[Here's a guest post from the inimitable ThundarKitteh about Indiana Republicans' War on Women. It's informative and hilarious. -ABLxx]
Just a reminder for all of us womenfolk in Indiana: Stop voting for Republicans, particularly the ones of the male persuasion. No, seriously…just stop. These are not the same type of Republicans for whom your parents and grandparents voted, not even close. I know I’m writing this to you in vain, as you’ve been voting straight-ticket Republican your whole life, but maybe a couple of you have actually been paying attention over the past few years.
Now, I have no idea what is wrong with these supposed “men”. You’d think that by now someone would have reminded them that they slithered out of a vagina all covered in goo, and that they need to remember to respect the vagina. But no. See, that would require thinking. And that’s bad.
The opposite is happening. Let’s rewind to the spring of 2011 here in Indiana. For some time, a literal and figurative group of pricks had been trying their damnedest to pass as many laws as they possibly could which put various bans on abortion. In fact, there were over 916 attempts1 to do so. Want me to write that number out? Nine hundred and sixteen attempts. Somebody hates women. Actually, a whole bunch of them do. But who, oh who I ask, will step forward to be the biggest douche weasel in all of Indiana? Why no other than “Representative” Eric Turner (I have no idea who he represents, and quite frankly, if you’re a woman and you voted for him on more than one occasion, my reproductive organs hate you with an unbridled passion and if I find you, I will slap you with used tampons).
Anyway, there were 11 bills that were killed before Douche Turner had the bright idea to combine all of the hate into one bill named HB 1210.2 Here’s the scary part: IT. PASSED. What does this rancid bill say? Amanda Litman sums it up best, in her post for Ms. Magazine:
- Abortions would be banned after the 20th week of pregnancy. Supreme Court rulings permit abortions up until fetal viability, meaning the fetus could survive outside the womb, which is generally considered to begin at around 24 weeks. Only three other states—Nebraska, North Carolina and as of the past two weeks, Kansas—have a law making abortion illegal earlier than that, though similar bills are moving through the legislatures in Alabama, Idaho and Oklahoma, among other states.
- Women seeking abortions would be informed, in writing, that they could face a greater risk of infertility—which is incorrect– greater danger to subsequent pregnancies—also wrong–and an increased risk of breast cancer—big shock here: wrong.
- According to the bill, the doctor must offer and provide a fetal ultrasound and opportunity to hear the heart beat unless the woman certifies, in writing, that she is refusing the “opportunity.” They would also be given descriptions, including images, of the fetus at that stage of conception. Providing women with ultrasounds before an abortion has not shown to make an impact—in a study in British Columbia, Canada, not a single woman who saw a sonogram changed her mind about the procedure.
- It would become Indiana state policy—it’s literally written into the law–that fetuses feel pain and that human life begins at conception. These policies would have to be explained to a woman prior to an abortion.
- The abortion provider must have privileges (or an agreement with a doctor who had privileges) at a neighboring hospital, limiting the doctors who could perform the procedure.
- Finally, the bill permits women and biological fathers the avenue of suing the doctor if he or she does not follow the letter of the law, and creates a taxpayer-based fund to help support the cases the state attorney general tries.3
*insert bloodcurdling screams here* Litman’s article goes on to quote Rep. Turner who argued the following (ladies, ready your bitchforks, because you will want him to know the wrath of women after reading this):
I just want you to think about this, in my view, giant loophole that could be created where someone who could — now I want to be careful, I don’t want to disparage in any way someone who has gone through the experience of a rape or incest — but someone who is desirous of an abortion could simply say that they’ve been raped or there’s incest.4
Are you done puking fire? Yeah. This is wonderful stuff, isn’t it? Oh, but they’re not done. HB 1257 was (thankfully WAS) a bill set to require a doctor to inform his/her potential patients for hysterectomies by showing them a video about female anatomy.5 As Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana states:
“This bill assumes that women are incapable of asking the appropriate questions about this surgical procedure and of weighing all of the risks for themselves.”6
Still puking fire? I’m buying a catapult, filling it with used tampons and firing it in the direction of these morons. Governor Daniels, that means you, too.
Now, we’ve all heard about the most recent kerfuffle with “Representative” Bob Morris and his fear of Girl Scouts and their sinfully delicious cookies. He has since retracted restated and reiterated his statement, wherein he apologizes for writing the letter, regrets getting caught, blames Planned Parenthood for the majority of abortions in Indiana, says abortion is the greatest evil of all, quotes Pope John Paul II who was quoting the Bible, doesn’t want Girl Scouts to have any knowledge of sex or about how their bodies are going to go haywire on them in a few years, and thanks us. Sorta.7
I have known quite a few incredibly sheltered girls who thought they were dying because their periods had started and no one had bothered to tell them what the hell a period is. I know that to some people *GLARES AT ERIC TURNER AND BOB MORRIS AND THE REST OF THEM* get scared at the idea of blood coming out of an already “sinful” body part. Seriously, boys, what’s next on your vile anti-woman agenda? Female circumcision?
My advice to you clods? Deal with it. Our vaginas are not going anywhere, you actually need them around and you need them happy if you expect our species to survive. Maybe if you simpletons had had a Sex Ed class, you’d know that.
Indiana Vagina…out! (=^.^=)
1 Ms. Magazine blog “Indiana Joins the War Against Women” by Amanda Litman, 4/12/2011 http://msmagazine.com/blog/
2 ibid and see also Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana’s website for details of said bills: http://advocates.ppin.org/
3 Litman, Ms. Magazine, 2011 “Indiana Joins the War Against Women”.
4 ibid.
5 Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana: http://advocates.ppin.org/
6 ibid.
7 Journal Gazette, reporting statement issued by Rep. Bob Morris (published by Anne Gregory) http://www.journalgazette.net/
[You can follow @ThundarKittah on the Twitters.]
@ThundarKitteh, righteous rant, sisterfriend. I have this little vein in my left temple that is reserved specifically for ladybits-related insults like these. It’s been throbbing continuously for the last, oh, year and a half or so. I am sick and fucking tired of men telling me what I can and cannot do with my body. Oh, and Rep. Turner? You best hope you don’t meet the business end of my rusty pitchfork™ – consider yourself warned.
This election season, we must do all we can to get all these assholes tossed out on their asses. They want a fight? They have one. We need to win this War on Women, and we need to crush them into oblivion as we do it. *chest bump*
I would love to know the statistics he used to justify his heinous remark about women pretending to be victims of rape and/or incest just to get access to an abortion. Are the women of the conservative persuasion that submissive to the collective will of men to continue allowing them to legislate all over their bodies? Serious question: Are there women on the right who are just a little pissed off about the recent targeting of women?
That was an awesome write-up! I agree that these ignoramuses need to be voted out! I can feel my uterus screaming out in anger at these assholes. I’ll provide the slingshot and the catapult to fling the used tampons at them. Gggggrrrrrrrr! I can feel my blood pressure rising!
It really burns these type of men up that sexual reproduction is one of the few things that they can’t control. Even though it’s mostly men who run states and countries and religious institutions, male privilege is so ingrained that many people aren’t aware there is such a thing as male privilege, it’s not enough because they don’t have control over one of the biggest factors of the human race: How much of the human race there should be. Even though many couples decide together how many children to have, if any, it’s still all boils down to what the woman wants. Which is totally fair since we women are the ones who have to carry the fetus and are still expected to do 90% of the parenting. No wonder douchebags like this guy and Rick Santorum are so pissed off.
I just realized this earlier today and now I want to slap myself for not seeing it sooner. It’s so fucking obvious.
We wimmens and our wimmens-parts sure are scary to these assholes, aren’t we? They think they know so much better than we do how our bodies work, and what would be right for each of us.
Consider me signed up for the used tampon throwing brigade!
DANG! I’m too old to have any more used tampons but bring it on! I’ve got the “Rusty Pitchfork” awarded me by Asiangrrl and I am prepared to use it!!!
I can bet anyone that more than a few male Republican politicians have had extra-curricular “side chicks” who have had abortions and used birth control with their knowledge AND support. These douche bags can miss me with all that hot garbage…
This is insane but what can we expect from the GOP.
Any doctor who tells a woman who is about to have an abortion that a fetus can feel pain at conception will be committing malpractice.
As a neuropsychologist, I can provide substantial proof by way of legitimate Medical and Neurobiological journal articles that a fetus cannot feel pain until at least the 26th week of gestation because the thalamocortical connections have at that point just barely developed enough to bring any sensation from the body to the brain where pain is perceived & interpreted. The nerves have not even begun to transmit any sensory conduction at this point and we know this through the use of electroencephalography and measurement of changes in heart rate and blood pressure. There is substantial research maintaining that sufficient nerve conduction that may remotely lead to pain sensation is not possible until at least the 29th to 30th week of gestation.
http://anes-som.ucsd.edu/VP%20Articles/Topic%20C.%20Anand.pdf
If these fucks actually believe in a God, they should believe that a loving God wouldn’t cause the perception of pain sensation to develop at conception since 2/3 of all fertilized eggs do not become successful pregnancies.
Finally someone said it!!! They didn’t ALMOST say it. They didn’t walk up to the sacrosanct ledge and then walk it back. It wasn’t talked all around its circumference — no, someone finally said it: “STOP VOTING FOR REPUBLICANS!!!!!!!” While it seems self evident to almost anyone with half a commitment to truth, not one of the talking heads or elected officials of the opposition to stupidy (Republicans) on TV actually has said it. They say, “do this or vote FOR thus and such”, but I’ve heard no one actually say or write the words until now. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! The Dems would do well to organize to the point of having SOMEONE in the fold say these 4 words every single day, “STOP VOTING FOR REPUBLICANS!!”