Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: War on agency] Welp! "Officials from the California Attorney General Kamala Harris' office reportedly executed a search of anti-choice activist David Daleiden's apartment late Tuesday. The search appears to be connected to an ongoing investigation by Harris' office into videos produced and released by Daleiden and associates that claim to show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal tissue for profit. Federal law prohibits the sale or purchase of fetal tissue, but it does permit reimbursement for costs associated with donating it for medical research. Daleiden first released the videos in question in July 2015 under the banner of the Center for Medical Progress, an organization Daleiden created with the help of Troy Newman, head of the radical anti-choice group Operation Rescue. Last year, Harris wrote that her office would review whether the Center for Medical Progress violated any California laws while obtaining the footage." Couldn't happen to a worse guy!
[CN: White supremacy; whitewashing] "Historians at the University of Mississippi are objecting to language inscribed on a recently installed campus plaque that accompanies a statue of a Confederate soldier. In a written statement, 33 faculty members in the department of history have called on the chancellor, Jeffrey S. Vitter, to revise the plaque to recognize slavery as a central cause of the Civil War, The Clarion-Ledger reports. Their proposed language also contextualizes the statue as one of thousands erected across the South to promote the 'Lost Cause' ideology during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This idea sought to glorify the Confederacy, and, for many, the statues stood as oppressive symbols of white supremacy. The current plaque, installed in mid-March, does not refer to slavery, nor to the broader context of how the statues are connected to segregation." Fucking hell. If you want to support the historians' efforts to push back on this garbage, they've launched a petition.
[CN: Rape culture] Oh my god: "A Virginia judge has ruled that 'Jackie,' the central figure in a retracted Rolling Stone article about her allegations of gang rape on the University of Virginia campus, must submit to a deposition in an ongoing defamation lawsuit against the publication. Tuesday's decision overruled objections from Jackie's lawyers that probing questions would be traumatizing for a survivor of sexual assault." This is so heinous.
Dolores Huerta is awesome: "Mexican-American civil rights activist Dolores Huerta said she holds no ill feelings toward actress Rosario Dawson over her 'open letter' criticizing Huerta for supporting Hillary Clinton for president. ...'I think that our campaign for Hillary Clinton in the Latino community is being effective and that's why (the Sanders campaign) is asking people like Rosario Dawson to come out and attack me,' Huerta said. 'I guess they think they can silence my voice by doing that.' ...Huerta said she understood why some activists might be disappointed in her for not supporting Sanders since they agree on many issues. But Huerta said she feels Clinton will get more things done as president. 'When the dust settles...we are going to be together,' Huerta said. 'And we need to be together to defeat Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.'"
Awesome: "Representative Alma Adams (D-N.C.) introduced legislation last week that, if passed, would offer historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) access to millions of dollars in competitive grants. 'HBCUs provide opportunities for many low-income, first generation, and often minority students to get a quality education,' Adams explained in a press release. 'However, they have been historically underfunded and lack many of the resources needed to address some of their most extreme challenges.' The HBCU Innovation Fund Act seeks to create a fund with $250 million in competitive grants that would assist HBCUs with planning and implementing programs 'that improve student achievement, increase recruitment, increase graduation rates, and increase enrollment and completion of science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees.'"
Uh, okay: "During a Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control hearing Tuesday about how the Department of Justice is monitoring the effects of marijuana legalization in states like Colorado and Washington, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) bemoaned that years of work 'trying to send that message with clarity that good people don't smoke marijuana' hasn't resonated." LOL! No good people have ever smoked weed! LOL!
Whooooooooooops! "It must have seemed a straightforward way to honor a U.S. Supreme Court justice who was famous for, among other things, prizing straightforwardness. But then people began to titter about the unintended acronym of the Antonin Scalia School of Law—and now George Mason University has tweaked the name. The new name for the institution in Arlington, Va., will be the Antonin Scalia Law School, says law school dean Henry N. Butler, citing 'some acronym controversy on social media' as the reason for the change."
[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Neat! "This may be one of the coolest photos NASA's Mars Opportunity rover has ever sent back to Earth. Perched on a high ridge, Opportunity snapped a stunning photo showing a dust devil whirling in the distance. The rover's tracks are visible from its climb up a steep ridge."
And finally! Baby rhino enjoying his bath! Oh em gee!
In the News
Planned Parenthood Cleared by Grand Jury; Center for Medical Progress Members Indicted Instead
[Content Note: War on agency. Video may autoplay at link.]
Careful what you wish for—especially when your accusations of lawbreaking are projection:
A grand jury convened to investigate whether a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic had sold the organs of aborted fetuses on Monday cleared the clinic and instead indicted the undercover videographers behind the allegations, surprising the officials who called for the probe and delighting supporters of the women's health organization.Whoooooooooops!
The Harris County grand jury indicted David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, both of California, on charges of tampering with a governmental record, a second-degree felony with a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison. It also charged Daleiden, the leader of the videographers, with the same misdemeanor he had alleged – the purchase or sale of human organs, presumably because he had offered to buy in an attempt to provoke Planned Parenthood employees into saying they would sell.
The record-tampering charges were brought because Daleiden and Merritt made counterfeit California driver's licenses with the intent to defraud Planned Parenthood.
As you probably recall, members of the absurdly named Center for Medical Progress posed as biotech reps, and then recorded various employees of Planned Parenthood without their knowledge discussing how fetuses are aborted in order to preserve their organs for medical research and the costs of getting that tissue to researchers, then heavily edited the videos and publicly released them, prompting more than a dozen states to launch investigations into Planned Parenthood, all of which found that Planned Parenthood was doing nothing illegal nor outside normal medical practices.
This particular investigation has lasted more than two months, and not only did the grand jury find that Planned Parenthood had not broken the law, but that CMP had.
"As I stated at the outset of this investigation, we must go where the evidence leads us," said [Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson], a Republican. "All the evidence uncovered in the course of this investigation was presented to the grand jury. I respect their decision on this difficult case."That doesn't mean that Texas' state investigation is complete, however.
Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said on Monday that the inspector general of the state's Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas attorney general's office have been investigating Planned Parenthood's actions.Of course it is.
"Nothing about today's announcement in Harris County impacts the state's ongoing investigation," Mr. Abbott said in a statement. "The State of Texas will continue to protect life, and I will continue to support legislation prohibiting the sale or transfer of fetal tissue."
The state attorney general, Ken Paxton, said in a statement: "The fact remains that the videos exposed the horrific nature of abortion and the shameful disregard for human life of the abortion industry. The state's investigation of Planned Parenthood is ongoing."
Well, if we're lucky, maybe that investigation will somehow culminate in indictments for Abbott and his cronies, too! Karma apparently gets her healthcare at Planned Parenthood.
Jeb Will Fix It!
[Content Note: Nazi reference; infanticide; anti-choicery.]
Recently, NYT Magazine asked their readers if they had the opportunity to travel back in time to kill Adolf Hitler as an infant, would they do it? The question sparked much debate blah blah fart, so the Huffington Post asked Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush if he would kill Baby Hitler.
When the Huffington Post asked the question, in an on-camera interview filmed on the Bush campaign bus in New Hampshire, the former Florida governor had a clear and quick response.He later tweeted: "Gotta do it."
"Hell yeah, I would!" he said. "You gotta step up, man."
..."It could have a dangerous effect on everything else. But I'd do it. I mean – Hitler," he said, shrugging.
Yep. Just a grown man enthusiastically talking about murdering a baby.
There are, of course, other ways to answer this question besides enthusiastically talking about murdering a baby. Just off the top of my head: "No, but I would kidnap him and adopt him and raise him with the principles of pluralism and empathy." Kidnapping a baby isn't ideal, to put it mildly, but most people generally consider it to be preferable to murder.
Obviously, Bush hates pluralism and empathy as much as he seems to enjoy the thought of killing a baby, but, you know, he could substitute his own anti-genocidal ideas. Assuming he has some.
It seems like a gimme for a "pro-life" candidate, to suggest adoption as an alternative to killing Baby Hitler. But what do I know. Maybe the question was just too easy.
Perhaps the HuffPo should have asked Jeb Bush if he would support Adolf Hitler's mother having had an abortion. That would have really stumped him. The way the thought of murdering an actual child would never stump a "pro-lifer."
War on Agency: Texas
[Content Note: War on agency.]
Rage. Seethe. Boil.
Texas sent agents to Planned Parenthood facilities on Thursday seeking documents, the group said, calling it a "politically motivated" move that comes on the heels of the state's Republican leaders barring it from receiving Medicaid money.Eleven states have launched investigations into Planned Parenthood; seven of them have completed their investigations, and all seven found zero evidence of wrongdoing. Is Texas going to find anything? No. This is not only a politically motivated investigation; it is an investigation with no other purpose but intimidation. Of Planned Parenthood and of its patients.
Members of the Texas Office of the Inspector General made unannounced visits at Planned Parenthood health centers in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, staying in some cases for several hours and giving Planned Parenthood 24 hours to deliver thousands of pages of documents stored at its facilities across the state, the organization said.
The Inspector General Office declined to comment, as did health officials. Inspector General agents were seen on local news reports entering a Planned Parenthood facility in San Antonio.
Texas, the most populous Republican-controlled U.S. state, said it would launch a probe of Planned Parenthood after the release of videos in July by anti-abortion activist group Center for Medical Progress in which a Planned Parenthood official is seen talking about transactions involving fetal tissue.
"We believe this is a fishing expedition," Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region Chief Executive Officer Ken Lambrecht told a news conference in Austin, calling the request "politically motivated."
Lambrecht said Texas had requested what Planned Parenthood sees as unnecessary information such as the home addresses of all its employees as well as their salaries and bonuses.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said this week: "The gruesome harvesting of baby body parts by Planned Parenthood will not be allowed." But the state has so far released no evidence of illegal activity by the group.
The anti-choice movement is a terrorist movement with an inherently violent ideology. And Republican state and federal officials are supporting and acting in concert with them, and using taxpayer money to do it.
Recommended Reading
[Content Note: War on agency.]
Tara Culp-Ressler at Think Progress: "The Most Creative Ways That Anti-Choice Activists Try to Shut Down Abortion Clinics." Depressing but crucial reading.
[Related: Quote of the Day.]
Former Fetus; Current Dip$hit
[Content Note: Anti-choice jackassery.]
Republican Texas state Representative Jonathan Stickland decided to make an Important Statement when he heard people from Planned Parenthood would be visiting the capitol:
I'm guessing that "organizations that murder children" aren't welcome in many elected officials' offices. (Unless they are corporations who merely kill children as collateral damage to turning a profit.) Of course, Planned Parenthood does not "murder children." Which is why the totes cool sign outside Stickland's office doesn't read "Former Child."
Insert here the usual commentary about how if anti-choicers want to convince me they really give a fuck about saving "children," their garbage platform wouldn't look like a how-to manual on harming the most vulnerable children in the country.
Thanks But No Thanks
[Content Note: War on agency, violence, and a description of a perineum tear. NB: Not only women need access to abortion.]
Republican Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker, who totally wants to be president so bad he's considering legally changing his middle name to IHeartIowa, has decided to go all in on the war on agency, in order to make sure conservative primary voters know he's serious terrible enough to be their dude:
Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday embraced a move to ban abortion after 20 weeks after repeatedly declining to spell out where he stood on the issue in last year's re-election campaign.Walker will always fight to protect the sanctity of life. By which he means, of course, only the potential life of fetuses. Which is valued more highly than the actual lives of the people who carry them.
Wisconsin Right to Life has touted as its top priority legislation that has yet to be introduced that would prevent women from seeking abortions in most cases after 20 weeks.
Walker said in last year's campaign he opposed abortion, but refused to say whether he supported banning the procedure after 20 weeks. At one stage, he ran an ad saying earlier restrictions he approved were aimed at patient safety and that he understood the decision to terminate a pregnancy was an "agonizing one."
"I'm pro-life, so that part shouldn't shock anybody," he told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editors and reporters in October. "It doesn't shock anybody, the legislation I've signed in the past."
In a Tuesday letter, he addressed specific legislation head on.
"As the Wisconsin legislature moves forward in the coming session, further protections for mother and child are likely to come to my desk in the form of a bill to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks," his letter said. "I will sign that bill when it gets to my desk and support similar legislation on the federal level. I was raised to believe in the sanctity of life and I will always fight to protect it."
Which is never challenged by the media. The crucial follow-up question—"How is it protecting women to deny them their agency?"—never gets asked.
The absurd claim that one is "fighting to protect the sanctity of life" is never held up for public scrutiny, never examined to reveal that the lives of pregnant people are not sacred, that their free will is not sacred, that their right to be free of violence done to their bodies is sacred.
As I've said before (and will almost certainly have occasion to say many times again), the anti-choice position is inherently violent, no matter how politely it is stated. If anyone else suggested that I should be forced to submit my body against my will to nine months of potential discomfort and pain, followed by an act that might include the skin and muscle between my vagina and anus being torn open, I don't think we'd mince words about whether they were using violent rhetoric. But because we can couch it in the bullshit terminology of "a pro-life position," that's supposed to be evidence of civility.
That's supposed to evidence of "protecting me" and an unyielding belief in the sanctity of human life.
Fuck. That.
I am a human. That does not in any way feel like a respect for the sanctity of my life, or the quality of my life, or the agency over my life to which I am meant to have a public (and, according to Walker's own religion, divine) right.
No one can argue, with any honesty or credibility, that they give a fuck about the sanctity of life if they would force a person to carry to term an unwanted or unviable pregnancy against her will. That is the opposite of a respect for life, if the definition of "life" is to have any meaning at all.
And I really wish the media would start pointing that out.
This isn't about the sanctity of life, and it sure as shit isn't about protecting "mother and child," to quote Walker. If Scott Walker really wanted to protect women (and other pregnant people), then he would be unapologetically pro-choice, make sure abortion was accessible and affordable, and trust women to make the best decisions for themselves, instead of limiting our choices and pretending that's helping us.
This isn't protection. It's oppression.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: War on agency] Maryland is the latest state to introduce a 20-week abortion ban: "HB 492, introduced last week, would make abortion illegal after 20 weeks due to the stated belief that a fetus can feel pain starting at that time. The 'Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,' which has been the ban of choice this legislative session, shares its name with similar bills introduced this year across the country, including in South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Oregon. A 'fetal pain' 20-week ban is also expected to be introduced in Ohio, where a prominent anti-choice organization has identified it as a priority this legislative session. Bills of the same name passed last week in the GOP-controlled South Carolina and West Virginia houses." No word on any Democrats introducing "Pain of Forced Pregnancy and Birth" bills.
[CN: War on agency] Relatedly: Tara Culp-Ressler on "Why States Keep Trying to Ban Abortion Procedures That Don't Exist."
[CN: War on agency; terrorism] And because anti-choicers just weren't odious enough: "A Republican South Dakota lawmaker on Monday compared Planned Parenthood to the Islamic State in a blog post about his bill banning a surgical abortion procedure. In a blog post titled "Planned Parenthood worse than ISIS and lying about it," state Rep. Isaac Latterell (R) wrote about the beheadings of prisoners by ISIL, likening the executions to abortion. 'Planned Parenthood abortionists in Sioux Falls are similarly beheading unborn children during dismemberment abortions,' Latterell wrote. 'Most people are unaware that this is happening, because Planned Parenthood of Sioux Falls denies that they behead or otherwise dismember unborn children.'" That's because they don't: Planned Parenthood "only performs first trimester abortions in South Dakota."
[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Wal-Mart says it's giving its employees a raise: "The move by one of the country's largest employers ensures hourly associates earn at least $1.75 above today's federal minimum wage, or $9 per hour, in April. By Feb. 1, 2016, current associates will earn at least $10 per hour. Some states already have a minimum wage at or above $9 per hour, including California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Rhode Island." A raise to still not a livable wage. Give them all the cookies. So they can munch on them while figuring out how to cut employees' hours to avoid giving them full-time benefits.
[CN: Disease] Oh shit: "The Food and Drug Administration warned hospitals and medical providers Thursday morning that a commonly used medical scope may have facilitated the deadly outbreak of a superbug at UCLA. The warning, posted by the federal agency through its safety communications systems, comes after a Los Angeles Times report that two people who died at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center were among seven patients there infected by a drug-resistant superbug. Hundreds of patients at medical centers around the country, including Seattle's Virginia Mason Medical Center, may have been exposed to the bacteria after physicians used the scopes in their treatment. The FDA cautioned that the design of the scopes may make them more difficult to effectively clean. And the agency called on medical providers to meticulously wash the devices. But even washing the scopes may not be adequate, the FDA warned. 'Meticulously cleaning duodenoscopes prior to high-level disinfection should reduce the risk of transmitting infection, but may not entirely eliminate it,' the warning noted." Swell.
[CN: Police brutality; racism] Though the Justice Department almost certainly won't bring federal charges against Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, they may sue the Ferguson Police Department over a demonstrated pattern of racial bias: "The Justice Department did find a pattern of racial discrimination in the department's tactics, and is prepared to sue if the force does not implement changes."
[CN: War; displacement; video may autoplay at link] This is so heartbreaking: "Hundreds of Ukrainian refugees who fled fighting in the east gather at the train station of the Russian southern city of Rostov-on-Don from where migration authorities send them to other regions."
[CN: Body policing; misogyny] Breaking News: Beyoncé is a human being. (Seriously, I don't know how famous women function with this kind of dehumanizing shit. Fucking hell.)
[CN: Animal cruelty] I can't say this often or more forcefully enough: End greyhound racing worldwide NOW.
Absolutely beautiful: "A spiral galaxy gets twisted out of shape after coming too close to a cosmic neighbor in a gorgeous photo captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope."
Wow! "An alien star passed through our Solar System just 70,000 years ago, astronomers have discovered. No other star is known to have approached this close to us. An international team of researchers says it came five times closer than our current nearest neighbour—Proxima Centauri. The object, a red dwarf known as Scholz's star, cruised through the outer reaches of the Solar System—a region known as the Oort Cloud."
And finally! A newly discovered Dr. Seuss book will be published later this year, and it's about getting a pet! "A never-before-seen Dr. Seuss story titled What Pet Should I Get? is being published on July 28th, more than 20 year's after the author's death. The manuscript and illustrations for the book were found in a box in Dr. Seuss's home (real named Theodor Geisel) in 2013 by his widow Audrey Geisel. ...'While undeniably special, it is not surprising to me that we found this,' said Audrey Geisel in a statement. 'Ted always worked on multiple projects and started new things all the time—he was constantly writing and drawing and coming up with ideas for new stories. It is especially heartwarming for me as this year also marks twenty-five years since the publication of the last book of Ted's career, Oh, the Places You'll Go!'" ♥
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Homophobia; anti-choicery.]
"The issue of gay rights, on abortion, on many of the issues in which [Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg]'s opinions and mine differ does not pertain to the substance. It doesn't pertain to whether gay people ought to have those rights or whether there ought to be a constitutional right or a right to an abortion. That isn't the issue. The issue is who decides. That's all. I don't have any public views on any of those things. The point is who decides? Should these decisions be made by the Supreme Court without any text in the Constitution or any history in the Constitution to support imposing on the whole country or is it a matter left to the people? But don't paint me as anti-gay or anti-abortion or anything else. All I'm doing on the Supreme Court is opining about who should decide."—Justice Antonin Scalia, during an event at George Washington University last night.
I wanted to provide the whole quote for context, but, obviously, this is real money quote: "Don't paint me as anti-gay or anti-abortion." OKAY PLAYER LOLOLOLOLOL FOREVER.
That whole "all I'm doing is opining on who should decide" shit is so disingenuous, especially coupled with that garbage about there being no explicit text in the Constitution. The Supreme Court makes decisions on issues on which there is no explicit guiding text all the time; that's basically their whole job and raison d'être.
Scalia's biases become evident when he will make this issue about privacy, but not that one, for example.
"I don't have any public views on any of those things." You know, I think you actually do. Because, for real, there aren't progressive people who insist on being strict constructionists at the expense of people's rights and lives.
[From the wayback machine: Scalia says criminalizing abortion and "homosexual sodomy" are "no-brainers."]
Today in Perfect Solutions
[Content Note: War on agency.]
Sounds reasonable:
The town council in Rossville, Ga. on Monday voted to ban abortion clinics because the mayor was worried about the "drama" one would bring to the city, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.Neat strategy.
"We want to be a peaceful city," Rossville Mayor Teddy Harris said during a council meeting. "We don't want to have any protesters."
There were not any clinics in the town before the ordinance passed and the measure still allows abortions if they are performed at a hospital.
"I just don't think (clinics) are appropriate for our city," Harris explained at the meeting.
Somehow I have the suspicion that the "ban the thing being protested to keep the peace" strategy would not be employed if a bunch of feminist women showed up to protest some local men-only organization.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: War on agency.]
"It is ironic that personhood Measure 1 will eliminate the possibility of having a family for many North Dakota and Minnesota residents."—Dr. Kristen Cain, on North Dakota's Measure 1, a proposed personhood amendment in the state which would effectively make in vitro fertilization illegal and force the closure of the only clinic offering IVF in the state.
Like "heartbeat bills," fetal personhood bills, which seek to ensure the potential life of every fetus while denying abortions that could save the actual life of a pregnant person, expose the truth of the anti-choice position: Fetuses are valued more highly than the people who carry them.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: War on agency.]
"I know two twins born at 20 weeks."—Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, on the senate floor earlier today. Graham is supporting legislation that seeks to ban nationwide abortions after 20 weeks, because of course he is.
As Laura Bassett, who along with Robin Marty gets the hat tip, notes, the earliest recorded survived birth is 21 weeks and 6 days.
So, he's a liar or a dingaling and quite possibly both.
Your Progressive Pope
[Content Note: Anti-choice rhetoric; Christian Supremacy.]
Hey, remember when Pope Francis said that the Roman Catholic church has become "obsessed" with abortion, same-sex marriage, and contraception, and that they shouldn't talk about it so much anymore, and everyone was all "WOO PROGRESSIVE POPE!" and I was all "UH, NOT REALLY!" and then everyone just kept ignoring when Pope Francis said stuff like abortion is "horrific," so they could maintain this fantasy about a Pope who loves to talk about poverty but refuses to support women's control over their own reproduction, which is one of the most crucial means by which women have of avoiding poverty? Remember all that?
Well, here's some more terrific stuff for everyone invested in the Progressive Pope meme to ignore!
Ahead of the weekend's [historic sainthood mass in Vatican City], Pope Francis showed glimpses of that complexity on Friday, when he made a seemingly rare statement to a group of African bishops in which he strongly condemned abortion.Let's just review that: "Abortion compounds the grief of many women who now carry with them deep physical and spiritual wounds after succumbing to the pressures of a secular culture which devalues God's gift of sexuality and the right to life of the unborn."
"Abortion compounds the grief of many women who now carry with them deep physical and spiritual wounds after succumbing to the pressures of a secular culture which devalues God's gift of sexuality and the right to life of the unborn."Pope Francis has made a habit of focusing on poverty and social inequality rather than abortion, which remains a divisive issue both within and beyond the Catholic church. Two weeks before, he had called abortion "an unspeakable crime" during a speech to an Italian anti-abortion group.
Said Shakesville contributor Aphra_Behn, who sent me this story, which I'm sharing with her permission: "I really enjoy the way he worked in slut-shaming, mental health myths, AND a fundamental disrespect for bodily autonomy into one pullquote. Pope Totally Awesome!!!!!!!"
And NOT ONLY THAT! But he managed to work in heterocentrism and ciscentrism, while disappearing atheists and victims of rape. There's an awful lot of wrong packed into that quote!
But he's totes progressive blah blah fart.
Anti-Choicers Are Exhausting Jerks
[Content Note: War on agency. NB: Not only women can get pregnant.]
Everything about the anti-choice movement is terrible, and there are things much more terrible than this, but one of the terribly exhausting things about anti-choicers is their intractable assertion that people who seek abortions haven't thought it through. Study after study has found this is categorically not true, but still we get legislation like fetal heartbeat bills (IF ONLY THESE WICKED WOMEN HEAR THE HEARTBEAT...!) and mandatory ultrasound bills (IF ONLY THESE WICKED WOMEN SEE THE BABY...!) and required waiting periods (IF ONLY THESE WICKED WOMEN ARE FORCED TO THINK ABOUT THEIR DECISION...!) and shit like this:
Louisiana lawmakers are currently advancing a measure that would require women to receive biased information about the mental health risks of abortion before being allowed to continue with the procedure. Opponents warn that the anti-choice measure is simply designed to dissuade women from exercising their right to choose — particularly since the information will be written by abortion opponents.Again, multiple studies have found that people who terminate pregnancies overwhelmingly do not regret their decision, and that negative emotions following an abortion are typically the result of social stigma around abortion.
Under House Bill 1262, which passed the Louisiana House of Representatives on Monday, abortion providers would be required to distribute a pamphlet that includes information about the "alleged psychological effects of abortion," and lists names of mental health resources for women who are seeking assistance. Patients would be required to sign a form confirming that they received the pamphlet, and then wait at least 24 hours before returning for abortion care.
According to the APA, the "most methodologically strong studies...showed that interpersonal concerns, including feelings of stigma, perceived need for secrecy, exposure to antiabortion picketing, and low perceived or anticipated social support for the abortion decision, negatively affected women's postabortion psychological experiences."That is, anti-choice bullshit is responsible for whatever negative "psychological effects of abortion" people experience. This legislation is a snake eating its own tail—warning about potential negative consequences that are caused precisely by warnings that seek to deter abortion-seekers and undermine their confidence in their choice.
It Continues to Be a Real Mystery Why Republicans Aren't Connecting with a Majority of Female Voters
[Content Note: War on agency; dehumanization.]
The Missouri state legislature is considering a bill that would force pregnant people to wait three days before being allowed to get an abortion. The sponsor of the proposed legislation, Republican state representative Chuck Gatschenberger, explained his rationale for introducing the bill thus:
Even when I buy a new vehicle — this is my experience — I don't go right in there and say, I want to buy that vehicle, and, you know, leave with it. I have to look at it, get information about it, maybe drive it, check prices. There's lots of things I do going into a decision — whether that's a car, whether that's a house, whether that's any major decision that I make in my life. Even carpeting. You know, I was just considering getting carpeting in my house. That process probably took a month… I wanted to be as informed as possible, and that's what this bill is, having them get as much information as possible.Leaving aside the fact that "Studies have found nearly 90 percent of women are 'highly confident' about their choice to end a pregnancy before ever approaching a doctor, and mandatory waiting periods don't do anything to sway them," making Gatschenberger's stated reason for introducing legislation to impede access to abortion is demonstrable bullshit, this is incredibly dehumanizing rhetoric. Pregnant people aren't making decorating or purchasing decisions.
Anti-choicers constantly accuse abortion-seeking people of treating their decision frivolously, but, like so many any things, it's just so much conservative projection. They simultaneously want abortion to mean everything when they're comparing it to murder, and to mean nothing when they're creating barriers to access.
And never, ever, do they acknowledge that people who get abortions have different reactions to them. Sometimes it's a big decision; sometimes it's not. Neither one is the wrong or right way to feel about it.
Even if this weren't unjustifiable, dehumanizing, reductionist claptrap, who gives a fuck if Rep. Gatschenberger needs lots of time to make major decisions in his life. Not everyone has the same needs.
I am intractably resistant to the idea that any legislation should ever be drawn on the assumption that everyone has the same needs as its architect, but never does that seem more objectionable when it's abortion legislation written by a person who will never need an abortion.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Dehumanization; war on agency. NB: Not only woman can be pregnant.]
"This is not about a woman's body. This is about the life of an unborn 20-week-old baby."—Republican Mississippi State Senator Angela Burks Hill, on the Mississippi State Legislature's passage of a 20-week abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest, about which Republican Governor Phil Bryant says he looks forward to "receiving it and quickly signing it into law."
This is not about a woman's body. Welp.
They're not even trying to be circumspect about it anymore. Shades of Republican Virginia State Senator Steve Martin's cool Facebook post about "the child's host (some refer to them as mothers)."
We are to be nothing but incubators. Property of the state.
[H/T to Shaker Jennie.]
Yeah, And?
[Content Note: War on agency.]
Democratic Congressman from Michigan Gary Peters, who is currently running for a US Senate seat, opposed Michigan's "rape insurance" bill which was passed last December and took effect earlier this month. In a statement last week, Peters said: "As the father of two daughters, I struggle with how to tell them that the state we love and where our family has been for generations is now unfairly discriminating against them and makes health care less affordable."
Cue the hyperbolic anti-choice reaction:
Right to Life of Michigan — the right-wing group that was instrumental in getting the new law approved last winter — has seized on that sentiment. In a new website highlighting Peters' abortion policy positions, the group cites Peters' recent comments to assert that the pro-choice lawmaker "wants to make sure abortion is accessible and cheap for his daughters."In response, Peters reiterated his support for access to reproductive healthcare and asserted, "To include my teenage daughters in their attack crosses the line."
I like his response because he doesn't actually reject their contention. And nor should he. Because there's nothing wrong with wanting to make sure abortion is accessible and affordable for one's daughters, should they ever need to terminate a pregnancy. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, that's being a pretty good dad.
What a Neat Event
[Content Note: War on agency; anti-choice rhetoric; hostility to consent; descriptions of a perineum tear.]
Yesterday, I mentioned some typically terrific comments Republican Mike Huckabee made at an anti-choice fundraiser sponsored by Susan B. Anthony List. Via the AP, some of the other Republican attendees also had great things to say:
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said those who support abortion rights favor a "culture of death" and engage in "savagery."Ha ha Huckabee, you are definitely getting all the other issues wrong.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who is a favorite of the tea party, reminded the crowd of activists that supporters of abortion rights chanted "Hail, Satan" to silence their enemies during a heated protest at the Texas Capitol. ...He was referencing protests in Austin, Texas, last year over an abortion bill. While anti-abortion activists were giving speeches and singing "Amazing Grace," others tried to drown them out with chants.
..."Whether it's politically expedient or not is of no consequence to me," Huckabee said. "If we get this issue wrong, we will get all the other issues wrong."
During a separate appearance, Sen. Deb Fischer, a first-term Republican from Nebraska, told the activists: "Abortion is not a women's issue. It is not a men's issue. It is not a health care issue. It is a violence issue."Well, Fischer is right about that, although not for the reasons she imagines.
As I've said before (and will almost certainly have occasion to say many times again, until everyone is yawning about what a goddamn broken record I am), if anyone not seeking cover under the auspices of a "difference of opinion on abortion" suggested that I should be forced to submit my body against my will to nine months of potential discomfort and pain, followed by an act that might include the skin and muscle between my vagina and anus being torn open, I don't think we'd mince words about whether they were using violent rhetoric.
And yet all these anti-choice dipshits talk about is the supposed "violence" done to a fetus during an abortion. There is no discussion of the actual violence of forced pregnancy and birth.
The anti-choice position is inherently violent. Their assertion that the pro-choice position is violence is nothing but sheer projection.
And it is precisely this sort of hyperbolic rhetoric—"culture of death," "savagery," "save babies"—that underwrites a decades-long campaign of intimidation, harassment, and violence directed at abortion providers and abortion seekers, which is the most brazen, unapologetic terrorist campaign in the US, its co-ordination and orchestration done right out in the open, where no one in the media or politics will call it what it is.
Elected Republicans are not ignorant of the existence of anti-choice terrorism. They are not ignorant of the how their inflammatory language encourages violent anti-choice activism. And they continue to engage in it, anyway, because they don't give a fuck about violence done to women (and others) seeking abortions, nor to the doctors who perform them.
In case it weren't already evident that fetuses are valued more highly than the people who carry them, here is further proof. Anti-choicers are more concerned with the rhetoric of "saving babies" than they are about actual people's safety, about actual people's lives.
Sounds Legit
[Content Note: War on agency; violence.]
Former Arkansas governor, failed presidential candidate, and all-around garbage-making machine Mike Huckabee attended a gala last night sponsored by the anti-choice group Susan B. Anthony List, and he made a compelling case for why abortion should be illegal:
[Huckabee] said women typically cite hardship or inconvenience as their reason for getting an abortion — the same reasons that he said could be used to justify ending the lives of the elderly.I guess I shouldn't find it too surprising that the man who evidently believes men and women are different species can't tell the difference between a fetus and a living, breathing, fully formed human person, either.
"If we teach the generation coming after us that it's okay to terminate a human life because it represents a financial hardship or social disruption, what are we telling them?" Huckabee asked.
"We've already given them the full capability to take us out," he said, prompting laughter from his audience as he continued, "Now, I'm not going to make it that easy for my children to get rid of me."
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Dehumanization; war on agency.]
"I don't expect to be in the room or will I do anything to prevent you from obtaining a contraceptive. However, once a child does exist in your womb, I'm not going to assume a right to kill it just because the child's host (some refer to them as mothers) doesn't want it."—Republican Virginia State Senator Steve Martin, "in a Facebook rant defending his anti-abortion views."
Via @sara4realz, who notes: "Someone finally said it out loud!"
