Need more evidence that "pro-lifers" don't give a good goddamn about life? You know, in case the doctors they've murdered, the patients they've terrorized, and the disastrous laws they've already managed to get passed didn't yet have you convinced?
This week, the Republicans in the House (plus some Democratic accomplices) were only too happy to oblige:
The House just passed the "Protect Life (Unless it's a Woman's) Act," 251-172. Fifteen Democrats voted with Republicans, two Republicans defected.
H.R. 358, the "Let Women Die" bill, has nothing to do with protecting life. What the bill does do is provide cover to hundreds of Catholic hospitals and other medical providers who think the Bible tells them to save the fetuses and screw everyone else. This bill gives those hospitals the "right" to deny life-saving care to women, if that life-saving care means terminating a pregnancy. In the "pro-life" world, protecting life means letting women die.
It's disgusting and despicable—and doomed to fail, given that it will probably die a deserved death in the Senate and, in case it doesn't, the White House has signaled that it will most likely veto any such bill. As it should.
This, though, from Rep. Virginia Foxxxxxxxx (R-Batshit Crazyville) is just comical:
This bill “takes away no protections from women in this country,” she insisted. “It takes away no rights. It is not extreme.” Declaring herself to be foremost defender of women’s rights, Foxx countered that pro-choice advocates are actually misogynists because “fifty percent of the unborn babies being aborted are females”:
FOXX: For my colleagues across the aisle who say this is a misogynist bill, nobody has ever fought more for the rights of women than I have. But fifty percent of the unborn babies that are being aborted are females. So the misogyny comes from those that promote the killing of unborn babies. That’s where the misogyny comes in.
Oh, Virginia. Fighting for women's rights? Yeah, you're doing it wrong. Because passing bills to restrict their access to life-saving medical care doesn't really do much in the way of their rights. But you know what it does do? It demonstrates, once again, that there is absolutely nothing pro-life about you and your fellow "pro-lifers."
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See this week's good, bad and ugly below the fold.
The bad and the ugly:
- In case you missed it, dozens of states are thinking about requiring those seeking government aid—welfare, food stamps, housing, even unemployment benefits—to first prove they're not drug addicts.
- Oh, for Christ's sake:
The Catholic bishops have launched a new political campaign. In the wake of the decision by the Department of Health and Human Services to require that insurance plans cover some non-abortion related reproductive health care as basic preventive health service, the bishops have established an “Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty.”
Because women having access to birth control is somehow an attack on the bishops' religious freedom to hate women who have access to birth control. Or something.
- Cleavagegate, British Columbia edition:
The Premier of British Columbia, Christy Clark, wasn’t criticized for her stances on taxes and education when she took questions from the legislature last Wednesday. Instead, the 45-year-old politician’s navy blue v-neck dress and khaki blazer was the subject of ire from one political pundit, which set off a fiery debate on Twitter that poured over into Canadian newspapers and news programs.
“Is Premier Clark’s cleavage revealing attire appropriate for the legislature?” David Schreck, a retired politician, tweeted.
Go on. Click the link. Look at the picture. You'll be shocked—shocked!—by this oh-so-inappropriate, oh-so-revealing v-neck.
- Vita Brevis brought us the latest bullshit excuse from Joe Walsh (IL-Deadbeat Dad):
Freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) says he didn't pay tens of thousands of dollars in child support payments to his ex-wife because he was under the impression they had an informal agreement that he'd keep the money.
Riiiiiight. Because when Joe's wife sought child support, she didn't really mean it? Seriously, Joe, put down the shovel. Stop digging. And for fuck's sake, man up and take care of your children.
- Terrorist group Operation Rescue is at it again:
Operation Rescue, the radical anti-abortion terrorism group responsible for the murder of Dr. Tiller, has not-so-subtley found a new target. This time around, they're focused on an anonymous female doctor who travels in a mask to underserved areas to perform abortions to women in need. They've released her name, sketches of her face, and information on how to find her mom. Nobody's more classy than those anti-choice terrorists. [...]
Their justification for revealing the doctor's identity of the doctor and where the doctor's mother lives is that no "abortionist" deserves anonymity.
- Sigh. Another day, another totally lame ad campaign all about how macho men are, like, macho. This time, it's Dr. Pepper.
The good, or at least not so bad, news: