As I
wrote this week:
In case it was not sufficiently clear just how Jesus-y the Republican candidates for president are, today they'll have an opportunity to really pander to the extremist wing of the extremist party at Mike Huckabee's propaganda-and-popcorn extravanganza.
On Wednesday, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, and the Ricks Perry and Santorum convened in Iowa to suck up to wannabe kingmaker Mike Huckabee at the screening of his anti-choice "documentary" produced with Citizens United (yes, that Citizens United).
Before the screening, each candidate had a few minutes to talk about how much they value life; how all life is perfect; how the rights of fertilized eggs must be protected; and how the top priority of government must be to defund Planned Parenthood.
The forum was not extraordinary; they spewed the same unfounded nonsense talking points we always hear from so-called "pro-lifers" all the time. And as is always the case, what is most remarkable about the event isn't what they said; it's what they didn't say.
For example, Michele Bachmann told us that "all of life is perfect." What she didn't say is that she doesn't really believe all life is perfect. Gay life, for example, is an abomination, according to Bachmann. And the only hope for correcting those "imperfect" gays is for them to pay some quack like her husband to help them "pray the gay away."
Rick Perry told us that "human life is sacred." What he didn't say is that in his view, there's a giant gaping loophole through which Rick Perry has reigned over more than 200 state executions of human life that, to Perry, weren't so sacred after all.
He also boasted of his "accomplishment" of defunding Planned Parenthood in his state. What he didn't say is that while the teen pregnancy rate in the United States has declined, in Texas, it has gone up, thanks in no small part to Perry's vigilant war to deny women and girls access to education and reproductive health care. Way to go, Perry.
Rick Santorum, possibly the most extremist "pro-lifer" of the lot (which is really saying something), said that if he becomes president, he'll be even more extremist than President Dubya Bush was. Again, that's really saying something. But what he didn't say is that for all the faux angst he's expressed about the death penalty, when he was a senator, he voted for limiting death penalty appeals and against replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment.
Newt Gingrich talked about the importance of preserving the rights of fertilized eggs. What he didn't talk about is his belief that once those eggs become actual children, he'd like to see them get after-school jobs as janitors so they'll develop a healthy work ethic.
Newt also conveniently omitted any mention of the bill he introduced in 1996 to apply the death penalty to drug smugglers.
And then there was the evening's host, Mike Huckabee, who was described, at the event, as "a passionate defender of life." What was not mentioned in his introduction is this telling quote from 2007:
I actually carried out the death penalty 16 times more than any governor in my state’s history[.]
Let your mind try to make sense of that for a minute. Huckabee didn't reluctantly enforce his state's law on capital punishment; he loved the hell out of it. He relished it. He didn't follow in the footsteps of his predecessors; he forged a whole new path of lots and lots and lots of executions—16 times more than any Arkansas governor before him. And he was proud of it.
Also not mentioned at Wednesday's even was that Huckabee hasn't lost his bloodlust since leaving office; he's also called for the execution of WikiLeak's Julian Assange because "anything less than execution is too kind a penalty."
That's how "passionately" Huckabee has "defended life"—by boasting of all the people he has killed and calling for more to be put to death.
What is striking about the utterly meaningless promises these "pro-lifers" make about their dedication to "life" isn't the blatant hypocrisy of their positions that eggs must be protected, but people should be fried.
No, what is striking is that they're allowed to get away with it, never called upon to explain the Grand Canyon-sized cognitive dissonance of, on the one hand, believing unborn eggs should be protected at the expense of women's rights, while, on the other hand, calling for—and even cheering—the killing of actual live human beings.
It's a cognitive dissonance, by the way, shared by most so-called "pro-lifers," who go out of their way to rationalize being "pro-life" and "pro-death" at the same time.
As you can see from the chart above, "pro-lifers" have even
more bloodlust than your average American. Sure, they
say every life is sacred. What they mean, though, is that only
certain lives are sacred. The
right kind of lives must be protected. Abortion (and birth control) is murder, they say, but state-sponsored executions? Why, those are hunky-dory. Let's have more!
Birth control must be abolished for the good of fetuses everywhere, but these same people also want to cut off all funding and resources that provide the most basic necessities to the mothers carrying those fetuses—including pre- and post-natal health care. They might love those little fertilized eggs, but they don't give a rat's ass about babies or their mothers.
You won't see traditional media challenge these inconsistencies. You certainly won't see debate moderators challenge the candidates on these inconsistencies. You can watch Rick Perry boast of his state's astronomical execution rate and, in the same hour, insist that all life is sacred and must be protected—and you won't hear a peep from anyone about this absurdity.
They call themselves "pro-life" and claim that all life must be protected. They cite the Bible, issue platitudes about "justice," even occasionally express faux ambivalence about capital punishment. But, as always, the record and the reality is clear: there is nothing pro-life about "pro-lifers."
This week’s good, bad and ugly below the fold.
- Today is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Read this diary by Jonathan Hoag to learn more about it.
- Yea! (sort of):
A bill imposing the most stringent abortion limit in the nation has been put on hold in Ohio after backers who had defended its constitutionality for almost a year asked for a pile of last-minute language changes.
The leader of the Ohio Senate said Wednesday he was suspending hearings on the bill, which would ban abortions after the first detectable fetal heartbeat, because more than 20 proposed amendments by supporters were creating confusion.
Their "confusion" likely won't deter them from pursuing the bill in the future, but at least it's on hold. For now.
- In the wake of the dreadful decision by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to keep Plan B as inaccessible as possible for teenage girls, there's been an awful lot of reaction: doctors questioning the scientific integrity of the decision; editorials condemning the decision; and a court decision that could impact the future of legal challenges to these restrictions.
- On the other hand, it's good to see HHS make a good decision on women's health care:
HHS this week rejected Texas' request for a waiver allowing the state to exclude certain providers from its Medicaid Women's Health Program because they offer abortion care or are affiliated with groups that do, the Texas Tribune reports (Ramshaw, Texas Tribune, 12/12). The program provides family planning and preventive care services to 130,000 low-income women and does not fund abortion care (Tan, Texas Tribune, 12/14).
- Let's hope this works:
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri filed a lawsuit challenging a Kansas law that prohibits insurance companies from including coverage for abortion in their comprehensive plans. Since 2010, 13 states have enacted laws that prohibit some or all insurance policies from covering abortion care. This lawsuit is the first challenging one of these laws.
And the ACLU is employing a smart legal strategy to make its case:
Documents filed Wednesday by the ACLU contend the state law violates the Equal Protection Clause because it prohibits insurance companies from offering women comprehensive policies for all their health care needs.
Those of us who follow the legal challenges to reproductive rights are more often accustomed to hearing about the penumbra-enshrined "right to privacy," but personally, I think that pursuing these claims under the Equal Protection Clause is a much better argument. If men have full access to reproductive health care, women should as well. The fact that their specific reproductive health care needs are medically different doesn't mean women's needs are less important or should be more subject to the religious ideologues who write and pass the laws.
- How can you not love this headline?
Awesome 17-Year-Old Girl Invents Nanoparticle That Kills Cancer Cells
- Via BruinKid, the Pennsylvania House has passed a new bill to effectively shut down all the abortion clinics in the state.
- Does the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have a woman problem?
- Via Pam Spaulding, the North Carolina Democratic Party has a great ad responding to the GOP's war on women. More of this please.
- The Girl Scouts have some interesting research to share about the impact of reality TV on girls.
- It's about damn time:
The FBI is changing the definition of rape, in part to include men as victims, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III told Congress today. [...]
The new definition approved by the FBI’s policy group will define rape as, “Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
Given the release of a new survey this week that sexual violence in America is even worse than we'd thought, the importance of the FBI accurately defining rape so as to better know how to combat the epidemic is a critical and much-needed improvement.
- Meanwhile, victims of sexual violence in the military had a setback this week in their fight to have their day in court:
The Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) is greatly disappointed by Judge Liam O’Grady’s dismissal of Cioca v Rumsfeld, a groundbreaking lawsuit against the U.S. military. The case was filed earlier this year by 28 survivors of military sexual assault, both men and women, holding former Secretaries of Defense Robert Gates and Donald Rumsfeld responsible for the military’s inadequate protection of troops from sexual violence.
In his two page ruling, Judge O’Grady described the sexual assaults detailed in the case as “troubling” but ruled in favor of Rumsfeld and Gates, citing the military’s immunity from external judicial review in cases of injury incurred “incident to service.” Read the official dismissal order here: http://goo.gl/....
- We all know that Elizabeth Warren is freaking awesome on issues of economic equality. Turns out she's freaking awesome on issues of all equality:
"I've had the chance to say it in living rooms and school auditoriums, but I'm glad to have the chance to say it here: No one -- no one -- should be discriminated against because of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or religion," she wrote in a post on the blog Blue Mass Group.
- Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker (R-Of course) is launching a new war: a war on cancer screenings:
First he gutted worker's rights, then slashed state education funding and dumbed-down sex ed. Next on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's hit list? Breast and cervical cancer screenings for women. Come January 1, Wisconsinites who rely on Planned Parenthood to access free cancer screenings may be out of luck.
(h/t FalcoAmadeus)
- And if you think Walker's preference for letting women get cancer and die is crazy—and it is really, really crazy—check out this story:
What a charming holiday story: the nutsack owners of a Christian bookstore mega-chain are discontinuing sales of a particular Bible that donates one dollar of every sale to a breast cancer research charity, because [...] the charity in question, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, donates some part of its monies to “breast cancer health programs” run by wingnut bogey-woman Planned Parenthood. So, um, breast cancer screenings are giving people abortions now or what?
- Nothing says austerity like asking the legislature for an additional $1.043 million to defend the draconian anti-choice laws the state passed while promising these new laws wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime.
- Via Jos at Feministing, check out the winner of the 2011 CNN Hero of the Year award:
Robin Lim, an American woman who has helped thousands of poor Indonesian women have a healthy pregnancy and birth, was named the 2011 CNN Hero of the Year on Sunday night.
Through her Yayasan Bumi Sehat health clinics, "Mother Robin," or "Ibu Robin" as she is called by the locals, offers free prenatal care, birthing services and medical aid in Indonesia, where many families cannot afford care.
- And finally, your feel good video of the week: Some Quick Thoughts on "Until Abortion Ends."