Miami Herald rips Florida GOP: "Same old abortion sideshow"

[madfloridian]

Finally a paper is calling the Republicans out on their policy of "harassing women" who seek abortions.
Finally some one in the media notices that whenever things look bad for the GOP...they begin to attack gays even more and try to limit even more the rights of women.

:applause: to the editorial page of the Miami Herald.

Same old abortion sideshow

Tallahassee's failure thus far to deal realistically with next year's widening budget hole is no excuse to waste time again this year on a bill that would allow the state to meddle in the medical affairs of pregnant women.

Last week, the House Health Care Regulation Policy Committee cast a party-line vote in favor of CS/HB 983 - the Senate version is SB 1854 - that would require any woman seeking an abortion to get an ultrasound. Republican supporters say that it would help women make informed medical decisions and help doctors prevent complications. These cover stories were exposed in 2008, and the state Senate rejected a similar proposal in a dramatic 20-20 tie vote. Given the financial crisis facing Florida, there is even more reason to reject - and, ideally, ignore - this transparent attempt to intimidate women out of having abortions. That would be big government interference, ordered by the professed small-government GOP.

Current state law requires any woman who wants an abortion after the first 12 weeks to have an ultrasound. Doctors already are involved in the decision. To reduce the number of abortions performed in Florida, legislators should focus on unintended pregnancies, starting with an appropriate sex education curriculum that doesn't rely on the second highest amount of federal money for ineffective abstinence-only programs. Instead of harassing women out of having abortions, how about educating them out of unwanted pregnancies?

I love that comment: "Given the financial crisis facing Florida, there is even more reason to reject - and, ideally, ignore - this transparent attempt to intimidate women out of having abortions. That would be big government interference, ordered by the professed small-government GOP."

The Florida Republicans tried the same intimidation last year, and it did not work then. It did prompt a powerful cartoon from Chan Lowe at the time.


With all the serious problems this state has, the Republican-dominated legislature always manages to find the time to address this subject in an election year. Gay marriage, in recent years, has become another reliable vote-getter. It's one of those amazing natural phenomena that the fate of the unborn and the sanctity of heterosexual marriage never seem to be under threat in years that end with odd numbers. From the Sun Sentinel

This year this bill introduced is even worse. In order to be exempt from a first trimester ultrasound (one is already required after that)...a women must PROVE it was rape or incest. That is getting very dangerous sounding to me. It makes a woman who is already a victim a victim all over again.

Punishing the victim.

This year's bill closely resembles last year's version and would require abortion clinics to perform ultrasounds for women seeking an abortion in the first trimester. Abortion doctors would have to show and explain the ultrasound to the women unless they signed a form declining the option.

Florida requires doctors who terminate pregnancies in the second trimester to do an ultrasound, but they do not have to review them with the patient.

The bill has several exceptions, including if women can prove they have a medical condition necessitating the abortion or their pregnancy resulted from rape, incest, domestic violence or human trafficking.

That doesn't satisfy the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which told members of a House health care panel that a majority of rape and incest victims do not report the crime to authorities.

Thanks to the Miami Herald for speaking out clearly on this issue. Perhaps others papers will follow their lead.

:applause:

[patrice]

1. marking for later.

[butterfly77]

2. Are they pitching in to help the octomom?

they are so damn concerned about children until they are born..Even though, I think the octomom is a nut..

[madfloridian]

3. They only care about using this as a pitch to their base...

who make up about 1/4 of the country. They have no ideas, just thoughts of controlling women and hating gays more.

That is all they have left.

[butterfly77]

4. I watch each week to see what other junk ...

they will be pulling out of their bags..Slannity just can't give up on Rev.Wright he had to call in on Fox and Friends this morning to throw out the same old garbage he has been throwing out their over and over trying to make it stick to the tea bag nuts.

[madfloridian]

5. They are so busy with wedge issues that they are not governing.

They push hate and division instead of doing productive things.

[butterfly77]

6. One of the reasons they get away with it is..

rightwing nuts like Glenn Beck and Slannity are using the same talking points from way back in the campaign for the newly awakened some of the same people who thought they were the only REAL americans who now have begun to lose jobs and homes and want someone to get angry with so they keep harping on the 1980's talking points.

The same people who claim that they are for life went out and blew up abortion clinics and killed doctors are preaching about how much they love life and everytime you look up they are talking about bombing someone in another country..A lot of these people are losing there minds because they can't control what is going on now especially since some of them don't have homes or jobs anymore.

[madfloridian]

8. That's true.

:hi:

[LiberalFighter]

7. If only they could name the babies something like "Florida GOP Suck"

without embarrassing the kid when he grows up.

Or include one of the scumbugs as part of the baby's name.

Or too bad they can't rape all the dumbass male representatives bringing up these bills.

[csziggy]

9. Just put one of the lawmakers sponsoring this as the father on the birth certificate

Sue for child support, drag the whole mess through the courts. Then before a paternity test is done, claim it was all a mistake, the stress of the whole ordeal of trying to have an abortion with the crap they are requiring caused a nervous breakdown.

[madfloridian]

10. They do mean it to cause stress. You are right.

Many of our Republicans here could not face much scrutiny, yet they try to make life hard for others.

Hypocrites.

[Stuart G]

11. You know this crap is...really a diversion away from

the real problems that Florida and the rest of the U.S face. Jobs, unemployment.

Guess who was President when this shit hit the fan. Guess what brother is clearly associated with that President. Guess what party they are..


They will do anything for a diversion...anything.

[madfloridian]

12. Using wedge issues to create a distraction

from the real problems.

[madfloridian]

13. Great editorial about folks in ND blaming the flood on abortions.

Media needs to continue to speak out on this.

http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2009/04/02/04022009wacyoung.html

"The cresting Red River has pulled back, averting the worst. Still, as of this writing, many operations in the Fargo-Moorhead area are closed. One participant in the e-mail thread finds that worth rejoicing. Why? Because, the writer assumes, one of the operations shut down has been North Dakota’s only independent abortion provider, the Red River Women’s Center.

The commenter called the flood a “gift from God” in having people link arms at river’s edge, it said. “Another great thing about this flood situation: no abortions! I hope this flood lasts forever if it will mean no abortions . . .”

In other varied forums, people of zeal were saying that flooding was God’s revenge for abortions in Fargo. The thing is, if the waters had said intent, they did not hit their mark.

The clinic, which is in downtown Fargo, faced no flooding and didn’t close, said its director in a phone interview. A snowstorm did prevent its doctor from arriving. But flood? Sorry to disappoint anyone. Meanwhile, families were uprooted and businesses were closed in other communities along the Red River. And their offense against goodness and decency was . . ?

One reason the Fargo clinic was drawing scrutiny is politics. In the days before the flood, anti-choice groups had gathered in Fargo to mount an effort to make North Dakota the first “abortion-free” state. That would be some trick. Every hospital that delivers babies performs abortions. Why? Because abortion at times is a medical necessity. You may want to ban all abortions that aren’t doctors’ calls based on medical necessity. That would put you in dicey clinical territory. A bill that passed the North Dakota House would, if Roe v. Wade were overturned, ban all abortions in the state except those deemed medically necessary. I’m wondering how any bill could be crafted to navigate those ethical straits. People of zeal in the Dakotas want to try."