Walker calls abortion to save woman’s life a ‘false choice’

[brooklynite]

Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Gov. Scott Walker says choosing between the life of a pregnant woman and her fetus is a "false choice," adding that he believes better options are always available.

Walker's statements in a television interview after Thursday's Republican presidential debate underscore how he has become increasingly vocal about his views against abortion now that he's running for president.

Abortion rights activists say that in some cases, the only option to protect a woman's life is to end her pregnancy.

"It's a false choice. There is always a better option out there," Walker told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Thursday night.

Read more: http://m.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walker-calls-abortion-to-save-a-womans-life-a-false-choice-b99553080z1-321141741.html

---

Clearly, he never read the GOP's post-mortem on the 2012 election....

[Warpy]

1. This is why fuckhead politicians like him need to be charged with

practicing medicine without a license. He simply doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about and since what passes for his mind is not only closed but nailed shut, he never will.

Asshole!

[riversedge]

3. always options he says. Yes, sometimes the options will

be painful --choosing to save the wife, mother, woman but it is an option. Sometimes--like in heart disease, cancer etc the options that he speaks of may not be medically treatable. He has no right to tell a women and her family what option they should take. It is immoral for him to think HE can choose!!

[Warpy]

10. The only options I've seen in the few late abortions I've seen done were

a dead woman with a non viable dead fetus inside her. There were no other options. The abortion saved the women's lives. And no, they couldn't wait around for the pregnancy to come to viability, they were dying right then and there if we didn't end the pregnancy and start treating them.

Walker and his ilk are simply unqualified to have any sort of opinion on the matter because they are so profoundly ignorant of everything they haven't heard out of a preachers mouth, and he's just as profoundly ignorant as they are.

[Metro135]

19. Bravo

Agree completely

[riversedge]

21. I think I remember some of that case...

yes, the mother was brain dead--the hospital was afraid of a lawsuit --so they were keeping her alive. I really do not recall the outcome or any other circumstance of that sad case.

[riversedge]

22. I do recall a women

who was diagnosed with cancer--they required several treatments with chemo and radiation--which would be detrimental to the fetes--she was only 2-months along. But the family had 2 other small children. It was a hard decision but they opted for an abortion. I know this is an early case---but Walker -if he had his way would not allow it. There are few people I truly despise--but he is one of them.

[smirkymonkey]

42. Thank YOU!

[Stuart G]

49. Well said, thank you ..nt..

[Major Nikon]

11. Walker is a sociopath

Probably more so than anyone else in the clown car. He doesn't give a fuck about a fetus, a pregnant female, or anyone else besides himself.

[Geronimoe]

2. Evolution

Gov Wanker thinks evolution is unsettled science. He is an uneducated fool.

[riversedge]

23. "Gov Wanker thinks.." is an oxymoron

[Iliyah]

4. Stop telling me what to think and how to feel, asshole

[Fred Sanders]

5. Did these folks get hit in the head and think they woke up in '50's, would be a good retort.

[lastlib]

54. (Only it was the 1850's.....)

They truly live in a time-warp. Black people, women, immigrants who aren't in their place upsets their world, and they cannot deal with it.

[roguevalley]

6. what a deranged little sniveler he looks like a wall eyed git to me.

[HeiressofBickworth]

7. An example, in real terms

A fertilized egg implanted in my fallopian tube. Technically, I was pregnant -- a pregnancy test was even positive. The egg grew until it ruptured the tube and I was minutes away from bleeding to death. Fortunately, I was in a hospital and had a doctor who understood that the fertilized egg would die either way: either by being removed or upon my death. My life was saved by a speedy removal of the egg and the ruptured tube.

My fear has always been that a strict no abortion law or a personhood law would doom women with ectopic pregnancies to death.

Do these people have no conscience at all? Is their hatred of women so vast that withholding desperately needed medical care satisfies them? What kind of warped thinking is this? If THEIR wives, daughters, sisters were in this position, would they recommend standing by and letting them die? I fear their answer is yes.

[restorefreedom]

8. i think you are right

if it was them, they would "leave it up to God."

but we all know that women die as a result of pregnancy complications. the idea that they would actually try and disallow a dr from saving a life is appalling and would never stand up to judicial scrutiny. but they would try anyway.

[smirkymonkey]

61. This just makes me beyond angry.

My mother died in childbirth. Eclampsia, with my brother. He lived. It was a Catholic hospital. There are all kinds of secrets that people have alluded to (family friends who were nurses, doctors, at the time - it was an error, not sure what that means, whether it was intentional or not) but I have always wondered.

These people tell me about it at cocktail parties when they are drunk, but they say they will never say anything until after my father dies. i am not sure what that means either. It infuriates me that nobody will tell me what really happened, but my feeling is that she didn't really have to die if the doctors had been doing their jobs. (I sometimes get the feeling that they had to make a choice._) Anyway, her obstetrician moved away to Florida (we are from NY) after her death because of it. I get the feeling like there was some kind of malpractice, but nothing was ever proved and my Dad was so devastated he never took them to court.

So, the bottom line is that this shit just enrages me. I know that it had something to do with the fact that men were making the decisions about her life and consequently, she lost it. She left a little 2 year old girl and an infant without a mother. A young man without his beloved wife. A heartbroken family without their sister, their daughter, their niece, their cousin, etc. How on earth does that f**ing help a family. I would really like to know. I would like one of these Fucktard Republican asswipes tell me how my life is better without my mother.

This is an issue that is very personal to me. Sorry for the rant.

[restorefreedom]

63. i am so sorry to hear

what happened to your family. it is exactly that kind of narrative that people need to hear who might be on the fence. i doubt real wingnuts could be convinced, but it shouldn't stop us from trying.

a friend of mine for many years is jewish. in the jewish religion, it is not only allowed, but obligatory to perform an abortion to save the mother's life. i don't know about non medical reasons, but if mother's life is in danger, saving her life becomes paramount. and if an abortion is necessary, then so be it. i don't know why this is different in christian religions. i don't know of anything in the NT that contradicts that aspect of jewish law, for those who follow judeochristian teachings, such as a catholic hospital.

it is clear that republican cretins have commandeered the christian religion and twist it to use to their political ends to control women. truly revolting.

the tragedy you experienced stays with a family forever.

peace to you

[smirkymonkey]

65. Thank you restorefreedom.

I appreciate it. I expect that I will hear the full truth about it someday, but I strongly suppose that it has something to do with the fact that she was in a catholic hospital. I hope to god that it was not a decision made by my father.

That is why I respect the Jewish religion so much. They put the mother before the fetus. These christofascists have no idea as to what they sentence the rest of a family to when they sentence a mother to death. It's unconscionable.

Anyway, thank you for your kind words.

[dem in texas]

16. My daughter had to have an emergency abortion to keep from bleeding to death

She had lost so much blood that she was close to death. If she'd died, she would have left two little girls under age five without a mother.

The damn republics need to keep the hell away from women's wombs and let women and their doctors decide what is best. If they want their wives and daughters to die in childbirth, that is their right, but don't pass laws that force other women conform to their beliefs.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

36. Glad you are still with us

I agree with everything you said and would add too that if Walker's wife and/or daughter (does he have one?) were faced with the same situation, he would not (I think) hesitate to try to save them over a doomed pregnancy. These people don't lift a finger to help other people until or unless it affects them or theirs in some way- and in the meantime not only do the not help others but actually PREVENT help for others. It's severely messed up.

[Cal33]

48. ... "Do these people have no conscience at all?" ... You are correct. Sociopaths

have no conscience. That is why the ways in which they think and behave are so
different from that of the general population. That IS their problem!!

Sociopaths in high places are the biggest causes of the problems of any and
all nations on earth. Most of them are also very ambitious. And since they lack
a conscience, they wouldn't hesitate to use any foul and dirty means to reach their
goal. So, their rate of success is much higher than that of the average person,
whose conscience would prevent him/her from behaving in like manner.

This is nothing new. Our world has always been mostly ruled by sociopaths. Just
look up Google for "Sociopaths Rule The World." There are hundreds of thousands
of articles on this topic -- and some of them are written by professionals. It's quite
an education!

[RobinA]

56. Another Example

A relative of a friend had her water break long before the fetus was viable. However, it was still alive. No abortion in the hospital she was at. The next step is infection. So she lay in the hospital waiting for either the child to die or for her to get a life-threatening infection so they could abort due to mother's life being in danger. She got the infection and they did the abortion and then saved her from the infection. Lying in bed waiting for your baby, who is going to die, to die. Waiting to get deathly ill. Things like this make me want to walk up and punch someone in the face.

[Shrike47]

9. There speaks an idiot who has never suffered from Pre-eclampsia. Yes, a-hole, we can die of it.

Don't like facts? Just make up your own.

[Loki]

12. If it ever happens to his wife we shall see what his decision is then.

The better option out there Scott, is let her die. Pig.

[Major Nikon]

13. He should tell that to Rick Santorum

[AngryDem001]

14. Tell me again,

when did it become OK for POLITICIANS to make MEDICAL decisions?

[davidpdx]

15. *shakes head*

He'd rather both the mother and child die. He should just come out and say it.

[stopbush]

17. 99.999% of the anti-choice position is based entirely on the make believe

that is Christianity.

It's time that the lives of real people be determined by reality, not by a bunch of assholes pushing a conceit that regards make believe as fact.

[Frank Cannon]

33. Show me in the Bible where Jesus talks about abortion.

What bullshit. Assholes of all political persuasions cherry-pick the Bible to fit their own personal agendas.

[Mz Pip]

18. WTF?

When did they start giving medical degrees to college dropouts?

[AndreaCG]

24. Good one

Although even the candidates with legitimate medical degrees seem to have a hard time with this.

[Kali]

20. Gov. Scott Walker is the false choice.

There is always a better option out there.

there, fixed that.

[sakabatou]

39. +100

[smirkymonkey]

43. Nice job!

[truthisfreedom]

25. Identical reasoning to parents refusing treatment to a child

On religious grounds. Walker loses.

[Third Doctor]

26. These rightwingers like to play god.

It's not up to them to make a decision like this its up to the woman her doctor and family and god no one else. They don't have a right to make that call. Since they believe in the death penalty they think they have a right to judge who dies too.. I hate these bastards.

[trusty elf]

27. .....

[img][/img]

[MFrohike]

28. Like what?

I'd be mighty curious to hear Dr. Walker's expert diagnosis in this case.

[aceofblades]

29. Tell that to the woman who is having an eclamptic seizure Scott.

After stabilizing the airway, breathing, circulation & Mag sulfate the standard of care is 'delivery' regardless of gestation age. Otherwise it is far more likely than not that the mother and fetus will be lost.

Tell us some medical examples scott, tell us the science. He can't "win" on this issue. He's going to be so easily called out on this by ACOG and others with actual knowledge. It's not simply a matter of "values". He's saying something that can quickly and readily be called out based upon science and reality.

[Lars39]

30. Science doesn't matter to the fundamentalist

who is in a fox news preacher bubble.
The idiots don't recognize women as humans.

[Lars39]

46. I didn't mean to be dismissive of your post, I realize it may have come off that way.

If you have any other examples of life threatening conditions that women can face in pregnancy and child birth, please share! I'm doing my best to educate the southern baptists in the extended family. They had never even heard of an ectopic pregnancy.

[Hekate]

50. Google is your friend in researching "life threatening pregnancies"

Thank you for wanting to educate those around you.

[Shrike47]

53. Eclampsia (used to be referred to as toxemia).

[smirkymonkey]

62. I honestly want to ...

I can't say what I want to do. I would be banned for life.

[Eugene]

31. Better options like what? Prayer?

Jenni Dye's comments are right on target:

"If Governor Walker wants to make these decisions about women's pregnancies, he should pursue a medical degree and not the presidency."

[Vinca]

32. I guess his "better" option includes both mother and baby dead.

These fools need to give up ob/gyn as a hobby.

[Lunabell]

34. OMG

He is a foul disgusting pig.

[LiberalElite]

35. The better option is for YOU to f.o. Scotty nt

[NastyRiffraff]

37. So, genius, what are these "other options"?

Crickets....

[NastyRiffraff]

37. So, genius, what are these "other options"?

Crickets....

[yardwork]

40. I didn't know that Scott Walker had a medical degree.

[Paladin]

41. Yeah, I thought an undergrad degree was required for med school.

Of course, Dr. Ben Carson's debate performance the other night didn't give evidence of an intellect higher than your average zucchini, so who knows?

[COLGATE4]

51. Patently unfair

to zucchinis.

[Paladin]

52. Right you are. Apologies. ;) (nt)

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

44. Walker is done

I was legit scared of him, but FAUX will go all in on Bush to take Trump because Scotty Sociopath looks like he's a serial killer.

[Adrahil]

45. Ok, so he's not....

A scientist, but he knows we should ingnore actual scientists warning about Climate Change.

Now he's not a physicisn, be he's SURE he knows there is always a better option that abortion.

I'm sensing a pattern here.

[mwooldri]

47. I suppose keeping the baby alive and letting the mother die is a false choice too.

..... Mr. Walker isn't a doctor. In these types of situations, Mr. Walker's position is clearly pro death of the mother or even both mother and foetus.

[Gothmog]

55. Walker is a religious nut case

[hamsterjill]

57. It's none of his business.

As I read through this thread's replies, I see many issues being discussed that prove Walker is an absolute fool to be saying anything about abortion.

That said, I never want to lose sight of the simple fact that NO woman needs to ever have to qualify her decision to have an abortion. The right should be hers - regardless of the circumstances, no matter how life-threatening or how not life-threatening. Her decision. No discussion with anyone else that she does not choose to discuss her decision with. No government intrusion. No degrees of qualification. No standards to have to meet. No sonograms unless she chooses to have one. No idiot standing outside a clinic trying to make her feel bad for her decision. Nothing.

Abortion should be between a woman and her health care provider. It should be legal. It should be safe, and it should be private. End of story, and I will accept NOTHING less from any politician that I vote for. That eliminates every Republican candidate, of course. Oh, well... their loss as far as I'm concerned.

[jmowreader]

58. You need to read this in the context of Walker's religious beliefs

Walker believes women who die during pregnancy will go to heaven. The term is "religiously insane" and no one who is should hold any elective office.

[randome]

59. "Fetal bodies have ways of shutting down that false choice."

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Aspire to inspire.[/center][/font][hr]

[TexasBushwhacker]

60. Rick Santorum's wife came close to dying

because of an infection during the 19th week of her pregnancy. Had she not CHOSEN to let her doctors induce labor to deliver her non-viable fetus, she would have left Rick a widower and her children motherless. And had she died, of course the fetus would have died as well.

[StevieM]

64. Still...it does raise an interesting point. Let's suppose abortion is criminalized and an exception

is made for the life of the mother. Who will decide whether it is truly a "justified" abortion? How will the mother prove it? What guarantee will the doctor have that they won't be charged with a crime at a later date?

I have heard stories of women who have had the child die in utero during their third trimester. They have a hard time getting the doctor to remove the baby, out of fear that he will be charged with committing a crime. In one case, the woman had the dead baby in her for way too long and, as a result, she ultimately could not have additional children.

Would there be some kind of government board? An oversight committee? Basically, all the things that the GOP doesn't like about Obamacare. (Some of which don't even really exist).

And on a related note....what about miscarriages? Don't all miscarriages automatically become potential homicides? Will poor women be required to have an attorney appointed to her from the first minute of the investigation? Can we trust all states to treat all races equally? Or even fairly?

[LeftishBrit]

66. What better options?

Is he a medic?

Suggest better options if:

The foetus has implanted in the fallopian tube instead of the uterus.

The foetus has a certain form of triploidy, a fatal chromosome disorder which gives it no chance of survival, and puts the mother at risk of cancer if the foetus is not delivered promptly

At 20 weeks of pregnancy, the mother develops eclampsia, which is likely to kill her unless the baby is delivered promptly.

In early pregnancy, the mother is diagnosed with cancer and has a chance of survival if given chemo immediately. The chemo will kill the foetus or cause severe birth defects. If she waits to start chemo until the foetus is viable, she will almost certainly die and leave her two already-born small children motherless.

There are many other possible situations. What does Scott Walker propose?

[riversedge]

67. Walker has not said any options that I know of

[CTyankee]

69. My daughter developed HELLP Syndrome in later pregnancy and had to have a C section.

It was destroying her liver and the pregnancy had to end.

Fortunately, my grandson was a pretty good weight and it was far enough into the pregnancy that he was fine. But he has mild autism and I always suspected it was the syndrome that caused it...

[smirkymonkey]

68. So. Hate. This. Guy.