Obama Stand Up for Women's Health: Lifts Global Gag Rule

Thanks to President Obama, the Bush legacy of the "Global Gag Rule" is now His-Story.

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Saxby's abortion calls push mamas to Martin

This a comment from joybaby promoted from Tina's post about robo calls for Saxby paid for by the Chamber of Commerce (thought they were supposed to be non-partisan).

I received a call from the CoC today AND from the Saxby campaign. Both were on
abortion. That makes 4 abortion calls and 4 abortion mailers. I can't let my
kids answer the phone anymore or even listen to the incoming message. I can't
even let them go to the mailbox. On the first call I got, I was pounced on by 2
kids with Mama, what's abortion? Why are they calling you about it, Mama? Why is abortion bad, Mama? Yeah, not a conversation I was ready to have. I'm very upset by these calls and have left messages and emails with Sen Saxby's office. . . AND we voted for Jim Martin!

Using abortion as a wedge is not pro-child or pro-family.

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Poison Pill in the Grady Bill

There's not much time on this one, folks. Sen. David Schafer tacked an amendment on the Grady bill that would prohibit abortions at the hospital. The bill passed the senate as amended and will now be referred to Mike Jacobs, the bill's author to see if he will accept the changes. Please read below and call your house member tomorrow.

Note to poor women an girls who are victims of rape or incest and find themselves pregnant as a result: don't bother to go to Grady Hospital. The Georgia Senate has tied Grady's survival to a provision that it no longer preform abortions and will not utilize Medicaid funds for that procedure.

Representative Mike Jacobs introduced HB 1299 in the House of Representatives that would allow Grady Hospital to become a not-for-profit.The legislation went to the Senate today and Senator David Shafer amended the legislation, specific to Grady Hospital. The amendment would prohibit Grady Hospital from providing abortions under state and federal laws and not allow for Medicaid funding of the services.The amendment passed the Senate an hour ago. (It may not be posted until later this evening or tomorrow morning) The legislation will be returned to Representative Jacobs for his yes or no on the amendment.

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Just In Case They Try Again

Here's an educational, informative video about HR536 created by SPARK Reproductive Justive Now:

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No Joke

Bigotry often comes in the protective cloak of humor. You're supposed to laugh at the ethnic jokes, supposed to giggle at racial slurs or sexist comments, so long as they're said with a wink and a smile. If you don't laugh-if you're the one confronts the stereotyping or who throws the flag and says "it's not funny," then you just don't have a sense of humor, or you take yourself far too seriously. Either way, the problem is with you, not with the purveyor of the off-color remark. After all, especially in the "say anything" internet age, shock speech draws clicks, and clicks equal dollars. So, just stick a :) beside it, and say whatever you like. That's basically the reasoning Macon City Councilman Erick Erickson is using to defend the intellectually vacant statement he made recently to CPAC-he was just joking. To this point, I've not had much to say about the story. It just didn't merit a response, but today, Erickson is in the Telegraph "standing by" his remarks. So, here goes.

Erickson's remarks were ridiculous on their face, clearly designed to ignite the controversy that followed, and therein lies the problem. Macon is the smallest big town in Georgia. We all know one another and many of us work together, without regard to political affiliation, to try to make this community a better place to live. Because he chose to run for a position on City Council, Erickson is no longer "just" a political blogger. He is a leader in the community, and his public remarks-that have been and will continue to be reproduced without any clarification-reflect on the community he represents. (Think Jack Ellis.) When he hurls insults at "progressives" all in "good fun," he's not just talking about some nameless, faceless person out there somewhere, he's talking about a neighbor, someone he now represents. And that's no joke.

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Eggs at Issue

The traditional "Eggs and Issues" breakfast at the beginning of the legislative session may take on a whole new meaning this year with the "Human Life Amendment" on the table for this session. I posted about this yesterday, and Catherine Morgan over at Political Voices of Women picked it up today with this comment:

My Opinion: This is the kind of thing that really infuriates me. With issues like the war, our broken healthcare system, education, the economy, and so on and so on…Tricking the voting public with wedge issues like this makes me sick. The only thing worse than using a wedge issue to manipulate the voting public, is a wedge issue that will take take away personal rights of women…This is an infuriating story.

This is a national issue for the next election cycle as republicans seek to put this on the ballot in critical states. It's wedge issue politics, and I agree with Catherine: the only thing worse than a wedge is a wedge that tramples on women's most basic rights.

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Get Your Hands Off My Eggs

Why would two of our male democratic legislators in Georgia buy into a republican strategy to put a wedge issue on the November 2008 ballot-an issue that is sure to energize the republican base and make it harder for all Georgia democratic candidates to get elected? Oh, and did I mention that this a part of a national GOP strategy, right out the Rove playbook? That's right, the GOP is seeking to put this amendment on the ballot is several states, not just Georgia. So, why help them?

Mixed in with the water fight and the tax fight, during the next legislative session, Georgia women are going to be literally fighting for control of our eggs. Georgia republicans-with the help of two democratic co-sponsors-will try to pass legislation to put "The Personhood Amendment" or "Human Life Amendment" on the ballot in Georgia in November of 2008.

"The Human Life Amendment," is a constitutional amendment defining life as beginning at the moment of fertilization and offering constitutional protections to the fetus. This bill was introduced in March by a a bipartisan group of legislators that included democrats Hardie Davis and Rick Crawford. This bill, if passed, will not only impact a women's right to choose whether or not to have an abortion, but could also limit access to certain types of birth control, including the "morning after pill" and some types of IUD's. As a proposed constitutional amendment, this is clearly a wedge issue that Republicans are seeking to place on the 2008 ballot. It is the top legislative priority for Georgia Right to Life.

Some Georgia democrats are anti-choice, and some are pro-choice. There is room in our party for people who hold both positions. But this legislation is particularly horrid and would have uncertain legal implications for women if it were passed. Most of all, I can't understand why elected democrats would buy into a republican scheme to put this wedge issue on the ballot in 2008. This just doesn't make any sense.

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She's Just 17

Yesterday, a young women was raped on her way home from school. She is poor, and she has struggled, but she is one of the rare children who have made all the right choices. Anyone would be proud to call her their daughter. She is near the top of her class. Prom is coming soon. Her attacker grabbed her, raped her and sent her, naked, down the street to find her way home. She reported the rape, but her attacker is still at large.

If some Georgia Republicans have their way, in addition to the shame, humiliation and sheer terror she is feeling now, she would also have been denied the emergency contraceptives she received at the emergency room after reporting her attack, and should she become pregnant, these radicals believe that she should be forced to carry her attacker's child to term, and they want to enshrine their radical beliefs in Georgia's Constitution. She would have not choice in the matter. Neither would other women. Neither would doctors.

In today's AJC, Maureen Downey writes about what the efforts by Republicans to put a constitutional amendment declaring that life begins at the moment of conception on the ballot in 2008. That bill, HR 536 and it's companion, HB 1, are both still in committee, but together, would make it a felony for doctors to provide certain kinds of contraceptives or abortion. No doubt, women, including victims of rape or incest, who make those choices could also find themselves facing a judge.

Why now? With the recent Supreme Court ruling, it is clear that in 2008, choice will once again be center stage when we elect a new president. Republicans are counting on using this as a wedge issue to lure 'values voters' back to the table. No wonder. Their field of candidates leave much to be desired in the 'values' column.

Republicans in Georgia, and nationally, have been chipping away at the edges of choice for years, and just this session made the insulting "Women's Right to Know Act" even more awful by adding the requirement that a women contemplating abortion be given the option of getting and viewing an ultrasound and listening to the fetal heart. Now, they are essentially trying what failed in South Dakota last cycle, only worse.

Will Georgians deliver the same message as voters did in South Dakota? For all our sakes, I hope so, but it will not happen easily. We will have to fight, but with doctors facing potential criminal prosecution, women will have some company in that battle.

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Zell Miller: "I am Religious, and we are Right."

Speaking to a crowd at the Sav-a-Life Banquet in Macon last night, Zell Miller said that he didn't mind being called a part of the religious right because, "I am religious, and we are right." At least he is honest about his arrogance. His other "facts" had an air of "truthiness" about them.

For example, did you know that we are producing too few people in the United States? Never mind escalating poverty, if only there were no abortions, we would have plenty of troops to fight the terrorists over there, so that we don't have to fight them over here. Following his logic, we should outlaw abortion so that more young men and women can become causalities of war. Zell's remarks were over the top, even for Zell. Galloway and Baxter have the story here, and you can watch the video here.

It is important to remember that while Miller is capable of climbing out on a limb all alone, he did not do that on this occasion. Here, he simply regurgitated the talking points of radical extremists. Don't believe me? Check the text of Georgia HB 1, a bill filed this year to make abortion illegal. The bill makes similar ridiculous claims.

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Lies, Manipulation and Common Ground

This is a story about one of the worst things and one of the best things that is happening in the battle over abortion. Asheville, NC is my old stomping ground-an hour from where I grew up and twenty minutes from where I went to college. Last year, I visited Asheville for the first time in many years and fell in love all over again. Now, Asheville finds itself in the spotlight. An abortion clinic that was once bombed, a 'crisis pregnancy center' that may sometimes slant the truth, and a church, all near Asheville, are focal points. So, here's the good...and the bad.

The Good

Despite bitter disagreements, representatives from the church, the clinic and the center in Asheville have begun to meet at the aptly named "Blue Moon Cafe." Somehow, as with many issues, when your enemy has a face, and you share a meal and conversation, the questions get harder and the answers more complex. That's what has happened in Asheville. Consider what Rev. Hutchinson, one of the participants in the discussion, had to say:

"Once you've come to know your adversaries personally, once the cartoon villains are brushed away, the conversation becomes more complicated--and more useful. "When we talk, we really have to examine our own beliefs and why we do what we do," Lorrie says. "Abortion is a reality. For me, I feel it can be a lifesaving choice for a woman. But decreasing abortion is a goal we all strive for." As for Hutchinson, "I still keep the 'choice' of abortion off the menu. But I hadn't thought through how difficult a choice it is. I'd been pretty simplistic. I just think a lot more about the pregnant woman herself now than I had before." On issues of such weight, making the questions harder for people is the first step toward finding some answers."

Amen. That formula works for a lot of tough issues.

The Bad
As you can see in the shocking photo on the cover, TIME is reporting on a new and growing front in the abortion war, a front that relies on lies, guilt and emotional manipulation to compel women seeking an abortion to instead continue their pregnancy. "Crisis Pregnancy Centers" have been around for a long time, but an infusion of federal funds through abstinence education grants and faith-based funding have turned the once typical counseling room into what looks a lot more like your ob's exam room, complete with ultrasound equipment courtesy of Focus on the Family Option Ultrasound Initiative. (Once again proving that Georgia Republicans rarely have an original idea.) The problem is that these are not really medical offices, and the information provided is often inaccurate, sometime intentionally. This is done with the goal of getting the women to change her mind about abortion and is a situation where an "ends justifies the means" mentality can be especially dangerous. I dare say that if a quasi-medical clinic were set up that offered similarly manipulative and inaccurate information about any other issue, federal money would not be invested and the doors would close, quickly.

Half of all women at some point face an unplanned pregnancy. Of course, for all their talk about abortion, these clinics do nothing to educate women about birth control. Married women who ask are referred to their doctors, and unmarried women are told not to have sex. That's effective. (Some people do not realize that only about 10% of women who contact Planned Parenthood seek information about abortion. The great majority seek information about birth control, and access to birth control is also under attack. A quick scan of some the legislation filed last session in Georgia shows that this is true.)

Surely we can all agree that when these women seek information, they deserve the truth. Surely we can agree that if tax dollars are involved, the least we should expect is accuracy. But that is often not the case. For example, according to TIME, one study found that 20 of 23 such centers tested provided inaccurate information. That's unacceptable. Public dollars should not be invested in dis-information campaigns. Inaccurate information is a threat to women's health.

The Common Ground

The "Blue Moon" group has found some common ground. It took more than a year of talking to agree on four basic principles. They agree to work to: decrease abortions, relieve the social and economic conditions that lead women to consider abortion, make adoption easier, condemn violence and keep talking. The last point, to keep talking, may be the most vital.

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McCain Chooses Religious Right Over Women's Lives

This is exactly why Republicans are going to get shellacked in 2008. John McCain, who was once the Republican presidential candidate most feared by Democrats, has committed the ultimate flip-flop on abortion-women's lives be damned.

Today, McCain says that he hopes Roe v. Wade is overturned and the surest way to make that happen is to appoint judges who are "constitutionalists," signaling to the Radical Religious Right that he is caving to their narrowly focused agenda, and doing so despite the fact that earlier McCain said that he would not "in the short term or the long term" work to overturn Roe because doing so would endanger women's lives. I guess those lives are less important than winning his party's nomination.

Exactly what is McCain's position on abortion? You've got me. Consider these two statements as reported in the Washington Post:

1. "I'd love to see a point where it is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary," McCain told the Chronicle in an article published Friday. "But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations."

2. On Sunday, on CNN's "Late Edition," McCain reiterated that he would not have an abortion "litmus" test for a running mate or Supreme Court nominees. He added that while he ultimately favors repeal of Roe, "we all know, and it's obvious, that if we repeal Roe v. Wade tomorrow, thousands of young American women would be performing illegal and dangerous operations."

And compare them to this statement McCain made yesterday in Spartanburg, SC:

3. "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned," the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states. McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who "strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench."

How do you, at the same time, acknowledge that if Roe is overturned, thousands of young American women would be "performing illegal and dangerous operations" and then say that if should, in fact be overturned? McCain cares more about the support of the Radical Religious Right that doing what is right.

Among the many problems McCain has now is that he has lost credibility both among moderates who were at one time drawn to him and now among the same religious right-wingers he so desperately hopes to court in order to win his party's nomination. It's hard to imagine the man once perceived to be one of few in Washington who really knew and spoke his own mind, playing these semantical games to appease his base.

McCain's continuing self-destruction is symptomatic of the Republican's core problem. The political clout of the Radical Religious Right is fading quickly, but this constituency, so far out of step with mainstream Americans, still controls the GOP. To get the nomination of the GOP, candidates must take extreme positions. The long and the short of it? Go ahead and decide which Democrat you want for President in 2008.

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