Supreme Court justices on Wednesday aggressively questioned whether a Massachusetts law that creates buffer zones around abortion clinics unconstitutionally inhibits the free-speech rights of antiabortion activists.
Several justices made clear in their questioning that they felt the law’s restrictions on who can enter a 35-foot space around a facility’s entrance unfairly targets those who want to hand out leaflets or speak to the women planning abortions.
He isn’t against birth control–he just doesn’t want to pay for others to have sex
UPDATE — 12:26 p.m.: Branco gave the following statement on the cartoon to HuffPost:
I’m not against birth control or nor do I feel that it is any of my business what people do sexually. However, I do feel that contraceptives are inexpensive and accessible enough that I shouldn’t have to pay for them through my taxes. I also feel that my government shouldn’t be promoting promiscuous sex as though condoms are the answer to all STDs and promiscuous behavior.
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More idiot statements. STD’s? Promiscuous sex? Government promotion of condoms? What rock does this dude live under? The use of contraceptives and condoms saves lives. I guess that is immaterial. To suggest that contraception is inexpensive is simply ludicrous and ignorant. Unless people live close to clinics with free samples, oral contraception is pretty darn expensive, in particular if one is counting one’s pennies to get by each month.
Cooch Watch sends a message to Ken Cuccinelli
What a contrast! When I was coming of age I don’t think people even said the word ‘abortion’ out loud. The procedure wasn’t legal and only girls “who got themselves in trouble” had them. In case you don’t believe me, watch Dirty Dancing for the refresher course.
Of course, back in those days you had to be married to get the pill. Things loosened up and you could get parental permission if you were under 21. Is it any wonder that the vintage women were the trail-blazers? Many of us simply rejected the paternalism of the medical profession and of course the state houses and have spent most of our adult lives keeping abortion safe and legal.
Abortion wasn’t the only issue. The vintage women (and men) also fought for safe reliable contraception and access to that contraception. Our issues remain, but it’s time to pass the baton to the younger set. Too many younger women took a great deal for granted. They never knew the old days, when girls got sent away to their aunt’s house to bear that shameful child out of wedlock. We were always told they were spending a year in Europe or helping out an aunt with her children because she was going back to work or some other lie.
The younger generation never knew the days when contraception was unattainable or when abortion was illegal. I think they have gotten a wake up call. Throughout the United States thousands of anti choice bills have been drafted and hundreds have made it to the governors’ mansions for a signature and have become law.
Here in Virginia, we have seen some of the most virulent anti choice legislation ever. Who has been leading the charge? Ken Cuccinelli. The Cooch Watch folks will not let him forget it either. Young women and men simply don’t have the filters that the vintage women had/have. We all but handled things like this with white gloves. Not the Cooch Watch women. They tell it like it is. While it isn’t MY way, more power to them!
FCHC sues the State of Virginia: May the force be with them!
A challenge to Virginia’s strident anti abortion regulations moved forward today.
Rosemary Codding is the director of Falls Church Healthcare Center. In the above video, Rosemary is shown accepting an award from NARAL for her continuing efforts in the field of reproductive rights. That night she announced that FCHC filed a petition in circuit court in Arlington to set aside the onerous TRAP laws that will close most clinics in Virginia. Today, an Arlington County circuit court judge ruled that FCHC could move forward with its suit challenging the new TRAP laws.
The Falls Church Medical Center is seeking to overturn an April decision by the Virginia Board of Health that applies strict, hospital-style building codes to the clinics. Among other things, the rules mandate the width of hallways and doorways as well as the number of parking spaces. Some providers have said costly renovations needed to comply would put them out of business.
Attorneys for the medical center argued in court that abortion clinics have been treated differently than other outpatient medical facilities. Solicitor General Earle Duncan Getchell Jr. defended the regulations, saying that the Board of Health simply followed the General Assembly’s directive and the law.
Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Kendrick denied a request by the state to dismiss the case. He predicted that the contentious lawsuit will eventually go to the state appeals court.
Virginia women prefer McAuliffe by a 24-point margin over Cuccinelli
Democrat Terry McAuliffe has vaulted into the lead over Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II in a Virginia governor’s race that has left many voters sour on both candidates, according to a new Washington Post-Abt SRBI poll.
McAuliffe leads 47 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, with Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis’s 10 percent suggesting an unrest among voters not satisfied with either major-party contender. In a one-on-one matchup without Sarvis in the mix, the poll shows a narrower, 49-to-44-percent race between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli among likely voters — but still flips Cuccinelli’s 10-point lead from this spring.
The shift in the race has come almost exclusively from female voters, who prefer McAuliffe by a 24-point margin over Cuccinelli. The candidates were effectively tied among women in a Washington Post poll in May.
McAuliffe’s strength among women is probably due in part to an intense campaign to portray Cuccinelli as a threat to women and the issues they care about most deeply. A new McAuliffe ad, for instance, features a Norfolk OB-GYN speaking directly to the camera about how she is “offended” by Cuccinelli’s position on abortion.
The challenge for Cuccinelli is stark: Nearly half of all voters view him unfavorably, and they trust his opponent as much as or more than the Republican on every major issue in the race, according to the poll. On trust to handle issues of special concern to women, McAuliffe leads Cuccinelli by 23 points.
Why the woman vote matters in Virginia
The Virginia governor’s election is possibly the most watched race in the entire country. Far right attorney general Ken Cuccinelli is running against former DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe. Neither man appears to be particularly popular with Virginia voters. Ken Cuccinelli is running against a backdrop of scandal.
In recent polls, Terry McAuliffe leads Ken Cuccinelli by 5 points. In a low voter turn out those points would not be significant. However, there is an 18 point gender gap in the governor’s race in Virginia. It is possibly the most watched race in the entire country.
Cuccinelli’s attempts to ban no fault divorce
A recent Washington Post story explored Cuccinelli’s relationship with the fathers’ rights movement, which seeks to influence state and federal laws to give men a better position in divorce and custody cases. Many fathers’ rights groups have pushed to end or reform no-fault divorce laws, and Cuccinelli did the same during his time in the state Senate.
“2008. Ken Cuccinelli writes a bill to give Virginia among the most extreme divorce laws in America,” says the announcer in McAuliffe’s (D) new ad. “If Cuccinelli had it his way, a mom trying to get out of a bad marriage, over her husband’s objections, could only get divorced if she could prove adultery or physical abuse or her spouse had abandoned her or was sentenced to jail. Why is Ken Cuccinelli interfering in our private lives? He’s focused on his own agenda. Not us.”
Cuccinelli spokeswoman Anna Nix said her boss was proud of his record.
Make no mistake–Cuccinelli sponsored birth control ban
While in the state Senate in 2007, Cuccinelli co-sponsored a bill to add a line to the Virginia Constitution declaring that “life begins at the moment of fertilization and the right to enjoyment of life . . . is vested in each born and preborn human being from the moment of fertilization.”
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has warned that such a law might “deny women access to the full spectrum of preventive health care including contraception.”
AZ defunding of Planned Parenthood struck down by court
An Arizona law that would have cut clinics that provide abortion services from the state’s Medicaid plan was struck down Thursday, signaling a win for Planned Parenthood.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said lawmakers in Arizona were wrong to tie Medicaid funds for family planning services to a requirement that clinics like Planned Parenthood stop performing abortions, according to the East Valley Tribune.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood filed a complaint about the law in July, arguing it’s “wrong for the state to tell Arizonans who they can and cannot see for their health care.”
Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said this decision is in line with similar cases from around the country.
“All women, no matter where they live, should be able to get quality, affordable health care from the health care provider they know and trust,” Richards said in a statement, according to The Hill.
At what point is the War on Women going to just give it a rest? Abortion is a legal procedure. Those who don’t approve shouldn’t have one. End of story. However, some people want to drag this out to the point of absurdity.
McAuliffe leads Cuccinelli by 6 points
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe holds a 6-percentage-point edge over Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the first Quinnipiac University poll of the campaign among voters likely to cast ballots in the November election.
McAuliffe holds a lead of 48 percent to 42 percent in the survey released this morning, while the down ticket candidates are still unknown to a majority of Virginians.
McAuliffe is viewed favorably by 34 percent and unfavorably by 33 percent, but 31 percent of voters had not heard enough about him to give an opinion.
Cuccinelli, the state’s attorney general, is viewed favorably by 35 percent of voters and unfavorably by 41 percent while only 22 percent hadn’t heard enough to form an opinion, according to the poll.
Cuccinelli: Lies Propagated on Virginia Tax Dollars
Women for Choice my ass! What choice? Lies Lies Lies. Judging from the door in the video, that CPC is right here in Manassas. They have been pulling this crap for over 20 years. The lies and judgemental statements in the video were actually recorded and the film was presented by NARAL Pro-Choice America.
The entire ruse is deceitful. Just the name tricks scared young women into going to the ‘wrong clinic’ since its location is very close to a real medical facility. Private information is solicited from the women before they realize they are not in a medical facility. Pregnancy tests are even given. One young woman I know who was sent in, got phone calls at home and hymns were sung to her. Incidentally, she was not pregnant.
And the Pig of the Year Award goes to…..Rick Perry
Two days after Texas lawmaker Wendy Davis vaulted into the political spotlight for helping defeat a bill restricting abortion rights by staging an 11-hour-long filibuster, Gov. Rick Perry said it was unfortunate she had not learned that “every life matters,” given that she was the child of a single mother who went on to earn a Harvard law degree.
In a speech to nearly 1,000 delegates at the conference near Dallas, Mr. Perry struck hard at Ms. Davis, 50, asking the crowd, “Who are we to say that the children born in the worst of circumstances can’t grow to live successful lives?”
Then he cited Ms. Davis, as an example, saying she was the daughter of a “single mother. She was
a teenage mother herself. She managed to eventually graduate from Harvard Law School and serve in the Texas Senate.“It is just unfortunate that she hasn’t learned from her own example that every life must be given a chance to realize its full potential and that every life matters.”
Ms. Davis released a statement that said Mr. Perry’s statement was “without dignity and tarnishes the high office he holds. They are small words that reflect a dark and negative point of view. Our governor should reflect our Texas values. Sadly, Gov. Perry fails that test.”
How totally patronizing and inappropriate. I have rarely heard any remarks that judgemental. I can’t believe that any person in that room who personally witnessed Perry’s words wasn’t just mortified for him.
Stop the Gynoticians
It’s time for all this to stop. Women have a Constitutional right to abortion, as outlined in Roe v. Wade. Women have a Constitutional right to contraception as codified by Griswold v. Connecticut.
The people trumpeting the loudest are tea party enthusiasts. Perhaps they should pay a little more attention to cases that have been decided and codified using that very Constitution that they hold so near and dear. They can’t have it both ways.
Rick Perry and his gang of merry misogynists all need a good old fashioned Texas Ass-Whupping. When finished with them, the Ass-Whuppers can move north and take care of those miscreants who voted for HB 1797 which is also unConstitutional.
Stop the war on women. Make no mistake–it very much is a war on women. Saying it isn’t doesn’t make it so.
FYI–The notes in the Gynotician’s pocket read:
- Shut down health centers
- Ban abortion
- Redefine rape
- Take away birth control
- Mandate ultra-sounds
Let’s add one to his list since we live in Virginia. See above.
Morris Davis: The Military’s Sexual Assault Problem: Avoiding Déjà Vu Again, Again
Disclaimer: All guest posts are the opinion of the poster and do not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration.
M-H
Guest Post: Colonel Morris Davis, (retired)
At a White House press conference on May 7, President Barack Obama said members of the U.S. military who commit sexual assaults will be “prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged. Period.” Clearly the president intended to send a laudable message that sexual assaults are a serious problem and perpetrators will face serious consequences, but good intentions can have unintended consequences.
On June 13, Military Judge Marcus Fulton found that the president’s remarks constituted unlawful command influence in two on-going courts-martial. As a result, two service members accused of sexual assaults will not be subject to punitive discharge from the service if they are found guilty. Judge Fulton’s decision was clearly intended to send a message that no one, not even the commander-in-chief, can put a finger on the scales of military justice.
House Republicans attempt another anti-abortion measure through lies and deception
ktar.com: (Arizona)
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Republicans on Tuesday make their most concerted effort of the year to change federal abortion law with legislation that would ban almost all abortions after a fetus reaches the age of 20 weeks.
The “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” expected to pass by a comfortable margin late Tuesday, would be a direct challenge to the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortions up to the time a fetus becomes viable. Fetal viability is generally considered to be at least 24 weeks into the pregnancy.
The measure will be ignored by the Democratic-led Senate and the White House, saying the bill is “an assault on a woman’s right to choose,” has issued a veto threat.
Even if the policy were to become law, it would almost certainly face a legal challenge. That’s a prospect supporters hope for as part of the ultimate goal of overturning Roe v. Wade.
