(I found this one at Gaping Void. It sums up my feelings perfectly)
Today the Supreme Court upheld a law that placed restrictions on the ability for a woman to abort her fetus. It outlawed a medical procedure that’s occasionally necessary to safeguard a woman’s health. This law contains no exception for the women’s health and sets the stage for further restrictions on women’s right to make reproductive choices.
That’s right, “ladies:” New restrictions restricting your options in life, coming to a state near you:
Todays decision is alarming. It refuses to take Casey and Stenberg seriously. It tolerates, indeed applauds, federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). It blurs the line, firmly drawn in Casey, between previability and postviability abortions. And, for the first time since Roe, the Court blesses a prohibition with no exception safeguarding a womans health.
-Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dissenting
That’s right, “girls”: If it comes down to your life or your (often dead or unviable) fetus, and this particular procedure could save your life? I’m sorry but the fetus comes first. If you insist, your doctor will tear it asunder the less-safe way, the way that can cause hemorrhaging and infection and death. That is, if s/he has the time, because s/he may not. But oh well, shit happens. It’s God’s Will. Hey, if you’re not willing to die for your fetus I suppose that means you’re a bad mother? You probably deserved it anyway, by doing something sinful, such as having recreational sex. Don’t worry; we’ll bury you together.
I have a question to the antichoicers: Doesn’t “pro-life” mean every human life is sacred? I mean, that’s the chant and everything, right? I’m so confused. What? Oh, I see, women are only incubators: They’re not really human, so they don’t count. A man’s right to spread his seed is at stake here, and women are just the vessels. I get it. We’re chattel, kind of like cows.
Well, congratulations. The dismembered dead fetus thanks you. Or something.
You know what, you so-called pro-lifers? I HAVE A DAUGHTER WHO MIGHT BE IN THIS SITUATION SOMEDAY. KEEP YOUR FUCKING LAWS OFF HER BODY. And you know what, you supposedly pro-choice folks? If you voted your pocketbook and your fears and helped the country elect George W. Bush, figuring abortion was a “fringe issue” and that the right to a safe and legal abortion was never going to go away? Despite everything we warned you about the state of the Supreme Court? Way to support the women you supposedly “love,” ASSHOLES.
I will never have sex with a Republican again. You heard it here first. Meanwhile, concerned individuals may donate to Planned Parenthood by clicking on this link. Thank you for doing what you can to save women’s lives and livelihoods.
****************************
Postscript: Antichoice comments will be deleted. You’d better believe I’m pro-choice. In fact I “love” abortions so much I think I’ll go have one RIGHT NOW because they’re so much “fun.”
Another Postscript: There is a great discussion going on at Pandagon. Check out “Take My Uterus, Please.” The title alone makes me smirk: While waiting for my biopsy results I figured, if the tumor was malignant I’d just have a radical hysterectomy and mail my uterus to SCOTUS. Hey, they can control it on their own time, and on their own dime. Hey, would that be legal? Maybe I could just send a photo instead.
40 responses so far ↓
Scorpio // April 19, 2007 at 2:43 am |
I love being a Democrat.I look best in blue anyway.
bubbasnightmare // April 19, 2007 at 2:51 am |
Should we expect anything else? (And, as you rightly point out, the two camps should not called “pro-choice” and “pro-life”. The much more descriptive names are “pro-choice” and “anti-choice”.)
I wouldn’t fret too much for your daughter, HPS. As you point out, this is a first for the SCOTUS since Roe v. Wade where consideration for a mother’s health was ignored. That’s actually a pretty good track record, seeing as how the Supreme Court has been stacked with conservative replacements since Uncle Ronnie and Auntie Nancy were in residence 28 years ago.
The pendulum will swing back in a few years. The evolution of women getting out from under the Patriarchy’s thumb is slowly making headway. I know, it’s pretty damned slow. Most evolutionary processes are.
(…and whew! I knew there was a good reason to register as an independent.)
janet // April 19, 2007 at 3:02 am |
I am also enraged by this. Let’s see here. A guy can go to a gun store and buy a whole shitload of ammo to kill 32 innocent college kids and we shouldn’t put any restrictions on his “right to bear arms” but killing an inviable fetus that threatens the health of its mother doesn’t respect the FUCKING SANCTITY OF LIFE???? It makes no sense. I am with you on the no sex with Republicans pledge. Thank god I’m married to a die hard Democrat. Ugh…the whole thing, it just makes me sick.
VJ // April 19, 2007 at 3:25 am |
Thanks HP, We really need more sustained anger on this issue on our side. It’s been a little too quiet for too long. Being involved on this issue of women’s liberty for decades now, it’s been a long lonely slog sometimes. The attention of many wander off to other more shiny objects in the news. Want to know why women will be put more at risk during at risk pregnancies? *Republicans*. Right wing Republicans on the Supreme Court who refuse to see women as fully human, or even full human agents in their own lives. Something less than full citizens, not quite to be trusted with their own destiny, for the good of the Fatherland. That’s it. There was no way to stop them either, they would have gone so far as to shut down the US Senate to get their filthy, amoral & unConstituational religious dogma safely installed on the Court.
That’s where we stand now, at the precipice of a new age of theocracy, all because the news media won’t report on the real ‘truth’ of repression and the wholesale assault on our precious rights by Bush&co. Many media outlets were first either intimidated from even speaking these truths, but now have been fully co-opted and bought out by huge multi-national conglomerates who only report on the news that their Repug. plutocrat owners want us to see.
We need more girls Voting. More old ladies who want their grandkids to enjoy full citizenship & liberty voting. Just about 1/2 do so now. On a good year. Yes, I’ve seen this coming from a long way off. Many people are to blame. But it’s the Republicans who Actually DID it. Make no mistake about that. They effectively over turned Roe today. I know what I’m going to do, Fight the Right! Today as always & Forever.
The media will ignore it as usual to focus on Anna’s kid and who’s breaking up with who and what movie you must see next. The youth will remain mostly distracted, as will the rest of the nation. ‘Political’ news just never makes it out to most of the nation’s TV sets. There’s less of it now on regular ‘news’ broadcasts than ever before. Meanwhile the Right will be spiriting away their homes in foreclosure, their livelihoods in outsourcing, and now their very own or their children’s health & lives by Federal edict.
It’s a truly sad day in a very sad week for America. You can buy all the guns you need to kill others, legally. But we now demand that our women & girls enjoy a little less liberty, and have their lives and health endangered, essentially ALL because the Repug’s & our King Bush say so. That’s the bottom line. And I say it’s going to take some years to sink into the public’s mind. And the news media will be hiding that fact all the time, and all the way ’till the next election & beyond. Real news does not sell enough for them now. Not enough ‘profits’ in ‘truth’. Everyone needs to inform themselves better. NOW and ongoing. And we not only need to NEVER sleep with Repug’s, but NEVER Vote for them again. It may take a generation to regain our liberty, but it needs to begin Today. And we need to remember their perfidy and their callous disregard for women’s lives. Always. Regards, ‘VJ’
Incorrigible // April 19, 2007 at 3:34 am |
I’m kind of lost on what exactly has been made illegal.
Vanessa // April 19, 2007 at 3:35 am |
That is just….. fucked up.
Truly.
Yet another reason I’m happy to live in the upside down world.
datesbubbas // April 19, 2007 at 3:38 am |
I thought you were gonna have sex with me BubbasNightmare!!
HPS – before you freak out further, this particular procedure is done in the 5th or 6th month of pregnancy. While I have no tolerance for anti-choice people, I also get that if a woman was going to get an abortion, to ensure her own health and safety she should have had it by the 16th week, not the 26th or 27th. Now… this part of the patriarchal promise has little to do with you as a woman or what a woman’s choice is. These nutjobs are more worried about how the baby feels about it, and seeing as the baby can’t speak for itself, it needs an advocate. In this case, its advocate just happens to the the Supreme Court and it’s right-wing friend, Justice Kennedy. The part of the decision throwing disregard to the mother’s health is, on the other hand, troubling. These people have clearly not read “Freakonomics” and do not understand the implication of these decision on crime and our economic system, but our whole culture has turned soft.
Janet – let’s qualify your statement a little further. We allow a person with questionable mental stability and a documented case of mental illness and has documented threats to harm himself and others is allowed to purchase a gun. The part of this that’s questionable, and I’m surprised it didn’t get pulled into Brady’s Law, is that there is no waiting period if you buy a gun from a pawn shop instead of a gun dealer.
Back in my CJ days, one of my instructors asked the class who favored abortion. A handful of hands went up. He then asked who favored the death penalty. Nearly every hand in the room went up. He then asked the people who didn’t have their hand up in favor of abortion but were in favor of the death penalty how they could be pro-life and pro-death at the same time. No one had an answer.
Don’t forget that W came from the one state in the union that kills the most people by lethal injection. And, everybody and their brother can carry a gun as long as it’s not concealed. And… in Tex-ass there are NO 3rd trimester abortions, you can’t get an abortion if your doctor doesn’t feel like giving you one unless it’s going to kill you (I suspect that will change soon) and all facilities that perform abortions must be licensed to do so and must provide a bevy of information about the patient and the procedure to the State. Never know when you might need to prosecute people under the guise of the Bible now, do ya?
scratchy888 // April 19, 2007 at 3:56 am |
sux
hedonisticpleasureseeker // April 19, 2007 at 4:09 am |
Dates Bubbas, I know. Thing is, most women in their 5th and 6th month of pregnancy want their babies. Unfortunately a few of them will not be viable. That’s why we need this procedure, as gory as it might sound to a regular civilian.
More important than the procedure though (I think) is the door being left wide open for more restrictions, which will involve a bunch of godbags forcing women to be incubators against their will.
hedonisticpleasureseeker // April 19, 2007 at 4:12 am |
Incorrigible: A certain late-term abortion procedure considered more safe to the mother than other methods. Antichoicers call it “partial birth abortion” but there is no such thing; the godbags made up the term to freak out the public. Ginsburg’s dissent goes into the procedure in detail if you’re interested.
SilentMale // April 19, 2007 at 4:25 am |
I am most likely a minority on this issue. It turns out I am pro-life, and at the same time I am pro-choice. I may disagree with abortion, but not to the point of telling anyone what they can or cannot do. I posted my own thoughts to the issue in my blog. If you are any of your readers would like to visit that post and comment, I promise those comments will be published unedited. If you wish not to post this comment and only send me a two word e-mail, that is ok. I only ask that if you do so, please do not share my e-mail with others, and please send only the one message (I’ll get the hint, I promise).
bubbasnightmare // April 19, 2007 at 4:56 am |
[sigh]
I used to like Texas a lot. Friendly people, low cost of living, wide-open spaces. But with W and his Texas Mafia in control, it’s a lot more like everywhere else now…
…save in one aspect. If carrying a weapon was common among adults in Virginia (as it is not uncommon in Texas), Mr. Cho might have thought twice about his rampage. An armed society is a polite society.
VJ // April 19, 2007 at 5:29 am |
Some enlightened commentary from a former (?) Texan. ‘VJ’
[www.huffingtonpost.com/cecile-richards/a-dark-day-for-womens-he_b_46229.html]
VJ // April 19, 2007 at 5:48 am |
More commentary from the Center For Reproductive Rights, which brought the original suits about a dozen years ago. [http://www.acsblog.org/equal-protection-and-due-process-statement-scotus-decision-ignores-precedent.html]
Since it’s about as long as some of my comments, I’ll quote it directly & in it’s entirety. :
“April 18, 2007 01:12 PM Posted By News Questions & comments 0
Statement: SCOTUS Decision Ignores Precedent
The Supreme Court today upheld a ban on certain abortion procedures, just seven years after it struck down a similar law in Stenberg v. Carhart. A recent statement by the Center for Reproductive Rights expresses concern about what this may portend for the future:
“It took just a year for this new Court to overturn three decades of established law. Today’s ruling is a stunning assault on women’s health and the expertise of doctors who care for them,” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “The Court has dramatically reduced the ability of doctors to provide services that, in their opinion, are the safest / best options to protect women’s health. This Court believes that Members of Congress – not doctors – are in the best position to make medical decisions for their patients. In direct contradiction to earlier rulings and established law, today the Court announced that there are some aspects of women’s health it is willing to sacrifice. This is a terrifying development, one with implications far beyond the abortion debate. Every American who cares about women’s health, and doctors’ ability to treat their patients appropriately, should be alarmed by this ruling.”
Said Northup, “Make no mistake – today’s ruling takes us perilously close to a complete reversal of Roe v. Wade. And we should assume that this is only the beginning. The Justices have shown their cards. Despite assurances that they would uphold precedents, the Court has now kicked open the door for states to impose broader restrictions on Roe, restrictions that will sacrifice women’s health for the sake of ideological gains. In his confirmation hearings before the Senate, Chief Justice Roberts said he believed it is a ‘jolt’ to the legal system when Supreme Court precedents are overturned. Apparently, under some circumstances, he is willing to jolt the legal system, at the expense of women’s health.”
I hope this clears up some of the obvious confusion. VJ
hedonisticpleasureseeker // April 19, 2007 at 10:43 am |
Dates Bubbas: I think I may have inadvertently deleted one of your comments. I am a putz. Sorry!
Silent male: NEWS FLASH: You’re prochoice. Welcome to the reality-based community.
Regal // April 19, 2007 at 10:45 am |
Thanks for this post as I’ve had my head in the sand. AND I absolutely love your bottom line about deleting Antichoice comments.
Incorrigible // April 19, 2007 at 11:28 am |
I still don’t know what the procedure is, the actual surgical procedure. This didn’t help with that either but with other aspects of abortion it’s a good resource, in more ways than one.
http://www(dot)morgentaler.ca/
To response to another poster: excution (death penalty) is killing a living human being. An abortion of zygote, fetus or parasite is not killing. The mass aborted could not survive on its own.
The Hedonistic Pleasureseeker // April 19, 2007 at 1:02 pm |
From Feminist Law Professors: http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=1701
Ann Bartow identified the scariest sentence of all in this decision:
“The Act’s failure to allow the banned procedure’s use where ” ‘necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for preservation of the [mother’s] health,’ ” Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New Eng., 546 U. S. 320, 327-328, does not have the effect of imposing an unconstitutional burden on the abortion right.”
That’s right “ladies.” THEY HATE YOU THAT MUCH.
Scorpio // April 19, 2007 at 2:46 pm |
Did someone say “an armed society is a polite/safer society?” Wow…now there’s a debate! So, if all students throughout the world carried guns to school, the students that could actually be allowed to purchase them for they have no criminal record, the class rooms would be safer?
Seriously, the “bad guys/sickos” would still have the weapons for it would be easier for them to procure them, for there would be more in circulation. I can just see it now, a shoot out at the O.K. Corral! Kids that have no idea how to use a weapon wearing them on their hips, under their shouolder, on their ankle.
Tell you one thing ladies, dating would be a whole lot more interesting! (‘cuse me….is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?)
On the other side of the debate, in the U.K., where guns are illegal, there are very few stats that support a deminished crime rate that involves side arms. It must just be our species is preditory and ultimitely predisposed to be violent at times.
“Give Peace a Chance” is a nice idea….poor John, even he knew deep down inside it was just an illusion. “Imagine”
traceykwhite // April 19, 2007 at 3:53 pm |
Sounds like we are going backwards again, instead of forward.
Beavis // April 19, 2007 at 5:37 pm |
Hey, You need to stop using the F word so much. I undertand your frustration and all, but you do know we are living in some very different, unusual times right ?.
The fact that W was elected twice is proof the American public is not as smart as we think we are. The Supreme Court is not ruled by Republicans you know.
I do applaud your firm stance on this issue and somehow guns and VTech were brought up. handguns are made for killing. Shotguns are made for hunting. I think only police or military personnel should be allowed to have handguns. Write about that if you want to find a solution to mass murder like this one.
Anyone who buys the “right to bear arms” nonsense is one reason why Americans are unfairly despised worldwide.
ravenous // April 19, 2007 at 7:36 pm |
As a PP person who lost their job due to budget cuts, thanks for the plug and link! We need them now more than ever.
Bird // April 19, 2007 at 8:39 pm |
Delurking to comment.
I’m still reeling at this one. The disjoint between American rhetoric about being the land of freedom and the reality of the increasing restrictions on personal liberty. Between the Patriot Act and the recent Supreme Court ruling, I am astonished that there aren’t millions marching on Capitol Hill.
Of course, I watch our Conservative government here trying to claw back our rights too, and so many Canadians seem to just sit back and take it (and worse, give them high approval ratings because they cut the GST). Fortunately, the same-sex marriage laws and other human rights have so far survived the onslaught.
Thanks for bringing the rage to this one that it so rightly deserves.
Siobhan // April 19, 2007 at 9:04 pm |
What a firestorm! Now lets take this energy and actually get out and do something about it! Make your donations to PP and write any of your congress people and much more. Do SOMTHING when you feel this passionate about something or your silence and lack of action will just be a form of agreement with continued injustice and a loss of your damn rights!!!!!
Beavis // April 19, 2007 at 9:56 pm |
Yeah, quit yer bitchin and do something. Instead of writing stuff for each other’s blog, write your local politician, Senator ,Congressman, City Councillor, Mayor, Chief of Police, PTA rep, whoever.It all starts with a bold written word.
The way I see it here.Blog people are way smarter than non blog people. They crave info, they crave to get involved, they know how to express themselves better than the uninitiated blog person.
Here something to consider.Hopefully most of you will get it.
If one out of every two people holding a major credit card pledged to pay off their balance in full every month until your Goverment turned things around to where they should be, and started making sense, I would bet my left nut that the Goverment would listen and bend to the pressure the lenders would put on them. Simple. Think of the billions in interest these Mofo’s are making that would be lost until they had a chat with Washington.
You can vote with your wallets and pocketbooks.
Either that or show up at the Governors mansion en masse and dump your dog crap on the property with anote.
NEWSFLASH: Change Still Happening in Conformity with Will « Hedonistic Pleasureseeker // April 19, 2007 at 11:21 pm |
[...] in both the magical and mundane worlds: Free Will, one of the perks and pitfalls of being human. To lose the freedom to make one’s own choices, moral or otherwise, is to cease to be fully hum… One becomes more like an animal, driven by instinct to survive at all costs. Wild or domestic? Well [...]
hedonisticpleasureseeker // April 19, 2007 at 11:34 pm |
Beavis, we will NOT quit our bitching. I marched on Washington five months PREGNANT, fresh out of the hospital, still sick from my hyperemesis.
Yes, I’m on Planned Parenthood’s mailing list and I give them as much money as I can. Meanwhile, thanks to the Combined Federal Campaign I give biweekly donations to a few local family planning clinics.
I live in a “blue” state, plus I’m privileged anyway, so one way or another neither I nor my daughter will suffer as much as the poor women in this country whose access to decent reproductive care is so limited. Those of us who have the resources (including computer access) are on the case for their sakes as much as, or perhaps even more than, our own.
VJ // April 20, 2007 at 12:56 am |
More background on the abortion war on this ‘procedure’, which of course is a common medical one that was specifically demonized and re-created as something far more sinister. From Harper’s in 2004:
[http://www.harpers.org/archive/2004/11/0080278]
Now there’s more than 20K words exactly on what has gone on available via links or posted above. If you’re still confused people, think of the poor Docs here. They were referred to throughout the ruling merely as ‘abortion doctors’. Not OBGYN specialists. Just those hated & vilified ‘abortion docs’ Simple stuff, just like any dictator will want to vilify any of his opponents. Same deal. Thanks for all your support & efforts over the years HP. You’ve taught Bunny well by example, and hopefully others too. Cheers & Good Luck, ‘VJ’
tigtog // April 20, 2007 at 1:21 am |
Great post, HPS.
This ruling will actually cause more abortions due to the women with damaged uteruses from the alternate late-term termination procedures being unable to carry future pregnancies safely, too.
octopod // April 20, 2007 at 3:25 am |
Wow. If I ever get pregnant while living in the U.S., I’m getting out soon as I can, I’ll tell you that.
hedonisticpleasureseeker // April 20, 2007 at 12:37 pm |
VJ, those links are very good. THANK YOU. I also loved Amanda Marcotte’s rant at Pandagon (link in my second postscript). There is so much fury over what this collossally stupid POLITICAL and EMOTIONAL decision means for women’s reproductive health, maybe it will spark some real change.
Suz // April 20, 2007 at 1:51 pm |
Hey, that tumor HAS RIGHTS TOO!! Just ask SCOTUS.
Shelley // April 20, 2007 at 1:53 pm |
Thanks for this post. I’m just looking for ways to help now without going back to volunteer at NARAL. I’m still so mad they support anti-choicers and rape-gurney senators like Leiberman. We need a better option. And I still want a bumper sticker that just says “Want to have safe sex? Don’t Fuck Republicans!”
Guitar Wolf // April 20, 2007 at 6:25 pm |
HP,
Hi hi, long time. Been busy busy but when I read about this I instantly wondered what you and your readers had to say on the subject. I could add a few lines of agreement and anger here but suffice it to say I am very worried about this being just one more symptom of worse things to come. Well I am off to spend some time reading some blogs on your list of links and then call my mom and my sisters to remind myself that there are like-minded people out there that are just as sickened, horrified, and angry about this decision as I am.
Take care,
Guitar Wolf
VJ // April 20, 2007 at 11:44 pm |
Thanks HP, I’m glad the tumor was benign. Way back when the first serious ‘roll backs’ began in earnest under Bush 1, with the Webster cases in PA starting in 1989 there was a nice suggestion with the mails. Some of the original ‘guerrilla girls’ sent yes, their used tampons to the USSC, just to ensure that the eggs that might have been contained therein remained safe under their ‘wise’ protection. I’m not sure how it turned out, but naturally they’ve not been dissuaded from their continued deadly idiocy. That’s Repug’s for you. Freedom for money & capital, not women. Cheers, ‘VJ’
datesbubbas // April 20, 2007 at 11:54 pm |
Yeah, well… back in 1989 you could send biomedical material in the mail without being arrested and put on trial for attempted murder. Today it would be probably be seen as the same type of threat as weaponized anthrax. So I don’t think sending used tampons is a great idea. Not to mention it’s just gross.
SilentMale // April 21, 2007 at 2:07 am |
Thank you for the comment reply. I must reject the label of me as Pro-Choice though. It does not quite fit. To use an analogy. If someone purchased a Burka in your size, technically it would fit as clothing would, but I doubt you would wear it as normal clothing because I cannot imagine it as something that would fit you as a person.
My attitude may fit into Pro-Choice, but the label does not suit me.
belledame222 // April 21, 2007 at 4:50 am |
yeah, i’m worried. i think at this point wrt SCOTUS quite frankly our best hope is to keep fingers crossed that no new cases and no new SCOTUS deaths happen for the next year and a half, and that we get as progressive/pro-woman a President as we can get. and keep him/her there for the next eight years. the current makeup may or may not be quite ready to go the full monte and overturn Roe if it comes up as such–Kennedy was a letdown this time, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s swung all the way over for good, just that he was a fucking disappointment on this one. i hope.
and meanwhile, i’m afraid it looks like we ought to start acting as though we need to start over from scratch. stop taking -anything- for granted and party like it’s 1969–before they take us back to 1669.
Because If I'm Perfect Enough, Maybe You Won't Hate Me Anymore « Hedonistic Pleasureseeker // April 25, 2007 at 3:55 am |
[...] for their sexual incontinence (thanks to Twisty for coining this phrase). Arm candy/status objects. Incubators of their spawn. Cheap labor. Free houskeeping services. A stand-in for Mommy. The audience for [...]
Blogswarm for us all « Bubbas’ Nightmare // April 28, 2007 at 4:06 pm |
[...] time you hear some Bubba leerily harass a woman on the sidewalk, speak up. When you hear about some outrage committed by public officials, write a well-thought-out rational letter (a real paper-and-ink [...]