Republicans vote to explain pregnancy to Wisconsin women

[undeterred]

because we're too dumb to understand and make choices for ourselves.

Wisconsin Assembly approves 3 anti-abortion bills

Associated Press Updated: 06/13/2013 10:44:49 PM CDT

MADISON, Wis. -- Assembly Republicans approved a package of bills Thursday designed to make it more difficult to get abortions in Wisconsin, joining a renewed conservative drive to impose tougher restrictions on the procedure nationwide. One bill would require pre-abortion ultrasounds and require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at an area hospital. Another measure would prohibit the state health insurance from covering abortions as well as exempt religious organizations from providing insurance coverage for contraceptives. A third bill would ban abortions based on the fetus' sex. Minority Democrats railed against the proposals for hours Thursday, accusing the GOP of trying to dictate women's medical care and score points with the conservative base.

"I can't believe you're using women's health as a tool for your next election," said Rep. Christine Sinicki, D-Milwaukee. Rep. Joan Ballweg, R-Markesan, insisted the GOP's motives are sincere. "We truly believe what we're doing is protecting life," she said. "It isn't about politics."

Republicans hold an overwhelming majority in the Assembly and easily passed each bill. The state Senate approved the ultrasound-admitting privileges bill on Wednesday; the Assembly vote sent the measure to Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who has said he will sign it into law. The other bills now go to the Senate. Republican leaders in that house say they're focused on finishing the state budget before the Legislature adjourns for its summer recess and they likely won't get to the proposals until fall. Walker supports both measures. Most of the debate centered on the ultrasound-admitting privileges bill. The proposal would require every woman seeking an abortion to get an ultrasound. The technician would have to point out the fetus' visible organs and external features to the woman. Abortion providers would to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. The bill's chief Assembly sponsor, Rep. Pat Strachota, R-West Bend, said the ultrasound provision is designed to help the woman bond with the fetus by seeing it and convince her to save it. As for the admitting privileges, she said they're meant to ensure an abortion provider can follow up with a patient at the hospital if there's an emergency.

Democrats complained Republicans shouldn't force women to undergo any medical procedure. "I'm appalled, just appalled, you feel your morals, what your church dictates on you, have to play out in my life," Rep. Sondy Pope, D-Cross Plains, said. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin contends the admitting privileges provision is designed to shut down its Appleton clinic; none of the providers at that facility have admitting privileges within 30 miles, said the organization's policy director, Nicole Safar. Women would have to travel to Madison, Milwaukee or another state for an abortion. Democrats argued the language has nothing to do with a woman's health or safety. They said ambulances would take a woman who suffered a problem during an abortion to the nearest hospital regardless of whether the provider has admitting privileges there.

http://www.twincities.com/politics/ci_23450795/wisconsin-abortion-bills-set-approval

[niyad]

1. this isn't about protecting life, this is an all-out war against women. these reichwing fundy pukes

HATE women. however they try to dress it up, they HATE women.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. Makes me sick

But I know NJ is next and it's coming for us. I have no doubt our Governor will be 'flipping' Democratic Reps in our State House in 2013 (he's already got their endorsements) and bringing additional Republicans into our House and Senate.

At least I'm prepared as I can look to Wisconsin and see how it all works.

[Half-Century Man]

3. I now understand

The re-thug-lacans want slaves. It is that simple. By virtue of their political opinion; they are so far above the common stock of humanity, we are (or at least should be) draft animals.
Why engage in romance? Women are to be used for children or to relieve stress; and then the treasured times of brotherly fraternization can enjoyed (as G*D intended).

The trick is how to calm the masses through the language of law.

[Berlum]

4. The RepubliMaid's Tale

[undeterred]

5. I'm proud of our Democratic women for speaking the truth during this debate:

One of the amendments offered by Democrats that failed to pass would have specified that only an abdominal ultrasound could be required and not the more invasive vaginal probe. "No one is going to be forced to have the type of ultrasound they do not choose," said Pat Strachota (R-West Bend), Assembly author of the ultrasound bill. But Taylor noted that "a transvaginal wand is the standard of care. It provides better images than [an abdominal ultrasound]. Most places are not going to offer [a woman] a choice because this is the standard of care. This is government intrusion at its absolute worst."

As debate was winding down, Rep. Debra Kolsta (D-Janesville) acknowledged that it had been a hard day with "three anti-choice bills" that want to "chip away at Roe v. Wade," the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in 1973. Supporters of the bills, who made few comments during the debate, did not dispute that. In fact Strachota told the stories of two women who decided to keep their babies after seeing ultrasounds.

But these stories did not pack the same emotional punch as the first-person narratives from Democratic women lawmakers. A tearful Rep. Sondy Pope (D-Cross Plains), who has one child, shared how she went through five pregnancies in all. During her second pregnancy she was told by her doctor that the baby would not be born alive. "He said, 'I can admit you or you can wait until nature takes its course.'"

Pope said she and her husband chose to have an abortion even though it was a child they wanted desperately. "These are not choices we like," she said. But they are ones that should not be dictated by politicians, she added. "I'm just appalled that you feel your morals [get] to play out in my life," said Pope in remarks meant for bill supporters. "Some decisions don't belong to you."

http://www.isthmus.com/daily/article.php?article=40173

[undeterred]

6. Democratic women telling personal stories has no impact on the heartless...

Rep. Mandy Wright (D-Wausau) shared publicly for the first time that she had been raped when she was 8. Rep. Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) talked openly for the first time about the anguish she felt when told 17 years ago that one of the twins she was carrying had died in utero and that she had to make a choice to "save the life" of her other son. And Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) told the story of how, when 18 weeks pregnant with her second child, she ended up in the emergency room, where she was told the fetal heartbeat could not be detected. Then she was sent for an ultrasound.

"I remember crying hysterically and wondering what I was going to see on that ultrasound," Taylor said during debate Thursday over a bill that would require women seeking an abortion to first have an ultrasound. It turned out to be a false alarm for Taylor, but she said the situation would have been much worse had there been problems and had she been forced to view another ultrasound before getting an abortion.

"I cannot imagine going through that, finding out something was wrong, and [having to have another ultrasound] to terminate a pregnancy. You have no idea what you're doing to women. Please have some empathy and compassion for women."

http://www.isthmus.com/daily/article.php?article=40173