Elderly nuns in South Bend, IN were turned away from their polling place today, thanks to Indiana’s GOP-backed voter ID law. (h/t: Crooks & Liars)

Anti-choice activists contend that 20% of American women are “murderers.” (h/t: Feministing)

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There is an excellent piece up at RH Reality Check discussing the Religious Right’s love for non-medical use of ultrasound imaging:

Anti-abortion advocates for the non-medical use of ultrasound imaging (also called sonography or sonograms) on pregnant women have two basic strategies. One is to equip the estimated 2,500-3,500 crisis pregnancy centers across the country with ultrasound machines, in some cases garnering government aid to pay for them. The other is to pass laws under the guise of “informed consent,” which would require abortion clinics and doctors to conduct ultrasounds on pregnant women before providing abortion services. Some of these proposed laws go so far as to require that women view the images.

You can read more about Kentucky’s own proposed ultrasound law here.

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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.

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McConnell: March for Life a ‘Just and Noble Cause’
from the Office of Senator Mitch McConnell

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell released the following statement Tuesday regarding the 35th annual March for Life:

“Tens of thousands of Americans will gather today in Washington to affirm that every human life is precious. They know this principle lies at the root of every just society, and their presence is a powerful reminder of just how fragile a principle it is. I applaud the participants of the 35th annual March for Life on their commitment to a culture that treats its weakest members with dignity and respect, and I join them in working to advance this just and noble cause.”

I think I just peed myself a little bit with that whopper. Notable exceptions to the “every human life is precious” thing include soldiers, criminals, the elderly, poor mothers, and children. And, FYI, “dignity and respect” is code for “contempt and disdain.”

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Republicans sure love their daddy state, don’t they? Oh, sure, they’ll raise stink about big government when it comes to public health or helping families, but damned if they’re not itching to bend you over their knees for a fierce spanking when it comes to issues of bodily autonomy or privacy.

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God bless Joe Sonka. God bless Joe Sonka because he works his tail off traversing Kentucky covering the various manifestations of right-wing lunacy in the commonwealth [If you haven’t checked out Joe’s blogosphere-famous coverage of the Creation Museum from earlier this year, do so].

I envy Joe because he has that ability to observe the multitude of nitwits that make up the Kentucky GOP with a humorous eye and a sly smirk. I, on the other hand, don’t suffer these fools so well, even from a thousand miles away. Yet Joe has the gift, through his writing, of putting the crazy nature of social conservatives in Kentucky in perspective.

For example, Joe has a frightening new report over at BlueGrassRoots (the article itself will be published in the Lexington-based W Weekly) about a recent meeting of the American Family Association of Kentucky.

I’m going to include some excerpts from Joe’s piece below, but the most important thing to remember is that both the Republican candidate for state attorney general, Rep. Stan Lee, and for state auditor, Linda Greenwell, were in attendance and fully engaged at this meeting.

You know how most of the world has been up-in-arms against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R?) over his years-long effort to promote the cause of holocaust denial? It’s craziness. Rational people know it. That didn’t stop the Iranians from organizing and hosting a Holocaust denial conference last year. Birds of a feather flock together, as even the U.S.’s very own former Klu Klux Klan member David Duke took part.

In the end, we will never eliminate crazy beliefs like Holocaust denial, racism, xenophobia, or homophobia, but we can marginalize them. Peer pressure does work, especially here in the United States. Americans, by and large, want to be perceived as successful, accepted, and mainstream. So, by framing these sorts of beliefs as radical, extreme, undesirable and out-of-the-mainstream, you necessitate that people who continue to cling to them make an overt choice for themselves: which is more important to them, their hatred of others or their own prosperity?

It’s objectively true that hatred is not rational; it is morally wrong. Yet some people will not make the rational choice on their own; they need a little cajoling along the way. That’s where societal pressure comes into play.

Keep that in mind as you read what Joe has to say below about this meeting. Think about how outrageous its content was, and how scary it is that two of the Republican candidates for statewide office embraced this message and those who propagate it.

In short, these people at the American Family Association of Kentucky are free to have their beliefs; it’s a free country. The rest of us, however, should expect that men and women who strive to attain the highest levels of elected office in our land would not associate with them, would shun them. Instead, they are embracing them, and on election day the people of Kentucky will shun Stan Lee and Linda Greenwell as punishment.

Raging Bigotry and the Dying of the Right

Did you know that Lexington is run by the “Homosexual Hegemony”? That “the gays” own the government and the media? And the only way to get access to this power is to have the dirty gay sex with them?

Yea, neither did I.

[…]

Roughly 50 people squeezed into the cafeteria. After the first speaker told us how he escaped the evils of today’s society when God told him to start his own line of athletic apparel, it was Kent Ostrander’s turn. Ostrander, the founder of the like-minded Family Foundation, was a key player in the push to amend KY’s Constitution so that gay marriage and civil unions are now outlawed.

He was sure to preface his points with “now, I’m not trying to vilify homosexuals”. For example, he would say this just before his inaccurate tangent on how gay sex is the cause of 75% of AIDS in the world. “These people bring this on themselves!”

He further chastised UK, saying that allowing partners to receive health insurance is to tolerate and “validify” these relationships. Again, he “wasn’t trying to vilify gays”, but the “predatory ideas of the radical homosexual agenda” will destroy our families and society. Ostrander ended his speech, nearly shouting, “Our God shall reign!”

Next, a sociology student presented her research project on why the black community in Lexington is faced with the problems of poverty, crime and drug abuse. Her conclusion, after repeatedly informing us that she was a “scientist”? Young blacks in Lexington are mired in this because of….. The Gays. You see, homosexuals own all of the power in the black community of Lexington, coining it the “Homosexual Hegemony”. Those gays force young blacks wanting access to that power to tolerate and become acclimated to the gay lifestyle. One acclimated to this immorality, they succumb to the evils of drug abuse, crime and dirty gay sex.

But these are just the crazy ramblings of some small fringe cult, right? Apparently, not. Linda Greenwell, Republican candidate for Auditor in next week’s election, was happily handing out campaign literature to the crowd. Ostrander pointed out state Sen. Stan Lee in the crowd, thanking him for all of his work to “support our cause in Frankfort”. Lee, the Republican candidate for Attorney General, took a bow and soaked in the applause.

Then, it was Frank Simon’s turn. He jumped right into the “culture war” routine, blasting the godless villains who have taken the commandments, literal creation science and prayer out of public schools. “We need to stop them and GOD will stop them!”

Simon started in with the gays, then paused, putting on a coy exterior of doubt. “Oh, I don’t want to get into this…” before deciding to share his shocking video with the crowd. The lights were dimmed, and he presented a video that he claimed was being shown in schools. It showed a series of families, in which a child introduced us to his/her two mothers or fathers. Each child explained how, despite their differences, they love and protect each other just like any other family does.

The visceral reaction from the crowd was palpable. Audible gasps. Loud cries of “no!!!”, “my God!!”, “how dare they!” It resembled the “2-minute hate” out of Orwell’s 1984, the crowd whipped up into frenzy at the traitorous Goldstein. “This is what we’re up against!” cried Simon.

“Sure, kids drank beer back in my day, but it wasn’t until the gays that they started smoking the dope! ….. We never used to have to lock our doors!”

They culprit was the ubiquitous “They”. “They” took over our government. “They” want gay sex taught to our children. “They control the media! You’re only going to find out about these votes in Frankfort after they happen. That’s no accident. They don’t want you to know about them!”

Such bigotry among fundamentalists has many forbearers. This used to be the argument against “race-mixing”, how the Bible warned against it and it would tear down the fabric of our society. Such bigots were swept to the margins of society after the civil rights movement, but there is always a new “they” to latch onto. And while fomenting hatred towards gays has proved quite successful for the Christian Right, they also know that the gig is up.

Shortly after this AFA meeting, UK had a “coming out week”, where gay and straight students could show solidarity and promote tolerance. At one event, state Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, our first openly gay representative, told the crowd, “When I went to UK, something like this was unheard of. We’ve progressed to the point where this is now possible.”

And that is why we see the vitriol of the Christian right. They know that their loss in the culture war is imminent. A recent poll showed that those under 30 have rejected this brand of bigotry in politics, supporting gay rights in overwhelming numbers. There is even a rift among evangelicals, as a recent NYT article found many churches abandoning the obsession with gays, moving towards the social justice aspect of Christianity.

Tuesday’s election would seem to validate this trend, as Republicans Ernie Fletcher and Stan Lee are expected to lose by nearly 20 points. But victory is not yet upon us, as KY politicians will still seek to capitalize on this homophobic demographic (Even Todd Hollenbach, Dem. candidate for Treasurer, refuses to renounce Simon’s endorsement).

But at least we now know that it will take more than simply using homophobia to get elected in KY.

Of course, if I was Mexican, I’d be sweating a bit.

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KYWomen, the blog dedicated to women’s issues and empowering women’s voices in the Kentucky progressive blogosphere, joins the chorus of progressives asking a very legitimate question of Steve Beshear (D):

Steve Beshear, in a September 21 debate at the Herald-Leader’s PolWatcher blog, you asked Ernie Fletcher, “What abortion restrictions have you had enacted as Governor?” In doing so, you insinuated that Fletcher had the opportunity to further restrict access to abortion in his term and that he should have taken that opportunity. I think the question on the mind of progressives in Kentucky today is, in the coming four years as governor, how will you work to make up for Fletcher’s deficiencies in this area? What will you do to restrict abortion as governor?

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Between hiring a stealthy campaign strategist for his 2008 reelection campaign, working to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and reluctantly voting for greater transparency in government, how on earth does Sen. Mitch McConnell find the time to draft some b.s. anti-family and anti-children legislation and find the nerve to call it the “Kids First Act”?

Being a literary sort of person, I should probably recognize this whole nonsense of cleverly naming legislation so that Americans will not be outraged at what the legislation really says and does as an ironic device. Fortunately, my low-brow aesthetic most always trumps my literary one, and from here on out I will refer to this practice (system, manner, or condition) as it occurs in politics, as “oppositism.” The noun “oppositicity” will describe the state or quality of being of an “oppositist” mindset. An “oppositist” shall henceforth refer to any politician who insults my intelligence by engaging in oppositism.

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Congress has voted to reverse a policy that bars the United States from providing contraception aid to foreign organizations that also provide abortions. Bush, however, will veto yet another bill (fourth? who’s counting?) and the veto will be upheld by right-wing lawmakers.

Better that people die from AIDS or unsafe abortions than send some rubbers overseas. That’s what the American “culture of life” is all about!

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Oh-ho-ho. Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer’s Owen Covington reports the following (no link; subscription only):

State senator prefiles partial birth abortion bill

[…]

Sen. David Boswell has prefiled a bill making partial-birth abortions illegal, mirroring legislation he sponsored and that was signed into law in 1998 only to be ruled unenforceable by the federal courts.

Boswell modeled his bill, which will be considered when the legislature convenes in January, after the federal ban.

“That sparked, in my judgment, the need to introduce and pass the bill again,” said Boswell, a Sorgho Democrat who represents Daviess and McLean counties.

Abortions rights advocates dubbed the measure a publicity stunt meant to further attempts to ban all abortions in the state and the country.

[…]

Under the legislation sponsored by Boswell, a doctor who performs a partial birth abortion would be guilty of a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The federal ban only carries with it a prison sentence of up to two years.

[…]

Boswell’s bill would allow a woman’s husband or her parents to file a civil lawsuit for damages against a doctor who performs a partial birth abortion.

“This is a pretty brutal abortion procedure,” Boswell said. “Even Sen. Ted Kennedy and other very liberal members of Congress supported a partial birth abortion ban.”
[…]

Any legislation criminalizing the procedure would likely have to clear the House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Kathy Stein, a Lexington Democrat and outspoken women’s rights advocate.

Stein said she was preparing for how to handle any proposals to enact a state ban during the next legislative session.

“It’s unfortunate that here in Kentucky we feel the need to criminalize doctors who use their best efforts to try to protect the health of women,” Stein said. “We need to find ways to make the law less onerous. The Supreme Court ruling this year has changed things significantly.”

Because, you know, a woman is the fricking property of her husband or parents and not a real human, like a fetus is.

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