HR 358

[philomom]

I know this is hugely controversial topic.. but I can't believe the house passed this bill. How is it possible that we have a Congress out there that is so short-sighted?

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2011/10/25/how-hr-358-the-let-women-die-act-2011-violates-international-human-rights-standards

[csekywithlove]

It is an article like this that gives me chills. Very scary indeed.

[philomom]

From the article..
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In my home state of North Carolina this year, we have passed a number of barriers that “interfere with individual decision-making” on reproductive health: a mandatory waiting period, mandatory and biased counseling, and a forced ultrasound, all solely intended to place barriers and shame women who seek abortions, even if she has been raped or her life is in danger.

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So very scary!

[suzywan]

The whole thing is just utterly disgraceful.  It is a shameful time in the US.

[Super~Single~Mama]

I hate the fact that all of this is happening.  Here's an idea:  You don't like abortions?  DON'T GET ONE!! 

Seriously, it makes me so mad that our country is assaulting women's reproductive health rights in so many ways.  Abortions were legalized for a reason!  Roe v. Wade wasn't just for fun folks - there was a real reason for it!

[philomom]

So the thing that worries me is that I'm almost past my reproductive years... my teen is just getting started on hers. I'd like my granddaughters and great granddaughters to feel they have choices.....the very kind that are now being chipped away at by the Republicans.

[_ktg_]

This is so very very frightening especially in the wake of the numerous state laws which have been put into place with regard access to reproductive medicine particularly abortions.

I'm more terrified of the Mississippi proposed bill which goes to defining "personhood"  in that a fertilized egg is now given all rights a person since it appears to go up against the thrust of the Roe v Wade decision made by the courts.

As an individual who studies bioethics - I am slightly curious (though deeply frightened) how these practices continue to strip away the autonomy of one individual (the woman/mother) in favor of another and the social/legal impacts of that dynamic spreading to other areas of medicine.   

In the US "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"  apparently can be an unalienable rights for everyone - except for pregnant or women of child bearing potential.

[philomom]

Oh yes, my teen and I had a long chat a bout the Mississippi thing. How very scary for women who live there.

[Super~Single~Mama]

Originally Posted by philomom 

Oh yes, my teen and I had a long chat a bout the Mississippi thing. How very scary for women who live there.

Thank goodness they can vote!!  Can you imagine if they couldn't?

[csekywithlove]

I am taking a Rural Sociology class this semester. My professor is of course Republican and many of his teachings are obviously biased. He showed data collected  in 2009 that gave opinions of rural, suburban, and urban Americans on abortion. He was actually shocked that approval for abortion under any circumstance was across the board, 40% with very little fluctuation. I thought, "Are you kidding me! Why isn't it higher?!?"

I  also stated in class, as he presented data on how many abortion procedures were done in the U.S., that you had to be conscious of what this study defined as an abortion. Because if every D&C and E&C done in a medical, hospital setting to save the life of the mother was counted, then the data was skewed and therefor unreliable. The professor could not tell me if that was included in the data. I just smiled.

I take this very personal since I have had a D&C. My child stopped growing inside of me at 6 weeks and there was no heartbeat. I had a D&C preformed at 9 weeks because I couldn't mentally or emotionally go through another natural miscarriage after loosing my first child four years previous to that. 

Legislation that is being passed now that opposes abortion will eventually make choices like mine illegal. Any woman who cares about herself and having children who are healthy and happy one day should be outraged by what lawmakers are getting away with.

[Imakcerka]

My mother is pro life.  She's a nurse in an OB clinic and when she saw this once come down the wire she said she felt sick!  She routinely assists in D&C's and in no way could she make a woman go through all that if she didn't want to.  I think my moms mind is changing a lot since she started in the OB clinic though.  She sees things differently now. 

[cappuccinosmom]

Out of curiosity, *how* would legislation recognizing personhood in the womb make a D&C for a *miscarriage* illegal?  It wasn't illegal prior to Roe v Wade (and actually "destructive delivery" has a very long history, prior to the modern technology)  To me it's like saying being against burying people alive would make burying dead people illegal.  The pro-life position has to do with life and the personhood attached to that life.  If that life has expired, I cannot fathom how removing a *dead* fetus could in any way be made illegal on the basis of any kind of personhood amendment.  It's the making the fetus dead that would be the issue. 

I have miscarried 3 times, and one of those involved a D&C, and I didn't find that amendment at all threatening from the POV of someone who is at risk to miscarry again.

[_ktg_]

Originally Posted by cappuccinosmom 

Out of curiosity, *how* would legislation recognizing personhood in the womb make a D&C for a *miscarriage* illegal?  It wasn't illegal prior to Roe v Wade (and actually "destructive delivery" has a very long history, prior to the modern technology)  To me it's like saying being against burying people alive would make burying dead people illegal.  The pro-life position has to do with life and the personhood attached to that life.  If that life has expired, I cannot fathom how removing a *dead* fetus could in any way be made illegal on the basis of any kind of personhood amendment.  It's the making the fetus dead that would be the issue. 

I have miscarried 3 times, and one of those involved a D&C, and I didn't find that amendment at all threatening from the POV of someone who is at risk to miscarry again.

I think because the amendment had such simple language, that it leaves a lot of room for interpretation and assumption.  The lack of language and criteria for defining fetal death in the amendment opens the door in that the procedure could be challenged by a group on how did that MD determine the fetus was dead prior to the d&c and trying to paint a disturbing picture that the MD caused the death. 

I don't think the procedure would become illegal, my guess is it would evolve with a lot of hoops & jumps to make the process really long/drawn out and emotionally draining for the individual. 

[branditopolis]

this embarrasses me.

some of these politicians want to force their pro-life agendas so badly they'll even go so far as to grant "personhood" to a fertilized embryo. 
I just don't understand how that life is more important than that of its mother... And there are usually (if not always) substantial reasons for having abortions, it's not like women have them just for funzies.