SOME GOP delegates promote easy access to birth control

MoonHowler

trojanhorse

The key word here is SOME.  Not one delegate from Prince William County was a signatory on the letter written to Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius.  Granted, the GOP delegates who sent the letter appear to be the more modern of the Republicans in the Delegate Assembly but I still smell a rat…actually, I smell a Trojan Horse.

From the Virginia Pilot:

Several Republicans in the House of Delegates  have urged federal health officials to allow birth control to be sold  without a prescription to adults.

More than two dozen legislators wrote U.S. Health and Human Services  Secretary Kathleen Sebelius seeking a policy change they called “a  reform that makes sense and is something the Obama administration could  quickly move on with bipartisan support.”

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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reject latest compromise on contraception

MoonHowler

bewareofdogmabillboard_jdean

Politico.com:

Catholic bishops on Thursday rejected the White House’s latest attempt at  compromise on contraception, saying it did not adequately accommodate religious  organizations that object to covering free contraception in employee health  plans.

“Throughout the past year, we have been assured by the administration that we  will not have to refer, pay for, or negotiate for the mandated  coverage,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president  of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement. “We remain  eager for the administration to fulfill that pledge.”

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Contraception Compromises Continue

MoonHowler

Sandra Fluke weighs to this lastest leg of the controversy:

What else has happened? How could the President compromise any more?  Its hard to imagine.

Nytimes.com:

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday proposed yet another compromise to address strenuous objections from religious organizations about a policy requiring health insurance plans to provide free contraceptives, but the change did not end the political furor or legal fight over the issue.

The proposal could expand the number of groups that do not need to pay directly for birth control coverage, encompassing not only churches and other religious organizations, but also some religiously affiliated hospitals, universities and social service agencies. Health insurance companies would pay for the coverage.

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Roe turns 40…pretty beaten up–January 22

MoonHowler

birthday cake

Yahoo.com:

 Most Americans remain opposed to overturning the controversial Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which 40 years ago legalized abortion at least in the first three months of pregnancy, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The poll by the Pew Research Center found that 63 percent of Americans believe that Roe v. Wade should not be completely overturned, compared to 29 percent who believe it should be. These opinions have changed little from surveys conducted in 2003 and 1992, Pew reported.

While many of the social issues have changed over the years,  American opinions really haven’t changed all that much.  Accessibility to abortion has certainly gotten tighter.  4 states are down to having one clinic left and if anti-choice activists have their way, there will be no abortion services in Mississippi, South Dakota, Arkansas, or North Dakota.  Clinic directors and doctors are often stalked.  In no other business would this kind of behavior be legally allowed.

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Ultra-sounds: Let’s point out the worthless dogs

MoonHowler

ultra soundSenator Ralph Northam introduced a bill in the Virginia Senate to give legislators the opportunity to redeem themselves and to remove Virginia from the embarrassment list.  His efforts failed.  It was last year during the legislative session that Virginia became the laughing stock of the nation, especially late at night because of their governor, Governor Ultra-Sound.

In all, the members of the Senate Health and Education Committee, had 3 reproductive rights bills to consider.  Only 1 made it out of committee.  2 were staked  by an 8-7 Republican vote.

According to the Huffingtonpost.com:

A Republican-controlled committee in the Virginia State Senate voted 8-7 on Thursday to block Democrats’ efforts to repeal a new mandatory ultrasound law and a set of regulations that could shut down many abortion clinics in the state. The committee also voted down a new anti-abortion bill that would have prevented Medicaid from paying for low-income women’s abortions in cases where there is a severe fetal anomaly.

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The new legislative session: ripe with social causes

MoonHowler

This year’s session contains several important bills that bear watching.

From Loudoun Times:

In response to the rally, the House Democratic Caucus announced plans for legislation in support of women’s reproductive health later that morning.

“The Republicans did real damage to Virginia’s women by passing burdensome regulations” on a woman’s right to have abortion, Sen. Mark Herring of Leesburg said at the press conference.

Instead of legislators being motivated by ideology, “we should be motivated by helping Virginians,” said Herring, who represents parts of Fairfax and Loudoun counties.

Delegate Kaye Kory of Falls Church, who also represents part of Fairfax County, introduced House Bill 1560, which would remove the requirement to get an ultrasound before having abortion.

Delegate Vivian Watts of Annandale has introduced HB 1644, which would define birth control. “It makes it clear that using birth control is not considered an abortion,” Watts said.

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Rape quagmire…..Republican men keep stepping in it

MoonHowler

Politico.com:

Rep. Phil Gingrey’s attempts to explain Todd Akin’s rape remarks are leaving  many Republicans beyond frustrated that a few in their party can’t help but  insert rape into the already contentious abortion debate.

“This is actually pretty simple. If you’re about to talk about rape as  anything other than a brutal and horrible crime, stop,” said Republican  strategist Kevin Madden, who was a senior adviser in Mitt Romney’s campaign.

On Thursday, the Georgia Republican didn’t heed that advice, telling a local Chamber of Commerce  breakfast that Akin was “partially right” when he said last year that a  woman can stop herself from getting pregnant.

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So much for the anchor baby…

MoonHowler

From washingtonpost.com:

The U.S. birthrate plunged last year to a record low, with the decline being led by immigrant women hit hard by the recession, according to a study released Thursday by the Pew Research Center.

The overall birthrate decreased by 8 percent between 2007 and 2010, with a much bigger drop of 14 percent among foreign-born women. The overall birthrate is at its lowest since 1920, the earliest year with reliable records. Preliminary 2011 data suggest the trend will continue.

Whoa.  Stop.  I have heard nothing but shrieking and screeching for the past 5 or 6 years about all the anchor babies being dropped here in the United States so these babies can grow up and let their parents and all their relatives float in on the backs of the anchor babies.  Damn!  Tell me its not true!

Now that old Washington Post tells us that the birth rates are at an all time low, more significantly within the immigrant population?  How will those figures ever support all the nativist-shrieking?  What will Corey and Ken Cuccinelli campaign on?  No “illegals” birthin’ babies to kick around?  The birth rate amongst Mexican women dropped 23%.’

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Richard Mourdock thinks pregnancy from rape was intended by God

MoonHowler

All well and good, bizarro boy, but do not inflict your beliefs on the rest of us. 

What a shame that strange people like this are always the ones who feel that they must spread the word if elected to office.

I have decided beliefs like this should disqualify a person from office.

How many more of these clowns are Republicans going to inflict on the rest of us?

Normal thinking Republicans!! Where are you?  Make your party stop doing this!!!

Bizarro Dude Mourdock is running for the senate from Indiana.  I would think his opponent, Rep. Joe Donnelly,  would be loving life with remarks like these but we are talking about Indiana.  It isn’t known for its enlightenment.

Va. Health Commissioner resigns over new abortion clinic regulations

MoonHowler

 

Washingtonpost.com:

RICHMOND — Virginia’s health commissioner abruptly stepped down Thursday over proposed new regulations that would require abortion facilities to meet strict, hospital-style building standards that many clinics say would put them out of business.

In her resignation letter, Karen Remley, a pediatrician first appointed by then-governor Timothy M. Kaine in 2008, said: “Unfortunately, how specific sections of the Virginia Code pertaining to the development and enforcement of these regulations have been and continue to be interpreted has created an environment in which my ability to fulfill my duties is compromised and in good faith I can no longer serve in my role.”

I doubt that the anti-choice right will be crying the blues over her resignation.  That frees up another spot for an extremist position.  The extremists will say and do anything to advance their agenda.

Dr. Karen Remley is to be commended for her personal integrity as well as her dedication to safe women’s health practices in Virginia.  She knows that the TRAP laws turning abortion clinics into mini hospitals are simply a ruse to make abortion more difficult, less accessible and more expensive.  She knows that Ken Cuccinelli acted unethically and perhaps illegally when he failed to certifiy the recommendation of the State Health Board.

We should all be worried when someone’s zealotry replaces the Rule of Law.

Deadly Meningitis Outbreak, a Question of Oversight: The war on people?

MoonHowler

The deadly outbreak of meningitis that has left 30 ill and 5 dead has been traced  to spinal steroid injections, given as an epidural.  This announcement put my family on red alert because my husband has gotten spinal injections in the past, given in epidural form, as an outpatient.

What is the most shocking here is the description of what went wrong.  According to the New York Times:

The outbreak, with 5 people dead and 30 ill in six states, is thought to have been caused by a steroid drug contaminated by a fungus. The steroid solution was not made by a major drug company, but was concocted by a pharmacy in Framingham, Mass., called the New England Compounding Center. Compounding pharmacies make their own drug products, which are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

On Monday, federal inspectors at the New England center found a sealed vial of the steroid afloat with so much foreign matter that it could be seen with the naked eye, Food and Drug Administration officials said Thursday. Under the microscope, the particles were a fungus.

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Todd Akin has more voo doo medicine up his sleeve

MoonHowler
Akin claims that abortions are given to women who aren’t pregnant.  Isn’t that impossible?
According to the Huffingtonpost:
“It is no big surprise that we fight the terrorists because they are fundamentally un-American, and yet we have terrorists in our own culture called abortionists. One of the good pieces of news why we are winning this war is because there are not enough heartless doctors being graduated from medical schools. There is a real shortage of abortionists. Who wants to be at the very bottom of the food chain of medical profession? And what sort of places do these bottom-of-the-food-chain doctors work in? Places that are really a pit. You find that along with the culture of death go all kinds of other law-breaking: not following good sanitary procedure, giving abortions to women who are not actually pregnant, cheating on taxes, all these kinds of things, misuse of anesthetics so that people die or almost die.”
To think….this guy could end up as a U.S. Senator.   Plenty of people have objections to abortion especially if the procedure is performed later into pregnancy.  However, if someone isn’t pregnant it isn’t possible, by definition, to perform an abortion.
Akin talks about bottom feeding doctors.  How about bottom feeding politicians?  He certainly would qualify.

Mr. Legitimate Rape Akin finds opponent to be unlady-like

MoonHowler

The Hill:

Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) said on Thursday that Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) isn’t acting as “ladylike” as when she last ran for Senate because she’s worried he’s going to unseat her.
Specifically, Akin was referring to McCaskill’s demeanor during a debate a week earlier.
“I think we have a very clear path to victory, and apparently Claire McCaskill thinks we do, too, because she was very aggressive at the debate, which was quite different than it was when she ran against Jim Talent,” Akin said at a campaign stop according to the Kansas City Star. “She had a confidence and was much more ladylike (in 2006), but in the debate on Friday she came out swinging, and I think that’s because she feels threatened.”

We aren’t quite sure what Claire McCaskill has done “unladylike” to deserve such upbraiding but it must have been serious for such a liberated renaissance man to comment on her behavior in such terms.

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Rachel Maddow: Virginia TRAP laws shame Virginia

MoonHowler


It will be up to the women of Virginia to decide if the Republicans are going to make deeply personal decision for them.

The people on the board were threatened by the governor and the attorney general.

From last week– too much else was going on.

Richmond Times Dispatch:

At least one board member said members of the panel felt threatened by a memo from the office of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that warned board members could lose legal representation from the Attorney General’s Office if they ignored its advice.

In June, the board had voted 7-4 to exempt existing abortion clinics from the new construction standards, only to have Cuccinelli’s office refuse to certify the regulations.

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Ken Cuccinelli, the Quintessenial Bully of Women

Elena

I am unsure how the women in Virginia will now have access to legal and safe abortion. The reversal of  a previous ruling by the Virginia Board of Health, due to the bullying tactics our Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli,  puts all LEGAL abortion clinics in an untenable position to operate.  Naral Virginia explains the consequences of the Boards actions.

On Friday, September 14, the Virginia Board of Health defied the recommendations  of legal and medical experts in voting 13-2 to subject existing women’s health  centers to burdensome buildings regulations. After months of pressure tactics by  Attorney General Cuccinelli, the Board reversed its earlier decision to  grandfather in existing clinics and exempt them from the medically unnecessary  regulations. If signed into law, these regulations will force up to twenty  women’s health centers in Virginia to shut down.

“We are stunned by today’s vote, and extremely disappointed in the thirteen  Board of Health members who decided to put political ideology before  evidence-based scientific fact,” said Tarina Keene, Executive Director of NARAL  Pro-Choice Virginia. “Hundreds of voices were silenced today.”