Hullabaloo

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

 
Chippin' away at it --- yet another assault on women's rights

by digby

I'm told that even talking about this constitutes a hissy fit by dumb women playing useful idiots for Barack Obama (or in my case a hack trying to misdirect liberals away from their real enemies in the Democratic Party --- or something.) But I think I'll mention it anyway:

Anti-choice Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) just filed an anti-choice amendment to a bill related to agriculture, transportation, housing, and other programs. The DeMint amendment could bar discussion of abortion over the Internet and through videoconferencing, even if a woman’s health is at risk and if this kind of communication with her doctor is her best option to receive care.

Under this amendment, women would need a separate, segregated Internet just for talking about abortion care with their doctors.

I looked around and couldn't figure out from the various blog posts and articles about this what was really going on. Banning using the internet to talk about abortion? And then I searched the "pro-life" sites:

Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, is offering an amendment to legislation in the U.S. Senate that could receive a vote as early as today or tomorrow to ensure taxpayer funds are not used to pay for the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug under a telemedicine grant section.

The amendment is similar to the one Congressman Steve King, an Iowa Republican, introduced in the House this summer that the lower chamber approved on a bipartisan 240-176 vote. The amendment prevents any funds within the legislation from being spent on the abortion drug RU-486 “for any purpose,” including use in “telemed abortions.”

Telemed, or webcam, abortions are those in which a woman gets the abortion drug only after a webcam conversation with the abortion practitioner, who may be out of state. The woman is denied the in-person consultation with a physician that the Food and Drug Administration recommends, especially due to the dangerous nature of the drug as it has killed dozens of women worldwide and injured 2,200 alone as of April 2011 FDA figures. The consultation helps determine whether or not the woman may suffer from an ectopic pregnancy — as usage of the abortion drug RU 486 in such instances is life-threatening.

Abortion providers like Planned Parenthood are the frequent recipient of federal telemedicine grants, and King’s amendment makes it clear that telemedicine grants contained within the agriculture bill cannot be used to facilitate the use of RU-486 in “telemed abortions.” King and DeMint tell LifeNews the issue is of particular importance as the practice spreads to other states from Iowa, where 1,900 such telemed abortions have been done.

“Doctors at Planned Parenthood have been using telemedicine conferencing to prescribe RU 486, commonly known as the abortion drug,” King’s office said in comments on the bill. “These doctors are not present when the woman takes the drug and have never had any personal contact with the woman. The presence of this drug has led to more taking of human life. It was even more disheartening to learn that doctors at Planned Parenthood had found a way to make it even easier for a woman to get this drug.”

“Not only do telemedicine consultations make it easier for a woman to have an abortion, it makes it much more dangerous. Pregnant women should not be making the decision to terminate a life without a doctor present and should not be enduring this gruesome, invasive and harmful procedure without the presence of a doctor,” King’s office added. “It’s a multi-day treatment that is dangerous at every step. The FDA guidelines say that the woman must be in the presence of a doctor and must return after 14 days. Planned Parenthood has been using telemedicine to circumvent the intent of this guideline which was the safety of the woman.”

“This amendment must be passed in order to ensure that no taxpayer dollars are going to build facilities or set up computer networks designed to facilitate these gruesome, and dangerous procedures over the Internet,” the lawmaker concluded.

What will they think of next?

Now, Steve King is one of the most embarrassing politicians in the world. You expect him to propose the most cockamamie nonsense the right wing can come up with. But Jim DeMint slipping his ridiculous nonsense into unrelated bills is an escalation of the crazy.

I have no idea if this will survive in the Senate. Perhaps it's just another one of those idle gestures to the "pro-life" constituency that never go anywhere. But one thing I've learned from the reactionary fanatics over the years is that their persistence often pays off. It's as if they just keep annoying everyone until they give in in exasperation. Don't bet on this one not passing at some point.

It's ridiculous on its face --- Ru486 is safe and this concern trolling about it being "dangerous" and "gruesome" is just typical dishonest forced-childbirth propaganda. But it's also exactly the kind of issue that lefties who call women useful idiots and liberals who say this sort of thing is unimportant compared to the issues they care about will refuse to defend. And little by little the anti-choicers win. Not that that's important or anything.

Update:

More useful idiocy

The people fighting for reproductive rights in Mississippi tell us they don't have much money. They're up against Issue 26, which would assign personhood to every fertilized egg. The measure would immediately outlaw abortion in Mississippi, along with common forms of birth control and likely IVF treatments.

If the national personhood movement can get this done in Mississippi next month, then they're on the table nationwide.

Without much for spending on billboards or commercials, the pro-choice side has been doing this one themselves, in their own way. Now the very grassroots Parents Against MS 26 has its own video, telling their own stories. Whatever happens in November, these folks are trying.

.

digby 10/19/2011 02:00:00 PM |