The River Wanders...

justinspoliticalcorner:

Last year, anti-choice advocates in Ohio pushed extreme legislation to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected — which often occurs as early as six weeks, before many women may even know they’re pregnant. So-called “heartbeat” bills like HB 125 are so radical that they often divide the anti-abortion community, and this particular legislation has been stalled in the Ohio Senate since June 2011.

But now, thanks to significant pressure from the anti-choice groups who were the biggest proponents of the heartbeat bill last year, HB 125 may be up again for consideration in Ohio’s Senate as early as next week:

Mired in the Ohio Senate since June 2011, HB 125 is getting another look, Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, told The Enquirer Thursday.He said a substitute bill is being prepared. […]

[Anti-abortion group Faith2Action] took aim at Niehaus and other legislators, including Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, trying to pressure them into moving the bill. They and other legislators were inundated with telephone calls, emails and post cards from supporters of the bill. TV ads, billboards and even an airplane circling the statehouse dragging a sign targeted legislators.[…]

Niehaus said he set conditions for reconsidering the bill. He would not say what those conditions are or whether the bill’s proponents had met them.That’s what he’s going to consider next week, he said.

If passed, Ohio’s bill would be the most restrictive abortion ban in the nation — far surpassing a bill in Arizona that currently earns that unfortunate distinction by banning abortions after 20 weeks. HB 125 would criminalize all abortions after the fetal heartbeat is detected without even the narrowest exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or the mental health of the woman.

The heartbeat bill isn’t the only anti-choice measure up for consideration in Ohio next week. A Planned Parenthood affiliate in Ohio notes that the Ohio House Health Committee has also scheduled a vote next week on a bill that would defund Planned Parenthood clinics in the state.

h/t: Tara Culp-Ressler at Think Progress

(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)

stfuconservatives:

sinidentidades:

The state of Missouri has been in the national spotlight recently because of comments made by Republican Congressman Todd Akin who claimed that raped women rarely get pregnant. After his statements hit the Internet, immediate outrage burned across the country. Akin later apologized, but his statements have rekindled a nationwide debate. One that republicans desperately do not want to have, lest they alienate a wide majority of female voters.

Sharon Barnes, a high ranking state Republican, came to the defense of her conservative colleague who she believes only “phrased it (his statement) badly.”

Barnes was quoted by The New York Times saying, “abortion is never an option.” Barnes went on to biblically claim that, “If God has chosen to bless this person [the rape victim] with a life, you don’t kill it.”

Barnes did not elaborate on her views for post-pregnancy care, or costs.

Barnes has been a figure in conservative St. Louis politics for years, and currently holds all of the following titles according to her Linkedin profile:

1. President of The 2nd Congressional District Republican Women
2. President of The Republican Women’s Club of St. Louis
3. Vice President, Membership Committee at National Federation Of Republican Women
4. Vice President of The Missouri Federation of Republican Women
5. Chairman of The St. Louis City Republican Central Committee
6. State Committeewoman, 4th Senate District at Missouri Republican Party
7. Committeewoman, 24th Ward at Missouri Republican Party
8. Volunteer at GOP Missouri Republican Party

As her comments become more known the GOP will attempt to spin Barnes’ clout in the party as little, when in reality she is a big player behind the scenes.

no words

I have two words:  Christian Taliban.  Oh, and two more:  fuck off.

(via stfuconservatives)

quickhits:

With Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” story dominating the news, it’s easy to lose sight of just why the lie is so awful in the first place. Talking Points Memo’s Pema Levy put together a short history of the “real rape victims don’t get pregnant” myth and zeroes in on the emotional damage it causes.

One abortion-rights activist said publicizing the false theory can cause even further trauma to rape victims.

“The first time I heard it or saw anything about it it was in a chat room,” Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, told TPM. O’Neill recalled that a woman in the chat room said she “struggled to deal with the shame of her sexual assault because she had heard that she was not supposed to get pregnant and that her body sort of had betrayed her.”

“It was a number of years ago,” O’Neill said, “But I just remember thinking, ‘Oh my God that poor woman, where did she hear this?’”

That’s the problem here; elected officials are authority figures and people believe them. Akin — and the rest of the “real rape” crowd — are abusing women’s trust with these lies and those who become victims are victimized twice; once by a rapist and again by the horse’s ass that makes them feel like a slut for being pregnant.

(via livealifethatscompletelyfree)