When liberals legislate abortion

When Democrats are in charge of statehouses they pass laws to protect women's health which both sides of the aisle support. As SteveM put it:

What do you get in a situation like this in a state where Democrats control the governor's mansion and both houses of the legislature? You get a reasonable set of regulations intended to address the real problems. What do you get in states with Republican governors and legislatures? You get legislation intended -- solely intended -- to make liberals furious and women seeking abortions miserable, while making right-wingers pump their fists and do a victory dance.

The difference couldn't be more stark. Liberal Democrats only legislate women's health services to improve safety. Liberal Democrats don't abridge women's freedom of choice.

Read More

Objections on monitor may be closer than they appear

I get really pissed off at the Big Daddy Theocrats for their vagina control obsession on the one hand.


[Nick Anderson cartoon]

On the other hand I want to believe their overreach is going to generate a backlash among women voters of every ideology come 2014 that will surprise all the pundits. So there's that...

Read More

Lying, cheating, SOBs GOP

Apparently having seen what happened when the Big Daddy theocrats tried to ram through a vagina control bill in Texas, our homegrown crackpot conservatives in Raleigh figured they would sneak through a similar anti-choice bill in North Carolina on the eve of a long holiday weekend.

The Senate met for much of the day, handling a variety of bills in other committees and on the floor. Just before 5:20 p.m., Senate Rules Committee Chairman Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, announced a recess and said the Judiciary 1 Committee would meet at 5:30 p.m.

Until then, the committee's calendar listed only House Bill 695, which prohibits the recognition of foreign law, such as Islamic Sharia law, in family courts. That measure was controversial when it cleared the House in May, with opponents fearing it could interfere with recognition of U.S. law in foreign courts.

However, when the committee convened at 5:30 p.m., it quickly took up an amendment to revise the bill to include the regulations on abortion.

Chairman of the Senate Judiciary 1 Committee, Buck Newton (R-BigFatLiar) claimed this was pushed through so suddenly because they reached a surprising consensus just at that hot minute. Which totally explains why:

Lobbyists with nonprofits that have religious or moral purposes, including the Family Policy Council, Christian Action League and North Carolina Values Coalition, were in the room for the committee debate and the subsequent Senate floor debate. Senators noted that those lobbyists were given notice of the bill and its contents ahead of time.

Yet shockingly no one thought to alert the opponents of the odious amendments which will effectively shut down all the low cost women's health clinics that provide many more services than just abortions.

Their devious ploy didn't work as intended. Thanks to the NC media, a sizable group of women's rights supporters were alerted in time to attend today's hearing on the bill. And in a stunning display of the Republican's version of democratic governance, they were told to STFU.

"The gallery is to remain silent. The senators on the floor are the only voices that matter."

-- North Carolina Senate Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R), quoted on Facebook, to women in the Senate gallery protesting surprise abortion legislation passed last night.

These guys need to be reminded who they work for and 2014 isn't that far off. One hopes the voters will reward them appropriately at the ballot box by voting these arrogant SOBs out.

Read More

Standing with Texas women

Bless the women of Texas who continue to pour into the Statehouse to keep the people's filibuster going and the men who stand with them. Maybe Gov Goodhair was hoping they would lose interest. It was a fool's hope. Tweet of the day suggests the motto of this movement is "Never Surrender."

@mcbyrne: List is 1900 hundred long to speak. #StandWithTXWomen

Kind of wish I could go down there and personally thank every one of them individually.

Read More

Deep in the heart of Texas

The Texas legislature opened its second special session this morning and as the song goes, women rights supporters have a message for the crackpots trying to ramrod their theocratic wet dream through -- you ain't seen nothing yet.

Last week we saw hundreds of protesters. Today, an estimated 5000 are demonstrating for women's rights in Austin.



They're jamming the grounds.



Of course the Big Daddy theocrats pretend it's about protecting children, but this is all about controlling women and punishing them for having sex. Which is not only none of their damn business but also codifying their personal morality increases government spending and raises deficits. They're talking federal programs here, but the effects are the same on the state level.

In general, attacking women’s health choices costs taxpayers. Family planning programs save the federal government $3.74 for every dollar spent by providing women with access to contraception and avoiding unplanned births. Providing women who seek an abortion with the services they need doesn’t just avert government spending on unwanted births. A recent study found that women who were unable to obtain an abortion were three times more likely to fall into poverty in the subsequent two years than those who succeeded. That likely means more women who need to access federal programs.

Yet these same Big Daddy theocrats who insist every pregnancy must be brought to term -- because, Jesus -- are the first in line with the machetes to slash assistance for children born into poverty as a result of these damn nanny state moralists and their anti-choice laws. Bless every single person standing out there in the Texas sun trying to stop them. They stood them down once. Here's hoping they can do it again. [Livestream of the speakers outside the statehouse here.]

Addendum: One more photo of the crowd that gives a better sense of just how many people are massed outside the Statehouse. This makes me so happy I could weep with joy.

Read More

Women beat down GOP on Texas abortion bill

It's a very good day to be a liberal. The days long people's filibuster at the Texas statehouse culminated in an epic 11 hour filibuster on the Senate floor delivered by Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis.

Senator Davis was shooting for 13 hours but fell short when the Republicans successfully challenged her on procedural grounds, at which point the people in the gallery took over again and created enough noise to delay the vote until just past the mandated close of the special session.

Apparently hoping to take advantage of the confusion, Republicans tried to pull a fast bit of trickery and failed.

Initially, Republicans insisted the vote started before the midnight deadline and passed the bill that Democrats spent the day trying to kill. But after official computer records and printouts of the voting record showed the vote took place Wednesday, and then were changed to read Tuesday, senators retreated into a private meeting to reach a conclusion.

They concluded there were too many witnesses to get away with lying and the bill was deemed officially deceased. Chalk up a win for the forces of good and check out the numbers to fully appreciate how big a victory this was for women's rights.

Of course, this isn't the end of it. Hearing rumors Gov. Goodhair will call a second special session and Republicans are already working on redistricting Wendy Davis out of office, a revenge made so much simpler yesterday by the SCOTUS VRA decision.

Nonetheless, to have won even this temporary victory in Texas is inspiring. Between this and the ongoing Moral Monday protests in North Carolina, I haven't had this much hope for our future in a very long time.

Read More

The good fight goes on in Texas

[Photo Credit: AP/Ricardo B. Brazziell via Think Progress]

As I said last night, the women's rights side has only a slim chance of victory in the fight against the Big Daddy Theocrats seeking to control their choice over their own bodies, but the protesters are still storming the Statehouse. The women are going to fight to the end despite the setbacks.

But around four in the morning, Republicans cut off the ongoing debate so they could finally force a vote, a decision that the Associated Press characterized as a “highly unusual and partisan move.” SB 5 won preliminary approval with a 97-33 vote. The bill still needs final approval from the House, and then it will head to a Senate vote before the special session comes to a close on midnight on Tuesday. There’s still a chance that it can be blocked if Senate Democrats successfully filibuster the vote on Tuesday.

Last I heard, the only reason there's even a chance the Dems could filibuster is because the protesters bought them another 12 hours of time by delaying the vote. So there's that.

Read More

The People's Filibuster

The Republicans may yet ram through their Big Daddy Theocrat bills through but not without a fight. The wimmen are storming the Statehouse in Texas to defend their right to make their own choices without interference from vagina obsessed conservatives. [PPofGreaterTX photo]

Read More

The rush to Plan B

I'm totally on board with the point that any "moral" argument about Plan B is bogus. Those preaching about teenagers being unable to understand how to take the drug safely are really just vagina police who are all about denying any form of birth control to teens and oftentimes even to adults. Likewise, I'm sympathetic to the argument that putting up barriers to access to any form of birth control are mainly about controlling women's choices. Nonetheless, I have this nagging concern about Plan B that I can't shake with dispassionate logic. My problem is I can't bring myself to completely trust the science.

I was about eight years old when I first saw photos of thalidomide babies in the sort of tabloids sold in checkout lines. That was supposed to be a safe drug. In fact it's still on the market for many conditions where it's useful. But it turned out to be unsafe for pregnant women and tens of thousands of deformed babies and their parents suffered greatly from that mistaken trust in the science.

Granted we're stricter now about testing pharmaceuticals before they get to market, but the system can certainly be gamed. And even if the studies aren't deliberately skewed for profit, often the adverse effects of drugs don't become apparent until they've become so widely available that enough people are harmed. There's at least ten current class actions suits against drugs that were approved by the science right now.

Not saying access to Plan B shouldn't be eased exactly. Just worrying out loud. The old saw, "be careful what you wish for" keeps playing in my mind like a persistent earworm.

Read More

Women caught in conservative TRAP in Virginia

Conservative Virginia lawmakers vote for stealth rules to shut down women's access to reproductive health services.

The vote stems from legislation that cleared the legislature two years ago and has been slowly making its way through implementation.

The General Assembly voted in 2011 to impose stricter building codes on clinics, calling for costly physical renovations, such as wider hallways and doorways, expanded parking and entrance awnings. Supporters said the ­changes ensure the safety of women undergoing abortions at the clinics. Opponents said the measure was a veiled attempt to shutter them.

Actually, you don't have to be an opponent to see the agenda here. Couldn't be more obvious. Besides it's no secret. The theocrats have publicized their plan to the boss of all our lady parts.

The regulations — part of a nationwide anti-choice campaign to adopt so-called Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP, laws...

Friday’s vote represents the latest skirmish in an ongoing conservative war on abortion clinics. In the past three months, states have proposed an astonishing 694 provisions restricting or rolling back women’s reproductive rights. Efforts to shutter local abortion clinics disproportionately impact low-income women and significantly increase the incidence unintended pregnancies.

The theocrats assure us they only have the best of intentions:

“We need to be assured that a Kermit Gosnell-type practitioner is not operating in Virginia,” said Janet Robey, state director of Concerned Women for America.

Which of course has it ass-backwards. It's exactly this kind of restriction on responsible health care providers that leads to "Gosnell-type practitioners" who are more than willing to prey on low income and otherwise desperate women.

Read More

Social cons and the new back alley abortions

If the story wasn't so impossibly horrible, it would be amusing to see the half the internet claim Kermit Gosnell's illegal abortion mill is being ignored in the media. Even more bizarre is the accusations are coming from social cons who see some dark cover-up by the "right to choose" lefties. What makes this especially stupid is the trial is being widely covered locally. Moreover, the anti-choice cons didn't say a word when right to choose feminists were reporting on this story in 2011 when it first broke.

Not seeing why the anti-choicers think is a winner for them. Sure the gory details about brutal late term abortions, like near term babies being killed with scissors are appalling, as are the accounts of women left to die in filthy operating rooms. But it's an indictment on social cons insistence that responsible women's health care providers like Planned Parenthood be defunded and abortion be banned again. Gosnell's illegal abortion mill is where poor and desperate women seek treatment for unintended pregnancies they can't afford when there are no other options. Just as they did before Roe v. Wade. Maybe Gosnell didn't actually use coathangers, but this is future if the social cons dearest wish to repeal Roe is granted.

Read More