Just yesterday, I came across the article on the lawmaker who proposed that miscarriage be classified as “prenatal murder” if a woman cannot prove she wasn’t the cause of the pregnancy loss. Nevermind the fact that doctors don’t know what causes the majority of miscarriages. Nevermind that a woman is already going through enough trauma when their body expels the baby they had every intention of carrying to term. And God help the woman who lifts something too heavy, or is at fault in a car accident, or falls and hurts herself so badly that she loses her pregnancy. Because if this law passed, she could be charged with a felony.
I find this outrageous, and it pisses me off to no end. But it’s not the only form of attack on women in this country.
Obviously we are in some economically trying times in this county. And legislature is coming up with a budget to compensate for money lost. But, as an editorial piece in the NY Times proclaims, the budget being proposed by the Republican House of Representatives is staging “a war on women”. Because it’s long, I’ll give you the “cliff’s notes” version of the piece. But if you’re concerned about any of this, I urge you to read it for yourself by clicking HERE.
The proposed budget will strip Planned Parenthood of its funding, and eliminate Title X, “the federal family planning program for low-income women that provides birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and testing for H.I.V. and other sexually transmitted diseases.” Without this program, women will go untreated, possibly without even knowing, if they have cancer or an STD. That means they could die. And the rate of abortions will go up if women don’t have access to birth control.
Speaking of abortions, if a group even talks about abortion at all they will lose federal funding. If a woman has an abortion during her childbearing years, she will be denied insurance coverage. Hospitals that receive federal funds are even allowed to refuse to terminate a pregnancy – even if it’s to save the mother’s life.
Also affected are the WIC program, which will be reduced by 10%, and a $50 million cut from programs that offer healthcare to 31 million low-income children and prenatal healthcare to 2.5 million low-income women a year.
As the editorial piece states, it’s doubtful that all of this will pass without some amendments. But some of this will. And this attack on women’s reproductive rights and care is shocking, and infuriating. Do any of these men have mothers, sisters, daughters, or wives? Are we stepping back in time to 100 years ago, when women were considered mere property of their husbands without the right to any say at all?
What the hell is going on?
Wine Country Mom 
Guy Kovner covered how Sonoma County is being affected by these cuts at http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110225/ARTICLES/110229636/1033/news?p=all&tc=pgall
Unfortunately, I fear most of this is rooted in political science; by weakening the protections which in some sections of the pro-life lobby see a strong ally on the side of pro-choice, they fire up their ultra-conservative base and take direct aim at an item politically they hold dear, outlawing abortion, a reality the GOP and Christian Conservative has been waging ideological war in favor of for some time. In the mean time, Gov. Scott Walker refuses to compromise in Wisconsin on the collective bargaining power of unions, not in an effort to reduce deficits, but strip the Democratic and liberal-minded establishment of one of their highest and most prominent contributors of campaign funding. All of this is a concentrated effort -beginning with, no, not the House majority win last primary for the Republicans, but rather the Supreme Court decision to allow unlimited campaign contributions from corportations and special interests- to unseat Obama and repeal Obamacare. It is a scorched-earth, take no prisoners approach that must be countered by equally vehement opposition from Democrats, who for the first time are forced to resort to maverick actions, like fleeing the state to delay a vote on such legislation,must get ready to FIGHT. Forgive my ranting please, I’M PISSED…..
You had your first child at 17. Were you on welfare? I am pro-choice & I do not think a 17 year old is in any mental shape to have a child. Especially the oldest that you refer to as the Drama Queen. Why is she a DQ as you say? You were too young to have her. I suspect you were on welfare when you had her and relied on your “mother” to help you raise her, essentially giving your mother the responsibility. Now this poor child you call DQ has a step-father…whom she probably hates. Poor choices on your part dear. And I’m sure she’s acting out more and more.
Further, most of the cuts are going to affect illegal aliens the most and you know what? They should just go home. They don’t belong here and we do not want them & can not care for them.
PS, I doubt you’ll post this since it goes against all of your liberal philosophies.
Wow Missy. Not sure what inspired your attack on me in your opinion on the budget cuts, but you probably should check your sources before you state what you believe to be fact about my personal life.
That is very frightening news. Who do we write to show our utter disagreement with this way of thinking?
Missy- you appear to have many issues that taint your words to the point one is wondering if you’ve missed some doses of medication.
Missy+ judgemental
+ hasty generalizations / conclusions totally unsupported by facts = TROLL
You are the one we don’t want, lady, specifically your wingnut, racist, uninformed (ignorant) opinions. Speak in intelligent and respectful tones or stay the hell off this board. Speaking for myself, of course…
Conservative, progressive, pro-life, pro-abortion, it doesn’t matter. We have elected leaders who have spent us into oblivion. Now it’s time to pay the piper. I’m afraid it won’t matter who’s in office or what the ideology is, we will all suffer. The choices are increasingly horrible, and they will only get worse. Folks, you better put on your seat belts, stop your whining, and love your families and friends because that is who you will be leaning on to get by. The government will be increasingly impotent no matter what your axe to grind is.
Most of this would never survive court. The miscarriage/murder law, for instance, is absurd, because it places the burden of proof on the mother to show that she was somehow not at fault. Miscarriages never happen for unforeseen reasons, EVER, but in the unlikely event that one does happen, it’s up to the woman to prove it, right? That’s what this law assumes. Guilty until proven innocent.
The author of this law must be either ignorant of women’s biology, the way the law works in this country, or simply does not care and is trying to get it passed to test the courts.
My guess is it’s probably a little bit of each; Fanaticism, in all its forms, isn’t exactly known for caring about the law or having a firm foundation in science and externally provable facts, whether it be in history (sorry, the founding fathers were Deists, look it up), political sciences, or hard sciences.
But moreover, fanatical politicians commonly and intentionally pass insane laws like this solely to test the courts. Take South Dakota, for instance, which has done so many times in the past few years. The very second one of these legislatures detects even so much as a whiff of leeway in the Supreme Court, you can bet they will pass something banning all abortion, not because they actually care about the welfare of the mother or her perspective child, but because they can make her a vehicle for advancing their political agenda to overturn Roe vs. Wade. It’s the epitome of political pessimism.
Along with writing your Governor, if you appreciate them, throw some support at Planned Parenthood. If you can drop them a few dollars, they will appreciate it, and if you can’t and can offer time or any other assistance, they will appreciate that as well.
Along with the controversial abortions they offer, Planned Parenthood helps so many women and teens every year with everything from STD screening and contraception to annual checkups. Heck…they help men, too. They don’t discriminate.
Sorry, I’m just catching up with my blog reading. I think Missy might be confused by Wine County Mom’s listed age: 29 + 4 years experience. The four years experience is for being 29. Add it up. And just for the record, Crissi was not on welfare when she gave birth to DQ in her 20’s and I did not raise her although I offered to hold her a lot as she was my first grandchild. Crissi has done a wonderful job of raising her kids all by herself.
I just wandered over here from BlogHer and am ashamed to say that I had no idea this was happening.
I am completely boggled. And can’t help but think darkknight787 is right.