Mike Huckabee has decided to end his presidential campaign but I think he should be forced to carry it to full term.
— Bryan Donaldson (@TheNardvark) February 3, 2016
Researchers studied reproductive health choices in Texas after the attacks on Planned Parenthood, and the outcomes are not good (unless forced birth is your kind of thang):
Defunding Planned Parenthood clinics leaves some poor women unable to access the most effective forms of birth control, according to a new study from Texas-based researchers.
Experts from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, a multi-year research project that’s tracking reproductive health outcomes in the Lone Star State, examined data from women who rely on Medicaid after GOP legislators stripped funds from Planned Parenthood in 2013.
Among women in the public health program, there was a 35 percent decline in claims for IUDs and implants — and a dramatic 27 percent spike in births — after Planned Parenthood was kicked out of Texas’ family planning network. Those numbers suggest that disadvantaged women are struggling to get the contraceptive services they need and are instead going on to give birth.
“The U.S. continues to have higher rates of unintended pregnancies than most rich nations, and we know that U.S. and Texas women face barriers as they try to access preventative services,” Amanda Jean Stevenson, one of the lead authors of the study and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas of Austin, said in a statement accompanying the study results. “It’s a public health issue that Texas women struggle to achieve their reproductive goals.”
Previous research examining Planned Parenthood’s patient base has confirmed that pulling support for the national women’s health organization disproportionately harms low-income Americans who don’t have anywhere else to go for affordable contraceptive services. In a recent survey of Texas patients themselves, more than half of them said they’ve faced at least one barrier to getting the reproductive health services they need in the years since politicians made changes to the publicly funded family planning network.
Whether it is Clinton or Sanders, we simply can not lose on the national level and we have GOT to get our asses in gear on the local and state level.
henqiguai
“Wingnuttery has costs”, but not generally to the wingnuts. So, no harm no foul.
Litlebritdifrnt
I am sure all those wingnuts are more than willing to fund food stamps, daycare and whatnot for the precious little snowflakes once they have exited the womb right?Just kidding.
Tim C.
@Litlebritdifrnt: A while back I got into it with someone over stuff like this. They went the full. “Having kids born in poverty teaches people to think ahead and not have sex before marriage.” Reality has no impact on their dogma.
singfoom
@henqiguai: Oh, it has costs to the wingnut populace, not the wingnut grifters that represent them, but they either blame those costs on furriners or Obama / both / other stereotypes.
It sure hurts everyone.
C.V. Danes
I’d chip in 5 bucks towards a restocking fee if we just gave Texas back to Mexico.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
Hey JC can you please bless my new nym so I can get out of moderation? Thanks
sparrow
@Tim C.: Including the reality that many married women are *gasp* still poor and would like to avoid being pregnant.
chopper
perfect.
Mike J
How do we bring about the revolution if we don’t destroy the establishment?
CONGRATULATIONS!
This is just what they wanted. And they’re not going to stop, why would they? They’ve just gotten stronger and stronger every year since 1974. If you want contraception, you’re going to have to fight for it the rest of your life.
D58826
Along the same lines the GOP will only appropriate money to help the poor folks in Flint if they can find a group of poor folks somewhere else that they can take the money from/
redshirt
Freedom isn’t free.
evodevo
The religious righties view is NO SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE, even though 99% of them have indulged, and statistics have shown repeatedly that fundie Xian young people have higher rates of out-of-wedlock births, STDs, etc. This is their only contraception method. No rational arguments penetrate my fundie co-workers’ brains on this topic, and they are unanimous in wanting govt. backing for their beliefs. I fear for my country.
BGinCHI
The GOP should start a rival organization called Unplanned Parenthood.
Or maybe they already have.
Anoniminous
We need to go back to the 1950s when no one did godless sexytime because Jesus.
singfoom
@BGinCHI: Oh, they do, but it’s just an outpost of a larger organization. Headquartered in Vatican City.
PhoenixRising
While we watched town h last night I tried to explain abortion politics to my 16yo. She was stunned. And aghast. And perplexed. I had to go back to Griswold cause I’m me.
How could it be possible that her grandma couldn’t get medicine to prevent pregnancy when she wasn’t married? Isn’t that backwards, since it’s hard to take care of kids and that’s why she doesn’t want any unless she gets married to someone super reliable who really wants a kid?
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Mike J: Very carefully. Revolutions tend, in general, to be extremely catastrophic for the majority of those who live through them.
bin Lurkin'
@evodevo:
I haven’t found any rational arguments on any topic that penetrate fundie brains.
satby
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Quoted for absolute truth. And I have the worst time getting younger people to take that seriously, they just treat me like a crank for even saying that outlawing contraception is one of the end goals. Even though it’s right on the website of Women 4 Life. (I refuse to link to them)
Holden Pattern
@Tim C.:
I have to confess, it’s unclear how one would be able to apply this lesson — it seems that for the actual people involved to apply this lesson, they’d have to kill the kids, and then say “Whew! Won’t do that again!”
But what I think people really mean when they say that having kids in poverty teaches people to think ahead is “See those miserable wretches, in their state of degradation? Be fearful that you might wind up like them some day.”
So, like the 1800’s and earlier, where everyone was driven by fear of poverty and public shame to extraordinary lengths of artifice and rigidly conservative behavior. Those were the days!
satby
@singfoom: not only Catholicism, the fundie Evangelicals are worse. The Catholic church may oppose abortion and birth control, but they also oppose the death penalty, so at least it’s not a hypocritical stance.
scav
Texas (and other) wingnuts are just planning ahead. They’re going to need a local populace of poor desparate people to mow their lawns, pick the crops and work zero-hour contracts in un-air-conditioned warehouses once they get Mexico to pay for that juuge and bee-uuu-tea-ful wall.
trollhattan
@chopper:
I LOL’d. I’d give twenty Quatloos to any reported/chat show host who quipped that to the Huck, directly.
He’s been on my mind during the trailer daesh Oregon standoff for his sneering, “Uncle Sugar” quip targeting…everyone on some kind of assistance. The Bundys et al are striving to become the ultimate Uncle Sugar addicts.
Iowa Old Lady
@evodevo: Most women use a whole lot of birth control after marriage too. Does it magically become available then?
Mnemosyne
@evodevo:
They don’t want people having sex after marriage, either. They want married people to be forced to decide between having a normal, loving relationship that includes sex, or a constant struggle between spouses over whether or not they’re willing to risk yet another pregnancy by having sex.
I’ve seen this in operation in my extended Catholic family, and it’s not pretty. People in their late 30s who basically gave up having a normal sex life because they already had 6 kids and couldn’t afford to have any more.
WarMunchkin
Is there a plan on team Dem for this? I remember there was that one “50 state strategy” fellow a while back ago…
Keith G
Will be interesting once the Zika virus make a forever home in Texas, especially near the population centers.
Holden Pattern
Breed, breed, wenches! Immigrants keep out! Breed, wenches! Immigrants keep out! Breed, wenches! Etc., etc.
Poe’s law is a harsh mistress.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@C.V. Danes: Hell, I’d throw in Arizona and a large chunk of Southern California and pay restocking fees for all if we could get it done.
cokane
well a cruz or trump candidacy all but guarantees a dem victory for the white house. the important thing is to not get complacent. Run up the fucking score, as many Senate and House seats as possible. Further, Sanders’ or Clinton’s re-election will be very crucial, as that’s a census and thus redistricting year.
singfoom
@WarMunchkin: He yelled inappropriately into a microphone and was banished from the kingdom forever for his sins. Well, that was before he headed the DNC… Instead we have Debbie “Saturday Night Debate” Wasserwhatever Schultz.
I’m constantly appalled by the lack of lessons the DNC took from Howard Dean’s successful helming of that organization.
jl
@Holden Pattern: Even relatively weak productivity growth trumps any changes in demographics triggered forced birth policies. But, hey, arithmetic is so old-fashioned and musty industrial age stuff. I wonder why seemingly smart and savvy successful Milleninal Genr’s still even think about it at all.
singfoom
@satby: Growing up in Kansas, I’m well aware of this. However, IMHO the Catholic Church is more responsible because they’ve been pushing no contraception for longer. I have no quarrel with those of faith individually, but I find the Catholic Church to be a net negative for humanity. The evangelical churches even all of them combined got nothing on the Holy See. YMMV
Seanly
THIS times 1000.
The asshats in the Republican party & religious conservatives want to turn us back over a half-century. While I have my preference for the Democratic nominee I will gladly vote for whichever is on the ballet.
Holden Pattern
@jl: Yeah, I know. I just am fascinated by the internal incoherence of movement conservatism.
That said, belligerent know-nothing nativism is of course an excellent substitute for arithmetic, and ought to be taught in all the schools.
catclub
Long LGM thread on just this. I have not seen any happy, easy, quick, and simple solutions to the problem
posted there. But I will look again.
jl
@Holden Pattern: I was snarking on whatever the hell srv thinks s/he is doing.
Roger Moore
@Iowa Old Lady:
No. Once they’re married, they’re supposed to stay barefoot and pregnant. Proper women have a zillion babies like Michelle Duggar.
trollhattan
@srv:
Yeah, because a big cohort of unplanned kids growing up in grinding poverty is the key to America’s economic viability. Got it, Champ.
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
If by “interesting” you mean “horrifying numbers of babies with Zika-related birth defects and not enough money to care for them because God forbid their mothers should have been allowed to get an abortion,” then sure.
Holden Pattern
@Mnemosyne: Wait, are you saying that El Salvador is not a good model for laws regarding women’s health? Surely that can’t be right.
jake the antisoshul soshulist
At least Catholics actually support helping the poor.
Evangelicals don’t unless they “deserve” it.
JPL
@jake the antisoshul soshulist: True and they don’t ask if they are born again before hand.
WarMunchkin
@singfoom:
I, too, am whelmed.
But is there an actual plan or organization that’s trying to build and train local and state civic communities? Maybe OFA? Though last I checked, that was more or less a Facebook group. Correct me if I’m wrong.
catclub
@Keith G: My guess is only Houston will be a forever home – most like the tropics.
singfoom
@WarMunchkin: I think OFA has faded exactly as you have suggested. The DNC is supposed to be doing what you describe….
D58826
@Anoniminous: Except of course as my Mom (born 1921) used to say the first one can come any time but the second one takes 9 months. Jesus wept
Mike J
@CONGRATULATIONS!: I’m pretty sure that if we destroy Goldman Sachs, Human Rights Campaign, and Planned Parenthood, everything will be swell forever.
Mike in NC
That number keeps popping up again and again! Makes you wonder if 27% of eligible voters in Texas even bother showing up at the polls.
henqiguai
@PhoenixRising(#17): You should have included Eisenstadt (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenstadt_v._Baird); contraceptives for unmarried couples. That’ll go away before Griswold.
D58826
@satby: When was the last time you heard the Bishops ranting on about the death penalty and refusing to give communion to Jeb for signing all of those death warrants. Heck they are even content to let people die from HIV in Africa rather than allowing the use of condoms. It is still about keeping women in their place – bare foot and pregnant.
Mike E
@Holden Pattern: Heh
Also amen on the state and local races, Cole.
henqiguai
@WarMunchkin(#28):
And how’d that work out for *him*? Someone, get a stake…
WarMunchkin
@singfoom: Yeah that’s what I was afraid of. I want to get our shit together, but if there’s nobody or no organization that’s actually engaged in the process of getting our shit together, then it’s going to be futile in the first place.
The best analogy I can think of is how the U.K. stopped investing in infrastructure for so long that they had to open a school to re-teach people how to build a tunnel. If we’re not going to keep up the investment in civic infrastructure constantly, then we have to start from zero.
So, if anyone knows of national organizations that are actually trying to do this on behalf of the Dems (and not just issue-advocacy), I’m interested in hearing about them.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I just got into a fight today with some kid on “the slot” (a gawker politics site) It started with me suggesting I would support Hilary if she were the dem which of course made me a sell out because she is just as bad as a Republican and Obama simply was the same as Boy Blunder. After I pointed out some difference he got all pissing & said there would not be change in this country unless people took to the streets! I simply asked him who should take to the streets, Occupy or the Tea Party since both had already and only one really made a political impact. That set him off. People do not realize that revolutions are messy & people die and all too often the wrong team wins
singfoom
@henqiguai: I’d say the 50 state strategy worked great if you remember the 2006 midterms where we took back the House and Senate. It wasn’t the thing solely responsible for it, but it sure helped.
Then Rahm Emmanuel, that goddamn turd made sure he didn’t get any kind of appointment in the Obama Whitehouse (at least that’s the rumor) because he didn’t agree with the strategy.
Helped us in 2008 too….
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@cokane:
I wish I shared your optimisim, that got beaten out of me starting when Reagan got re-elected after his disastrous first team and ending when that drunken frat-boy cokehead wasteral was elected.
A Ghost To Most
@Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):
Behold the modern street fightin’ man!
Chairborne warriors are not the sole province of the Reptiles, He probably thinks he can fight the “revolution” by playing a video game.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@singfoom:
Back in the late 60’s I read about an offshoot of the John Birch Society called the Minutemen. Their mission was to infiltrate the DNC as staffers and disrupt the organization by insulting donors & encouraging bad choices. I think they won
Baud
@Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):
Excellent.
Iowa Old Lady
@Roger Moore: That’s depressing.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Well, that should have happened in 2010, when we got our clocks cleaned and redistricted out of existence in the House. And it didn’t and hasn’t.
The national GOP is literally throwing money into my local school board elections, while the Dems in Sacramento sit and wonder if it’s a good idea to back a pill-popping serial philanderer as Jerry Brown’s replacement. Which they will. And we’ll lose the state again if that happens.
I want to know where the Dem money is. It’s somewhere. But not a dime is being spent locally, or even at the state level so far as I can tell. Illinois is an even better example. Blue state packed top to bottom with extreme – not just run-of-the-mill, but truly extreme GOPers. Why is that? Does Rahm sleep on a bed of all the state Dem money? WTF?
JustRuss
@Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):
I get your point, but I’m not so dismissive of Occupy. Without them, I’m not sure you get Bernie running neck-and-neck with Clinton in Iowa.
Sure the Tea Party’s been more effective, it’s amazing how having a good chunk of the media and a few billionairs on your side can help. But Occupy started something, and it’s not over yet (I hope).
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@A Ghost To Most:
I think they really believe everyone thinks the same way they do and once the revolution starts everyone will rally around the cause and the opposition will simply melt away. This is the same mental illness that infects Bozo Haram. I tried to explain to him the concept of fighting a holding action but since that is not part of Call Of Duty he couldn’t grasp it. I asked him if he was ever a campaign volunteer and of course he wasn’t because all politicians are sell outs!
Roger Moore
@Iowa Old Lady:
That may be depressing, but it’s what we’re up against. The people who want to make contraception illegal actually think that way.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@JustRuss:
so imagine a street fight between the two groups . . . who wins? How long does it take? How much damage is done fighting? I was not trying to be dismissive of OWS but highlighting that people had already taken to the streets and the results were not what this kid would have wanted.
You say you want a revolution
Well, you know we all want to change the world
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know we’d all love to see the plan
singfoom
@Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): The street occupations may have ended, but organizations like Occupy The SEC have continued the work quietly and have had an effect on policy.
So given that I don’t think Occupy didn’t have any effect.
Cheers
Baud
@singfoom:
Good for them, but not exactly the revolution that Schlemazel’s interlocutor was looking for.
PhoenixRising
@henqiguai: ha! I did. The look on her face was…memorable.
Origuy
From the Guardian:
Sounds a lot like climate change denial; the facts aren’t all in yet.
A Ghost To Most
It was pretty big year for predators
The marketplace was on a roll
And the land of opportunity
Spawned a whole new breed of men without souls
This year notoriety got all confused with fame
And the devil is downhearted babe, cause
There’s nothing left for him to claim
WereBear
And yet…
And yet…
And yet…
They all have microwave ovens and smart phones and use dental anesthesia and take antibiotics.
Making them awfully choosy about the progress they are willing to tolerate.
singfoom
@Baud: Well, that’s the problem, innit?
I was arguing this with other commenters on a thread yesterday. When I hear Bernie talk about revolution, I don’t think of manning the barricades, etc… I think of a coalition like the Obama coalition working to change things over time. A slow revolution. Maybe I’m just hearing what I want to hear, I’ll admit that’s possible.
The younger crowd hears that and thinks of the barricades and swoons because it’s romantic and stupid. I’d say we need both, people out in the streets (civil disobedience) AND policy wonks and organizers all working together to make it happen. And it’s not going to happen in 4 years or 8 years.
Baud
@singfoom:
Many campaigns benefit for a certain degree of vagueness. God knows too many people read into “Hope and Change” whatever struck their fancy, even in the face of more specific information.
A Ghost To Most
Warthog Lives On
For all you A-10 Warthog fans (as am I); the Warthog lives on.
WarMunchkin
@Baud: The notion that OWS has had no effect is, as I see it, yet another “conventional wisdom” talking point that has absolutely no basis in reality. Protest movements aren’t full of wonks and Congressional leaders – and they should not be forced to hold to a particular piece of legislation or white paper document. My history of turn-of-the-century America is murky, but how did Roosevelt manage to get the reforms that he did? Bryan, after all, never did get the U.S. off the gold standard, and at least as I remember learning it, the populist movement surged late in the 1890s. We might have just gotten lucky with Roosevelt.
The mere fact that “the 1%” is an enduring phrase in our modern political lexicon shows that OWS did well enough.
Baud
@WarMunchkin: Who said “no effect”?
sherparick
@scav: Don’t forget all the future customers for the private prison industry.
J R in WV (currenly AZ!)t
A respected B-J commenter posted a quote:
AND there’s the magic number again!! 27% spike in births but probably not a completely bad thing, I bet none of the parents OR the new babbies will vote for a Republican.
Villago Delenda Est
I think this one:
Is the key to the whole thing.
The teabaggers know something is wrong. But they can’t correctly identify what is wrong due to their racism.
C.V. Danes
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Roger that!
mark
Glad to hear you say that John Cole. I think we need something they (Establishment Media Inc. Co.) can’t ignore like marching on Washington for Democracy. Or call it “Over My Dead Body” and our title comes from the promise that we will not allow Anti-Choicers or the NRA (ban assault weapons now) or Theocrats or Oligarchs to take us back to the 1850s. Something bold and dramatic and patriotic in a anti-Tory way.
Zinsky
I try not to resort to hyperbole when it comes to politics, because American politics have been nasty since Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton. But I really believe the barbarians are at the gate. If the Democrats lose the White House in 2016 and the Repubs keep both houses of Congress, this country, and perhaps the whole world, are fucked with a capital “F”!