The Starfish Revolution

I can be happy about this for a while.

New, toned-down version of South Dakota abortion ban dies in committee.

I really can't say I'm surprised.

I do wish that anti-choicers would do something constructive to end abortion (like providing services to poor mothers and their children) instead of wasting all their money lobbying state legislatures and clogging the court system with inane reiterations of the same challenges to Roe that have already been overturned half a dozen or more times. For that matter, our money would be better spent enhancing reproductive choice than dicking around with these cretins year after year.

Ew, Mississippi.

Mississippi moves to ban most abortions. Here are the provisions:

-In the event that Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion will become completely illegal excepting cases of rape or if the mother's life is at risk.
-Starting July 1st, doctors would be required to offer women sonograms and the chance to hear fetal heartbeat. A (new? I believe Mississippi already had one) parental consent law will also take effect.

As if there only being one clinic to service the entire state isn't enough.

I'd like to point out that a similar law died in committee in my state two years ago, and it's looking like the death certificates policy I mentioned yesterday won't pass the House (and if it does, out moderately pro-choice, Democratic governor will veto it). Thanks heavens. This state is broke enough without having to add yet another ridiculously expensive abortion-legislation-related lawsuit to the budget (I'm referring to the extended fracas over "Choose Life" license plates that lasted for close to three years).

Give me a freaking break.

And people wonder why I hate living in this state.

Once again, I'm really not sure what gets into people and makes them think that pulling stunts like this is a great idea. I mean, come on. What good could death certificates for aborted fetuses possibly serve if you don't consider terrorizing women who have abortions to be a good thing? Clinics are already required to report numbers to the Office of Vital Statistics; the only thing that using death certificates would do is provide identifying information about the women having abortions, thereby opening up multiple avenues for harassing them.

It's not going to pass (and if it does, the courts will strike it down) since it obviously violates HIPAA and other medical privacy laws, but still, it's the principle of the matter- once again, god forbid that women start making their own medical decisions without the input and oversight of sanctimoniously paternalistic politicians. Once again, the anti-choicers show that they're really not interested in protecting fetal life, just harassing and demonizing women who have abortions.

This is all for tonight, I swear

Via Atrios:

[A]ppealing to the sincerity of [Christians'] beliefs is a way of privileging them, to put them in the realm of privileged discourse, as well as removing the person's responsibility. I don't really care if the desire to discriminate against gay people, or turn the uterus into state property, is motivated by sincere religious conviction. I don't think religious conviction, sincere or otherwise, makes your beliefs somehow special. If you think your misogyny or homophobia is sanctioned by God, it doesn't make you not a misogynist or homophobe.

I've had this conversation with anti-choice progressives, who think it's important for me to understand that their anti-choice views come from a sincere religious belief. The thing is, I just don't care. The fact that your political beliefs are motivated by your religion doesn't make them special to me.

And then, I made $20.

While I'm thinking about politics, I made $20 last week. Nature Boy questioned my judgment and bet me $20 that Giuliani would win the Republican nomination. I explained to him that if one marginally pro-choice comment was enough to cause McCain to lose the 2000 primaries, Giuliani's consistent support of not hating on women abortion rights wouldn't fly. Giuliani also supports gay rights, another major no-no with the party leadership. Nature Boy continued to disagree because he's too young to understand the incredible capacity of American political parties to shoot themselves in the foot.

So, I can look forward to $20 when the primaries are over.

In Which John McCain Sucks

Ugh, courtesy of Yahoo! News and the Associated Press:

"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."

I admit it: I used to kind of like John McCain. Long, long ago, he was a breath of fresh (relative) moderateness in the ever-Rightening Republican Party. He opposed major Republicans on a number of issues that had wide popular support (such as campaign finance reform, which I think we can all get behind), and always seemed to have high approval ratings within his constituency. That changed in the 2000 primaries, when remarks he made to a San Francisco newspaper got him in hot water with the fundamentalists. Evidently, not thinking that existing case law that has been governing the land for the past three decades ought to be overturned is proof that he didn't hate women enough to be a good Republican candidate. Bush II won the primaries, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Ever since then, McCain's been hastening to toe the party line at every available opportunity. Not only has he taken to parroting the usual anti-choice nonsense, every time he steps out of line and gets called out by his party superiors, he recants almost immediately and goes rushing back to the fold. And people called Kerry a flip-flopper. This guy's a regular Mexican Jumping Bean. I'd find it amusing if it weren't so obviously indicative of the sad state of affairs in American party politics.  At the end of the day, I don't like McCain's post-2000 uber-Conservative transformation (although it ultimately benefits liberals) and I think it's really unfortunate. Even though I've never been a huge fan of McCain's politics, I could always respect him for following the wishes of his constituency and not being afraid to take a stance that was unpopular within his party.

So much for that.