I'm going to stand up and cheer for Janet Howell. I applaud her feminist approach and her pragmatic understanding of politics. Well done state Senator Howell! Well done! I laughed out loud, I applauded you through my computer across the internet.
Well done, madam! Good for you. We need conservatives trying to impose their religious beliefs through government OUT of our bodies, out of health care decisions. We need smaller government, by having fewer intrusive conservative laws and law makers. It is time and past time to end the culture war on women being waged by the right. This pushback is brilliant.
From the Huff Po News: Janet Howell, Virginia State Senator, Attaches Rectal Exam Amendment To Anti-Abortion Bill
To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.
"We need some gender equity here," she told HuffPost. "The Virginia senate is about to pass a bill that will require a woman to have totally unnecessary medical procedure at their cost and inconvenience. If we're going to do that to women, why not do that to men?"
The Republican-controlled senate narrowly rejected the amendment Monday by a vote of 21 to 19, but passed the mandatory ultrasound bill in a voice vote. A similar bill in Texas, which physicians say has caused a "bureaucratic nightmare," is currently being challenged in court.
Howell said she is not surprised her amendment failed.
"This is more of a message type of an amendment, so I was pleased to get 19 votes," she said.
She pointed out that there are only seven women in the Virginia senate, and six of them voted in favor of her amendment, along with 13 male senators. Sen. Jill Vogel (R-Fauquier County), the sponsor of the mandatory ultrasound bill, voted against it.
“I do believe that erectile dysfunction in this context is different from pregnancy,” she said on the senate floor.
The Senate will formally vote on the mandatory ultrasound bill on Tuesday.
Good on the senator for her sense of humor, but it's too bad that we keep having to argue about this. Personal freedom should be a settled matter by now.
ReplyDeleteBased of course, on the assertion that a fetus is not a person and has no rights.
DeleteIt has it's own unique DNA and a beating heart and working brain. The fact that it's dependent on its environment (the womb) no more denies it's personhood than does the fact that you are dependent on your environment (air, for instance).
My cats have all of the characteristics that you named. (Well, the working brain part is questionable at times--they're a bit crazy.) I understand your position, but until the end of the second trimester, the fetus cannot survive outside the womb. Allowing abortion in the first two trimesters and then banning it in the third, with an exception for the health of the mother, is a reasonable middle position.
DeleteDog gone: “We need conservatives trying to impose their religious beliefs through government OUT of our bodies, out of health care decisions.”
ReplyDeleteDog gone (a few hours earlier): “There is no such thing as a fundamental right that is NOT subject to majority approval.”
But so long as 51% of the people think the government belongs in our bodies, you are cool with it, right?
I don't think we have a majority NOW that is in agreement with the government intrusion into our bodies, nor do I see it as likely TS.
ReplyDeleteAre you terribly worried about a return to slavery? Or a return to prohibition perhaps?
Slavery? No. Prohibition? Depends on the substance, but not likely with alcohol. Making abortion illegal? That's a big concern, and when rights are left to majority vote, they can be gone in one election.
DeleteThe story highlights a wonderful aspect of the abortion debate. If men were ever required to do or not to do things with their own bodies, would the predominantly male government ever in a million years approve it?
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