SoonerBlue

 

Conservatives, you need to tell us again about the importance of keeping government out of health care.

Peeking into private medical records? Publishing personal information? Talk about Big Brother and police state mentality....why aren't Libertarians screaming?

My lovely loony state of Oklahoma has passed an outrageous new law that will have the state collect the private details of women’s abortions and post it all on a public website...every single abortion performed in the state. It will go into effect Nov. 1st.

What the hay! Aren't ALL medical records to be kept private? Will they publish a list of who's on Birth Control too? Why aren't they demanding to know which MEN are taking Viagra...or having vasectomies?

Here are the first eight questions (out of 37) that women will have to answer:

1. Date of abortion

2. County in which abortion performed

3. Age of mother

4. Marital status of mother (married, divorced, separated, widowed, or never married)

5. Race of mother

6. Years of education of mother (specify highest year completed)

7. State or foreign country of residence of mother

8. Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother - Live Births, Miscarriages, Induced Abortions

It's none of their dang business! Abortion is a legal procedure. This is an intrusion on personal rights to medical confidentiality.

Collecting this info and posting it on line will cost $281,285 the first year, and $256,285 each year after. OK is not a rich state...there's plenty of places that this money could go to help people who need it. Like hiring teachers, paying for police equipment, or paying for flu shots for underprivileged kids...instead of furthering the cause of rightwing fundamentalist politicians. Who have tried everything they can think of to overturn Roe vs Wade...now they're trying another form of intimidation.

Thank goodness some women are fighting back:

New Abortion Law Challenged in Oklahoma

(CN) - Two Oklahoma women are challenging a new state law set to take effect next month that requires publication of an "Annual Abortion Report" and forces doctors to give details about their patients under threat of criminal sanctions and loss of their medical license, according to a suit in Oklahoma County Court.

The Oklahoma law, H.B. 1595, also changed definitions of abortion terms, used terms already thrown out by a court and barred certain procedures for the first time, according to the filing.............

[A] group called "Pro-Choice of Oklahoma" claims that the reporting requirements of HB 1595 are so extensive that the reports could reveal the names of physicians and patients who perform or receive abortions in small towns.

The plaintiffs say the bill violates the state constitution. They want it enjoined. [..]"

I swear, Oklahoma sounds more like ‘A Handmaid’s Tale’ every day.

 

 

Why does their Republican Rep.Todd Tiahrt stand on the house floor and say that if health care had been available for free to the mothers of President Obama and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, that they might have aborted them, and the world would have missed these great minds?

Thank goodness for YouTube and the Internet...years ago when a politician said something utterly stupid, it might have blown over pretty quickly. But these days Tiahrt's idiotic remarks are racing around cyberspace, showing up on blogs and videos across the country.

Read about it and see the video here.

I don't know about Thomas' mother, but Obama's mother was married to his father when he was born. She wasn't single. Why would she want to abort her child?

Maybe some backward bigot from Kansas would think she wouldn't want a mixed race child? Or that women carrying black babies always consider abortion...black babies being the most abortable, you see...

To follow Tiahrt's stupid logic -- women would just wake up one morning and say, 'I wasn't going to get an abortion...but, hey, if it's free....'

Because you know what low morals poor people have ...

Notice he didn't mention any prominent white men or their mothers...I guess white folks would be immune to abortion freebies.

BTW - I wouldn't use "Clarence Thomas" and "great mind" in the same sentence together.

 

 

Abortion has always existed, even in biblical times*...only back then it wasn't considered a sin so much as a man's property being destroyed. Should it ever be outlawed again in the US, I dread the consequences for women...the back alley, the wire hangers, the knitting needles, the senseless hemorrhaging deaths. Why don't zealous abortion opponents ever address this horrible history of desperate women dying?

Whether we approve of it or not, safe legal abortion is a necessity in our society.

When done early enough, to me, it's just a blob of jelly-like cells, no more a baby than a watermelon seed is a watermelon.

But a late term abortion is another matter, a heart-breaking procedure. Thank goodness only 1% of all abortions happen after the 20th week of pregnancy.

Anti-abortionists call this "chopping up babies."

But what kind of a society forces a woman to carry an anencephalic baby to term? That would be a tragic nightmare.

None of these babies aborted late term could have lived anything close to a normal life once born, and many, if not most would have died early in infancy...not to mention the immense pain most would have suffered during the short life they lived.

Anti-abortionists like to paint a picture of frivolous women who use abortion as a method of contraception...who wait until six, seven, or eight months into a pregnancy and then suddenly decide to have an abortion.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

These are women experiencing serious, life-threatening medical conditions in the event of a stillborn, severe fetal abnormality or gravely ill baby that wasn't diagnosed until late in the pregnancy.

It’s a flat-out lie to say, as Justice Scalia regularly does, that women get late-term abortions "on demand."

BTW - in Kansas, where assassinated Dr. Tiller worked, the standard is "serious and irreversible loss of a bodily function" to the mother, or a "non-viable fetus"...and that call is made by two physicians, the referring physician and then a second opinion.

Look, I’m far from gung-ho about abortion. I wish education and contraception could put an end to them...but the same people who oppose abortion rights also seem to oppose contraception and sex ed. They promote abstinence only...and it just doesn't work.

More than anything else, it's about the control of women’s sexuality...punishing them for their "sins."

Women should be free to make their own choices about their own lives, bodies, and family needs...and anyone who thinks abortion is an easy or casual decision has never known anyone who had one.

The families who are forced to make these heart-wrenching decisions and the brave medical professionals who help and support them must be supported and protected from the zealous pro-coat-hanger group.

Dr. George Tiller’s assassination was the consequence of 35 years of anti-abortion fanaticism...and the Republican Party’s exploitation of these extremists.

I'm making a sizable contribution to Planned Parenthood in memory of Dr. Tiller.

Salon.com has an interesting article:

"Susan Hill, President of the National Women's Health Foundation, who knew Dr. Tiller for over two decades and referred girls and women to his clinic, said in a phone interview, "We always sent the really tragic cases to Tiller." Those included women diagnosed with cancer who needed abortions to qualify for chemotherapy, women who learned late in their pregnancies that their wanted babies had fatal illnesses, and rape victims so young they didn't realize they were pregnant for months. "We sent him 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds who were way too far along for anybody [else] to see," said Hill. "Eleven-year-olds don't tell anybody. Sometimes they don't even know they've had a period." [..]"

* In Biblical times, a person seems to become a living being "at first breath." Unwanted children were mainly dealt with by means of infanticide. Newborns were exposed on a hillside...or placed in a basket on the river.

The Bible is chock full of infanticide and many other atrocities against children and pregnant women. Here are just a few:

Hosea 13:16...God promises to dash to pieces the infants of Samaria and the "their women with child shall be ripped up".

2 Kings 15:16...God allows the pregnant women of Tappuah (aka Tiphsah) to be "ripped open".

1 Samuel 15:3...God commands the death of helpless "suckling" infants.

Psalms 137:9...Here god commands that infants should be "dashed upon the rocks".

 

 

George Tiller, the Wichita, Kansas doctor who became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion, was assassinated, shot to death, yesterday as he attended church services.

Salon.com reports that Fox network's Bill O’Reilly’s show often demonized Dr. Tiller:

"Tiller’s name first appeared on "The Factor" on Feb. 25, 2005. Since then, O’Reilly and his guest hosts have brought up the doctor on 28 more episodes, including as recently as April 27 of this year. Almost invariably, Tiller is described as "Tiller the Baby Killer."

Tiller, O’Reilly likes to say, "destroys fetuses for just about any reason right up until the birth date for $5,000." He’s guilty of "Nazi stuff," said O’Reilly on June 8, 2005; a moral equivalent to NAMBLA and al-Qaida, he suggested on March 15, 2006. "This is the kind of stuff happened in Mao’s China, Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Soviet Union," said O’Reilly on Nov. 9, 2006.[..]"

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/05/31/tiller/index.html#

Is there any cause and effect between hateful rhetoric like this and Tiller’s murder? We don't know yet...but we do know that over the top, demonizing rhetoric has had tragic consequences before. There are many mentally unbalanced people out there who just need a little push...I wrote about it here:

http://soonerblue.bloghi.com/2009/04/20/neck-and-neck-in-the-crazy-derby.html

The thought of partial birth abortion sickens us all - thank goodness it is only a tiny percentage of all abortions - but there are reasons for needing the procedure.

Here is a story about a woman whose child died in her womb, and who couldn't find anyone to do a dilation and evacuation, the safest procedure for someone in her condition, because it was too controversial:

"I could feel my baby's dead body inside of mine. This baby had thrilled me with kicks and flutters, those first soft tickles of life bringing a smile to my face and my hand to my rounding belly. Now this baby floated, limp and heavy, from one side to the other, as I rolled in my bed.

And within a day, I started to bleed. My body, with or without a doctor's help, was starting to expel the fetus. Technically, I was threatening a spontaneous abortion, the least safe of the available options.

I did what any pregnant patient would do. I called my doctor. And she advised me to wait. (...)

On my fourth morning, with the bleeding and cramping increasing, I couldn't wait any more. I called my doctor and was told that since I wasn't hemorrhaging, I should not come in. Her partner, on call, pedantically explained that women can safely lose a lot of blood, even during a routine period.

I began calling labor and delivery units at the top five medical centers in my area. I told them I had been 19 weeks along. The baby is dead. I'm bleeding, I said. I'm scheduled for a D&E in a few days. If I come in right now, what could you do for me, I asked.

Don't come in, they told me again and again. "Go to your emergency room if you are hemorrhaging to avoid bleeding to death. No one here can do a D&E today, and unless you're really in active labor you're safer to wait.""

http://www.msmagazine.com/summer2004/womanandherdoctor.asp

For decades George Tiller was stalked and attacked by fundamental Christian terrorists because he helped women like this, women in tragic situations...who had nowhere to turn for help.

Now he has given his life for it.

 

Well, poor RNC Chair Michael Steele has stepped in it again.

 

I'm not even sure where to start with this fascinating GQ interview...where he seemed to suggest that women should have the right to decide whether to have an abortion....and that homosexuality is "a matter of nature, not a choice."

 

You should read the whole thing yourself, so you don't think I'm taking his words out of context. But I was absolutely amazed that the leader of the Republican party proclaimed himself to be Pro-Choice:

 

"[H]ow much of your pro-life stance, for you, is informed not just by your Catholic faith but by the fact that you were adopted?

 

Oh, a lot. Absolutely. I see the power of life in that—I mean, and the power of choice! The thing to keep in mind about it… Uh, you know, I think as a country we get off on these misguided conversations that throw around terms that really misrepresent truth.

 

Explain that.

 

The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life, or you can choose abortion. You know, my mother chose life. So, you know, I think the power of the argument of choice boils down to stating a case for one or the other.

 

Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion?

 

Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice.

 

You do?

 

Yeah. Absolutely." [..]

 

 

That sounded pretty clear, right? Of course, Steele gave this interview weeks before the dust-up with Rush Limbaugh...and this time he had the good sense to backtrack before that big hopped-up sweaty dude could even throw a tantrum. In a statement released on Thursday, Steele says:

 

"I am pro-life, always have been, always will be....

 

But the Republican Party is and will continue to be the party of life. I support our platform and its call for a Human Life Amendment. It is important that we stand up for the defenseless and that we continue to work to change the hearts and minds of our fellow countrymen so that we can welcome all children and protect them under the law."

 

 

The more patient Republicans are saying that Steele is just having growing pains...others, like Mike Huckabee, were chompin' at the bit, saying how dare he suggest that "taking a life" is totally left up to the individual!

 

I wonder what ol' Huck thought when Steele used profanity in the interview...or said he was redecorating his office because -- “This is going to sound weird, but it’s way too male for me.”

 

Or when he said that homosexuality was a matter of nature, not a choice -- “I think that there’s a whole lot that goes into the makeup of an individual that you just can’t simply say, oh, like, ‘Tomorrow morning I’m going to stop being gay,’ ” Mr. Steele said. “It’s like saying, ‘Tomorrow morning I’m going to stop being black.’ ”

 

Hey Mike...if the righties pound on you too hard, we could maybe find room for you under our wide and inclusive Democratic tent...at least you wouldn't have to keep apologizing and backtracking.

 

And this is why the GOP will eventually rip itself in two...and why all the centrists and moderates will keep switching to the Democrats.