Petri: GOP baffled that 'We Don't Care if You Die' is not a winning slogan

[erronis]

Last edited Mon Dec 18, 2023, 12:31 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/12/15/abortion-policy-republicans-struggling-satire/

“Republicans struggle as they keep getting forced to talk about abortion”

— Politico headline, Dec. 15

Huh! It turns out “Well, with luck, you probably won’t die being forced to give birth to a nonviable fetus over the objections of your doctor!” — even if you say it in a warm, human-sounding way ― is not actually what people want to hear when deciding how to cast their votes. Fascinating!

People keep hearing stories like that of Kate Cox, whose medically recommended abortion to end a nonviable pregnancy and preserve her fertility was shut down by the Texas Supreme Court, and saying, “Wait, is that actually your policy? Jesus!” and it turns out that “Yup!” or “Pretty much!” is not a winning answer. Also not great: “Please hold while the Supreme Court figures out if it wants to impose even more restrictions on what medical care you are allowed to receive!”

...

I wonder why this is so difficult to talk about! Maybe what Republicans need is a better slogan. “Sometimes, too many rights are actually a burden” and “Do you ever get tired of making decisions for yourself?” and “Relax: We’ve got it! But let us know if you think you’re bleeding to death” turn out not to be winners, as far as slogans go. Same for, “You Don’t Get a Say, and We Don’t Care if You Die,” even if you say it with a lot of warm eye contact. Also bad: “You Don’t Get a Say, We Will Laugh at What Your Doctor Says, and We Want You to Do Everything But Die.”
...
Hmm, what about this isn’t a winner?

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. Thanks. I love Alexandra Petri!

[CrispyQ]

2. Is Texas paying for the medical bills being forced on this woman?

So along with all the emotional angst she's going through I'm sure she's also worried about how much her insurance will pay. ER visits aren't cheap!! Maybe these women should sue the state for their medical expenses. This is so goddamned outrageous it makes me seethe to think about it.

Men go to the medical center for their healthcare.
Women go to the courthouse for theirs.

[leftieNanner]

3. I'm sure the insurance company

Won't cover the airfare and hotel costs she incurred because she had to travel out of state for medical care!

If you can't afford that, well, sucks to be you.

[NowISeetheLight]

34. Maybe

Maybe Democrats need to introduce a bill that the government will be responsible for all costs involved in maintaining these pregnancies. Including all costs raising these children and adults who are basically vegetables, or worse, for their entire lives.

You can bet the RepubQcans would not agree. Once it's born they could care less.

[CrispyQ]

36. There will be lawsuits, I'm sure. - nt

[Wednesdays]

38. Which will invariably end up

on the docket of the very court that overturned Roe. Whee!

[NewJeffCT]

41. that's why Tommy Tupperware blocked so many military promotions

because the US military will pay for women to travel to get abortions. If that was expanded beyond the military, it would be great, but it would trigger a slew of lawsuits and take years to resolve in the courts.

[Shermann]

4. Great headline!

[erronis]

5. Sometimes she writes the best headlines - I think it's a great art.

[PatSeg]

6. Before Roe, doctors performed medically necessary

abortions without fear of retribution by the state. It was part of practicing responsible healthcare. So essentially it is now worse in many states than before Roe. This is absolute madness.

[Hekate]

12. After Dobbs people uniformly said it set us back 50 years. But it is much, much worse than that

And yes, it is madness.

[PatSeg]

17. Yes, that's what I'm thinking

Much worse than going back 50 years. I can't imagine what it must be like to be a doctor in this country today with politicians always looking over your shoulder and the genuine fear you could go to prison hanging over your head. And as a woman, if I was younger, I would be afraid to get pregnant even if I wanted to have a baby.

So much for "small government", though I think we all knew that was BS anyway.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

7. Thank you for posting this.

Spot on!

[keep_left]

8. And that is a slogan, along with many others, that they are stuck with--as long as they want to remain...

...viable candidates in an increasingly far-right party.

Nikki Haley said “we have to humanize the situation,” which, I guess, are words! “So, you want a 13-year-old to be forced to bear her rapist’s baby at tremendous physical and emotional cost?” has one easy answer: “No!” And if you aren’t allowed to say that, that’s a problem! A messaging problem, of course.

This "messaging problem" is reinforced day after day, year after year by the mullahs of the religious right who control the culture-war apparatus of the Republican party. There are entire culture-war "think" tanks and institutions devoted to this kind of messaging. EWTN, the radtrad Catholic cable network, features numerous personalities and shows that are totally unapologetic about pressuring young women into carrying to term offspring that are products of sexual assault. For anti-abortion groups on both the Catholic and Protestant wings of the movement, this is now a mainstream position. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it myself.

[erronis]

11. They are persistent and well-funded. They don't want to reason - they want to dictate.

Thanks for your comment.

[paleotn]

16. Yep, they can't even insinuate they're in favor of abortion in any situation or they'll lose the religious reich.

Poor Republicans. My heart does not bleed.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. Go forth and testify! Potential voters need to be bombarded with this.

[1WorldHope]

10. This is the only answer that makes sense to me.

?si=3KbQ8SvjQvIsffQ-

[erronis]

13. Damn - that is just plain beautiful. And Right!

Fortunately I have a lot of women in my life.

[paleotn]

14. Get use to it, GOP'ers. This is just the beginning.

Open wide, Republicans. Dems are gonna jam reproductive healthcare down your f'ing throats. If Republicans side with abortion rights, the smart play, they'll lose the relig-o-nut base. Rock meet hard place.

[erronis]

15. Be interesting to see some SCOTUS members scurrying under rocks soon.

They made a play for all the marbles. I'm hoping they lose theirs.

[calimary]

18. How 'bout we start legislating the penis?

Start generating and introducing legislation aimed at men! And men’s body parts. Let them see and feel how it is when the government targets THEIR “naughty bits”, and tries to dictate what “freedom” THEY have to make THEIR OWN decisions about deeply personal and intimate issues.

And go WIDELY AND LOUDLY PUBLIC about it so it can’t be ignored by the news media.

Taste of their own medicine. See how they like it.

[flying_wahini]

19. Let's take Erectile meds off the market because some of us just say so.

Let’s make baby Daddies pay mandatory child support for EVERY baby born.
Not just for unmarried moms.

Until men equal women in these Protests nothing will change.

[erronis]

21. Agree totally. Or let's make the men carry the fetus through to successful birth.

I'm sure modern science can help make a womb-like implant. Passing the baby down the urethra might be interesting but it's about time we (I'm one of them) know what birthing is about. Not sure how good most of us fragile-Y types would be at good mothering, however.

[hatrack]

24. As a man, how can I prevent abortions?

Link to tweet

[ShazzieB]

20. What GOP politicians need to do is stop trying to practice medicine without a license.

Last edited Sat Dec 16, 2023, 07:27 PM - Edit history (4)

When Roe was struck down, Republicans in red states got all excited and rushed to pass laws banning abortion without bothering to consult anyone with actual expertise in the field of obstetrics about the ramifications of the wording of their billls. I don't think they deliberately intended to endanger women's lives or their fertitlity; they ended up doing that because they were abysmally uinformed about all the things that can go wrong in the course of a pregnancy and didn't bother to seek any input from experts. Some of them don't really care if women die, but a lot of them simply refuse to believe that's a real possibility.

The typical forced birther mindset includes the following set of beliefs (sarcasm alert!):

1. ABORTION BAD; MUST BE OUTLAWED.
2. Women who get abortions are shameless hussies who want to be able to sleep with an endless succession of men without producing any children and regard abortion as a convenient form of birth control.
3. Pregnancy and childbirth are never dangerous for women, because it's a "natural " process that our bodies are "designed" for. Abortion is "unnnatural" and therefore much more risky and dangerous.
4. Being pregnant, even with a rapist's baby, is a gift from God and should be always be welcomed as such.
5. Women who have abortions are heartless monsters, killing their own children for the sake of covenience. (See also no. 2, above.)
6. If you're pregnant with a child you don't want to raise yourself, that’s not a problem: adoption is easy peasy! Your child is guaranteed to be adopted by wonderful, loving parents, and the idea that you will be traumatized by giving it up is just silly!
7. Terminating an unwanted pregnancy instead of carrying it to term and either raising the child or giving it up for adoption is seen as a refusal to take responsibility for one's actions. (I can't get my head around this one at all; bringing an unwanted child into the world sounds pretty irresponsible to me.)

The list goes on and on. As outrageous as some of these beliefs sound, I guarantee you will encounter all of them and more, if you hang around "prolife" message boards for a while or read "prolife" websites and blogs.

People in this frame of mind are the ones who advocate for and write these draconian laws. They are quite confident in their assumptions and don't feel any need to consult any experts on the matter. The result is laws that are completely divorced from reality. Being confronted by stories of women like Kate Cox throws all of their assumptions into disarray, and they don't like it one bit!

That's basically how we got here. Getting back to sanity in states like Texas is going to be a herculean task.

[Rebl2]

26. ABSOLUTELY!!!

[erronis]

28. And most/all of these republicon types want to have their external partners abort.

Witness trump and many others.

They relish hypocrisy like a pig relishes mud.

[raising2moredems]

29. Don't forget..

How much money is made "adopting" out the domestic supply of babies. Already at high five figure prices, little vetting as to adoptive parents age (see Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John and Jane Roberts). If you can pay, you can buy the baby/babies of your choice. Also read up on how many "good" adoptive parents have abused/murdered their "children". Or the ones that dump them.

[TheKentuckian]

22. Hey, it tested well ahead of "We will kill you and everything you love!"

and even "We want you fucking dead!", with focus groups quite consistently.

[Old Crank]

23. Absolutism paints you in a corner

Rep. Senators in swing states are trying to moderated the statements. Then along comes these events that show there is not much moderation in GOP policies.

When you have the approach that abortion is murder you can't really have exceptions. It is murder or it isn't. The only excuse for killing in the law is self defence. I guess you could call saving the life of the mother self defense. Sonif you believe that statement it is the only excuse for an abortion. Or you are a hypocrite.

[TexasBushwhacker]

37. Texas is getting closer and closer

to swing state status. I'll be 67 next month. I hope it happens in my lifetime. I have a 30 year old niece.

[Old Crank]

39. I have heard that

But I've also heard that the Dems don't go out and vote. It in theory would be a swing state if they voted in any reasonable percentage.

[TexasBushwhacker]

42. The GOP does everything possible

to keep the Dems from voting.

[Old Crank]

44. If you dont take the time

And effort nothing will change.

[IcyPeas]

25. Applies to school children getting slaughtered too.

They don't care who dies.

The GOPers would jump on the lifeboats on the titanic if they were there.... screw the women and children first rule.

[TSExile]

43. Exactly.

Don't forget their stance on vaccines and masking. Pro-life??? Yeah, right.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

27. Women voters are not going to forget

[Upthevibe]

30. erronis,,,,,,,,

I've been meaning to post this. It speaks to the anti-choice and religious fanatics regarding sexual relations are meant for procreating. It's from the movie, Legally Blonde. I wonder how men would feel if we outlawed masturbation?

[erronis]

31. I can't speak for all men, but I'd guess it's a fool's errand.

I totally agree with the premise that a man's reckless abandonment of his gamete is very similar to a woman's decision to not bear an egg (fertilized or not.) History has taught us that even the very devout religious folks seem to not be able to stop their base impulses. Apes do it, dogs do it; why shouldn't we do it too? (I think there was a song lyric about that.)

Let's prosecute anyone that even touches their genitals because their intentions may be sinful!

Leaving you with this little sketch:

[Upthevibe]

33. erronis.

This is great!

I've never seen it!

[bmichaelh]

32. Not just limited to reproductive rights

This is not just limited to reproductive rights, but multiple issues of healthcare.

Trump has promised to repeal ACA, which protects Americans against lifetime limits and pre-existing conditions.

Putting in a Democratic Congress and/or Senate is not enough.

He tried to sabotage ACA, when his repeal failed the first time.

[erronis]

35. This is the opening wedge. They'll start stripping more and more benefits over time.

Look at all the states that are turning their backs on free Medicaid funds. They really don't want to help their more vulnerable populations.

I won't guess at the overarching rationale for killing as many people as possible, but it seems something like "Better get rid of them now, because we know the world is going to hell in a handbasket and we don't want all those bodies to deal with later."

Witness all the multi-billionaires buying huge swaths of New Zealand and other more remote areas.

Could make for a good dystopian novel, but I'm afraid it ain't fiction.

[70sEraVet]

40. Republicans have their time-tested response whenever their policies ...

begin killing too many innocent citizens: Thoughts and Prayers.