Truth

Women’s PAC formed following abortion legislation

A group of women has formed a new political action committee to recruit and support candidates to defeat elected officials who back the ultrasound and so-called personhood bills.

Women’s Strike Force, which boasts several former elected officials, formed after Virginia spent last week in national headlines for its attempt to require women to undergo mandatory trans-vaginal ultrasounds before an abortion.

“As a former member of the General Assembly and Virginia’s first woman in Congress, I fought for women’s rights in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s,” Leslie Byrne said in a statement. “We must move the commonwealth and the nation forward, not backslide to denying women rights.” […]

Republican Rick Santorum Calls Abortion Exceptions To Protect Health Of The Mother ‘Phony’

Longshot Republican presidential hopeful and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum stumped for votes in Iowa on Tuesday, trumpeting his “culture wars” message. A longtime anti-abortion activist, Santorum is selling himself as the leading social conservative in a crowded field.

In West Des Moines, he made an appearance at a “crisis pregnancy center” called Informed Choices that tries to talk women out of having abortions. Santorum said that he “separates [himself] from the rest of the pack” and criticized the other candidates for simply “checking the box” on anti-abortion issues.

When discussing his track record as a champion of the partial birth abortion ban, Santorum dismissed exceptions other senators wanted to carve out to protect the life and health of mothers, calling such exceptions “phony”. […]

When Will Republicans Stop Saying Dumb Things About Rape? (Hint: When They Stop Hating Women)

No big surprise that it was in Kansas, which has struggled with the most serious anti-choice terrorism in the country in the 21st century, where a GOP state legislator named Pete DeGraaf compared being forcibly impregnated by a rapist to getting a flat tire.

DeGraaf was responding to a pro-choice Republican legislator who raised the question of women being unable to afford to terminate pregnancies caused by rape, and DeGraaf responded by suggesting women should have prepared ahead of time for rape by saying, “We do need to plan ahead, don’t we, in life?”, adding, “I have a spare tire on my car.”

DeGraaf’s glib response to his pro-choice colleague demonstrated the deeply misogynist underpinnings of anti-choice beliefs. Let us count the various misogynist beliefs exposed by this comment, which is sadly quite typical of the mindless sexism espoused by anti-choicers.

The belief that rape is no big deal. DeGraaf is far from the only anti-choicer who has exhibited this callousness towards rape victims. In fact, callousness towards rape victims that belies an underlying misogyny is a regular feature of anti-choice rhetoric:

During the midterm campaign season, the GOP challenger for Harry Reid’s seat, Sharron Angle, advised rape victims to avoid abortion, saying they could turn “lemon situation into lemonade”

Indiana state legislator Eric Turner went with the women-are-liars argument, arguing against rape exceptions for a post-20 week ban on the grounds that women will wait around for 5 months to get an abortion and then claim, falsely, to have been raped to get one.

South Dakota legislator Bill Napoli declared that a rape victim only deserved an abortion if she were religious, virginal, beaten within an inch of her life, and added that the rape should include anal rape for good measure.  […]

Republican Presidential CandidateTim Pawlenty Wiped a Serial Child Molester’s Record Clean in 2008

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty formally announced his campaign seeking the GOP nomination for the presidency Monday morning, but by midday, his political past had already caught up to him. Reporting by Minneapolis City Pages’ Nick Pinto brought to attention a pardon then-Gov. Pawlenty granted to a sex offender in October 2008, which is sure to haunt the candidate throughout his campaign: the man Pawlenty pardoned was later arrested again for molesting his daughter more than 250 times in an eight-year span, including six years prior to his pardon. […]

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Also this:

Pawlenty’s Extreme Anti-Choice Record

Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty often shies away from discussing his views on abortion, but they are clearly deeply held—and very radical…

Pawlenty’s Extreme Anti-Choice Record

Lawmaker Says Women Should Plan Ahead in Case of Rape, Since He Carries A Spare Tire

By: Robin Marty of Care2.com:

Once the Republicans have their way and eliminate abortion coverage from all insurance plans, you will have two choices — pay for abortions out of pocket in all circumstances, or pay a rider to ensure you have coverage just in case you need it.

Why would you need it?  You know, in case you get pregnant via a rape.  You should always plan ahead for that sort of thing, apparently.  At least, so says one Kansas legislator when discussing banning insurance coverage of abortions in all cases, even rape.

Via The McPherson Sentinel:

Abortion rights supporters are skeptical, believing the bill’s backers want to cut off a way for women to cover the cost of terminating pregnancies.

And Rep. Barbara Bollier, a Mission Hills Republican who supports abortion rights, questioned whether women would buy abortion-only policies long before they have crisis or unwanted pregnancies or are rape victims.

During the House’s debate, Rep. Pete DeGraaf, a Mulvane Republican who supports the bill, told her: “We do need to plan ahead, don’t we, in life?”

Bollier asked him, “And so women need to plan ahead for issues that they have no control over with a pregnancy?”

DeGraaf drew groans of protest from some House members when he responded, “I have spare tire on my car.”

“I also have life insurance,” he added. “I have a lot of things that I plan ahead for.”

First, I’m just going to set aside the spare tire comment because — well, I can’t even respond to that.

But when it comes to life insurance being compared to paying monthly for insurance so you can have an abortion in case you get pregnant after a sexual assault, there is absolutely no comparison.  Life insurance is something that you pay a premium for and, if you have an accident, your family receives money to recoup costs.  An abortion rider would be something you pay for in order to, if you have an unwanted or nonviable pregnancy, terminate the pregnancy without it costing even more than if you didn’t have the coverage in the first place.

Now, taking just a moment to look at the overall picture of what is being discussed, it needs to be said clearly.  A Republican just suggested a woman should have to “plan ahead” and obtain insurance in case she is raped.  She should have a plan ready in case she is raped. I cannot repeat that enough — a Republican lawmaker believes that women should be planning for a future in which she is raped, just in case.

(hat tip Blog for Choice)

Here’s the contact info for Kansas Republican Rep. Pete DeGraaf…just in case you’d like to say something to him: 

http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2011_12/year1/members/rep_degraaf_peter_1/

House Passes "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act"

Amanda Litman of Ms Magazine Blog:

“The bill goes beyond the Hyde Amendment, which has banned federally-funded abortions for the past 30 years except in cases of rape, incest or threat to the woman’s life. Furthermore, HR 3 denies tax credits to small businesses that purchase a health insurance policy that includes abortions-currently 87 percent of private insurance plans do - and enacts strict requirements for private insurance companies that cover abortions.

Additionally, the bill eliminates privately funded insurance coverage for abortion in the health-care exchanges (marketplaces for insurance purchasers) established by the Affordable Care Act. NARAL Pro-Choice America estimates that 13.5 million women who receive health coverage through Medicaid and other government-sponsored programs will permanently lose access to abortion coverage if the bill is made law.”

Read the Article

Louisiana Republican: Ban Abortion, Sterilize Poor Women and Pay the Wealthy to Procreate

Louisiana State Rep John Labruzzo (R) has introduced “feticide” legislation to ban all abortion in his state and sentence women and doctors who violate the ban to 15 years hard labor. The law would make no exceptions for cases of danger to the health of the mother, incest or rape, and would essentially be an attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade in the state of Louisiana.

In previous attempts to manipulate, penalize and reward women’s reproductive choices, Labruzzo has also suggested Louisiana law should pay poor women to be sterilized and well-to-do women to crank out more financially secure kids into the American gene-pool.

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Worried that welfare costs are rising as the number of taxpayers declines, state Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, said Tuesday he is studying a plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have their Fallopian tubes tied…

It also could include tax incentives for college-educated, higher-income people to have more children, he said. […]

U.S. Senate Candidate, Republican Ken Buck of Colorado, didn't prosecute rape case because he believed victim had abortion

One of the reasons Colorado Republican Senate nominee Ken Buck declined to prosecute the rape of a 21-year-old college student in 2005 was that he believed she had previously had an abortion of a child fathered by the suspect. According to Buck, that abortion gave the victim motive to lie about the suspect “to get back at” him.

Of course, Buck’s theory made no sense — given that an abortion would have been the victim’s choice, it would be the suspect who would have a revenge motive, not the victim.

Moreover, Buck himself is an outspoken foe of abortion, opposing it even in cases of rape and incest, giving Buck himself a plausible motive to want to punish this young woman.

But perhaps the most obvious problem with Buck’s theory is that he did not have enough facts to support it. The only evidence that the victim had an abortion came from the suspect himself.

The victim denied it, saying she had had a miscarriage. Yet Buck chose to believe the suspect.

Colorado Independent’s transcript (their story here and excerpts from the audio conversation here).