Personhood Amendments

[cobl04]

Todd Akin Claims Breastmilk Cures Homosexuality | The Daily Currant

[BVS]

[Pearl]

Originally Posted by cobl04

Todd Akin Claims Breastmilk Cures Homosexuality | The Daily Currant

ETA: nevermind, the article is clearly a joke.

[cobl04]

Originally Posted by Pearl

ETA: nevermind, the article is clearly a joke.

Yeah I was fooled at first too and got a little excited. But then I googled the quote and soon caught on.

[MrsSpringsteen]

Huffington Post

Trying to distance himself from the "legitimate rape" comment that Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) made last week, Pennsylvania Senate candidate Tom Smith (R) stirred up further controversy by comparing a pregnancy caused by rape to "having a baby out of wedlock."

Smith said Monday at the Pennsylvania Press Club that although he condemns Akin's comment, he agrees with Akin that abortion should be banned without any exceptions, including for rape and incest victims. Pressed by a reporter on how he would handle a daughter or granddaughter becoming pregnant as a result of rape, Smith said he had already "lived something similar to that" in his family.

"She chose life, and I commend her for that," he said. "She knew my views. But, fortunately for me, I didn't have to ... she chose the way I thought. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't rape."

When a reporter asked Smith to clarify what kind of situation was similar to becoming pregnant from rape, the candidate responded, "Having a baby out of wedlock."

He added, "Put yourself in a father's position. Yes, it is similar."

Smith's comment comes at an inconvenient time for Republicans, who have been scrambling to distract voters from the firestorm of controversy over Akin's comment last week. Addressing the subject of an abortion exception for rape victims, Akin said that victims of "legitimate rape" rarely become pregnant because "the female body has ways to shut that whole thing down."

Smith, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) in the November election, told reporters that he does not agree with Akin's remark at all. "He should have never said anything like that," Smith said.

UPDATE: 8:45 p.m. --

Megan Piwowar, a spokeswoman for Smith, clarified on Monday evening that the candidate's comments were misunderstood and that the "out of wedlock" pregnancy in his family was not his daughter's.

"Tom Smith is committed to protecting the sanctity of life and believes it begins at conception," she said in a statement. "While his answers to some of the questions he faced at the Pennsylvania Press club may have been less than artful, at no time did he draw the comparison that some have inferred. When questioned if he was drawing that comparison, Tom's answer was clear, 'no, no, no.' Tom was speaking to the difficult decision faced by his family, not the nature of his daughters conception.”

[cobl04]

Imagine if she had aborted. After falling pregnant out of wedlock. America would have crumbled under the shame.

[BonosSaint]

I'm pretty sure Tom Smith has no chance to even come close to Bob Casey in the election. And since Casey is pretty much a prolife candidate (although apparently not prolife enough for some groups), the only thing Smith had to offer was fringe. There must be a way though to be fringe and not sound so fucking stupid.

[Caleb8844]

Arizona Abortion Bill: Legislators Pass Three Bills, Including One That Redefines When Life Begins

Arizona lawmakers gave final passage to three anti-abortion bills Tuesday afternoon, including one that declares pregnancies in the state begin two weeks before conception.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill to prohibit abortions after the 18th week of pregnancy; a bill to protect doctors from being sued if they withhold health information about a pregnancy that could cause a woman to seek an abortion; and a bill to mandate that how school curriculums address the topic of unwanted pregnancies.

All of the bills passed the Senate and now head to Gov. Jan Brewer (R) for her signature or veto.

The 18th week bill includes a new definition for when pregnancy begins. A sentence in the bill defines gestational age as "calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman," which would move the beginning of a pregnancy up two weeks prior to conception. The bill's passage would give Arizona the earliest cutoff for late-term abortions in the country; most states use 20 weeks as a definition.

But while the bill's definition of when pregnancy begins is new in legislation, it's not necessarily new for doctors. Elizabeth Nash, states issues manager for Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research organization in Washington, said it corresponds with how doctors typically determine gestational age. She said since the exact date of conception cannot be pinpointed, doctors use the day of the woman's last menstrual period to gauge the duration of a pregnancy. The method does not provide an exact date.

[BVS]

Life begins at thought?

What the fuck is wrong with Arizona?

[corianderstem]

So ... I could be pregnant now, assuming I have sex two weeks from today? What?

Also, re conservatives piping up regarding anything remotely about rape: STOP IT. SERIOUSLY.

[BVS]

When will Republicans concentrate on preventing more abortions by logical moves like education and supporting Planned Parenthood(who prevent more than they perform), rather than trying to step around or redefine science and legitimize rape?

[MrsSpringsteen]

They were trying to pass that period bill, it was earlier in the thread. So they actually did?

[deep]

Originally Posted by Caleb8844

Arizona Abortion Bill: Legislators Pass Three Bills, Including One That Redefines When Life Begins

Originally Posted by BVS

Life begins at thought?

What the fuck is wrong with Arizona?

Originally Posted by corianderstem

So ... I could be pregnant now, assuming I have sex two weeks from today? What?

Also, re conservatives piping up regarding anything remotely about rape: STOP IT. SERIOUSLY.

a bit of an over reaction

all the bill did was say a person needs to get their abortion no later than 18 - 20 weeks, instead of 20 weeks

I believe if they put banning abortions after 18 weeks on the ballot, it would pass in almost every state, easily.

[Irvine511]

Women need to be taught that there are consequences to their actions. If we don't stop them from fucking on the taxpayer dime and then killing babies, who will?

[anitram]

Originally Posted by deep

a bit of an over reaction

all the bill did was say a person needs to get their abortion no later than 18 - 20 weeks, instead of 20 weeks

I believe if they put banning abortions after 18 weeks on the ballot, it would pass in almost every state, easily.

That's not what the Bill did.

This is an old story, I think from back in April, and they passed a law prohibiting all abortion after 20 (effectively 18) weeks except for cases of imminent death, or something to that effect. There was never a change from 20 to 18 weeks.

As far as I know, at the beginning of the month the 9th Circuit blocked the law while the legal case is pending.

[deep]

Originally Posted by anitram

That's not what the Bill did.

This is an old story, I think from back in April, and they passed a law prohibiting all abortion after 20 (effectively 18) weeks except for cases of imminent death, or something to that effect. There was never a change from 20 to 18 weeks.

As far as I know, at the beginning of the month the 9th Circuit blocked the law while the legal case is pending.

that link, The Huff Post article is poorly written, just a rant


there is this

Arizona Did Not Declare That Pregnancy Begins Before Conception - Phoenix - News - Valley Fever


I suppose we could find the actual bill and see what it says. At this point I still believe those were over reactions and a majority in the U S would vote to ban abortions after 18 0r 20 weeks.

It is just the extremists on both ends that are in the minority.

[Moonlit_Angel]

Originally Posted by corianderstem

Also, re conservatives piping up regarding anything remotely about rape: STOP IT. SERIOUSLY.

This.

And to men in general: Stop. Talking. About. Something. You. Don't. Have. Firsthand. Experience. With. And if you ARE going to talk about it, for fuck's sake, take a sex ed class/read a biology book first.

[Caleb8844]

If politicians shouldn't speak of things they don't have first-hand experience with, you must not be much of a fan of Obama's economic policies whatsoever.

[Moonlit_Angel]

How do you figure that, exactly? And I did also say that if they are going to talk about it, they should at least educate themselves first, instead of make these weird comparisons about rape and make comments that show they don't seem to understand how women's monthly cycles work or whatever.

[Caleb8844]

I was making an analogy with his lack of experience in the economy, to show that just because you don't PERSONALLY experience something, doesn't mean you can't have knowledge of it.

I get what you're saying, I really do. A lot of politicians have shown a lack of basic biological understanding lately. It's just a pet peeve of mine when people say men can't speak on female political issues, simply because they're male.