“Republican state representatives in Ohio slipped an amendment into the state’s substitute budget bill on Tuesday that puts family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood at the bottom of funding priorities and blocks them from receiving funding for cancer screenings and HIV and domestic violence services.”
“Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin announced on Friday that it has stopped providing nonsurgical abortions, which make up about 25 percent of all abortions performed at its clinics, due to a new state law that criminalizes physicians who perform them.”
“Because chemical abortions comprise 26 percent of Wisconsin abortions,” Wisconsin Right to Life said in a statement on Friday, “their suspension will result in another decline in Wisconsin abortions which is great news for mothers and babies.”
Link with 1 note
“Georgia House passed a Senate-approved bill Thursday night that criminalizes abortion after 20 weeks.”
“For anti-choice lawmakers, it is an item of faith that fetuses feel pain at 20 weeks. But scientists disagree. Reviews of all existing medical evidence have found that fetuses have not developed the neurological structures to feel pain until at least 25 weeks, and likely not until 28 weeks, in the third trimester.”
” Although Roe v. Wade set the precedent for abortion to be legal up to 24 weeks, state legislatures continue to ram through restrictive anti-choice laws. Georgia will join six other states with fetal pain restrictions—Nebraska, Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma and Alabama. North Carolina prohibits abortion after 20 weeks.”
Link with 1 note
Mississippi governor states, “As governor, I will continue to work to make Mississippi abortion-free.”
“Now polling released today by USA Today/Gallup confirms recent Republican missteps threaten to damage them with voters of both genders. While women are more interested in the issue, both men and women disagree with Santorum’s and Romney’s position.” (Margie Omero)
Maybe I take contraceptive pills to reduce the risk of ovarian cysts. Maybe, because I suffer from PMS. Perhaps they reduce breakouts caused by my period. Or, I could be one of the lucky women who suffers from dysmenorrhea, and menstrual pain interferes with my daily life without them.
And maybe, I just don’t want to have a baby.
What’s wrong with that last one? Why do women suddenly need to justify their use of hormonal contraceptive pills by publicly proclaiming a myriad of medical problems that are both personal and vary from woman to woman. Yes, birth control pills have many useful purposes beyond preventing conception, and let us be glad for that.
But let us also remember that once upon a time, women had no control over their reproductive capacities. The number of their children was controlled by their age at marriage and the basic biology of their bodies. They were expected to bear as many children as they were physically capable of bearing.
That is no longer the case. There is no wrong reason to take birth control pills. Take them if you suffer from a condition mentioned above. Take them if you don’t want to get pregnant. Take them if both categories apply.
Women have medical concerns specific to their female bodies. There is nothing to defend.
Arizona, apparently upset at its lack of media coverage over its extremism, decided to commandeer the anti-birth control crazy train this week.
MSNBC states “A bill nearing passage in the Republican-led Legislature allows all employers, not just religious institutions, to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage when doing so would violate their religious or moral beliefs.”
The bill’s sponsor, Debbie Lesko, is pushing for the bill because ”We don’t live in the Soviet Union…so government shouldn’t be telling employers, Catholic organizations and mom and pop (businesses) to do something that’s against their moral beliefs.”
Even barring the fact that no one lives in the Soviet Union anymore, only a government of the aforementioned totalitarian vein would force a woman to explain her medical needs to her employer.
But, then again, since we all know how morally upright American employers are, and are aware their long-standing concern for the well-being of their employees, we shouldn’t have to worry.
More Info:
Also, no mention of whether men will have to explain their reasons for prescriptions of Viagra and related drugs.
