How would God have voted?
Illegally, since she is not a citizen.
Illegally, since she is not a citizen.
168
“How would God vote tonight if he were here?” demanded State Senator Dan Patrick. Patrick is now the lieutenant governor.
At least he realized God wasn't in the room.
At least he realized God wasn't in the room.
168
I wonder how the other NYTimes news today -- The Uncanny Valley of the Robot Sex Dolls -- will impact US abortion issues.
9
For all of the Christian commenters who see a religious reason in their position on abortion:
All you need do to understand that your religion does NOT support the "sanctity of life" you see in the anti-abortion movement is to read your bible. Start with Numbers 31. The chapter starts with "the Lord said to Moses, “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites." From there 'God' tells Moses to kill all of the men, boys and non-virginal women. Moses then tells his men they can keep the girls for themselves. Does that sound "pro life?”
To end that chapter, 'God' reminds Moses that half of the remaining spoils of girls, virginal women, livestock, etc. are to be paid to 'Him' by way of the church.
A zygote or early fetus feels no pain because it lacks a nervous system to do so. On the other hand, 50,000 fully feeling Americans who lack health insurance die each year. And yet the political party whom most anti-abortionists vote for fights furiously against extending health insurance to those without money. My birth state of South Carolina, a fanatically religious and anti-abortion group, leads the nation in deaths of women at the hands of men, and health insurance is hard to come by without middle class or above earnings.
Such extreme hypocrisy results in the fact that abortion is a tool used to make Christian constituents "putty in the hands" of conservative politicians as noted by one Republican on a hot mike a couple of decades ago when I lived in D.C.
All you need do to understand that your religion does NOT support the "sanctity of life" you see in the anti-abortion movement is to read your bible. Start with Numbers 31. The chapter starts with "the Lord said to Moses, “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites." From there 'God' tells Moses to kill all of the men, boys and non-virginal women. Moses then tells his men they can keep the girls for themselves. Does that sound "pro life?”
To end that chapter, 'God' reminds Moses that half of the remaining spoils of girls, virginal women, livestock, etc. are to be paid to 'Him' by way of the church.
A zygote or early fetus feels no pain because it lacks a nervous system to do so. On the other hand, 50,000 fully feeling Americans who lack health insurance die each year. And yet the political party whom most anti-abortionists vote for fights furiously against extending health insurance to those without money. My birth state of South Carolina, a fanatically religious and anti-abortion group, leads the nation in deaths of women at the hands of men, and health insurance is hard to come by without middle class or above earnings.
Such extreme hypocrisy results in the fact that abortion is a tool used to make Christian constituents "putty in the hands" of conservative politicians as noted by one Republican on a hot mike a couple of decades ago when I lived in D.C.
221
The three judge panel in New Orleans is just as corrupt as FIFA.
69
"If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament."
Florynce Kennedy
Florynce Kennedy
129
Interesting to read that even Lt. Gov. Patrick acknowledges that God is not with him.
70
An interesting idea if you need God's vote in the Texas legislature:
Since God was never born, he would never have a valid birth certificate. Since she has no body, she could never have a government issued photo ID. No way God could ever vote in Texas!
Since God was never born, he would never have a valid birth certificate. Since she has no body, she could never have a government issued photo ID. No way God could ever vote in Texas!
166
Many of us old ladies fought these battles 50+ years ago and won the right to choose and gained the availability of contraception. We did our job then. Now it's up to the younger women of today to fight these battles and win them. If they don't , they only have themselves to blame.
146
Men can single-handedly wipe out abortion in exactly 280 days. It's simple: Do not impregnate. That'll do it.
102
I guess the pro-life people have their work cut out for them. This is such sad news for the innocent lives that will be lost to abortion.
7
Women have to stand up for their rights. Lawmakers in Texas are elected officials. If women do not vote for representatives amped laws that protect them, they will loose -- and not only the right to choose, either.
46
American exceptionalism - USA!
We are the richest country on the planet and 20 in education.
What is more sad is that all of these people passing these laws are educated.
20 years from now, I'll be in Texas registering the resulting increase in poor people to vote.
We are the richest country on the planet and 20 in education.
What is more sad is that all of these people passing these laws are educated.
20 years from now, I'll be in Texas registering the resulting increase in poor people to vote.
29
"Actually, safe abortions are in no danger of becoming extinct. They’re readily available to all American women who have money, and they always will be."
Of course! Poor people don't vote, and not-poor people don't care much about the plight of the poor. So politicians who pile on one despicable law after another can do so without fear of recriminations. Or more to the point, getting voted out of office.
Of course! Poor people don't vote, and not-poor people don't care much about the plight of the poor. So politicians who pile on one despicable law after another can do so without fear of recriminations. Or more to the point, getting voted out of office.
60
Welcome to the middle ages when wives had to sue an attacker as "Joe Reaper et ux" or the early 20th century when women were not yet granted Canadian legal system standing as "persons." Like each of us, women persons need full rights to their bodies. Period. Kudos to Wells-Fargo for an ad with 2 gay moms adopting a hearing-deficient little girl. But where are the ads offering understanding, healthcare support, educational foundation, and full acceptance to women in their most dire moments, when a birth is too much, too hard, too wrong?
Abortions have nothing to do with my body, my deity, my property, my society's future, or any state's legislators. Let the women be as they feel they must, and they will be just fine, no matter what they choose. They always have been, you know.
Abortions have nothing to do with my body, my deity, my property, my society's future, or any state's legislators. Let the women be as they feel they must, and they will be just fine, no matter what they choose. They always have been, you know.
72
How is the legal imposition of a sonogram, which is often an unwanted and largely unnecessary procedure (although common practice in the last 15 or so years) NOT a Constitutional issue? I can think of no other similar medical procedure that the government has imposed on a segment of its population--even the vaccine controversy is more nuanced. In the very few cases where courts have ruled that a medical procedure is necessary, the bar set for enforcing such compliance has been very, very high. The bar in these state laws on abortion is very, very low. No one should ever be "forced" to have a sonogram--an invasive procedure--without her consent.
109
Pro-life is an oxymoron perpetrated by people without the 'oxy'.
We, who are pro abortion, are the real Pro Life constituency. We are for Obamacare, pre and post natal care, Planned Parenthood, safety nets, higher minimum wages and fair wages for women, and macro-economic policies that spend when there are recessions, favor job creation programs and don't throw public servants, teacher, policemen out of work --because we are pro-life. We also favor rich people paying more in taxes to preserve human dignity, quality of life and life itself. We are anti mindless gun proliferation because that's an easy way to end life. We are pro environment and believe in global warming and support mitigating measures because Pro Life means caring for future generations even at the risk of hurting some industrialists' bottom lines. The Pro-Life Republican side is against all of this. There are exceptions, but they are against by and large. So let's call them Pro Birth--but it ends there. They certainly are not Pro Life like the rest of us...
We, who are pro abortion, are the real Pro Life constituency. We are for Obamacare, pre and post natal care, Planned Parenthood, safety nets, higher minimum wages and fair wages for women, and macro-economic policies that spend when there are recessions, favor job creation programs and don't throw public servants, teacher, policemen out of work --because we are pro-life. We also favor rich people paying more in taxes to preserve human dignity, quality of life and life itself. We are anti mindless gun proliferation because that's an easy way to end life. We are pro environment and believe in global warming and support mitigating measures because Pro Life means caring for future generations even at the risk of hurting some industrialists' bottom lines. The Pro-Life Republican side is against all of this. There are exceptions, but they are against by and large. So let's call them Pro Birth--but it ends there. They certainly are not Pro Life like the rest of us...
146
Depending on who you believe 30 to 40% of the women who have lived and will live in America will end an unwanted pregnancy with an abortion. And still we have a core group of fundamentalists religious psychopaths using the coercive power of government to deny safe access to theses services. Even more problematic the same zealots agitate to deny both education on pregnancy prevention as well as access to the means of preventing pregnancies.
You can't blame sleazy politicians for pandering for the psychotic vote. Those people will vote regardless of the election cycle or organized impediments to casting a vote. Every wing of the GOP BIg Tent of Dissatisfaction and Dyspepsia is populated with a single issue group of paranoid delusionals. Abortion deniers are simply the loudest and most fervent.
There is a reason women were the last group of people to be treated as equals in regards to voting. This issue alone should provide motivation to chose better politicians. Fifty Shades of Grey does more to explain abortion politics than Gail Collins.
You can't blame sleazy politicians for pandering for the psychotic vote. Those people will vote regardless of the election cycle or organized impediments to casting a vote. Every wing of the GOP BIg Tent of Dissatisfaction and Dyspepsia is populated with a single issue group of paranoid delusionals. Abortion deniers are simply the loudest and most fervent.
There is a reason women were the last group of people to be treated as equals in regards to voting. This issue alone should provide motivation to chose better politicians. Fifty Shades of Grey does more to explain abortion politics than Gail Collins.
31
2016 and people are still arguing over abortion. It's a sad, sad world we live in.
46
The republicans aren't seriously prolife, not really. Let's look at their healthcare policies for women and children, before ACA passed, many died due to not having access to affordable healthcare in America. The republicans are continuously gutting programs that provide food and housing for poor children. You are not prolife if you allow children to starve by making a choice to deny aid ! You are anything but prolife...you have retail morality. The most egregious hypocrisy is the fact that Texas rich women will have their reproductive rights while poor women will be resorting to back rooms and using hangers.
92
It is truly amazing how the GOP likes to wage war on the poor whether it is regarding abortion rights, voting rights, unfair fees and fines, education availability, minimum wage, etc. Yet that is the party that calls itself "Christian"! Now what did Jesus tells us about the poor and hypocrisy?
93
While reading articles describing anti-abortion movements and the lengths State legislators have gone to create extreme difficulties for women seeking abortions, under the guise of concern for their welfare, I've wondered what pushes these anti-abortion measures?
The only conclusion that makes sense is an extreme misogyny, perhaps too an absence of male self-worth pushing this misogyny, and a fervent need to control women, children, animals, poor people, workers, autonomy, the conservation movement, and anyone or thing that is not a middle-aged white man.
Limiting abortion rights and availability is also a safe avenue for these legislators - the subjects of clean air and water, fracking, drilling, education, political finances, infrastructure etc. cannot be covered by the simple reasons given for limiting abortion rights. In these other cases, major arguments are certain to arise demanding explanations these legislators would rather avoid and probably cannot provide.
Women in States limiting access to abortions should read and follow the recommendations in the play 'Lysistrata.' Ours is no longer a male-dominated culture and the sooner men come to terms with this truth the better off for all of us. It is obviously a difficult transition for them but they must persevere.
The only conclusion that makes sense is an extreme misogyny, perhaps too an absence of male self-worth pushing this misogyny, and a fervent need to control women, children, animals, poor people, workers, autonomy, the conservation movement, and anyone or thing that is not a middle-aged white man.
Limiting abortion rights and availability is also a safe avenue for these legislators - the subjects of clean air and water, fracking, drilling, education, political finances, infrastructure etc. cannot be covered by the simple reasons given for limiting abortion rights. In these other cases, major arguments are certain to arise demanding explanations these legislators would rather avoid and probably cannot provide.
Women in States limiting access to abortions should read and follow the recommendations in the play 'Lysistrata.' Ours is no longer a male-dominated culture and the sooner men come to terms with this truth the better off for all of us. It is obviously a difficult transition for them but they must persevere.
45
Today's NYTimes offered information about the "College Rape Prevention Program" which apparently depends in part upon freshmen women getting some self-defense information. That was followed by Gail Collins "Battle of the Abortion Decisions." I read these to pieces while eating my lunch at my desk in my office. Have to see if one of my co-workers has an anti-acid.
23
I have always thought that abortion would be safely legal and available to all female citizens if the majority of our law makers were female. This is becuase no one should have the right to force you to be pregnant- e.g have jurisdiction over your body. If you are morally opposed, then dont get one.
53
A few months ago Wendy Davis ran for Governor of Texas on a campaign in which her abortionist views were highly prominent, including her failed attempts to filibuster an abortion-related Bill in 2013.
She was soundly defeated by Greg Abbott 59-38.
We The People of Texas have spoken - they do not support an abortionist agenda under the guise of "women's health", "reproductive rights" or any other leftist misnomer.
She was soundly defeated by Greg Abbott 59-38.
We The People of Texas have spoken - they do not support an abortionist agenda under the guise of "women's health", "reproductive rights" or any other leftist misnomer.
8
We, the people of Texas, in Los Angeles?
8
It's more than middling strange that the party that railed, falsely, about the ACA coming between a doctor and patient would be the one that did exactly that, multiple times. Talk about a nanny state. Give you heads a shake, Republicans.
51
Amazing, isn't it? So often, when people "pray about" a dilemma (whatever that means ... if I have a decision to make, I find thinking to be a better option), they end up with the revelation that their god wants them to do exactly what they had wanted to do in the first place.
30
Read an article in The Guardian yesterday that said rates of women throwing themselves down staircases, having people punch them in the stomachs, or having other violence done to themselves is up in south Texas. The only legal abortion option for them is to go San Antonio, 550 miles away. There is a clinic closer in New Mexico but some of the women are afraid to cross state lines because they are not here legally.
27
A week or so before the Texas senate voted on this absurdly restrictive measure, I drove around Austin to discount stores and bought 20 dolls - all infants - one for each Republican who intended to vote to pass the bill. Pinned to each doll was an envelope containing a note saying such things as, "My husband and I have 5 kids. He said he'd leave if I had another one. Why don't YOU raise this baby?" and " I didn't know what grandpa was doing to me, he made me promise not to tell. I'm only 13, will YOU raise this baby?" I wanted these jerks to SEE what they were about to do to their fellow Texans - both women AND men.
Because the dolls filled 4 tote bags, I would need need help delivering them to 20 different offices. I didn't know if we'd even make it past the guards into the Capitol, but I was willing to try.
That morning, I was sitting on a bench by the south entrance when the friend who'd agreed to help called. She was backing out, fearful of repercussions for her husband who worked for the legislature. Feeling defeated, I stood and headed to my car, carrying the four bulging bags.
But I still have them.
Because the dolls filled 4 tote bags, I would need need help delivering them to 20 different offices. I didn't know if we'd even make it past the guards into the Capitol, but I was willing to try.
That morning, I was sitting on a bench by the south entrance when the friend who'd agreed to help called. She was backing out, fearful of repercussions for her husband who worked for the legislature. Feeling defeated, I stood and headed to my car, carrying the four bulging bags.
But I still have them.
41
Don't give up, please find someone else to help you.
4
God bless you. We celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary because she said "yes." The Heavenly Father would never want a woman to give birth against her will, not even His own Son.
1
Planned parenthood (or someone) ought to start a charity fund that would enable poor women to travel in order to procure abortions. They should also start a list of women who would be willing to host an abortion patient overnight. I'm sick and tired of 'ain't it awful'. Let's do something!
36
TX does have such a charity but think about it we have to fund raise for women's health issues while insurance pays for Viagra.
8
Go to http://fundtexaschoice.org/ It's an organization that funds abortion travel for low-income people in Texas.
10
They have! You can donate to Fund Texas Choice here: http://fundtexaschoice.org/. It covers transportation costs for women in Texas. The Haven Coalition in New York enables women to host patients overnight here in our state. http://www.fundabortionnow.org/funds/havencoalition
8
I am currently watching Wolf Hall, based on Hilary Mantel's novel about tudor religion, sexuality, and politics. The intersection of these three issues reminds me painfully of the US today: the fervid belief that only one's own religious opinion is correct, the use of religious rhetoric to control sexual relations and status, and most of all, the appalling suffering inflicted on other people.
24
1 in 3 women will have an abortion in her lifetime. A statistical fact that has not changed in many years. Where abortion is legal, it will be a legal one, otherwise it will be an illegal one. Bring on the coathangers, they'll come in handy soon enough.
33
What is always to sad is that while these financially strapped women are being forced into having children there is no support for these kids once they are born. All the "family values" seem to disappear. Again, if men got pregnant, abortion would be the 11th commandment.
49
Right-wing Republicans apparently believe that the only "true" religion is the most conservative brand of Christianity, and all other "false" variations of spiritual or philosophical belief deserve no protection under the U.S. Constitution.
In the Old Testament of the Bible, women were essentially the property of their husbands and Jehovah. Right wing Republicans are paranoid about Shariah law somehow worming its way into state or federal government. They also rail against Big Government intrusion into the lives of individuals. However, The Republican war against women's reproductive rights has, at its core, turned into a twisted version of Shariah-lack-of-empathy-authoritarian-God-Government, which totally owns women's bodies, and denies them the right to self-determine the most important decisions in their private lives.
In the Old Testament of the Bible, women were essentially the property of their husbands and Jehovah. Right wing Republicans are paranoid about Shariah law somehow worming its way into state or federal government. They also rail against Big Government intrusion into the lives of individuals. However, The Republican war against women's reproductive rights has, at its core, turned into a twisted version of Shariah-lack-of-empathy-authoritarian-God-Government, which totally owns women's bodies, and denies them the right to self-determine the most important decisions in their private lives.
48
I can almost understand the argument that fetuses are innocent, etc. It's about the only somewhat human concern the GOP has. But when they make it impossible for poor women to get abortions, while allowing their wives, daughters, mistresses, etc. to get abortions it is plain wrong, like so much else with the Gerrymandering Old Patriarchs.
25
Republicans have been relentlessly and proudly trying to restrict a woman's reproductive choices. They want to eliminate abortion entirely regardless of need/reason. To the anti-abortion folks, I suggest you consider this: a government that forces a woman to bear a child, can also force her not to.
19
Abortion must be legal, safe, and PRIVATE. How are these women being prosecuted for obtaining meds online? I doubt any woman would choose to go through this experience alone in her living space without the option of seeing a doctor, but that certainly is preferable to running past the screamers outside a clinic or having state-imposed "tortures" imposed within before obtaining the abortion she seeks. Thank goodness a pill-induced abortion option exists and is available.
103
why did the government in these states know what the women were purchasing on line? Isn't that a bit disturbing?
5
Especially disturbing is that amount of money and time spent taking these anti-women's reproductive rights actions to court.Of course, this is what anti-choice people want. It's exhausting. Are these old, white men going to help care for the babies or for the women injured though self-induced abortions? I'm angry too.
26
Texas hates women, or at least likes to disrespect them.
32
"How would God vote tonight if he were here?" Apparently, the good Senator Patrick believes in God, and thinks he even knows how God thinks, yet he is unsure whether or not God is present. Quite a conundrum. Sort of like that old expression, "Good Lord willing....and the creek don't rise."
20
Vote, women, vote...
50
I am waiting for the next law which will require a women seeking an abortion to have the scarlet letter painted on her forehead for a week before she is allowed to have the procedure.
53
As a matter of fact, Jeb Bush suggested something similar in his book Profiles in Character (his, of course!) I believe it was a law in Florida for 2 years before the courts ruled it unconstitutional that women had to publish the record of their sexual activity on or about the date the pregnancy began so that the "father" would have an opportunity to claim the child as his and stop the abortion plans. Jeb's idea of shaming.
And he's supposed to be the "smart brother." A "moderate in sheep's clothing, for
sure.
And he's supposed to be the "smart brother." A "moderate in sheep's clothing, for
sure.
7
Women outnumber men in all states in the union so if laws like this are being passed then it is because women don't care and will not vote.
31
Unfortunately, there are a lot of women who are virulently anti-abortion, too - remember the Supreme Court decision where the sweet old grandma stood outside abortion clinics, screaming at women who were walking in, complained that her right to free speech was violated because of the distance she had to stand away from the clinic.
12
It's the legislatures doing this. In districts no doubt gerrymandered.
3
Nothing like blaming the victim.
The height of sad irony is, that as the GOP trys any and all tricks so that low income people can't vote (because if they did vote, the GOP would never win an election), they also insist on creating (through banning abortion) more and more of the people that, if they were to vote, would vote against them. So.... as they succeed in denying abortion to women, more and more liberals are born to eventually vote them out? I can't help but laugh at the idiocy.
14
To answer the question of 'how would God vote..."is simple. First, our Constitution doesn't care how God would vote - religious tests are expressly forbidden, and the First Amendment forbids anything that smacks of the establishment of religion.
Secondly, God would simply ask what you have done for the least among you. And She would not be happy with what she sees.
Secondly, God would simply ask what you have done for the least among you. And She would not be happy with what she sees.
48
The core of the GOP's warped sense of thinking is that the real crime is being poor, and a woman. The obsession of morality feeds on itself and more crimes are created when children are conceived. The holier-than-thou need "crimes" to survive. The Republicans find crimes in everything, why it's a crime to have gun control, to prevent legislators from kissing the behinds of corporations, to control the harmful fallout of their unfettered pollution. It's also a crime to have affordable healthcare to treat ailments that the polluters (don't you dare regulate them!) contribute to.
The holier-than-thou Republicans, some of the biggest criminals we are beholden to.
The holier-than-thou Republicans, some of the biggest criminals we are beholden to.
29
The right point to kick a person is when that person is down. Small chance of a recoil blow.
So for the rich; take from the poor when they are most vulnerable, your chance of keeping what you grab is near certain.
Even better when your legislator goons do your dirty work such as denying basic health care to the poor. Your power built through growing intangible wealth is the same as money in the bank.
So for the rich; take from the poor when they are most vulnerable, your chance of keeping what you grab is near certain.
Even better when your legislator goons do your dirty work such as denying basic health care to the poor. Your power built through growing intangible wealth is the same as money in the bank.
15
Most abortions wouldn't be necessary if men would step up. Put peer pressure on your "friends" who laugh about not paying child support, on those "men" who delight that they "knocked up" a woman and abandoned her. If there was a societal push by men for those men to be involved in the result of their pleasure more women would be secure enough to raise a child. Men need to put the pressure on for women to be paid the same at work, and to receive the same benefit of work. Set up work programs for men who chronically say they are unemployed, garnish their wages to pay their child support.
16
Buliding on RS's thought, I would add that it has always mystified me that contraception and abortion are labeled as "women's issues" -- women don't need contraception or abortion unless they are having sex with men! Women are the ones that are vulnerable to the consequences of unintended pregnancies and therefore need to have access to the medical resources that will allow them to control their reproduction, but I think that labeling these issues as primarily affecting women only reinforces the injustices that have defined women's lives.
5
Provide high-quality free universal child care so that mothers have a chance to earn an income without worrying about the well-being of their children.
3
An abortion is 'necessary', if a woman doesn't want to have a child. There are many reasons that women chose to abort. Child support is (only) one of them.
3
I sense an opportunity in Texas. What if pro-freedom advocates decided to help poor women and girls obtain needed abortions? - despite the state's restrictions. They could organize and raise money, and then do whatever it took to help disadvantaged women and girls - driving them to distant clinics; helping with expenses; providing emotional support; advising them on dealing with various harassing tactics; obtaining drugs.
Of course, the anti-abortion people will never give up, but what a great win that would be for freedom, decency and compassion. The state would have effectively prohibited abortion - but not stopped it.
I would send money.
Of course, the anti-abortion people will never give up, but what a great win that would be for freedom, decency and compassion. The state would have effectively prohibited abortion - but not stopped it.
I would send money.
23
I read this column and, with a shudder, thought "There but for the grace of God (and a steady paycheck) go I." Whether it was the abusive boyfriend in my early 20's, the cheating husband I was finally able to extricate myself from, or just the pitiful salaries I earned during my first few years in the workforce, I feel like I've spent almost two decades escaping situations where carrying a pregnancy to term would have been untenable. And I'm one of the lucky ones! Shame on us for allowing this to happen to women who can't help themselves.
184
If people continue to insist on calling the fetus the "pre-born" or "un-born" child, then I think we should return the favor and refer to them exclusively as "pre-dead" or "un-dead" adults.
To use their logic, it is an inevitable, impending state, so why couch it any other way?
To use their logic, it is an inevitable, impending state, so why couch it any other way?
24
Texas is a funny place. As is, to some extent, the entire radical states of the 'Old Confederacy'. An absolute certainty that government should not interfere in the traditions of the Judeo-Christian family in everything from form to the rights of parents. But a willingness to use the full force of that same government to restrict the rights of half the population to act on their own behalf.
Which goes to show that when religion is allowed to inform law nothing good can follow.
Which goes to show that when religion is allowed to inform law nothing good can follow.
24
From a PBS documentary I saw years ago on the events leading up to Roe vs. Wade, I learned that some Protestant ministers and pastors were leading voices in the abortion rights movement. They were tired of trying to console the bereaved husbands and children of women who had died trying to abort a pregnancy themselves, often because the family could not afford to support another baby. These pastors understood the right to safe, legal abortion as fully compatible with the compassion and respect for human life taught by the Christian tradition.
3
Over one million abortions are performed every year in America. Using the most recently available data for elective surgery, even a relatively simple and benign procedure such as a nose job was only performed 243,7720 times (2011). Bill Clinton said that abortions should be "safe, legal, and rare." Mr. Bill only got it partially right - abortion is relatively safe, it is legal (unfortunately), but it sure isn't rare.
8
It isn't rare because:
1. The same people who oppose abortion insist on abstinence-only sex education, leaving kids without a clue about birth control
2. Kids who attend abstinence-only schools won't obtain birth control because planning to fornicate is considered as serious a sin as actually having sex
3. Too many people who oppose abortion want to make some, or all, forms of birth control illegal, too, or at least harder to get
4. We haven't seen many new forms of birth control come onto the market, and the ones we have aren't all that reliable (someone has to be the 2 percent of BC pill patients who become pregnant each year)
5. Birth control is rarely considered in instances of rape
Can you at least bring yourself to contribute some effort toward keeping abortion rare? Or are you going to sit on the sidelines and criticize?
1. The same people who oppose abortion insist on abstinence-only sex education, leaving kids without a clue about birth control
2. Kids who attend abstinence-only schools won't obtain birth control because planning to fornicate is considered as serious a sin as actually having sex
3. Too many people who oppose abortion want to make some, or all, forms of birth control illegal, too, or at least harder to get
4. We haven't seen many new forms of birth control come onto the market, and the ones we have aren't all that reliable (someone has to be the 2 percent of BC pill patients who become pregnant each year)
5. Birth control is rarely considered in instances of rape
Can you at least bring yourself to contribute some effort toward keeping abortion rare? Or are you going to sit on the sidelines and criticize?
11
It never was rare. One in three women has had/will have an abortion in her lifetime. It used to be illegal and unsafe, they made it legal and safe in 1973. We're going back to illegal and unsafe. It'll never be rare.
5
The rare part was supposed to be accomplished by making birth control available and cheap, used by a well instructed population. Guess who is trying to extinguish that vision? We could make it rare if we could fund Planned Parenthood and early and realistic sex education.
11
Decisions on abortion rights, a woman's right to choose, are too often or routinely made by males and others influenced by religious beliefs. Pro-lifers want to impose their beliefs on all others, instead of just practicing their faith quietly. Religion used for political purposes is very bad. Failure to consider all facts of a case and making blanket rulings is unjust and indefensible. A decision to abort a fetus is not a simple and easy decision for most women. They have very cogent reasons for deciding. - The states that make abortion difficult or impossible should be required to provide support and sustenance for all unwanted babies. When it start costing them money they would change their tunes.
31
journalists who report on the decision of the fifth circuit court of appeals to uphold most of texas' abortion restrictions do a disservice--in fact, are guilty of negligence--when they do not report the political affiliation of the judges who wrote that decision.
republican federal judges, heavily litmus-tested and chosen for their commitment to conservative ideology, are not "judges". they are politicians.
they would wipe out roe v. wade, and a republican win of the white house in 2016 likely would achieve that result. women (and everyone else) need to understand that a vote for a republican is a vote against women's reproductive rights. please report the relevant facts.
republican federal judges, heavily litmus-tested and chosen for their commitment to conservative ideology, are not "judges". they are politicians.
they would wipe out roe v. wade, and a republican win of the white house in 2016 likely would achieve that result. women (and everyone else) need to understand that a vote for a republican is a vote against women's reproductive rights. please report the relevant facts.
40
If you support abortion, vote the straight Democrat ticket in 2016. Oh, to have a Democrat and democratic White House, House of Representatives, Senate and -- Supreme Court.
3
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Texas always has to push the edge of the envelope, until it gets slapped down.
Roe v. Wade began as a challenge to criminal laws against people who help women terminate pregnancies (like, nurses and doctors).
Private consensual activities between adults? Texas criminalized it, and defended itself up to the High Court, where it lost.
Race as a factor in college admissions? Yup, Texas challenged it.
A "fortunate" side effect of the growing resource inequality in our nation is that judges can no longer ignore the disparate impact that laws have on the lower 50%. The terrain is different than in the early 70s.
I'm convinced that laws such as Texas's will be voided by the High Court; but I am certain that thousands of women and families will have suffered from such laws before the laws are tossed out.
You're doing great work, Gail, in explaining these things. Also, your reference to Emily Bazelon is welcome. She is thoroughly involved in reporting (via various media outlets) on how our legal system makes life harder for so many people. I recommend that people seek out her work.
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Texas always has to push the edge of the envelope, until it gets slapped down.
Roe v. Wade began as a challenge to criminal laws against people who help women terminate pregnancies (like, nurses and doctors).
Private consensual activities between adults? Texas criminalized it, and defended itself up to the High Court, where it lost.
Race as a factor in college admissions? Yup, Texas challenged it.
A "fortunate" side effect of the growing resource inequality in our nation is that judges can no longer ignore the disparate impact that laws have on the lower 50%. The terrain is different than in the early 70s.
I'm convinced that laws such as Texas's will be voided by the High Court; but I am certain that thousands of women and families will have suffered from such laws before the laws are tossed out.
You're doing great work, Gail, in explaining these things. Also, your reference to Emily Bazelon is welcome. She is thoroughly involved in reporting (via various media outlets) on how our legal system makes life harder for so many people. I recommend that people seek out her work.
22
Roe v Wade was decided as a privacy issue. Would the anti-abortion folks be willing to give up their rights under the 4th amendment? That is exactly what these laws are doing.
Just don't do it, unless your life is in danger or your fetus is horribly deformed. I was adopted and I know. Life is good to live.
12
You know about you, which is well and good. You cannot possibly know about each circumstance, all pregnant woman or every adopted child.
8
Both my children were adopted. Their biological mothers had a choice, as should all women. My daughter ended up having several abortions, which was the right choice for her circumstances and health. Many of the same men who want to control women's bodies by making abortion criminal also want to restrict birth control, which would greatly lessen the number of abortions. It's more about CONTROL of women than it is about LIFE.
11
"Just don't do it" or "Just say no" (Nancy Reagan)
Just strike "just" from your vocabulary; life is not that simple or simple at all, no matter how many people with black-and-white vision says it is. People are tortured by this very difficult decision making process and not least of all by money.
Did you even read this article? That woman in Idaho makes $50. a week. Could you raise a child on that? She already has 3 children!
I hate it when people tell other people how to live their lives; isn't running our own lives hard enough?
Just strike "just" from your vocabulary; life is not that simple or simple at all, no matter how many people with black-and-white vision says it is. People are tortured by this very difficult decision making process and not least of all by money.
Did you even read this article? That woman in Idaho makes $50. a week. Could you raise a child on that? She already has 3 children!
I hate it when people tell other people how to live their lives; isn't running our own lives hard enough?
5
Women between the ages of 18 and 40 better wake up before the rights won by their mothers and grandmothers are destroyed by the Republican Party if it can elect the next president to choose the next Supreme Court.
Otherwise like minority voting rights, their right to control their own reproductive health will be destroyed by the Republican Party.
Unless a woman is a holy rolling Republican she better register to vote and make sure she shows up to vote for Hillary Clinton on election day 2016.
Meantime no one, man or woman, should expect this Supreme Court to reject what Texas and other anti-woman Republican states are doing to end freedom of choice.
The court has six Roman Catholic justices. Five are men including four, Roberts, Scalia, Alito and Thomas put their religion ahead of their obligations as justices and ahead of the law and the Constitution. They are guaranteed to vote for church doctrine and do everything they can to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The fifth Catholic is Justice Mayor, a woman and a liberal and she will vote to preserve choice. The sixth Catholic on the court is Justice Kennedy, who in the past has adhered to the Roe v. Wade precedent. This time around his vote is a thin reed on which to hope the court will not impose religious doctrine on American women.
If that analysis offends so be it. It is the plain truth because the court, this court especially, ignores the law and votes its personal, its religious and its political biases and beliefs.
Otherwise like minority voting rights, their right to control their own reproductive health will be destroyed by the Republican Party.
Unless a woman is a holy rolling Republican she better register to vote and make sure she shows up to vote for Hillary Clinton on election day 2016.
Meantime no one, man or woman, should expect this Supreme Court to reject what Texas and other anti-woman Republican states are doing to end freedom of choice.
The court has six Roman Catholic justices. Five are men including four, Roberts, Scalia, Alito and Thomas put their religion ahead of their obligations as justices and ahead of the law and the Constitution. They are guaranteed to vote for church doctrine and do everything they can to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The fifth Catholic is Justice Mayor, a woman and a liberal and she will vote to preserve choice. The sixth Catholic on the court is Justice Kennedy, who in the past has adhered to the Roe v. Wade precedent. This time around his vote is a thin reed on which to hope the court will not impose religious doctrine on American women.
If that analysis offends so be it. It is the plain truth because the court, this court especially, ignores the law and votes its personal, its religious and its political biases and beliefs.
65
The line about how God would vote were He a member ofthe Texas Legislature should be at the center of a fresh columkn taking off from Dostoyevski's famous fable about Jesus in seventeenth Seville in front of the Grand Inquisitor.
20
Dear corporate honchos who threatened to pull offices out of Indiana or cancel meeting in Indiana because of the anti-gay marriage law those nuts passed: we need you to do the same on behalf of your women employees, or your own wives, daughters, sisters who may need or want an abortion. Pull out of Texas NOW. Or at least minimize your presence. Put your money where your mouth is. Dear women: Boycott any Texas based businesses. IE:no need to buy gas at Valero or Exxon-- get thee to a chevron (based in CA) station. This is war and it must be fought on a variety of fronts.
44
What is wrong with American women? If a state legislature with a majority of women members (could there ever be such a thing?) voted to restrict a man's private (and legal) medical decision touching on his reproductive or any other organs, there would be a national uproar.
11
It doesn't make any sense to do that because many of their customers wouldn't support them.
Those companies stood up to bigots because bigotry was bad for business.
Until women start standing up for themselves and other women on issues like wages, health care etc. nothing is going to change.
Those companies stood up to bigots because bigotry was bad for business.
Until women start standing up for themselves and other women on issues like wages, health care etc. nothing is going to change.
I am 62 years old. I marched down 5th Avenue in the early 70s for women's rights. I handed out pro-choice petitions (at 7 months pregnant ... a pregnancy I chose) and calmly debated and dismissed the insults hurled at me. I was denied jobs I was more than qualified for by people who told me that "a man supporting a family" needed that job more. Even though I was supporting my student husband and small son. I have been underpaid my entire life when compared to male colleagues and that is affecting my decisions about retirement because of the shortfall in my social security.
And over the decades I watched younger female coworkers deny "feminism" as though it were a dirty word. They proclaimed loudly that they were absolutely NOT feminists.
Then the economy-shift that brought us all lower salaries and stagnant raises made everyone sit up and take notice. Particularly those women who suddenly realized that they needed to make as much as a man to either pay their half of the bills or, in many, many cases, to hold up the entire household.
Then the right decided to shift attention away from the grand theft of our government by the rich by focusing on "family values." Including attacks on women's reproductive freedom that so many took for granted.
Then a lot of those young women got older. Many got wiser. Hopefully it's not too late. VOTE!!!
And over the decades I watched younger female coworkers deny "feminism" as though it were a dirty word. They proclaimed loudly that they were absolutely NOT feminists.
Then the economy-shift that brought us all lower salaries and stagnant raises made everyone sit up and take notice. Particularly those women who suddenly realized that they needed to make as much as a man to either pay their half of the bills or, in many, many cases, to hold up the entire household.
Then the right decided to shift attention away from the grand theft of our government by the rich by focusing on "family values." Including attacks on women's reproductive freedom that so many took for granted.
Then a lot of those young women got older. Many got wiser. Hopefully it's not too late. VOTE!!!
110
Twenty-some years ago I read a horrifying account in the newspaper. Two women in Chicago with, I believe, 17 children between them locked the children in their apartment, where they were starved and tortured. At the same time, a dear friend was undergoing fertility treatments that ultimately produced a wonderful daughter. It seemed to me to be proof that a loving God does not in anyway decide who gets pregnant. If that were true, children would not be abused by such people. And I say that as a regular and enthusiastic church-goer (main-line protestant). It is not our right to deny women the ability to make this choice for themselves and their family. Here in Ohio the governor appointed the president of Ohio Right to Life to the state medical board. He is not a doctor. Sure enough, laws exactly like Texas has passed also passed here. Where will this end? The intention of right-wing politicians is obvious.
50
“How would God vote tonight if he were here?”
This is the "Quixotic Disorder."
Recall Don Quixote's world was reality seen through an overlay of mythology. Overtly it was the chivalry/knights-errant, Arthurian mythology. But that myth does well as a metaphor for the Christian myth. Given Christendom of his day--17th century theological oppression--overt discussion of a Theological Quixotic Disorder was impossible.
Texas has progressed to the dark ages. Inquisitions are soon to follow. 1492 marked both the discovery of the Americas and Spain's expulsion of Jews and Muslims--confiscating their property unless they "converted"--and torturing them to assure the conversion was sincere.
Texas now tortures women. Soon Texas will limit voting and candidacy to "Christians--a-la-Texas". Itself the mythical form of the Christian mythology--it has almost no connection to the "love your neighbor" teachings of Jesus.
This is the "Quixotic Disorder."
Recall Don Quixote's world was reality seen through an overlay of mythology. Overtly it was the chivalry/knights-errant, Arthurian mythology. But that myth does well as a metaphor for the Christian myth. Given Christendom of his day--17th century theological oppression--overt discussion of a Theological Quixotic Disorder was impossible.
Texas has progressed to the dark ages. Inquisitions are soon to follow. 1492 marked both the discovery of the Americas and Spain's expulsion of Jews and Muslims--confiscating their property unless they "converted"--and torturing them to assure the conversion was sincere.
Texas now tortures women. Soon Texas will limit voting and candidacy to "Christians--a-la-Texas". Itself the mythical form of the Christian mythology--it has almost no connection to the "love your neighbor" teachings of Jesus.
23
Your choice of words, so odd, 'only a handful of clinics will survive'. And the children, whom the clinics destroy, their survival?
Abortion is losing the technological and moral arguments. The hypocrisy of caring for the planet, as we should and must, while destroying the life of an innocent human captured in its development and beauty by science is absolutely too glaring.
Are there exceptions? Probably, though I'm grateful I wasn't one of them.
Abortion is losing the technological and moral arguments. The hypocrisy of caring for the planet, as we should and must, while destroying the life of an innocent human captured in its development and beauty by science is absolutely too glaring.
Are there exceptions? Probably, though I'm grateful I wasn't one of them.
6
Please don't use the word "hypocrisy." What is your definition of "innocent human?" Doesn't ALL human life matter to you? Only "innocent" humans are worth protecting? I am pro-life and that means the lives of prisoners on death row need to be protected. You are either pro-life or you are not. Pick a side, Ken, and defend it.
1
There is only hypcracy in males making laws that never, ever affect them.
2
I used to care passionately about pro choice, but if women themselves are too lazy to get out and vote for politicians who would protect their reproductive rights, why should I.
5
Women vote in greater proportion than do men:
http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/voters/documents/genderdiff.pdf
http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/voters/documents/genderdiff.pdf
1
I can't help but wonder what the Sisters of Charity would think of one of their former students who would write such a pro=abortion column. I imagine they are proud that you made it in the Big Time and work for the NYT. But you also must be a real disappointment to them, as well.
6
Ah, a personal attack because YOU don't agree with Gail's opinion. The nuns who taught me, and my children, were educated women who shared their faith through their work. There were a few bad apples, but for the most part, all were strong, educated women. I doubt any would disapprove of Gail, regardless of whether they agreed with her or not.
These abortion laws represent another front on the Republican war on the poor. Abortion, food stamps, voter ID, drug testing,..you name it. The GOP wants the 48% (at least) to be out of sight and out of mind.
40
Yeah, maybe, but reproducing at an alarming rate for lack of access to proper birth control and other health services? What is that all about?
1
When will the hypocrisy end for the GOP? if you are 'pro life' the you should provide enough healthcare f or the newborn to grow up strong-emotionally and intellectually. America is the only industrialized country that do not offer adequate maternity leave for the newborn and the mother to bond. The mother stressed out by the whole ordeal of a giving birth and keeping her job, feeds the child with stress hormones that impairs the brain development of the child.
No wonder we have too many cases pf ADHD and autism in this country. Moreover , the current trend to deprive food from the mouth of babies by cutting federal assistance is deplorable. it is time for GOP to provide maternal care and assistance to mothers for a minimum of three months-fully paid by the state, federal government-to get help with parenting to create a healthy society. You are 'pro life' then do as you say.
No wonder we have too many cases pf ADHD and autism in this country. Moreover , the current trend to deprive food from the mouth of babies by cutting federal assistance is deplorable. it is time for GOP to provide maternal care and assistance to mothers for a minimum of three months-fully paid by the state, federal government-to get help with parenting to create a healthy society. You are 'pro life' then do as you say.
31
Yes and they need to be called out on this long, loud and often. Shift the focus to the way these politicians treat pregnant women and children and see if the light doesn't start to dawn with some of their constituents.
2
There is occasional loose talk that Texas might want to get out of the Union. This is often followed by people eager to say: please go ahead. There is a persistent claim that when Texas joined the USA (mainly to get federal help to stop Indian raids and massacres against settlers) there was a provision that they could back out if they wanted to. This is myth. The idea that the state also had the right to split itself into five separate, new states has also circulated.
Something is out of balance in the state, that's for certain. It continues to follow the desires of the sparsely populated rural areas, where god is spoken of in just about every other paragraph of speech or writing, while most of the state is urban.
I have a suggestion. Austin, the state capital, should secede from Texas. It is so moderately liberal that it doesn't really belong there. Let the legislature move to Waco. Just carve out an island around Austin (Ill de Austin) and make it a new state. Two senators, one congress person. While we are at it, include the District of Columbia in that state so that, at long last, the residents of the capital of the world's greatest democracy, the nation that tired and failed to export democracy to Iraq, can have democratic representation themselves. The logistics might be difficult, but they can be worked out.
Any other parts of Texas that want to leave the state and join as separate, new states would also get highly favorable consideration. Get started.
37
Let them join Mexico, where many of its residents originated.
Ms. Collins and many of her readers appear to be very upset with Texas' laws governing abortion. However, it should be noted that Texas is one of the fastest growing states in the country. Millions of people have moved to Texas since 2008. I believe that millions of women were among those who migrated to Texas. I guess one can reasonably conclude that these new Texas residents are not that concerned about Texas' laws governing abortion.
4
Every state in the country has seen population growth. Could this huge influx be immigrants? Texans doesn't like "big government" until they need it. Conservatives are fine without health insurance until a debilitating illness strikes then they become raving progressives wanting the government to do something. Conservatives are opposed to FEMA aid until a flood, tornado, fire or hurricane ravage their state then their hand is demanding money from that big, bad nasty government. Witness Ted Cruz's demands for federal money after the devastating floods, all while hypocritically voting against Sandy relief for NY and NJ. Or ex-gov Perry screaming that Obama took 12 hours to respond when out of control fires ravaged the state a couple years back. Then it's back to seceding until they need that nasty ole big gummint again. The hypocrisy is astounding but not surprising.
Some of us know that we pay for the type of society we want. If they want to live in a state with the highest teen pregnancy rate, the highest second teen pregnancy rate, one of the highest poverty rates, and poor quality schools in large swaths of the state, the highest percentage of residents with no access to health care I guess it's their prerogative. But they'll be singing a different tune when they come to need the services from the government that they despise. Then like hypocrite heroine, Ayn Rand, they'll sign up for every service available to them like the good little hypocrites that they are.
Some of us know that we pay for the type of society we want. If they want to live in a state with the highest teen pregnancy rate, the highest second teen pregnancy rate, one of the highest poverty rates, and poor quality schools in large swaths of the state, the highest percentage of residents with no access to health care I guess it's their prerogative. But they'll be singing a different tune when they come to need the services from the government that they despise. Then like hypocrite heroine, Ayn Rand, they'll sign up for every service available to them like the good little hypocrites that they are.
19
If you can afford to move you can afford to go to another state to get an abortion.
1
As they say in New Mexico, Texas is a great state to be from.
5
Relatively affluent families that procure abortions for wives, children, or mistresses but are publicly against abortion should have their behavior outed. Hypocrisy about abortions should be public and not anonymous. Anonymous, take note. Morality needs you.
The anti-abortionists are, in their own view, fighting a war for the soul of America. Facts and reasonings that do not support their position are ruthlessly ignored and/or denied. The resulting structures of righteous hypocrisy must be attacked in any way possible, for they are obviously the work of the Devil who is using the God-fearing to destroy morality.
The anti-abortionists are, in their own view, fighting a war for the soul of America. Facts and reasonings that do not support their position are ruthlessly ignored and/or denied. The resulting structures of righteous hypocrisy must be attacked in any way possible, for they are obviously the work of the Devil who is using the God-fearing to destroy morality.
27
God may bless Texas, but Texas voters... not so much. Texas was 48th in 2012 and 47th in turnout in 2008 (Washington Post listed stats) and you should see the POTUS off year turnouts. Freedumb, y'all! (Let the wing nuts rule).
19
I fear taking this appeal to THIS supreme court (no caps intentional) could have a very bad outcome as it would give the court an opportunity to further restrict availability of abortions nation-wide. Just a little aside---of course texas doesnt like medicaid expansion so pre and post natal care for mother and child is very limited for those without insurance....proving once again that pro-lifers are really only pro-birth
38
The USA is not a free country and will not be as long as its Constitution and state laws are dual track. We cannot have one set of laws for white well off people and another for the poor and for women.
Non white people get arrested more, go to jail where whites do not and for longer times and are seen by the police as likely criminals so shooting an unarmed black man is an exercise in public safety.
It is easy to write off Texas as a theocratic-fascist state where women and the poor are kept under the boot for the benefit of the ultra conservative employer class. If our Constitution means anything, it means equal protection of the law and guaranteed rights that apply to everyone and there is no way in good conscience that Texas can be considered as being part of the United States, whose government it hates.
We have seen scapegoats before, and not for the first time the poor and women. In a totalitarian state the role of poor women is as breeders, married or otherwise, just like in Texas. The fact is that if you are poor, non-white and a woman you live in a totalitarian state if you live in Texas and if you have money you are out from under the boot.
While democracy has been sold to the highest bidders individual freedom, the kind guaranteed by the Constitution is available for those who have the money. Individual liberty is directly proportional to the size of your purse, just like the Founders intended and we have a political party dedicated to that principle.
Non white people get arrested more, go to jail where whites do not and for longer times and are seen by the police as likely criminals so shooting an unarmed black man is an exercise in public safety.
It is easy to write off Texas as a theocratic-fascist state where women and the poor are kept under the boot for the benefit of the ultra conservative employer class. If our Constitution means anything, it means equal protection of the law and guaranteed rights that apply to everyone and there is no way in good conscience that Texas can be considered as being part of the United States, whose government it hates.
We have seen scapegoats before, and not for the first time the poor and women. In a totalitarian state the role of poor women is as breeders, married or otherwise, just like in Texas. The fact is that if you are poor, non-white and a woman you live in a totalitarian state if you live in Texas and if you have money you are out from under the boot.
While democracy has been sold to the highest bidders individual freedom, the kind guaranteed by the Constitution is available for those who have the money. Individual liberty is directly proportional to the size of your purse, just like the Founders intended and we have a political party dedicated to that principle.
29
The Republican War on Women is still alive and kicking.
Why is it that these misinformed, hateful people are elected to positions of power in the first place?
Women are half of America. It's long past time for them to exercise their voting power in troglodyte states like Texas, Kansas, Idaho and Georgia, among many others.
Government should get its heavy hand out of the reproductive rights of all women.
Why is it that these misinformed, hateful people are elected to positions of power in the first place?
Women are half of America. It's long past time for them to exercise their voting power in troglodyte states like Texas, Kansas, Idaho and Georgia, among many others.
Government should get its heavy hand out of the reproductive rights of all women.
44
Women need to wake up, stop watching Dancing with the Stars, and go vote. If all eligible women voted, this would not be happening because the clowns that come up with these laws would not be elected.
As Flo Kennedy used to say when Nixon was Pres. and I'm paraphrasing, 'women need to clean up the White House and take out the garbage'. It's as true now as it was then...women, vote these guys out of office. Of course, I just saw an article today that the number of one parent families are higher in the southern states where, gasp, the evangelicals live. Unless those women replace the Bible with Our Bodies, Our Selves, we may still have some women that will vote against their (women) own self interest.
As Flo Kennedy used to say when Nixon was Pres. and I'm paraphrasing, 'women need to clean up the White House and take out the garbage'. It's as true now as it was then...women, vote these guys out of office. Of course, I just saw an article today that the number of one parent families are higher in the southern states where, gasp, the evangelicals live. Unless those women replace the Bible with Our Bodies, Our Selves, we may still have some women that will vote against their (women) own self interest.
45
Women comprise more than 50% of the population, why do we choose to remain barefoot and pregnant?
29
Tomorrow's headlines: TEXAS PRO-LIFE LEGISLATORS DISMANTLE STATE DEATH PENALTY!
Oh,wait...not THOSE lives...
The separation clause of the Constitution is a thing of the past. Does anyone really believe that all this legislation is not religiously based?
Oh,wait...not THOSE lives...
The separation clause of the Constitution is a thing of the past. Does anyone really believe that all this legislation is not religiously based?
39
Why, one might ask, is it a wonderful example of community activism when inner city churches sponsor meet the candidate nights, march on city hall, and generally involve themselves in politics; yet it is an outrageous infringement on the separation of church and state when rural Evangelical churches do the same sort of things?
Surely there would not be any dual standards here, could there?
Surely there would not be any dual standards here, could there?
It is all about wealth and power in the end. The rich can do anything they want and plead "affluenza," while everyone else has to play by the rules made up by the oligarchs.
This is our American future, and Texas is leading the way.
This is our American future, and Texas is leading the way.
28
Well, Ms. Collins, not only do I have to worry about the Iraq army having the "will to fight ISIL", I have to worry that women in Texas continue to vote for lawmakers at all levels who proudly deny women in Texas reproductive rights. These overwhelmingly male lawmakers aren't even being honest about their reasons when they say--against all evidence-- "We impose these restrictions to protect women too silly to protect themselves; the little darlings should be grateful, not angry."
Like many women my age, I will dutifully write my check to Planned Parenthood, shake my head at the women in the anti-choice movement who appear all too eager to hand over control of their bodies to old men and go on to other fights.
The baton to preserve reproductive rights won in the last century has passed from my generation to those that follow. I wish you success. I hope for your eternal vigilance because the fight to preserve the right of a woman to control her reproductive health seems to be always under attack--particularly in Texas.
Like many women my age, I will dutifully write my check to Planned Parenthood, shake my head at the women in the anti-choice movement who appear all too eager to hand over control of their bodies to old men and go on to other fights.
The baton to preserve reproductive rights won in the last century has passed from my generation to those that follow. I wish you success. I hope for your eternal vigilance because the fight to preserve the right of a woman to control her reproductive health seems to be always under attack--particularly in Texas.
27
"“How would God vote tonight if he were here?” demanded State Senator Dan Patrick.
Here we go with "God" again. These same supposedly pious people (Patrick is a former radio shock jock and a clown of the highest order) rending their garments over "the unborn" are the same ones who turn around and denigrate poor women with children as "lazy welfare bums" and "moochers," all the while cutting and slashing social programs that many of these women and their children (who now happen to be inconveniently outside the womb) might need to survive. Funny how we don't see any of these megachurches -- so called paragons of morality -- holding fundraising drives or in any way working to better the lives of poor children that these so-called "Christians" insist must be born. The minuscule threat of ISIS is nothing compared the damage America's Taliban is inflicting here at home.
Here we go with "God" again. These same supposedly pious people (Patrick is a former radio shock jock and a clown of the highest order) rending their garments over "the unborn" are the same ones who turn around and denigrate poor women with children as "lazy welfare bums" and "moochers," all the while cutting and slashing social programs that many of these women and their children (who now happen to be inconveniently outside the womb) might need to survive. Funny how we don't see any of these megachurches -- so called paragons of morality -- holding fundraising drives or in any way working to better the lives of poor children that these so-called "Christians" insist must be born. The minuscule threat of ISIS is nothing compared the damage America's Taliban is inflicting here at home.
60
The so-called pro-life movement is a fraud, but the pro-choice forces shoot themselves in the foot.
It has long been known that criminalization is a failure in reducing abortion rates. Abortions in countries that criminalize abortions are not fewer. They are simply unsafe.
That's why these onerous and unnecessary clinic regulations are such a sick, cynical joke.
The nations with the lowest abortion rates in the world follow the Planned Parenthood model. They reduce demand - through accurate available education, quality affordable healthcare and quality affordable contraception.
We should be following Switzerland and the Netherlands, not Nicaragua.
If one were genuinely pro-life wouldn't one prefer the way that works and is humane, instead of a complete failure that's also viciously cruel?
But we're dealing here with the sadistic freaks of the cheap labor far right. They don't care about babies. They'll starve them in a heartbeat to finance the next tax cut for the rich.
All these bums care about is keeping poor women as desperate as possible so they are easier to exploit as cheap labor. That they can do so under a phony pretense of virtue thrills their greedy, mean little hearts.
It has long been known that criminalization is a failure in reducing abortion rates. Abortions in countries that criminalize abortions are not fewer. They are simply unsafe.
That's why these onerous and unnecessary clinic regulations are such a sick, cynical joke.
The nations with the lowest abortion rates in the world follow the Planned Parenthood model. They reduce demand - through accurate available education, quality affordable healthcare and quality affordable contraception.
We should be following Switzerland and the Netherlands, not Nicaragua.
If one were genuinely pro-life wouldn't one prefer the way that works and is humane, instead of a complete failure that's also viciously cruel?
But we're dealing here with the sadistic freaks of the cheap labor far right. They don't care about babies. They'll starve them in a heartbeat to finance the next tax cut for the rich.
All these bums care about is keeping poor women as desperate as possible so they are easier to exploit as cheap labor. That they can do so under a phony pretense of virtue thrills their greedy, mean little hearts.
59
The right-wing GOP is determined to break the perceived "dependence on government" by the poor and low-income, at any or all cost. In their minds, every form of government assistance has just one goal, and that is to create and keep strong a society that is dependent on government hand-outs from cradle to grave.
This is why they advance so many punitive, judgmental measures - drug-testing of welfare recipients (even those receiving unemployment benefits), the restricting and defunding of programs that benefit low-income people, especially women, and by the continuous legislative undermining of the rights of women, minorities, the elderly, the disabled, and veterans.
In their minds, if you are low-income, you are there because of your own bad decisions, and you have no right to expect or receive assistance of any kind from your federal, state, or local governments.
This is why they advance so many punitive, judgmental measures - drug-testing of welfare recipients (even those receiving unemployment benefits), the restricting and defunding of programs that benefit low-income people, especially women, and by the continuous legislative undermining of the rights of women, minorities, the elderly, the disabled, and veterans.
In their minds, if you are low-income, you are there because of your own bad decisions, and you have no right to expect or receive assistance of any kind from your federal, state, or local governments.
27
Never mind that women are low-income due to discrimination at all levels of employment from start to finish. I guess being born female is all our own fault!
1
The arrogance of these men is astounding. What would God say? God does not say please make sure that every poor pregnant woman who is desperate for an abortion travel hundreds of miles and spend hundreds of dollars she doesn't have and then listen to men tell her how horrible she is and how she should be in jail. Nor does God say force all pregnant women to give birth even if they are too young, too poor, too abused or too emotionally unstable to do so. And make sure those poor women have no health insurance.
I don't know what God would say but if I had to guess the message would be about love.
I don't know what God would say but if I had to guess the message would be about love.
29
It is always a mystery to me that the people who shout the loudest for small government and individual freedom to do whatever are those who work the hardest to impose their will on others.
40
So much for all the reasons, justifications, and explanations about WHY woman should have a right to kill their unborn children.
In short, women without conscience of the "sacredness" of human life need little pretense to do so in our profane culture. Must our society support or discourage these killings? Should we support "preemptive" warfare, capital punishment. stand your ground gun laws, necessary nuclear war, mass unaddressed refugee migrations, inhumane and oppressive regimes that slaughter and enslave their peoples?
I really think racism and class discrimination are historically behind getting these "lesser" humans to kill their somehow even lesser unborn children so that WE (those more privileged by class or color) don't have to address these children's needs and concerns. A society that truly valued its people would do everything possible to support these children from conception to birth and after.
Woman chafe at being regarded as material sex-objects belonging to men but want to enjoy a right to treat their unborn as material extensions of their body they can decide to cut-off from life support. What of the fathers? What of the community of life?
Where is the higher ground on this issue?
Laws can never instill lost conscience in an individual or a society BUT laws can give direction, pause, and reward or punish. Should we have no laws concerning abortion? Should we have no provisions in support of the poor's progeny so that they might be lifted up in life?
In short, women without conscience of the "sacredness" of human life need little pretense to do so in our profane culture. Must our society support or discourage these killings? Should we support "preemptive" warfare, capital punishment. stand your ground gun laws, necessary nuclear war, mass unaddressed refugee migrations, inhumane and oppressive regimes that slaughter and enslave their peoples?
I really think racism and class discrimination are historically behind getting these "lesser" humans to kill their somehow even lesser unborn children so that WE (those more privileged by class or color) don't have to address these children's needs and concerns. A society that truly valued its people would do everything possible to support these children from conception to birth and after.
Woman chafe at being regarded as material sex-objects belonging to men but want to enjoy a right to treat their unborn as material extensions of their body they can decide to cut-off from life support. What of the fathers? What of the community of life?
Where is the higher ground on this issue?
Laws can never instill lost conscience in an individual or a society BUT laws can give direction, pause, and reward or punish. Should we have no laws concerning abortion? Should we have no provisions in support of the poor's progeny so that they might be lifted up in life?
2
"I really think racism and class discrimination are historically behind getting these "lesser" humans to kill their somehow even lesser unborn children so that WE (those more privileged by class or color) don't have to address these children's needs and concerns."
The flaw in your reasoning is that those who want to eliminate abortion are of the same political stamp that refuses to "address the needs and concerns" of those children and their parents.
Read the other comments, and see how many of them say that the way to reduce abortion is to offer the poor and racial minorities adequate health care. But for the right-to-life ideologues, life ends at delivery.
The flaw in your reasoning is that those who want to eliminate abortion are of the same political stamp that refuses to "address the needs and concerns" of those children and their parents.
Read the other comments, and see how many of them say that the way to reduce abortion is to offer the poor and racial minorities adequate health care. But for the right-to-life ideologues, life ends at delivery.
3
"I really think racism and class discrimination are historically behind getting these "lesser" humans to kill their somehow even lesser unborn children so that WE (those more privileged by class or color) don't have to address these children's needs and concerns."
The freedom of women to choose when and if to have a child really has nothing to do with getting people to "kill" their children. And do you really think that only poor women of color want to have control over when and if to have a child? Do you really think that wealthy white women don't get abortions?
This is all about control over women. Period. When the self professed Pro-Life movement starts talking about the obscenities of war and capitol punishment, then perhaps I'll listen more closely to their arguments. If they, or you, really want to limit abortion, then step up to provide meaningful sex education and family planning for all.
The freedom of women to choose when and if to have a child really has nothing to do with getting people to "kill" their children. And do you really think that only poor women of color want to have control over when and if to have a child? Do you really think that wealthy white women don't get abortions?
This is all about control over women. Period. When the self professed Pro-Life movement starts talking about the obscenities of war and capitol punishment, then perhaps I'll listen more closely to their arguments. If they, or you, really want to limit abortion, then step up to provide meaningful sex education and family planning for all.
11
You and I, no one, has any business with another woman's womb. Roe v Wade? Constitution? I'm certain you remember these, they state the law, do not pervert it.
2
At age 14 in the late 1950s I was seduced by a man of 32. Pregnant and parentless, I went to a drug store and bought multiple medications labeled "Not to be taken by pregnant women" and took them in large quantities. The miniscule fetus was aborted. I was fortunate that I neither died nor had a deformed child, and that 12 years later I could bear a wanted and loved child within a happy marriage. Outlawing abortion will not prevent abortions.
68
This op-ed needs a factual correction: No one "attempted to prosecute" the woman in Georgia. She was ARRESTED (by police with a misunderstanding of Georgia law), but the charges were promptly DROPPED by the county's district attorney (i.e. the prosecutor).
4
Promptly dropped? She spent three days in jail.
3
Yes, after it was pointed out there was no law against what she did. So why was she arrested in the first place?
3
A fine column as usual, Gail, but I'm surprised you didn't take advantage of the opportunity to mention Butch Otter.
5
How would God vote , if he were here ?
This issue was put to bed in 1973 by the Court.
Wonder how God would have voted had he been there ?
The Framers wisely decided that God had no seat at the table of governmental affairs. Would God have voted against that had he been there ?
The republican party has decided to ignore the Constitution and the very obvious fact that God has never appeared at any session held by any of the governmental branches established by the laws created , in His absence,
by our Constitution.
In fact, God may presently be refereeing the match between ISIS and the innocent citizens of the Middle East and Africa who are being slaughtered like cattle in his name.
Who would God vote for....if He were there ?
This is the year 2015. Would God vote republican or democrat....if He were here ?
When is this outright foolishness going to cease ?
Women alone are tasked with the burden of childbirth. It is their job and no one else's and decisions regarding same belong strictly to women, their families, and consultation , not with God , but with a competent physician.
Religion has no place in government or in the lives of any citizen who chooses the Constitution over religious dogma concerning an omnipotent, supernatural being that has, so far, boycotted the election booth.
This issue was put to bed in 1973 by the Court.
Wonder how God would have voted had he been there ?
The Framers wisely decided that God had no seat at the table of governmental affairs. Would God have voted against that had he been there ?
The republican party has decided to ignore the Constitution and the very obvious fact that God has never appeared at any session held by any of the governmental branches established by the laws created , in His absence,
by our Constitution.
In fact, God may presently be refereeing the match between ISIS and the innocent citizens of the Middle East and Africa who are being slaughtered like cattle in his name.
Who would God vote for....if He were there ?
This is the year 2015. Would God vote republican or democrat....if He were here ?
When is this outright foolishness going to cease ?
Women alone are tasked with the burden of childbirth. It is their job and no one else's and decisions regarding same belong strictly to women, their families, and consultation , not with God , but with a competent physician.
Religion has no place in government or in the lives of any citizen who chooses the Constitution over religious dogma concerning an omnipotent, supernatural being that has, so far, boycotted the election booth.
45
Ah yes, Gail, Republicans do want so desperately to take us back to the 1950's. I knew someone in the service who said that, before he joined, his girlfriend's family flew her to Puerto Rico for an abortion. You're right, it's available if one has the money. Meanwhile, Republicans can continue to punish the indigent, for being, uh, indigent. Republicans claim a special affiliation to Jesus Christ. I wonder if the feeling is mutual.
Republicans have certain hot-button issues that get stuck up their craws. Not being a doctor, I don't know where the craw is, but in addition to abortion, I suspect you'll find taxes, school prayer, healthcare and even the Duggars stuck up there. It just comes with the Republican territory. Even that great Libertarian Ron Paul would restrict women from the right to reproductive choice. He's a Texan, so maybe that territory is the prairie and it makes one have these inconsistencies. Sitting out there all alone with a little peyote might open their eyes.
Going back to the '50's is not enjoyable for me, Gail. It was frowned upon then even to talk openly about cancer. Maybe the GOP will forbid divorce, but Reagan broke that barrier. Republicans have liberalized over the years. Given their love for Rubio, sloppy finance is even acceptable to them now. Soon they'll accept a woman's right to choose.
Republicans have certain hot-button issues that get stuck up their craws. Not being a doctor, I don't know where the craw is, but in addition to abortion, I suspect you'll find taxes, school prayer, healthcare and even the Duggars stuck up there. It just comes with the Republican territory. Even that great Libertarian Ron Paul would restrict women from the right to reproductive choice. He's a Texan, so maybe that territory is the prairie and it makes one have these inconsistencies. Sitting out there all alone with a little peyote might open their eyes.
Going back to the '50's is not enjoyable for me, Gail. It was frowned upon then even to talk openly about cancer. Maybe the GOP will forbid divorce, but Reagan broke that barrier. Republicans have liberalized over the years. Given their love for Rubio, sloppy finance is even acceptable to them now. Soon they'll accept a woman's right to choose.
19
If men could get pregnant, we wouldn't be talking about this - abortion and contraception would not be controversial.
59
We are still living in a "Hellfire Nation." Leftover from the Puritans and other backward residents, still believing in a prehistoric fallacy.
28
Actually, "prehistoric" means prior to the written record. I believe those beliefs which you reject are in fact in the written record.
1
Two thoughts on this:
First, yesterday I saw a bumper sticker of a yellow ribbon that read "with freedom and liberty for all." Not freedom and justice. Freedom and liberty.
Second, the good legislators of Texas are perfectly happy sending poor women 300+ miles round trip to New Mexico to have their medical needs met, and those NM clinics don't conform to the ridiculous and unnecessary standards set forth as ostensibly "protective of women." But that's okay, apparently, because at least those medical services aren't being provided on Texas soil. And the equally conservative Fifth Circuit Court agrees that a 300-mile trip does not constitute an "undue burden" on women with no cars, no money for gas, and jobs that require their actual presence.
When "justice" is dropped from the common phraseology whose origins are in the Pledge of Allegiance, then "freedom" becomes inherently unregulated and selfish. It becomes the tyranny of the wealthy over the poor, of the strong over the weak, of the fearful over everyone.
First, yesterday I saw a bumper sticker of a yellow ribbon that read "with freedom and liberty for all." Not freedom and justice. Freedom and liberty.
Second, the good legislators of Texas are perfectly happy sending poor women 300+ miles round trip to New Mexico to have their medical needs met, and those NM clinics don't conform to the ridiculous and unnecessary standards set forth as ostensibly "protective of women." But that's okay, apparently, because at least those medical services aren't being provided on Texas soil. And the equally conservative Fifth Circuit Court agrees that a 300-mile trip does not constitute an "undue burden" on women with no cars, no money for gas, and jobs that require their actual presence.
When "justice" is dropped from the common phraseology whose origins are in the Pledge of Allegiance, then "freedom" becomes inherently unregulated and selfish. It becomes the tyranny of the wealthy over the poor, of the strong over the weak, of the fearful over everyone.
33
Ohhh, you mean the "poor people"? Is that who abortion, oops, "reproductive rights", is aimed at? I thought it wasn't?
Are we conflating women's health issues with politicized religious beliefs? You bet. Legislators know that the US Supreme Court will uphold abortion restrictions if they're premised on protection of women's health. So that's the basis they use. And maybe some of the restrictions could be valid, like requiring outpatient facilities performing surgical abortions to meet hospital standards. The question is whether courts are going to be allowed to presume that almost any restriction short of outright prohibition is based on concern about women's health rather than legislative adherence to the quasi-religious belief that life begins at the moment of conception.
3
That's not a "quasi-religious" belief. It's a religious belief.
1
I don't understand why all those "other people" in Texas just don't throw in the towel, become White, rich, Republican, gun-toting conservative Evangelicals, and be done with it. Clearly that's what the Texas legislature wants.
14
They don't want all of us to be rich. Most of us should be happy with a bare subsistence.
1
Conservative Republicans love to finger wag and "punish" the rest of us, especially the poor.
19
Tell me, at whom are "reproductive rights" aimed? Certainly not the poor! I see so many clinics in the ritzy part of town, don't you?
Texas is the poster child for the Republican agenda. Send women to prison for seeking an abortion, invoke God during legislative debates, keep health care accessible only for the rich and well-to-do, and use the poor women whom they deny access to birth control/abortions as the GOP scapegoat for "Those People" who "keep having babies."
Shameful. And one can only hope that other communities (LGBT, seniors, people of color, immigrants) whom the GOP love to oppress will rally together with women to stop this nonsense come election day.
Shameful. And one can only hope that other communities (LGBT, seniors, people of color, immigrants) whom the GOP love to oppress will rally together with women to stop this nonsense come election day.
37
In Michigan too, our GOP-dominated legislature is busy legislating their brand of morality. They just passed legislation calling for a waiting period before a lawyer can offer their services to a couple seeking a divorce.
Meanwhile our roads are a disgrace to civilization.
Meanwhile our roads are a disgrace to civilization.
21
This is part of the broad Republican Party campaign to return American women to the back alley once again. As documented in the official GOP platform approved in 2012, the GOP wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, with no mention made of exceptions for rape, incest, or life endangerment. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-a-grimes/medical-factchecking-the-_b...
34
The Dickensian mentality behind these laws goes beyond restricting access for poor women. Once they give birth, they are subjected to being shamed (by peers and--worse--by laws restricting access to medical care and other assistance) for being single mothers, or (if married) for having a child they can't afford. Of course, this doesn't stop with the mother or parents: the children end up on the receiving end of the same public and private shaming as their parents.
35
Are people who are not smart enough to vote really smart enough to make their own decisions about reproductive rights?
5
This debate gets pretty dirty. So here's a proposed dirty tactic. Outspoken advocates against abortion include countless women. Dollars to donuts, thousands of them have had abortions. The records are at the clinics they're closing. You can take it from there.
36
Lots of doctors tell stories about women who picket their clinics, who turn up one day asking for an off-hours abortion because god forbid any of their fellow hasslers find out; they leave announcing that they are still against abortion "but this is different," and a week or so later they are back out front of the clinic, shrieking at patients who might be there for an abortion, or a Pap smear, or a breast exam.
I spent a couple years among the Christian fundamentalists, where I observed the most amazing level of denial I have seen in my life so far. They were hellfire and damnation about unsaved sinners, but when it came to their own errors, they confessed to god and assumed the sin was now cancelled and they were safely back among the self-righteous. Stunning.
I spent a couple years among the Christian fundamentalists, where I observed the most amazing level of denial I have seen in my life so far. They were hellfire and damnation about unsaved sinners, but when it came to their own errors, they confessed to god and assumed the sin was now cancelled and they were safely back among the self-righteous. Stunning.
2
Did Karl Rove whisper that in your ear? Brilliant!
I guess HIPPA would get in the way of your plan--ya know that Federal law that health care records are confidential and could only be disclosed by the consent of the person they pertained to. Outspoken advocates also include numerous men who have had their female lovers get abortions so they would not have to deal with either a baby or reveal an affair.
1
Yes, we really need to worry about abortions that have been done safely in the same settings for years in Planned Parenthood clinics which are fostered by the laws that have worked, right? We may compare that to the settings of back alley abortions. Maybe the back alley abortions are really what Texans want because that is exactly what will happen.
Wisconsin is passing legislation this week to outlaw abortions after 20 weeks from fertilization. Numerous medical professionals have testified against the this legislation. Republican Wisconsin Senator Mary Lazich is wrong, and medically incorrect. This will leave women and babies suffering in the long run.
A fetus who has no heart or kidneys will not survive outside the womb.
Yet Wisconsin is forcing women to go through that pregnancy, on her "merry way" til she delivers this baby who has none, not one chance, of survival.
Why? In their words, "because a five month old 'baby' will feel pain" in an abortion. They are comparing, in their own words, a five month old baby to a fetus of five months.
These lawmakers have not worked, obviously, in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit - not only worked, but set foot in. They have no idea what they are talking about - but they are leaving women without choice, inducing pain and suffering on both mother and child, needlessly.
The power of Republicans in legislature. Women - please, please, please - get out and vote in every election you can an put an end to this, please.
Wisconsin is passing legislation this week to outlaw abortions after 20 weeks from fertilization. Numerous medical professionals have testified against the this legislation. Republican Wisconsin Senator Mary Lazich is wrong, and medically incorrect. This will leave women and babies suffering in the long run.
A fetus who has no heart or kidneys will not survive outside the womb.
Yet Wisconsin is forcing women to go through that pregnancy, on her "merry way" til she delivers this baby who has none, not one chance, of survival.
Why? In their words, "because a five month old 'baby' will feel pain" in an abortion. They are comparing, in their own words, a five month old baby to a fetus of five months.
These lawmakers have not worked, obviously, in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit - not only worked, but set foot in. They have no idea what they are talking about - but they are leaving women without choice, inducing pain and suffering on both mother and child, needlessly.
The power of Republicans in legislature. Women - please, please, please - get out and vote in every election you can an put an end to this, please.
31
There is something irrational about anti women abortion laws that depend on the past, not the future. And yet it is the past that will determine how women fare with reproductive rights. Abortion is safe and does not need laws that thrust it back to the dark ages.
118
What these anti-abortion laws do is deny poor people one of the most basic rights a human can have...the right to have a loving sexual relationship even within a marriage without the fear of having children one cannot afford to support. With the desire to eliminate family planning as well as access to abortions for poor families, that is the only way this can be read and it is consistent with Republicans' disdain for the poor in general. They completely forget that American wealth is often created on the backs of low paid workers. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich needs to be required reading for lawmakers.
20
Since small businesses create the most jobs, and since small business are overwhelmingly "Republican" in ownership, your claim that "They completely forget that American wealth is often created on the backs of low paid workers" is absurd.
And who cleans the toilets at the small businesses? And does the childcare for its workers? Who serves them at restaurants and who cleans their hotel rooms when they travel for business? Barbara Ehrenreich went under cover working at the minimum wage for several months in different communities. In one, she had to work two 8-hour jobs, one cleaning hotel rooms and one waitressing at a diner, just to afford a tiny roach infested apartment with cracks in the walls. She had colleagues working full time jobs living out of their cars. And she noted that busness owners could not thrive without these jobs being done. Capitalism works, but only if tweaked so that it at least provides the basics to those on the bottom tier. We used to do a better job of that.
15
Having worked for Republican small business owners, I assure you they are quite good at paying employees as little as they can get away with, layering more work onto their staff without adding personnel, then strutting around congratulating themselves for building their businesses by the sweat of their own brows.
Why don't their employees look elsewhere for better-paid work? Because small businesses create the most jobs, and few treat their employees any better.
Why don't their employees look elsewhere for better-paid work? Because small businesses create the most jobs, and few treat their employees any better.
3
Without women, there wold be no babies, safe or not. The right to choose is not merely an option to terminate a pregnancy for a woman, it is the choice made that for whatever reasons, a woman feels the fetus would not thrive in a world that is difficult for many to traverse. If it were a perfect world, there would be no difficulties with any child born,but we all know that money from state or federal governments to provide for children who do not have the benefit of good and thriving parents is simply not there. That we still must fight for this basic right that has been the law is primitive and punitive. This cultural trend must have some basis in some world I do not understand. Protective services for children are busy in surely all states. Jails are filled with juveniles. Parents who are hardly adults are not able to make choices that are truly mature. Please. These are facts.
10
Yes, sorry Jr. Your life will be "too difficult to traverse." SO, I'll save you the trouble and off you right now. You're welcome.
I love what you've written - its a perspective I had never heard articulated or considered before. It expresses and acknowledges that individual women hold the wisdom to see a very broad picture of how this pregnancy fits (or doesn't) into the world as it is at the time they are pregnant and how they perceive it will be in the future. The "right-to-lifers" are viewing the pregnancy through a single narrow lens of getting a baby delivered, period. I place my trust in the collective decisions borne of the wisdom of individual women.
2
Two wrongs does not right make. Just because a woman/girl is raped, does not make abortion virtuous. It may be necessary, even very necessary, given the totality of the circumstances, but it is still taking of a life or potential life. In my opinion, this is where pro-choice err just as pro-life err on being coarsely indifferent to the plight of the unborn after they are born.
1
The difference between us is in determining when a fetus has crossed over into a life that has the attributes that make us aware or at least meaningfully human, not on whether it is right to take a life or not. Nature takes the lives of fetuses frequently. An embryo or fetus as the result of rape would have never been conceived without the rape. And all babies need parents who will be present and emotionally healthy. That is not to say that some children of rape do not have loving mothers, but it is the mother's choice to make that decision, not yours.
5
I noticed that the plight of the woman who is pregnant is secondary or absent here. I don't know anyone who feels an abortion is virtuous, in any circumstances.
3
Who said it was virtuous? I hear pro-choice people saying it's a woman's right to determine the moral implications of an abortion for herself. We don't get to decide that for her.
4
Remember, it was women who voted these "conservative" politicians in the red states too. Elections have consequences. I guess the karma chickens are coming home to roost.
9
Pro-life movement have women too.
Yes, but not the poor women who are becoming increasingly underrepresented and even barred from voting by draconian laws that almost certainly are also unconstitutional. And we have a Constitution in the first place to prevent the tyranny of the majority from trampling on a basic right, even if a minority whose right is infringed can be outvoted.
2
Gerrymandering helps get these things passed. It's not only voters. And Doodle, all people are pro-life. Pro-life should include supporting living people, and those who are pro-choice tend to advocate that, whereas the anti-abortion crowd wants to punish living women and children. Just read some of the comments here, such as the one by XY. Women should be shamed, he says, for having irresponsible sex. (Not men, though.)
4
The women of this country better take notice right here and now because the fact that Republicans are making war on them is proven every day in developments like this. There is not a single Republican candidate who would work to uphold a woman's right to control her own body; in fact, each one of them would make it a major goal to appoint federal judges who would rule against women's civil rights on every level. It's time to get to work, ladies. A Democrat must be elected in 2016 or this will be a very different country for you, your daughters, and granddaughters. Don't let that happen.
19
Remember: It's not YOUR body. You are merely the temporary host for another human being. It's THEIR body. Idiotic argument as usual.
I presume Texas is prepared to increase the amount of funding for the OB care , the deliveries, the pediatric care of the newborn, the demand for food stamps, housing, and school costs that all these new Texans will bring. Then there is the fact that unwanted ,single parent kids have 7-10 times more drug use, school dropout and jailing. I guess this will be the next legislation passed.
13
Wow, you have such a nice, sunny outlook. I bet you're fun at parties.
“'How would God vote tonight if he were here?'” demanded State Senator Dan Patrick."
Well, since you brought Him up, Mr. Patrick, God IS there, as He is everywhere, being that He is omnipresent. And God Himself is responsible for every miscarriage (otherwise known as "spontaneous abortion") that occurs. So, I suppose that God feels, as often mothers of unwanted pregnancies do, that abortions are sometime, regrettably necessary.
Well, since you brought Him up, Mr. Patrick, God IS there, as He is everywhere, being that He is omnipresent. And God Himself is responsible for every miscarriage (otherwise known as "spontaneous abortion") that occurs. So, I suppose that God feels, as often mothers of unwanted pregnancies do, that abortions are sometime, regrettably necessary.
19
I don't know....maybe He or She had a say with recent Texas weather, Mr. Patrick?
3
On many landscapes, abortion could be represented by two distinct and separate spheres: that it is morally and religiously wrong and sinful, or that it is a woman's prerogative and right to choose. No wonder it sparks polarized debates and positions and legislation. And even less wonder that legislators are falling all over themselves to create not just obstacles to abortion beyond ordinary measures but to de facto prohibit it when they cannot outright do so. And almost entirely done by men.
The old joke goes that the difference between bacon and eggs is that the chicken is involved but the pig is committed equally applies to men and women relative to children. Not only does the woman bring a child to live inside her body for nine months, but overwhelmingly the responsibility for the child over many years of rearing will be hers as well.
Perhaps we might have our legislators take a page from high school classes. They should be required to carry a doll around for nine months without putting it down, then larger and larger dolls for a few years more.
Do you think it would affect the outcome of abortion laws? Not if their deep seated religious views hold sway. Their morality and world view must become everyone else's too.
As majority leaders in Congress are fond of saying, "It's the will of the people." The truth is it is only the will of a few people, and somehow they have gotten to make the rules for everyone else.
The old joke goes that the difference between bacon and eggs is that the chicken is involved but the pig is committed equally applies to men and women relative to children. Not only does the woman bring a child to live inside her body for nine months, but overwhelmingly the responsibility for the child over many years of rearing will be hers as well.
Perhaps we might have our legislators take a page from high school classes. They should be required to carry a doll around for nine months without putting it down, then larger and larger dolls for a few years more.
Do you think it would affect the outcome of abortion laws? Not if their deep seated religious views hold sway. Their morality and world view must become everyone else's too.
As majority leaders in Congress are fond of saying, "It's the will of the people." The truth is it is only the will of a few people, and somehow they have gotten to make the rules for everyone else.
24
Wrong. Not the "will of a few people" as you put it. The abortion debate is quite close to 50/50. Learn the facts.
Today's REAL Heros: Jennie Linn McCormack of Idaho her and lawyer, Rick Hearn, who is also a doctor. It takes real courage to stand up to power and change the course of history. Other real heros are all the women who are making the choice to end unwanted pregnancies in the face of these ludicrous laws and the judge who threw out the law about abortion being murder. Reasonable women of Idaho of all ages please step up and take over your state politics. The men in your state legislature have gone loco. along with those in Texas, Florida, Utah and other "red-neck" state legislatures that are passing these archaic laws. It is NOT acceptable.
1
1
105
The burden of pregnancy has always been on women. The burden of having sex and making sure you have protection. And then the burden that sometimes contraception isn't 100% reliable. So the woman deals with the consequences. The burden of, if you get pregnant because you had sex, perhaps with someone you're not married to, you, the woman will have to deal with the consequences.
I would like to know, since there are so few Republicans with 10, 12, 19 and counting children, how exactly are they only having families with 3, 4 children? Could it be that they have access to healthcare? Could it be that they have choices? The hypocrisy of the Right and the attack on the poor, because, mind you, the rich will always have access to abortion. boggles the mind.
Finally, the irony that lawmakers in Idaho killed a bill aimed at getting federal assistance to track down deadbeat dads because they were afraid it would involve imposition of the Islamic law code Shariah, isn't lost on me. Why is it lost on them, that they are imposing their own Shariah law on poor women all over America?
I would like to know, since there are so few Republicans with 10, 12, 19 and counting children, how exactly are they only having families with 3, 4 children? Could it be that they have access to healthcare? Could it be that they have choices? The hypocrisy of the Right and the attack on the poor, because, mind you, the rich will always have access to abortion. boggles the mind.
Finally, the irony that lawmakers in Idaho killed a bill aimed at getting federal assistance to track down deadbeat dads because they were afraid it would involve imposition of the Islamic law code Shariah, isn't lost on me. Why is it lost on them, that they are imposing their own Shariah law on poor women all over America?
48
The nation was founded by people who weren't fervent believers but went through the motions to mollify those for whom there is a divine spark in every occurrence, those like Rick Perry who pray for rain and those like Ted Cruz who blame Texas flooding on Native American rain dances.
The Supreme Court decided forty years ago that women retained the right to terminate unwanted pregnancies. Unless the current Supremes under the Dread Justice Roberts would like to revisit this issue, that's the law that should be adhered to in every State.
Texas, Idaho, and other red states have put religious bullying ahead of the law. Is that their right? My religion, which is that all religions, including mine, are presumptuous folly, would start by asking preachers to clam up in public. Even so, should my godless ilk become a majority we understand the disparity between public and private behavior. Preach all you want to your coterie on the Eternity Express. Just keep your hands off the law.
For that's the rub here: The law is supposed to be just to believers and non-believers alike. Reconsider that last statement in a country that allows churches tax benefits and behavioral latitudes it would not extend to non-church groups and activities. To wit: Two proximate day care centers in Mississippi, one church-run and the other not, faced radically different conditions; the religious one was not taxed or regulated.
Separate church and state. I'm tired of paying to be lectured by witch doctors.
The Supreme Court decided forty years ago that women retained the right to terminate unwanted pregnancies. Unless the current Supremes under the Dread Justice Roberts would like to revisit this issue, that's the law that should be adhered to in every State.
Texas, Idaho, and other red states have put religious bullying ahead of the law. Is that their right? My religion, which is that all religions, including mine, are presumptuous folly, would start by asking preachers to clam up in public. Even so, should my godless ilk become a majority we understand the disparity between public and private behavior. Preach all you want to your coterie on the Eternity Express. Just keep your hands off the law.
For that's the rub here: The law is supposed to be just to believers and non-believers alike. Reconsider that last statement in a country that allows churches tax benefits and behavioral latitudes it would not extend to non-church groups and activities. To wit: Two proximate day care centers in Mississippi, one church-run and the other not, faced radically different conditions; the religious one was not taxed or regulated.
Separate church and state. I'm tired of paying to be lectured by witch doctors.
19
I quote Bill W, one of the founders of AA. He was deep believer in God. This quote comes from Chapter 11 of "12 Steps and 12 Traditions," in which he strongly (to say the least) advocates prayer:
“Why can't we take a specific and troubling dilemma straight to God, and in prayer secure from Him sure and definite answers to our requests? This can be done, but it has hazards ...Quite often, however, the thoughts that seem to come from God are not answers at all. They prove to be well-intentioned unconscious rationalizations. The A.A., or indeed any man, who tries to run his life rigidly by this kind of prayer, by this self-serving demand of God for replies, is a particularly disconcerting individual. To any questioning or criticism of his actions he instantly proffers his reliance upon prayer for guidance in all matters great or small. He may have forgotten the possibility
that his own wishful thinking and the human tendency to rationalize have distorted his so-called guidance. With the best of intentions, he tends to force his own will into all sorts of situations and problems with the comfortable assurance that he is acting under God's specific direction. Under such an illusion, he can of course create great havoc without in the least intending it."
Again, this is from a believer.
“Why can't we take a specific and troubling dilemma straight to God, and in prayer secure from Him sure and definite answers to our requests? This can be done, but it has hazards ...Quite often, however, the thoughts that seem to come from God are not answers at all. They prove to be well-intentioned unconscious rationalizations. The A.A., or indeed any man, who tries to run his life rigidly by this kind of prayer, by this self-serving demand of God for replies, is a particularly disconcerting individual. To any questioning or criticism of his actions he instantly proffers his reliance upon prayer for guidance in all matters great or small. He may have forgotten the possibility
that his own wishful thinking and the human tendency to rationalize have distorted his so-called guidance. With the best of intentions, he tends to force his own will into all sorts of situations and problems with the comfortable assurance that he is acting under God's specific direction. Under such an illusion, he can of course create great havoc without in the least intending it."
Again, this is from a believer.
5
Not sure about the "very creepy about men in power working to deny women control over their own bodies.' Republicans in general appose women's rights to choose and yet in every election close to 50% of women (and more so in local elections) vote Republican. This has nothing to do with 'male power over women' and almost everything to do with almost half of woman wanting to deprive the other half of their rights to choose.
7
So sad that lawmakers have no solutions to real problems and, thus, abuse their position of power and go after abortion, something that isn't their business.
They have no shame.
They have no shame.
19
28% of Texans went to the polls in the last election.
Women who were 36% of Texas voters sat it out.
The couldn't be bothered women made this happen.
Don't vote ladies, and get the government you deserve.
Women who were 36% of Texas voters sat it out.
The couldn't be bothered women made this happen.
Don't vote ladies, and get the government you deserve.
12
This absurdity that voting makes a difference. In many of thes states the candidates try to out consertive each other. There is no choice for these women in more ways than one.
1
Wait a second. If only 28% of voters cast a vote, and maybe half of them were women, that means that . . .and how come only 36% of Texas voters are women, not 50%. Some statistics and some scolding just don't make any sense.
1
Maybe they had to work to support their children that day. And maybe they had to get to and from work by bus, making it not only difficult to vote, but even difficult to get the documentation to allow them to vote, especially if they were not able to find their birth certificate or had a name change since their birth certificate, which makes it almost impossible to get a voter ID card.
3
One of our biggest problems is that our judges are more and more conservative politicians.
9
Creating an embryo requires both sperm and egg the last I heard. But only the egg donor suffers any consequences including emotional, physical, and increasing humiliation when ending a pregnancy is necessary or desired. There is no equality in that. And although abortion is far better than bringing an unwanted child into the world because of the enormous less than desirable long-term consequences, everyone would no doubt opt out of abortion if they could. Thus birth control needs to become commonplace, for both men and women. And it should become a part of our consciousness that men take equal responsibility for their part by using condoms regardless of their preference--or either be expected to get a vasectomy prior to becoming intimate with a woman uninterested in giving birth. Of course that will probably never happen (until women rule the world) but if it did abortion rates would dramatically drop. Nothing speaks louder than being forced to take responsibility for ones behavior and the consequences that follow.
25
When does a woman's right to choose end? Or would liberals prefer no limits on abortion and abortion providers?
Never, Paul. Just like men.
5
Let's turn it around. Where does the state's right to determine what must happen inside an individual woman's body end, regardless of her wishes, her doctor's medical advice, or her circumstances? What self-respecting man would put up with the state forcing its way into his private medical consultation room where he and his doctor discuss and plan his medical care based upon what they determine together is best for the man's welfare and his future? What limits on the state's right to intrude, interfere, and control would be appropriate in that situation????
7
Liberals have supported some limits, but they make less sense when conservatives make it as difficult as possible to prevent an unwanted pregnancy or to end it early. For emergency medical reasons, abortion should be legal until birth. For elective purposes, it should be as easy as possible to end an unwanted pregnancy early. Waiting periods, allowing pharmacists to opt out of drugs that end pregnancy and requiring waiting periods and expensive lengthy travel for some does exactly the opposite.
3
Whenever we try to divine God's will, we are creating God in our own image.
13
Rick Perry's sister is a lobbyist for surgical care centers. Perry and the TX GOP are about making money. This requirement has nothing to do with safety, there are no incidents of unsafe practices or staff at any of the clinics, its all lies to pretend they care about women's health.
If the TX GOP cared about women's health, they would have stayed out of a women's right to choose and not made a mockery of Sara Davis urging women to stand up for their own rights. But the TX GOP went to the latino communities with the name Sara Davis and images of women clutching their children, communicating that Ms. Davis was there to rip fetuses from wombs. The TX GOP has no bottom to their unethical tactics.
Do not think for one minute that the TX GOP is pro life. They have cut money to education, food for the poor, refused medicaid expansion and ACA exchanges only to protect their friends in the health insurance industry from complying with the ACA which protects individuals from discrimination and higher prices from health insurance companies. This is the only reason all GOP says the ACA doesn't work, the truth is it doesn't work for their friends to charge whatever they like.
No one was more Catholic than the late Mario Cuomo and he believed in a womens right to chose & the state should butt out. But phony, lazy catholics got out their with their no abortion signs & made themselves feel they were doing social justice. Fools who vote GOP are throwing democracy under the bus
If the TX GOP cared about women's health, they would have stayed out of a women's right to choose and not made a mockery of Sara Davis urging women to stand up for their own rights. But the TX GOP went to the latino communities with the name Sara Davis and images of women clutching their children, communicating that Ms. Davis was there to rip fetuses from wombs. The TX GOP has no bottom to their unethical tactics.
Do not think for one minute that the TX GOP is pro life. They have cut money to education, food for the poor, refused medicaid expansion and ACA exchanges only to protect their friends in the health insurance industry from complying with the ACA which protects individuals from discrimination and higher prices from health insurance companies. This is the only reason all GOP says the ACA doesn't work, the truth is it doesn't work for their friends to charge whatever they like.
No one was more Catholic than the late Mario Cuomo and he believed in a womens right to chose & the state should butt out. But phony, lazy catholics got out their with their no abortion signs & made themselves feel they were doing social justice. Fools who vote GOP are throwing democracy under the bus
34
I think you've hit on something. It's not really anti-abortion regulation, it's anti-poor. The (generally) Red state legislatures cut benefits to the poor at every turn, not only because they have little political power, it's also because they are seen as morally deficient... they are poor because they choose to be poor.
And there's no more morally deficient person than a poor pregnant woman.
And there's no more morally deficient person than a poor pregnant woman.
25
Given our lawmakers' compassionate concern for the safety of female Texans, if I were a man, I'd be ticked off. Apparently our legislators couldn't care less that vasectomies here are routinely performed in clinics unaffiliated with any hospital.
I expect any day now for thousands of Texas men to stage a protest at the
Capitol. Yeah, right.
I expect any day now for thousands of Texas men to stage a protest at the
Capitol. Yeah, right.
11
Whether it is abortion or food stamps or the public shaming of unwed mothers, we have a political class, mostly in the south and west, who take great joy is piling on the poor --- their entire political ideology is built on increasing the suffering of those who already are down and out. Ironically these are the same people who in the next breath proclaim that all their actions are in the name of Jesus --- who, if I read the bible correctly, would be on the other side of these policies.
15
Medical care for the needy is apparently expensive for a state. So what better to do than it make so much harder for these people to get the help they need. They do not care for the unborn but sure do love their dollars $$$. Business as usual!
7
The decision by the all male court in New Orleans continues the right wing war against women’s reproductive rights. The Republican Party and their right wing evangelical supporters continue this attack in light of another article in the Times that shows that the south has more single parent families that the agnostic north. This hypocrisy of the Republican Party and their “family” friendly policies should begin at home and not on the national stage where they continue to legislate against the tide of expanding individual freedom. I guess if women were advocating for more lax gun laws they would be the darlings of the Republican Party. It seems personal freedom is very narrowly defined by Republicans.
9
democrats don't vote, republicans make the rules - get it?
1
Abortion has long been an option of irresponsible adults. So is suicide (which the NY Times supported in yesterday's editorial). Restricting abortion to 20 weeks at least protects the lives of children who can live on their own with proper care. To refer to the abortion of human beings that can live on their own as a "right" is obscene.
1
Irresponsible adults? What is obscene is a person who judges another's decisions while knowing absolutely nothing about the circumstances. How does that bible verse go? Oh yeah. "Judge not lest ye be judged."
5
And the travesty of Texas laws is that with the shortage of clinics, you push most elective surgical abortions much later in the pregnancy. And you also eliminate the means for poor women to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place. I have no words for how bankrupt is the thinking of Republican legislatures.
4
Interesting that State Senator Patrick asks what God's view on abortion is. Actually, we know what it is -- or at least, people who would ask that question already know what it is -- because it is clearly stated in the Bible, which is the Word of God dictated to Moses on Mt. Sinai, no?
Exodus 21:22 says:
If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. (King James version)
Now many US Bibles translated by Christians translate "her fruit depart" as "delivered prematurely," but this is purely political, because they can't face the truth: that this verse and the ones before and after it draw a clear distinction between murder and causing a woman to lose her unborn child.
In other words, according to the Bible, God him (her?) self said abortion is not murder, contrary to what the lawmakers in Texas and Georgia think. In fact, there is no penalty at all in the Bible for abortion, whereas there is a penalty for, say, injuring someone's eye, tooth, etc.
Exodus 21:22 says:
If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. (King James version)
Now many US Bibles translated by Christians translate "her fruit depart" as "delivered prematurely," but this is purely political, because they can't face the truth: that this verse and the ones before and after it draw a clear distinction between murder and causing a woman to lose her unborn child.
In other words, according to the Bible, God him (her?) self said abortion is not murder, contrary to what the lawmakers in Texas and Georgia think. In fact, there is no penalty at all in the Bible for abortion, whereas there is a penalty for, say, injuring someone's eye, tooth, etc.
13
Requiring a clinic performing surgical abortion (D&C) to meet the same minimum requirements that they do to perform liposuction and breast implants is not an "undue burden", it's common sense.
On occasion, you can in fact get into life threatening complications during a D&C. These regulations and requirements you complain about address the facility standards and equipment requirements to maximize patient safety. The clinics who are complaining are seeking financial relief for their business model rather then fighting the good fight.
On occasion, you can in fact get into life threatening complications during a D&C. These regulations and requirements you complain about address the facility standards and equipment requirements to maximize patient safety. The clinics who are complaining are seeking financial relief for their business model rather then fighting the good fight.
1
I recently had two dental surgeries in a doctor's office, under sedation. Sedation can cause CNS failure and death.
It was invasive (I had a tooth removed and, later, the doctor inserted the screw for an implant). There was a risk of excess bleeding—even death by hemorrhage.
Should my dental surgeon be forced to set up a hospital-like center?
Should a urologist who performs vasectomies? Yes, it's exterior, but there are many nerve endings in that region and infection is always a threat.
Legislators who push these laws are not doing it for health and safety reasons—childbirth poses 11 times more risk of death as a first-trimester abortion in a standard clinic (and infection, excessive bleeding, complications from sedation are also a risk factor in childbirth). They are pushing these laws to pander to a large voting bloc by appearing to do something to end abortion in the US.
PS: Most first-trimester abortions are performed using aspiration. There is dilation, but curettage is not always necessary.
It was invasive (I had a tooth removed and, later, the doctor inserted the screw for an implant). There was a risk of excess bleeding—even death by hemorrhage.
Should my dental surgeon be forced to set up a hospital-like center?
Should a urologist who performs vasectomies? Yes, it's exterior, but there are many nerve endings in that region and infection is always a threat.
Legislators who push these laws are not doing it for health and safety reasons—childbirth poses 11 times more risk of death as a first-trimester abortion in a standard clinic (and infection, excessive bleeding, complications from sedation are also a risk factor in childbirth). They are pushing these laws to pander to a large voting bloc by appearing to do something to end abortion in the US.
PS: Most first-trimester abortions are performed using aspiration. There is dilation, but curettage is not always necessary.
2
Odd, then, that so many of the architects of these laws said repeatedly that they were just an excuse for shutting the clinics down.
Odd, too, that the medical statistics don't remotely support your claim of "safety."
Oddest that a doctor wouldn't know this.
Odd, too, that the medical statistics don't remotely support your claim of "safety."
Oddest that a doctor wouldn't know this.
2
Dismal is right, Gail. I wish all middle class women would understand and support poor women on this issue.
14
The disingenuousness of the so-called Right Life politicans is exposed by the fact that they also oppose making birth control more readily available.
21
The concept of giving two entities within the same body separate legal status is among the stupidest ideas the courts and legislatures have constructed.
If a woman can be charged with murder for the death of a fetus, Pandora's Box is open.
There are many different kinds of murder in our legal system from first degree murder to manslaughter. Consider manslaughter.
Manslaughter means that one's actions resulted in the death of another even if there was no intent. All that has to be proved is some level of negligence. So if a pregnant woman is involved in any kind of accident, whether from tripping to vehicular, and it results in the loss of the fetus, the woman will have to prove is was not negligent. (The woman didn't hold on to the hand rail going down stairs.)
Further, manslaughter could still be charged if the accident happened when a woman was pregnant, but before she knew it. (Maybe she was riding a bicycle and fell down.)
Maybe this sounds far fetched and silly, but not so far fetched and silly now that Georgia has charged a woman with murder for allegedly killing a fetus.
If a woman can be charged with murder for the death of a fetus, Pandora's Box is open.
There are many different kinds of murder in our legal system from first degree murder to manslaughter. Consider manslaughter.
Manslaughter means that one's actions resulted in the death of another even if there was no intent. All that has to be proved is some level of negligence. So if a pregnant woman is involved in any kind of accident, whether from tripping to vehicular, and it results in the loss of the fetus, the woman will have to prove is was not negligent. (The woman didn't hold on to the hand rail going down stairs.)
Further, manslaughter could still be charged if the accident happened when a woman was pregnant, but before she knew it. (Maybe she was riding a bicycle and fell down.)
Maybe this sounds far fetched and silly, but not so far fetched and silly now that Georgia has charged a woman with murder for allegedly killing a fetus.
18
This has already started happening! Particularly related to women who are recovering from addictions, and cases where pregnant women have survived attempted suicides.
1
Gail, There are no bright spots here! We have to save our whole country from our lawmakers but first it appears we have to retrain our voters to pick a better breed of political leaders. A tough, tough chore.
21
Not as tough as you might think. One of the posters here calls me a recovering Republican and that's probably a good way to put it.
I left the Republican party on my own but I started voting for Democrats because so many of the Democrats I encountered were nice people who were well spoken and who used facts and data to appeal to my sense of reason and logic.
Reach out to your friends and neighbors, listen to their concerns, use facts to back up what you tell them and let them know that you really care about what happens to them as well as yourself. If everyone reached out to just one or two people it could make a difference.
I left the Republican party on my own but I started voting for Democrats because so many of the Democrats I encountered were nice people who were well spoken and who used facts and data to appeal to my sense of reason and logic.
Reach out to your friends and neighbors, listen to their concerns, use facts to back up what you tell them and let them know that you really care about what happens to them as well as yourself. If everyone reached out to just one or two people it could make a difference.
2
Memo to former Texas State Senator Dan Patrick. There is no God. If there were she wouldn't vote; she'd she'd give orders commanding petty human legislators how to vote. And she wouldn't choose Dan Patrick as her megaphone. She'd just yell "Leave my gender alone!"
19
Let the states that are against abortion provide their support for the children. No federal money, just the citizens of that state's tax money. See how long those anti-abortion laws last when the costs are not subsidized.
36
Why are we letting the states that have
a. the fattest people
b. the least educated people
c. the largest concentrations of poverty
d. the most abortions
e. the highest mortality rate
f. and who receive the most Federal aid
dictate the terms by which the rest of us must live?
a. the fattest people
b. the least educated people
c. the largest concentrations of poverty
d. the most abortions
e. the highest mortality rate
f. and who receive the most Federal aid
dictate the terms by which the rest of us must live?
58
Because they show up at the polls, reps get to decide on everything.
Because dems dont show up at the polls they decide very little
republicans make me angry, democrats make me sick
Because dems dont show up at the polls they decide very little
republicans make me angry, democrats make me sick
3
"dictate the terms by which the rest of us must live?"
LK, what do you mean by "the rest of us"? Is there some way that Texas can make the laws in Westport CT where you live? How is Texas making decisions for YOU?
I hate to point this out but many posters here are just as irrational as Texans are supposed to be.
LK, what do you mean by "the rest of us"? Is there some way that Texas can make the laws in Westport CT where you live? How is Texas making decisions for YOU?
I hate to point this out but many posters here are just as irrational as Texans are supposed to be.
3
No one dictates the way I live except the radical Democrats in San Francisco, and in Washington, D.C. No wonder we have a drought: the state was too distracted by its laser focus on Hot Button issues -- e.g., midwives doing abortions, and unisex bathrooms in elementary school -- and the needs of several million illegal aliens. Water can take care of itself.
3
Once again, women fail to support their own reproductive health rights and those of their sisters. It's exactly why the Equal Rights Amendment failed. We've not really come a long way, baby.
27
Ed, what about the female fetuses who di as the result of an abortion.?
Do they qualify as sisters, or only as "wannabe sisters"?
I am a moderate on abortion, willing to understand the viewpoints of both sides and seeing some merit in both.
Here at the NY Times, there are only one sided views, and no doubt there are opposite one sided views among Texans.
That is how the world runs, no one wants to understand the point of view of their "enemy".
Do they qualify as sisters, or only as "wannabe sisters"?
I am a moderate on abortion, willing to understand the viewpoints of both sides and seeing some merit in both.
Here at the NY Times, there are only one sided views, and no doubt there are opposite one sided views among Texans.
That is how the world runs, no one wants to understand the point of view of their "enemy".
1
Is there really such a thing as a "safe" abortion? Seems to me that it's not all that safe for the baby.
3
You should read a medical book. It is a fetus.
3
PROVE that a 3-month fetus is a baby. Without imposing your religious beliefs on science,mlet alone everybody else.
3
Nor is being born.
2
And yet, women still vote Republican.
13
It will be interesting the see what the future consequences of these anti-civil rights laws will bring to Texas and other states that are imposing the religious beliefs of some citizens upon all citizens. We are now a politically polarized nation that may find itself geographically segregated into progressive and regressive states in the future. The short term political decisions in Texas today, characterized by these anti-abortion laws, will have unintended impact on long term life in Texas.
5
"We are now a politically polarized nation that may find itself geographically segregated into progressive and regressive states in the future."
1. I suspect we already are
2. Is it bad to feel that it might be just as well?
1. I suspect we already are
2. Is it bad to feel that it might be just as well?
For the "pro-life", human existence begins at conception and ends at birth.
But as is the case with so many "conservative" policies, the end result is the increase of misery in the world. It is hard to avoid the impression that the underlying impulse to such actions is a desire to inflict pain, usually on those least able to withstand it. The tone of savage glee in the voices on hate radio and the gloating at the suffering of the "undeserving" are hard to miss.
But as is the case with so many "conservative" policies, the end result is the increase of misery in the world. It is hard to avoid the impression that the underlying impulse to such actions is a desire to inflict pain, usually on those least able to withstand it. The tone of savage glee in the voices on hate radio and the gloating at the suffering of the "undeserving" are hard to miss.
19
Amazing that Texas fears a federal government takeover and spurns the federal government yet is so quick to try to have total control over the lives of women by enacting oppressive and antiquated laws. How ridiculous.
20
This is a good opportunity for liberals to push back and start fighting for better health care and access to contraception.
Call these guys out on their pro-life claim and demand that they help people exercise care about how and when life is created.
If they won't support measures that prevent unwanted pregnancies their pro-life claim will be exposed for the sham that it is and voters (like me) might open their eyes and stop voting for them.
Call these guys out on their pro-life claim and demand that they help people exercise care about how and when life is created.
If they won't support measures that prevent unwanted pregnancies their pro-life claim will be exposed for the sham that it is and voters (like me) might open their eyes and stop voting for them.
11
DR:
This is a good idea for liberals to actually learn about preventing "unintended" pregnancies. Too many don't understand that "access" to birth control isn't the answer. It has to actually be used.
Figure that one out, and pregnancies will be reduced substantially and women will have actually been helped to take responsibility for their bodies.
This is a good idea for liberals to actually learn about preventing "unintended" pregnancies. Too many don't understand that "access" to birth control isn't the answer. It has to actually be used.
Figure that one out, and pregnancies will be reduced substantially and women will have actually been helped to take responsibility for their bodies.
1
AACNY - Agreed so let's all work together to make sure that everyone in the U.S. grows up with good comprehensive sex education and a culture of responsible behavior on the part of both men and women.
This is one of the things that voters of both parties should be demanding from our politicians. Imagine the power we'd have if we all came together on this.
This is one of the things that voters of both parties should be demanding from our politicians. Imagine the power we'd have if we all came together on this.
2
I believe that the state of Texas has a real and sincere interest in the welfare of the fetus and so it seems appropriate for the state to be required to provide an annual stipend to indignant mothers refused an abortion.
The amount should be adequate to provide a middle class upbringing for that precious life including, but not limited to, housing, nutrition, health care, job training for the mother, early preschool and, of course, free tuitions in state universities.
After all, what's the point of getting born into a life of misery, poverty and neglect?
Come on cowpokes, belly up to the bar and buy a round for the unborn.
And, if the church of Rome, not above dipping its tax exempt oar into these political waters, should experience an alteration in that status, those funds could be added to the pot.
What could be more Christlike?
The amount should be adequate to provide a middle class upbringing for that precious life including, but not limited to, housing, nutrition, health care, job training for the mother, early preschool and, of course, free tuitions in state universities.
After all, what's the point of getting born into a life of misery, poverty and neglect?
Come on cowpokes, belly up to the bar and buy a round for the unborn.
And, if the church of Rome, not above dipping its tax exempt oar into these political waters, should experience an alteration in that status, those funds could be added to the pot.
What could be more Christlike?
43
Since when is protecting and defending life automatically linked to one's assuming responsibility for it? Do all jurors now have to assume responsibility for the plaintiffs and defendants in the cases in which they render decisions? Is every rescuer responsible the life he or she saved?
This is just silly logic.
This is just silly logic.
2
Speaking of silly logic, the theory is that when you have a kid, buy a dog, or adopt a cat, you don't owe that life NOTHIN.
Or as John Donne wrote several hundred years ago, "Send not to ask for whom the bell tolls, because I don't give a rat's."
Or as John Donne wrote several hundred years ago, "Send not to ask for whom the bell tolls, because I don't give a rat's."
"How would God vote tonight if He were here?"
There's the root of the problem right there when delusional people speak like they actually know the answer. Maybe God was there, but arrogance and greed muffled His opportunity to be heard. Or maybe he would have just abstained.
There's the root of the problem right there when delusional people speak like they actually know the answer. Maybe God was there, but arrogance and greed muffled His opportunity to be heard. Or maybe he would have just abstained.
12
I'm against abortion personally but am convinced that giving women medical care and options will REDUCE the number of abortions. How can all these (mostly) men be so sure that their control over women will produce more "life"?
5
Are abortions as easy as using the toilet or taking a vitamin tablet? If so then little to no government oversight is warrented. If the procedure is more serious and invades human bodies and affects health and life, then why should abortion clinics be the only enterprise free of government oversight? Just wondering . . .
Republicans politicians know that it won't reduce the number of abortions. I think a large number of well meaning voters don't realize this.
2
The Supreme Court of the United States of America made a ruling, called Roe V. Wade, that affirmed that abortion is legal in this country. It is absolutely absurd that decades later we still allow laws which restrict this right. It does not matter what your religious beliefs are, because we also have a constitutional right to keep your religious beliefs out of our legal system.
If you think ending an unwanted pregnancy is terrible, how about you help women not get pregnant and make birth control available. do
If you think ending an unwanted pregnancy is terrible, how about you help women not get pregnant and make birth control available. do
23
Obamacare mandates fre birth control and universalizes health insurance. Obamacare makes birth control available to all.
What else is needed? Making abortions the battle banner of feminism on the other hand may glorify the procedure, and at the least may encourage the idea that abortion is an acceptable method of birth control. Is that the legacy feminism seeks?
What else is needed? Making abortions the battle banner of feminism on the other hand may glorify the procedure, and at the least may encourage the idea that abortion is an acceptable method of birth control. Is that the legacy feminism seeks?
Be honest, Gail. Liberal elites are only focused on abortion for their own convenience. They claim to be interested in the poor here, but how many liberal policies actually benefit the poor?
If they really cared about the poor, they would be advocating greater *use of* birth control, since more than 1/3 of the "unintended" pregnancies are caused by women who not only have access to birth control but have it in their possession. But that's verboten.
Personal responsibility is something liberal elites won't touch with a ten-foot pole. And, yet, they claim to care about the poor. Talk about a gap based on income.
If they really cared about the poor, they would be advocating greater *use of* birth control, since more than 1/3 of the "unintended" pregnancies are caused by women who not only have access to birth control but have it in their possession. But that's verboten.
Personal responsibility is something liberal elites won't touch with a ten-foot pole. And, yet, they claim to care about the poor. Talk about a gap based on income.
3
I'll agree that liberals don't emphasize health care and contraception enough but I'm going to disagree that liberals don't care about the poor. If that was the case liberals wouldn't be fighting for better wages, education and affordable health care.
It should be noted that there's an increasing disconnect between liberal voters and the politicians who claim to be liberal.
I'll also agree that liberals don't talk enough about personal responsibility when it comes to sex. Unsafe sex should be looked down on the way we now look down on drinking and driving. I'm not talking about publicly shaming people who get pregnant but I've read umpteen articles and op eds by women who just didn't feel like putting in their birth control device or who didn't want to go out and get condoms because things were already under way. Being compassionate towards people doesn't mean condoning bad behavior.
It should be noted that there's an increasing disconnect between liberal voters and the politicians who claim to be liberal.
I'll also agree that liberals don't talk enough about personal responsibility when it comes to sex. Unsafe sex should be looked down on the way we now look down on drinking and driving. I'm not talking about publicly shaming people who get pregnant but I've read umpteen articles and op eds by women who just didn't feel like putting in their birth control device or who didn't want to go out and get condoms because things were already under way. Being compassionate towards people doesn't mean condoning bad behavior.
2
Advocate birth control, when many Red states allow only the teaching of abstinence in schools. And in Fla the GOP ejected expanding the ACA or Medicaid to help these women. Conservative say liberty but want to control everybody's lives and not pay taxes. Gee why are those Blue states richer and smarter than Red ones? Let's talk about rich conservative power brokers.
2
I am trying to figure out a way to be witty here, but I find myself merely annoyed by one more recitation of the same old from one of the people who thinks Planned Parenthood should be driven out of business, then turns around and complains about people not using enough contaception.
Oh, and by the way? In the article you couldn't be bothered to read? collins made the point, loud and clear, that half the prob was this was an attack on POOR women that left the middle class pretty much alone.
Oh, and by the way? In the article you couldn't be bothered to read? collins made the point, loud and clear, that half the prob was this was an attack on POOR women that left the middle class pretty much alone.
2
Dear Gail,
If I can amend one sentence in this fine column, I would specify that abortion is "a relatively simple procedure with a stupendously low history of complications" - *when performed legally.* When abortions are illegal and not performed by a medical professional, they can lead to ruptures, heavy bleeding, infections, septic shock and others.
If I can amend one sentence in this fine column, I would specify that abortion is "a relatively simple procedure with a stupendously low history of complications" - *when performed legally.* When abortions are illegal and not performed by a medical professional, they can lead to ruptures, heavy bleeding, infections, septic shock and others.
23
For the sake of the children, let's start a national DNA registry for every male living, born or entering the United States. Test every baby born to determine the biological father, then take a percentage of his income from all sources to cover the costs of raising the child. Time to make sure the men step up.
39
You realize that only testing the babies wouldn't accomplish anything right? You'd also have to test every possible Father, which could be a huge invasion of privacy and constitutional rights for men who were identified as possible Fathers. You can't force every man that has sex to undergo a DNA test.
Texas is a huge state. What if men 's access to vasectomies were restricted to only 8 doctor's offices? Or access to Viagra restricted to only 8 pharmacies? Just saying.
64
I would like to know why the men are not required to undergo "mandatory pre-abortion" education and procedures. Does Sen. Patrick believe women got this way on their own ---- if you want this law, you bring the men in, too!
2
A lot of t his nonsense could be averted with more access to nonsurgical abortion -- i.e. the abortion pill -- and Plan B, the morning after pill. Why are these effective therapies not more widely available in ordinary doctor's offices or clinics, or even by mail order?
I'm sure it would drive shariah legislators and wackjob protestors even more crazy than they already are to be unable to control what women do in the privacy of their own medicine cabinets.
I'm sure it would drive shariah legislators and wackjob protestors even more crazy than they already are to be unable to control what women do in the privacy of their own medicine cabinets.
39
It would likely drive Planned Parenthood and pro-choice democrats the most crazy if these methods were more easily accessible to women. It is they who are preparing to fight the republicans' proposals for over-the-counter insurance-covered birth control.
1
Plan B is available over the counter and every woman who might need it should have it in her medicine cabinet.
It's not cheap which is one more thing that makes it tough for poor women.
It's not cheap which is one more thing that makes it tough for poor women.
2
Most of the pro-choice democrats and independents I know are supportive of birth control and having it easily available. Its Hobby Lobby and their ilk who want to keep birth control away from women. Please state your sources.
2
Don't look for your rights in the Constitution. That document lists only the powers the people delegated to government to be used the common benefit.
Does anyone here really believe that the government has or should have the power to govern the internal processes of their own bodies?
Does anyone here really believe that the government has or should have the power to govern the internal processes of their own bodies?
33
Yes. They are called Republicans.
2
Christian dominionist men AND women do.
Whether they sincerely hold anti choice beliefs or are pandering to their base or simply don't like women, the fact remains that the Texas legislators have no personal skin in the game when it comes to reproductive rights. It costs them nothing financially, emotionally, relationally or politIcally to impose these restrictions on women. So far it appears that Texans are okay with this. Otherwise, there would be different legislators sitting in the state house.
21
I have a sincerely held belief that abortion is wrong. When my foster daughter (from age 3 to present (age 29) came to me pregnant at age 16 the first words out of my mouth were "you understand that this family does not consider abortion to be a moral choice." BUT I also support Roe v Wade and do not support all of the restrictions that states are attempting to put on the rights from that SCOTUS decision.
Look at the Republican clowns who are running for President and realize that each one of those clowns would deny women the right to make decisions about their own bodies then go to the polls next November and vote for a Democratic woman for President -- a woman who supports the right to choose. And then remember on the state level to vote for the Democrat running for office who supports the right to choose and after we elect enough people who are sane on the issue of abortion and the right to choose, Gail will no longer have to write columns like this about the nitwits in state legislatures who want to impose their will on what is your decision. As for Lt. Gov. Patrick and his "How would God vote if he was here tonight?" God vote for throwing you out on your pathetic behind for being a hypocritical, non-caring, anti-female jerk.
21
What we ALL need to focus on, right now, is who will choose the next appointments to the Supreme Court.
1
Maybe this is harsh, but what I see in these grandstanding anti-women, anti-choice, anti-abortion red-state legislators and their fire-and-brimstone, eager-to-punish supporters is a virulent strain of anti-democratic authoritarianism, carried out by low-information, cold-hearted, hypocritical sophists who are determined to impose a very narrow set of prejudices and views on all Americans in general and on women in particular. Whew!
Ever since Karl Rove got the bright idea of coming up with cultural wedge issues to divide the citizenry and champion intolerance, the Republicans--who have been on the wrong side of almost every issue since the Reagan years and have a well-established record of war mongering and taking away from the middle class and poor to give to the rich--have featured abortion (with all its connotations of misogyny) at election time as a key election issue. Why? Because they don't want to talk about unwinnable wars they get us into, jobs, climate change, a livable wage, infrastructure, rising inequality, bank regulation, consumer protection....
Never mind that the abortion rate has been decreasing (about half of what it was in 1981 & a 12% drop since 2010). Newsweek headline 6/8/15: "Big Abortion Rate Drop in States that Did Not Restrict Access to Abortion Clinics."
Suggestion: To be paid & employed by the/a government, politicians must pass a basic information test on women's reproductive physiology, & write an essay on when abortion may be needed & why
Ever since Karl Rove got the bright idea of coming up with cultural wedge issues to divide the citizenry and champion intolerance, the Republicans--who have been on the wrong side of almost every issue since the Reagan years and have a well-established record of war mongering and taking away from the middle class and poor to give to the rich--have featured abortion (with all its connotations of misogyny) at election time as a key election issue. Why? Because they don't want to talk about unwinnable wars they get us into, jobs, climate change, a livable wage, infrastructure, rising inequality, bank regulation, consumer protection....
Never mind that the abortion rate has been decreasing (about half of what it was in 1981 & a 12% drop since 2010). Newsweek headline 6/8/15: "Big Abortion Rate Drop in States that Did Not Restrict Access to Abortion Clinics."
Suggestion: To be paid & employed by the/a government, politicians must pass a basic information test on women's reproductive physiology, & write an essay on when abortion may be needed & why
44
I love your first paragraph for its elegant wording, and the wallop it packs, but at the same time you obscure the most important concept.
"are determined to impose a very narrow set of prejudices and views on all Americans"
"are determined to impose a very narrow set of prejudices and views on all Americans"
1
The only way to fight this relentless war against women's rights -- actually a fundamental human right -- by the right is by getting in to the political process and vote these holier than thou groups out of the office. But that's exactly why the GOP block every opportunity the poor get to vote.
37
You are absolutely right that opponents of the Republican march to the right need to get into the political process and the first step should be on educating all moderates on the danger to their very being. As long as those of us (and I count myself into this mix) who used to be SLIGHTLY right of center fail to realize the danger of fascism from the teaparty/religious conservative/money axis, this country remains in danger of being co opted.
1
I do not see any cause for worry, if poor women are denied access to abortions, the result will be more children born in poverty. Everyone knows the Republican Party has many policies that support social programs for impoverished children.
Wait a minute... maybe I should worry.
Wait a minute... maybe I should worry.
28
They know white rural poor will vote GOP- twisted as it is, the GOP have marketed themselves brilliantly as populist men of God. The y are very effective inciters, with FOX news and right-wing radio to spread the message.
1
One would think that all the pro lifers would be standing in line at hospitals to adopt the babies that they "are saving". Or does their devotion to saving lives stop when the babies are born?
49
They are, as long as those babies are white, born healthy with no indication of alcohol or drug use by the mother. Otherwise, not so much.
2
Gov´t Perry of Texas sets the example of remarkably crass politics. His state is ranked first for the number of people with no healthcare coverage at all ... fully a third of its population ... a condition which he has deliberately precipitated by refusing provisions of the ACA.
39
That's "Pervy," as in pervert.
1
So they legislatively demand that more poor people have more children. And then complain about all those dang poor folk, why towns and cities practically overrun with 'em, every last one of them demanding entitlements like food and shelter. And schooling. Now that's a real puzzle
49
It is the same old swan song from the right wing. The poor are poor because they choose to be poor. Any fool knows that they chose to be born on the wrong side of tracks so that they can be dirt poor with no prospects in life. Women's rights, health care, good schools, fair wages and those kinds of things are not available to the poor because they chose to be born poor. If only they were smart enough to choose to be born to parents who were educated and earning a decent living things wouldn't be so bad for them.
67
"Blessed are the poor..."?
1
Corporations are people. Fetuses are people. Upper and middle class people are people. The poor and the marginalized, not so much.
The incredibly mean-sprited politicians are making this into an incredibly mean-spirited United States.
I await with dread the presidential sweepstakes looming ahead of us, which promises to snuff out what seems to be the last flickers of respect and dignity by and of the citizens of this increasingly embarrassing republic.
The incredibly mean-sprited politicians are making this into an incredibly mean-spirited United States.
I await with dread the presidential sweepstakes looming ahead of us, which promises to snuff out what seems to be the last flickers of respect and dignity by and of the citizens of this increasingly embarrassing republic.
100
The GOP denies physics (global warming), biology (evolution), and math (who created the deficit mess we are in). And it expends more political energy on anti-abortion and anti-gay measures than anything else by far. This is the Party of Stupid. It isn't the message, or the messenger or how it is pitched. It's simply ludicrous wrong headed policy that marks the decadent and decaying GOP, no question.
96
And besides that mess, we find that a Supreme Court Justice, Scalia, is a creationist who believes the world began about 5000 years ago. Since when do Catholics believe that nonsense. Sister Mary Margaret Death should have disavowed him of that opinion in 4th grade.
2
Look at the op ed on two parent household mobility and you will see why red states have so many poor one parent households. The politicians seem to want to make poor mothers even poorer. Downright cruel.
18
A pathetic and sentimental feeling about pregnancy and motherhood combines with religiosity ("You're pregnant? God made that precious baby") and misogyny ("You're pregnant? You should be punished! After all, to get that way, you had sex") to form a volatile mix that drives the anti-abortion rights crowd. Unfortunately, wherever legislators curtail safe and legal abortions, they destroy the freedom and autonomy of women.
We who are called "pro-choice" are, in reality, simply "pro-women's freedom." We recognize that whenever the State denies a woman access to a legal, safe abortion, that woman's reproductive freedom ceases.
As an aside, it's sad to realize that in a purportedly modern era, the reality is that mostly male legislators sit around and make laws about a woman's body.
We who are called "pro-choice" are, in reality, simply "pro-women's freedom." We recognize that whenever the State denies a woman access to a legal, safe abortion, that woman's reproductive freedom ceases.
As an aside, it's sad to realize that in a purportedly modern era, the reality is that mostly male legislators sit around and make laws about a woman's body.
43
Sadly, they have plenty of support from their female constituency, who bring their home-schooled children to anti abortion rallies.
Ms Collins mentions sharia in passing (re Idaho), but in fact this is the central point. Not Islamic religious law, but fundamentalist Christian sharia that is, with increasing frequency and intensifying fervor, being imposed in certain states o the traditional Bible Belt. Example: requiring the Bible be used as a book of instruction in science ("creationism" as an explanation for the origins of the universe). In turn, the Bible is a highly male-centric version of events, as befits virtually every society in the era when and about which it was written. Just as the Muslim Taliban or ISIS fight to restore an imaginary period dated 700 or so, the Christian Tenneseeiban imagine returning to an even earlier time when superstition ruled the rooster and the rooster ruled the coop. The revelation this very week that one of the justices of the Supreme Court claims to be a Creationist is perhaps the most disturbing news from that institution in years, yet it got little attention. It's time to pay closer attention to this phenomenon and accord it the respect it deserves: none. Rational people should not be lulled into thinking that fools cannot take control of the engine of state.
56
I invite everyone to do what I have already done twice this week: send a donation to Planned Parenthood. You can even designate it for one of the 3 PP Texas affiliates:
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/
When I read stories like this, I think of a video I once saw of the late, great Florynce Kennedy saying, "Defeat the fetus fetishists". RIP, Flo.
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/
When I read stories like this, I think of a video I once saw of the late, great Florynce Kennedy saying, "Defeat the fetus fetishists". RIP, Flo.
24
That kind of name calling just makes conservatives dig their heels in all the harder. It might feel good but it doesn't help the situation and often makes it worse.
1
"What would god think?" Well, I suppose it would depend on what religion's god you are talking about but assuming one is speaking of the christian god I would imagine he would be thinking, "Why are these fools making it so hard for women? What makes them think they can play...........god?"
22
Just another example of the many ways in which the system punishes the poor and then complains that there are too many of these "lazy, shiftless" individuals. You can get away with stepping on or eliminating the rights of other people in this country so long as you can wrap yourself in the mantle of "concern" for them and people believe your "line." It's astonishing how far men will go to step on women's rights while at the same time saying they are concerned for their health and even more amazing, how many women are suckered into this baloney and may even support it. (Of course, many of them can go out of state for an abortion.) Nevertheless, this is how the law becomes a bully and a bludgeon and a creator of the poverty and distorted lives of thousands. No shame at their hypocrisy and self lying.
Now watch the SCOTUS support this state's right to set the parameters for care. Make no mistake, THIS is what the judges will tell us that case is all about. After all, what's a two hour drive to the doctor? Sadly predictable and once again out of touch with real world consequences and life.
Now watch the SCOTUS support this state's right to set the parameters for care. Make no mistake, THIS is what the judges will tell us that case is all about. After all, what's a two hour drive to the doctor? Sadly predictable and once again out of touch with real world consequences and life.
21
I would think that God is quite capable of expressing his or her own views without the help of the Texas legislature.
27
Gail,
Poor people get screwed so many ways in this country.... Banks, the food industry, education, and so on. Why would anyone expect reproductive health care to be any different?
Poor people get screwed so many ways in this country.... Banks, the food industry, education, and so on. Why would anyone expect reproductive health care to be any different?
23
EQUAL ACCESS So now Texas's ignominious actions extend to the presecution of women based on there financial status. Women who have sufficient funds can access abortions as previously, but those without financial means cannot due to costs imposed by the newly-minted attempts to take control of a woman's body away from the woman herself. If abortions are legal, then equal access to them is constitutionally guaranteed. But not in Texas, where "God" is held up by the lieutenant governor as controlling in the legislative process. That's news to me! But perhaps not. After all, if corporations are people, why not a deity? Sometimes I think it would be better for the nation were Texas permitted to secede, except for the dismal plight of the unfortunate citizens trapped there.
19
Similar laws are coming to Florida. Rick Scott started the ball rolling by signing a 24 wait period for abortions. I have lost my outrage over these Republicans attempting to control women's reproduction. Year after year, Floridians and voters in these backward states vote for these misogynists or they don't bother voting at all. Well, in a democracy people get the leaders they deserve.
11
Who pays for those sonograms and has the assault of all those sonogram sound waves on the developing fetus been proven to be safe and non-damaging?
6
It's interesting to note that they only invoke God's will in discussions that they think God would approve of.
Jesus commented several times in scripture about the poor (feeding the hungry, housing the stranger). He also talked about foreigners: The Good Samaritan who was a foreigner stopped to aid the sick man while the rabbis passed their own fellowman by. He also mentioned that he who is without sin cast the first stone. That was an adulterous crime involving two people; a man and a women. Only the woman was condemned. And I wonder what Jesus would think about the death penalty.
Strange how the God will be invoked when it serves their purpose and totally forget about "how God would vote" at other times.
Jesus commented several times in scripture about the poor (feeding the hungry, housing the stranger). He also talked about foreigners: The Good Samaritan who was a foreigner stopped to aid the sick man while the rabbis passed their own fellowman by. He also mentioned that he who is without sin cast the first stone. That was an adulterous crime involving two people; a man and a women. Only the woman was condemned. And I wonder what Jesus would think about the death penalty.
Strange how the God will be invoked when it serves their purpose and totally forget about "how God would vote" at other times.
21
And, Gail, where are the fathers when it comes to these sonograms? I am close to two cases, where it was father demanding the abortion. (one kept her baby the other had no choice but to abort)
1
State Senator Dan Patrick - If God would vote , he would definitely vote in favor of women. Because God has evolved too! He is a God of the 21st century. He would recognize the woman's need for an abortion. He would want that the woman was safe with the advances in Medicine. He would not want women dying of sepsis in back alleys. And FYI the 21st century God is not the God of the biblical times. So stop insulting his knowledge and intellect.
8
I think she would.
Gail is right. The Republicans mostly try to force poor women to have children they don't want and can't afford. Women with money can easily obtain a safe abortion, the Republicans be damned. They like to couch their inane policies in terms of freedom. Is this an example of their idea of freedom?
15
RELIGIOUS freedom.
The horror and stupidity and religiosity of Texas are loud and clear: nothing funny or cute in this column.
11
The oh-so-very-Christian-right is always the one that preaches that only strong families with both a mother and father in the house can raise 'responsible' children, and that a family shouldn't have more children than they can 'afford'. But even within families accidental pregnancies happen. And when it comes to single women accidentally getting pregnant, sex outside married bliss is still considered to be an original sin for which women should be punished, especially the poor ones.
The legislatures in these states are dominated by Evangelicals, people who are popier than the pope, and are as radicalized as the Taliban.
Across the advanced world countries with a vast majority of Catholics have made abortion legal, including Portugal, Spain, France and the latest example being Ireland.
These same lawmakers and the base that elects them has never seen a war they don't like, which includes a war on a woman's choice raging on these shores.
Once more the rest of the world sees the good ol' US of A as a joke, one of science deniers, teachers of Creation, flat earthers and Bible thumpers, stuck in the pre-Enlightenment era - and rightfully so.
The legislatures in these states are dominated by Evangelicals, people who are popier than the pope, and are as radicalized as the Taliban.
Across the advanced world countries with a vast majority of Catholics have made abortion legal, including Portugal, Spain, France and the latest example being Ireland.
These same lawmakers and the base that elects them has never seen a war they don't like, which includes a war on a woman's choice raging on these shores.
Once more the rest of the world sees the good ol' US of A as a joke, one of science deniers, teachers of Creation, flat earthers and Bible thumpers, stuck in the pre-Enlightenment era - and rightfully so.
20
The laws based upon the assumption that a woman is a silly little thing who just capriciously decided to go and get an abortion the way some women might decide to go shopping make me so furious I cannot see straight.
I don't like abortion. I'd love to see this country offer women, especially poor women, help and opportunities which would make it more possible to keep and raise their children. The so-called 'pro-life' crowd is, unfortunately, focused on saving fetuses, but will consistently vote against all the social programs and assistance which might help a woman raise that child to healthy, productive adulthood. AND many of them will also criticize poor women for "having so many babies."
I don't like abortion. I'd love to see this country offer women, especially poor women, help and opportunities which would make it more possible to keep and raise their children. The so-called 'pro-life' crowd is, unfortunately, focused on saving fetuses, but will consistently vote against all the social programs and assistance which might help a woman raise that child to healthy, productive adulthood. AND many of them will also criticize poor women for "having so many babies."
36
Some relevant facts, in the hope that facts matter. The Texas law requires that abortions be performed at facilities equally equipped to those where outpatient arthroscopic surgery is performed. Both procedures are extremely safe. Abortions take 20 mins. Arthroscopy takes one hour. Abortions cost $400. Arthroscopy costs $4,000. Arthroscopy requires local anesthetic. The same for surgical abortions. No anesthetic is used in medical abortions. Hope that helps.
2
I think it is worth pointing out that these Republicans are imposing restrictions based on religious belief. This should be a Constitutional issue of the separation of Church and State.
20
In the literature of the cowboys and gauchos, the cowboys haul out their colt 45's and start shooting whereas the gauchos haul out their knives and start slashing.
Martin Fierro a famous gaucho of the literature said "Ell cuchillo es como la ley, no ofende al que lo maneja". My translation "The law is like the knife, it does not offend the hand that controls it"
Martin Fierro a famous gaucho of the literature said "Ell cuchillo es como la ley, no ofende al que lo maneja". My translation "The law is like the knife, it does not offend the hand that controls it"
1
When I read about the current state of women's disempowerment in Texas, I think about Marie de Gournay, the last love of Michel de Montaigne, who edited Montaigne's Essays after his death. She wrote two feminist essays, "The Equality of Men and Women" & "The Ladies' Grievance" in the 17th Century. She helped coin the term, "protofeminist" which applied to a woman in a philosophical tradition anticipating modern feminist concepts, who lived in an era when the term "feminist" was unknown. As Montaigne, the father of Psychology & model for Shakespeare's plays, believed that the body & mind were inseparable, therefore the patriarchal emphasis on controlling women's bodies through language, laws, politics & economics, was inherently a binary process, thus splitting off the feminine from the masculine within all healthy individual human beings. While the feminine focuses on harmony, relations & cooperation, the masculine patriarchal dominating half demands compliance from the submissively enslaved alter ego which is resented for being too weak.
He believed that this very loss of abstraction that men build up in fantastic scholastic abstractions designed to control their feminine sides, actually separates their minds from their bodies, masters from slaves, life from death & emotion from reason. The result is the loss of Eros, Logos & Pathos all in the name of male ego & authority. When men achieve harmony is their body, soul & mind, the equality of the sex while naturally follow.
He believed that this very loss of abstraction that men build up in fantastic scholastic abstractions designed to control their feminine sides, actually separates their minds from their bodies, masters from slaves, life from death & emotion from reason. The result is the loss of Eros, Logos & Pathos all in the name of male ego & authority. When men achieve harmony is their body, soul & mind, the equality of the sex while naturally follow.
7
The problem is, how do you get men to give up their addiction to power, which is, of course, based in fear and insecurity? It's so entrenched, most can't see it even exists in themselves. It's so widespread, that societies where real equality is embraced are very few on this planet. Sexism is the basic, foundational "ism." Women are the basic, foundational "other" for many, if not most, men. The greed for power obscures the fear inside for them, so they don't ever have to address feelings of emptiness, insecurity, or vulnerability, and instead can project those feelings onto women, and then punish them. Obviously, the men of this nation here and now are in so much fear of losing their power, they are going overboard to nail it down. Something like beating a dead horse. Except those who are suffering from it are living women.
1
Well said, indeed women are the existential threat to men's power base which is why they only embrace the traditional few, like Dolly Madison, empowered to sew the stars on the American flag or Ethel Merman & Mamie Eisenhower, to rise above the ranks to "first lady status." As soon as a woman truly demands first person status, these insecure men will "go overboard to nail her down" as you so aptly phrased it. GOP politicians love to play up Joni Ernst's ability to castrate hogs down on the farm, especially since she has adopted misogynist political positions including supporting defunding for Planned Parenthood, abolishing the minimum wage, repealing state & business funded women's access to birth control & denying the fundamental right to reproductive choice. In other words, she emulates sexist & discriminatory legislative policies while endorsing pork barrel subsidies for farmers in Iowa.
The symbiosis between talking tough, fighting for gun rights & an expanded military while shutting down women's rights, is an abomination of family values. Men who are secure in their manhood provide calm leadership which supports the dignity of people to live a life free from the threat of open carry laws. These men don't need to suppress women or reduce their roles in society, but rather share their power & support laws that allow women to gain share power. Instead of allowing men to beat them like an old horse, women need to stand up & let their voices be heard.
The symbiosis between talking tough, fighting for gun rights & an expanded military while shutting down women's rights, is an abomination of family values. Men who are secure in their manhood provide calm leadership which supports the dignity of people to live a life free from the threat of open carry laws. These men don't need to suppress women or reduce their roles in society, but rather share their power & support laws that allow women to gain share power. Instead of allowing men to beat them like an old horse, women need to stand up & let their voices be heard.
1
Reading Gail's less than usually ebullient piece, I find great titles from the distant past coming to mind: "Cry, the Beloved Country." And "Nought for your Comfort."
If they sow the wind, do they not fear the whirlwind, or are they paradise bound anyway?
If they sow the wind, do they not fear the whirlwind, or are they paradise bound anyway?
5
Legislators need to get out of women's drawers. All this grandstanding about a woman's reproductive parts is a licentious dereliction of duty that has no place in governance or the courts.
19
One medium term solution is for women to turn out in big numbers and toss the anti-women legislators.
13
Republican Texan politicians are against abortion, but when it comes to supporting motherhood they are silent. For example, Texas has no law at all on maternity leave. Not even requiring employers to allow for a certain amount of UNPAID leave.
By the way, out of 185 surveyed countries and territories, only two — the U.S. and Papua New Guinea — do not provide maternity leave with legal provisions for cash benefits, according to the ILO.
And believe it or not, there still seem to be women in Texas who vote for the likes of Dan Patrick.
By the way, out of 185 surveyed countries and territories, only two — the U.S. and Papua New Guinea — do not provide maternity leave with legal provisions for cash benefits, according to the ILO.
And believe it or not, there still seem to be women in Texas who vote for the likes of Dan Patrick.
34
There is something very creepy about men in power working to deny women control over their own bodies. Are these morons so egoistical they believe every sperm is sacred? {thank you Monty Python]
Of course once these children are born it's perfectly acceptable to slash food programs and decent, low cost housing.
Of course once these children are born it's perfectly acceptable to slash food programs and decent, low cost housing.
31
Actually the anti-abortion types aren't interested in prenatal care for poor women either, rather they preach "individual responsibility and accountability" except for reproductive rights.
2
The irony is that the political party that has preached "less government intrusion" is perfectly willing to legislate laws that intrude into the most personal and private decision that a man or woman could ever possibly make.
I also agree with the comments about the GOP and Sharia law. These lawmakers are either unaware of the concept of irony or just cynically trying to stir up "the base". Either way, I find them (and Dan Patrick particularly) to be odious.
I also agree with the comments about the GOP and Sharia law. These lawmakers are either unaware of the concept of irony or just cynically trying to stir up "the base". Either way, I find them (and Dan Patrick particularly) to be odious.
29
It's also ironic when the GOP talks about the sanctity of human life while they're fighting against affordable medical care, cheering for executions and starting pointless wars.
2
We're in a battle for the soul and mind of America.
If, in the face of misogyny, voter suppression, anti-science, anti-environment, intolerance, unlimited billionaire political cash, Americans don't rise up, show up and do whatever it takes to vote these heartless ideologues out, our country and its citizens will find themselves living in the Dark Ages.
Too few people vote -- and too many get distracted by non-policy related personal attacks. If one is more concerned about Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi than civil rights, economic rights, women's rights...then HL Mencken was right:
"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard."
If, in the face of misogyny, voter suppression, anti-science, anti-environment, intolerance, unlimited billionaire political cash, Americans don't rise up, show up and do whatever it takes to vote these heartless ideologues out, our country and its citizens will find themselves living in the Dark Ages.
Too few people vote -- and too many get distracted by non-policy related personal attacks. If one is more concerned about Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi than civil rights, economic rights, women's rights...then HL Mencken was right:
"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard."
19
As a nurse from the pre-legal abortion days, I read this ruling in grief. And great anger. Old white men asserting their control over "weaker" women and using God as their excuse. It's all about power. If they allowed access to free, reliable birth control, the abortion rate would be cut in half. But it's not about abortion, it's about control.
649
Agree, but these 'old white men' are empowered by women voters who in states like Texas tend to vote in Republican majorities in national, local legislators and in the courts.
1
I do not agree this is just about control. This is about aborting a life or potential lives. The hypocrisy of white men and their female counterpart is their false moral of caring about unborn lives when they treat born lives as trash.
1
Some "old white men", not all. But yes, old white men are a problem.
Planned Parenthood has always been tops on my list of what to support--from young white man to middle aged to old. Many of us wish the name were different, especially in this crazy political environment: for sure a huge part of Planned Parenthood has always been equal rights regarding healthcare. Equal regarding gender in particular, which healthcare in the US is not,.
Planned Parenthood has always been tops on my list of what to support--from young white man to middle aged to old. Many of us wish the name were different, especially in this crazy political environment: for sure a huge part of Planned Parenthood has always been equal rights regarding healthcare. Equal regarding gender in particular, which healthcare in the US is not,.
3
This has been building in Texas for a long time. Think of it when Rick Perry comes campaigning.
22
Gail, you miss the point. You are correct in stating that there will always be abortions. Like other crimes that are made illegal, simply doing so does not prevent them from happening. However, it sets a standard that the crime itself will not be tolerated. I am not so naive to think that making abortion illegal would stop abortions. What it would do is stop justifying and promoting them by our own government, and stop financing them from my pocket. It would let these women know that the killing of their own children is their burden to bear, and if they do so, no one else is going to be made to help them, and it won't be easy to do it.
Before all of the remarks come about just how into-woman I am, I have a loving wife who is even more passionate about ending abortion than I am.
Before all of the remarks come about just how into-woman I am, I have a loving wife who is even more passionate about ending abortion than I am.
2
Should it also let them know that, if they are forced to bear those unplanned, unwanted children that they can't afford (and may hate because they are products of rape or incest), YOU will take them in and feed and clothe and nurture them till adulthood?
If you don't like abortions don't have one but stay the hell out of my life. What if the shoe were on the other foot. You are so absolutely certain about what you believe you've never bothered to think.
And that's your current view john. Now try opening your mind to the entire, complex argument. Not so easy.
1
Abortion rights advocates should be concerned.
1) Scalia: Abortion Rights Not Constitutional
By/Joel Roberts/AP/October 16, 2006, 7:51 AM
"Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia defended some of the opinions he has rendered while on the top U.S. court, arguing that nothing in the Constitution supports abortion rights or the use of race in school admissions."
2) Supreme Court upholds Michigan’s ban on racial preferences in university admissions By Robert Barnes April 22, 2014 (Washington Post)
"The Supreme Court on Tuesday made clear that states are free to prohibit the use of racial considerations in university admissions, upholding Michigan’s constitutional amendment banning affirmative action.
By a vote of 6 to 2, the court concluded that it was not up to judges to overturn the 2006 decision by Michigan voters to bar consideration of race when deciding who gets into the state’s universities."
1) Scalia: Abortion Rights Not Constitutional
By/Joel Roberts/AP/October 16, 2006, 7:51 AM
"Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia defended some of the opinions he has rendered while on the top U.S. court, arguing that nothing in the Constitution supports abortion rights or the use of race in school admissions."
2) Supreme Court upholds Michigan’s ban on racial preferences in university admissions By Robert Barnes April 22, 2014 (Washington Post)
"The Supreme Court on Tuesday made clear that states are free to prohibit the use of racial considerations in university admissions, upholding Michigan’s constitutional amendment banning affirmative action.
By a vote of 6 to 2, the court concluded that it was not up to judges to overturn the 2006 decision by Michigan voters to bar consideration of race when deciding who gets into the state’s universities."
3
Scalia also believes that the human species has existed for about five thousand years. Everyone should be concerned.
1
The "war" is against poor people - since there is no issue of middle class or wealthy women getting abortions. The bail issue that the Times has illuminated, also the ridiculous new laws governing food stamps -- and cuts to food stamps to prop up subsidies to rich farmers. Drug laws that are mainly enforced against the poor. Failure to extend Medicare in states opposed to Obamacare, leaving the poor without health insurance (Texas being one of these). If you think you are immune because you have a job as a tech worker, think again - look what is happening at companies across the US who take advantage of special visa programs to bring in Indian workers who will do your job for 2/3 the salary. What distresses me is that too many middle class voters in this country see their interests as voting with the rich rather than voting for the poor. Yet so many of them are one lost job away from being poor themselves, and have no chance at all at getting rich.
17
The more I read about this increasingly intractable matter, the more convinced I am that, sadly, in state and federal politics, abortion rights has nothing to do with religion, gender, or human rights. It seems to be the go-to smoke and mirror technique for a certain stripe of politician to misdirect attention from the phalanx of critical issues that confront our society. It is tragic that the Vale of Venus is the Groundhog Day locus of this farce. There ought to be a law. But we will need a new generation of legislators of that. One can hope.
11
The data are that every Texas legislator have had a wife, mother, sister, aunt or fist cousin abort a pregnancy. Sense 1973 millions and millions of women have terminated pregnancies that now reaches only a few degrees of seperation for every family in America. So, further, every Texan knows about a family member that had an abortion.
11
When raised at school and taught literature by nuns in France in the 60s, they were careful to let us write essays on mandatory classic novels such as Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary and the Princess of Cléves to cite a few, with a view to instilling some moral values into our young minds, while encouraging one to have a mind of one's own.
At thirteen, this student was already depressed on feeling that it was always the woman who got the short end of the stick in these stories. Staying with a parent in Ireland and his family on holiday in those days of youth, Irish Catholicism at the time always took up the banner for the young swain who left his girl with an unplanned baby. Confession on the man's part with a few Hail Marys was an absolution for this sin, while the woman was a lost cause and a lost child to her family and their circle.
New York in 1970 with a popular cigarette Ad that Women have Come a Long Way, and a first introduction to the notion that we were trailing behind.
Why not turn this man's world over to the men, and start by teaching them at an early age at home and at school, that they should understand that they are placing a girl or woman at risk when enjoying romantic physics, and be more responsible for taking on the safety precautions?
Too humane for some of our politicians who feel it best that women remain barefoot and pregnant, out of mind and sight until the next meal is on the table. Women's Rights are taking a major set-back.
At thirteen, this student was already depressed on feeling that it was always the woman who got the short end of the stick in these stories. Staying with a parent in Ireland and his family on holiday in those days of youth, Irish Catholicism at the time always took up the banner for the young swain who left his girl with an unplanned baby. Confession on the man's part with a few Hail Marys was an absolution for this sin, while the woman was a lost cause and a lost child to her family and their circle.
New York in 1970 with a popular cigarette Ad that Women have Come a Long Way, and a first introduction to the notion that we were trailing behind.
Why not turn this man's world over to the men, and start by teaching them at an early age at home and at school, that they should understand that they are placing a girl or woman at risk when enjoying romantic physics, and be more responsible for taking on the safety precautions?
Too humane for some of our politicians who feel it best that women remain barefoot and pregnant, out of mind and sight until the next meal is on the table. Women's Rights are taking a major set-back.
10
How do all these legislators have a direct line to God? I admit, the benighted fellow never actually answered his own questions, but the inference was quite clear; he knows the will of God. Moreover, he knows there is a God. All that certainty scares the living daylights out of me. I suppose it would be considered in poor taste to point out the rather sordid history of people who were so dead certain that they had the inside track on such matters.
18
Abortion rights is about religious freedom.
Some people think their religion is superior to everyone else's and the want to force it on everyone else.
Some people think their religion is superior to everyone else's and the want to force it on everyone else.
18
Why do we need separate clinics for abortions? Wouldn't it serve women well to expect these services from their OB-GYN?
10
I guess the problem is, there's nothing very funny about how Texas (et. al.) are treating women.
10
That men have sought and attained dominion over women's bodies since the Year Dot is indisputable. That Texans in their warped government are able to control abortion cllinics and mouth pieties (WWJD, and the like about the right to life, the right to abort life if women choose) about pregnant women is as criminal as it is sanctimonious. If men had to bear, birth and raise children, we would have no problems with increasing world populations. Yay for Idaho - which a Federal Appeals Court chastened - finally some sunlight shone on the idiotic and useless requirements imposed on abortion clinics and on poor women in that state. An amendment to the Constitution is long overdue - a bill of abortion rights for all females who face the unutterably painful quandary of deciding this issue, raising unwanted children (for they ARE unwanted, and that is the tragedy that has beleaguered women since Eden). No matter that the right to life folks In Texas and other states preach hellfire, brimstone and damnation for women; women know what they know about their bodies - their decisions about their feminine bodies and their lives is sacrosanct and no business of men.
13
"Poor pregnant women in anti-abortion states don’t have those options."
Those are exactly the women the same people criticize for having babies they can't afford. Those people don't want to allow assistance to help care for those babies, but they want to be sure they are born. Justice might be one or the other position, but it can't be both of these. It is just cruel and hateful.
Those are exactly the women the same people criticize for having babies they can't afford. Those people don't want to allow assistance to help care for those babies, but they want to be sure they are born. Justice might be one or the other position, but it can't be both of these. It is just cruel and hateful.
421
It all makes a kind of cruel sense if you believe in punishing women and their children for the woman's "sexual sins". It's all about the little ladies' sins; the men are absolved. Men, of course, enjoy dumping all the shame on someone else. It's classic scapegoating.
2
The Founders declared we are endowed with ''unalienable rights.'' The Framers constructed a system to define and evolve those rights, as we have done.
Roe v Wade established a woman's right to abortion, following the pattern of evolving rights. States like Texas, which have long questioned the authority of the United States, seek to restrict that right as well as the right to vote, particularly for lower income people and people of color.
It all really points to how important who occupies the White House and the Congress are, but as important, who occupies our statehouses. Justice will be served eventually, but an awful lot of Americans will be harmed and disenfranchised until the work of these yahoos is reversed.
Roe v Wade established a woman's right to abortion, following the pattern of evolving rights. States like Texas, which have long questioned the authority of the United States, seek to restrict that right as well as the right to vote, particularly for lower income people and people of color.
It all really points to how important who occupies the White House and the Congress are, but as important, who occupies our statehouses. Justice will be served eventually, but an awful lot of Americans will be harmed and disenfranchised until the work of these yahoos is reversed.
61
Perhaps those states that "question the authority of the United States" should be allowed a choice: stop "questioning" or cease being part of the nation.
The legislature in Texas is no different than legislators/mullahs in Islamic dominated countries, making sure that women know their place and keeping them there. They are essentially enacting their version of the American Christian Sharia laws for women.
670
It is the same in Texas as anywhere else: the guys get elected by a strongly reactionary base, and no one else is paying attention.
3
American Sharia Law - they will if we let them. Are schools still teaching civics classes? I feel as if many people have no idea of how our democracy works and are allowing it to be hijacked by a faction that confuses religion and civil law.
1
It 's a war on women and Republicans are leading it. And don't say it's about saving the 'unborn' -as if that is a real word. As soon as babies are born, Republicans turn their backs on them if they are born poor. It's a war on women and Wonen who support them without forcing change in that party are voting against their interests. As are the middle class and poor.
5
How depressing that these legislators, Republicans, are so zealous for the government to intrude so aggressively into women's private and painful decisions. Same here in NC, which is trying hard to lead the pack backwards from enlightenment and decency. Time for the federal courts in every Circuit forcefully to end this nonsense, if the Supremes don't screw it all up,
I was interested -- amused slightly -- that Dan Patrick admitted that God was not present when they voted this abomination into law in Texas.
I was interested -- amused slightly -- that Dan Patrick admitted that God was not present when they voted this abomination into law in Texas.
153
I have had oral surgery and colonoscopies and I don't remember the rooms having "hospital stuff". So yes, why do these women's clinics have to have "hospital stuff"? And by the way, people die in hospitals...
347
This is an interesting line of argument. If the law only applies to one kind of medical procedure and not others, its purpose cannot be argued as regulation to obtain the legitimate state purpose of protecting the safety of patients. Under these circumstances I would think a law applying to only one class of patients, who in this case are all women, to the exclusion of others classes meeting similar conditions, would be on its face discriminatory and a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. This Texas law may be contrary to other law as well.
Has this been argued in the way presented by Mr. Springer? I would hope so as it seems to go to the heart of the matter.
Has this been argued in the way presented by Mr. Springer? I would hope so as it seems to go to the heart of the matter.
2
Why is it that those so fearsome of Shariah Law are its unwitting emulators?
700
They want to do to others what they are fearful of others doing to them.
They don't listen in church, when they make such a big issue of going.
They don't listen in church, when they make such a big issue of going.
23
I believe the psychological term is "projection".
8
The same reason so many Republicans are revealed as Bible thumping sex/"family values" hypocrites (Hastert, Livingston, Foley, Sanford, Vitter, Craig, Desjarlais, Thurmond, LaTourette, Dreir, Tobias, Ensign, Souder....).
8
It is not the place of the lawmakers to a) interfere with a doctor's medical care (scripts are for telemarketers) and b) prevent women from receiving adequate care due to economic status.
Voting rights were won by hard work from suffragettes such as Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth. Today, women compose over half the electorate. This is happening because of the choices women make at the voting booth. I cannot feel sympathy for red states where the bulk of the electorate happily wallows in utter and complete ignorance (especially women who are disproportionately impacted by these horrible policies).
Voting rights were won by hard work from suffragettes such as Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth. Today, women compose over half the electorate. This is happening because of the choices women make at the voting booth. I cannot feel sympathy for red states where the bulk of the electorate happily wallows in utter and complete ignorance (especially women who are disproportionately impacted by these horrible policies).
95
..."red states where the bulk of the electorate happily wallows in utter and complete ignorance (especially women who are disproportionately impacted by these horrible policies)"
The woeful ignorance of people in red states is a common refrain in the NYT, especially in comments on the Op-Ed pages. And yet to a person, abortion advocates insist that every woman who walks into an abortion clinic knows everything there is to know about the life growing inside her and has already made a free, fully informed decision about what she is about to do. You can't have it both ways.
The woeful ignorance of people in red states is a common refrain in the NYT, especially in comments on the Op-Ed pages. And yet to a person, abortion advocates insist that every woman who walks into an abortion clinic knows everything there is to know about the life growing inside her and has already made a free, fully informed decision about what she is about to do. You can't have it both ways.
1
"If the Texas Legislature had been able to wave a magic wand and eliminate the option for middle-class women in their state, the outcry would have been deafening, and political suicide."
The above line says it all about life in modern America. In our land of haves and have-nots, inequality spells out lack of access to goods and services upper and upper middle classes take for granted. It goes without saying, that nobody gets up in the morning to cry, "I think I'll go have me an abortion!". It's a last-resort solution to desperate cases, that fall down hardest on the poor. And never mind that birth control would have prevented the need....that too, is limited, according to a woman's access to healthcare. And of course, we know Texas in in the vanguard of expanding access to healthcare--sure.
The callous rules and regulations that the Texas legislature are imposing on clinics that serve the poor simply reflect the worst of the GOP: protect the fetus at any cost, deny the born child state and federal assistance after he or she is born. And I won't get into the sick situations of pregnancy from incest, rape, and abusive husbands/boyfriends.
I repeat: no woman eagerly seeks abortion. In the words of women's health advocates of decades ago, "abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. The only thing the Texas law has done is to ensure that abortion is rare--almost nonexistent--for poor women.
The above line says it all about life in modern America. In our land of haves and have-nots, inequality spells out lack of access to goods and services upper and upper middle classes take for granted. It goes without saying, that nobody gets up in the morning to cry, "I think I'll go have me an abortion!". It's a last-resort solution to desperate cases, that fall down hardest on the poor. And never mind that birth control would have prevented the need....that too, is limited, according to a woman's access to healthcare. And of course, we know Texas in in the vanguard of expanding access to healthcare--sure.
The callous rules and regulations that the Texas legislature are imposing on clinics that serve the poor simply reflect the worst of the GOP: protect the fetus at any cost, deny the born child state and federal assistance after he or she is born. And I won't get into the sick situations of pregnancy from incest, rape, and abusive husbands/boyfriends.
I repeat: no woman eagerly seeks abortion. In the words of women's health advocates of decades ago, "abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. The only thing the Texas law has done is to ensure that abortion is rare--almost nonexistent--for poor women.
260
I think the more interesting question, following the lines of your comment, is whether (and to what extent if they are) the middle class women in Texas, who have the means to exercise their option, are voting for the rights of those who do not have the means.
In other (more blunt) words, do the people who have the means to be more or less unaffected by these religion-themed laws care about those who do not have the means? The lawmakers do not suffer consequences, which suggests that, for all the outrage expressed in the media, either people do not vote or they do not cast their ballot with these issues being a factor in the decision.
In other (more blunt) words, do the people who have the means to be more or less unaffected by these religion-themed laws care about those who do not have the means? The lawmakers do not suffer consequences, which suggests that, for all the outrage expressed in the media, either people do not vote or they do not cast their ballot with these issues being a factor in the decision.
15
It is unhealthy and counterproductive to perpetuate the notion that abortion is "a last-resort solution to desperate cases" as though it's something shameful and to be avoided at nearly any cost.
To many of us, it would be a first (and eagerly sought) resort should birth control fail. Not out of desperation but out of a considered and firmly held desire to either not be a mother at all, or not be the mother of additional children. There is nothing rash, desperate or shameful about either choice.
Not every woman feels angst or ashamed at rejecting motherhood and those who do are more likely to have been subjected to brainwashing by self-righteous scolds than to have formed a philosophy about life and conception on their own.
To many of us, it would be a first (and eagerly sought) resort should birth control fail. Not out of desperation but out of a considered and firmly held desire to either not be a mother at all, or not be the mother of additional children. There is nothing rash, desperate or shameful about either choice.
Not every woman feels angst or ashamed at rejecting motherhood and those who do are more likely to have been subjected to brainwashing by self-righteous scolds than to have formed a philosophy about life and conception on their own.
254
It is unhealthy and counterproductive to perpetuate the notion that abortion is "a last-resort solution to desperate cases" as though it's something shameful and to be avoided at nearly any cost. To many of us, it would be a first (and eagerly sought) resort should birth control fail. Not out of desperation but out of a considered and firmly held desire to either not be a mother at all, or not be the mother of additional children. There is nothing rash, desperate or shameful about either choice.
Not every woman feels angst or shame at rejecting motherhood.
Not every woman feels angst or shame at rejecting motherhood.
3
What does it mean to "turn" someone "into a criminal"? Can't we please distinguish the "sin" from the "sinner" as a general principle? Until we stop assuming that there is any group of people we get to dump on with impunity, I think we're still on the same problematic path.
On the issue of the whittling away at access to abortion, I think that part of the problem is that the "choice" position requires more nuanced thinking and the "life" position is much more simplistic, and conservatives, for whatever reason, favor simplistic positions, as far as I can see. When the negative feedback for a simplistic position involves poor people, I think that feedback is routinely dismissed under the justification that "it is choice to be poor" and under the assumption that the poor are a group who can be dumped on with impunity.
On the issue of the whittling away at access to abortion, I think that part of the problem is that the "choice" position requires more nuanced thinking and the "life" position is much more simplistic, and conservatives, for whatever reason, favor simplistic positions, as far as I can see. When the negative feedback for a simplistic position involves poor people, I think that feedback is routinely dismissed under the justification that "it is choice to be poor" and under the assumption that the poor are a group who can be dumped on with impunity.
252
Sexism is alive and well in the state and national legislative bodies of our country. While religious organizations weigh in on the mere possibility of federal or state funds being used for women's reproductive issues, the televisions are awash in ads for erectile dysfunction medications that are covered by insurance and Medicare. I have yet to hear a sermon at Mass on the intrinsic evil of defying natural law by using Viagra but Natural Family Planning is touted and sign up sheets for protests at Planned Parenthood abound. I certainly hope the same standards that are being imposed on abortion clinic will be enforced upon the outpatient plastic surgery centers and the urologists' offices where vasectomies are performed and all the clinics which have billboards blazing "fix your erection now."
90
Medicare does not pay for ED drugs.
Catholic teaching supports medical treatment to restore the body to its natural function; that includes treating ED as well as diseases and dysfunctions of the female reproductive tract. Contraception, abortion, and voluntary sterilization, BOTH male and female, are interventions designed to prevent the body from working in the way it was designed to work, and are thus contrary to Catholic teaching. The general principle applies equally to both sexes.
Let me say it again. There should be one and only one standard for ALL outpatient surgical facilities.
And women ought to be pressuring the medical profession to establish outpatient clinics that do abortions withIN hospitals, which have them for almost everything else. This would solve a lot of problems.
Protestors could be banned from hospitals which are private property and no one would know whether those entering the hospitals were coming for chemotherapy, a mammogram, an abortion, a biopsy, or ... And on those rare occasions when complications occurred, medical care would be immediately available.
Let's stop letting the medical profession -- which has basically thrown women who need abortion out into the cold -- off the hook. Incorporate this procedure into mainstream medicine where women make these decisions in consultation with physicians of their choice -- not the few brave ones who serve in abortion clinics.
And women ought to be pressuring the medical profession to establish outpatient clinics that do abortions withIN hospitals, which have them for almost everything else. This would solve a lot of problems.
Protestors could be banned from hospitals which are private property and no one would know whether those entering the hospitals were coming for chemotherapy, a mammogram, an abortion, a biopsy, or ... And on those rare occasions when complications occurred, medical care would be immediately available.
Let's stop letting the medical profession -- which has basically thrown women who need abortion out into the cold -- off the hook. Incorporate this procedure into mainstream medicine where women make these decisions in consultation with physicians of their choice -- not the few brave ones who serve in abortion clinics.
670
That would be lovely but unfortunately many many hospitals are owned by the Catholic Health Network. Figures vary, but it is upwards of 15% of all medical facilities are Catholic-owned -- and thus under Catholic doctrine. Yes these hospitals receive public funding AND are able to NOT provide emergency contraception, terminate pregnancies nor sterilize. A doctor friend of mine has an office on a Catholic health campus -- is NOT allowed to prescribe birth control.
4
The prohibitive laws of Texas and similar states are not the result of the inattention of doctors. They result from religious extremism.
4
if abortions must be performed in hospitals, what happens to costs?
1
We frequently hear from conservative white men that they are the victims now. They think their dominant position in society is threatened because of the growing numbers of minorities in the United States. Of course, men have long felt threatened by women, particularly "feminists."
In states where conservative white men have the upper hand, they are doing their darnedest to keep women in their place. The United States Supreme Court helps the cause of men by making the rights of women less equal than those of minorities. The breathtakingly paternalistic laws with respect to abortion are just a part of a long simmering backlash. Were similar laws specifically aimed at minorities rather than women, they could not survive judicial scrutiny. Without a sea change in the quality of state legislators and Supreme Court judges, it's hard to see how this will end other than in the deaths of many desperate women.
In states where conservative white men have the upper hand, they are doing their darnedest to keep women in their place. The United States Supreme Court helps the cause of men by making the rights of women less equal than those of minorities. The breathtakingly paternalistic laws with respect to abortion are just a part of a long simmering backlash. Were similar laws specifically aimed at minorities rather than women, they could not survive judicial scrutiny. Without a sea change in the quality of state legislators and Supreme Court judges, it's hard to see how this will end other than in the deaths of many desperate women.
108
Your comment is right on target. At least in my state, the legislators leading the charge for heartbeat bills and other draconian measures are usually white, male Evangelical Republicans whose faith essentially requires that women submit. I have long maintained that these laws have far less to do with concern for "life" than they do with keeping "the little woman" in her place without the ability to control her own life. It is an insult to every woman in America for these legislators to believe that women lack the intellect, morality/faith and ability to make important life and medical decisions.
Moreover, the hypocrisy of these legislators in breathtaking. In my city, half the children live under the poverty line. Is there one iota of serious concern for these kids in the State legislature? Sad to say, there is not.
Moreover, the hypocrisy of these legislators in breathtaking. In my city, half the children live under the poverty line. Is there one iota of serious concern for these kids in the State legislature? Sad to say, there is not.
53
There are multiple issues at play here in Texas and across the country in all of the far right Republican controlled state legislatures. In my view. first and foremost is the imposition of theocracy which is a threat to all of us. In all of the states that have made abortion difficult to impossible it's "God's will" and the Christian right that are running things. But don't for a minute believe that the Christian right will stop there. This is just the beginning.
Next comes the right's efforts to disenfranchise the poor and keep them that way. And certainly we shouldn't leave out patriarchy which is intertwined with both theocracy and the Republican party, who would much prefer the America of 1915 to the country we have today and are doing their level best to take us back there.
The really scary thing is that this political trend will continue until enough of us, men and women, young and old, get together and run the Republican right out of office. I hope I live to see it.
Next comes the right's efforts to disenfranchise the poor and keep them that way. And certainly we shouldn't leave out patriarchy which is intertwined with both theocracy and the Republican party, who would much prefer the America of 1915 to the country we have today and are doing their level best to take us back there.
The really scary thing is that this political trend will continue until enough of us, men and women, young and old, get together and run the Republican right out of office. I hope I live to see it.
128
If politicians really do care about abortion, why not make this fair and equitable and control men, as well as women. We could start a required vasectomy program. Let’s nip this thing in the bud, so to speak, before we even get to the point of pregnancy. So much easier and cheaper.
When males reach puberty, they would have to have vasectomies. We could call it the V program. They would have to have a V on their driver’s license or their voter ID card, or their hunting license…some government issued ID… that they could show to females to prove that they are moral and righteous and a good citizen and have been through the V program. Then, when the male decides to marry or can prove that he can support children, the vasectomy could be reversed, which would also have to be noted on the government-issued ID. After all, vasectomies are reversible…well, most of the time. But, then, let’s remember, pregnancies don’t always work out as planned either.
What…too much government overreach?
When males reach puberty, they would have to have vasectomies. We could call it the V program. They would have to have a V on their driver’s license or their voter ID card, or their hunting license…some government issued ID… that they could show to females to prove that they are moral and righteous and a good citizen and have been through the V program. Then, when the male decides to marry or can prove that he can support children, the vasectomy could be reversed, which would also have to be noted on the government-issued ID. After all, vasectomies are reversible…well, most of the time. But, then, let’s remember, pregnancies don’t always work out as planned either.
What…too much government overreach?
120
Dream on...but good idea
Quite a few of us are likewise disappointed that God didn't show up to vote during the just-ended Texas legislative session, where Gail tells us Lt. Gov. Patrick apparently said " How do you think God would vote tonight if he were here " ?
A more perceptive pol would have asked " How bad do things have to be that God won't show up to be part of the assemblage you're in charge of " ?
Unfortunately, paraphrasing the wise old man, " we have to go into legislative session with the pols we got, not the ones we wish we had ".
A more perceptive pol would have asked " How bad do things have to be that God won't show up to be part of the assemblage you're in charge of " ?
Unfortunately, paraphrasing the wise old man, " we have to go into legislative session with the pols we got, not the ones we wish we had ".
38
R. Law - perhaps Lt Gov Patrick should have thought about it another way. Why does God allow miscarriages, fetal demise, gross fetal deformities, etc IF, as Patrick implies, S/He would vote to end abortions in Texas. My wife and I had 3 miscarriages (and three wonderful healthy kids) - those miscarriages havent seemed to be so *family friendly* to me, or - now 30+ years later - to my wife.
Nanny-state conservatives should just worry about their own lives and let others worry about theirs. Mr Patrick should stop the farce of pretending to think he knows what God thinks or wants.
Nanny-state conservatives should just worry about their own lives and let others worry about theirs. Mr Patrick should stop the farce of pretending to think he knows what God thinks or wants.
59
nobody - yep, regrettably, we're stuck with the pols we got, until the next election comes around.
4
What is that God remark but a Christian version of Shariah?
4
When the great heroes of Texas history fought for freedom at the Alamo and San Jacinto I don't suppose that they had this in mind. Freedom to ravage the environment, possibly. Freedom to exercise one's reproductive rights, maybe not. It seems that almost every lousy idea either begins in Texas or reaches the zenith of its impact there. Can't the rest of us return the state to Mexico in exchange for a dozen bananas?
336
Mexico has immigration laws. They would not want those crazies any more than we do.
34
"Heroes of Texas"? Alamo and San Jacinto, Really?
Stu, have you ever read the real history of Texas. They weren't heroes, they were land pirates that stole the whole state from Mexico, just like the Russians are trying to steal Eastern Ukraine today.
Stu, have you ever read the real history of Texas. They weren't heroes, they were land pirates that stole the whole state from Mexico, just like the Russians are trying to steal Eastern Ukraine today.
31
@stu
Let's also not forget that the Mexican Constitution had already outlawed slavery. The "great heroes" of the Alamo included slave smuggler Jim Bowie, and one of the freedoms they sought was apparently the freedom to enslave others.
Let's also not forget that the Mexican Constitution had already outlawed slavery. The "great heroes" of the Alamo included slave smuggler Jim Bowie, and one of the freedoms they sought was apparently the freedom to enslave others.
1
Fine, if these same anti abortionist stick around and help raise these unwanted children, make sure they get a good education and proper access to good food and health care. The line's over here. Don't be shy, it's a small commitment.
97
In the end, it was the mother, who decided if the child lived or died, not the judgement of Solomon, or some evangelical governmental goons.
56
If the requirement to meet hospital standards for this one invasive procedure is the basis for the law, then every single physician's office performing invasive procedures should be held to the same standard. This means including lesion removals, biopsies, sigmoidoscopy, IUD insertions, etc.
200
Yes, remember the celebrity that died in that surgicenter from a minor procedure to her throat. I guess that clinic did shut down.
16
I like Texas and Texans a lot; but when I hear "How would God vote tonight if He were here?", I have to admit that I head for the exits very fast, whether or not I've finished the best Tex-Mex you can find anywhere. That's one really scary expression. It conjures images like no other of a mullah in the desert defining a strict holy framework for living a life.
When I hear such things, I fear for America. A person's view of the will of God, or even the extent to which this or that view should govern the actions of men and women, is just about the most divisive force there can be. In 1973, a very courageous U.S. Supreme Court fashioned a compromise whose purpose was to avoid the development of two Americas on this issue by imposing one basic standard on the whole country. But in large parts of our nation that brilliant compromise is under attack, threatening just that sad outcome. Jailing a mother for buying pills to allow her daughter to exercise a defined right is ... just outrageous.
The divisive arguments over whether abortion truly is a key element of "reproductive health" and the need to publically fund abortions for poor women despite its imposition on deeply held religious convictions ... miss the point. Neither side is going to win them, and we still need an enforceable compromise that can make us one America on this issue.
It will never happen by legislation. The U.S. Supreme Court needs to fashion a Roe-II that cannot be assailed by a state that disagrees.
When I hear such things, I fear for America. A person's view of the will of God, or even the extent to which this or that view should govern the actions of men and women, is just about the most divisive force there can be. In 1973, a very courageous U.S. Supreme Court fashioned a compromise whose purpose was to avoid the development of two Americas on this issue by imposing one basic standard on the whole country. But in large parts of our nation that brilliant compromise is under attack, threatening just that sad outcome. Jailing a mother for buying pills to allow her daughter to exercise a defined right is ... just outrageous.
The divisive arguments over whether abortion truly is a key element of "reproductive health" and the need to publically fund abortions for poor women despite its imposition on deeply held religious convictions ... miss the point. Neither side is going to win them, and we still need an enforceable compromise that can make us one America on this issue.
It will never happen by legislation. The U.S. Supreme Court needs to fashion a Roe-II that cannot be assailed by a state that disagrees.
134
Richard, you finally posted something with which I can agree. And to think there are some who are concerned about imposition of Sharia law. It seems the attempts at imposition of a Christian variant are alive and well with no pretense of separation of Church and State.
63
While I don't think that mother deserve jail time, the truth is she ordered ILLEGAL DRUGS (illegal because she did not have a prescription) to give to ANOTHER PERSON.
Had she ordered the abortion pills for her own use, and taken them herself -- even in Texas, no charges would have been possible.
When I read the story, I was puzzled why she did not have her daughter order and take her own medication -- the daughter was in her late teens, I believe -- but some parents are very controlling, and possibly the mother was terrified she'd end up having to raise her own grandkids.
I am personally not opposed to abortion, but it IS troubling how easy and thoughtless it has become, and how many women go on to have 2, 3 or more abortions without changing their careless behaviors. And the reality is that more than half of all Americans oppose abortion (except in cases of rape or incest or fetal abnormality).
Is it possible this would have been better to have been decided on a state by state basis? NY and CA would have always had legal abortion -- and Texas and Idaho could ban it. If people didn't like the law in their state, they are always free to relocate.
Had she ordered the abortion pills for her own use, and taken them herself -- even in Texas, no charges would have been possible.
When I read the story, I was puzzled why she did not have her daughter order and take her own medication -- the daughter was in her late teens, I believe -- but some parents are very controlling, and possibly the mother was terrified she'd end up having to raise her own grandkids.
I am personally not opposed to abortion, but it IS troubling how easy and thoughtless it has become, and how many women go on to have 2, 3 or more abortions without changing their careless behaviors. And the reality is that more than half of all Americans oppose abortion (except in cases of rape or incest or fetal abnormality).
Is it possible this would have been better to have been decided on a state by state basis? NY and CA would have always had legal abortion -- and Texas and Idaho could ban it. If people didn't like the law in their state, they are always free to relocate.
2
Concerned Citizen:
She probably didn't have her daughter order them because the daughter was 16 and it was illegal for her to purchase ANY medications on the Internet. In any case, I wouldn't expect the mother of a 16-year-old to be too fussy about such things when considering a desperate situation that affected her daughter.
My point is that a mother whose only 'crime" was seeking a means for her daughter to exercise a right that a state wished to limit by disingenuous means is going to PRISON for this act.
What kind of America are we becoming?
She probably didn't have her daughter order them because the daughter was 16 and it was illegal for her to purchase ANY medications on the Internet. In any case, I wouldn't expect the mother of a 16-year-old to be too fussy about such things when considering a desperate situation that affected her daughter.
My point is that a mother whose only 'crime" was seeking a means for her daughter to exercise a right that a state wished to limit by disingenuous means is going to PRISON for this act.
What kind of America are we becoming?
14
Religious beliefs are merely an excuse. It all comes down to sexism and power. Remove these from the equation and we solve the problem.
177
Who's in charge certainly has a lot to do with the controversy. Women are the affected parties, let them decide.
13
It must be a triumph of faith over politics -- one might think Republicans would allow, perhaps even encourage, abortion, supposing that most of the abortees would have grown up to vote Democrat.
17
As a resident of Texas, I've made the acquaintence of many anti-abortionists. Abortion is a derivative issue. Religiosity is the matter in question. Logical reasoning or asking for empathy would not stop the most desperate woman from being crucified by inane legalities in the state's flesh hungry courts!
The religiose see abortion as a form of apostasy, terribly threatening to those who rely on biblical interpretation for their reason to exist. In the
middle east, they decapitate here they just toss some poor girl in jail.
The religiose see abortion as a form of apostasy, terribly threatening to those who rely on biblical interpretation for their reason to exist. In the
middle east, they decapitate here they just toss some poor girl in jail.
87
Pregnancy results when a man and woman have sex. Therefore, before a man can be given a drug such as Viagra in order to help him have sex, he should be required to travel to a fully-equipped hospital and sit through a lecture on the possible results of his actions. It's only fair.
813
I think a 24-72 hour waiting period between expressing the wish to have sex and obtaining the erectile dysfunction drug should also be imposed.
11
And after the lecture, if still wants to go through with the act, he should be required to volunteer in the neonatal ward of his local hospital for a month, changing diapers, learning how to teach the baby to "latch on." And then after that, he needs to spend another few months providing child care for a single mother with three or four children so that she can work. And then he could get his little blue pills. Maybe this all should be the requirement for Republican legislators as part of their swearing in ceremony.
8
Bravo! A brilliant notion.... I fully endorse your suggestion. I'd love to see some of our politicians being interviewed following the required visit.
5
I've always been one who would've hoped a woman would keep her baby, but more and more, I'm growing more understanding, and the sonograms and the delivered scripts, only add insult to injury. And, it is injury -- maybe not in all cases, but especially in cases when one wants an abortion --- for some reason, the female does not want to be left with a remembrance of that day or night. I think men like Sen. Dan Patrick have messed where they ought not to have been messing and if he knows what is good for his own sex, he needs leave the female alone, because I really don't see this playing out well for him if he would get his way.
26
Most women who get abortions already have children. The family cannot support more. It isn't about an "unwanted remembrance of a day or night". It's about a family's survival including its children.
"How would God vote tonight if he were here?" The smug arrogance of the preposterous question is at the heart of conservative reasoning on every social issue. I think God has become exceedingly weary of the Right drumming up His name in their service of evil. He would probably say something like "my vote doesn't count, but yours does. Explain to me your unkindness to others."
358
They should not vote until God, he or she....now wouldn't that be a surprise!
appears in person and tells them how to vote!
appears in person and tells them how to vote!
12
A better question might be, "How would God vote tonight if she were here?" She would probably do more than vote for women. She would at least sanction the arrogant in ways that only She can.
The War on Women continues apace, particularly with regard to
poor women. Well to do and suburban women can always drive
or fly to obtain the legal procedures.
Medically unnecessary equipment, staff and procedures like
tranvaginal probes and ultrasounds are all esigned to make
abortion impossible since they can't make it illegal
The GOP logo should be a coat hanger.
poor women. Well to do and suburban women can always drive
or fly to obtain the legal procedures.
Medically unnecessary equipment, staff and procedures like
tranvaginal probes and ultrasounds are all esigned to make
abortion impossible since they can't make it illegal
The GOP logo should be a coat hanger.
405
"The GOP logo should be a coat hanger."
Or a screenshot of an online "shopping cart" with an order of "abortion pills" in it. What's really in those pills? Who knows?
We're already back to the stage where desperate women would swallow potentially dangerous substances to shed an unwanted pregnancy. Next comes jumping down the stairs and getting people to punch them in the belly.
The staunchest pro-choice person I ever met was an elderly black woman who explained how it was done at the turn of the last century. She spit tacks telling me about "the fools who want to take us back to those days." That was 30 years ago. She is almost certainly dead by now. I am glad she didn't live to hear about mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds.
Or a screenshot of an online "shopping cart" with an order of "abortion pills" in it. What's really in those pills? Who knows?
We're already back to the stage where desperate women would swallow potentially dangerous substances to shed an unwanted pregnancy. Next comes jumping down the stairs and getting people to punch them in the belly.
The staunchest pro-choice person I ever met was an elderly black woman who explained how it was done at the turn of the last century. She spit tacks telling me about "the fools who want to take us back to those days." That was 30 years ago. She is almost certainly dead by now. I am glad she didn't live to hear about mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds.
20
I've read in more than one liberal publication the importance of ultrasounds in determining the stage of the pregnancy and the correct procedure to use. One of the pieces was written by a woman who performed abortions. She made it sound like standard practice.
Is there anyone out there who can address this?
Is there anyone out there who can address this?
Coat hanger? That's as silly as the logo for the Democrats being a pair or scissors and a knife.
Upper and middle citizens always have and always will have an opportunity for medical care that exceeds that of the poor. I am not saying this is good, just accepting reality. Our society along with many others favors the affluent.
The "War on Women" line is inaccurate. What about the "War on Babies"? I happen to find that line inaccurate and silly as well and both are nothing but sound bites.
Upper and middle citizens always have and always will have an opportunity for medical care that exceeds that of the poor. I am not saying this is good, just accepting reality. Our society along with many others favors the affluent.
The "War on Women" line is inaccurate. What about the "War on Babies"? I happen to find that line inaccurate and silly as well and both are nothing but sound bites.
Abortion is always an emotional topic, but in terms of public policy, one of the good things about our past was that religious beliefs weren't forced on the citizenry through the making of laws. The Roe v Wade decision is the law of the land, but the recent legislation in the states mentioned (and others) represents a complete lack of respect for the overarching intent of that ruling.
The GOP religious right agenda over the past 35 years has repeatedly flaunted the law in several areas, abortion is only one. The Tea Party, mostly radical, religious right, has brought Congress to its knees, thereby delegitimizing the "heathen" government. That's been their plan all along.
If the religious right doesn't like the law, they attack at a grass roots level to negate its overarching intent. The defunding of Planned Parenthood is one of example of this tactic. Now that's followed by the other blatantly dishonest approaches, from the "sterility" of the procedure room to the fear induced by charging women with murder. That's what is known in some circles as extortion.
The lack of civility in their approach is reflected here by the emotional trauma being experienced by poor, often uneducated women in these circumstances. That the religious right doesn't care what happens to poor children after they are born is total hypocrisy.
Ignorance and fear are the hallmarks of fascism. The states that use these tactics are like stealth dictatorships. I wish the people could see it.
The GOP religious right agenda over the past 35 years has repeatedly flaunted the law in several areas, abortion is only one. The Tea Party, mostly radical, religious right, has brought Congress to its knees, thereby delegitimizing the "heathen" government. That's been their plan all along.
If the religious right doesn't like the law, they attack at a grass roots level to negate its overarching intent. The defunding of Planned Parenthood is one of example of this tactic. Now that's followed by the other blatantly dishonest approaches, from the "sterility" of the procedure room to the fear induced by charging women with murder. That's what is known in some circles as extortion.
The lack of civility in their approach is reflected here by the emotional trauma being experienced by poor, often uneducated women in these circumstances. That the religious right doesn't care what happens to poor children after they are born is total hypocrisy.
Ignorance and fear are the hallmarks of fascism. The states that use these tactics are like stealth dictatorships. I wish the people could see it.
152
"Ignorance and fear are the hallmarks of fascism. The states that use these tactics are like stealth dictatorships. I wish the people could see it."
Don't worry, a lot of us do indeed see it!!!
Don't worry, a lot of us do indeed see it!!!
20
The way i see it the corporate fascist wing of the gop has used the religious right to conceal its true purpose, which is just corporate control of government at all levels. When republicans had complet control of the government from 2002 to 2006 abortion restrictions at the federal level never came up. Why? Those who call the shots know that would have been political suicide.
Better to nip away at democracy little by little, at the edges. In the stupid zone of states who keep voting these Anti-Americans into office.
Better to nip away at democracy little by little, at the edges. In the stupid zone of states who keep voting these Anti-Americans into office.
3
If abortion becomes illegal, or unobtainable, the middle class will go abroad, and poor women will die like flies. No 'babies' will be saved. This is about controlling women, not the sanctity of life.
Maybe God would say that the decision to have an abortion should be left to Himself, the woman, and her physician.
Maybe God would say that the decision to have an abortion should be left to Himself, the woman, and her physician.
68
Not really true. As recently as 1962, we had orphanages in the US and they were so full of adoptable infants (most white!), that Life magazine did a cover story on the issue.
Today, infertile couples struggle terribly to find adoptable infants, and usually must go abroad or use costly IVF techniques. So it is very real that there are fewer unwanted births.
Some studies imply that it has caused a drop in crime rates, because unwanted children might grow up to be angry and unstable individuals. But that's awfully hard to quantify.
Today, infertile couples struggle terribly to find adoptable infants, and usually must go abroad or use costly IVF techniques. So it is very real that there are fewer unwanted births.
Some studies imply that it has caused a drop in crime rates, because unwanted children might grow up to be angry and unstable individuals. But that's awfully hard to quantify.
1
@Concerned: Childbirth isn't without risk of death or disability; many women would be forced to bear children to absent or abusive fathers, lose their jobs, their other children forced into poverty or abuse… women would be forced to beg courts for permission to terminate dangerous pregnancies or those that are the results of rape or incest (think 11-year-old raped by her father)… the list goes on. Sorry, but it is not the job of any given woman to help stock orphanages for infertile couples.
21
I had one child, in a high-risk pregnancy, which I am VERY thankful I had insurance at the time, that was, and continues to be, detrimental to my long-term health. If I were to ever get pregnant again (dubious I assure you) I would certainly get an immediate abortion, because I HAVE a child in the world that needs me today, and I have NO assurance that a second pregnancy won't finish the job and kill me outright.
Compassion : it's what you lack; to see the world through other's eyes, and understand the travails they must overcome.
It is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS why any woman chooses to have an abortion, but rest assured, it's always a good one TO HER.
Compassion : it's what you lack; to see the world through other's eyes, and understand the travails they must overcome.
It is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS why any woman chooses to have an abortion, but rest assured, it's always a good one TO HER.
8
The purpose of law is not just to maintain order, but to provide justice. I continue to be shocked that conservatives are allowed to lie about their underlying intentions in court on policy issues, like voter id and abortion, and have judges give their "wink" of approval. The Pledge of Allegiance claims that our country provides "liberty and justice for all", but judges continue to have a hard time providing it - sometimes with the best of intentions, sometimes with the worst. Unfortunately, my impression is that this is mostly a case of the later.
43
The very same Bible thumping moralizers roaming the State Legislators making it incredibly difficult and even more traumatic for a woman to undergo an abortion are the same ones who rail against teenage pregnancies and the disproportionate rate of single parent households. Yet they oppose sex education, the distribution of condoms , and of course aid to dependent children or food stamps. Yes indeed, HOW WOULD GOD VOTE!
103
In 1995, Jeb Bush agreed that single women who birthed children out of wedlock and did not name the father but wanted to have them adopted should be publicly shamed and would have to advertise in the papers by posting all the sexual encounters they had so that the father of the child would be able to claim paternity if he so wanted to do so. This law, supposedly was for the benefit of the adoptive parents.
Now Texas and other states claim that they are protecting women's health and safety by passing ridiculously difficult and expensive laws forcing abortion clinics to close. It has nothing to do with that --- it has everything to do with lawmakers inserting religion into a secular and legal right.
This has NOTHING to do with a woman's health or safety. Like the law that was passed in FL and caused more abortions to occur because women did not want to humiliate themselves publicly, this is about humiliating and shaming women because they have made the decision to end a pregnancy.
If that is in doubt, just look at the states who have attempted or actually punished women with imprisonment for obtaining abortion pills online.
Now Texas and other states claim that they are protecting women's health and safety by passing ridiculously difficult and expensive laws forcing abortion clinics to close. It has nothing to do with that --- it has everything to do with lawmakers inserting religion into a secular and legal right.
This has NOTHING to do with a woman's health or safety. Like the law that was passed in FL and caused more abortions to occur because women did not want to humiliate themselves publicly, this is about humiliating and shaming women because they have made the decision to end a pregnancy.
If that is in doubt, just look at the states who have attempted or actually punished women with imprisonment for obtaining abortion pills online.
141
@Sajwert: Did Jeb Bush really do that? I have to google that and get the story. If true, every woman voter needs to know that - and NOW!
7
Sophia - Jeb Bush really did say that. I came across the story a few days ago.
It will really hit the fan if he gets the nomination.
It will really hit the fan if he gets the nomination.
5
Some states are only a few steps away from requiring that women wear a burka. Think of the irony.
79
@Michael: "Some states are only a few steps away from requiring that women wear a burka. Think of the irony". Oh, but they hate Sharia law don't they? Such ignorance. I am so angry that their ignorance is being inflicted on women. They must be stopped. Please, God, soon....they must be stopped!
4
Why can't the proponents of such restrictions simply state what we all know - that their objective is zero abortions in America. I taste vomit in my mouth every time I hear one of them smugly state that they're motivated by safety concerns.
113
Actually, their goal is zero LEGAL abortions in America. They know full well that outlawing or otherwise restricting abortion doesn't stop it -- it just ensures more women will be maimed or killed. That's the ultimate goal -- to punish women for having sex that was not controlled by a husband or father -- a man. It's solely about oppressing women, nothing more or nothing less.
16
K. Morris:
Strong and apt comment.
However, I don't think these legislators even really put on any pretense of interest in safety (that's merely for dealing with constitutionality issues).
It's a lot like voter "id" laws; no one, I mean NO ONE, on either side of the issue, is unaware of the players' real motives. Spoken or not, the fundamental motivation for these laws lies right on the surface.
Strong and apt comment.
However, I don't think these legislators even really put on any pretense of interest in safety (that's merely for dealing with constitutionality issues).
It's a lot like voter "id" laws; no one, I mean NO ONE, on either side of the issue, is unaware of the players' real motives. Spoken or not, the fundamental motivation for these laws lies right on the surface.
3
Abortion is wrong because the unborn baby can feel pain and birth control can prevent pregnancy. Sex is good. But sex is shameful if it is done irresponsibly. These women SHOULD be made to feel ashamed of themselves. Just as drunk drivers should be made to feel ashamed of themselves.
6
But if you are rich
you need feel no public shaming because you can afford to go to a city or state where as the co station states abortion is legal.
you need feel no public shaming because you can afford to go to a city or state where as the co station states abortion is legal.
39
You forgot to mention that people who don't feel ashamed of themselves should all go to jail right along with people who have abortions. How shameful of you.
58
"These women should be made to feel ashamed of themselves."
Thanks, I guess, for cutting "these men" some slack.
Thanks, I guess, for cutting "these men" some slack.
57
Texan Dan Patrick's question "What would God think" about abortions has an easy answer. God does more abortions than anyone--about 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. If God disapproves of abortion, why does he do so many terminations of innocent lives? Answer: Abortion is no big deal biologically. Habitat limits numbers, not numbers of possible pregnancies. Failure to care for Creation is the crime God hates.
726
All well and good, but you don't know the mind of God. Only prospective Lieutenant Governors of Texas get that privilege.
70
Good try. But miscarriages are the natural end to pregnancies that are defective or fetuses with abnormalities (or sometimes when the mother is too young, or in poor health).
99% of abortions are done on healthy, normal young women with healthy normal pregnancies and healthy, normal fetuses.
Also adult humans die of "natural causes" all the time -- that does not mean I would deny them antibiotics or ER care. Or that if I am injured in an auto accident -- or get pneumonia -- that you can come around, and smother me to death with a pillow, because after all "lots of people die of these things anyways".
99% of abortions are done on healthy, normal young women with healthy normal pregnancies and healthy, normal fetuses.
Also adult humans die of "natural causes" all the time -- that does not mean I would deny them antibiotics or ER care. Or that if I am injured in an auto accident -- or get pneumonia -- that you can come around, and smother me to death with a pillow, because after all "lots of people die of these things anyways".
2
It's hypocritical for Patrick to ask what would God do. Is Patrick divinely qualified to speak to that? Of course not, no one is. But to bring God into a political issue in a country where the law is separation of church and state is a lie fest, making the speaker appear to be on God's side. Is there such a thing? Of course not. If you believe in God you believe in love for everyone. Clearly Patrick and all GOP do not have love for all, only for selves and cronies.
And if you believe in God you believe in free will, not slavery to rantings of religious fanatics. Free will means we are responsible for ourselves, our bodies, our lives, and no political group may interfere with that.
Wake up and speak up America or democracy will be a thing of the past.
And if you believe in God you believe in free will, not slavery to rantings of religious fanatics. Free will means we are responsible for ourselves, our bodies, our lives, and no political group may interfere with that.
Wake up and speak up America or democracy will be a thing of the past.
3
I have a fix for this and several other recurrent problems we face. Since we didn't allow women the vote for the first 150 years, let's even things out and go the next 150 not allowing men to vote -- only women.
I know there are a lot of Duggar women out there who would skew the vote, but, overall, I'll bet we'd be better off.
I know there are a lot of Duggar women out there who would skew the vote, but, overall, I'll bet we'd be better off.
461
Sorry. If Idaho is the bright spot, then we're doomed. Aren't middle- and upper-class women complicit in all this? Shouldn't women of means stand up for their poorer sisters? I'm sure that more than a few conservative wealthy white women in McKinney, Texas, have quietly taken themselves or their teen daughters for abortions, that is, when they are not beating up black teenagers at the neighborhood pool.
150
How about making upper class men complicit? They make the laws that upper class women (and poor women) have to follow.
23
The only thing I disagree with here is the use of the term 'middle class' in the statement that middle class women 'can go to the clinics in Dallas, San Antonio or Houston — or Chicago or Los Angeles or New York'. The median household income is just over $50K (lower in almost all the states we're talking about here). The median income of a woman is around $20K. These are not the sorts of numbers that make it easy (or, in many cases, possible) to spend a couple of thousand dollars to travel out of town and pay for an abortion.
Like many journalists, Ms. Collins seems to more or less equate being 'middle class' with having the sort of lifestyle that she and her circle of acquaintances enjoy. I prefer to focus on median income figures---quite precisely the income of the person or household in the middle of the income distribution. They paint a much grimmer picture.
Like many journalists, Ms. Collins seems to more or less equate being 'middle class' with having the sort of lifestyle that she and her circle of acquaintances enjoy. I prefer to focus on median income figures---quite precisely the income of the person or household in the middle of the income distribution. They paint a much grimmer picture.
57
Historically, the term middle class described people who had enough money to pay for their necessities, and had some left over to make choices for things not bare necessities. Working class could usually just handle food, clothing, shelter. The poor couldn't manage that and the wealthy (or "upper") class could make decisions without concern for cost.
Except for post WWII America, the middle class never was at the center of the economic curve. At all other times, the working class and poor were always the vast majority of the population.
Ms. Collins was just using the classic definition of middle class.
Having said all that, I agree the picture is about as grim as you can imagine. In my youth, in the 1950's, when abortion was absolutely illegal, upper middle class and wealthy women routinely had them in the safety of a hospital (one on the North Shore of Long Island virtually specialized in them.) They usually were performed as "D&Cs."
The anti-abortion gang wants us to go back to those "good ol days."
Except for post WWII America, the middle class never was at the center of the economic curve. At all other times, the working class and poor were always the vast majority of the population.
Ms. Collins was just using the classic definition of middle class.
Having said all that, I agree the picture is about as grim as you can imagine. In my youth, in the 1950's, when abortion was absolutely illegal, upper middle class and wealthy women routinely had them in the safety of a hospital (one on the North Shore of Long Island virtually specialized in them.) They usually were performed as "D&Cs."
The anti-abortion gang wants us to go back to those "good ol days."
30
Brian: first of all, when abortion was illegal -- most women who became pregnant ended up either A. getting married to the father of their child (promiscuity was far less rampant 60 years ago!) or B. they put the child up for adoption.
While that is a difficult choice (adoption), it meant the child was raised by two parents, in a stable home -- and that infertile couples had a real, affordable option when unable to have children. Nobody had to travel to China or Africa to get a baby to adopt.
Also: in the 50s and earlier, unwed pregnancy was incredibly shameful and embarrassing -- so people sought to hide it, or get rid of the baby due to the SHAME. Absolutely nobody feels this way anymore -- not even the most religious person in the most red state. Unwed motherhood is the absolute NORM everywhere today.
So the imperative to "get rid of the baby, to hide the shameful fact you had sex" -- that rationale simply does not exist anymore.
To say that middle class women ROUTINELY had abortions prior to Roe v Wade is a gross exaggeration -- some did, but it was far from the norm or average. It was a very extreme measure, usually due to family pressure, or where the father of the baby would not marry the woman, or was someone outside of her social class.
While that is a difficult choice (adoption), it meant the child was raised by two parents, in a stable home -- and that infertile couples had a real, affordable option when unable to have children. Nobody had to travel to China or Africa to get a baby to adopt.
Also: in the 50s and earlier, unwed pregnancy was incredibly shameful and embarrassing -- so people sought to hide it, or get rid of the baby due to the SHAME. Absolutely nobody feels this way anymore -- not even the most religious person in the most red state. Unwed motherhood is the absolute NORM everywhere today.
So the imperative to "get rid of the baby, to hide the shameful fact you had sex" -- that rationale simply does not exist anymore.
To say that middle class women ROUTINELY had abortions prior to Roe v Wade is a gross exaggeration -- some did, but it was far from the norm or average. It was a very extreme measure, usually due to family pressure, or where the father of the baby would not marry the woman, or was someone outside of her social class.
2
Concerned - you've posted several replies with claims. Do you have facts and statistics behind your assertions?
7
All advanced nations should have by now progressed socially,to understand that Abortion is the birthright of every women.
The conditionality attached to female fertility is a common ground between Saudi Arabia & United States.
The parameters change,the moral & social issues concerning women remain same albeit with an different Nomenclature.
The United States Congress should pass "A Right to Abortion Bill" on the likes of the Right to Vote bill for women which came nearly 140years after U.S. independence.
It's never too late to mend & amend a grave wrong on women.
What they do with their sexuality & their bodies is best left to Women.
The conditionality attached to female fertility is a common ground between Saudi Arabia & United States.
The parameters change,the moral & social issues concerning women remain same albeit with an different Nomenclature.
The United States Congress should pass "A Right to Abortion Bill" on the likes of the Right to Vote bill for women which came nearly 140years after U.S. independence.
It's never too late to mend & amend a grave wrong on women.
What they do with their sexuality & their bodies is best left to Women.
76
Excellent comments. Your equating anti-abortionists in the US to Saudis is apt considering that the American anti-abortionist is also a religious extremist and fundamentalist.
47
You may not realize this in INDIA, but in the US, the majority of Americans oppose abortion on demand (i.e., meaning not in the case of incest, rape or fetal abnormality).
2
The apparently well-financed attacks on women’s reproductive rights in states like Texas are relentless. Planned Parenthood and other organizations have not had much success in stopping or even slowing the inroads made by the anti-abortion crowd.
We need to continue support for pro-choice groups, but an additional focus is clearly necessary. If poor women are the people who really suffer from the Republican attacks, then a separate charitable foundation should be created
to perform no service other than be a source of funds for obtaining an abortion in cities with clinics.
The poor women’s foundation would not only pay for the medical procedure, it would do much more. The foundation would purchase plane or bus tickets, find and pay for hotel accommodations, provide arrival site guides and drivers, and arrange and pay for child-care for the kids left back home.
If there already is such a fund to help poor women with unwanted pregnancies, what is the name and contact information of the fund?
We need to continue support for pro-choice groups, but an additional focus is clearly necessary. If poor women are the people who really suffer from the Republican attacks, then a separate charitable foundation should be created
to perform no service other than be a source of funds for obtaining an abortion in cities with clinics.
The poor women’s foundation would not only pay for the medical procedure, it would do much more. The foundation would purchase plane or bus tickets, find and pay for hotel accommodations, provide arrival site guides and drivers, and arrange and pay for child-care for the kids left back home.
If there already is such a fund to help poor women with unwanted pregnancies, what is the name and contact information of the fund?
56
There is i group called Fund Texas Choice for poor women. We should also mention that Texas turned down medic aide expansion and subsidies for poor women so they are less likely to get free birth control under ACA. So no birth control and no abortions and throw in a side of cancer and STD, HIV and Hepatitis C, all serous venereally spread diseases. This is just stupid. These guys want women barefoot and pregnant, but they aren't providing for healthy mothers and children.
44
Google "abortion assistance funds." The Lilith Fund in Texas, among others, tries to help. But we need to fund more agencies to give the comprehensive assistance you mention.
23
Strangely, with all the women's groups, lefty liberals, Democrats, etc. -- I've never heard of such a group, not on a large scale.
Liberals like to talk big, and then do nothing.
Liberals like to talk big, and then do nothing.
3
Dear Ms. Collins; This is the first time since I started reading (and loving) your columns that you have failed to say anything funny, the first time you have not employed your adroit wit and sense of humor. However, I applaud you for this because there is nothing, nothing, funny about the topic, nor what is happening in the United States in attempts to substitute the misogynistic thinking of men and rabid religious fundamentalists for that of the decisions of an individual woman in the determination of that woman's health and life outcome. And it is about the money, not only for the poor woman who can not afford an abortion, but for the hackneyed politicians around this country that will do or say anything for votes; i..e., a simple perverse variation of Citizens United. Nothing funny about this at all! What part of the first amendment's separation of church and state don't they understand?
595
I just wish one time I would hear a legislator who is anti abortion propose a bill that is pro child care and state sponsored Day Care. It is all well and good to bring these children into this world but with out a safety net they will not be cared for properly.
Using God as an excuse for "safe " abortion is only reasonable if followed up with what God would want, care for the little children.
Using God as an excuse for "safe " abortion is only reasonable if followed up with what God would want, care for the little children.
271
I agree. Let's see funding made a reality for child daycare, paid maternity leave, child health care including vaccinations, Head Start, etc. These anti-abortionists don't care about the child once they are in the world only in vitro.
25
You'll never hear an anti-abortion legislator propose such a bill because anti-abortion legislation is all about the punishment of women for having sex, not about saving lives. It's all about the judging and the smug assumption that those male legislators are worthy of everything that's been handed to them but the poor are poor because of some character defect. Caring for the poor children of women who couldn't afford to travel to get an abortion isn't on the agenda because if those women only stopped having sex altogether and worked harder than the 3 jobs they have now at less than minimum wage, they wouldn't be poor.
21
It's pretty clear from their antichildren policies that those reactionaries love the fetus and hate the child.
2
Start letting the many corporate headquarters that moved to Texas know. AT&T once headquartered in NYC moved to Dallas. Many tech firms are there. Every cell phone and all the tech services use these companies products and services. We need a cell phone app and Facebook to let them know enough of Texas and others attacks on women.
59
There is no "battle". Women surrendered long ago whenever they voted for a Republican politician. And, surprisingly, they still do. The word "abortion" is just a convenient place for the male "women controllers" to hang their arguments right now. I am very old and I have never understood why the females of America keep doing this to themselves, especially since they far outnumber the GOP. The situation will not change until women voters change.........
1063
This is being misleading pictured by Gail and many posters as a "male vs female" issue -- as if only male politicians in red states oppose abortion.
This is false. By far, the vast majority of those who oppose abortion are WOMEN. There are groups called "Feminists Against Abortion" and "Democrats Against Abortion". It is possible to be a liberal feminist woman and be against abortion (or to oppose them in some cases, like late term abortions).
There is a phony narrative here where women are all blue, liberal Democrats and opposed by nasty religious red-state right wing MEN....as if there are (say) no Roman Catholic women who oppose abortion, but who are registered Democrats.
The oversimplification here is astounding -- and it's why the left loses so many of these critical state elections. They demonize anyone different from themselves, and never bother to LISTEN.
This is false. By far, the vast majority of those who oppose abortion are WOMEN. There are groups called "Feminists Against Abortion" and "Democrats Against Abortion". It is possible to be a liberal feminist woman and be against abortion (or to oppose them in some cases, like late term abortions).
There is a phony narrative here where women are all blue, liberal Democrats and opposed by nasty religious red-state right wing MEN....as if there are (say) no Roman Catholic women who oppose abortion, but who are registered Democrats.
The oversimplification here is astounding -- and it's why the left loses so many of these critical state elections. They demonize anyone different from themselves, and never bother to LISTEN.
1
And the men who truly care about women.
2
Concerned Citizen - Where are the statistics to back up this claim? It usually takes me less than five minutes on the internet to refute your statements so I tend to view all of them with a bit of skepticism.
Occasionally you make some very valid points but your tendency to bend the truth or abandon it altogether really damages your credibility.
Occasionally you make some very valid points but your tendency to bend the truth or abandon it altogether really damages your credibility.
14
Let’s broaden this. The US lacks social supports for women. We create more poor women who can’t afford abortions, then think up ways to deny access and punish.
Joe Stiglitz was on cspan last week re his new book “The Great Divide”, on remedies for US inequality, the highest among advanced nations. He made this revealing point--- other nations make it much easier for women with children to work full time. They give child care benefits for all, not just the poor. And good public transport to get to jobs---2 crucial things the US largely lacks.
The US makes it hard for women to work due to the lack of child care and transportation. Min wages are too low, and many jobs lack paid sick leave. If have a car and it breaks down, they often can’t afford repairs, and then can’t get to a job. They lack savings to tide them over, which middle class peole have. This has a huge effect on poverty and family support.
Women with secure employment and financial stability can afford to raise children. Less poverty, thus less social instability. And less class resentment for politicians to exploit.
The US creates poor women and then compounds their problems to the point of desperation, and from a variety of angles. Isolating poor women hundreds of miles from abortion clinics is like the last straw. It’s sadistic.
Joe Stiglitz was on cspan last week re his new book “The Great Divide”, on remedies for US inequality, the highest among advanced nations. He made this revealing point--- other nations make it much easier for women with children to work full time. They give child care benefits for all, not just the poor. And good public transport to get to jobs---2 crucial things the US largely lacks.
The US makes it hard for women to work due to the lack of child care and transportation. Min wages are too low, and many jobs lack paid sick leave. If have a car and it breaks down, they often can’t afford repairs, and then can’t get to a job. They lack savings to tide them over, which middle class peole have. This has a huge effect on poverty and family support.
Women with secure employment and financial stability can afford to raise children. Less poverty, thus less social instability. And less class resentment for politicians to exploit.
The US creates poor women and then compounds their problems to the point of desperation, and from a variety of angles. Isolating poor women hundreds of miles from abortion clinics is like the last straw. It’s sadistic.
519
You are so right. It is sadistic.
22
Ah, yes, but ensuring a decent job, transportation to get to it and the ability to care for children while doing so would make women much less dependent on men. Get it? The vision of masculinity that is particularly American is really a weak, scared little boy who only feels good by dominating others. That's what all this is about.
47
An excellent summation.
25
The Constitution lives on, although it's so battered and bruised you have to wonder how long it can continue to do so. We seem always to be on the verge of replacing its sweeping promise of freedom and justice for all with little pockets of male-dominated tribal theology, powered by a lack of empathy and justified by medical knowledge straight out of the 17th century. It's surprising that the Idaho legislature feared imposing Shariah law on deadbeat dads, but didn't see any similarity in its treatment of women.
Forget the thousands of anonymous poor women who are forced to have unwanted children, or who turn to pills from the Internet, or seek other back-alley solutions. Don't these lawmakers have wives and daughters? Must they follow through with inconvenient or dangerous pregnancies? Or might different rules apply to those with money and power?
We should be grateful for small victories, but those always seem to be too little, too late. Every now and then justice prevails, but when it does, it makes the news.
Idaho forced to stop brutalizing poor pregnant women. Film at eleven.
Forget the thousands of anonymous poor women who are forced to have unwanted children, or who turn to pills from the Internet, or seek other back-alley solutions. Don't these lawmakers have wives and daughters? Must they follow through with inconvenient or dangerous pregnancies? Or might different rules apply to those with money and power?
We should be grateful for small victories, but those always seem to be too little, too late. Every now and then justice prevails, but when it does, it makes the news.
Idaho forced to stop brutalizing poor pregnant women. Film at eleven.
301
During the course of my brief life time, the world's population has doubled, thousands die of starvation each day, and humankind's ability to manage the world's resources is in doubt. And yet, here in America, a relatively few sanctimonious, and incredibly unempathetic rubes enjoy the material well being and political clout to strong arm our national discourse, and worse terrorize women who don't have the material luxury or time or emotional energy to raise an unwanted child. When have we heard any politician discuss the daily horrors child starvation and consequences of overpopulation?
443
Very well said. Or written....whatever. Well Done!
8
Are these people worried about poor people having abortions? I doubt it. The way I see it they are afraid of a government controlled by "others" (the poor, minorities, leftist), and how they can impose godless, or PC, i.e Muslim laws on them. They are driven by fear, not reason. They want to regain control, or at least go down fighting, regardless of what kind of damage they can cause in the process. Religion or Ideology are only their excuses.
4
All of our society's problem come down to negligent parenting, and forcing those least capable of being adequate parents to become parents is only going to make things worse.
40
So very true but this is the very first time I have seen it written in any post. thank you.
7
Yeah, but it doesn't work that way, I am afraid.
The incompetent high school dropout is very likely to KEEP HER BABY -- wanting the welfare benefits, and social approval of being a mother.
It is the educated, middle class woman who aborts, because "the baby would interfere with my life plans".
The incompetent high school dropout is very likely to KEEP HER BABY -- wanting the welfare benefits, and social approval of being a mother.
It is the educated, middle class woman who aborts, because "the baby would interfere with my life plans".
2
Concerned Citizen - Wouldn't it be a good idea to provide young women with sex education and access to health care and contraception?
17
Texas has become unsafe for women.
253
Only well off Women have Choice,
Poor women alas have no voice,
After the Child's born,
Bereft and forlorn,
Pleas for assistance are just noise!
The State that's called Lone Star, et al,
Are pious purveyors of mal,
With brute force they ram
Not giving a damn,
Their biases political!
Poor women alas have no voice,
After the Child's born,
Bereft and forlorn,
Pleas for assistance are just noise!
The State that's called Lone Star, et al,
Are pious purveyors of mal,
With brute force they ram
Not giving a damn,
Their biases political!
270
Gail,
I applaud any and all victories. We need them.
However we slice it, it all comes down to the patriarchy reasserting control over women and their bodies. However else we slice it, feminism heeds to be redefined, retaught, and re-fought.
Feminism isn't only about equal pay. Feminism isn't only about autonomy to work outside the home. Feminism isn't only about intellectual equality. Feminism isn't only about gender. Feminism is about believing in the equality one's ability and potential. Feminism is about all of those things and more.
Feminism is about how we all raise our kids. Feminism is teaching our kids, by example that we respect ourselves and command respect from all others.
Feminism is showing up at the polls and removing from office all of these representatives we've allowed to undo the progress that took centuries to achieve.
I applaud any and all victories. We need them.
However we slice it, it all comes down to the patriarchy reasserting control over women and their bodies. However else we slice it, feminism heeds to be redefined, retaught, and re-fought.
Feminism isn't only about equal pay. Feminism isn't only about autonomy to work outside the home. Feminism isn't only about intellectual equality. Feminism isn't only about gender. Feminism is about believing in the equality one's ability and potential. Feminism is about all of those things and more.
Feminism is about how we all raise our kids. Feminism is teaching our kids, by example that we respect ourselves and command respect from all others.
Feminism is showing up at the polls and removing from office all of these representatives we've allowed to undo the progress that took centuries to achieve.
813
Odd to see how many women show up as anti-feminists at anti-choice rallies. Is it that they endure second class status and want others to pay for a dubious membership?
16
Feminism? What is that? No. Better question. Where is feminism? Where are all the women pushing back, fighting to retain equal access to abortions for all women? There certainly is no "leaning in" by women on this issue.
24
I call that humanism, but I get your point!
This evil cabal is the same that hides between the tired old war cry of "smaller government" and "getting the government out of the bedroom." Their hypocrisy is breathtaking.
And Texas men, it is time to stand up for your women.... Allowing these politicians to treat them this way demeans not only women, but you as well.
This evil cabal is the same that hides between the tired old war cry of "smaller government" and "getting the government out of the bedroom." Their hypocrisy is breathtaking.
And Texas men, it is time to stand up for your women.... Allowing these politicians to treat them this way demeans not only women, but you as well.
76
Well, based on his voting record, it is unlikely God would have been elected in Texas.