GOP's 10 Most Extreme Attacks On a Woman's Right to Choose..
Newch91
Posts: 17,560
an Abortion.
What happened to the GOP shouting "No big government!" and "Government should stay out of our lives!"? I guess it's only when they have a say of how you should live your life that it's okay for the government to be in your life. They are such hypocrites when it comes to abortion and homosexuality.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/12 ... -abortion/
2011 marked a banner year in the Republican war on woman’s health. Close to 1,000 anti-abortion bills sped through state legislatures as the GOP-led House led a “comprehensive and radical assault” on a federal level. But in surveying their arsenal this year, 10 bills stood out as particularly perturbing and far-reaching efforts to stymie women’s access to abortion services, birth control, and vital health services like breast cancer screenings. Here are ThinkProgress’s nominations for the most extreme attacks on a woman’s right to choose:
– Redefining Rape: Last May, every House Republican and 16 anti-choice Democrats passed H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act. Anti-choice activists Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) tried to narrow the definition of rape to “forcible rape,” which meant that women who say no but do not physically fight off the assault; women who are drugged or verbally threatened and raped; and minors impregnated by adults would not qualify for the rape and incest exception in the Hyde Amendment. Smith promised to remove the language but used “a sly legislative maneuver” that essentially informs the courts that statutory rape cases will not be covered by Medicaid should the law pass and be challenged in court.
– Abortion Audits: The No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act also bans using tax credits or deductions to pay for abortions or insurance. Thus, a woman who used such a benefit would have to prove, if audited, that her abortion “fell under the rape/incest/life-of-the-mother exception, or that the health insurance she had purchased did not cover abortions.” This requirement turns the Internal Revenue Service into “abortion cops” who, agents noted, would have to force women to give “contemporaneous written documentation” that it was “incest, or rape, or [her] life was in danger” which made an abortion necessary.
– Let Women Die: This October, House Republicans also passed the “Protect Life Act”, known by women’s health advocates as the “Let Women Die” bill. The measure allows hospitals that receive federal funds to reject any woman in need of an abortion procedure, even if it is necessary to save her life. Though federal law already prohibits federal funding of abortions, the GOP insisted that the health care law “contains a loophole that allows those receiving federal subsidies to use the money to enroll in health care plans that allow abortion services.”
– Personhood: Mississippi entertained the idea of passing a “personhood” amendment to its constitution this year, one that defines a person as “every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.” The measure’s “profoundly ambiguous” language regarding the definition of fertilization not only would ban all abortions, it could potentially outlaw birth control, stem cell research, and in vitro fertilization for couples struggling to conceive. Mississippians rejected the amendment but personhood activists are making headway with versions for other states and GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is championing a national personhood amendment.
– Race/Sex Abortions: Taking their queue from Arizona, House Republicans introduced the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA) — a so-called “civil rights” bill that bans physicians from performing abortions based on the fetus’s race or sex. The problem of selective abortion is virtually non-existent, as not one state official or independent research offered any evidence of race-based abortions. Only 5 percent of abortions occur after the point when a fetus’s sex can be determined. Arizona’s measure, now law, sends doctors and clinicians to jail for three years if they knowingly provide such abortions. The federal bill PRENDA allows for civil suits against the physicians.
– Forced Ultrasounds: Several states pushed bills that force doctors to show a woman seeking abortion services an ultrasound of the fetus, and in some cases, describe the image to her. The Kentucky bill, for instance, required doctors to describe the image if the woman chose to avert her eyes or face a $250,000 fine for disobeying the law. The bills are designed to dissuade women from undergoing the procedure, and in Michigan’s case, provide a “gift to the medical device industry” by forcing doctors to use “the most advanced ultrasound equipment available” to get the most “distinct” image of the fetus possible. North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue (D-NC) vetoed her state’s version of the bill, viewing it as “a dangerous intrusion into the confidential relationship that exists between women and their doctors.”
– Fetal Pain: This year, multiple states pushed legislation limiting or banning abortions past 20 – 22 weeks “based on disputed research that fetuses an feel pain at that point of development.” The idea is widely panned by many in the medical field, with the Journal of the American Medical Association determining that “pain perception probably does not function before the third trimester.” Regardless of the science, Republican lawmakers and even presidential candidate Rick Perry endorsed the fetal pain concept in order to challenge the Roe v. Wade ruling and push an earlier ban on abortions. So discredited is the concept of fetal pain that even a Kansas Republican slammed the “false research,” adding “I would be embarrassed to be a state that bases its laws on untruths.”
– Heartbeat Bill: Ohio Republicans are leading other states on the path to pass the “heartbeat bill,” which, if enacted, will be “the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the nation.” The bill outlaws abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can occur as early as “six to seven weeks into pregnancy” or before a woman even knows she is pregnant. There is no exception in the bill for rape, incest, or mental health of a woman. What’s more, the bill forces doctors to wait until a woman is actually in danger of dying to ensure the abortion falls under the “threat to life” exception.
– Government Shutdown: The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is an international development agency that promotes universal access to reproductive health services. UNFPA does not, nor has it ever, funded abortions — as dictated by its steering document and by its members. But as Matt Yglesias reported, Republicans were determined to believe that UNFPA funds abortion and thus held up negotiations to fund the government with a policy rider eliminating funding for UNFPA. U.S. law also forbids foreign funding to any entity that supports abortion, but House Republicans were so committed to their unfounded belief that the U.S. might be doing so that they threatened to shut down the entire government over it.
– Attack On Planned Parenthood: While simultaneously trying to ban abortions outright, GOP lawmakers on a state and federal level launched a full-scale effort to defund Planned Parenthood. Only 3 percent of the women’s health organization’s services are related to abortion, but it’s association with abortion compelled Republicans to enact legislation cutting or completely defunding Planned Parenthood clinics. Without the funds, many clinics across the country were forced to close, leaving hundreds of thousands of women without vital services like breast cancer screenings, STD testing, and contraception. Texas, the largest state to defund the organizations, may also shut down the entire Women’s Health Program that served 125,000 Texas women in 2012 because some of the family planning clinics in the program are affiliated with Planned Parenthood. Arizona even passed a law banning charity contributions to any organization that is related to abortions or even donates to an organization that is related to abortions. Indeed, this year’s Republican war on Planned Parenthood left thousands of low-income women and children who benefit from tangential health programs as collateral damage.
What happened to the GOP shouting "No big government!" and "Government should stay out of our lives!"? I guess it's only when they have a say of how you should live your life that it's okay for the government to be in your life. They are such hypocrites when it comes to abortion and homosexuality.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/12 ... -abortion/
2011 marked a banner year in the Republican war on woman’s health. Close to 1,000 anti-abortion bills sped through state legislatures as the GOP-led House led a “comprehensive and radical assault” on a federal level. But in surveying their arsenal this year, 10 bills stood out as particularly perturbing and far-reaching efforts to stymie women’s access to abortion services, birth control, and vital health services like breast cancer screenings. Here are ThinkProgress’s nominations for the most extreme attacks on a woman’s right to choose:
– Redefining Rape: Last May, every House Republican and 16 anti-choice Democrats passed H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act. Anti-choice activists Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) tried to narrow the definition of rape to “forcible rape,” which meant that women who say no but do not physically fight off the assault; women who are drugged or verbally threatened and raped; and minors impregnated by adults would not qualify for the rape and incest exception in the Hyde Amendment. Smith promised to remove the language but used “a sly legislative maneuver” that essentially informs the courts that statutory rape cases will not be covered by Medicaid should the law pass and be challenged in court.
– Abortion Audits: The No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act also bans using tax credits or deductions to pay for abortions or insurance. Thus, a woman who used such a benefit would have to prove, if audited, that her abortion “fell under the rape/incest/life-of-the-mother exception, or that the health insurance she had purchased did not cover abortions.” This requirement turns the Internal Revenue Service into “abortion cops” who, agents noted, would have to force women to give “contemporaneous written documentation” that it was “incest, or rape, or [her] life was in danger” which made an abortion necessary.
– Let Women Die: This October, House Republicans also passed the “Protect Life Act”, known by women’s health advocates as the “Let Women Die” bill. The measure allows hospitals that receive federal funds to reject any woman in need of an abortion procedure, even if it is necessary to save her life. Though federal law already prohibits federal funding of abortions, the GOP insisted that the health care law “contains a loophole that allows those receiving federal subsidies to use the money to enroll in health care plans that allow abortion services.”
– Personhood: Mississippi entertained the idea of passing a “personhood” amendment to its constitution this year, one that defines a person as “every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.” The measure’s “profoundly ambiguous” language regarding the definition of fertilization not only would ban all abortions, it could potentially outlaw birth control, stem cell research, and in vitro fertilization for couples struggling to conceive. Mississippians rejected the amendment but personhood activists are making headway with versions for other states and GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is championing a national personhood amendment.
– Race/Sex Abortions: Taking their queue from Arizona, House Republicans introduced the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA) — a so-called “civil rights” bill that bans physicians from performing abortions based on the fetus’s race or sex. The problem of selective abortion is virtually non-existent, as not one state official or independent research offered any evidence of race-based abortions. Only 5 percent of abortions occur after the point when a fetus’s sex can be determined. Arizona’s measure, now law, sends doctors and clinicians to jail for three years if they knowingly provide such abortions. The federal bill PRENDA allows for civil suits against the physicians.
– Forced Ultrasounds: Several states pushed bills that force doctors to show a woman seeking abortion services an ultrasound of the fetus, and in some cases, describe the image to her. The Kentucky bill, for instance, required doctors to describe the image if the woman chose to avert her eyes or face a $250,000 fine for disobeying the law. The bills are designed to dissuade women from undergoing the procedure, and in Michigan’s case, provide a “gift to the medical device industry” by forcing doctors to use “the most advanced ultrasound equipment available” to get the most “distinct” image of the fetus possible. North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue (D-NC) vetoed her state’s version of the bill, viewing it as “a dangerous intrusion into the confidential relationship that exists between women and their doctors.”
– Fetal Pain: This year, multiple states pushed legislation limiting or banning abortions past 20 – 22 weeks “based on disputed research that fetuses an feel pain at that point of development.” The idea is widely panned by many in the medical field, with the Journal of the American Medical Association determining that “pain perception probably does not function before the third trimester.” Regardless of the science, Republican lawmakers and even presidential candidate Rick Perry endorsed the fetal pain concept in order to challenge the Roe v. Wade ruling and push an earlier ban on abortions. So discredited is the concept of fetal pain that even a Kansas Republican slammed the “false research,” adding “I would be embarrassed to be a state that bases its laws on untruths.”
– Heartbeat Bill: Ohio Republicans are leading other states on the path to pass the “heartbeat bill,” which, if enacted, will be “the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the nation.” The bill outlaws abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can occur as early as “six to seven weeks into pregnancy” or before a woman even knows she is pregnant. There is no exception in the bill for rape, incest, or mental health of a woman. What’s more, the bill forces doctors to wait until a woman is actually in danger of dying to ensure the abortion falls under the “threat to life” exception.
– Government Shutdown: The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is an international development agency that promotes universal access to reproductive health services. UNFPA does not, nor has it ever, funded abortions — as dictated by its steering document and by its members. But as Matt Yglesias reported, Republicans were determined to believe that UNFPA funds abortion and thus held up negotiations to fund the government with a policy rider eliminating funding for UNFPA. U.S. law also forbids foreign funding to any entity that supports abortion, but House Republicans were so committed to their unfounded belief that the U.S. might be doing so that they threatened to shut down the entire government over it.
– Attack On Planned Parenthood: While simultaneously trying to ban abortions outright, GOP lawmakers on a state and federal level launched a full-scale effort to defund Planned Parenthood. Only 3 percent of the women’s health organization’s services are related to abortion, but it’s association with abortion compelled Republicans to enact legislation cutting or completely defunding Planned Parenthood clinics. Without the funds, many clinics across the country were forced to close, leaving hundreds of thousands of women without vital services like breast cancer screenings, STD testing, and contraception. Texas, the largest state to defund the organizations, may also shut down the entire Women’s Health Program that served 125,000 Texas women in 2012 because some of the family planning clinics in the program are affiliated with Planned Parenthood. Arizona even passed a law banning charity contributions to any organization that is related to abortions or even donates to an organization that is related to abortions. Indeed, this year’s Republican war on Planned Parenthood left thousands of low-income women and children who benefit from tangential health programs as collateral damage.
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"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
freedom!!!!
yeah right...
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Or...
The people think that the idea that women have a constitutional right to an abortion is absurd. I want the federal government out of my life and respect for the tenth amendment.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Then they should challenge the Supreme Court's decision that says women have a constitutional right to an abortion - not try to pass laws dictating the clinic hallway width required for doctors the renew their medical licenses or requiring doctors to give false medical information to their patients. I don't think anyone could actually believe that those things are constitutional.
How exactly do you think you challenge a SCOTUS decision? By passing questionable laws hoping they find their way in front of the court again.
By passing a law that directly conflicts with the decision, not by passing just any completely absurd law that makes no sense, is based on lies, & shouldn't possibly be legal.
Roe v Wade isn't going to be directly overturned, the best chance is for it to be slowly whittled away. The law makes perfect sense if you understand the strategy and I have no clue under what law you would find the law passed illegal.
If there's a good enough argument that it should be overturned, then it will be. If not, there's obviously not a good case for overturning it. I understand the strategy; I just think it's a completely bullshit and underhanded way to get around the U.S. justice system.
I don't think it should possibly be legal to require doctors to lie to their patients. I don't think it should possibly be legal to interfere with doctors providing the highest quality of medical care for their patients. I don't think it should possibly be legal to require unnecessary medical procedures/tests. I don't think it should possibly be legal to refuse to issue medical licences to legitimate medical providers just because they provide a legal medical procedure to which some people are morally opposed. I don't think it should possibly be legal to make laws targeting only one specific, legitimate medical establishment that's not breaking any laws just because some politicians have a personal vendetta against them - especially when the laws are based on lies. I don't think it should possibly be legal to make any laws based on lies, actually. Et cetera.
Ahhh I love this topic.
For the millions who think abortion is murder I can see how they would not want taxes,
their money, paying for abortions.
Perhaps those in favor of abortion can create private funding and foundations
to reduce government funding, seems like a fair compromise.
A couple of those bills in my opinion are being created to inform a woman
of what she is about to do. This is a very good thing.
Being Pro Choice I feel a woman should grasp the concept that she has a living being
inside of her. This living being is growing into a human.
This sounds like a simple concept, but actually having been through this,
it is the exact opposite of what many woman do, really comprehend what they are doing.
Listen to the heartbeat, see the ultra sound, understand and make an educated choice.
This acton you are about to take you must own and understand for the rest of your life
and for those who believe ... perhaps eternity.
Lastly any bill that is humane ... created for an unborn child I would support.
Who wouldn't?
Abortion is legal and needs to remain so but does not have to be the choice made.
I think anything we can do to make sure it is the right choice for both mother and child
we should do.
if i were in the situation where i got a woman pregnant i would want her to keep the baby. that is the selfish side of me. i mean, that child is half mine, since i contributed to creating it. but i realize that it is not my body that has to carry that baby and i can not be selfish in that situation.
i strongly support the law that allows women the choice to decide what happens within her own body. and i strongly believe that any changes to that law and any restrictions on women's rights relating to their reproductive health care would be a huge step backwards for this country.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
i am guessing it is the usual fearmongering and self righteous fact distorting bullcrap that they always spew.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Exactly. They're like political trolls; they think if they repeat the same bullshit loudly & often enough people will actually believe it - and, sadly, they're right. :(
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Only by the private sector then?
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
what is selfish is a woman not giving up 9 months out of the 900 of her lifetime
9 months to give life to another human being
this a choice she will make and may regret one day
the women could not afford them they were on aid
the thing is, it is not 9 months she is "giving up".
if it is an unplanned or unwanted child it is the rest of her life she is going to sacrifice to nurture, care for, and raise that child.
unless it is a wanted and planned for child. in that case we would not even be discissing abortion or women's reprodctive healh and rights..
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Not that I would use either, but just calling a spade a spade.
You should probably have a child before you go throwing around adivce on the "challenges" of having one.
You make it sound as if its not worth it...
and if the woman is in poverty or if the child is unwanted, or if the mother is an unmarried teenager it is a sacrifice. do you have evidence to the contrary?
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
The attacks on abortion rights are the same thing. I understand the crusade to want to save babies...even the ugly ones are cute...
as far as publically funded abortions...they certainly take a side route to get there...but if the federal government gives money to a clinic program, even if it is specifically designed for other areas of spending, it frees up capital for those clinics to provide services like abortion to women, possibly on a sliding fee scale...
I don't know for sure, but just like in all politics, I am sure there is some measure of truth among the over-generalized hyperbole about government funded baby killing, no matter how small the sliver may be..
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan