Jailed for being Pregnant?

January 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I have people laugh at me when I say there isn’t a war on women in the USA. In my area it’s really hard to have rational conversations with people because their heads explode at the mere HINT of anything that contradicts their little bubbles of belief and ‘convictions’ about the way they think the world should be run.

Wow. I just don’t try to fight it anymore. I shake my head and smile. In this day and age you have to work very hard to be ignorant and they are working it hard my friends. Working it hard…

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Filed Under: Education, Human Rights, Political, Religion, SSDD Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

MT Anti-Woman Anti-Privacy Legislation

May 5, 2011 by 1 Comment

Just because I think you need to know what the state is voting on in regards to women and their right to privacy.

 

HB 490– Constitutionally define person, Rep Wendy Warburton (R-Havre) A replica of the failed ballot initiatives, CI-100 and CI-102, this bill will amend the Montana Constitution to define life beginning at conception and afford all rights guaranteed under the Montana Constitution from the moment of fertilization. The bill also weakens the Montana Constitution’s right to privacy to say the state has a compelling interest in protecting the unborn. DIED IN SENATE JUDICIARY. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

SB 97 – Judicial Bypass for Parental Notification of Abortion, Sen. Jim Shockley (R-Victor) Requires a minor accessing abortion care to request judicial bypass if they cannot inform a parent or legal guardian of their decision. This bill is still unconstitutional as it does not differ in substance from the parental notification law that was permanently enjoined by the 1st District Court in 1999.  Passed the House, Senate, and has not yet been vetoed by the Governor. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

SJ 9 – Resolution calling for passage of the Parental Rights Amendment, Sen. Rowlie Hutton (R-Havre) This bill would assert that the rights of parents are inviolable, and would make it more difficult to protect children in abusive situations. Passed Senate, House and enrolled into law. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

HB 283 – Allow gender to be considered in certain insurance coverage, Rep. Liz Bangerter (R-Helena) Would allow insurance companies to discriminate in pricing based on gender. This would skyrocket health insurance costs for women, who are more frequent users of health insurance, and would allow insurance companies to require additional riders for maternity coverage. Passed the House, Senate, and has not yet been vetoed by the Governor. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

HB 167 – Criminalize offense involving death to an unborn child, Rep. Keith Regier (R-Kalispell) Would amend Montana’s criminal code to include homicide and assault acts against and “unborn child.” These crimes would be separate and distinct from acts of violence committed against pregnant women, and creates tension with women’s rights to privacy as established in the Montana Constitution. This bill also defines life to begin at conception. Passed the House, Senate, and has not yet been vetoed by the Governor. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

HB 280 – Require ultrasound prior to abortion, Rep. Pat Ingraham (R-Billings) Would violate the doctor-patient relationship by requiring that doctors perform ultrasounds prior to any abortion. This bill would force physicians to perform ultrasounds even when it is not medically-appropriate to the patient’s situation or goes against the professional judgment of the physician. DIED ON THE HOUSE FLOOR. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

HB 456 – Define scope/ boundaries of human sexuality/reproduct ed in K-12 public schools, Rep. Cary Smith (R- Billings) A bill to require school districts to allow parents to opt-out of the sexuality education for their children and bans Planned Parenthood from public schools, passed yesterday out of the House Education committee AFTER they amended it to be an “opt-in” for sex education. Passed the House, Senate, and VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

HB 544 – Provide abortion screening to prevent provider negligence and patient coercion, Rep Michael More (R-Gallatin Gateway) A bill that would create unnecessary screening mandates for abortion providers. This would implicate many OB/GYNS and family practice providers, and would force women choosing to terminate a pregnancy to undergo intrusive screening protocols for “risk factors.”   DIED IN SENATE JUDICIARY. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

SB 176 – Allow Montana to opt out of fed health care payment of abortions, Sen. Rowlie Hutton (R-Havre) Under the guise of prohibiting the use of federal dollars to fund abortion services, SB 176 effectively bans any health insurance plan that covers abortion from participating in the health insurance exchange created by health reform. Passed the Senate, House, and VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

HB 574 – Constitutional referendum to specify no right to abortion or its public funding, Rep. Wendy Warburton (R-Havre) a Constitutional Amendment to state in the Montana Constitution that there is no right to abortion or public funding for abortion was heard in the House Judiciary Committee. The bill violates the requirements of how to even DRAFT a constitutional amendment. The substance of the amendment would deny women the right to privacy, due process, and equal protection. DIED ON THE SENATE FLOOR. This bill required a 2/3 majority of the entire legislature in order to pass. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

HB 627 – Referendum to revise parental notice of abortion and judicial bypass, Rep. Jerry Bennett (R-Libby) Requires a minor accessing abortion care to request judicial bypass if they cannot inform a parent or legal guardian of their decision. This bill is still unconstitutional as it does not differ in substance from the parental notification law that was permanently enjoined by the 1st District Court in 1999. It is the identical referendum version of SB 97. Passed the House, Senate, and transmitted to the Secretary of State for the 2012 ballot. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

HB 516 – Anti-discrimination ordinances to state law, Kris Hansen (R-Havre) This bill is a response to the Missoula non-discrimination ordinance, and would prohibit a municipality from implementing its own non-discrimination policy. Passed the House, DIED IN SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

HB 457 – Pregnant Woman Protection Act, Pat Noonan (D-Butte) This bill would have established enhanced penalties for assault against a pregnant woman, but was amended by Republicans to include the term “unborn child.” The bill is now an anti-choice bill and is opposed by the reproductive rights community. Passed the House, DIED IN SENATE JUDICIARY. A “no” vote is the pro-choice position.

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Montana Hates Women

May 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

This article In the Missoulian :

Montana GOP cuts

spells it out. I cannot tell you how unfair I think this is. Their main reason? That they are not doing their part to further reduce the abortion rate. It has remained at a steady rate for the last few years. I’m sorry but that’s a little like cutting the City police and Highway Patrol’s funding because they haven’t continually reduced the rate at which drivers speed through out Montana. Ridiculous right? Planned Parenthood of Montana is the largest provider of family planning services in the state and does more than any other organization to prevent unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. They rely in part on a federal Title X grant to provide these services to their patients on a sliding fee scale. The loss of federal funding would mean they could no longer provide these services at a reduced fee to the nearly 20,000 patients throughout the state who rely on them for life-saving, preventative health care.  This not only effects woman in Montana, but ANY Clinic that receives those family planning funds and they offer services to men too. This is just bad for every one of low income that uses low-cost clinics.

Truthfully I have never understood the abortion debate.  Why is it even a debate?  It’s a woman’s body. It’s her medical decision. The fetus is essentially a parasite until it reaches a viable gestation period. (FYI:  Viability refers to a point in fetal development at which the fetus may survive outside the womb. The lower limit of viability is approximately five months gestational age, and usually later. ) No one gets upset when people take medication killing hook worm.  I know I would never have one if I could ever be in that situation but I would never take that deeply personal choice away from anyone else. That is not my right. The same people who want to ban abortion are the same people who want to end welfare. How hypocritical. You demand that an unwanted fetus be born but refuse to help take care of that new baby that you violently demanded be brought into the world.  I have heard the argument about potential, but that can’t be right because the mother-to-be in question has more viable potential than the hypothetical potential of a fetus with unknown mental, genetic, or emotional defects or issues that might be a further strain on society not to mention the harm that might come to the woman force to birth said fetus.  There is also the probability that said fetus may never be viable, so why put a woman through birthing a stillborn?   It can’t be a biblical issue because the bible has NOTHING in it about abortion(I’ve read it 4 times).  There are passages that people use to protest on a biblical basis but they are thin arguments to say the least. If you believe the bible is real, then you should actually read it straight through. The god in the bible gleefully orders the death of babies so that can’t be it.

This cut is anti-jobs, anti-poor and further more I can only conclude that all this legislation is in essence anti-woman.  Congrats Montana GOP. You have shown the nation that you are not only anti-poor but that you utterly hate the idea of women having the right to privacy and choosing her own medical care.  I don’t know about you, but I was raised to be a better person than that. It seems I have more respect for individual rights in my little finger than the whole population of the US GOP party. Congratulations, the GOP is now synonymous with Fascists. I hope that was your goal.

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