Quote of the Day

"The greatest victories in the battle for life are not going to be won in the halls of government. It's going to be won in the hearts of men."—Rick Perry, who is definitely still running for president, at Mike Huckabee's Anti-Choice Hoedown last night.

File Under: Sometimes the use of "men" as a synonym for "humankind" is even more obnoxious than usual.

Reproductive Rights Updates: Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Alabama, South Dakota

Ohio! There are two issues in Ohio. First, the a senate committee will have the first public hearings (1pm EST) on HB 125, aka the "heartbeat bill".

The Senate Health, Human Services and Aging Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Scott Oelslager, R- North Canton, will hear from the bill’s sponsor, proponents and interested parties today. Typically, opponents also are given a chance to weigh in on legislation, but no other hearing has been scheduled at this point.

Oelslager also chaired a special committee appointed by Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, that has been privately reviewing the legislation, which passed the House in June.

That doesn't sound suspicious at all. Sounds like totally balanced government, right there. Sure.

Now, I came across this by accident in looking up info on the senate hearing mentioned above: SB 201. SB 201 was introduced to a senate finance committee yesterday. So while it's new, it's not that new because it's the companion legislation to HB 298, which I wrote about back in July. The bills are an attempt at a Medicaid work-around to de-fund Planned Parenthood.

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In Michigan, a senate committee sent two bills to to the senate that prohibit insurance coverage of abortion services:

Health Policy Committee members on Wednesday sent to the full Senate two bills that would require health insurance policies sold on the MiHealth Marketplace website or in insurance markets to not cover abortions unless women buy an additional rider on their policies.

The leader of MI "Right to Life" supports this, of course, because he says: "abortion is a social decision, not health care." Of course you say things like that! Of course you do.

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In Wisconsin, there will be a hearing next week on SB 306 (AB 371), which is a bill that says women cannot get an abortion via medication unless seeing a doctor in person.

Madison - A hearing is slated for Dec. 13 on a bill that would prevent women from receiving drugs that induce abortions unless a doctor gives them a physical exam and is in the same room when they receive the drugs.

[...]

The legislation would also require doctors to speak with women seeking abortions out of the presence of others to determine whether they were coerced into getting abortions.

Supporters of this are very determined that women should not get a consult via webcam. Supporters of this are very determined to make as many hurdles possible.

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In Alabama, Sen. Phil Williams (R-Madison) has "pre-filed" a "personhood" bill for the Feb. 2012 session.

Senate Bill 5 looks to legally define humans as persons from the moment of fertilization and implantation. It is similar to Mississippi’s personhood bill, which was defeated 58 percent to 42 percent on Nov. 8.

Williams’ attempt to pass comparable legislation earlier in the year was killed by a voice vote on the Senate floor.

In an interview with Mobile news station WKRG on Nov. 9, Williams said he believes personhood legislation is important to Alabamians.

“Number one, I think that this is a matter of state’s rights, that we can do this,” Williams said. “I think that this is something that Alabamians would want.”

Intro'ing a bullshit bill that's similar to another that was shot down earlier this year totally doesn't sound like a colossal waste of time at all!

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In South Dakota, a federal appeals court has agreed to rehear arguments about doctors being forced to tell patients that they'll have a higher risk of wanting to commit suicide if they have an abortion.

he South Dakota Attorney General's office says a federal appeals court has agreed to rehear a case dealing with a 2005 South Dakota abortion law.

[...]

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley says the full 11-member court will rehear arguments related to the suicide advisory in January.

The suicide bit? A lie (.pdf).

Seen

On the bumper of a van in front of us on the road, on the way to dinner with friends Friday night: "If you can read this, you weren't ABORTED. Call your MOM and thank her."

Capitalization original.

I tried to get a picture of it at a stoplight, but our headlights' reflection off its gloss rendered it unreadable. Sad trombone.

Given the fact that Indiana has the most abortion restrictions of any state in the union, it might make more sense to call Mitch Daniels and thank him.

If you're the sort of person inclined to thank people for your lack of abortedness, that is.

The Walking Thread

"One thing you need to know about me, Shane, is that I cannot keep secrets."
Is anyone else beginning to suspect that the writers of The Walking Dead are engaging in an experiment to see if it's possible to write a zombie show that makes its viewers feel as if their braaaaaaaaaaaains are slowly being devoured by zombies? Or is that just me?

Anyway!

Despite the fact that this week's episode inconceivably advanced the plot (such as it is) even less than this season's customary two-inch pace, there is a lot to talk about!

And I will talk about it ALL below the fold (on most browsers), so be warned that spoilers lurch undeadly hereunder...

First, let us start with the elephant in the oven: Lori is pregnant and she doesn't know what to do! She sends Glenn for some "morning after pills" to terminate the pregnancy. Whoooooooops that is not how Plan B works. (Little pills labeled "Morning After Pill" is also not what Plan B looks like.) Plan B prevents fertilization within 72 of unprotected PIV sex. What Lori would need is RU-486, which wouldn't be sitting around a pharmacy.

Of course, getting the medical basics of reproductive choice totally fucking wrong is hardly the biggest problem with this episode EVEN THOUGH THAT IS A VERY BIG PROBLEM. Even Glenn pointedly lecturing Lori on not making "this choice" on her own and Maggie sneeringly referring to Plan B as "abortion pills" are not the biggest problems with this episode EVEN THOUGH THOSE ARE VERY BIG PROBLEMS.

The biggest problem with this episode is that every single character treats abortion as axiomatically A Terrible, Regrettable, Horrible Choice, and insists to Lori that they know she REALLY wants this baby and should totes have it, irrespective of the zombiepocalypse engulfing the planet.

There is literally not one character who voices the eminently reasonable opinion, "Well, yes, abortion is an option worth considering, given that it will be difficult to flee from murderous zombies while you are nine months pregnant and/or carrying an infant, and given that pregnancy and childbirth can carry with them significant medical risks, even in the best of circumstances, like available hospitals staffed with trained medical personnel and a reliable source of food and clean water and a lack of murderous zombies—which is to say nothing of the fact that Alan Alda will make you SMOTHER YOUR CHICKENBABY when its wailing alerts every murderous zombie within a 10-mile radius to our whereabouts."

Every piece of readily available literature on abortion-seeking women has found that self-preservation (i.e. one's own health and ability to survive), ability to care for existing children, and ability to care for potential child are of prime concern to women contemplating termination. But none of that even makes the discussion on The Walking Dead. Nope—Lori waxes philosophical to Dale about wells of joyful memories, and never voices a modicum of concern for her capacity to provide sustenance (beyond a reservoir of happiness) to her potential child. Nor does she express any worry about her own health and safety.

And neither does anyone else: Everyone seems to feel just fine about risking Lori's life on behalf of a baby.

All of which ultimately combined into a swirling morass of gross anti-choice bullshit.

It's the anti-choice bullshit that's getting a lot of attention (and deservedly so), but I also want to note another bit of stupendous fail: During Dale's conversation with Hershel about the zombies in the barn (lulz), Hershel argues that the zombies are just sick people, and, in defense of his keeping them alive, asserts that "paranoid schizophrenics are dangerous, but we don't murder them."

Yiiiiiiiiiiiikes.

People with paranoid schizophrenia are not, as a rule, dangerous. And the majority of people with paranoid schizophrenia who are dangerous are dangerous to themselves, not to other people. People with advanced paranoid schizophrenia are, like anyone else with severe mental illness, more likely to be victimized by violence than perpetrate it.

The use of this pernicious trope might have been understandable (which is not to be confused with acceptable) if it were evident that Hershel was making the comparison only because he's an ignorant dipshit with stupid ideas about everything. But that was not how Hershel was cast in the scene: He was presenting what we were meant to view as a compassionate argument from an ill-informed but well-meaning doctor whose medical expertise magically cured a boy of a life-threatening gunshot wound in two days.

There was a lot of serious narrative fail in this episode. And, even apart from the above-mentioned problems, I thought the episode stunk. I'm really feeling the void of Frank Darabont and his masterful storytelling skills at this point. It really isn't the same show without him. Too bad.

Pushing "Personhood"

The defeat in Mississippi hasn't deterred the PersonhoodUSA people. As I mentioned before, they have plans for every state and they're working to get on ballots across the country:

Personhood USA, the Colorado-based anti-abortion group that led the Mississippi initiative, is working to get the measure on 2012 ballots in California, Florida, Montana, Nevada, Ohio and Oregon, among other states. Similar voter initiatives in Colorado failed in 2008 and 2010.

However, the "personhood" issue isn't just coming that way. It's also being considered by legislators.

Alabama State Sen. Phil Williams, a Republican, is pushing legislation for a similar constitutional amendment. In June, Williams pre-filed a personhood bill to be considered during the 2012 session, according to the Senate's website. The bill seeks to define persons "to include all humans from moment of fertilization and implantation into the womb." Earlier versions of the Alabama bill failed to advance.

And:

ATLANTA — Two Georgia lawmakers are considering Legislation similar to the "personhood" referendum rejected by voters in Mississippi last week.

Sen. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, and Rep. Rick Crawford, D-Cedartown, have both supported similar Legislation previously declaring that life begins at fertilization and seeks to ban abortion. Loudermilk says he is looking at re-introducing the bill with modified language omitting references to fertilization and cloning — words that proved problematic in the failed Mississippi ballot issue.

There was "personhood" legislation intro'd into the US House in January, HR 374 "Life At Conception Act", but it is stalled in committee.

Now, the Personhood USA people are holding a press conference today to announce their new strategy of bothering people who are grocery shopping in Colorado (and, if it works, everywhere else):

The group will hold a news conference today on the west steps of the state Capitol to unveil the renewed effort. [...]

Organizers said Saturday they are banking on broad grassroots support, with volunteers circulating petitions at grocery stores, and a new game plan.

They've also re-written their legislation:

The new version of the measure "will protect every child, no matter their size, level of development, gender, age or race," said Jennifer Mason, spokeswoman for Personhood USA.

New language "will explain again that every human being is a person from their earliest moments," Mason said. "And it will include some extra information that hopefully will prohibit lies of our opponents. . . . It will be a departure from what we've done before."

Extra information, eh? I guess we shall see later today what the latest effort in extreme bullshittery looks like.

This new angle of attack against women being recognized as rights-bearing persons is not letting up. They may not win on the ballots but that's not the whole point for them, either. It's about conversation (as one of the GA legislators said). It's about trying to change the conversation and having it insidiously seep into collective thinking that "fertilized eggs are people" (and that "women are actual people with rights" are lies) so that eventually, maybe, they will get to win via ballots or legislation.

Perry and "Personhood"

So this happened yesterday:

Question off camera: Um, I'd like to clarify whether you agree or disagree with Mitt Romney regarding the personhood amendment?

Perry: Let, let me tell you what I believe in. I'm pro-life. Been pro-life all my life. Uh. (pause) As the governor of Texas I don't know if there's, uh, anyone who has been engaged more issues that have been, uh, protective of life. Uhm. And parental consent, parental notification, this last session of legislature we passed a law that, uh, says if a female is to receive an abortion she, ah, has to have a sonogram before that procedure can occur. Uhm, I happen to...to believe in putting justices on the Supreme Court that are pro-life. And....Roe versus Wade would, ah, be found to be unconstitutional, it would go back to the states. Until! There would be a constitutional amendment to the United States that would clearly defend life and that life would be from the time of conception until death. I would support that. Uh, and....(pause)...that a pro-life amendment in a constitutional way is the way that this issue is finally addressed. So, uh, I have always been very consistent, uh, on the issue of life and will continue to be in the, ah, men and women who I would ask to serve on the United States Supreme Court would be strict constructionists and they would find nothing in the United States constitution dealing with the issues of, ah, abortion. That would go back to the states and the state could decide those issues up until the time there would be a United States constitution to protect life, which I would be supportive of.

Barf.

Reproductive Rights Updates

Back in July I had posted about how the NC legislature overrode Gov. Perdue's veto of various abortion-related restrictions, one of which being a mandatory ultrasound law. A day before it was to become law, Judge Catherine C. Eagles put a temporary ban on the law:

In her opinion, Catherine C. Eagles, a judge with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, said the plaintiffs proved that their claims probably would be successful.

"Having demonstrated that the [law] likely poses a direct threat to their fundamental constitutional rights, the plaintiffs also have established that they would be irreparably harmed. Furthermore, it is in the public interest for statutes that likely violate fundamental constitutional rights to be enjoined from being enforced," she said.

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I don't even know what to say about this: Radical Anti-Choice Group Puts Out "All Points Bulletin" to "Track" Pregnant Woman. From Andy's post:

This is an All Points Bulletin – an APB! – issued by radical Wisconsin anti-choice group Vigil for Life to track down a pregnant woman seeking services at Planned Parenthood. Yes, you read that correctly.

The young woman came to Madison but by the time she arrived Planned Parenthood was closed. Unfortunately, Vigil for Life is setting up a crisis pregnancy center right across the street from the Planned Parenthood Clinic and was there to feed this young woman anti-choice propaganda. However, the young woman slipped away before the Vigil For Life volunteers got her name.

You should read the whole thing, though it is incredibly disturbing.

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In Missouri, a Planned Parenthood clinic is closing and merging with another:

COLUMBIA — The Jefferson City office of Planned Parenthood will close Nov. 30.

The services provided by the center, which was open on Tuesday and Thursday, will now be provided by the Columbia office on Providence Road, said Michelle Trupiano, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and mid-Missouri.

[...]

Jefferson City residents who cannot travel to Columbia for care can go to the Cole County Health Department to find another provider, Trupiano said.

"We don't believe there will be any women who will not be able to access services," she said.

Services offered at Planned Parenthood include cancer screenings, birth control, prevention and treatment of STDs, pap tests, sexual health education and counseling.

The consolidation will allow the Columbia center to extend its hours and schedule more appointments, Trupiano said.

"(Patients) will possibly be able to get in sooner," she said. "It will benefit them for the fact that when they call, they can get an appointment the same day."

Abortion services are still not able to be provided at the Columbia clinic because the doctor who provided them was recently called up to active duty and they have not yet found someone else.

Mississippi Personhood Amendment Is Defeated

What truly excellent news:

A constitutional amendment that would have defined a fertilized egg as a person failed on the ballot in Mississippi on Tuesday, dealing the so-called "personhood" movement another blow.

Mississippi would have become the first state to define a fertilized egg as a person, a measure which was aimed at outlawing abortion in the state but, opponents contended, would have led to all kinds of unintended consequences.

In the end, those concerns won out in a strongly anti-abortion state. The amendment trailed 59 percent to 41 percent with more than half of precincts reporting.

Phew.

In less good news, Mississippi's Initiative 27, which will require photo IDs to vote and will thus disenfranchise voters, passed. For the potential effects of photo ID laws, see here.

Indiana also led the way in photo ID voting laws (of course we did), and, unfortunately, the Supreme Court has already upheld the constitutionality of such laws after it was challenged in Indiana.

Mississippi

As you may know, today is election day in the United States. There are some ballot issues that have gained national attention, like Ohio's anti-union measure, Issue 2 (Vote no, Ohioans! Vote no!). And there's Mississippi's "personhood" issue, Prop. 26. Both Liss and I have written on the personhood nonsense previously (here and here and here and here, for example). Generally, a group called Personhood USA is out to amend constitutions everywhere to give full-person rights to fertilized eggs. In Mississippi, they have gained enough momentum to get Prop 26 on the ballot to do just that.

Mississippi voters are, apparently according to polling, nearly evenly split on the issue.

According to Public Policy Polling, Initiative 26, the so-called "Personhood" amendment in Mississippi, is currently tied, with 45 percent of voters supporting the measure and 44 percent of voters opposed to it.

That leaves over 10 percent of Mississippi residents unsure of how they will vote, and they could swing the election in either direction.

In the end, it could just come down to who shows up at the polls.

If you're in Mississippi, please go vote!

In my Twitter feed this morning I noticed that NPR reported that Mississippi is the state with the most people who rely on SNAP (nutrition assistance).

The state of Mississippi has the highest percentage of its population — 24 percent — on food stamps of any state in the country.

Now, people who have abortions do so for different reasons, given everyone has individual circumstances that lead to their decision. However, generally speaking, there is a significant commonality (emphasis mine):

• About 61% of abortions are obtained by women who have one or more children.

• Forty-two percent of women obtaining abortions have incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level ($10,830 for a single woman with no children).

• Twenty-seven percent of women obtaining abortions have incomes between 100–199% of the federal poverty level.*

• The reasons women give for having an abortion underscore their understanding of the responsibilities of parenthood and family life. Three-fourths of women cite concern for or responsibility to other individuals; three-fourths say they cannot afford a child; three-fourths say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for dependents; and half say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner.

Sometimes people just cannot afford a(nother) child. Period. How the pregnancy occurred is irrelevant (for those who may be inclined to argue only some circumstances are worthy). And, as NPR points out, Mississippi in particular has a lot of people who already need assistance--how is the state going to help these people who they will force to give birth to more children if Prop 26 passes? I'm sure the voters who approve of Prop 26 will totally be on board with paying a tax increase to be able to support a needed increase in the social safety net. Totally. Or not.

The problem with most of these people who support bullshit initiatives like Prop 26 is that they don't fucking THINK. They parade around with blinders on and fingers in their ears yelling about "BAAAAABIES!" and yet don't actually follow any logical process to look at everything else about life beyond a fetus going from conception to birth--like eating (or any of the other questions I raised in my post here or that there will be consequences like this). The rest of the people who support things like Prop 26 have thought it out and generally don't care: "Hey, eat some bootstraps kid--guess your mom should have kept her legs shut!". Bootstrap chastity belts for everyone!

It's not going to stop. Personhood USA's goal is to amend all state constitutions. MoJo has a map of where they're going and how 2012 is shaping up. I am not going to link to Personhood USA but they also have state-by-state listings on their site, if you're so inclined to wade into that cesspool.

As I said before: to Personhood USA and those who support it, I look forward to seeing you be the first one in line (if your measures pass) at the government's new Mandatory Organ Donation & Harvesting Office. After all, everyone should be forced by the government to donate their organs to "give life" to a person who needs said organ(s) to live, right?

If Only Women Could Think for Themselves...!

Then we wouldn't need laws like this:

One of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws went into effect Wednesday in North Carolina after a federal judge temporarily halted the law's most controversial requirement — that a woman getting an abortion must first view a narrated ultrasound image of the fetus.

U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Eagles ordered a preliminary injunction late Tuesday, ruling that the ultrasound requirement likely violates patients' First Amendment rights.

She upheld other sections of the law, including a 24-hour waiting period to provide information on abortion risks and alternatives.

Because adult women are actually ninny-brained infants who need forcible help making decisions about their own bodies, and not autonomous rational actors who have already made a considered choice for themselves to terminate before they make an appointment for the actual medical procedure.

Well, at least the mandated ultrasound portion has been blocked, and the ACLU is on the case.

The American Civil Liberties Union and four pro-choice groups contended in a lawsuit filed last month that requiring women to view ultrasound images and providing an opportunity to hear the fetal heartbeat promotes government-mandated ideology. Proponents of the law, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature in July over the veto of Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue, say the requirement would promote childbirth and protect women from emotional trauma.

...Eagles said the provision is "likely to harm the psychological health of the very group the state purports to protect."

Indeed.

Again I will note—as I do each time one of these mandated ultrasound bills is being debated with the inevitable justification that its supporters are just trying to Very Helpfully "provide women with more information"—that if an altruistic helpfulness were the authentic motivation, then women would be offered a choice as to whether they want to get the ultrasound.

But, of course, these paternalistic scolds are not offering anything kind or decent; they are merely demanding the legal right to try to shame women into not getting abortions, because they believe, wrongly, that women seeking abortions are in denial about being pregnant, or detached from their natural desire to mother, or some other nonsense, and if only they see a picture of the BABY! they will change their fickle and delicate minds.

Being forced to view an ultrasound does not, however, change the reality for a pregnant woman—and there are few minds less persuadable than the mind of a woman who does not want to be pregnant. Which is why even straight-up criminalizing abortion doesn't stop women from getting them.

Forcing a pregnant person to look at an ultrasound will not change the circumstances that made her seek an abortion: If you don't want a child, if you can't afford a child, if you had a contraceptive failure, if you were raped, if you just lost your job, if you found out the fetus will die as soon as it's born, if you're pregnant by someone who became abusive, if you've been diagnosed with a life threatening illness, or a non-life threatening but life-changing illness or disability, if your existing child has become ill, if your spouse has become ill, if your parent has become ill, if your psychiatric medication is incompatible with pregnancy, if you lost your health insurance, if…if…if a million other variables, if any of a million reasons why women seek abortions, looking at an ultrasound will not matter.

The Ultrasound Gang just can't conceive that there are women who make the measured, rational, self-interested decision to terminate a pregnancy. "But there's a BABY in there!" they insist, and they don't understand that there are millions of women who will reply, with or without regret, "Yes, I know. That's the problem."