One thing that’s apparent – or not apparent – is the WOMAN in all of this. Rightwingers will, but only if pressed to do so, talk about rapists. They will, at length, talk about fetuses. But rarely is the WOMAN mentioned. It’s as though she isn’t there at all, a mere inconvenience.
We’re talking about a bunch of guys that, if they had their way, would FORCE A WOMAN TO HAVE A CHILD AGAINST HER WILL. I have to shout that, you’ll forgive me, because it’s the part that always seems to get lost when you talk to these guys. And it’s always guys, isn’t it?
Claims of ‘smaller government’ and ‘freedom’, and ‘liberty’ don’t amount to anything when you can be forced, against your will, to carry a child that you didn’t want. That was in fact the result of a horrible crime against you. One crime just got compounded by another. Now you are no longer a person. Apparently, you stop being a person when you’re a) female, or b) when you get pregnant. As a woman, you’re irrelevant to the discussion as far as these people are concerned.
Lots of shrieking about the rights of the unborn, but what about the actually born? Of that, *crickets*, because to the rightwingers, we don’t matter.
• Huckabee Makes Legitimate-Rape Scandal Worse: “Sometimes Good People Are Conceived in Rape!” I’m not even sure what his point is here. As the commentariat at Gawker noted, where does this logic lead us? For instance, if serial killers are conceived consensually, does that mean we should ban consensual sex?
The draft official platform strongly supports a “a human life amendment” to the Constitution:
“Faithful to the ‘self-evident’ truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed,” the draft platform declares. “We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.”
Let’s be very, very clear that such an amendment–which Mitt Romney has said unequivocally he would sign–would not only criminalize abortions of any kind for any reason, but also would outlaw many forms of contraception, in-vitro fertilization, and treatment of pregnant women with life-threatening conditions such as cancer. Moreover, it would also criminalize miscarriage.
[alternet]
• As Republicans were calling for Todd Akin to quit his senate bid after he told KTVI that women could not get pregnant from “legitimate” rape, CNN obtained draft language of the Republican platform that includes a constitutional abortion ban without any exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother. The draft contains a “salute” to state “informed consent” laws that force women to have an ultrasound before having an abortion. Support for “mandatory waiting periods prior to an abortion, and health-protective clinic regulation” is also included.
• During a follow up interview with Dana Loesch: AKIN: You know, Dr. Willke has just released a statement and part of his letter, I think he just stated it very clearly. He said, of course Akin never used the word legitimate to refer to the rapist, but to false claims like those made in Roe v. Wade and I think that simplifies it….. There isn’t any legitimate rapist…. [I was] making the point that there were people who use false claims, like those that basically created Roe v. Wade.
• “Spastic Tubes“: “This is a traumatic thing — she’s, shall we say, she’s uptight,” Dr. John C. Willke, a general practitioner with obstetric training and a former president of the National Right to Life Committee, said of a woman being raped, adding, “She is frightened, tight, and so on. And sperm, if deposited in her vagina, are less likely to be able to fertilize. The tubes are spastic.”
• “There are no words for this — it is just nuts,” said Dr. Michael Greene, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. David Grimes, a clinical professor in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina, said, that “to suggest that there’s some biological reason why women couldn’t get pregnant during a rape is absurd.”
• In an interview with a local Pittsburgh television station yesterday, Ryan was given the opportunity to revise his position now that he is half of the Republican Party’s national ticket. He refused: QUESTION: Should abortions to be available to women who are raped? RYAN: Well, look, I’m proud of my pro-life record. And I stand by my pro-life record in Congress. It’s something I’m proud of. But Mitt Romney is the top of the ticket and Mitt Romney will be president and he will set the policy of the Romney administration.
• Doctor behind Todd Akin’s rape theory was a Romney surrogate in 2007. Archives from Romney’s previous presidential bid show that the Massachusetts Republican has historically supported the person who is the source of Akin’s theory, Dr. Jack C. Willke, the father of the antiabortion movement. “Dr. Willke is a leading voice within the pro-life community and will be an important surrogate for Governor Romney’s pro-life and pro-family agenda,” the Romney campaign said in an October 2007 statement. “I am proud to have the support of a man who has meant so much to the pro-life movement in our country,” Romney said in the statement. “He knows how important it is to have someone in Washington who will actively promote pro-life policies. Policies that include more than appointing judges who will follow the law but also opposing taxpayer-funded abortion and partial-birth abortion.”
• A full day of the Republican National Convention will be dedicated to the theme “We Did Build This!” One problem: the venue hosting the RNC is funded mostly by taxpayer dollars.
• Even Mitt Romney’s advisers admit that by repealing the Affordable Care Act, Mitt Romney will likely end up driving Medicare towards insolvency within his first term.
• In a campaign speech that appeared to be a throwback to the 2008 presidential election, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said on Tuesday that he was “happy to be clinging to my guns and my religion,” and even gave a shout out to “Joe the Plumber.” “Remember this other time, where [Obama] was caught on video saying, people like to cling to their guns and their religion?” Ryan continued. “Hey, I’m a Catholic deer hunter! I am happy to be clinging to my guns and my religion.”
F.D.Brightly
Where is the woman in all of this talk?
One thing that’s apparent – or not apparent – is the WOMAN in all of this. Rightwingers will, but only if pressed to do so, talk about rapists. They will, at length, talk about fetuses. But rarely is the WOMAN mentioned. It’s as though she isn’t there at all, a mere inconvenience.
We’re talking about a bunch of guys that, if they had their way, would FORCE A WOMAN TO HAVE A CHILD AGAINST HER WILL. I have to shout that, you’ll forgive me, because it’s the part that always seems to get lost when you talk to these guys. And it’s always guys, isn’t it?
Claims of ‘smaller government’ and ‘freedom’, and ‘liberty’ don’t amount to anything when you can be forced, against your will, to carry a child that you didn’t want. That was in fact the result of a horrible crime against you. One crime just got compounded by another. Now you are no longer a person. Apparently, you stop being a person when you’re a) female, or b) when you get pregnant. As a woman, you’re irrelevant to the discussion as far as these people are concerned.
Lots of shrieking about the rights of the unborn, but what about the actually born? Of that, *crickets*, because to the rightwingers, we don’t matter.
Keep that in mind when you vote.
Shorter Question Everything
• State abortion rights battles draw national attention via Romney ticket:
• Huckabee Makes Legitimate-Rape Scandal Worse: “Sometimes Good People Are Conceived in Rape!” I’m not even sure what his point is here. As the commentariat at Gawker noted, where does this logic lead us? For instance, if serial killers are conceived consensually, does that mean we should ban consensual sex?
• Romney and Ryan Dissemble, But RNC Prepares Radical Zygote-as-Person Platform:
• As Republicans were calling for Todd Akin to quit his senate bid after he told KTVI that women could not get pregnant from “legitimate” rape, CNN obtained draft language of the Republican platform that includes a constitutional abortion ban without any exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother. The draft contains a “salute” to state “informed consent” laws that force women to have an ultrasound before having an abortion. Support for “mandatory waiting periods prior to an abortion, and health-protective clinic regulation” is also included.
• During a follow up interview with Dana Loesch: AKIN: You know, Dr. Willke has just released a statement and part of his letter, I think he just stated it very clearly. He said, of course Akin never used the word legitimate to refer to the rapist, but to false claims like those made in Roe v. Wade and I think that simplifies it….. There isn’t any legitimate rapist…. [I was] making the point that there were people who use false claims, like those that basically created Roe v. Wade.
• “Spastic Tubes“: “This is a traumatic thing — she’s, shall we say, she’s uptight,” Dr. John C. Willke, a general practitioner with obstetric training and a former president of the National Right to Life Committee, said of a woman being raped, adding, “She is frightened, tight, and so on. And sperm, if deposited in her vagina, are less likely to be able to fertilize. The tubes are spastic.”
• “There are no words for this — it is just nuts,” said Dr. Michael Greene, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. David Grimes, a clinical professor in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina, said, that “to suggest that there’s some biological reason why women couldn’t get pregnant during a rape is absurd.”
• In an interview with a local Pittsburgh television station yesterday, Ryan was given the opportunity to revise his position now that he is half of the Republican Party’s national ticket. He refused: QUESTION: Should abortions to be available to women who are raped? RYAN: Well, look, I’m proud of my pro-life record. And I stand by my pro-life record in Congress. It’s something I’m proud of. But Mitt Romney is the top of the ticket and Mitt Romney will be president and he will set the policy of the Romney administration.
• Doctor behind Todd Akin’s rape theory was a Romney surrogate in 2007. Archives from Romney’s previous presidential bid show that the Massachusetts Republican has historically supported the person who is the source of Akin’s theory, Dr. Jack C. Willke, the father of the antiabortion movement. “Dr. Willke is a leading voice within the pro-life community and will be an important surrogate for Governor Romney’s pro-life and pro-family agenda,” the Romney campaign said in an October 2007 statement. “I am proud to have the support of a man who has meant so much to the pro-life movement in our country,” Romney said in the statement. “He knows how important it is to have someone in Washington who will actively promote pro-life policies. Policies that include more than appointing judges who will follow the law but also opposing taxpayer-funded abortion and partial-birth abortion.”
If you think that’s the end of the craziness:
• Joint Chiefs Chairman, Special Ops Officers Condemn ‘Shameful’ Anti-Obama Groups
• Students in a Fresno County, California, school district are taught that HIV can be spread through kissing, and the right way to prevent STDs is by going out in groups with friends, getting plenty of rest, and practicing abstinence. Their “Lifetime Health” textbook, which Clovis Unified School District uses for its high school sex education curriculum, makes no mention of condoms or contraception.
• A full day of the Republican National Convention will be dedicated to the theme “We Did Build This!” One problem: the venue hosting the RNC is funded mostly by taxpayer dollars.
• Even Mitt Romney’s advisers admit that by repealing the Affordable Care Act, Mitt Romney will likely end up driving Medicare towards insolvency within his first term.
• During GOP Platform Committee Meeting, Romney Adviser Kris Kobach compares homosexuality to polygamy, drug use.
• In a campaign speech that appeared to be a throwback to the 2008 presidential election, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said on Tuesday that he was “happy to be clinging to my guns and my religion,” and even gave a shout out to “Joe the Plumber.” “Remember this other time, where [Obama] was caught on video saying, people like to cling to their guns and their religion?” Ryan continued. “Hey, I’m a Catholic deer hunter! I am happy to be clinging to my guns and my religion.”
• The Craziest Obama Conspiracy Theory Gets Even Crazier