MO Satanist Challenges Abortion Law

The unforeseen ramifications of the far-right Christian conservative crusade for religious freedom continue to mount.

A Missouri Satanist, who wishes to be known only as Mary, is challenging the state’s seventy-two hour mandatory waiting period for abortion. Mary is utilizing remarkably similar tactics as Hobby Lobby did when the corporate organization contended that birth control insurance coverage for their employees violated the religious beliefs of the organization. Mary asserts that the waiting period, including mandates to attend counseling, violates her religious beliefs. Mary indicates that according to the Supreme Court, her religious beliefs trump Missouri law.

Mary issued a statement contending,

“I regard a waiting period as a state sanctioned attempt to discourage abortion by instilling an unnecessary burden as part of the process to obtain this legal medical procedure…The waiting period interferes with the inviolability of my body and thereby imposes an unwanted and substantial burden on my sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Mary intends to present a religious exemption waiver when she arrives at the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic for her abortion. However, Mary does have a problem. She will have to travel hundreds of miles from her home to receive services for her abortion. The Satanic Temple has set up a GoFundMe page to help Mary meet these expenses. Lucien Greaves, Satanic Temple leader stated,

“The waiting period is another facile and insulting attempt at making abortion services less available…With a dearth of abortion clinics, some women are made to travel a great distance for services they then have to wait three days to receive, adding the expense of accommodations and time away from work.”

Greaves promises legal action should Mary’s religious exemption waiver be denied.

The state of Missouri would be wise to recognize Mary’s religious beliefs waiver. This writer admits, a tiny little slice of me is capering with mad glee at the prospect of a legislative challenge to laws that restrict women’s access to abortion. An even bigger chunk is wildly applauding the fact that the Satanic Temple is the entity threatening this. Freedom of religion should also encompass freedom from religion and the puritanical self-righteous imposition of religious beliefs through legislation placed upon all. The Satanic Temple is gaining proficiency in the navigation of the twisted labyrinth of legal rhetoric, and what sweet irony it would be if this case reaches the halls of government. Regardless of personal religious beliefs, the separation of church and state should remain sacrosanct. If it takes a shock campaign from the Satanic Temple to convince the far right Christian conservative movement to wake up to the fact that they need to stay out of the halls of government regulation, so be it. Unfortunately for these Christian extremists, religion is religion, whether you worship a God, Satan, or The Flying Spaghetti Monster.

This is one to watch

The First Order Of Business For Congressional Republicans? A National Abortion Ban

For years, Republicans complained and said if only they had a majority in the Senate, they’d be able to pass bills to help veterans and create jobs.

Ever since George W. Bush left the Oval Office in January 2009, Republicans have blamed President Obama for the economy and claimed that they had a plan to put America back to work which would have us all finally swimming in that warm sea of trickle-down economics.

So today, now that Republicans finally control both houses of Congress (thanks a lot apathetic voters), we’re finally going to see Republicans unveil all of that legislation that’s going to help create jobs? Right? Right? Right…

Oh here it is now, two congressional Republicans brought back some legislation that was thwarted by Senate Democrats who held a majority last session. Reps. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) reintroduced a bill designed to help veterans, end our dependence on foreign oil and put millions of under-employed Americans back into full-time positions that were lost during the Great Recession. Wow! On the very first day back, what’s that bill’s name? It’s known as “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” and…oh wait, what’s this? It’s not a jobs bill?

On Tuesday, the very first day of the 114th Congress, two lawmakers introduced a measure to ban abortions after 20 weeks, in direct violation of the protections afforded under Roe v. Wade. Reps. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) reintroduced the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the same legislation that successfully passed the House last year. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — who introduced a companion 20-week abortion ban in the Senate last year that was stalled by Democratic leadership — has already indicated that he plans to re-introduce his own measure in the next few weeks, too. Now that the Senate is GOP-controlled, Republicans are anticipating that they’ll have enough support to pass the ban in both chambers this year, helping the anti-choice community gain momentum for this particular tactic to limit reproductive rights. 

“In a Republican Senate, under my leadership, we would have the kind of real debate on the issues that the American people want,” Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told the audience at the National Right to Life Conference in the fall. “For six years, the president has been isolated from this growing movement. He will be forced to listen to the cause that’s brought us all here this morning.” (Source)

Now if any of you reading this actually thought that Republicans were going to do something worthwhile once they regained control of the Senate, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you. I’d also like you to help me claim that $15 million fortune a Nigerian diplomat keeps telling me will be all mine, just as soon as I send him a copy of my ID and $5,000 via Western Union.

So welcome to the next two years of Washington politics, which will most likely consist of more gridlock and another government shutdown or two. I predict we’ll see at least one attempt a month to repeal Obamacare, sandwiched between constantly blaming Obama for anything and everything, and more Benghazi investigations. I also predict three attempts to mandate forced ultrasounds before an abortion, two bills to repeal marriage equality rulings, and at least one gigantic hissy fit when Michelle Obama suggests doing anything healthy. Finally just for lagniappe, Republicans in Congress will try to impeach President Obama at least twice and Sen. John McCain will also try to start a war with three new countries, just in case he got tired of Iran and Russia.

Don’t worry, Republicans haven’t learned their lesson about how a government is supposed to function yet, because America obviously hasn’t either.

Watch This Pregnant Woman Absolutely DESTROY Hypocritical Anti-Choice Protesters

The anti-abortion crowd often lays out arguments that are tired and based in something that doesn’t remotely resemble reality — overlooking the fact that they’re advocating a form of communism unheard of even in countries practicing Stalinism and Maoism (did Stalin ever say you have to sacrifice your body for nine months because a comrade needed it? No? Didn’t think so). Their claims that there’s a “right to life” are absolutely foolish in the face of our laughable healthcare system and the recent murders of Michael Brown and Eric Gardner.

Therefore, it’s very satisfying to watch the anti-choice advocates get decimated by angry women’s advocates, who eloquently illustrate their hypocrisy.

A pregnant woman in the United Kingdom was recently caught on video doing just that; she delivered an epic verbal beat down to a group of anti-abortion protesters that were filming women who went into a clinic.

The woman ripped into the anti-choice advocates, calling them “hypocrites” and telling them to help children in need instead of harassing women in distress. The woman in the video hasn’t been identified yet, but the video of her yelling at the members of the anti-choice group, Abort67, is online for all to see.

The video, which was captured by journalist Sunny Hundal, takes place in a London neighborhood; per UK law, there is no buffer zone between clinic and protesters, so Abort67 will park themselves near the entrance, filming women and holding signs of bloody fetuses.

The video begins with several counter-protesters, among them the pregnant woman, who are urging the man with the camera to not film the clinic entrance. After a few minutes of fruitless discussion with the Abort67 member who maintains that they weren’t filming women going in and out of the clinic, the pregnant woman loses her cool and rips into the anti-choice advocates:

Debunking 8 Conservative Talking Points About Abortion

Since we have a new Republican/Tea Party majority in Congress and new conservative dominance in state governments, we can expect to see more and more anti-abortion legislation bubbling up like stinking gas bubbles from the dank mire we call the American right.

Indeed, we have already had some, in the form of Tennessee’s new amendment, approved in this election because people don’t understand the supremacy clause.

For your edification, here are some of my favorite responses to pro-life ignorance; it seems we’re going to need them.

“Banning abortions would decrease abortions.”

Nope – abortion rates are the same in places where they’re illegal. But women and other pregnant people have to get dangerous illegal abortions, which are often unsanitary and not performed by medical professionals. Or worse, they do it themselves.

“Funding Planned Parenthood funds abortions, even though the Hyde Amendment prohibits it.”

Actually, federal funds for family planning prevent 800,000 abortions per year.

Pretty much!

Mike Huckabee Threatens to Leave the GOP Over Its Non-Response to the SCOTUS Gay Marriage Decision

Former Arkansas Governor and longtime opponent of LGBT equality Mike Huckabee phoned in on American Family Radio's Today's Issues program earlier this week to blast the Republican Party's largely nonexistent reaction to the Supreme Court's gay marriage decision on Monday (only a handful of GOP congressmen spoke out, no statement was released by the RNC, and chairman Reince Priebus reiterated this week that gay marriage will not be a major issue during this year's midterms.)

Said Huckabee:

I'm utterly exasperated with Republicans and the so-called leadership of the Republicans who have abdicated on this issue when, if they continue in this direction, they guarantee they're going to lose every election in the future...and if Republicans want to lose guys like me and a whole bunch of still God-fearing, Bible-believing people, go ahead and abdicate on this issue and while your at it go ahead and say abortion doesn't matter. Because at that point, you'll lose me. I'll become an independent. I'll start finding people that have guts to stand. I'm tired of this.

A Dude Trying To Ban Abortions Is Asked A Question He Never Considered.

This is reality. This is what people trying to restrict a woman's right to choose actually think and say.

So, Rep. Buchy, here's some realtalk: You don't need to be a woman to know why women seek abortions. And even if you did, maybe you shouldn't use the power of public office to legislate against things you admit you don't understand.

Virginia GOP Congressional Candidate: Disabled Children God’s ‘Vengeance’ for Abortion

Virginia GOP state delegate and congressional candidate Bob Marshall said in 2010 that God punishes women who have abortions by giving them disabled children. “Nature takes its vengeance on subsequent children,” Marshall opined in 2010. “It’s a special punishment, Christians would suggest.”

On Thursday, Marshall doubled down on the comment, said that while he claimed he was “misinterpreted” in 2010 he will not be backing away from that comment, or any of his other controversial remarks–including his questioning of Supreme Court Justice Kennedy’s sexuality  for favoring marriage equality. “For all I know, Kennedy’s a homosexual,” he said. “You can’t be doing some of these things without this kind of conclusion,” he said. He defended the comment by claiming, “Clearly, some of the people who are making these decisions must be rationalizing their own bad behavior,” on Thursday.

Marshall also feels that abortions should not be banned in cases of incest. Why? Well, because sometimes incest is voluntary! “What if incest is voluntary?” he said. “Sometimes it is,” he said in a 1989 Boston Globe interview when he was research director of the American Life League.

The man who wants to be one of Virginia’s next Congressmen has repeatedly introduced fetal “personhood” bills in order to push the rights of the unborn above those of the mother and, in 2012, introduced a measure that would force women to undergo ultrasounds before they are able to have an abortion.

Virginia, remember when you go to the polls that a vote for Bob Marshall is a vote to force victims of incest to undergo forced ultrasounds before they anger God by exercising their right to dominion over their own bodies–which will lead to only one logical conclusion: disabled children in the future.

Terrifying Precedent: Woman to Be Tried for Murder for Giving Birth to Stillborn When She Was 16

Rennie Gibbs’s daughter, Samiya, was a month premature when she simultaneously entered the world and left it, never taking a breath. To experts who later examined the medical record, the stillborn infant’s most likely cause of death was also the most obvious: the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.
But within days of Samiya’s delivery in November 2006, Steven Hayne, Mississippi’s de facto medical examiner at the time, came to a different conclusion. Autopsy tests had turned up traces of a cocaine byproduct in Samiya’s blood, and Hayne declared her death a homicide, caused by “cocaine toxicity.”
In early 2007, a Lowndes County grand jury indicted Gibbs, a 16-year-old black teen, for “depraved heart murder” —  defined under Mississippi law as an act “eminently dangerous to others…regardless of human life.” By smoking crack during her pregnancy, the indictment said, Gibbs had “unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously” caused the death of her baby. The maximum sentence: life in prison.
Seven years and much legal wrangling later, Gibbs could finally go on trial this spring — part of a wave of “fetal harm” cases across the country in recent years that pit the rights of the mother against what lawmakers, health care workers, prosecutors, judges, jurors, and others view as the rights of the unborn child.
A judge is said to be likely to decide this week if the case should move forward or be dismissed. Assuming it continues, whether Gibbs becomes the first woman ever convicted by a Mississippi jury for the loss of her pregnancy could turn on a fundamental question that has received surprisingly little scrutiny so far by the courts: Is there scientific proof that cocaine can cause lasting damage to a child exposed in the womb, or are the conclusions reached by Hayne and prosecutors based on faulty analysis and junk science?
The case intersects a number of divisive and difficult issues — the criminal justice system’s often disproportionate treatment of poor people of color, especially in drug prosecutions; the backlash to Roe v. Wade and the conservative push to establish “personhood” for fetuses as part of a broad-based strategy to weaken abortion laws. A wild card in the case — Mississippi’s  history of using sometimes dubious forensic evidence to win criminal convictions over many years — could end up playing a central role.
Prosecutors argue that the state has a responsibility to protect children from the dangerous actions of their parents. Saying Gibbs should not be tried for murder is like saying that “every drug addict who robs or steals to obtain money for drugs should not be held accountable for their actions because of their addiction,”  the state attorney general’s office wrote in a brief to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

But some civil libertarians and women’s rights advocates worry that if Gibbs is convicted, the precedent could inspire more prosecutions of Mississippi women and girls for everything from miscarriage to abortion — and that African Americans, who suffer  twice as many stillbirths as whites, would be affected the most.

Mississippi has one of has  one of the worst records for maternal and infant health in the U.S., as well as some of the highest rates of  teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease and among the most restrictive policies on abortion. Many of the factors that have been linked to prenatal and infant mortality — poverty, poor nutrition, lack of access to healthcare, pollution, smoking, stress — are rampant there. 

“It’s tremendously, tremendously frightening, this case,” said Oleta Fitzgerald, southern regional director for the Children’s Defense Fund, an advocacy and research organization, in Jackson. “There’s real fear for young women whose babies are dying early who [lack the resources to] defend themselves and their actions.” 

Read more

Notice Any Contradictions From The ‘Pro-Life’ Rally? This Woman Sums Them Up Gorgeously.

Judge rejects forced ultrasounds in N.C.

Photo by Molly Riley/Reuters

Pro-choice activists demonstrate during March for Life Fund’s 37th annual march in Washington January 22, 2010.

After North Carolina Republicans reclaimed control of the General Assembly in 2010, they got right to work tackling culture-war issues Democratic lawmakers had previously rejected. Near the top of the list: requiring women to undergo medically unnecessary ultrasounds before terminating a pregnancy.

 

At the time, then-Gov. Bev Perdue (D) vetoed the bill, but the GOP-led legislature overrode the veto in July 2011, passing the measure into law.

 

Late Friday afternoon, however, as Raleigh’s News & Observer reported, the proposal ran into trouble in the courts.

A federal court judge on Friday struck down North Carolina’s controversial law requiring women seeking abortions to be shown an ultrasound image while a doctor describes the images.

 

U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Eagles ruled that provision of the 2011 law was an unconstitutional violation of First Amendment rights because it imposes state-mandated speech on medical professionals.

 

“It is an impermissible attempt to compel these providers to deliver the state’s message in favor of childbirth and against abortion,” the judge wrote.

Pope Warns Church Must Find New Balance or Fail

Pope Francis has warned that the Catholic Church’s moral structure might "fall like a house of cards" if it doesn’t balance its divisive rules about abortion, gays and contraception with the greater need to make the church a merciful, more welcoming place for all.

Six months into his papacy, Francis set out his vision for the church and his priorities as pope in a remarkably lengthy and self-critical interview with La Civilta Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit magazine. It was published simultaneously Thursday in Jesuit journals in 16 countries, including America magazine in the U.S. Full story here!

Albuquerque Becomes Latest Focal Point in Abortion Wars

At the New Mexico Holocaust and Intolerance Museum, three dozen people, many of them teenagers, arrived last month without warning. A group of young abortion opponents calling themselves the Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust staged a protest last month at the New Mexico Holocaust and Intolerance Museum. Wearing T-shirts that said “Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust,” they demanded that the museum include an exhibit on what they called the “American genocide” of legal abortion, and fanned out to scatter cards with pictures of bloody “late-term abortion victims.”They then moved outside to picket with a banner calling Albuquerque “America’s Auschwitz.” 

Albuquerque has become the latest flash point in the abortion wars, with Operation Rescue, the militant group based in Kansas, calling it the “late-term abortion capital of the country.” This is because a private clinic, Southwestern Women’s Options, is one of only a few nationwide that offers abortions after the sixth month of pregnancy.

A pitched political battle is now under way. After failed attempts in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, abortion opponents have collected enough signatures to hold a referendum over whether to make Albuquerque the first city in the country to ban abortions at 20 weeks after conception, just as a dozen states have done.

 

Abortion rights advocates see an ominous parallel with events in Kansas in recent years. Operation Rescue moved its headquarters to Wichita, Kan., in 2003 and labeled it the late-term abortion capital to underscore the group’s campaign against a clinic there run by Dr. George R. Tiller. In May 2009, a gunman killed Dr. Tiller in the foyer of his church. Operation Rescue leaders, who had denounced violence, said they had no connection with the killer. 

The drive for a city referendum has been led here by a couple who trained with Operation Rescue in Kansas and moved here three years ago as anti-abortion “missionaries.” “We felt called to come and serve in Albuquerque,” said Tara Shaver, 29. She and her husband, Bud, moved here largely to find a way to shut down Southwestern Women’s Options, she said. Ms. Shaver is the spokeswoman for a coalition of Roman Catholic, evangelical and other groups pushing the ballot initiative. City officials say the proposed 20-week ban is expected to be put to voters this fall. 

The Shavers’ newcomer status and close ties to Operation Rescue, which is known for harassment of clinics, have become rallying points for abortion rights defenders here. “The fact that they call themselves missionaries is really offensive,” said Joan Lamunyon Sanford, director of the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and a leader of a coalition fighting the 20-week proposal. “We don’t need outsiders bringing in this kind of disruption.” 

Read more

Surprise! You Just Never Know.....

In the ' You Just Never Know' department you have to love this story coming out of Texas about Ross Perot! Mediaite.com reports:

Plutocrat and former third party presidential candidate Ross Perot donated $1 million to Planned Parenthood of Texas, to help fill the gap left by the state’s defunding of the Women’s Health Program. 

“For nearly 100 years Planned Parenthood has helped to educate men and women regarding family planning and general family health,” said Margot Perot, speaking for the Perot Foundation of Dallas. “Our family has supported this nonprofit for many years because we are impressed with the work they do—providing birth control; scientifically based education; breast health exams; and basic, life-saving healthcare for women who cannot afford services otherwise.” 

In 2012, Texas passed a law denying funds from the Woman’s Health Program, a Medicaid program that services many underprivileged women in the state, to clinics that provide abortions. But while the Hyde Amendment already prohibits government money from being used for abortions, federal law also does not allow states to refuse money to clinics that perform the service. When Texas Governor Rick Perry refused to back down on the issue, the federal government yanked its (massive) share of the funding to the WHP, stopping an estimated $40 million to women’s health clinics in the state.

NOM's next cause: Outlawing surrogacy?

The latest musing of Jennifer Roback Morse, the six-figure-a-year-compensated head of the National Organization For Marriage's Ruth Institute:

Wow. Illegal in vitro? I say you step up and go for it, Jen! I can feel the anti-NOM coalition getting broader already!

Betty Bowers Explains Abortion to Everyone Else

An Open Letter to Texas State Senator, Jane Nelson

Dear “Honorable” Jane Nelson:

It simply amazes me, that folks such as yourself, spent the entire day of testimony regarding this particular bill, (SB 1), denigrating women using every single slur known to man, and yet, when a woman testifies before you, exercising HER freedom to speak, you censor her by calling in the security guards to haul her away. I wish I could say, that I am surprised, but the reality is this: This is the norm nowadays for the Republican party, both at the local and National level, and, make no mistake, it is reprehensible at best, and duplicitous at worst.

Case in point: Last year, the entire world witnessed a man, simply attending a Paul Ryan event, which he had to pay in order to attend, exercising HIS first amendment right, by asking the Congressman, why he persisted on calling social security an entitlement. Now, consider me naive, but the man had a valid point, however since Congressman Ryan did not “appreciate” the question being asked, he simply told HIS guards to “get him out of here.” If this were not bad enough, he then proceeded, as the 71 year old man was being handled in a rough manner, thrown to the floor, to quip: “I hope that man has his blood pressure medicine, because he is going to need it.”

Of course, this was not the only incident which has taken place, with the newly branded Republican party, as Senator Rand Paul, at his final debate in Kentucky, had an altercation of sorts. According to then senatorial candidate Paul, he was experiencing a woman following him from venue to venue, so he allowed his campaign staff to take matters into their own hands, so to speak. And the end result, once again, was there for the world to observe: That woman was thrown to the ground, with the campaign worker having his foot stomping on her head.

One would think this would be sufficient cause for that particular campaign volunteer to be released from his duty, or to be disciplined at minimum. But nothing of the sort had taken place, the campaign worker was allowed to remain on staff, no apology was issued, and the woman was arrested. And despite all of this: Senator Paul had the audacity to question the “leadership” of Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, when she was testifying on the Hill, regarding the tragic events surrounding Benghazi. In fact, he went so far as to state, “If I were your boss, you would have been fired.” So, let’s see? He would have fired Secretary of State Clinton, but he never said one word about the manner in which that poor woman at his campaign rally was treated by his campaign worker, simply over her exercising “her first amendment right.”

Watch Out Slick Rick Perry

Texas state capitol confiscates woman’s tampons, but guns are okay

It’s a horrible video. A woman was apparently waiting in line to go watch the Texas Senate debate and vote on new restrictions against abortion, and a state trooper searched her and confiscated her tampons as being too dangerous to bring into the state senate visitors gallery.  He then started showing them to other people.

But guns are permitted into the state capitol.  Just not tampons.

They also reportedly took away her diabetic supplies.  The woman, in the video below shortly after the incident, is in tears.

“In front of, all of these male troopers took away my maxi-pads, and made a huge deal out of flashing them around and showing… and then saying that I couldn’t go into the gallery, I couldn’t take maxi-pads into the gallery. I’ve never been… I’ve never been so humiliated in my life.”

 See the video

Woman Shames Texas Republicans During Testimony Against Draconian Abortion Bill