Right to Life Ends at Birth?

Too bad the Republicans concern for right to life begins at conception and ends at birth. Think about it. The current Republican House has passed legislation to reduce food available to children through subsidy programs like WIC and school meals. They opposed health care coverage that would make children healthier. They support the death penalty for a variety of crimes, and they oppose family planning and women’s health assistance. Now what has family planning got to do with right to life? Well, if women cannot get access to birth control advice and contraception, they will get pregnant at a higher rate. No abortions (right to life) so more (unwanted) babies with not enough help to keep them healthy. And the connection to child health and pre-pregnancy health is obvious: poor prenatal care is causally connected with less vigorous babies, and a VD infected mom delivers a VD infected baby.
Oh, and where are all the JOBS JOBS JOBS bills? With so much damn time taken up trying to regulate a woman’s reproductive system, they just didn’t have enough time. What bozos.
Image: www. totaldiatribe.com

Death by Coat Hanger

When I was growing up, I heard about “those girls” that “got in trouble”. At first I didn’t know who they were or what the trouble was, but the treatment was called “back alley” and involved a coat hanger.
When I hit the teenage years I came to understand that “those girls” were the girls I knew and lusted after, but it was none of my business if they “got in trouble”. Then one day one of them died. Death by coat hanger. Not strangled with one. Not beaten to death by one.
Penetrated by one. Punctured by one. Infected by one. Killed as surely as if a bullet had been fired into her young uterus. And no, I wasn’t the cause of the pregnancy, and yes, I finally figured out that it was my business if they “got in trouble”. So I supported Roe v Wade and the feminist movement. And Planned Parenthood, because it seemed to me that the best way for girls not to “get in trouble” was to not get in trouble in the first place. Get it? Birth control. But if that failed, at least there would be a safe alternative to the coat hanger.
Now, conservative bible thumpers are driving us back to the days of the coat hanger. Kansas will probably become the first state to have no legal abortion services for the bad girls that “get in trouble”. What will they do then? Go out of state if possible, and if not, find a back alley and a coat hanger and go at it.
If I believed that prayer would help I would pray for the girls of all the adults that support this madness. I don’t, though, and predict that sooner or later their little girls will “get in trouble” and God help them then.
Image: www. http://www.politicsplus.org/blog/?p=4757

Abortion: Back to the Discussion

Back to the “hot button” issue that Ashley and others so passionately responded to. I talked to a friend who I can depend on to tell me what she thinks. She didn’t join the fray earlier because, paraphrasing her, she gets so angry over this issue she didn’t want to just rant. Fair enough. But her (any misinterpretation is mine if such is the case) anger is directed at people who think that “Just tell them not to have sex and abortion won’t be an issue”. Going back to the early 90’s she cites statistics that indicate in the range (conservatively) of 60% of teens that get pregnant have been sexually abused in some fashion, usually by a close family member. This takes the issue of “choice” and erases it.
A young girl has no choice when an older man forces or coerces her, or seduces her in some way not violent. No child has a choice when presented with a powerful (and are not they all to a child) adult. Forced sex alone can lead to pregnancy, and it can also lead to an otherwise cautious girl becoming a less-than-cautious teen.
I know. That leaves 40% “doing it” without obvious coercion. Operative word here is “obvious”. Media, peer pressure, male pressure, lack of self-esteem; the list goes on and on.
My point in bringing this back for a second round is this: merely supporting “choice” isn’t enough. Yes, positively yes. I believe to my core that a woman has the right to choose what happens to her body. But when that choice is co-opted, then without doubt every woman should have the right to choose what to do next.
So folks, here it is: you all have valuable and personal opinions on the subject of abortion and birth control. Fine. Keep your practice of these things to yourself, and let others do the same. Support a woman’s right to choose for herself as you want that right for yourself.
It is only right. It is OK to discuss. It is not OK to impose.
(Sorry to my friend if I have screwed this up.)
Image: www. blackwomanthinks.blogspot.com

Victory in New York, or, We Must All Hang Together.

Victory in New York just in time for the Gay Pride parade. Some homophobe this morning described this as a short-lived win. "Picking the low hanging fruit", and " Wait until New Yorkers get their constitution changed" and crap like that.
Quoting Ben Franklin:
"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
(At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.)
I love that New York passed this legislation. And it has no residency or waiting period. But the homophobes of the country will keep working hard and picking off the states one by one. Like the abortion clinics in Kansas. What is needed is a Federal law that settles the issue. Not the DOMA abortion. Not the DADT monstrosity. A simple law that defines marriage as a union of two people in love. What the hell is so hard about that? Love isn't a "God-given" condition. (Difficult anyway with out a god). Love just is. No bounds and no limits.
What I fear here is the real possibility that "- - - assuredly we shall all hang separately."
Image: www.famousquotesabout.com