Abortion

Rape is what again now?

Conservatives seem to be really confused on that one. Take, for example, CNN’s Dana Loesch:

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Rick Santorum is against pre-natal screening

Which would be totally fine if babies were delivered via stork, but in the real world, pre-natal screening is a pretty important component of the pregnant woman’s health and the future baby’s health. Santorum doesn’t like it, though, because abortion (that, by the way, should be Santorum’s campaign slogan — “Rick Santorum: Because Abortion.”

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Virgina Rape Law

A proposed law in Virgina requires women to have ultrasounds before terminating pregnancies. Since most abortions occur in the first trimester, and since ultrasounds done before 12 are usually transvaginal, that means that the state of Virginia is effectively requiring women to be vaginally penetrated against their will. And that’s rape.

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What Komen Reveals About the Ugly Truth of American Politics

A must-read by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker:

The people who have urged Komen to stop supporting Planned Parenthood aren’t opposed to breast-cancer screenings; they’re opposed to other services Planned Parenthood provides, which include contraception and abortion. But a campaign to sever the ties between a foundation that’s raising money to find a cure for breast cancer and a health-care provider that advocates for reproductive rights exposes more than a division over contraception and abortion. It exposes a gruesome truth about politics in this country.

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Facts, myths, and blankety-blank lies about Planned Parenthood and the Susan G. Komen Foundation

As the furor over Komen’s de-funding of Planned Parenthood continues, more and more myths about PP, its mission, and the impact of this cruel and foolish decision are getting thrown around. Frequently, those myths get lost and go uncorrected in the presence of bigger and more ideological arguments.

That’s really not fair.

Alas, this is merely the tip of the bullshit iceberg. As the Komen debacle is nowhere near coming to an end, we can expect new and exciting myths and lies to arise, like the head of a Hydra, as others are debunked. To that end, watch this space, and by all means contribute your own debunkings in comments.

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More on Komen and Planned Parenthood

I have a short op/ed in the New York Daily News about the Komen Foundation’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood:

The truth is that anti-Planned-Parenthood sentiments aren’t about abortion; they’re about hostility to women, and particularly to female sexuality. Abortion makes up 3% of its services. Cancer screening and prevention are 17%.

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The Komen Foundation decides not to stand with Planned Parenthood after all

As Planned Parenthood faces repeated attacks on federal funding from legislators who seem happy to disregard women’s health as some minor fringe issue, it depends more and more on individuals and organizations that see women’s health as an essential and integral part of people’s health in general–because women are people, see–and are willing to open their hearts and wallets. This used to include Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to fund breast cancer screenings and education through Planned Parenthood. Used to. Komen is in the process of breaking off its partnership with Planned Parenthood, pulling back funds in the neighborhood of $600,000 a year.

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Lady of the Hour: Janet Howell

Since anti-choice legislators are forcing women to undergo invasive and unnecessary ultrasounds before obtaining abortions — yes, that is a legal requirement that women be vaginally penetrated for no medical purpose other than to humiliate and emotionally manipulate them — Virginia State Senator Janet Howell has decided that maybe men should also be subjected to some less-than-necessary medical examinations for the privilege of being sexual creatures:

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Birth Control: Kind of Like Pork Chops

“Pro-life” Catholic colleges are all salty about a new law requiring insurance plans to cover birth control. Because even though 98% of Catholic women will use contraception at some point in their lives, male Catholic leaders have decided that a baby is a gift from God and expecting insurance providers to cover birth control is like expecting pork to be served at a Jewish barbeque:

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Fun Facts on Abortion

2011 was a really terrible year for abortion rights. Really, incredibly terrible.

Abortions happen all over the world, regardless of legality. There’s some correlation, though, between liberal abortion laws and low abortion rates, and conservative abortion laws and higher abortion rates. There’s also correlation between liberal abortion laws and low instances of death from abortion, and conservative abortion laws and high numbers of women dying.

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Santorum to Rape Victims: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade!

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Rick Santorum clarified his view that abortion should be illegal even where the woman was raped. Why? It’s a gift from God, and don’t look a gift-god in the mouth:

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