Allow? Are You Freaking Kidding Me?
Terri Whitehouse February 11th, 2008
Via the C-J comes news that (right wing old guy who has never been and never will be pregnant) Jack Westwood’s ultrasound bill will move forward.
Allow me to collect myself for a second.
What the article says:
State Rep. Jack Westwood, R-Crescent Spring, said ultrasound technology produces images that women should be allowed to see before they terminate pregnancies.
Westwood showed fellow lawmakers images of an unborn baby at 10 weeks gestation, one showing a baby’s tiny foot and toes.
“The idea is that what is inside this woman is not a mass of tissue, but, in fact, is a live baby,” said Westwood, sponsor of the legislation that has drawn vocal opposition from abortion rights supporters.
Um. Excuse me? “Allow”? “Baby”?
Here’s what the bill actually says:
Amend KRS 311.720 to redefine “abortion” and to add definitions of “reasonable judgment,” “unborn child,” and “woman”; create a new section of KRS 311.710 to 311.820 to require physician to perform an obstetric ultrasound and show images to the woman seeking an abortion; create a new section of KRS 311.710 to 311.820 to provide for an exemption to the ultrasound in case of an emergency and require placing the reason for the emergency in medical records; amend KRS 311.990 relating to penalties to provide a fine of not more than $100,000 for a first offense and not more than $250,000 for each subsequent offense and provide for referring incident to Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure for action and discipline.
So, you see? The bill doesn’t allow for squat. Because women are already allowed to view their ultrasounds if they wish to do so. This bill is not about allowing. It’s about forcing and punishing and slut-shaming. And it is dangerously-worded.
I have a few things to say to all the anti-choicers out there. If you have any desire whatsoever to actually reduce abortions, try doing it in a practical and ethical way like, oh, I don’t know, educating people about how to protect themselves rather than just saying “keep your legs closed,” or the less-frequently uttered, “keep it in your pants.” When Kentucky women rank 50th in health and well-being and nearly half of Kentucky children are poor or near-poor, and when concern for existing children is cited as the primary reason for most abortions, maybe you could work on tackling the reasons behind the choice rather than restricting access to reproductive health services.
Of course, I realize you may have your plates full, what with very important matters like regulating titty-shaking and such. Glad to know where your priorities are. It’s good to know that some legislators can approach reproductive health with a little bit of common sense, at any rate. Time to return to my cold medicine-induced blissful ignorance.
- Anti-choice , Children , Families , Health Care , Kentucky
- Comments(14)
You go girl!!!!
Abortion was decreasing. When President Bush took office, the nation’s abortion rates were at a 24-year low, after a 17.4 percent decline during the 1990s. This was a steady decrease averaging 1.7 percent per year. (The data come from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life using the Guttmacher Institute’s studies.)
Enter George W. Bush in 2001. One would expect the abortion rate to continue its consistent course downward, if not plunge. Instead, the opposite happened.
We found four states that have posted 3-year statistics: Kentucky’s increased by 3.2% from 2000 to 2003. Michigan’s increased by 11.3% from 2000 to 2003. Pennsylvania’s increased by 1.9% from 1999 to 2002. Colorado’s rates skyrocketed 111%. We found 12 additional states that reported statistics for 2001 and 2002. Eight states saw an increase in abortion rates (14.6% average increase), and four saw a decrease (4.3% average).
http://www.e-thepeople.org/article/35976/view
I’m all for the abortion rate decreasing, so long as it’s decreasing b/c of decreased incidence of unplanned/unwanted pregnancy, greater access and use of birth control, and not b/c of lack of choice/access/etc (as 99% of KY counties have no abortion provider).
Haven’t we had enough of these idiots attemping to shove their values down our collective gullets?
Great piece.
I encourage you to look at Planned Parenthood’s legislative agenda, “Prevention First”:
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/issues-action/birth-control/agenda-110th-congress-15500.htm
Progressive members of state legislators have proposed similar legislation, and more than a dozen governors have furthered the prevention agenda by rejecting federal funds for abstinence-only sex education.
“Slut-Shaming” … I like that term! I think I’ll use that for now on. Maybe it’s time we put a little shame back on the conotation of the word slut. I don’t agree that single moms who date are sluts (as was linked to in the article), but I do agree that the MTV culture (which is the real culture at play here, it is not linked to any one race) that is forced down our weaker-minded kids’ throats is definately pro-slut. Just watch the “reality” shows on MTV sometime. Then remember high schoolers in Kentucky wish their lives were filled with that kind of “exciting drama” instead of their own manafactured drama.
P.S. While I write this I can hear a truck horn play “dixie” out of my window. I look outside and it has a Beshear sticker on the back of the truck! I wonder if there’ll be an Obama sticker on the back of this redneck’s truck come August?
Well you could always fight for the right to take the would-be mom out of state for an abortion. Just like Obama voted against measures to make it a crime for ANYONE to take a 13-16 year old girl across state lines to have an abortion to bypass the law requiring parental notification for that age group.
Well your math is a little off… but just a little. Planned Abortions, uh, Planned Parenthood operates in three Kentucky Counties… 2 in Louisville-Jefferson, one in Lexington-Fayette, and one in Richmond (what county is that?) as they operate a clinic ON CAMPUS at Eastern Kentucky!
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/centerDetails.asp?id=1170
Maybe EKU is the next to lose state funding once the conservative State Legislators hear about this!
Gentle Herodotus, I know it’s a bit much to expect you to follow and read a link you post, but I’m sort of curious as to which service that PP @ EKU provides that you find particularly distasteful. Pelvic/pap exam? Contraception? Breast exam? Counseling? Pregnancy testing? STI testing? I know that most pro-lifers are down with death from septic shock as being an acceptable alternative, oh, I don’t know, safe and legal abortion or contraception, but now you’re saying that cancer-screening should be off limits, too? I just can’t make heads or tails of these “pro-lifers”.
Quit dancing around the issue… you know my problem is with “Counseling - Pregnancy Options” which is Planned Parenthood’s way of saying “Abortions, but we’ll make you feel good about killing that pesky baby growing in you!”
The fact that they are doing aboritions (baby-killings) in a state-supported building, on a state-supported campus is a FREAKIN’ disgrace!
And seriously, you read the web WAY too much if you can come up with any story from any podunk town where some administrator is an idiot to support you anytime you’re cornered.
You have a good argument there… one town in Texas has a principal that didn’t want a story printed, therefor everyone should support killing a baby.
Planned Parenthoods in KY don’t provide abortions, Herodotus. Kentucky has only two abortion providers, neither of which is affiliated with PP. Of course, that doesn’t really fit your bullshit narrative, so whatever.
Oh, and according to this webpage listing places you can turn for an abortion, both the Lexington and Louisville places are listed.
http://www.abortion.com/abortion_clinics_state.php?country=United%20States&state=Kentucky
Try again from a site that isn’t a parked domain racking up ad revenue and scrubbed content, maybe.