Recently in Pro-choice Category

It's surprising to me that many people assume that John McCain is pro-choice. He is not. And the sooner people "get" that, the better. This video helps. Pass it along.

by shep

Because, even their best, brightest, men of integrity are little more than mendacious, double-dealing hacks. If Bush v. Gore, authored by state’s rights stalwart Antonin Scalia, didn’t teach you that there isn’t an honest principle to be found among them, I hope this helps you pull your heads out of your asses and take a look around (you might want to wipe that off your face first).

“Judges have to have the humility to recognize that they operate within a system of precedent, shaped by other judges equally striving to live up to the judicial oath. And judges have to have the modesty to be open in the decisional process to the considered views of their colleagues on the bench.”

“If I am confirmed, I will be vigilant to protect the independence and integrity of the Supreme Court, and I will work to ensure that it upholds the rule of law and safeguards those liberties that make this land one of endless possibilities for all Americans."

“I think people’s personal views on this issue [abortion] derive from a number of sources, and there’s nothing in my personal views based on faith or other sources that would prevent me from applying the precedents of the Court faithfully under principles of stare decisis.”

--Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts

So the next time some Republican, Federalist f*ck even utters the phrase Stare Decisis – and I mean you, Russ Feingold, Herb Kohl and Pat Leahy - you tell him to go Cheney himself. He’s lying to your face, you idiot. They have no integrity and no shame.

Speaking of shame, here’s the rest of the wall:

Max Baucus, Jeff Bingaman, Robert Byrd, Kent Conrad, Tom Carper, Christopher Dodd, Byron Dorgan, Tim Johnson, Mary Landrieu, Carl Levin, Joe Lieberman, Blanche Lincoln, Patty Murray Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Mark Pryor, Ken Salazar, Roy Wyden, Jeff Jeffords.

You were had by a Republican lawyer in a cheap suit. Morons.

by Mark Adams

Depending on how the GOP field shakes out, this description of Governor Mitt Romney's various stances on abortion could come in handy.

He had moved back and forth on the choice issue. I said he isn't pro-choice or anti-choice. He's multiple choice. ~~Ted Kennedy

What a nasty thing to say about a Mormon.

The U.S. ranks near the bottom of the statistics for infant mortality rates among modern nations. Only Latvia is worse off:

In the United States, researchers noted that the population is more racially and economically diverse than many other industrialized countries, making it more challenging to provide culturally appropriate health care.

That's it? That's the explanation? We're more culturally diverse so our babies die in greater numbers?

The U.S. ranking is driven partly by racial and income health care disparities. Among U.S. blacks, there are 9 deaths per 1,000 live births, closer to rates in developing nations than to those in the industrialized world.

There it is -- buried in the fourth paragraph. We should call that the Katrina Effect, i.e., if it's happening to poor black people, then it's OK to not take notice.

The researchers also said lack of national health insurance and short maternity leaves likely contribute to the poor U.S. rankings. Those factors can lead to poor health care before and during pregnancy, increasing risks for premature births and low birth weight, which are the leading causes of newborn death in industrialized countries.

It's pretty clear: sex education in the public schools, free contraception, liberalized abortion laws, and free health care for pregnant women are the cornerstones of the reproductive rights movement.

From the Times:

In the event that the woman's illegal abortion went badly and the doctors have to perform a hysterectomy, then the uterus is sent to the Forensic Institute, where the government's doctors analyze it and retain custody of her uterus as evidence against her.

P.S. The woman can get 30-50 years if the fetus was deemed "viable."

(HT to Tristero)

Uh-oh. Looks like someone told the Emperor he has no clothes:

A man who identified himself as Harry Taylor rose at a forum [in Charlotte, NC] to tell Bush that he's never felt more ashamed of the leadership of his country. He said Bush has asserted his right to tap phone calls without a warrant, to arrest people and hold them without charges and to revoke a woman's right to an abortion, among other things.

He was booed by the audience, but Bush interrupted and urged the audience to let Taylor finish.

"I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration," Taylor said, standing in a balcony seat and looking down at Bush on stage. "And I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and grace to be ashamed of yourself."

Bush defended the National Security Adminsitration's surveillance program, saying he authorized the program to protect the country.

"You said would I apologize for that?" Bush told him. "The answer is absolutely not."

I don't care how resolute Bush sounded, this exchange was bad, bad, bad for a President with a 36% approval rating.

P.S. Here's 20 questions for anyone who believes that abortion is murder.

(HT to Jessica)

Some are calling it the "Rapist Rights Bill," not that it's the only thing wrong with the legislation, to say the least.

(HT to Steve Gilliard)

It used to be that deciding when (or when not) to get pregnant was considered a revolutionary act. Take a pill? Outrageous!

Same goes for when to end a pregnancy. Get an abortion? Outrageous!

That said, now we're about to see the mainstreaming of a technology that can virtually guarantee the gender of your baby. Outrageous? You tell me.

Where is this going and how do you feel about going there?

P.S. Surveys show that if choosing a baby's sex were as easy as taking a pill, fully 18 percent of adults would be willing to try it. And, back in the real world, about 75 percent of the customers of this technology have chosen to have girls.

Does any of that information change your opinion?

I was born a Christian and later chose to become a Jew. I was a liberal pretty much all along and I can say that being a liberal was the hardest thing of all. Oh, not for the reasons you might imagine; but rather for having to endure all the lunkheads who can't figure out how I can be religious AND a lefty at the same time.

Which brings me to one of my favorite authors, Anne Lamott, the novelist and essayist. Miss Julie turned me on to her book Travelling Mercies. Her most recent book is Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. She writes eloquently and with great humor about her life before and after finding religion, in her case Christianity. For those of you who have forgotten what it was like being a Christian who actually believes in Jesus' teachings of non-violence and helping the poor, Anne is a good place to start.

Anyway, recently Lamott was a panelist in a discussion about politics and faith. And eventually they got around to the topic of abortion:

...and everyone just lost his or her mind.

Or, at any rate, I did.

Maybe it was the way in which the man couched the question, which was about how we should reconcile our progressive stances on peace and justice with the "murder of a million babies every year in America." The man who asked the question was soft-spoken, neatly and casually dressed.

First Richard, a Franciscan priest, answered that this is indeed a painful issue but that it is not the only "pro-life" issue that progressives — even Catholics — should concern themselves with during elections. There are also the matters of capital punishment and the war in Iraq, and of HIV.

Then Jim, an evangelical, spoke about the need to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, and the need to diffuse abortion as a political issue, by welcoming pro-choice and pro-life supporters to the discussion, with equal respect for their positions. He spoke gently about how "morally ambiguous" the issue is.

I sat there simmering, like a samovar; nice Jesusy me. The moderator turned to me and asked quietly if I would like to respond. I did: I wanted to respond by pushing over our table.

Instead, I shook my head. I love and respect the Franciscan and the evangelical, and agree with them 90-plus percent of the time. So I did not say anything, at first.

Then, when I was asked to answer the next question, I paused, and returned to the topic of abortion. There was a loud buzzing in my head, the voice of reason that says, "You have the right to remain silent," but the voice of my conscience was insistent.

I wanted to express calmly, eloquently, that pro-choice people understand that there are two lives involved in an abortion — one born (the pregnant woman) and one not (the fetus) — but that the born person must be allowed to decide what is right.

Also, I wanted to wave a gun around, to show what a real murder looks like. This tipped me off that I should hold my tongue, until further notice. And I tried.

But then I announced that I needed to speak out on behalf of the many women present in the crowd, including myself, who had had abortions, and the women whose daughters might need one in the not-too-distant future — people who must know that teenage girls will have abortions, whether in clinics or dirty backrooms. Women whose lives had been righted and redeemed by Roe vs. Wade. My answer was met with some applause but mostly a shocked silence.

Pall is a good word.

And it did not feel good to be the cause of that pall. I knew what I was supposed to have said, as a progressive Christian: that it's all very complicated and painful, and that Jim was right in saying that the abortion rate in America is way too high for a caring and compassionate society.

But I did the only thing I could think to do: plunge on, and tell my truth. I said that this is the most intimate decision a woman makes, and she makes it all alone, in her deepest heart of hearts, sometimes with the man by whom she is pregnant, with her dearest friends or with her doctor — but without the personal opinion of say, Tom DeLay or Karl Rove.

Well said.