General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVP Pence is leading the attack on women's reproductive rights
and for the hard-core Christian right agenda from the WH.
... Behind the scenes, Pence has developed his own sphere of influence in an agency lower on Trumps radar: Health and Human Services. ... He has clearly recruited people connected to him who share his very extreme views on sexual and reproductive health care," said Emily Stewart, the vice president of public policy at Planned Parenthood. "This has been one of the most active administrations ever on rolling back reproductive rights...
Pence doesn't need to dictate policies, however, to have his priorities advanced at HHS. Rather, the cadre of officials that one HHS official called Indiana mafia make policies that advance Pence's and their own agenda. Azar, who succeeded ousted HHS Secretary Tom Price in January 2018, was a top executive at Indiana-based drug company Eli Lilly when Pence was governor; Verma was his Indiana health adviser, and is now championing Medicaid "reforms" around the country that he embraced in Indiana; ... (etceteras).
...his states efforts to reduce regulation and federal oversight of health programs, defend religious conservatives who refuse to carry out policies antithetical to their opposition to LGBTQ rights or abortion rights, and impose coverage restrictions for recipients of federal aid are models for Trump administration initiatives.
Pence was perhaps the key leader, or one of them in the GOP effort to scrap Obamacare, said Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips, a Koch-funded group...
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/20/mike-pence-health-care-1331705
It's very indicative that, like the rest of the MSM, Politico avoids identifying the powerful religious right groups that are now deeply embedded in all three of our branches of government. In this fairly long article about him, even Pence's religion is not mentioned. A huge, unmentioned force hard at work while Trump draws almost all fire.
Funtatlaguy
(10,870 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,683 posts)That sort only does it in the dark, missionary position, leaving as many clothes on as possible.
Of course, there's always the possibility that Pence is secretly a connoisseur of exotic and disturbing porn. That wouldn't surprise me in the least.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)And being sadly undisciplined myself, I'm now wondering if he calls her "Mother" in bed...
VOX
(22,976 posts)The smart money says he does. These people are so extremely twisted, you just KNOW that Pence is into some seriously weird shit.
Funtatlaguy
(10,870 posts)Funtatlaguy
(10,870 posts)abqtommy
(14,118 posts)in identifying all the players and nullifying their influence in government.
madaboutharry
(40,209 posts)He thinks it is 1950, a time before he was even born. Pence thinks it is all about teenage girls who have sex with their boyfriend in the backseat and find themselves "in trouble.'
He is a retrograde idiot who knows zero about women and women's health.
VOX
(22,976 posts)You nailed that bastard in a single sentence. Well done.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)to criminalize abortion, including severe punishment for women who get abortions.
In Indiana he supported policies so extreme, including a variety of punishments, that the legislature didn't pass most of them. Most. In 2015 Purvi Patel of Indiana was sentenced to 20 years in prison under a law Pence signed as governor, even though the facts of the alleged "feticide" were far from clear (the case was overturned in court and she "only" spent 18 months incarcerated).
Pence is not "old-fashioned," he's a religious extremist.