My blue state of Michigan has passed the most radical

[sufrommich]

anti choice law in the country:

Specifically, the omnibus bill would criminalize all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape victims, the health of the woman or in cases where there is a severe fetal anomaly. It would require health centers that provide abortions to have surgery rooms, even when they don't provide surgical abortions. It would require doctors to be present for medication abortions and to screen women for "coercion" before providing an abortion, and it would create new regulations for the disposal of fetal remains.

The bill would also ban "telemedicine" abortions, or the use of technology to prescribe medication for abortion services and the morning-after pill.

"It could shut down most reproductive health centers in the state of Michigan," said Groen. "It's the most extreme legislation we're seeing anywhere in the country."

State Rep. Mike Shirkey (R-Clark Lake) told a local television station on Wednesday that he supports the bill and hopes it will end abortion in Michigan. "This [abortion] is nothing short of infanticide. Until we completely eliminate abortions in Michigan and completely defund Planned Parenthood, we have work to do," he said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/07/michigan-abortion-bill_n_1578179.html


I really fear for the young women of this country, I really think we're heading backward into a darker future for women.

[catbyte]

1. And Muskegon Heights PS Dictator just made all schools charter

schools, firing all the teachers. A non-unionized, private company is going to charter the entire district.

I no longer recognize my state. It's been taken over by fascists and plutocrats. I'll bet a nice big union-busting bill is next.

I'm not sad, I'm damned angry. Michigan Rising has just suspended their recall drive against Snyder. Great. There goes 3 weekends wasted.

I'm pissed off. If I could move out of the state I would. It's going to take decades to repair the damage.



Diane
Anishinaabe in MI & mom to Leo, Taz & Nigel, members of Dogs Against Romney, Cat Division
"Dogs Aren’t Luggage--HISS!”

[sufrommich]

4. It really is truly frightening to watch. I don't

hear a lot of outrage either, which just blows my mind. I ,too, no longer recognize my state.

[knitter4democracy]

36. I think it's because everyone's exhausted.

People do talk about it when they get together at my church and last night at the hair salon, but with so many of us dead tired from work and all, we just don't have the time and energy to fight like hell.

It's time to occupy Lansing, though, and every one of those idiots' offices.

[seabeyond]

39. thanks knitter. i dont socialize. not around people. so i never have a gauge

on this stuff.

[livvy]

62. Don't consider your weekends wasted.

How many people did you connect with during your petition collection? How many people saw your clipboard and if for just a moment thought about all that is wrong in Michigan, even if they didn't sign? Your example may have touched more than you realize. Not to mention that at least you were doing something to try to stop this madness in our state.
Michigan Rising had no choice but to suspend the drive. There weren't enough "yous" out there, and to ask folks like you to keep collecting when the goal was unobtainable would have been grossly unfair.
Here's one person who appreciates your efforts.

[Chorophyll]

2. I guess Rep. Shirley won't be bothered by

all the dangerous -- possibly deadly -- illegal abortions which will no doubt take place if legal abortion is "eliminated."

We really are headed back to the dark ages.

[sufrommich]

5. Bothered by it??

That's what those evil women should expect for their sins, serves 'em right!

[Chorophyll]

20. Sometimes I don't know whether it's that...

...or if these 'Pugs just have no grasp of human history.

I've met people in their 50's who think abortion was INVENTED in 1970 or so.

But in general you're absolutely right.

[HockeyMom]

3. Even worse that before Roe

Back then there were therapeutic abortions. If a woman's life was in danger, she could abort. Now with these gag laws being passed, a doctor cannot even tell a woman that something is wrong with a pregnancy. Tubal pregnancy? Nope, that might cause her to abort, even if that fetus has ZERO chance of being born. They don't care that women will die.

Yep, this could be even worse that back in the "good, old days".

[sufrommich]

7. It is worse,HockeyMom.

It's reaching Handmaids Tale proportions.

[seabeyond]

23. +1. people pretend they dont get it. willfully turning a blind eye. how all this disrespect

toward women is connected. one piece could not be accomplished if all the elements werent there. not the way universe works. all are working together to allow the dominance of women in all ways thru sexuality...

creating the environment of aspirin between the knees, again.

[redqueen]

10. It is definitely worse.

Now they're using fetal homicide laws to prosecute pregnant women who attempt suicide after their male partners inform them they actually already have a wife and kids and abandon them, or who fall down stairs, or have addictions.

Thiis culture has been honing its woman hating for years, this is the end game now. Now they are legally enshrining laws which reduce our status even further. Once pregnant, we no longer exist as anything but incubators.

[MadrasT]

28. Wait, what?

Now with these gag laws being passed, a doctor cannot even tell a woman that something is wrong with a pregnancy. Tubal pregnancy? Nope, that might cause her to abort, even if that fetus has ZERO chance of being born.

How can anyone make a law that forbids a doctor from having that conversation with a patient? This is in Michigan?

Handmaid's Tale, indeed.

This makes me physically ill.

I have to say, I was living in a fairly constant state of fear under BushCo... but these new abortion laws popping up in different states are really, really making me wonder what the hell is going on behind the scenes.

How is all this anti-woman legislation getting passed? What the heck kind of country is this now?

I am really frightened for all women living in the US now.

[seabeyond]

31. i do recall reading this. i thought az. at 36, down syndrome for baby escalates. my doctor

let me know about it and a procedure that would check to see if the baby had down. i had just hit 36.

i told the doctor i would not get an abortion anyway so i saw no need for the test. that is what it is all about.

so i am curious. does the doctor now NOT tell a patient that has hit that magical number of 36 the increase risk of down? since, that might result in preg?

how about any number of womans health issues that can effect a preg. my cousin has severe diabetes. they were so concerned about her preg. they monitored her, the babies health extensively. do they not do all that because the woman then might consider abortion for the sake of her life?

huge and lots of examples with this law.

[CrispyQ]

48. This:

I was living in a fairly constant state of fear under BushCo... but these new abortion laws popping up in different states are really, really making me wonder what the hell is going on behind the scenes.

How is all this anti-woman legislation getting passed? What the heck kind of country is this now?

I am really frightened for all women living in the US now.

I remember my mother telling my young teen self about the significance of Roe v Wade. I also remember the horror of reading The Handmaid's Tale many years later, but it was a detached horror - a sigh of relief horror because I knew that that couldn't happen in America. I was young & naive, but I couldn't imagine after the 60s & 70s that we would regress, much less so damned quickly!


Our culture is a cesspool. I've said it dozens of times before, but I don't know how you raise a decent human being in this society. It must be a full time job countering the trash your kids are exposed to.

[HockeyMom]

46. "Mommy, why are you killing me?"

This was posted by an anti-choicer in a discussion on the War on Women. People were discussing the forced Ultrasounds, and the BANNED Ultrasounds and gag laws on doctors for "problem" pregnancies where a woman might abort a problem pregnancy.

Some woman posted that, and this is what I answered her.

Why am I killing you? It is because you are killing ME. I have just as much a right to life as you do. Your older sister is screaming at me, "MOMMY, please don't DIE". Her life means nothing? Your Daddy doesn't need a wife? You are never going to born from my Fallopian Tube. Blame GOD, not me, for that one. However, if I did die, your younger sister would never have been born. Maybe SHE was meant to be born, and you WEREN'T?

Neither that woman, nor anyone else, answered what I posted.

[seabeyond]

47. wow hockey mom, that is awesome powerful. gave me chills.

wow that you shut them up, but that is not the awesome in it. look at you.

another wow.

[CrispyQ]

49. Excellent response.

Playing God is exactly what they are doing.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

6. They will never eliminate abortions in Michigan - or anywhere. . .

They'll only eliminate safe abortions and women will die. But they don't care about dead women.

[sufrommich]

8. I think they would encourage dead women. It

teaches the rest of us a "lesson".

[redqueen]

12. +1

[ProfessionalLeftist]

16. Definitely.

Seems to be the point.

[snappyturtle]

9. The lunatics have won. How did they do that? nt

[Doctor_J]

45. Complete media control

when we start some actual effective pushback against the Hate Radio and Fox News "personalities", things will change

[secondwind]

11. The oligarchs on the Right have joined forces with the Bible Thumpers in order to gain

total power over women in this country, and financial and political power as well.


If we don't win this time around, we are doomed. I seriously think we need to think of ANY alternative out there that is doable, in order to win in November.

And if that includes putting Hillary in as VP, then so be it. We need EVERY vote we can get.

[jpbollma]

14. Yes, Michigan is fucked.

I cannot believe there is no outrage anywhere in the state. The only silver lining I see is that in 2012 a ballot initiative will be placed on the ballot enshrining the right to organize into the state constitution. I certainly hope it can pass. I have my doubts though.

[redqueen]

13. I plan to move my daughters out of this backward country ASAP.

Getting pregnant is more dangerous than ever here, and that's on top of the horrible maternity leave, sickening body policing of new moms, etc.

[sufrommich]

15. How old are your daughters, Redqueen?

I would be truly frightened for all young women at this point. My niece is 15 years old and I'm afraid of what they have in store for these girls, their futures look very controlled in this country.

[redqueen]

18. One preteen, one teen.

It's sure not looking good for women here. Much better for us in one of the more progressive countries.

[Doctor_J]

58. Most excellent idea

I am trying to talk Spousal Unit into emigrating. We have the means. My plan is to take a sabbatical or Fulbright teacher exchange, and then not come back. This is getting really, really bad.

[AverageJoe90]

17. Mike Shirkey oughta take a kick in the balls or two for this shit.

This is fascism, pure and simple.

[HockeyMom]

19. They have taken their fight to contraceptives now too

Many of us said they would not stop with just abortion. Some moron woman was on Fox today. "Contraceptives FAIL and that leads to abortions". She was talking about PP going into schools. They should talk about Abstinence Only, even if the kids parents give their permission. Again, BC doesn't work. So these kids have 19 brothers and sisters? Their PARENTS are aborting all their siblings? How does this stupid woman think these parents only have 2 or 3 kids? Abstinence in MARRIAGE until Menopause???????

I took the Pill for 15 years. I have 2 kids, by choice, and my Pill NEVER failed in all those years. After we had our 2 kids, my husband got a vas. I suppose that fails too?

These kids are not STUPID, like these Anti-choice people. All they have to do is look at their own family. If contraceptives fail so much, where are all my brothers and sisters? Incidentially, my own daughter as teenager said this to a woman once.

[GreenStormCloud]

22. Sometimes vasectomies do fail

About 1% of vasectomies grow back together and the guy becomes fertile again. That is because most doctors do the vasectomy in such a manner that it is reversible. There is an irreversible method but they don't like to do that one.

[HockeyMom]

30. Husband's was done in 1984

We had to sit through a half an hour lecture about how it was not reservible, what would we do if our children died, bla, bla, bla. I had to sign a consent form for HIS vasectomy. I told the doctor NONE of this was right, especially my consent.

[JaneFordA]

21. Fight fire with fire

Sometimes, I think the proper response to this * is to introduce something so exaggeratedly ludicrous that the **s are shown up EXACTLY for what they are and people are FORCED to do some thinking. My example: if "they" want to abolish Planned Parenthood, let's make sure we abolish EVERY single service down the list. If PP isn't around to provide low-cost pelvic exams, mammograms and contraception, there will be NO routine pelvic exams, mammograms and contraception anywhere. Ever. I bet THAT would pin back some ears mighty fast.

[seabeyond]

25. that is already an issue and talked about. 98% provided by PP is what you say and not abortion.

they dont care, or dismiss or pretend not true. they dont care about the exams and screening and certainly dont like the bc.

they just dont care.

[MadrasT]

40. AFAIK, many of the PP's around here

Don't even DO abortions. You have to go to special PP's or other abortion clinics in cities like Philly or Harrisburg.

[seabeyond]

42. correct. the closest in our area is 2 hours or 4 hours away. nt

[sinkingfeeling]

24. I wonder if after a couple of decades of DIY abortions and the resulting

deaths of friends and family, they will rethink this issue.

[seabeyond]

26. and there is the answer, along with titling supreme court the other way. our girls are going to

have to die.

i would like to see criminality pinned on the boy, too, that has a hand in the preg.

[CrispyQ]

50. Never.

They will never re-think this issue because their ideology has hijacked their humanity.

[tblue]

27. They're just a stone's throw away from American Taliban

Dammitalltohell!

[seabeyond]

29. we have thoroughly dehumanized girls/women in our society. this is the result of the ability of

dehumanizing a group

[redqueen]

35. ^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^

[MadrasT]

41. Meanwhile, women seem to actually objectify *themselves* more than ever before...

Last edited Fri Jun 8, 2012, 06:05 PM - Edit history (1)

...and defend it as "EMPOWERMENT!!!1!"

It is a downward spiral that is going right down the drain for all of us.

Whole country has gone batshit crazy.

[seabeyond]

44. that it has... "Whole country has gone batshit crazy."

saw a thread on gd about violent porn. thought it was gonna be on violent porn. was surprised by the poster. i dont need to worry about talking behind his back cause he has EVERYONE on ignore, proudly. but found it really really interesting that this poster defends all the pornification, yet is "bothered" by the gratuitous violence in so much of tv programming. and if it is not effecting us as a people. and is it manifesting "Whole country has gone batshit crazy."

the violence bad. the porn to be protected. fuckin out of the world amazing. psych 101, please.

[CrispyQ]

51. I was very young & naive when I first saw "The Godfather."

OMG! It was shocking to me how violent it was! It was very disturbing! Then the years went by & media got more & more graphic & I became more conditioned, but in the back of my head was this thought that The Godfather was the mother of all violent movies. When I finally did see it again, sometime in the late 90s, I was just as shocked to discover that those scenes now seemed to be very mild in comparison to the current violence.

People who say that violent & sexualized media doesn't impact our society have their heads up their ass.

[seabeyond]

52. are you kidding with the hypocrisy of this issue? lol. as parents we protect our young children.

madison ave makes lots of money off companies to sell their product.

and

fuckin

FOX NEWS

has told us everything we need to know.

for people to seriously, straight faced, argue this does not effect us is pure stupid, and i mean really stupid, bullshit.

i havent been desensitized in it. cant stand it and rarely watch it. if i see a movie with it, a good movie, like braveheart, i will watch once, though have no desire to see again. i cannot get some things out of my head.

[sufrommich]

53. +1. I can't watch today's violent movies,

they actually make me feel tense and uncomfortable and I don't watch films for that, I remember when I thought Clockwork Orange was the most violent movie ever! (Although I did and still do love Clockwork Orange)

[seabeyond]

54. husband and i were discussing tattoo girl. how i saw it as mainstreaming rape porn for entertainment

i asked him, what is the most horrifying movie you have seen that left the greatest impression.

before i could even start the sentence he said clockwork orange. he had read the book in highschool. years later he rented the movie. he said after the first rape scene, he want to shut down the movie. but it went on so he continued watching. he said that was a movie he wished he hadnt watched.

it was two decades ago. and it was out of his mouth fast.

i have never seen it. dont think it will be one i watch.

[sufrommich]

55. I read the book in high school too. If the movie

is too much for you, you might want to try the book, it's an excellent book. I think that's why I could get through the movie, I knew what was coming and when to look away.

[seabeyond]

56. ahhh. thanks. nt

[CrispyQ]

59. I couldn't watch it. --nt

[hlthe2b]

63. Yes, seabeyond... You are absolutely right

This whole movement was only possible because women have never obtained the equality of men and RW fundamentalists and their allies intend to keep it that way.

[leftyohiolib]

32. i think this war on birth control is maybe less about hating women more about that report that says

white people are becoming a minority. they feel it's b/c white women are using the birth control more than other women and that by banning birth control that trend would tend to reverse. not saying they dont hate women but they fear becoming a minority in "their own land" more

[seabeyond]

33. i was gonna say nah... religion. but, thinking, the religion is for the reason you state.

good point. i had not looked at it in that manner. i did not go that next layer. excellent. thanks.

[redqueen]

37. I dunno.

The laws that are being used to jail pregnant drug addicts disproportionately affect women of color.

[Mc Mike]

64. What ever is most nazi-like is the repugs' default position.

You may recall the involuntary sterilization scandals at inner city US health clinics, in Puerto Rico, and on reservations through the IHS. And there is a years-long waiting list to adopt healthy white babies, but we have many non-white babies and white non-babies in the foster care system.

The repugs are doing like Hitler to make the woman's body the property of the state, like a factory that's been nationalized. But they only want the white ones to bear children, and they want our sisters and brothers of color not to reproduce at all.

So they achieve two goals jailing the women you reference. They get to attack all women, to take over white womens' bodies, & they get to attack people of color. Icing on the cake for them that their pig buddies make money from the prison system, via sweetheart contracts and privatization.

[Hatchling]

60. I think you may have a point here.

It was a thought that I had as well, that there was a component of racism as well as overt misogyny.

[knitter4democracy]

34. I'd say I'm shocked, but I'm not.

Did they use their so-called emergency voting powers to get it passed?

Bought two new bumper stickers today, one for women's rights and one for teachers' rights. I'm so sick of this crap.

[Scout]

38. time to start menstrual extraction training

and the Jane underground

i am disgusted by my state lately. i live in the "liberal paradise" of Washtenaw County, but even that's not all that liberal, really.

[stopbush]

43. It's all about the Christians imposing their based-in-make-believe beliefs on the rest of us.

End of story.

[MerryBlooms]

57. Sickening

People who insist the war on women doesn't exist, are big fat liars!

[jmowreader]

61. Lawmakers of Michigan: Thank you for passing a perfect law

Signed, Mullah Mohammed Omar