Dude naw.
Some nutbag in Arizona — a woman, no less — authored a bill that would allow employers to interrogate their female employees about their sexual practices.
No seriously.
You might want to sit down for this one, actually.
Ready?
You see, if a female employee seeks a medical prescription for contraception, an employer will be permitted to ask that employee for proof that she doesn’t plan to use the contraception for slutty fuck-making. Using it for medical reasons is ok — that’s medicine.
So, if you’re one of those women who uses slutpills for non-slutty reasons, then you’re ok. You’ll get to keep your job. Enjoy your ovarian cancer or your acne or whatever, but make sure you put that red cover on your TPS reports or the boss’ll have your head.
But if you’re running around like some sort of whore-nympho, then you better keep that shit on the down-low, because if The Man finds out you might-could get fired:
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-2 Monday to endorse a controversial bill that would allow Arizona employers the right to deny health insurance coverage for contraceptives based on religious objections.
Arizona House Bill 2625, authored by Majority Whip Debbie Lesko, R-Glendale, would permit employers to ask their employees for proof of medical prescription if they seek contraceptives for non-reproductive purposes, such as hormone control or acne treatment.
“I believe we live in America. We don’t live in the Soviet Union,” Lesko said. “So, government should not be telling the organizations or mom and pop employers to do something against their moral beliefs.”
Lesko said this bill responds to a contraceptive mandate in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law March 2010.
“My whole legislation is about our First Amendment rights and freedom of religion,” Lesko said. “All my bill does is that an employer can opt out of the mandate if they have any religious objections.”
Glendale resident Liza Love said the bill would impose on women’s rights to keep their medical records private.
Love spoke to the committee about her struggle with polycystic ovary syndrome and endometriosis, conditions requiring her to use birth control.
“I wouldn’t mind showing my employer my medical records,” Love said. “But there are 10 women behind me that would be ashamed to do so.”
(read the rest)
This bill has no chance of becoming law, but that’s not the point, is it?
We’re surrounded by fucking lunatics and I want off this planet.
UPDATE: I’m so full of vagina outrage that I’m not being as clear as I should be. Arizona is an “at-will-employment” state, which means that employers do not need a reason to fire and employee. Theoretically, if an employer finds out that an employee wants to use birth control for preventing pregnancies, that employer would be within his or her legal right to fire the employee for being a nympho-whore (while couching it in other terms).
(h/t Jezebel)
[cross-posted at ABLC]
MikeBoyScout
ABL, thanks for staying on top of this.
P L E A S E continue to dig and publish the outrages aimed at women.
Baud
Why doesn’t the bill have a chance of becoming law? It’s Arizona.
Gin & Tonic
Uh, could somebody send Debbie Lesko a history book? *Nobody* lives in the Soviet Union.
ABL 2.0
@Baud: i should have said that it has no chance of remaining law, if it becomes law. it’s balls-out unconstitutional.
Suffern ACE
How is this not a violation of HIPPA
Baud
@Suffern ACE: Nullification.
New Yorker
Freedom! First Amendment! Don’t be like Communist Russia!
That tremor you felt was George Orwell violently spinning in his grave.
On another note, can Arizona please dial back the crazy soon? I’ve been to the Grand Canyon but my girlfriend never has, so I’d like to take her there. I also want to see the Saguaro cactus in bloom. Right now, I can’t in good conscience spend any tourist dollars in that state.
handy
And here I thought the Republicans were all about “The economy stupid” what after the supposed Tea Party stamp on the 2010 midterms. Funny how all that talk about standing on a platform of small government is sure sounding hollow right about now.
James B Franks
hmmm I don’t see anything in the bill about firing people.
jwb
Is anyone polling Arizonans to see whether they plan to reelect these bozos? I know Arizona has a wacko contingent well above the national 27%, but it wasn’t so long ago that they elected a Democratic governor, so I also have to think that the Goopers are in danger of handing the state back to the Dems.
JC
I like that ‘we don’t live in the Soveit Union, so your employer gets to put his women to the question.”
And yes, this violates HIPAA, I believe.
Warren Terra
I agree with every bit of your outrage, and I thank you for bringing this story to your readers – but the title is, I think, inaccurate. An employee could conceivably be fired for refusing to disclose whether their employer can think of them as a slut, but they can’t actually be fired for using birth control – just denied coverage of the expense. That is in itself and absurd invasion of their privacy – heck, of their body, but it’s not quite what you say in your title.
ABL 2.0
@James B Franks: Theoretically, if an employer is not satisfied with his/her employees’ sexual proclivities, those employees could be fired. Arizona is an at-will state, so the employer wouldn’t need a reason to fire an employee. It’s a stretch, but as Baud pointed out, it’s Arizona.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
This will do LOADS of good for Arizona’s efforts to lure companies to set up shop in their state. “Come do business in the state notorious for trying to make it legal to fire chicks who are on birth control!”
How long before the moneyed interests of the GOP finally can’t take any more of the unholy alliance they’ve forged with the whackadoodle-tunes set eating them alive excruciating nibble by excruciating nibble? They can’t sustain a working relationship with a crowd that truly lacks the ability to use reason, let alone even *try* to come across as mainstream.
If this November comes off as the electoral/Congressional bloodbath it has the potential to be, I’ll bet the lid comes down with a mighty thud.
We’ll see…
ABL 2.0
@Warren Terra: fair enough. good point.
Bill Arnold
@James B Franks:
Arizona is an at-will employment state.
Gex
@handy: There will be all kinds of jobs when the mandated lady part inspections start.
Andrey
I’m so sick of the bullshit platitude that we don’t tell people to do anything against their “moral beliefs”. No, the truth is that America was founded on telling people that their moral beliefs were bullshit. The King claims he has a moral right to reign over the colonies? No, sorry, get out of our land. Church thinks it has the moral right to dictate law? GTFO, First Amendment. Southern slavekeepers think they have a moral responsibility to “take care of” the primitive Negro? Fuck you, and (later) fuck your segregationist moral belief too.
Do we legislate morality? Hell yes. We decided it’s immoral to murder people, no matter what you think, so you don’t get to do it. We decided it’s not immoral to worship Allah or Vishnu, no matter what you think, so you don’t get to stop other people from doing it.
I would pledge my eternal support to a Democratic lawmaker who stood up and said, “We really do legislate morals, and yours are wrong.”
Gex
BTW WTF is this?
?!?!
kay
She’s wrong about the ACA.
The law doesn’t mandate “mom and pop” employers to buy anything for their employees and there are no tax penalties for employers with fewer than 50 employees, if they don’t contribute to employee health insurance.
In fact, “mom and pop” employers get
a nice tax credit if they do contribute.
This stuff is on the healthcare website,
and it’s been carefully dumbed down to
one paragraph.
She’s a lawmaker.
Maybe she could READ the law before
she starts spreading lies?
General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)
Everyone remain calm, pack up and move to blue state for further instructions.
You can buy your ticket to another planet at our Spaceport America, here in the Land of Enchantment. But can’t use them till we build a space ship. Two weeks, tops.
And we happily note, that slutty fuck – making is authorized. I repeat, is authorized, is authorized.
Full stop. Smacks self
handy
@Gex:
I never thought of that angle. Better get that ultrasound certification quick because like the prosperity with it the queue to receive one will start around the corner!
Suffern ACE
Yeah. Im a little confused too. I thought what this bill would do in addition to making it acceptable for an employer to ask something that is not its business (although who knows what HIPPA waivers are out there now) is to repeal a law that currently makes it illegal to fire someone for using medication.
gnomedad
They’re straining to out-crazy each other, and it’s only March.
Number One, say it ain’t so.
Roy G.
Among her other unattractive traits, Ms. Lasko is an ALEC acolyte:
http://www.blogforarizona.com/blog/2011/05/an-all-expenses-paid-trip-to-pick-up-next-years-legislation.html
Sarah Proud and Tall
I’m sure I saw them as support band for the Stones in about 1971.
Good times.
butler
It’s like they are trying to bring Poe’s Law to life.
handy
@gnomedad:
Part of me wants to advise they should really pace themselves. Save some for November. But we know peak wingnut is a lie, so the crazy will come in abundance.
Drum Circles And Weed
America: the last word in totalitarianism.
Andrey
@ABL 2.0: That’s a common misconception of at-will employment. There are specific exceptions to “fire for any reason” – in particular, unlawful discrimination remains unlawful. An at-will employee fired for being black, for example, can sue and win. The trickier question is whether “sexual activity” is discriminatory. I believe it is, but I don’t know if there’s specific judicial precedent outside of slightly narrower groups like “what gender of people you have sex with”.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@James B Franks:
Good point (I’m replying from work, so didn’t take time to read the link). But a shitstain is still a shitstain, so I still think this bill – *especially* if it passes, regardless of whether it stays on the books long – puts a chill on efforts to attract companies to set up shop someplace where they genuinely want to attract and retain top talent.
Jay C
Obviously: Ms. Lesko’s notion of the proper relationship between employers and employees is WAY more on the East German model: how does she propose to enforce this particular proposal? Citizen
informersdata collectors??@kay:
Gee! Republican legislator in Arizona doesn’t know what she’s talking about! Film at Eleven….
RedKitten
WTF? Seriously. What the hell is UP with all of these prissy bitches who want to punish every other woman who actually (gasp!) has non-procreative sex?
I don’t often use the “c-word” to describe another woman, but women who introduce legislation like this, while clutching their Bibles? I’ll make an exception.
David Koch
Eh, winnning…
pluege
We’re surrounded by fucking lunatics and I want off this planet.
No.
We’re surrounded by fucking lunatics and I want THEM off this planet.
take a look at the wonder of life and clearly republicans don’t belong here – they’re a pox, a malformity, a disease – soulless dementia incarnate.
Arclite
Wow, she totally missed the irony. The USSR was a police state where people’s medical records were not private. Now she wants to force people to make their records un-private while trying to claim we’re not the Soviet Union?
Citizen_X
Oh yeah? Well, I believe we live in America, not in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Fucking Taliban motherfuckers. I’ve lost my sense of humor about this shit. Get ready, folks, because you can bet some copycat version of this bill is adsicly to your state soon.
Nate Dawg
Team Uterati, keeping us in the loop.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@RedKitten:
OK, the thought of you talking dirty is making it hard for me to concentrate on my work.
Especially the thought of you talking that way angrily.
KyCole
The upside of all this bullshit is that I have renewed my Planned Parenthood membership for $50 per month.
Odie Hugh Manatee
The cavemen (and some cavewomen) on the right have come out of their caves, dragging their clubs in the dirt, in search of wild women to club senseless.
My head is spinning from the onslaught on women from the right. My wife and daughter are angry beyond anything I’ve ever seen and I’m fairly sure that they’re not alone. How this is seen as a winning issue on the right is beyond me. Stupid voters in these states put these crazy assholes in power so I’m interested in seeing how these assholes do in their next election. If they are reelected then you know the locals are just as fucking nuts as their reps. If not, then there will be a change in those states, you can bet on it.
This is just unbelievable. If someone had told me a year ago that this is where we would be today, I would have laughed in their face. No way would the right give Obama and the Democrats such a gift, no f’ing way!
Way.
Amy
My boss can’t tell me what I can spend my salary on and shouldn’t have the right to tell me what my health insurance covers.
Salary and insurance are both compensation. How dare an employer have control over how people spend their own compensation?
What about employees’ freedom?!
Baud
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
This is their plan to make us forget that they voted to end Medicare. Mission Accomplished!
Citizen_X
“adsicly?” WTF kind of typo is that? I meant “coming.” I CAN HAZ WROKING MOBIL VERJIN COMMENTS EDITOR PLZ?
handy
@Amy:
With Lesko’s comparison to the Soviet Union, somewhere in there is a Yakov Smirnov joke but I just don’t have the will to take that opening. The reality is for the rightwing, freedom is a top-down proposition.
Tim O
I’m going to stick my nose into your bedroom and medicine cabinet to prevent you from infringing on my religious freedom. I hope you don’t mind. Actually, I don’t care if you mind. :(
I fucking hate Arizona. Let me out.
Quarks
Ye gods, employers. You are aware that if the employee uses birth control, she’s less likely to need that otherwise mandated maternity leave?
scav
At some point I expect a few will pipe up in their twin-sets, pearls and gloves preaching the virtue of civility and pointing out that, as women’s health care is just so very very very controversial, government should never never never ever have anything to do with it.
burnspbesq
Title VII applies even in at-will employment states, and this clearly violates it. There will be a TRO granted the day the EEOC files its complaint.
C’mon ABL, you know this. File this under vagina fauxtrage, and talk to us when there’s a real threat to women’s rights.
jl
@Arclite:
” The USSR was a police state ”
She wants a police state for the US, except one that is run by businesses, and I would name that is, except it would be considered uncivil and might bring disgrace to this august blog of political analysis.
So, her idea of US is not the USSR. Just as bad, but with a little different locus of control.
These crazy people need to have their great proposals publicized so people know what the real goal of the social conservatives: a sectarian police state.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Anyone remember that nice language from oh, about 1972?
If the right of privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision whether to bear or beget a child. Eisenstadt v. Baird 405 U.S. 438, 453 (emphasis added).
What a quaint concept. I had the citation handy as I had to explain the history of lawful contraception on a soaping forum. And I do recognize that this isn’t a direct governmental intrusion. Doesn’t make it right either. And of course it stands not a chance of surviving judicial review.
But my point to the soapers is that we (women) have gotten complacent because we’ve had mostly never had to be concerned about these issues. The privilege of our youth, that the generation before us (well, before me) didn’t enjoy for their entire sexually active life. But there are many who want to impose their view of morality regarding sex and conception (or not) on their communities. and some of them hold public office.
We should be very concerned. We ignore these trends at our own peril (or that of our daughters). Thanks for staying on this ABL 2.0
Gwangung
@burnspbesq: Yes? And?
The moment the TRO comes through, they’ll be back with a slightly less draconian measure, and when that gets knocked down, they try a slightly less draconian measure Neil they get something that’s legal and still ficked up as shit.
And they will get REWARDED for this shit by voters who resent the big ol mean federal government filled with judicial activists.
The way to stop this is to make it HURT any time they dry this…which means they get tossed out on their can in elections.
Mr Stagger Lee
Mexico, we want to apologize for stealing a quarter of your land in 1849. Here we will giv you back Arizona and throw in Utah for keeps.
kay
No, Jay C., I’m sure you’ll see “mom and pop business” again.
It’s a lie and I’m confident she knows it’s a lie, but we’ll end up with Anderson Cooper earnestly concerned about the burden on “mom and pop” employers imposed by the slut law.
They’ll debate it for 6 months rather than make a simple, factual statement to correct it.
Steve
This is kind of a technical point, but the coverage of this bill makes it sound like this type of firing would be illegal under current Arizona law, and I don’t know whether that’s true. What is true is that if you look up the current version of the bill, you see that the bill used to contain a sentence saying an employer cannot discriminate on this basis – several places in the bill, in fact – and in the current version they took out that sentence in every single place.
So in other words, while it may not be technically true that Arizona is “making this legal” (because it might already be legal), the truth is pretty much as bad – they thought about banning this type of discrimination and then said no, on second thought that strikes us as perfectly fine.
Also, too, and this might be the most important thing at the end of the day, this would still most likely be illegal under federal law as a species of gender discrimination, and Arizona can’t do anything to change that.
By the way, while there’s an exception to every rule, virtually every employer in the real world would strongly prefer that employees make full use of birth control. Heck, even the Archdiocese might get annoyed at having to hire a temp because the receptionist is out on maternity leave.
scav
It’s almost like they’re running a denial of service attack on legislatures across the country.
RedKitten
I just don’t get it — what the fuck unleashed them like this? I mean, last year, we all knew that there were some fringe fundies who were opposed to contraception, especially ones that they deemed to be “abortifacients”. But the crazy has just spread like some sort of virus among them, and it just keeps getting worse and worse. I can honestly say that I would no longer be surprised if a southern state Republican introduced a bill to outlaw contraception altogether.
Seriously, has Obama Derangement Syndrome actually driven these people deranged?
ABL
@burnspbesq:
i disagree. the fact that these bills are even being introduced is a threat to women’s rights. moreover, these bills are part of a larger narrative regarding government control over women’s bodies. so if you don’t mind, i will continue to be outraged and point out this sort of backwards-ass legislation. you can continue doing whatever it is that you do.
and anyone who wants to help me keep track of these bills, check out my new wiki. it’s in its infancy, but i’m working on it. the main site is here.
Gex
@handy: Yeah that’s a hell of a job. I’m more than happy to provide the ladies with a female inspector if they prefer.
RedKitten
@Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn: Well, if you need more diversion from your work, then be assured that when I read this, I referred to Debbie Lesko as a “treacherous, festering c**t.”
Feel better?
Gex
@RedKitten: There’s a lot of legal action going for the RCC in which they are the defendants. The long ten year campaign of “Hey look over there!” that was SSM has metastasized.
ETA: Not to mention the 8000 unreported cases of child abuse uncovered in Milwaukee.
danielx
But it is perfectly okay for employers to ask employees about the most sensitive aspects of their personal lives and to penalize them if they refuse to answer. Cognitive dissonance truly does not exist for these people.
Irony, thy name is Lesko.
danielx
@Sarah Proud and Tall:
Sarah, cut back on the pharmaceuticals before bedtime. I saw that tour and the opening act was Stevie Wonder. And a hell of a show it was, too.
Steve
@Gwangung: I don’t think you followed what he was saying. It wouldn’t be a TRO against the law – heck, no one can force Arizona to pass an anti-discrimination law if it doesn’t want to. It would be a TRO against the firing of the particular person in question. Having said that, I don’t really get why it’s “fauxtrage” to get upset over a state law just because the federal government has the last word on the subject – that’s like saying that if South Dakota wants to pass a ban on all abortions, why even bother worrying about it, because you know, Roe v. Wade. It would still be a bad law!
Joel
This is not true, at least not for employers who are subject to the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964,NRLB, OFCCP, etc.
At-will means an employer can fire you for any reason except a reason that is a facial or as-applied violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.
Even if an employer tells you that you’re being fired for substandard performance, you can still trot down to the EEOC and submit a complaint, and subsequently file a civil lawsuit. The company will actually have to document your alleged poor performance, as well as show that other employees (pregnant and not, female and not) were treated similarly in similar performance situations.
If they can’t do that…kaching.
Jager
My UCLA Granddaughter who is spending her senior year at the U of Copenhagen told us on Sunday that if the Republicans take over this fall she is never coming back to the good old US of A. Mrs J suggested we start looking for a small place in Denmark now, since the real estate market in Europe may soon be overwhelmed with ex-pats
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@burnspbesq:
Spoken like a man. The fact that this kind of legislation is getting introduced without its proponents being laughed (or, preferably, shamed) off the various assembly floors is itself a threat to women’s rights. This nonsense AZ bill, heartbeat bills, the transvaginal ultrasound bills, the NC county commission rejecting a family planning grant because they don’t want to fund irresponsible sex – the list goes on. If anyone had told me 5 years ago that these bills and publicly broadcast slut shaming would be part of the US public discourse for 2012, I’d have suggested they limit their use of hallucinogens, or at least find happier ones.
I can sort of understand why men don’t get that the acceptability of even discussing potential legislation of this type is an assault on women’s rights. I am, however, asking men to understand it.
ABL
@Joel: true. in practice, it is difficult and expensive to meet the threshold for discrimination, and wily employers employers get around it. not to mention the time it takes for such complaints to be resolved.
i definitely was being overly simplistic and your point is definitely a good one!
RedKitten
Let’s not forget Georgia HB 954, which makes it illegal to obtain an abortion after 20 weeks even if the woman is known to be carrying a stillborn fetus or the baby is otherwise not expected to live to term.
‘Cause, you know, carrying a fucking CORPSE inside of your body for an extended period of time is really good for a woman’s health.
I swear to fuck, any woman that votes Republican after all this is a goddamned sociopath in my book.
Steve
@RedKitten: I read Georgia HB 954, and honestly, I didn’t see the part where a woman would have to carry a stillborn fetus. That issue actually has quite a bit of personal resonance for me. Do you have a link to any analysis that might show me where I’m mistaken, if I am?
Corner Stone
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Let’s be clear. “Men” understand that these issues are equal rights issues.
Calling out the assholes is good.
WyldPirate
@ABL 2.0:
Fucking-A! Where is my thumbs up button, dammit?
Despite our past differences, ABL, you’ve been doing a helluva job hammering on the Rethug’s and their War on Women. Keep up the good work!
rikyrah
just gotta say it
BRING IT,
BRING IT!!!
pseudonymous in nc
If you haven’t read Scott Horton’s piece on the Arizona legislature, read it.
Please give a shit about state legislative elections.
RedKitten
[email protected]Steve: I read it from ThinkProgress, but can see how the bill could be interpreted that way:
So according to this, the ONLY two situations in which a post 20-week abortion would be legal would be if a) if it would otherwise kill the mother or completely fuck her up physically (but not mentally, or if she threatens suicide, because who cares about that?) OR b) if they’re basically doing an early induction to save the unborn baby’s life.
No mention of a termination being allowed when the baby is already dead or is not expected to live to term.
RedKitten
Oh, and here’s the bit where he basically tried to console women by saying that it’s okay — cows and pigs deliver dead babies all the time: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/03/12/442637/georgia-rep-compares-women-to-animals/?mobile=nc
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
@burnspbesq: You are worthless.
geg6
burnspbesq @50:
Go fuck yourself asshole. I’m sure that you, sitting there in your fucking white male 1% privilege, don’t give a shit about women’s health and reproductive care and don’t think it’s very important or threatened in any way, especially given your out front Catholicism. But those of us who have actual vaginas and uterii do not feel the same. I’m sure that if you were around during the Civil Rights era, you’d be telling African Americans that separate but equal was no big fucking deal and that we should be concetrating on something important like changing the tax code so your clients could pay fewer taxes than I, a person with a graduate degree, paid more in taxes than Warren Buffett’s secretary. Jeebus, you’re a fucking dick and a half.
Scamp Dog
I’ve come to the conclusion that the GOP/conservative concept of “Liberty” is freedom from government restriction (although restrictions for non-white collar crimes and/or against members of the lower orders are allowed). Restrictions coming from business or religious leaders are only truth & justice in action. If you don’t like it, get yourself a pile of money or some religious authority (Unitarians, mainline Protestants and leftist Catholics not eligible for this offer).
pseudonymous in nc
@RedKitten:
Shitloads of money from wingnut welfare operations in DC that send model laws to their fax machines? The suspicion that they might need to lock in some of these laws before the election, and make the most of the 2010 gains?
NC’s freshman wingnut legislature floated the idea of privatising pre-K the other week. They backed off, but they’re going to try and sell off as many public services to private sector parasites before the end of the year.
The Republic of Stupidity
No no no…
***wags finger at ABL…***
On the first point, yer totally right… we ARE indeed surrounded by farkin’ loons…
But on yer SECOND point…
I have no intention of giving any more ground to them…
I want THEM off MY planet…
The Other Chuck
@Arclite:
Here’s the problem: you’re operating under the assumption that logical or moral consistency has anything to do with the sounds that come out of their mouths. These people emit Republican Sounds and get people to translate them into bills they scrawl their “X” on. They may even have post-graduate education, but operationally they are SO FUCKING STUPID that the very concept of reason is simply not something they’re cognizant of. Explaining logical inconsistency to them is like teaching cats calculus. Showing them their hypocrisy is like trying to tell a fish that it’s wet. They may have brains, but by god they found the off switch, flipped it, and glued it there.
Why? Because it translates into success for them.
Steve
@pseudonymous in nc: Here in New Jersey our governor – you might have heard of him – called universal pre-K “babysitting.” Nice.
Linnaeus
Stuff like this makes me want to cheer for climate change.
moron
Just wait until the GOP introduces this at the national level and Obama ends up supporting it as part of his next legislative
compromise11-dimensional chess moveunilateral concession.Just see if ABL doesn’t immediately start telling us it’s racist of us to complain.
Hey, any white president would have done the same thing!!
muddy
Where are the MRA idiots, they are always whining that they have to pay for teh babieez. They should be up in arms about this stuff. I haven’t seen it tho.
swbarnes2
Don’t all pregnancies carry “serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”?
I wanted to get this out there before it disappears behind a paywall.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204603004577269491399954950.html
“The Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Association lists birth control pills as one treatment for PCOS, but it lists a lot of other treatments, too, including in-vitro fertilization, anti-androgens, and insulin sensitizers.”
Yes. Wall Street Journal op-ed writers know better than doctors how to treat women with PCOS. And if you don’t want to lose an ovary to a cyst the size of a tennis ball, the writer, who works for Reason magazine, prescribes in vitro fertilization. The writer actually asks why birth control pills are considered a better treatment than in vitro fertilization.
Ruckus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Some of us do understand it. Some of us don’t think women need to be subjected to this kind of crap and have to wait for the courts to sort it out. Which may take months/years. Some of us understand that not everyone has easy access to an attorney who understands the appropriate area of the law and will work for well, free, because we just lost our crap job illegally. Some of us understand…
Joseph Nobles
I claim Josey and the Slutty Fucks as my band name.
I’m with danielx. Making a business violate its moral conscience (whatever the fuck that means) by forcing it to provide health insurance that covers birth control should its employees wish to use it is bad, but giving the business permission to grill its employees on how they use their insurance is A-OK?
Corporations are people, my friends, and people are all equal, but some are more equal than others. The company store lives.
@moron: Thank you for your handle adhering to the truth-in-advertising laws.
Kyle
@New Yorker:
I have to traverse a 29 mile stretch across the northwest corner of Arizona on I-15 to the national parks in southern Utah. I plan not to stop and to drive under the limit lest I inadvertently contribute ticket money to that pestilential state.
Rafer Janders
@geg6:
That’s the last you’ll hear from burnsie. His specialty is to unload a particularly stupid comment, but not to then have the intestinal fortitude to hang around and defend his stupidity.
muddy
@Kyle: We always made sure we were gassed up before entering Utah, so as not to have to stop there and give money to Mormons.
Rafer Janders
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Here we see the blindness of privilege. Because it will never apply to him, burnsie can dismiss it as “fauxtrage.” But if a state legislator introduced a bill mandating that all observant Catholics be stoned to death — even if the bill was never likely to become law — no one would whinny louder with outrage than burns. Only once it applied to his own group would he come to realize that even having a public discussion of this sort of nonsense is itself a threat.
“Please, people, please! We’re not actually going to murder all the Catholics now! We’re just going to have a civil discussion about when and how to do it once we persuade everyone else to let us do so! Why the outrage?”
maryQ
But what if someone has acne or polycystic ovaries AND she’s a slut! No fair! This discriminates against sluts who don’t have a medical condition and allows sluts who do have a medical condition to keep being slutty!
danielx
@Rafer Janders:
Now, if someone came up with a bill requiring a colonoscopy before a male could receive a Viagra prescription, then you’d hear some real squeals. Oh yeah, with the colonoscopy to be paid for by the Viagra user including sales tax. With no tranquilizers or sedatives permitted as part of the procedure, and we don’t want to hear any shit about interfering in the doctor-patient relationship.
Corner Stone
@maryQ:
Thank you FSM.
danielx
Fucking moderation. How does it work?
dww44
@moron: I think you are flat wrong and not helpful either. You need to apprentice yourself to Kay. Certainly you need to take note of the tenor, range, and actionable nature of her posts.
Take nothing for granted, folks. You can have disagreements with Obama and Democrats but you still have to vote for them. We have to make the GOP go down the rabbit hole for a generation.
Corner Stone
@danielx:
Pretty much in all things.
calliope jane
@Tim O: Let me out of here, too. Or maybe southern AZ can secede (Baja Arizona, thank you). Damn, these people. Shit.
Although this:
I believe the people of AZ are her employer, yes? (judging by her personal site). And she only has three children, too, tsk, tsk, tsk.
It’s not funny though. Damn her. Damn all of these people.
Stentor
My irony meter just blew a fuse.
danielx
@Stentor:
It’s true. I thought irony died the day Henry Kissinger got the Nobel Peace Prize, but clearly I was wrong.
AxelFoley
@moron:
The
freakstrolls come out at night.shortstop
Kyle, we did the drive from Vegas (ugh, but convenient airport) to Bryce and Zion a few months back. Just floor it and feel free to point and laugh at locals with AZ plates and peeling McCain/Palin stickers.
IrishGirl
Sadly, ABL is wrong this bill most likely will become law…AZ legislature has a super majority and they pretty much rubber stamp anything they want. I am beginning to feel like I am living under Taliban rule here in AZ. Please someone wake me up from this nightmare! PS: No I can’t move out of AZ for at least another 10 years…I have never felt so devalued, so invisible and so disenfranchised as I do living in the supposed “sunshine state”.
newhavenguy
Late, as per usual. But I hope you’re related to ABL 1.0. She was kewl.
Hey, ABL? Fuck the Trolls, always good to see you here.
Again, fuck ’em: reminds me of Snot Boogie in that first scene of The Wire- that shithead who tries to rob the crap game EVERY DAMN TIME. (For the uninitiated, the cop McNutty asks the street guy, as Snot Boogie’s corpse is being processed, “Why the hell did you let him play anymore?” Answer: “Got to. This is America.”)
If I
had any ballswere maybe 3% more of an asshole, I’d find some Glenn Greenwald screeching paragraph to quote here out of sarcasm.Best, ABL, and best to all y’all BJ people.
grandpa john
I can only shake my head sadly in wonder as to how long it will take before the democratic party finally like Rip Van Winkle, wakes up from 20 + years of slumber and listens to those of us who have been preaching that state and local elections are just as important as national office elections.
If any still doubt the truth of this I offer the 2010 election cycle as proof of this.
Joseph Nobles
Next up: employers asking employees if they plan to have children. After all, that’s what really drives up health care costs, and thus insurance. And this is especially true for publicly owned companies. After all, the board has a fiduciary duty to the stockholders to keep costs low, and employees having kids raises prices for everybody.
alex milstein
Boy, it’s a good thing we have people fighting to keep
Sharia law from coming to America.
Tokyo ex-pat
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
This. My first pregnancy was diagnosed anencephaly at 17 weeks. The doctor recommended termination. My husband and I agreed. It was heartbreaking, but we were treated w/ dignity and respect by the Japanese nurses and doctors, and we moved on. I am sickened and saddened that women are being shamed for making a decision that is both personal and extremely traumatic.
I am further horrified that the GOP have now started attacking contraception. I’m a child of the seventies, coming of age in the eighties. I remember feeling that I could be anything I wanted b/c I could go to college, grad school and reach as high as I could. I knew I owed the women who had fought the fight before me. I cannot believe that we are regressing and dealing w/ this bullshit.
I appreciate that ABL is keeping this front and center. I don’t know what I can do from Japan, but I will help in anyway I can. Women have to win this fight and make clear that we will never give up the rights we fought for and deserve. These rights are not up for legislation. Vote these bastards out of office.
gwangung
FTFY.
harlana
@IrishGirl: That is fucked up. I’m from SC, so I know, that’s pretty fucked up.
B
This is actually great news. The more of this anti-female idiocy the GOP pulls, the more they drive female voters to the Democratic party, and the more the election shapes up to be a Democratic blowout.
Watching the slow suicide of the Republican party has been the greatest show I’ve seen in a long time.
serena1313
Unfuckingbelievable. I know I shouldn’t be, but Iam shocked.
The Republicans opened Pandora’s box & unleashed the extremists, gave them power to destroy every bit of progress made over the past 50 years or more. Before they succeed we must get Pandora back in her box. No one will be safe until we do.
Mike S.
at will employment…
sure you can fire someone without a reason,
but this means you will end up paying out more for unemployment insurance
(unless there’s some truly draconian idiocy in the state laws that I’m unaware of, always a possibility)
fire for cause or make them quit is the cheap way
priscianusjr
@jwb:
Patricia Kayden
Rachel Maddow needs to profile these idiotic laws each and every night. She did a great job on the Virginia vagina probe law.
Patricia Kayden
@IrishGirl:
Are the women/sensible men in AZ not up in arms protesting this proposed law?
stratplayer
@Scamp Dog: Quite so. I am continually amazed at how Republicans get away with using libertarian rhetoric in support of authoritarian outcomes. They are actually making the argument that “liberty” is advanced by more people’s lives being controlled and dominated by unaccountable “private” interests.
Tone In DC
I agree that we ought to give AZ back to Mexico. Thing is, I figure Mexico has an iota of common sense, and thus, doesn’t WANT it.
Barbara
There are a lot of levels of craziness to this, but an employer is actually prohibited by law from using medical information to make employment related decisions. That’s one “side effect” of the federal HIPAA privacy protections. But the more Republicans try to use employee benefit plans as a backdoor social engineering device, the more repugnant our system of employer provided benefits will become. Honestly, I don’t think most employers like the idea of bossing their employees around quite like this, moreover, I have yet to meet an employer who thinks responsible use of birth control is a bad thing. I’ve met a few who wish they could order their female employees NOT to procreate. It makes me think legislators haven’t been out in the real world of work for sometime now.
brantl
@Warren Terra: And once they know that they disagree with the employee about birth control (and they’re enough of a dick to deny someone else what they think is appropriate for their health), you think they won’t fire them? Come on, get real.
brantl
@burnspbesq: Have you missed the fact that they keep filing this shit, looking for any way to screw over anyone who doesn’t believe as they do?
brantl
@moron: You’ve got the right screen name, pinhead.
Herbal Infusion Bagger
This is a piece of performance art.
After driving Latinos, African-Americans, muslims, scientists, and LGBT folks to the point where they find voting for the GOP unthinkable, obviously the next group to alienate is women.
fuzed
Rollerball is still the RepubliberTeaParty ideal. Corporations are the government. Thats final. Give up your voting silliness. Money Rules.
louc
@burnspbesq
Fuck you very much. All the news accounts say it will pass — it’s already been approved by the state House and a senate committee — and unless the governor diverts from her nutwing ways it will be signed into law.
Yeah, the ACLU and company will file lawsuits against it. But the point is a state is passing this law. And there could come a point where it will “stick” unless people vociferously protest. Remember how everyone was lackadaisical because Roe v. Wade would protect choice? Hah! states are whittling away those rights as we speak.