Hospitality

Here's this week's reproductive rights news brought to you by the women of Our Word (and at least one of the guys!). If you see something you find relevant please email it to me, bayprairie at gmail dot com

This week's news has been dominated by stories about the South Dakota abortion bill, an amended version of which passed the South Dakota House by a vote of 50-18 on Friday, Feb 24th. The bill (HB 1215) would ban all abortions in the state except to save a pregnant woman's life and it's been sent the bill to Gov. Mike Rounds (R), who has indicated support for the measure. Also in the news are related stories of other states mirroring South Dakota's efforts.

::::more below the fold::::also posted at Our Word::::

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Citing what they see as a more receptive or antiabortion high court, lawmakers easily approved a sweeping ban on the procedure, one that declares that life begins at conception.

South Dakota's law makes it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion unless the mother's life is endangered. There are no exceptions for cases in which a mother's health may be threatened or cases in which the pregnancy results from rape or incest.

On the March 3, 2006, broadcast of The News Hour with Jim Lehrer we saw past the benign rhetoric about how the Supreme Court is going to stay impartial and the new Justices are not coming to the Supreme Court to grind an ax.

South Dakota has passed legislation that discriminates in favor of an embryo over the rights of a woman to control her own body.

Reproductive technology marches on. It is possible to place a fertilized egg of one woman into the womb of another woman. This is not surrogacy where the man impregnates another woman. This is the transfer of a fertilized egg of one women into that of another.

Currently, there are Third World women, and women of poverty in this nation, who are hiring out their wombs to people of means (often of different ethnicity) so that the hiring couple can have a baby that is biologically "theirs." The egg and sperm of the hiring couple are joined, and the embryo is implanted into another woman who has agreed to carry the fetus through labor. If a woman who has donated her womb has a change of heart, under South Dakota law she cannot get out of the services she has contracted to fulfill - nor does she (or so it seems) have any real legal standing once she delivers the baby.

This is not science fiction. This is the state of affairs today, and we are going down the slippery slope where the state begins to assert eminent domain over the womb.

Stay tuned. This is going to get a whole lot worse before we get away from people who are more interested in the rights of an embryo than a woman.

Police: Woman shot self to induce an abortion

SUFFOLK -- A Suffolk woman who lost her unborn baby after suffering a bullet wound to the abdomen was arrested yesterday and charged with shooting herself to "illegally induce an abortion."

Tammy W. Skinner, 22, originally called police Thursday at 4:11 a.m. on her cell phone from the parking lot of an auto dealership on North Main Street. She reported someone had shot her, said Lt. Debbie George, a Suffolk police spokeswoman.

Skinner was rushed by ambulance to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where doctors listed her in good condition but her fetus was pronounced dead. Doctors had planned to induce labor for Skinner, who police said was seven to nine month's pregnant, that day.

:::snip:::

I somehow missed this news item. But really, should we be surprised that Samuel Alito is as hateful and evil as we feared? His mash note to James Dobson, who has found fame and fortune in advocating hate and intolerance of millions of Americans, is quite revealing ... and frightening:

Dobson, head of the Colorado Springs-based conservative Christian ministry that reaches more than 200 million people worldwide through broadcasts and publications, read Alito’s note on his Wednesday radio program.

The note thanks Dobson and his listeners for supporting Alito during his U.S. Senate confirmation hearings.

Dobson said Alito wrote that “the prayers of so many people from around the country were a palpable and powerful force. As long as I serve on the Supreme Court I will keep in mind the trust that has been placed in me.�What does that mean? We know what Dobson's ideas are: forced pregnancy and church-run-state-run breeding laws, not to mention sexual orientation laws to keep Dobson and his sheep from turning gay. This note seems to express Alito's affinity for Dobson's opposition to freedom and equality.
Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Alito’s note was in response to a letter Dobson sent him congratulating him on his confirmation. She said his pledge to “keep in mind the trust that has been placed in me� was a line he included in many replies to congratulatory letters.
Again with the "He didn't really mean it" defense?

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., who supported Alito, wasn’t concerned about the note.

“His only reaction to the letter was to say that, in his opinion, it just goes to show that both Justice Alito and Dr. Dobson have nice manners,� an Allard spokeswoman said.
Of course, Allard loves that Dobson support, too, especially when it comes from just down the Interstate.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called the note “grossly inappropriate conduct.�

“He kind of sounds like the winning political candidate doing a victory lap and thanking his backers,� Lynn said. “He’s not sounding like a fair and independent judge.�

He said the note can be interpreted as a pledge to rule as Dobson wants on key issues, such as gay marriage, abortion and church-state separation.

“It sounds like he’s carrying a right-wing agenda instead of being a justice for all the people,� Lynn said, noting he’s never heard of a Supreme Court justice writing such a letter.

Lynn, whose group opposed Alito’s nomination, called Dobson’s reading the note on air “astonishingly strange conduct� indicative of a “self-congratulatory impulse on the part of Dobson.�

Focus on the Family did not return two phone calls Wednesday seeking comment.

Ellie Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority, which opposed Alito’s nomination, called the note “highly unusual� and akin to someone thanking his political supporters.

“What’s happening is, the courts are becoming more politicized,� she said. “So much of it is about private conduct and the agenda of the right wing.�
The Republican response: "Whaddayagonnadoabowdit!"

[Via Jessica at feministing.com]

They're just falling all over themselves. It's a veritable womb rush for government! Seize your wombs, politicians! Control your women!

In Mississippi:

Gov. Haley Barbour said Wednesday he would probably sign a bill under consideration in the state House that would ban most abortions in Mississippi.

The measure, which passed the House Public Health Committee on Tuesday, would allow abortion only to save a woman's life. It would make no exception in cases of rape or incest.

Barbour, a Republican, said he preferred an exception in cases of rape and incest, but if such a bill came to his desk: "I suspect I'll sign it."

The full House could vote on the bill next week, and it would then go to the Senate.

In Missouri:

The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld a 24-hour informed consent abortion law in a unanimous decision, ruling that the law does not violate the Missouri constitution. The law requires doctors to wait 24 hours after consulting with women before performing abortions.

Update: But wait, there's more!

South Dakota has done it. Mississippi is considering it. Now Missouri is the latest state to propose legislation banning nearly all abortions.

Republican State Senator Jason Crowell introduced the resolution yesterday. It would ban all abortions in Missouri, except when giving birth would put the mother's life at risk. If the legislature endorses it, voters would decide on the ban in November.

While the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken on the matter with Roe versus Wade, Crowell wants them to reconsider. He hopes a new state law will force a future showdown in the courts. Crowell says, "The only way in which to overturn a Supreme Court decision, is with a new Supreme Court opinion."

He adds, "This is about no longer playing on the fringes of abortion, and putting squarely before the Missouri voters, an up or down vote."

In Michigan:

A petition drive to place a strict anti-abortion law before Michigan voters this fall appeared to be going nowhere -- until Tuesday, when the state's two representatives on the Republican National Committee fired off letters supporting the controversial ballot proposal.

Chuck Yob and Holly Hughes gave the effort some instant credibility when they sent letters and e-mails to 3,000 Republican and anti-abortion activists to "help protect the lives of the unborn right here in Michigan."

They urged people to join the Michigan Citizens for Life campaign to collect 317,000 signatures and put on the November ballot a state constitutional amendment giving the right of due process to a fetus. The proposal would eliminate abortion in the state and, if passed, could prompt a national legal battle targeting Roe v. Wade, a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

In Georgia:

A slate of abortion-related bills passed in the state Senate on Thursday, requiring doctors to offer women seeking the procedure a look at an image of the fetus and clearing pharmacists who don't want to give out abortion pills they say go against their beliefs.

A third bill would create a murder charge any time a fetus is destroyed in an attack on a pregnant woman.

The Unborn Victims of Violence Act expands Georgia's current law, which says a fetus must have a chance to stay alive outside the womb for its destruction to be considered a murder. The new bill would call for a murder charge at any point in the pregnancy.

In Massachusetts:

Lunging to the right on two red hot social issues, Gov. Mitt Romney said he would sign a bill outlawing abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, and agreed to meet with the state’s Roman Catholic bishops to discuss their bid to exempt Catholic Charities from gay adoptions.

On abortion, Romney spokeswoman Julie Teer said the governor would back a state ban on abortion if, as occurred in South Dakota, lawmakers passed such a measure.

“If Gov. Romney were the governor of South Dakota he would sign it,� Teer told political newsletter The Hotline yesterday. “The governor believes that states should have the right to be pro-life if that is the will of the people.�

So where are the Democrats on all this? Oh, wait--

One of 55 House Democrats who've signed a "Catholic Statement of Principles" says it's an effort to keep abortion from becoming their single defining issue.

Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro says she and other Catholic Democrats are "very proud of our spirituality," but reserve the right to obey conscience rather than church teachings.

The 55 signers say they "agree with the Catholic Church about the value of human life and the undesirability of abortion" and "do not celebrate its practice." But the House members add that they "accept the tension that comes with being in disagreement with the church in some areas."

Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life says Catholic Democrats realize that support for legal abortion is costing them votes and are "trying to put as good a face on their position as possible."

Yeah, we can't have politicians doing anything like standing up for anything like moral principles when the Catholic Church is weighing in on American governmental policy. Forced pregnancy is just too damn popular and sexy in today's political climate for Democrats to risk defending human rights.

For the political theorists out there reading this, we're looking at the top of the political compass. You won't find many Democrats -- let alone Republicans -- down at the freedom side of the circle.