe]." She believes AUL's growing body of state laws will set precedents with the potential to eventually change federal abortion law. As she explained to National Catholic Register, "We don't make frontal attacks. Never attack where the enemy is strongest."

The Supreme Court opened a critical avenue in its 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision, which upheld Roe while giving states greater leeway to regulate abortions. Echoing AUL's women-centered approach, the group's bills often cite the court's finding that the government "has legitimate interests from the outset of pregnancy in protecting the health of the woman." Its Women's Ultrasound Right to Know Act clearly aims to prevent women from terminating pregnancies. But its framing—that a woman deserves to know what's inside her body and must give her "informed consent"—centers on the mother rather than the fetus. A controversial version of this prefab legislation was introduced in Virginia this spring. Only after abortion rights supporters pointed out that it could effectively require doctors to stick a wand in pregnant women's vaginas did its Republican sponsors amend it to require abdominal ultrasounds.

Then there's AUL's bill for banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy—often performed when tests that can only be done at this stage reveal severe birth defects. Though bans on late-term abortions are often pitched on the medically dubious premise that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks, AUL's model bill, the Women's Health Defense Act, emphasizes the potential harm to women, citing the health risks as well as potential "emotional complications" such as depression and anxiety. Arizona passed a version of the bill earlier this year; AUL consulted on a similar law passed in Georgia.

Another AUL bill, the Women's Health Protection Act, places tight restrictions on the physical offices in which abortions are performed, asserting that abortions are "distinct from other routine medical services" due to their potential health and psychological effects. The version of the law that passed in Kansas in April 2011 was so onerous (it even mandated specific room temperatures at clinics) that it threatened to shut down every abortion provider in the state. (A court has blocked it.)

When I ask Yoest about her favorite model bills, she promptly mentions telemed abortions. In 2010, AUL first proposed banning such abortions, wherein a physician prescribes the drug RU-486 via a video connection. Since then, eight states have passed laws prohibiting doctors from remotely administering RU-486; never mind that there were no clinics actually doing this in those states at the time (PDF). "This is Planned Parenthood's new business model, because they're having such a hard time finding doctors to do abortion, for all kinds of good reasons," Yoest says.

Indeed, AUL's greatest success may be its push to take down America's largest abortion provider. In July 2011, AUL released "The Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood," a 174-page report detailing dozens of alleged abuses, ranging from poor patient care to the misuse of federal funds. Two months later, the House Energy and Commerce Committee started looking into Planned Parenthood's "compliance with federal restrictions on the funding of abortion." A spokesman for Rep. Cliff Stearns, the Florida Republican heading the investigation, confirmed that the AUL report was a contributing factor in the decision to launch the probe. (AUL's legislative arm gives Stearns a 100 percent pro-life vote rating.) Stearns' investigation, in turn, inspired Susan G. Komen for the Cure to cut funding for breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood clinics.

Komen reversed its decision amid public outcry, but the cumulative impact of AUL's efforts has abortion rights advocates worried. In 2000, the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health research nonprofit, rated 13 states as "hostile" to reproductive rights; in 2011, it gave 26 states that designation. "We're seeing states that go in and make their laws worse, and we're seeing states that are adopting more extreme, more onerous, and more creative laws," says Elizabeth Nash, Guttmacher's state issues manager. By putting up more hurdles for women who want abortions and the doctors who provide them, "at some point, someone will cry uncle."

But making abortions all but impossible is only half the battle. Ultimately, AUL would like to see the Supreme Court legally enshrine its restrictions—all in the name of protecting women. "It's really, really critical that we start establishing this in the legislative record," Yoest tells me. "Repeatedly, the Supreme Court has turned away from the threat that abortion poses for the baby, because the Supreme Court has said repeatedly they're concerned about the woman. So we basically want to say to the court, 'We share your concern for women. You need to look at the fact that abortion itself harms women.'"




http://www.motherjones.com/politics/...nal-ultrasound

[lusciouskiwi]

This whole thing scares me, like "The Handmaid's Tale" scared me. It's seriously creepy and I'm sure there are idiots in other countries following what's happening really closely.

[Soon]

Originally Posted by Nomad

Todd Akin - Member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology - Doesnt Know Where Babies Come From?

That was a great article by Maureen Dowd. Love her. Thanks for sharing.

Also, some fantastic readers' comments.

[Martina]

Loved it. Thanks for posting the link. OMG I didn't know he was on the House Committee on Science and stuff. Lord. *chuckling*

My favorite quote from the article:

Paul Ryan, who teamed up with Akin in the House to sponsor harsh anti-abortion bills, may look young and hip and new generation, with his iPod full of heavy metal jams and his cute kids. But he’s just a fresh face on a Taliban creed — the evermore antediluvian, anti-women, anti-immigrant, anti-gay conservative core. Amiable in khakis and polo shirts, Ryan is the perfect modern leader to rally medieval Republicans who believe that Adam and Eve cavorted with dinosaurs.

[Martina]

[*Anya*]

Originally Posted by Martina

I'll go a step further. You have a vagina? No?

Shut the Fuck Up.

[Toughy]

don't have the link...........heard it on some femi-nazi liberal radio talk show

Apparently Aiken said on some Fox show during his various explanations and so-called apology that sometimes women lie and say they were raped when they were not....that's what he meant by 'forcible' and also 'legitimate'....

[Corkey]

Originally Posted by Toughy

don't have the link...........heard it on some femi-nazi liberal radio talk show

Apparently Aiken said on some Fox show during his various explanations and so-called apology that sometimes women lie and say they were raped when they were not....that's what he meant by 'forcible' and also 'legitimate'....

You're quite correct, it was on Hannity, saw it at the gym today.

[Kobi]

Massachusetts’ leading pro-life group says it is supporting Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, while Brown is trying to distance himself from the anti-abortion wing of his party.

Since the firestorm around Missouri Rep. Todd Akin's comments about rape and abortion, Brown has been emphasizing his pro-choice credentials. Here’s his wife, Gail Huff, at a recent campaign stop:

Scott is pro-choice. Has been forever. He’s always been very, very clear about his pro-choice view. Like he said, he has two young daughters, 24 and 21 years old. He understands more than anyone that women have a right to make their own decisions,” she said.

So it must have been awkward when Massachusetts Citizens for Life decided to throw its support behind Brown.

Anne Fox, the group's president, said Brown's voting record was more in line with her organization's views. “What he has voted on so far, yes, it’s been pro-life. So we would prefer to see our people vote with Scott Brown,” she said.

Megan Amundson of NARAL Pro-Choice, on the other side of the issue, saw some irony in the situation: “This is the one thing that Massachusetts Citizens for Life and NARAL Pro Choice of Massachusetts do agree on — is that Scott Brown may call himself pro-choice, but in reality he voted pro-choice only 1 in 5 times.”

In the past, Brown’s votes have angered both sides of the abortion debate. In 2007, he voted to create a 35-foot buffer zone to keep protesters away from abortion clinics. But he also co-sponsored a bill that would require women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion and be provided with pictures and information on the development of their fetus.

Brown isn’t rejecting Massachusetts Citizens for Life's support. But on the campaign trail, he maintains he’s a moderate pro-choice Republican.

http://www.wgbhnews.org/post/pro-lif...hes-pro-choice

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Missouri Rep. Todd Akin is still campaigning — and his controversial comments about rape are continuing to impact the high-profile U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts.

On Aug. 21, Sen. Scott Brown sent a letter to the chairman of the Republican National Committee, asking him to drop the anti-abortion plank in the party platform.

Peter Blute, the deputy chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said sending the letter was a brave move. "I think it’s very rare that a senator stands up and speaks against a plank in his own party’s platform."

But Megan Amundson, the executive vice president of NARAL Pro Choice, said the letter didn't go far enough.

“The letter doesn’t do anything. He’s been very clear the letter is all he’s willing to do. That’s he’s not willing to go to the convention to speak about for this or fight for this, that’s he’s not willingly to actively stand up for women’s rights,” she said.

Brown said on Aug. 22 that he wouldn’t be taking the abortion fight to the GOP convention in Tampa this weekend.

“I’m going down Thursday as I’ve always planned before this came up," he said. "They know my position. It’s up to others to join forces. The Olympia Snowes and Collinses need to join forces.”

In the past, other big-name Massachusetts Republicans did more than write letters about abortion. In 1992, then-Gov. Bill Weld delivered a strong pro-choice speech at the Republican Convention in Houston. He tried to launch a floor fight but didn’t have enough votes.

Brown’s challenger Elizabeth Warren has capitalized on this issue. All this week she’s been hammering Brown on abortion, contraception and equal pay.

http://www.wgbhnews.org/post/scott-b...not-far-enough

[Kobi]

Romney on Meet The Press today:

On the divisive social issue of abortion, Romney said it "would be my preference" that the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing it be overturned by any justices who he would appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court if vacancies come up.

"Well, there are a number of things I think that need to be said about preserving and protecting the life of the unborn child. And I recognize there are two lives involved: the mom and the unborn child," Romney said.

"And I believe that people of good conscience have chosen different paths in this regard. But I am pro-life and will intend, if I'm president of the United States, to encourage pro-life policies," he added.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/romney-says...155146420.html

[Martina]

[Kobi]

The states are not free, under the guise of protecting maternal health or potential life, to intimidate women into continuing pregnancies. ~Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Roe v. Wade, 22 January 1973





And yet, this is exactly what the GOP has been doing.

[always2late]

ENOUGH!! I have HAD it with these fucking assholes and their "definitions" of rape! Rape is "another method of conception"??? Fuck you and the horse you rode in on you lying, backward, teabilly, douchebag!! ANY woman who votes for these fucking idiots is a self-loathing moron!! (excuse my language..I am furious and have lost ALL my filters when it comes to these pathetic excuses for human beings!)

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/2...of-conception/