Here’s a weekly rundown on two of the many, many abortion-related laws conservatives are hastily drafting and (in the case of Mitch Daniels) signing on Friday nights:
Indiana officials said Thursday they will defy a federal order to continue funding Planned Parenthood and other clinics that offer abortion services. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a law in May that would cut off federal funding from Indiana clinics that perform abortions. The law is primarily aimed at the state’s Planned Parenthood clinics, which get federal family planning grants to administer services unrelated to abortion
A failed legislative proposal that would prohibit low-income Iowans from having a taxpayer-paid abortion in cases of rape or incest returned Thursday, tucked inside what is expected to be the state’s nearly $6 billion budget bill.
“We did what I believe is right to do here,” Rep. Tom Shaw, R-Laurens, said about relaunching the abortion provision. Existing state law follows federal requirements and allows Medicaid money to pay for abortions in situations of rape and incest and when a mother’s life is threatened. The proposal launched in March by House Republicans would remove rape and incest from the list. The Senate, which is narrowly controlled by Democrats, stripped the provision from a budget bill earlier this year.
And, same link, a poll:
Americans are growing tired of the abortion debate and want to move on to a broader discussion about reproductive health, a new survey by a Democratic polling firm finds The poll, conducted by Lake Partners, found that Americans feel Congress has focused too much on abortion and not enough on things like preventive care, reproductive health and expanding access to birth control. When presented with the following statement, 79 percent of adults agreed, with 49 percent agreeing strongly:“While the current political debate focuses too much on abortion, there is a much broader discussion that needs to happen around reproductive health. We may have different opinions about abortion, so rather than continuing to argue about this one issue, our elected officials should focus on the broader context like providing greater access to birth control, teaching comprehensive sex education and improving maternal health and childbirth outcomes. These are issues that will allow us to come together.”
I think the rape and incest provisions are a real dividing line on Republican policy on women’s health. We’re now into something much bigger, and much more radical, than banning abortion. Conservatives are now stating, with these laws, that women’s health extends only to their physical survival. They are quite literally excluding all of a rape or incest victims humanity – mental health, autonomy, free will, capacity to regain control of her own life- besides that of the continuing existence of her physical being and passive presence, and they’re writing that new, lesser status into law.
I’m going to make a bold prediction and bet that this archaic, bizarre and dramatically limited purely physical notion of what constitutes “a woman” or “her health” is not widely accepted in this country. I think the vast majority of us see women as a bit more than their reproductive functions.
Focusing on things like preventive care, reproductive health and expanding access to birth control (from the poll) also just happens to be the mainstream, centrist, Clinton-era Democratic position, so this should be a good political issue for Democrats and liberals. That’s “safe, legal and rare” rephrased positively, and 79% is a very high number.
rageahol
Louisiana too, which I havent heard much about outside of feministing:
http://feministing.com/2011/06/03/louisiana-moves-to-outlaw-abortion-entirely/
link to original times-picayune article is contained therein.
this all just seems to indicate that the GOP has fuck-all, and knows it, so theyre trying to gin up the enthusiasm of their dead-enders in order to remain afloat.
Scott
I’m going to make a bold prediction and bet that this archaic, bizarre and dramatically limited purely physical notion of what constitutes “a woman” or “her health” is not widely accepted in this country. I think the vast majority of us see women as a bit more than their reproductive functions.
I think you’re right. There are an awful lot of misogynist bastards in the world, but I think they’re ultimately smaller than anyone has been led to believe. Simple empathy is going to have people asking “What if that were my wife or my kids or my grandkids?” The sociopaths may be okay with that, but sane people aren’t — and the Republicans haven’t been that successful at turning most of us into sociopaths — just at making it socially acceptable for political and media leaders…
burnspbesq
It can’t be said often enough, because it should never be forgotten: Republicans think “The Handmaid’s Tale” is an instruction manual, not a work of fiction.
capt
“preventive care, reproductive health and expanding access to birth control”
These all serve our community better and REDUCE unwanted pregnancies and ergo abortions and healthcare costs.
It has to be hard for them to make any argument against these principles.
Sportello
These laws point out some of the inherent contradictions in the pro-life/forced pregnancy movement. If a fetus truly is a person, that it’s only logical that the circumstances of it’s origins be disregarded.
The result is repugnant, but it’s logically consistent.
burnspbesq
Republicans also think Redd Foxx was lying when he said “I say ‘shit’ and ‘fuck’ cuz people do.” Their children would never do That Dirty Thing. After all, they’ve been taught that abstinence is the only path to salvation.
ppcli
True. Especially because in this case, the issue can be distilled into a simple yes or no question that should be put repeatedly to everyone who endorses forced-birth legislation of the sort the GOP has finally migrated to. “Do you believe that a woman who is raped should be forced to carry the rapist’s child to term?” Ask it over and over, and don’t let them weasel out with boilerplate about “Tragic decision, must feel sympathy, blah blah”. Yes or no?
Southern Beale
ThinkProgress did a great piece on these “personhood” amendments which would outlaw contraception because it redefines “life” as occurring at fertilization.
And then over at my place this week I did a thing on the Idaho woman arrested and charged with “unlawful abortion”. She couldn’t afford a medical abortion so she bought drugs online that would induce miscarriage. This of course prompted one of my conservative commenters to observe sanctimoniously, “well if she broke the law, she should go to jail …”
And I’d just like everyone to read that and understand what it means. The conservative “pro-life” position is now: if Roe V Wade is overturned and abortion is outlawed, women will go to jail. That is very fringe, far-outside-the-mainstream position. But they are now boldly stating that they want to see women sent to jail for inducing abortion.
So it’s time for women to wake the fuck up. They’re coming for your birth control pills and they want to send you to jail. This is quite radical.
Kay
@burnspbesq:
You probably already know this odd disconnect between what they say and what they do, but the teen pregnancy rate in the rural conservative county I live in exceeds that of the county that includes Cleveland, or did in 2009.
One year we came in FIRST in the state! I’d put birth control on the steam table next to the tater tots at the high school, if it were Queen.
Dan
I have to admit, I used to think the democrats would be better off not taking the republican bait to argue over abortion issues. It seemed like we had settled into a kind of trench warfare where there didn’t seem to be much movement in either direction, but republicans had found ways to use the debate to help them at the polls, so democrats had little to gain by taking them on. Now it’s clear though that democratic silence on the issue has emboldened republicans at the state and federal level to make it practically impossible for women to obtain abortions.
I think it is time to offer an alternative to the republican vision and the poll you cite outlines how that argument should be made. It should have two components: (1) a very public and coordinated campaign to promote and support things like preventive care and birth control (issues on which there is far broader agreement)with an aim of reducing the need for abortions and finding common cause with the large middle of the country that are not anti-abortion zealots but may consider themselves pro-life (2) a public and coordinated defensive strategy targeted at states where abortion is at risk of being effectively banned emphasizing the many ways in which anti-abortion legislation is anti-women and anti-privacy.
Gregory
Well, duh. Restricting access to birth control is, more or less explicitly, part of the agenda of the anti-choice crowd.
becca
The Mighty Phallus Seed Must Be Exalted!
I seriously wonder what effect Viagra has had on a certain demographic.
Professor
When one is stupid, one usually vote aganst one’s* own interest. Do you think the Republicans could have won the election had it not been for the women vote?
*It is correct possessive pronoun.
cathyx
Before I make my statement, I want it to be clear that I’m pro-choice.
That said, if one is truly a pro-life advocate, then they should not be for the exception of rape and incest.
kay
@Dan:
I think Republicans have a bigger problem than that. The anti-abortion movement is well entrenched inside the Republican Party. They are no longer outside and pushing in. I think conservative promoters and publicists would like us to think they are a faction or interest group, but the state level legislation is just fast and furious.
They have a LOT of clout.
The anti-abortion/contraception movement is shaping the entity know as “the Republican Party”, and not the other way around. They don’t have a moderate “bench”, at the state or local level, so it’s only going to get worse. It’s radical Right on abortion or you’re out
I don’t think they can do anything on contraception or prevention. All of that is forbidden.
Fred
I have always been curious why everyone lets the GOP get away with their “get your gov’t hands off my healtcare” meme but when it comes to womens reproductive health they basically want healthcare communism.
You never ever hear anyone calling out the GOP on that obvious hypocrisy.
Linda Featheringill
@burnspbesq:
Handmaid:
Don’t let the bastards grind you down.
nancydarling
Kay, years ago I clipped a newspaper article about an abortion debate in the Louisiana lege. They were trying to decide whether to include incest as an allowable cause for abortion. This cretin got up in front of the lege and said he had been thinking about the issue and how when breeding dogs, you some times breed daughter back to father, and how incest might result in a really smart kid. This is true, I swear. AND guys like this are still getting elected all over the country today, not just in the south.
Linda Featheringill
@Kay:
Really? Hee-hee. Dirty bunch of hypocrites.
Villago Delenda Est
@capt:
The sluts must be punished.
That it the bottom line.
Lolis
@Fred:
Nobody calls out Republicans on any of their hypocrisy. That is just one of many.
Dan
@kay: I think your assessment is correct and isn’t that an argument for a democratic strategy that calls out the republican party on this by focusing on issues like contraception where we have 80-20 support (i’m just throwing out a number) instead of say 55-45 support?
cathyx
My comment doesn’t seem to get out of moderation, but what I said in a way that hopefully will not be in moderation was that I believe if you are a true pro-lifer, then there are no exceptions that should be tolerable.
BeccaM
@Fred: Pretty much because the Republican party is run by wealthy misogynistic white guys.
Reducing women back to the status of uneducated, barefoot, and pregnant IS the GOP agenda.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Rachel Maddow had a piece this week about Pawlenty, who called for criminal penalties (i.e., prison) for women and doctors participating in abortions. His spokesman then backtracked saying, jail for doctors, not patients. The head of an Iowa ‘pro-life’ group said she would make sure Pawlenty didn’t live this down.
Personally, I think his pro-choice, or as Ted Kennedy said, multiple-choice past on abortion is going to be a much bigger stumbling block for Romney than MA health insurance, at the grass roots level.
There seems to be a fearful reticence in the national media when it comes to discussing abortion for the last couple years. In general, the issue seems kind of muted at that level since 2000. For two, and now three, presidential cycles, I’m surprised at how little discussion the Supreme Court is getting, for this and other reasons, but then I’ve all but stopped watching political TV, except TRMS, so maybe I’m missing something that isn’t filtering through to the internets
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I mis-stated Pawlenty’s gaffe: He never said he wanted women in prison, he flip-flopped about doctors, and his spokesbot came back to assure “pro-ilfe” groups that he does want to put doctors in jail, but not patients.
Here’s the clip.
bemused
Until recently, the question of what the legal punishment such as prison time should be for the woman having an abortion or the doctor or staff performing the abortion if most or all abortions were illegal was rarely asked of anti-choicers or republican legislators by media. Neither anti-choicers and media were willing to go there. Now, it’s not only openly talked about but has turned into a litmus test for republican candidates by some extreme right groups.
I know there are people who are going to be suddenly shocked, shocked that republicans would ever go this far.
Short Bus Bully
Because of Alito/Scalia/Roberts the pro-choice acitivists know that the courts are no longer on their side. If they pushed back hard enough Roe v. Wade might fall altogether. In fact conservatives are just DARING the pro-choicers to take them to court over all these crazy laws.
These are dark days for women and it’s a direct result of the Bush years.
AliceBlue
@Linda Featheringill:
OT, but Linda, how’s your kitteh?
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@Short Bus Bully:
Pretty much this.
The GOPers are pushing this, because THEY KNOW THEY CAN WIN. They have ridiculous amount of control on the state level, know national-level Dems can be browbeaten enough to waffle just enough to weasel through Congress, can count on bludgeoning Obama when he vetos the shit, and knows the Supreme Court will go full bore in reversing Roe v. Wade if they manage to get a case to go up that high.
Yeah, it might cost them electorally in the end, even as soon as 2012. BUt do you think it’ll matter when their morality plays are entrenched legally and legislatively in a way that would take, at best, 5 years to a decade to reverse? Especially if the Supremes write off on it?
Villago Delenda Est
Oh, Ron “I want to bring back feudalism NOW!” Paul is taking on “Romneycare”, doing his part to insure that Obama’s reelection is by a landslide.
These idiots push their toxic ideology at all times. Too bad it’s so odious.
James E. Powell
@Professor:
I don’t think women who vote anti-abortion are stupid; they know exactly what they are doing. For whatever reasons, and those may vary, there are many women who do not view a right to abortion as something that is in their interest.
Cacti
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Might have something to do with George Tiller getting gunned down in the doorway of his church, and people like Bill O’Reilly practically encouraging that result.
James E. Powell
@Short Bus Bully:
It wasn’t the Bush years that gave us the present state of affairs with respect to abortion rights. The anti-abortion movement has been organizing, electing supporters, and punishing opponents for thirty years. No matter who wins a presidential or state-wide election, they never stop building their movement. And no matter what other issues are central to a given election, they turn out and they turn out for their issue.
I can only dream that the “pro-worker” might someday be as effective.
rikyrah
I’m going to make a bold prediction and bet that this archaic, bizarre and dramatically limited purely physical notion of what constitutes “a woman” or “her health” is not widely accepted in this country. I think the vast majority of us see women as a bit more than their reproductive functions.
ICAM.
I knew they were misogynists from the get go, but folks wouldn’t believe me. that they were as hateful or women and wanted to control their bodies.
for a whole lotta women who might be ‘ squishy’ on Abortion, having access to CONTRACEPTION, and ‘redifining rape’ …well….it bitchslaps them into reality about what this group is REALLY about.
Some Guy
What is especially terrifying about the new surge to criminalize abortion is that some of the laws being proposed are much more restrictive than those of the criminalized era in that they specify specific propaganda that must be listened to, they control how long one must wait even if a procedure is medically approved, making the woman guilty of manslaughter until proven innocent and so on. It is not a return to the “good old days” as I imagine some must believe. It is a new era of more specific and intrusive regulation and every sign from conservatives is that they want something unlike we have seen in the US regarding abortion.
forked tongue
If a pollster were to ask me to respond to that statement I would say I strongly agreed with all of it except for the last sentence. Focusing on those other issues won’t “allow us to come together” with people who hate birth control, sex education, and social welfare programs as much as they do abortion. It would just put them more on the defensive, that’s all, which FSM knows is overdue but isn’t “bringing us together.”
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@Kay:
take the “dirty” out of sex, and you won’t need to put birth control pills in the apples. teenagers like danger and risk taking, if they get it from sex, that is simply a convergence. people pushing this agenda are looking to restore “moral hazard” to sex, because they themselves have a backup plan. they just don’t want to share. its simply about identifying “us” and “them”. its time to stop pretending along with them that they believe what they claim to believe.
artem1s
I dread the day that a woman has to stand up during the general election for President and answer questions about her reproductive history. It’s going to ugly. The whole birther bullshit convinced me it’s just a matter of time before the village decides that it’s a legitimate, routine question.
We are entering a period where we have both serious candidates for national office and women old enough to have been in their prime reproductive years after Roe v Wade. If they can thin the competition through intimidation or making the procedure retroactively illegal, I’m sure the GOP will go there. they know the battle will be over once we knowingly elect a woman who has had an abortion. Even worse for them if the patient is a GOP candidate.
debbie
Christianist Sharia, plain and simple.
gex
Well, I guess if you don’t want that baby you just need to commit suicide. They can charge you with murdering your baby posthumously.
TenguPhule
If only we could rebrand the Anti-Choice movement for what they really are. The Communist Big Brother Penis Brigade.
Ken
@debbie: No question. GOP is really American Taliban.
Nemesis
Regardless of recent polling, the abortion issue will be front and center for the gop in 2012. Abortion will be used to drive voters to the polls, which is nothing new.
Dems who support womens reproductive rights will be cast as murderers of babies, just like supporters of Obama’s HC proposals were cast as pulling the plug on grandma. Same old violent rhetoric when defining Dems.