The Assault on Womens Sexual and Reproductive Rights

[Kobi]

Romney on Meet The Press today:

On the divisive social issue of abortion, Romney said it "would be my preference" that the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing it be overturned by any justices who he would appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court if vacancies come up.

"Well, there are a number of things I think that need to be said about preserving and protecting the life of the unborn child. And I recognize there are two lives involved: the mom and the unborn child," Romney said.

"And I believe that people of good conscience have chosen different paths in this regard. But I am pro-life and will intend, if I'm president of the United States, to encourage pro-life policies," he added.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/romney-says...155146420.html

[Kobi]

from NARAL:

Remember the demeaning “transvaginal probe law?”

Well, now Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell is backing outrageous new regulations for abortion providers that are impractical, serve absolutely NO medical purpose—and ultimately threaten to close clinics down or force them to rebuild from the ground up.

This Friday, the Virginia Board of Health is being asked to vote on the regulations for a second time—even though the panel already rejected these rules because they were unrealistic and medically unnecessary. The Governor and the rest of the executive branch are acting like the past never happened though, and continue to try to strong-arm the board into advancing these regulations.

Among other things, the regulations would force existing reproductive health care facilities to meet architectural standards designed for new hospitals. This makes no medical or logical sense at all, and it would require providers in the state to undergo massive construction or renovations. Hospitals aren’t even required to meet standards this tough.

Virginia abortion providers have been safely caring for women for decades. But it’s clear that Gov. McDonnell and others are less concerned with women’s health than with imposing harsh rules aimed at shutting clinics down.

[Kobi]

RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - The Virginia state health board voted on Friday to require existing abortion clinics to meet stricter hospital building codes, a move clinic supporters say could force facilities to make expensive changes or close.

The board in June had exempted existing abortion clinics from meeting the building code rules for new hospitals that can require modifications such as wider hallways and additional parking. It voted 13 to 2 on Friday to reverse that decision.

Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli, a Republican known for his conservative social views, had argued against that earlier decision, saying the health board did not have the authority to challenge the intent of a 2011 law that treats abortion clinics as hospitals.

Abortion-rights supporters, who had packed the hearing room, stood and chanted "shame, shame, shame" as the vote was read and security officers escorted them from the room.

"I'm exhausted because I've been going to these meetings for over a year," said Shelley Abrams, director of A Capital Women's Health, a Richmond abortion clinic. "We've complied with every rule except these architectural requirements."

Anti-abortion activists said the board's decision would protect women who choose to get an abortion.

"I'm against it, but if you're going to do it, it should be safe," Williamsburg resident Jerry Moran said. "Safety of women should be the primary objective."

The board typically has exempted existing medical facilities from new construction codes approved by state lawmakers, limiting them to additions, renovations and new building.

More than half of the clinics have submitted plans to comply with the state codes.

"It is unprecedented to force existing health centers to comply with building regulations intended for new construction, and the board acted well within its authority in voting to amend these regulations in June," said Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/virginia-ti...025257592.html

[Kobi]

(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday blocked the prosecution of an Idaho woman who aborted her pregnancy by taking pills instead of traveling to a clinic or hospital as required by state law.

Jennie Linn McCormack, an unmarried mother of three, was charged by Bannock County prosecutors last year after she ingested medication to induce an abortion. The drugs were approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and prescribed over the Internet, according to the opinion from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Idaho requires that abortions be performed during the first trimester in a hospital, doctor's office or clinic. No licensed healthcare providers offered the procedure near where McCormack lived in southeastern Idaho, the opinion said.

The criminal case against McCormack was dismissed, and she filed a lawsuit claiming Idaho's abortion law is unconstitutional. An Idaho federal judge issued an injunction saying the law can't be enforced.

In its ruling on Tuesday, the 9th Circuit largely agreed. Criminal abortion statutes traditionally apply to individuals such as doctors, who perform unhealthy abortions that threaten women's safety, the unanimous three-judge panel said.

Those laws shouldn't apply to pregnant women themselves, according to the opinion.

"There can be no doubt," the court said, "that requiring women to explore the intricacies of state abortion statutes to ensure that they and their provider act within the Idaho abortion statute framework, results in an 'undue burden' on a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus."

At this point in the litigation, however, the injunction should only apply to McCormack, and not women generally, the court said. McCormack may ultimately get a judgment that strikes down the law entirely, the 9th Circuit said.

Bannock County prosecutors and McCormack's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

The case in the 9th Circuit is Jennie Linn McCormack vs. Mark Hiedeman, 11-36010.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-court-say...75.html?_esi=1

[Kobi]

Republican Congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois said after his Thursday debate against Democratic rival Tammy Duckworth that abortions are never necessary to save a pregnant woman's life, because modern technology has eliminated the risks of childbearing.

Walsh was defending his position that abortion should be outlawed with no exceptions, which is also the Republican Party's official stance on the issue.

"With modern technology and science, you can't find one instance" of a pregnant woman's life being at risk, he told reporters after the debate. "There is no such exception as life of the mother, and as far as health of the mother, same thing." He added that "advances in science and technology" meant that abortion is never necessary for the health of a mother.

Walsh, a freshman Congressman, is currently trailing Duckworth, a veteran of the Iraq War, in the polls.

In August, Republican Senate candidate and sitting Congressman from Missouri Todd Akin told a reporter that he didn't support exceptions for abortion for rape because women's bodies have a mechanism to prevent pregnancy in the case of a "legitimate rape." Mitt Romney and many national Republican politicians quickly distanced themselves from Akin and his comment. Romney has said he supports abortion exceptions in the cases of rape and the mother's health.


http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/c...-election.html

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Kobi wants to thump this guy in the forehead and suggest he consider being amongst the first in line for a retroactive abortion.

[Kobi]

A video of a 2008 speech Akin delivered on the House floor is being recirculated online.

In that address, Akin equated abortion providers to terrorists and suggested that it was "common practice" for them to be "giving abortions to women who are not actually pregnant."

Akin's comments were made on Jan. 22, 2008, as anti-abortion lawmakers spoke on the House floor on the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that women had a legal right to abortion.

During that speech, Akin described abortion as "un-American" because it runs contrary to the fundamental right to life described in the Declaration of Independence. Akin said he believed Americans would someday view the current era of legalized abortion in the same way they now view the era of legalized slavery — as inherently wrong. He referenced the nation's fight against terrorists, adding: "We have terrorists in our own culture called abortionists."

"You find that along with the culture of death go all kinds of other lawbreaking — the not following good sanitary procedures, giving abortions to women who are not actually pregnant, cheating on taxes, all these kinds of things, the misuse of anesthetic so that people die or almost die," Akin said in the 2008 speech. "All of these things are common practice."

http://news.yahoo.com/more-akin-abor...172151699.html

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Kobi puts this guy in the retroactive abortion line as well.

[Soon]

[Angeltoes]

Originally Posted by Soon

Love this^^^

[Greyson]

I just came upon this site, www.makers.com. Go take a look. You will find a site all about women who have made a difference in this world. The women come from all walks of life.

Anyway, I was not sure where to post the link to this video and I thought, "Go see what threads Kobi has initiated." I was not disappointed. When you have time, go take a look at all the interesting threads Kobi has started.

Now, here is the link about Sarah Weddington.


http://www.makers.com/sarah-weddington-0

[Greyson]

www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/11/14/the_turnaway_study_what_happens_to_women_who_are_d enied_abortions.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content

[Greyson]

Pro-Life TN U.S. Congressman "Double Standard" aka "I'm Special."

Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee testified during divorce proceedings that he and his former wife made a "mutual" decision for her to have two abortions, according to divorce transcripts released Thursday.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...ef=mostpopular

[Soon]

Thanks to Team Rape, Most Americans Consider Themselves Pro-Choice Again
Katie J.M. Baker

Just six months ago, a Gallup poll found that the number of people who call themselves "pro-choice" was only 41%, a record low. Many conservatives gleefully championed the study as evidence that scores of youngins were becoming radically invested in the anti-abortion movement, while others thought the poll was more indicative of the problems with the terms "pro-choice" and "pro-life," since few non-psychopaths are actually ANTI-life (which is why it's so frustrating that anti-choicers get away with using that moniker), and most people surveyed didn't actually want to overturn Roe v. Wade, even if they felt more comfortable identifying with the pro-life camp.

Not that it's a competition (JK, it is), but more recent polls show that the Personhood brigade was counting its embryos before they hatched: the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of "Likely U.S. Voters" shows that 54% describe themselves as pro-choice on the issue of abortion, while 38% say they are pro-life.

But how did the lefties manage to brainwash so many people in such a short amount of time?? Was it part of some slut-vote strategy?

Nope. Another CNN poll found that the number of people who think abortion should be legal under any circumstances jumped from around 25% — where it had been stuck, more or less, since 2006 — to a whopping 35% at the end of August 2012. Remember what happened in August? Todd Akin said pregnancy from rape was "really rare" because "if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Just weeks later, other polls showed that more people supported the idea that abortion should be "generally available" than they had in over 15 years.

As it turns out, when people are forced to think a little harder about the meaning of "pro-life" — thanks to politicians like Akin and Richard "God luvs rape!" Mourdock, among many, many others — most don't actually identify with the pro-life platform. How odd!

Hot Air believes pro-choice support will "level off" in the post-election weeks to come, but that the numbers are "proof positive that Republicans lost more than just Senate seats when they said what they said. People who claimed that two inadvertently did damage to their own socially conservative cause weren't kidding."

Sure, pro-choice support might temper down in the polls now that Akin and a few of his rape-apologist cronies are out of office. But, since that clearly doesn't accurately reflect the number of people who actually support the legal right to reproductive choice, the most important takeaway here for pro-choicers should be to seriously strategize about how to stop letting anti-abortion advocates call themselves pro-life.

[Kobi]

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday rejected Planned Parenthood's bid to stop Oklahoma from ending its contract with the women's health organization to provide food vouchers and counseling to poor mothers in the Tulsa area.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot of the Western District of Oklahoma ruled that Planned Parenthood failed to prove its contract with the state's department of health was terminated for political reasons related to the group's support of abortion rights. The state contract ends on January 1.

The judge said Planned Parenthood's performance shortfalls - mostly drops in caseload - did not themselves seem to be problems that could lead to a cut in ties.

"But a routine, solvable problem can become a justifiable basis for strong action when it is compounded by persistent unresponsiveness in addressing the challenge," Friot wrote in his decision.

Losing the contract will force Planned Parenthood to close one of its three clinics in Tulsa, according to Penny Dickey, the organization's chief operating officer.

State officials have said other clinics can absorb the Planned Parenthood caseload in the Tulsa area when the contract ends.

Planned Parenthood does not perform abortions in Oklahoma, but it does refer women to clinics where abortions are carried out. It also dispenses the so-called "morning after" pill, which abortion opponents decry as abortion-inducing drugs.

State health officials have said politics played no part in ending an 18-year relationship with Planned Parenthood to help provide services under the federal Women, Infant and Children's (WIC) program. It provides prenatal and postnatal counseling for mothers and food vouchers for children aged 5 and younger.

State officials say half the newborns in Oklahoma are enrolled in the WIC program.

At a preliminary injunction hearing last week, Oklahoma Health Commissioner Terry Cline, a defendant in the lawsuit, denied the move was made due to political pressure from anti-abortion forces in the state legislature. A bill there formally to prohibit the state from contracting with Planned Parenthood failed.

Cline and others cited poor performance by the Planned Parenthood clinics as the only reason for cutting ties with the group.

[Kobi]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday denied a request to block part of the federal health care law that requires employee health-care plans to provide insurance coverage for the morning-after pill and similar emergency contraception pills.

Hobby Lobby Stores and a sister company, Mardel Inc., sued the government, claiming the mandate violates the religious beliefs of its owners.

In an opinion, Sotomayor said the stores fail to satisfy the demanding legal standard for blocking the requirement on an emergency basis. She said the companies may continue their challenge to the regulations in the lower courts.

Company officials say they must decide whether to violate their faith or face a daily $1.3 million fine beginning Jan. 1 if they ignore the law.

Attorneys for the government have said the drugs do not cause abortions and that the U.S. has a compelling interest in mandating insurance coverage for them.

In ruling against the companies last month, U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton said churches and other religious organizations have been granted constitutional protection from the birth-control provisions but that "Hobby Lobby and Mardel are not religious organizations."


http://news.yahoo.com/justice-refuse...230847527.html

[Kobi]

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan 11 (Reuters) - A Texas judge on Friday denied a Planned Parenthood request to be allowed to offer health services to low-income women through a state program.

Texas now excludes abortion providers and affiliates from the program and Planned Parenthood has been fighting to become a provider again.

State District Judge Stephen Yelenosky, who issued a temporary ruling in favor of Planned Parenthood in November, said on Friday it was unlikely Planned Parenthood would succeed at trial.

The state program now known as the Texas Women's Health Program provides family planning services and preventive health care to about 115,000 women. It does not provide abortions.

The federal government had provided 90 percent of the program's $40 million annual budget, but stopped funding at the end of 2012 because it objected to the state's decision to enforce a law already on the books that bars funding for abortion providers and affiliates.

On Jan. 1, Texas launched a nearly identical program funded by only state dollars so it could exclude Planned Parenthood, the program's largest provider. Planned Parenthood says it served nearly half the women in what was until Dec. 31 a Medicaid program.

The battle in Texas is one of several between Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, and states ruled by Republicans that are trying to exclude it from state programs.

http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters...Texas_program/

[Kobi]

(Reuters) - Most Americans remain opposed to overturning the controversial Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which 40 years ago legalized abortion at least in the first three months of pregnancy, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The poll by the Pew Research Center found that 63 percent of Americans believe that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned, compared to 29 percent who believe it should be. These opinions have changed little from surveys conducted in 2003 and 1992, Pew reported.

Michael Dimock, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, said it is uncommon to see so little change in attitudes on a controversial issue.

He noted that opinions on issues such as gay marriage sometimes have a sharp generational divide, with younger people more likely to favor it, so national feelings change over time.

But the abortion issue shows only modest generational differences.

Those most likely to favor upholding Roe v. Wade at 69 percent are the "baby boomers" aged 50-64, who were children or young adults when the case was decided on January 22, 1973. This group was followed by those 18-29 years old, who favored upholding the decision by 68 percent.

Those 65 and older were most likely to favor overturning the decision, at 36 percent.

The poll also found that 53 percent of the U.S. public say the issue of abortion is not that important compared to other issues - the first time that number has been over 50 percent. Dimock said this may reflect Americans' current preoccupation with issues such as the national debt and gun control.

There are still wide religious differences over whether to overturn Roe v. Wade and the morality of abortion, the poll found. White evangelical Protestants are the only religious group in which a majority - 54 percent - favors overturning the decision.

Large percentages of white mainline Protestants (76 percent), black Protestants (65 percent) and white Catholics (63 percent) say the ruling should not be overturned.

Among the religiously unaffiliated, 82 percent oppose overturning Roe v. Wade.

About half of Republicans agreed the decision should not be overturned, by 48 to 46 percent. Most Democrats favor upholding the decision, by 74 percent.

The poll showed no gender gap in opinions about the decision, with nearly identical percentages of women and men opposing a reversal.

The results also show that 47 percent of Americans say they personally believe it is morally wrong to have an abortion. These opinions have changed only modestly in recent years, the survey found.

Not surprisingly, younger people are less likely to know what Roe v. Wade was about. While most respondents over 30 knew Roe v. Wade dealt with abortion, only 44 percent of those under 30 knew this, the poll found. The question over whether the decision should be overturned was asked after it was defined to respondents.

The poll was based on interviews with a national sample of 1,502 adults, aged 18 or over, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

http://news.yahoo.com/roe-v-wade-tur...171445029.html

[Kobi]

North Dakota has only one abortion clinic and has been rated the worst state in the country for women, but the State Senate passed two bills on Thursday will make it even more difficult for women in the state to access abortion care.

North Dakota lawmakers passed a Personhood Constitutional Amendment initiative on Thursday that would amend the state's constitution to give legal rights and protections to human embryos. If the ballot initiative passes the House, North Dakota voters will decide on it during the 2014 elections.

The Senate also passed a bill on Thursday that could shut down the North Dakota's one abortion clinic, the Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo, by requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. A similar law in Mississippi is currently threatening to close the only clinic in that state because the hospitals near the Jackson clinic are all refusing the applications of doctors who perform abortions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...ef=mostpopular

[femmeInterrupted]

I thought this part of the article was dead on:

"... if the debate continues to be confined to abortion and treated as a political game, we'll never get to the heart of the matter.

We need a national dialogue that moves beyond a continual tallying of who's scoring what political points or who's winning the political fight. We need to engage in careful, thoughtful, substantive discussions about the services necessary for women's well-being throughout their lives: comprehensive sex education in our schools, domestic violence resources, affordable and reliable contraception, fertility treatments, affordable child care, safe pregnancy and maternal health care, and yes, abortion services."



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-...b_2491011.html

[femmeInterrupted]

http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/20...rls-and-women/

[femmeInterrupted]