Romney may be taking a softer tack on women's rights than his party when he says he would allow for abortions in cases of rape or incest. But, says Salon's Irin Carmon, implementing those exceptions in practice would be deeply degrading.
"Rape exceptions, in practice, involve rape victims having to go before a system and prove that what happened to them was bad enough that they should be allowed to not be pregnant anymore," Carmon said on Tuesday's The Last Word. In other words: For the state to enforce legal exceptions to an abortion ban, they would have to begin with the presumption that the women who claimed those exceptions were lying—that they are guilty until proven innocent. Then it would have to interrogate and investigate those women until it was satisfied this was not the case.
A Republican Party that instead denounces all abortions in all circumstances, Carmon said, might actually be preferable, because it reveals what's really at stake.
"I think it's so great that they're absolutist, because we can honestly confront their views and see that basically what they think is that women should be forced to stay pregnant," she said. "And if we're going to start parsing and say, 'Did you enjoy it, and were you raped, and did you ask for it,' well, we're going down the same road as them. And it's time for everyone to realize how much of this is really misogyny; how much of this is not really about saving babies, it's really about a contempt for women."
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Superb and thought provoking segment. I sometimes wonder if these decision making males have wives, daughters, sisters or mothers. I can fully appreciate the move to reduce the need for abortions, but, seems more logical to provide ease of access to contraception, educational sources, and leave the decision to the women. Men simply need to stay out of the way.
Whole issue seems to be more of an effort by men to dominate women, and assert their ancient "power" position. Rather sad commentary for 2012.
I have been told that the Bible says that women are to be dominated by men and that women are to remain silent and submit to men. Does this have any reference to rape?
no comment at this time
What a ridiculous statement by that Salon writer. There are no police types working with the needy in the Welfare offices through out the nation administering the Medicaid and TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) and Food Stamp programs. The federal funds that are filtered through those offices are spent on the decisions of social workers who are, for the most part, women. And the experience that most people in need find when they enter those offices (or is more common, do telephone interviews) is that the social workers brend over backwards to get the needed help to the applicant, and, in fact, often will steer them to help that the applicant didn't even know was available to them.
Time to stop this sideshow. It's amazing how the GOP was alway chastised in the past for running campaigns based on social issues, but now that the Democrat Party and their incumbant president Obama are in deep trouble over the state of the economy and the disasterous situation of the nation's fiscal situtation after 4 years of wastefull and inefficient social spending with borrowed dollars ($6 trillion worth), they and their media lackeys want to make social issues the focus of this years election now. Time to face the music, and get down to discussing the real issues of substance....what one foolish man our in the Bible Belt state of Missouri felt he had to shoot his mouth off over does not a crisis make. And the American people will listen to the words of the National Candidates, and know you can't hang that on them, just as if you had a candidate out for office out in LaLa Land (California) arguing for legalization of all now illegal drugs, and hand that like an albatross around the neck of Obama.
I'm not sure what welfare has to do with this conversation, so I'll ignore your first paragraph.
The concern is that the republican vice-presidential nominee has a close relationship with that foolish man in Missouri. Akin and Ryan agree that abortion should be banned with no exception for rape or incest. Since your name is Keith, I'm not sure you can truly understand this from a woman's point of view. It's scary to think that you may end up with no control over your own body.
Grandpa Fuzz--our resident zombie troll--lost control of his brain years ago...
I was going to mind my manners, but he really acts out when a crowd draws and he's threatened...
He's accused O'Donnell of having rape fantasies, bellows when the President plays golf, and impersonates historians on a regular basis, writing badly distorted fiction with claims he never bothers to source....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqQD4dzVkwk
Cabbie Slang: Zombie Troll... Intellectual road kill that persists in talking long after its fatal encounter with reason
And this welfare office cannot offer a fertile client any advise on birth control or family planning services.
And one should consider Food Stamps not only as a benefit to the needy but as an agricultural subsidy. Farmers benefit as well as the needy. It is, after all, a program of the Dept of Agriculture.
Guess again, libs. State Welfare Office social workers steer unemployed without health insurance clients to organizations like Planned Parenthood and other "medical" providers for abortion and other less drastic reproduction issues, such as birth control assistance for their married and unmarried clients. But unless the woman has a child or preferrably more, or is pregnant, she isn't going to get anything other than low financial assistance General Welfare and food stamps; otherwise, having the child entitles her to so much more, including TANF, financial assistance, WIC programs of nutritional counseling and assistance, Section 8 housing or housing financial assistance, energy assistance, transportation adsditance, clothing assitance, and educational or job training assistance while she is collecting all of the above. That system still seduces young women into its mill of continuous poverty, as it is a security that they know they won't achieve from any of the men in their lives.
I agree. When a woman has to justify abortion because the pregnancy was a result of some abhorrent act committed against her, we are basically saying that the unborn is more valuable than she. A woman's right to choose to give birth should be absolute, not dependent upon circumstances. I also think that proper preventative health care, family planning and an adequate support system are so essential to successful child bearing and nurturing that instead of forcing women to bear unwanted pregnancies there should be a means test that determines whether they can afford to do so. I'm thinking of Octomom and other social services dependent mothers.
At what cost to the children and the mothers...perpetual dependency on the govennment for a poverty level life, Roberta? That would be the outcome of the recent attempt by Obama to circumvent by Executive Order the granting of waivers to stop the requirement of TANF recepients from receiving benefits after 2 years if they are not pursing employment and/or education and job training. We fought that battle in 1994, and made great progress...but a man and a political party that depends on voters dependant on the giveaways to obtain and keep power will shortcut and shortchange the very people they are pretending to be helping with their perpertual doles.
What a load of crapola. All lies. The GOTP=LIARS.
Republicans are PALE, MALE, STALE. And I am sick and tired of their holier than thou actions - often covering all manner of sins i.e. swimming naked in Israel.
I believe abortion is overused by a very few but should always be safe, legal, and RARE.
Finally, what happened to the 2010 pledge of jobs, jobs, jobs? All up in smoke over the million new attempts to limit women and broaden guns.
Horsepucky - get rid of 'em!
Maybe extremists in the Republican party are reaping what they've sowed; using wedge issues generally gets them votes. Now they would like to downplay the abortion issue because they might lose many women's vote, but they're stuck with it.
I think it is rather a case of the Obama campaign was taking the gas in the argument on the awful state of the economy, with its continuing and rising high unemployment, and the deplorable state of our nations fiscal situation after his having wasted $6 trillion of borrowed dollars besides the tax revenues over 4 years, so what might have been a 12 hour news story nationally, and two day's max in Missouri on their Senate race (which Rep Akin is still leading, btw), is incessant 14/7 days on end, and drew the purient interest of Little Larry O'Donnell and the editors of MSNBC (12 post topics in two days now on this subject, and counting).
I was watching CNN today from 11AM to 1PM, and didn't hear the words rape and abortion spoken once. They were covering the CBO news of their estimate of the fiscal cliff of Congress and the President not dealing with the matters of importance in this country to setting us up for another recession early next year, attrocities and continued civil war in Syria now spilling over to Lebanon, rising food and gass prices with not end in sight, etc. Tuned in MSNBCs 1:00PM Andrea Mitchell show, and for it's first 45 minutes heard nothing other than Todd Akin, his ridiculous and offensive statements made on rape and a woman's supposed biological ability to shut down a pregnancy naturally, and countless attempts to hang that around the necks of all Republicans, especially Romeny and Ryan.
Seems that might be one of the tell tale reasons this news network is at the very bottom of the ratings, below even PBS, and far, far behind Fox and CNN for cable new viewers.
Get a life, O'Donnell and MSNBC.
So vote for the tan man. Just be aware of what trouble he is going to bring down on you and us if given another 4 years of building big government with borrowed money, and attacking the private sector.
Women of all parties should take a moment to think about what republicans would do with control of both houses and the White House.
It's frightening.
Improve the nations economic and fiscal situation, including opening up private sector job opportunites for the 400,000 women who lost their jobs in the Obama Administration years, and lower the gasoling and home heating oil prices through better use of our own resources, and reduce the food price rises due to the heavy requirement of the Federal Government regulations that call for corn to be turned into ethanol to replace gasoline, instead of food. dam skippy.
Then reform the tax code, reform the entitlement programs that are due to go bankrupt inside a decade for Medicare, and two decades for Social Security, saving them for further generations of 54 and under folks while maintaining all the benefits at present levels for those over 55 and over. And that is just a start under a Republican Administration with control of both houses of Congress.