"Pro-lifers" hate children.
For all their talk about the sanctity of life, compassionate conservatism, giving voice to the voiceless, protecting the innocent, your fetus might be the next Jesus and/or Mozart ... it's all bullshit. Total, utter, transparent bullshit.
Because only people who really hate children could do something like this:
Antiabortion activists who have sought for months to shut down a Germantown clinic picketed its landlord outside a Montgomery County middle school where his daughter is a student, school and police officials said Monday. [...]
Some held a large banner that showed his photo, his full name, his phone number and the words “Please STOP the Child Killing.” Others held posters showing aborted fetuses.
Yes. You read that right. These "pro-lifers" are harassing a child at her school. All because her father owns property that is leased by Dr. Leroy Carhart and his Reproductive Health Services clinic. It isn't enough that they spent the summer terrorizing Dr. Carhart, his staff and his patients, that they've sworn to put him out of business as they did so successfully with Dr. George Tiller. It isn't enough that they've organized a campaign to harass the landlord:
Last week, members of the "Defend Life" community received the following directive, which included the personal contact information of the landlord and the names of his wife and children:
Although [the landlord] and his wife [redacted] have been blessed with two incredible children, [names redacted] he was not raised in an environment that taught him about the sanctity of human life. His heart was surely hardened as his father [an abortion provider] killed innocent babies day after day. It seems Carl did teach his son one thing, he can make a lot of money in child killing.
No, that's not enough for these scumbags. They have to go after this man's sixth-grade daughter to make their point because when it comes to the war on women, these warriors terrorists don't give a damn whom their tactics harm. The ends justify the means, and anyone, even a child, is fair game:
Jack Ames, director of a regional antiabortion group called Defend Life, said his group organized the protest at the school because it was a “very good public venue.” Previous demonstrations at the Germantown clinic have been hampered because the clinic is on private property inside an office park.
Oh. Well. In that case. Since it's more convenient for them, since they're more likely to bring attention to their heinous little cause to deny health care to women, screw the daughter, right? Why shouldn't she be held responsible for the "sins" of her father? That makes her a justifiable target, as far as they're concerned. Sure, they love children, they'd do anything they deem necessary in the name of protecting children, but not this child. Nope, this child doesn't deserve their protection and concern. If she wanted to be able to go to school without seeing her family's name, address and phone number being waved around on a banner in this "very good public venue," without being told that her father is a "baby killer," well she should have thought of that before she decided to be born into that family. But she made that choice, so she's no innocent. Screw her.
The "pro-lifers" don't give a damn about her life. They don't give a damn about protecting this child. No, they're too busy being concerned with how best to get media attention, looking for the best "public venue." They're too concerned with trying to terrorize Dr. Carhart out of business with whatever sick and twisted ways their sick and twisted brains can imagine. They're too concerned with their own American Taliban agenda, with trying to force sharia Christian fundamentalist law throughout the country, imposing their own radical beliefs on every woman in America. They don't have time to stop and concern themselves with a real little girl who should be able to go to school without having to endure this kind of harassment. No, they can't be bothered with those sorts of inconvenient little matters.
After all, they've got children to save.
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The week's good, bad and ugly below the fold.
The bad and the ugly:
- Health alert: Qualitest Pharmaceuticals has issued a recall for some of its birth control pills:
The recall affects these products: Cyclafem 7/7/7, Cyclafem 1/35, Emoquette, Gildess FE 1.5/30, Gildess FE 1/20, Orsythia, Previfem and Tri-Previfem.
Customers can call 1-877-300-6153 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT to get their questions answered, arrange to return their pills or report problems.
Ladies, please make sure your brand of birth control is not on the list.
- This is probably the most blatant, cynical, laughable attempted image make-over, like, ever.
- Serious question: Is Pat Robertson the most rancid person this century or this millennium?
Robertson's advice was to encourage the husband to divorce his wife with Alzheimer's because she was, for all intents and purposes, already dead. Co-host Terry Meeuwsen understandably wondered if that would not violate the "til death do you part" provision of the wedding vow, which Robertson just pretty much dismissed, saying "he certainly wouldn't put a guilt trip" on anyone who decided that divorce was the answer.
While this is excellent news for Newt Gingrich, it's also further evidence—not that we needed any more—that this self-appointed spokesman for God doesn't have the first clue what it means to be a Christian. Because, while I'm no biblical scholar, I'm pretty damn sure Jesus never spoke about caring for the sick, unless their sickness is an inconvenience and a downer, in which case, kick 'em to the curb and move on to the next hot, young thing.
- Sure, technically, you have a legal right to an abortion in America. But as this very helpful chart shows, good luck with that.
- So who watched the Miss USA Pageant of
1711 2011? Not Jill Filipovic:
The norms that these contests promote are unfortunately not nearly as obsolete as many of us would like to believe, and pageants continue to serve as a reflection of contemporary culture -- one in which we pay lip service to women's rights, but focus more on how good women look in a bathing suit. If we actually want to move on from beauty contests, we need to tackle the broader problems of positioning women as consumable products, state attempts at controlling female sexuality, and the continued marginalization of women in the workplace. We need to drop the obsession with women's bodies and with what women do with their reproductive organs. In a nutshell, we need to recognize that women are human beings worthy of full human rights, and that we are not decorations or vessels or servants.
- Peter Thiel, co-founder and CEO of PayPal, is kind of a jackass:
"Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women [voting-ed.] -- two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians -- have rendered the notion of ‘capitalist democracy’ into an oxymoron."
Dearest Peter. So sorry our right to vote has made America so darned sucky for libertarians. I can't begin to imagine the horror of having to get by on your mere billions of dollars, which would no doubt be in the trillions, if not for the damned women. My heart just aches for you. Really.
- Mississippians will be voting on their own Every Sperm is Sacred ballot measure (aka the Personhood Amendment). It's just the latest in a growing list of states trying to redefine fertilized eggs as people in order to ban not only abortion but contraception as well. Such an amendment isn't just a grossly cynical attempt to block women's reproductive rights; it also creates some complicated—not to mention dumb—problems. As Alexa Kolbi-Molinas from the ACLU points out:
"What does it mean for property or inheritance law? What happens when you're trying to make districts for voting, and you have to consider fertilized eggs as legal persons? The meaning of the provision could come up in any number of lawsuits."
- More bad news from the census:
Record numbers of women were living in poverty — and extreme poverty — according to an analysis of 2010 Census data by the National Women's Law Center (NWLC). The poverty rate among women climbed to 14.5 percent in 2010 from 13.9 percent in 2009, the highest in 17 years. The extreme poverty rate among women climbed to 6.3 percent in 2010 from 5.9 percent in 2009, the highest rate ever recorded. Over 17 million women lived in poverty in 2010, including more than 7.5 million in extreme poverty, with an income below half of the federal poverty line.
And now for the good:
- Yes, Virginia, America really is a very pro-choice country. In fact, it's not even close. With 77 percent identifying as pro-choice, and about the same number wanting to keep abortion legal in at least some, if not all, circumstances, there really is no question about this. America is a pro-choice country. Tell your friends.
- Congratulations to Denmark for electing its first female prime minister.
- Fun facts from Corporate Women Directors International:
Companies with women CEOs have 22.3% women on their boards compared to 9.8% average representation of women on the boards of blue chip companies in the countries included in the study. This pattern holds in all regions no matter which country or what size company.
Similarly, women-led companies have a higher percentage of women in senior management at 24.3% than the average representation of women in executive roles in peer companies (12.2%). Again, while rates of increase may differ, this same pattern holds for the majority of companies with women at the helm in all regions of the world.
- Crisis pregnancy centers are awful. But this is a really cool explanation of why—in comic book form.
- Vice President Joe Biden put on his big, 10-gallon Champion for Women hat this week:
The longtime champion of women’s rights released a video message on Tuesday, calling on young people nationwide to help bring an end to violence against women. He speaks directly to viewers in the video, giving them a “very simple rule”:
No means no. No means no if she’s drunk or sober. No means no if she’s in the dorm room or on the street. No means no even if she said yes first and changed her mind. No means no—no matter what. I’m asking all of you, all of you to help get this message out.
- Bwahahahahaha. Forced birth terrorists are now picketing each other. Good. Let's hope that keeps them busy—and out of the way of women and their doctors.
- Frances Kissling, bioethicist and former president of Catholics for Choice, wrote a kick-ass column in the Washington Post this week:
Governor Perry’s enthusiasm for taking the life of criminals and his equally passionate opposition to allowing women to decide to terminate the life of a fetus in abortion is consistent with the views of a majority of evangelicals, but it is wrong.
- CLRoseM wrote a really great diary calling on women to issue their own mandate in 2012. Go read it.
- This week's comic relief, courtesy of The Onion:
New Study Finds Women Should Only Be Making 20 Cents Less On Dollar Than Men
