XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.atheism

Forcing 10-year-old rape victims to give birth isnÆt moral, just or æpro-
lifeÆ

Now that Roe is dead, have Republicans become more compassionate? No, and theyÆre even more emboldened.



For the first decades after Roe v. Wade was decided, anti-abortion forces
made the case that they were the real pro-women movement.

They claimed to love the sinner (the fallen woman) but hated the sin of abortion. They just wanted to save female babies. And some promised to be
there with the first box of diapers (the roughly 250 subsequent boxes
were always going to be your responsibility).

It was a myth perpetuated in gullible reporting that often swept the
movementÆs long record of intimidation, violence, arson and murder under
the rug. (ôEvery movement has its extremists,ö pundits would tsk, while conveniently ignoring that abortion rights advocates didnÆt resort to
terrorist tactics to get their point across.)

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX

And so, anti-abortion activists had a lot of people fooled when they
promised that if the Supreme Court ever overturned abortion, they would
never hunt women down and prosecute them for terminating a pregnancy.

But the movement became more emboldened over the years as a powerful
force in the Republican Party, proposing a slew of creatively cruel restrictions, like forcing Michigan women to purchase ôrape insuranceö
since standard health policies couldnÆt cover abortion, even in the case
of sexual assault.

After religious right darling Sarah Palin landed on the 2008 GOP ticket,
more Republicans started dispensing with the fiction that they supported exceptions for health, rape, incest and the motherÆs life. And we began
hearing more and more that throwing doctors in jail was a just outcome (MichiganÆs poorly written, 91-year-old abortion ban allows this).

Why donÆt pro-lifers care about the trauma inflicted on a child who was
already sexually violated and then forced to give birth? How do we think
she will ever have a normal, happy, healthy life? Why should her life be sacrificed?

Then Donald Trump came on the scene. ThereÆs no evidence that he was ever pro-life, but he gleefully jumped on the bandwagon while running for
president in 2016 to prove he really was a Republican. Only Trump was
never a quick study ù he reportedly didnÆt read intelligence briefings in office, but would look at pretty graphs ù so he would say the quiet part
out loud, like that ôthere has to be some form of punishmentö for women
who have abortions.

Naturally, Republicans and their anti-abortion benefactors quickly denied
that would happen and TrumpÆs favorite daughter, Ivanka, was dispatched
to reassure suburban women and insider journalists that her dad didnÆt
mean any of that.

But that, of course, has become the official policy of todayÆs GOP now
that the far-right court couldnÆt wait to overturn Roe to signal that the
era of universal human rights (however imperfect in practice) is over.

One of the first victims of this misogynistic fiat was a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio who was forced to travel to Indiana to terminate her
pregnancy.

ItÆs clear that a lot of Republicans skipped health class, but pregnancy
and childbirth can be dangerous even for healthy, adult women (far more
so than abortion).

My first pregnancy was considered normal. I never had severe
complications, but I was still hospitalized twice for severe dehydration because I had violent morning sickness up until the day I gave birth ù
and thatÆs pretty minor compared to diabetes, high blood pressure or
being on bed rest for months. I also had a Cesarean section, which is
major surgery (my then-husband watched doctors juggle my organs while
trying to get our child out). Oh, and I was expected to be back to work
six weeks after that and had to negotiate for more time off (none of
which was paid).

Even under the best of circumstances, we face a world thatÆs hostile to
the well-being of mothers and children, despite the flowery pro-life
rhetoric.

I canÆt believe I have to explain this, but a fifth-grader does not have
a body suited to carrying or delivering a baby. (The World Health
Organization found that the leading killer of girls 15 to 19 ù who are
years older ù is pregnancy and childbirth complications.) Expecting young
girls to fully understand whatÆs happening is sadistic. Journalist Jill Filopovic recalls interviewing a 12-year-old rape victim who responded to
being told she was going to have a baby by hearbreakingly asking if she
could have a doll instead.
Demonstrators outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021. Justices
are hearing arguments in a Mississippi case that seeks to overturn Roe v.
Wade. (Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

Why donÆt pro-lifers care about the trauma inflicted on a child who was
already sexually violated and then forced to give birth? How do we think
she will ever have a normal, happy, healthy life? Why should her life be sacrificed?

But GOP Ohio Senate nominee J.D. Vance flippantly dismissed such
circumstances as ôinconvenient,ö adding, ôThe question to me is really
about the baby.ö

Michigan GOP gubernatorial hopeful Garrett Soldano is on the same page, announcing that rape victims who become pregnant must ôprotect that DNA
and allow it to happen.ö

You also have Republicans trying to pass laws charging doctors with
ôabortion murderö if they donÆt ôreimplant an ectopic pregnancyö in the
uterus ù which is medically impossible ù so itÆs abundantly clear that anti-abortion activists donÆt care about facts or pregnant peopleÆs
health.

So now that Roe is dead and reality has set in, have Republicans become
more compassionate? In a word, no. TheyÆre even more emboldened, cooking
up laws barring people from crossing state lines for abortions, putting bounties on their heads and making every miscarriage a potential crime.

Take Kristi Noem, a red-state governor and likely 2024 contender, who was
asked about the case of the 10-year-old. After giving the perfunctory
answer that this was ôhorrificö she declared, ôBut, in South Dakota, the
law today is that the abortions are illegal, except to save the life of
the mother.ö

Pro-lifers have proved that theyÆre not just into punishing women ù they
also delight in punishing child victims of horrific crimes.

Far-right justices and overzealous GOP leaders have fundamentally changed
the issue. Abortion is no longer a personal decision for you and your
family. You now have the state deciding what you can and cannot do with
your body ù and Republicans are willing to imprison women, ban them from
freely traveling, force children to endure risky childbirth and more.

A lot of my colleagues seem surprised at the swift and vehement backlash
to the Supreme CourtÆs massive overreach. ôBut people are divided on
abortion,ö they protest as they keep writing stories about polls on
peopleÆs personal beliefs.

What theyÆre missing is that these far-right justices and overzealous GOP leaders have fundamentally changed the issue. Abortion is no longer a
personal decision for you and your family. You now have the state
deciding what you can and cannot do with your body ù and Republicans are willing to imprison women, ban them from freely traveling, force children
to endure risky childbirth and more.

WeÆre a country that doesnÆt like people telling us what to do. Now we
have more than half the population that canÆt make basic decisions
because the state has the ultimate power. And you have a political party dedicated to making the process as cruel and dangerous as possible.

ThatÆs a whole new ballgame. And thatÆs why the SCOTUS decision is deeply unpopular with the vast majority of the country. Far-right justices think
they can issue edicts swiftly snatching away other basic rights of
privacy, contraception, same-sex marriage and non-discrimination and the majority will simply acquiesce.

Our nation just turned 246 years old. Nobody signed up to live in a land
where freedom and democracy are concepts in name only. WeÆre citizens,
not subjects. And you can count on the fact that the majority will not
consent to be ruled by an authoritarian, out-of-control court.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.atheism

Forcing 10-year-old rape victims to give birth isnÆt moral, just or æpro-
lifeÆ

Now that Roe is dead, have Republicans become more compassionate? No, and theyÆre even more emboldened.



For the first decades after Roe v. Wade was decided, anti-abortion forces
made the case that they were the real pro-women movement.

They claimed to love the sinner (the fallen woman) but hated the sin of abortion. They just wanted to save female babies. And some promised to be
there with the first box of diapers (the roughly 250 subsequent boxes
were always going to be your responsibility).

It was a myth perpetuated in gullible reporting that often swept the
movementÆs long record of intimidation, violence, arson and murder under
the rug. (ôEvery movement has its extremists,ö pundits would tsk, while conveniently ignoring that abortion rights advocates didnÆt resort to
terrorist tactics to get their point across.)

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX

And so, anti-abortion activists had a lot of people fooled when they
promised that if the Supreme Court ever overturned abortion, they would
never hunt women down and prosecute them for terminating a pregnancy.

But the movement became more emboldened over the years as a powerful
force in the Republican Party, proposing a slew of creatively cruel restrictions, like forcing Michigan women to purchase ôrape insuranceö
since standard health policies couldnÆt cover abortion, even in the case
of sexual assault.

After religious right darling Sarah Palin landed on the 2008 GOP ticket,
more Republicans started dispensing with the fiction that they supported exceptions for health, rape, incest and the motherÆs life. And we began
hearing more and more that throwing doctors in jail was a just outcome (MichiganÆs poorly written, 91-year-old abortion ban allows this).

Why donÆt pro-lifers care about the trauma inflicted on a child who was
already sexually violated and then forced to give birth? How do we think
she will ever have a normal, happy, healthy life? Why should her life be sacrificed?

Then Donald Trump came on the scene. ThereÆs no evidence that he was ever pro-life, but he gleefully jumped on the bandwagon while running for
president in 2016 to prove he really was a Republican. Only Trump was
never a quick study ù he reportedly didnÆt read intelligence briefings in office, but would look at pretty graphs ù so he would say the quiet part
out loud, like that ôthere has to be some form of punishmentö for women
who have abortions.

Naturally, Republicans and their anti-abortion benefactors quickly denied
that would happen and TrumpÆs favorite daughter, Ivanka, was dispatched
to reassure suburban women and insider journalists that her dad didnÆt
mean any of that.

But that, of course, has become the official policy of todayÆs GOP now
that the far-right court couldnÆt wait to overturn Roe to signal that the
era of universal human rights (however imperfect in practice) is over.

One of the first victims of this misogynistic fiat was a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio who was forced to travel to Indiana to terminate her
pregnancy.

ItÆs clear that a lot of Republicans skipped health class, but pregnancy
and childbirth can be dangerous even for healthy, adult women (far more
so than abortion).

My first pregnancy was considered normal. I never had severe
complications, but I was still hospitalized twice for severe dehydration because I had violent morning sickness up until the day I gave birth ù
and thatÆs pretty minor compared to diabetes, high blood pressure or
being on bed rest for months. I also had a Cesarean section, which is
major surgery (my then-husband watched doctors juggle my organs while
trying to get our child out). Oh, and I was expected to be back to work
six weeks after that and had to negotiate for more time off (none of
which was paid).

Even under the best of circumstances, we face a world thatÆs hostile to
the well-being of mothers and children, despite the flowery pro-life
rhetoric.

I canÆt believe I have to explain this, but a fifth-grader does not have
a body suited to carrying or delivering a baby. (The World Health
Organization found that the leading killer of girls 15 to 19 ù who are
years older ù is pregnancy and childbirth complications.) Expecting young
girls to fully understand whatÆs happening is sadistic. Journalist Jill Filopovic recalls interviewing a 12-year-old rape victim who responded to
being told she was going to have a baby by hearbreakingly asking if she
could have a doll instead.
Demonstrators outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021. Justices
are hearing arguments in a Mississippi case that seeks to overturn Roe v.
Wade. (Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

Why donÆt pro-lifers care about the trauma inflicted on a child who was
already sexually violated and then forced to give birth? How do we think
she will ever have a normal, happy, healthy life? Why should her life be sacrificed?

But GOP Ohio Senate nominee J.D. Vance flippantly dismissed such
circumstances as ôinconvenient,ö adding, ôThe question to me is really
about the baby.ö

Michigan GOP gubernatorial hopeful Garrett Soldano is on the same page, announcing that rape victims who become pregnant must ôprotect that DNA
and allow it to happen.ö

You also have Republicans trying to pass laws charging doctors with
ôabortion murderö if they donÆt ôreimplant an ectopic pregnancyö in the
uterus ù which is medically impossible ù so itÆs abundantly clear that anti-abortion activists donÆt care about facts or pregnant peopleÆs
health.

So now that Roe is dead and reality has set in, have Republicans become
more compassionate? In a word, no. TheyÆre even more emboldened, cooking
up laws barring people from crossing state lines for abortions, putting bounties on their heads and making every miscarriage a potential crime.

Take Kristi Noem, a red-state governor and likely 2024 contender, who was
asked about the case of the 10-year-old. After giving the perfunctory
answer that this was ôhorrificö she declared, ôBut, in South Dakota, the
law today is that the abortions are illegal, except to save the life of
the mother.ö

Pro-lifers have proved that theyÆre not just into punishing women ù they
also delight in punishing child victims of horrific crimes.

Far-right justices and overzealous GOP leaders have fundamentally changed
the issue. Abortion is no longer a personal decision for you and your
family. You now have the state deciding what you can and cannot do with
your body ù and Republicans are willing to imprison women, ban them from
freely traveling, force children to endure risky childbirth and more.

A lot of my colleagues seem surprised at the swift and vehement backlash
to the Supreme CourtÆs massive overreach. ôBut people are divided on
abortion,ö they protest as they keep writing stories about polls on
peopleÆs personal beliefs.

What theyÆre missing is that these far-right justices and overzealous GOP leaders have fundamentally changed the issue. Abortion is no longer a
personal decision for you and your family. You now have the state
deciding what you can and cannot do with your body ù and Republicans are willing to imprison women, ban them from freely traveling, force children
to endure risky childbirth and more.

WeÆre a country that doesnÆt like people telling us what to do. Now we
have more than half the population that canÆt make basic decisions
because the state has the ultimate power. And you have a political party dedicated to making the process as cruel and dangerous as possible.

ThatÆs a whole new ballgame. And thatÆs why the SCOTUS decision is deeply unpopular with the vast majority of the country. Far-right justices think
they can issue edicts swiftly snatching away other basic rights of
privacy, contraception, same-sex marriage and non-discrimination and the majority will simply acquiesce.

Our nation just turned 246 years old. Nobody signed up to live in a land
where freedom and democracy are concepts in name only. WeÆre citizens,
not subjects. And you can count on the fact that the majority will not
consent to be ruled by an authoritarian, out-of-control court.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)