Trump calls for punishment for women who have an abortion

MoonHowler


Trump is totally unacceptable and overlooks the fact that abortion is legal in the United States as per the decision Roe v. Wade. A woman’s right to abortion is settled law. Fie on these stupid men who keep equivocating and pretending that this right is not legal.

end abortion

At some point,  women will have control of their own bodies.  It will be as accepted as women having the right to vote.

Full control of one’s own reproduction is the only way that women will have full economic autonomy.  Full control should include access to effective contraception and access to abortion if that is needed.

Donald Trump should be punished for not thinking about what comes out of his mouth.  The women of America will probably see to it that he pays….at the voting booth.

Indiana: Abortion banned for fetal anomaly

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) signed a controversial abortion bill Thursday that, among other things, would ban the procedure if it is sought because the fetus was diagnosed with a disability or defect such as Down syndrome.

Shortly before his deadline to act on the sweeping measure, Pence called the law “a comprehensive pro-life measure that affirms the value of all human life,” according to the Associated Press.

The law, which was passed by the legislature earlier this month, would make Indiana the second state in the nation, after North Dakota, to ban abortion in cases where a fetal anomaly is detected. It also would bar the procedure in instances where the decision is based on the sex or race of the fetus. And it could make Indiana the first state in the country to require that fetal remains be buried or cremated, rather than treated like medical waste.

So this is where it is all going?  Fetal anomaly is certainly a compelling reason to have an abortion.  In fact, to me, it is  the most legitimate reason of all.  The cost and the wear and tear on families caring for a seriously disabled child is more than most people can bear.

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Discrimination marches forwards in Virginia

MoonHowler

The House of Delegates passed the bill making it legal to discriminate for religious reasons.

According to the Washington Post:

The Virginia House passed a bill Tuesday that would block state agencies from punishing discrimination against people who are in same-sex marriages, transgender or have sex outside marriage.

Supporters say the Government Nondiscrimination Act is needed to protect what they call religious freedom in the face of shifting cultural attitudes toward gay rights and the legalization of gay marriage. Opponents say it amounts to a license to discriminate, with broad-reaching consequences.

The bill passed the Republican-controlled chamber 56 to 41, with seven Republican members voting “no,” two not voting and one absent. Although the vote is a win for the socially conservative wing of the party, the fact that some Republicans voted against it reflects a divide within the Republican Party in Virginia and the nation.

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Zika prompts intense abortion debate in Latin America

MoonHowler

011516-Zika virus_1

Washingtonpost.com:

RIO DE JANEIRO — Across Latin America, calls to loosen some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world in the face of the Zika virus outbreak are gaining momentum but encountering strong and entrenched opposition.

In El Salvador, where abortions are banned under any circumstance, the health minister has argued for a revision of the law because of the dangers the virus poses to fetal development.

In Colombia, an organized movement to lift restrictions on abortion has gained allies in the government but has run into determined opposition from religious authorities. The same is happening in Brazil — and some doctors say that as a consequence, illegal, back-alley abortions are on the rise.

Nearly everywhere in Latin America, including in those countries hit hardest by Zika, women who wish to terminate their pregnancies have few legal options. But as U.N. health officials have projected as many as 4 million infections in the Americas this year, activists are pressing lawmakers to act as swiftly as possible to ease rigid restrictions.

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The lies and deceit continue from local anti-choice zealots

MoonHowler

aaa women

Washingtonpost.com:  (Petula Dvorak)

It’s a tactic she has embraced for nearly three decades to disrupt one of Northern Virginia’s few abortion clinics. Lohman operates her Manassas crisis pregnancy center right next door.

Same brick building, same sign, same generic office decor. The abortion clinic, Amethyst Health Center for Women, was on the right. The pregnancy center, AAA Women for Choice, is on the left.

Confused women seeking abortions would wind up in Lohman’s place, where she threw all she had at them — pamphlets, pleas, prayers, promises of help, used baby gear, bloody imagery, God — to change their minds.

“Deceptive? People say we’re deceptive? Okay,” Lohman told me. “But what the other guys are doing? That’s deceptive, too. Those girls have no idea what abortion really is. When I hear ‘pro-choice,’ that is a deception. And this country has forgotten about God.”

Here’s the part that’s really astonishing. Several months ago, the abortion provider retired and the Amethyst Health Center closed. That’s when Lohman, 69, and her supporters swooped in, orchestrating their grandest deception yet.

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Misogynist Trump still attacks Megyn Kelly

MoonHowler

Donald J. Trump 

✔@realDonaldTrump

“@gene70: @FireFlyFury@megynkelly@realDonaldTrumpAnd this is the bimbo that’s asking presidential questions? pic.twitter.com/oU1uUGnuWb“

megyn 1
6:36 AM – 28 Jan 2016
From Twitter.
I have never been a big Megyn Kelly fan.  That opinion is beside the point.  She is an accomplished journalist.  It doesn’t matter if she posed in GQ or not.  BFD.  Lucky her that she is attractive enough to do it.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, is unfit to lead this country because of his demeaning, misogynistic attitude about women in general and because of his attack on Megyn Kelly.  She dared to ask a question about his past behavior regarding comments about women.  Good for her.  She made him accountable.
Trump didn’t learn his lesson.  He continues to this day to make unkind, sexist remarks about Megan Kelly.  I rarely complement Fox News, but good for them for standing behind Megyn Kelly.  They have gained at least 100 points in my book.
Trump needs to erase the term “bimbo” from his vocabulary.  He, whose past behavior exhibits that he is a “bimbo monger” simply has no room to call anyone a bimbo.
Trump is coming dangerously close to winning the Republican nomination.  What will the Grand Old Party do?  Will they tolerate this pig running under their banner?  These are scary times.

Is the War on Women finally over?

MoonHowler

tampax

Potomaclocal.com:

Virginia’s sales tax covers almost everything you buy, from athletic socks to zippers. But it doesn’t apply to medicine, contact lenses and certain other personal health items. Now, the General Assembly is considering adding feminine hygiene products to the list of exemptions.

Del. Mark Keam (Fairfax County) introduced House Bill 952, which seeks to remove the sales tax on tampons and sanitary napkins in Virginia. Currently these items are taxed at the standard rate, like most other items: 6 percent in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, and 5.3 percent in the rest of the state.

“I think that most people, Republican and Democrats, would agree that this is an unfair tax,” Keam said Wednesday in an interview in his office at Capital Square. “It’s not equitable for women to have to pay a tax on something that guys don’t have to spend money on.”

Virginia is one of 40 states that tax tampons and sanitary napkins. Of the 10 states that don’t tax these products, five deliberately changed their laws specifically to end the policy. The other five do not have a sales tax at all.

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Virginia proposal to reduce unwanted pregnancy: Access to contraception

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

Women with little or no health insurance would be eligible for free, long-lasting birth control under a program proposed by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D).

Announced by Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) at a community college in Alexandria on Friday, the $9 million federal grant would cover intrauterine devices and skin implants as well as outreach to eligible women, training for clinicians and a study of the program’s impact.

“This is all about educating and empowering women to decide when and if they become pregnant,” Northam said at Northern Virginia Community College. “When women have access to this contraception, they choose on their own time when to start a family.”

Northam, who is running for governor in 2017, has been pushing for such a program for months. He wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post in Auguston the issue and argued for expanded access to birth control during a Brookings Institution event in October.

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Planned Parenthood endorses Hillary Clinton

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

PASADENA, CALIF. — The political arm of Planned Parenthood will endorse Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire on Sunday, a Clinton campaign official confirmed.

The endorsement marks the first time in the organization’s 100-year history that Planned Parenthood Action Fund has endorsed a candidate in a primary. The endorsement was first reported by CBS News.

“Let’s be clear — reproductive rights and health are on the ballot in 2016,” said Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards. “We’re proud to endorse Hillary Clinton for President of the United States.

“No other candidate in our nation’s history has demonstrated such a strong commitment to women or such a clear record on behalf of women’s health and rights,” she added. “This is about so much more than Planned Parenthood. Health care for an entire generation is at stake.”

Planned Parenthood is one of the nation’s leading providers of abortions and reproductive health services. Its early endorsement of Clinton will effectively mobilize supporters — and millions of dollars — nationwide for her candidacy.

Richard is expected to officially announce the endorsement at an event on Sunday in Manchester that kicks off the Action Fund’s efforts in the 2016 election season.

For some of us, there is nothing else to talk about. Done deal.

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Little Trumpy Trash Trap

MoonHowler

vulgar

Washingtonpost.com:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Donald Trump used vulgar language as he attacked Hillary Clinton during a rally on Monday night, saying her use of the restroom at the last Democratic debate was “too disgusting” to talk about and that in 2008 she got “schlonged” by Barack Obama when he defeated her in the Democratic primary.

Standing before a crowd of 7,500, Trump recounted how Clinton was seconds late to the Democratic debate stage on Saturday night following a commercial break. Trump asked the crowd four times where Clinton had gone.

“I know where she went — it’s disgusting, I don’t want to talk about it,” Trump said, screwing up his face, as the crowd laughed and cheered. “No, it’s too disgusting. Don’t say it, it’s disgusting.”

Later in the night, Trump told the crowd that he could not picture Clinton as president because she never wins at anything. He then brought up the 2008 Democratic primary, which Clinton lost to Barack Obama.

“She was favored to win, and she got schlonged,” Trump said, turning a vulgar noun for a large penis into a verb.

Donald– Ewwwwww.  Just Ewwwwww

What is his problem?  Has he always been the little rich boy who thought he could use women and talk trash about him?  This indecent behavior towards women simply makes him unacceptable to be president.  He is an embarrassment.

Those supporting him need to keep this in mind.  It will rub off.

Would you want this man to date your daughter or your sister?  Would you want him around your mother?

His manners about men aren’t really much better.  However, we don’t have special names for men who characteristically hate other men.  Trump is absolutely a misogynist.

Ohio tries to draft bill outlawing abortion for Down’s Syndrome

MoonHowler

Huffingtonpost.com:

Anti-abortion activists in Ohio want to bar women from getting abortions solely because they do not wish to have a baby with Down syndrome, rallying around a bill endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee.

The Ohio House and Senate will likely pass the bill sometime this fall, according to the New York Times, because most of the state’s legislators oppose abortion and have been endorsed by the committee. However, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) has not yet taken a position on the bill, so it is unclear if he will authorize it, though he has signed many other abortion restrictions into law.

Because women can undergo prenatal testing to see if their baby will be afflicted with certain diseases and disorders, between 50 and 85 percent of women who discover that their baby might have Down syndrome have chosen an abortion, according to a review of studies conducted between 1995 and 2011. But that number has declined over the years when compared to earlier studies conducted in the 1990s, the review notes.

 

Critics of the bill say that the ban would be difficult to enforce and likely violates the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling, which delineates that women can choose to get an abortion at any point until the fetus is viable. It also affects the definition of the right to choose an abortion as a private matter between the patient and her doctor.

“These legislative proposals interfere with the doctor-patient relationship and exploit complicated issues that can arise during pregnancy in the worst way,” Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Medical decisions should not be made in the Statehouse, they should be made in doctors’ offices based on sound medical science.”

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Va GOP jumps on the anti Planned Parenthood bandwagon

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

 

RICHMOND — Republican leaders of Virginia’s House of Delegates renewed their calls Tuesday for a criminal investigation into the state’s Planned Parenthood clinics after the release of a third undercover video targeting the abortion provider.

The video released Tuesday shows lab workers using tweezers to sort through identifiable body parts in a petri dish atop a lighted lab table.

“Anyone watching those videos — seeing the tiny hands of a child on a petri dish — has to be shocked,” Speaker William J. Howell (Stafford) said in a conference call with reporters. “And hearing the casual nature of their conversations really is appalling.”

You know, I don’t want to go watch anyone perform brain surgery.  I also don’t want to watch abortions being performed or any other types of medical procedures.  I just don’t have the stomach for it.  However, in my travels, I have picked up some information.

Howell sounds like a real dumb ass.  He is shooting off his mouth about something that he knows very little about.  Let’s start with some facts.  I might not use the correct medical terms but you will get the drift.  All abortions that use an aspirator suction device to perform the surgery collect fetal parts in a mesh type bag.  Blood and fluids seep through into a larger container.  After the procedure, a lab tech empties the mesh bag in a petri dish to make certain all parts are there.  If they aren’t, that means an incomplete abortion has been performed.  An incomplete procedure means that the woman is at high risk for infection.  Usually what is known as a “re-vac” is performed to make sure all fetal tissue has been removed.

I am just a layman of course but I do know that much, regardless of how poorly I have expressed it.  At this point, let’s not treat this any differently than any other medical procedure, because it isn’t.  THIS PRACTICE IS SOUND MEDICAL PRACTICE.

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Manassas City: Parrish joins the anti-reproductive rights crew

MoonHowler

Insidenova.com:

Against a backdrop of election-year politics, the Manassas City Council moved this week to enact new hurdles for hospitals, outpatient surgery centers and women’s health clinics that want to expand or open new facilities within the city limits.

Residents on both sides of the abortion debate packed the Manassas City Hall chambers April 27 to watch the council update its 69-year-old zoning ordinance to include new rules for “medical care facilities,” which will likely require special use permits to locate anywhere in the city.

Introducing the measure, Mayor Harry J. “Hal” Parrish II sought to frame the issue as “reasonable land-use regulations” intended to allow the council to consider things like parking lot size, hours of operation and access for emergency vehicles before approving the permits, which are also subject to public hearings.

Parrish, who is the GOP nominee in the hotly contested race to replace retiring Sen. Charles J. Colgan, cast the tie-breaking vote on the issue, joining fellow Republicans Marc Aveni, Vice Mayor Jonathan Way and Councilman Ian Lovejoy in supporting the changes.

Republican Council Members Mark Wolfe and Sheryl Bass joined the panel’s only Democrat, Ken Elston, in opposing the measure. A second reading and vote on the zoning ordinance is scheduled for May 11.

All three of the Democrats competing in the upcoming June 9 primary to run against Parrish in November – Del. Michael Futrell, 2nd, Atif Qarni and Jeremy McPike — were present for the vote and quick to criticize Parrish’s decision.

“He’s created this façade that he’s moderate and he really isn’t,” Qarni said. “And this vote is just an example of that.”

Hal Parrish needs to understand that he just lost himself a lot of votes in the 29th Senate District.  He needs to understand that he aided and abetted people who are pushing their own religious agenda down the throats of others.  Parrish needs to understand that his gentlemanly ways that have made people like him will not sweet talk voters out of making him pay at the ballot box.   I cannot vote for him now.

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International Women’s Day: What does it mean to be a feminist?

MoonHowler

Personally speaking, I think I was born being a feminist. I thought traditional roles were ridiculous. I always look back to the burning question: Why can’t women work in the ABC Stores? (they couldn’t until I was well into my adult life) You know, I never got a credible answer other than they would have to deal with drunks. I suppose Captain Obvious forgot that women go to parties with men?

But I digress… What does it mean to be a feminist? Had the definition changed over the years? Are feminists bad people in your mind? Read More

Jessie Matthew charged with first degree murder in Hannah Graham death

MoonHowler


Washingtonpost.com:

CHARLOTTESVILLE — A man from the Charlottesville area has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, officials in Albemarle County announced Tuesday.

Jesse L. Matthew Jr., 33, was previously charged with Graham’s abduction after authorities said he was the last person seen with the 18-year-old from Fairfax County before she disappeared from Charlottesville in September. Her body was found in a wooded area about 10 miles from campus weeks later.

Matthew also has been charged with abduction with intent to defile, indicating that police believe he intended to sexually assault Graham. Matthew faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.

Lunsford said she chose not to seek a capital murder charge, which carries a potential death sentence. Virginia law allows it in homicide cases that allegedly involve an abduction or sexual assault. Lunsford would not discuss her reasoning but said the decision came after consulting with Graham’s family and weighing the impact on the community.

“The charges that the jury will hear are the charges that the prosecutor feels comfortable to bring,” Lunsford said.

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