Image of Men Signing Abortion Ban Assailed

[pruner]

By ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writer

November 7, 2003, 3:57 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- Images of President Bush signing abortion legislation surrounded by male supporters -- with no women in sight -- were upsetting, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday.

News photographs of the Wednesday ceremony in which Bush signed the law banning what abortion foes call "partial-birth abortion" showed male lawmakers standing behind the president and conservative male religious leaders looking on.

"Both pictures I found disconcerting, one because it's a group of men celebrating depriving women of a medical procedure that could save their health and their lives, and the other because of the celebratory nature of it really was, I thought, a ... slap in the face to women across America," Pelosi said.

The California Democrat was asked about the photos by reporters who attended a round-table session marking the first anniversary of her election to the House post. Pelosi is the first woman to lead a party in Congress.

"The one (photo) where in the audience they had all the representatives of Traditional Values (Coalition), all that, smiling, they had a triumph, Congress and the president of the United States were now going to make the decisions about medical procedures that are a matter of life and death for America's women," she said. "It was silly in my view to see that array of people in the audience, representing the most conservative element in our society."

<snip>

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-pelosi-abortion,0,722567.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Thankyou NANCY...as I said..this PHOTO will bring WOMEN

back into the folds of the Democratic party. Even those who DO NOT care for abortion are NOT going to take kindly to that photo.

ROVE FUCKED UP!

[Faygo Kid]

2. Yes, he did - and exposed the truth

The picture was eloquent. Enough said.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. The best part is it's TOO LATE to fix it

[eyesroll]

3. I was wondering where Rove was...

Somebody's getting complacent. Somebody's getting sloppy.

[Pattib]

7. Do you have a link to the photo?

I must have missed the photo. I did see it on the news but turned my head in disgust.

[Le Taz Hot]

5. Well, Nancy, thanks for taking that gonad

out of mothballs. You can put it back into storage when * asks for your support for another war or Haliburton money, or a tax cut, or whatever boondogle is coming out of the White House at any given time. With very few exceptions, you've been Gebhardt lite so far.

[Brian Sweat]

6. Well, duh. Who didn't see this coming?

Talk about political incompetence. It is going to be so easy for NARL, Planned Parenthood, NOW and just about anyone else to make a very effective add out of that signing.



"In my life, I have prayed but one prayer: oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it" - Voltaire

[Skittles]

8. HERE IT IS AGAIN, SUITABLE FOR BARFING

:puke:

[Buck Turgidson]

13. or this version courtesy of Atrios!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

17. That is PRICELESS

[tom_paine]

19. Yo Buck... you rock!

ON EDIT: About your FANTASTIC sig line...I always thought it was 'flying chickens to the barnyard', which now that I think baout it makes considerably less sense than yours..going to check it out on Google. Now checked out--you're right 'fryin' chicken in the barnyard' duh

"I'm not sayin' we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But no more than ten to twenty million killed, depending on the breaks!"

"I don't want to judge before all the facts are in, but it appears as if General Ripper has exceeded his authority."

"Sug...don't forget to say your prayers."

"I said Premier Kissoff is a degenerate atheistic Commie!"

"I sure wish WE had one of doomsday machines, Stainsy."

"Mr. pResident, we must not allow a MINE SHAFT GAP!"

[Richardo]

20. DeLay on the extreme right - whaddaya know?

Extortionist cockroach bastard.

[alfredo]

9. ya beat me to it!

They are smiling as if they were doing something good.

[central scrutinizer]

15. * probably just told a really funny joke

On the same level as his mocking of Karla Faye Tucker on the way to the death chamber, or that old "trifecta" knee slapper

[Iris]

27. yeah, probably about the woman

who is going to end up forced to go all the way through a pregnancy with a baby who has a rare disease where it has seizures which can tear its mother's womb to shreds.

Really funny.

[noiretextatique]

49. disgusting

&*%^#$@*&# :puke: does anyone is her RIGHT MIND believe those smirks are for the "unborn?" :nuke:

[stopbush]

10. Let's hope the few Dems left in the media

will bring this picture up at every opportunity to the blond-haired bimbo apologists for the reicht wing, especially the ones in Congress.

I'd love to hear Tweety or Bill Press ask (m)Ann Coulter, "So, Ann, what do you think about this all-boys'-club photo? Don't you think it's striking that there are no women within a country mile of this, including republican women like you? BTW, were you invited to the photo op? And how do you feel about this all-male intrusion on YOUR rights? And, how does this "celebration" compare to your characterization of the Wellstone Memorial a few months back?"

[kentuck]

16. Dems have to use this in a commercial ....

Even I could find a script for it. :)

[GinaMaria]

18. might be up to us

We may need to send it to editors along with our letters. Someone on another thread suggesting making it into a post card.

[jburton]

11. How many of those smiling reps paid for an abortion?

They should be thankful that clinics respect confidentiality.

[stopbush]

14. Ya mean in addition to Dubya? n/t

[Don_G]

12. Reminds Me Of....

A Right-Wing Rethuglican version of "The Last Supper" after they buried a few more civil rights.

[Unknown Known]

21. Here's cartoonist Benson's version

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/benson/

[WillyT]

22. Did Y'All See This ???

Posted on our very own Stock Market Watch thread in the LBN!!!



That about sums it up, no???

:grr::nuke::puke:

[CatWoman]

38. LOL

Hey Willy! It's Ter, speaking from inside the login of CatWoman!

You going to try to make it to the eco-summit in SF this weekend? I'll be out of town. LOTS of folks to be there!

[armadafalls]

23. This makes me sad

Hey regardless of where you stand on the issue of choice v. anti abortion, it is obviously no laughing matter. I would think that any time legislation is passed regarding the issue of a woman's right to choose the outcome of her pregnancy it should be a somber moment. Obviously there are no winners. These guys have to realize that even if it was true (I dont think so but they do) that they are "saving the lives of babys", this legislation is still endangering the lives of woman and stripping women of rights they once had. Why are they smiling so darn much? This is a serious issue and it has serious consequences. I would hope that if the USA someday has a Democrat for President and a Democrat controlled House and Senate and we expand a woman's rights to choice, that we would do so in a somber respectful fashion. I would hope that if a coalition of Democratic Congressmen pushed through a new and expansive piece of pro-choice legislation that it would be signed without smiles and high fives, but in a respectful fashion keeping in mind that there are a great number of Americans that would consider such legislation to be ending the potential for life for many babys (their beliefs, not necessarily mine). Why cant the Republicans realize that the actual legislation that was signed is considered by many Americans to be dangerous and potentially deadly to some women and a step backward for women's rights in general. It is no laughing matter. It is not even a smiling one. This should have been handled with a lot more class.

[newyawker99]

24. Hi armadafalls!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Iris]

29. excellent post, amardafalls.

:thumbsup:

Welcome to DU.

[stopbush]

41. This should have been handled with a lot more class?

How much class - outside of class warfare - could possibly be attached to such appalling legislation?

Exactly how many pieces of legislation that get written into law occasion the president sitting down and signing the thing as a photo op? Answer: only those of historic or political import. The repigs used this as a wedge issue to firm up their base and as a shot across the bow of the women's vote and the Dem party.

You know, there's every possibility that the gang of guys pictured at the signing actually asked a few repig women to show up to watch the shithead-in-chief sign away their rights, but they declined.

This pix is right up there with the photo ops back in March where Congress people couldn't get close enough to the mass murderer as they gave him a blank check to murder Iraqi civilians in his quest for Halliburton profits.

[SoCalDem]

47. and when those doomed "babies" are "born" now,

the hospitals should forward the bills to Congress for payment..

What was to have been a medical procedure for a "trainwreck pregnancy" will now become a very costly medical procedure, accompanied by huge hospital bills..

[kwolf68]

25. Well

I agree it looks stupid, but some of the most rabid pro-lifers in congress are women. Ever hear Melissa Hart speak?

[DrWeird]

30. We're still waiting for your replies over in LBN.

Lucy, you got some splaining to do!

[kwolf68]

33. Duhhh wha?

???

[DrWeird]

36. Here ya go, Skippy.

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=204025>

[kwolf68]

37. Oh yea

The "Law of Thermodynamics Crowd"...

Ya know...I went back in there to have my intellect questioned, my scientific background questioned and none of you folks know me from a goddamn hole in your head.

It pains me to see fuckers ask if I've ever even had a Biology class...LMAO...I only started to question the ethos of evolution as I began to take higher level Genetics classes. I do see serious flaws in the evolution argument and I simply maintain that there is a large degree of faith in that as well.

Of course, the reaction from these people IS IDENTICAL to the RELIGIOUS RIGHTS response when you question their basic assumptions. What I was met with was demeaning name calling and general avoidance as they tried to tap into the ONE THING they felt I had been wrong on.

"There are no known violations of the second law of thermodynamics…and this applies equally well to open systems" is how Dr. Ross of Harvard explains this contradiction.

Be that as it may...While much of the hubris was about that one statement I made about Thermodynamics, I find it ironic that of the 10 or 12 statements that I made, NOT ONE PERSON would (or could) argue it.

I am questioned by these people and they actually have the nerve to call evolution FACT. If they are scientists (which they aren't I wager) then they should NEVER suggest something IS FACT that has NOT BEEN TESTED and PROVEN. In short, I find the ardent evolutionists just as narrow-minded as the far religious right and even if I didn't prove to any one evolution was largely myth based on assumptions, I did prove what close minded lot they were.

Other than that...I have no interest in engaging discussions with people like that. I honestly feel like I could get a better conversation going on a right-wing board while I expressed my belief in strong government regulations of the market economy. Sad to say...but the left aint no goddamn open minded when it comes to THEIR religion either.

[DrWeird]

39. Actually, if you read the thread...

every one of your statements was debunked several times over.

Which is what makes us different than republicans. We're right, and we can show it.

[noiretextatique]

50. out of curiosity, i checked out that thread, DrWeird

and while i am not scientist by any stretch of the imagination, i did study systems thinking, so even i know the difference between a closed and an open system. i guess i know more about the 2nd law of thermodynamics than some (pseudo)scientists :D

[Name removed]

44. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[snippy]

26. White House claims there were women in the room, but won't name them.

From the Washington Wire column in today's Wall Street Journal:

MINOR MEMOS: Women's issue? Only men in Congress flank Bush for his staged signing of late-term abortion ban; an aide says female lawmakers were in room, but won't name any.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,washington_wire,00.html

I find it hard to believe that so many people think that it is better for medical decisions to be made by the elected clerics of either party rather than doctors and patients. Here is part of the statement from The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists concerning this bill when it passed the House:

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) continues to oppose so-called "partial birth abortion" laws, including the conference committee bill approved by the US House of Representatives yesterday and sent to the US Senate. "Partial birth abortion" is a non-medical term apparently referring to a particular abortion procedure known as intact dilatation and extraction (intact D&X, or D&X), a rare variant of a more common midterm abortion procedure know as dilatation and evacuation (D&E).

. . .

As noted in a 1997 ACOG Statement of Policy, reaffirmed in 2000, and in ACOG's amicus curiae brief filed in the Stenberg case, ACOG continues to object to legislators taking any action that would supersede the medical judgment of a trained physician, in consultation with a patient, as to what is the safest and most appropriate medical procedure for that particular patient.

ACOG's Statement of Policy explains why ACOG believes such legislation to be "inappropriate, ill advised, and dangerous." The policy statement notes that although a select panel convened by ACOG could identify no circumstances under which intact D&X would be the only option to protect the life or health of a woman, intact D&X "may be the best or most appropriate procedure in a particular circumstance to save the life or preserve the health of a woman, and only the doctor, in consultation with the patient, based upon the woman's particular circumstances, can make this decision (emphasis added)."

. . .

The medical misinformation currently circulating in political discussions of abortion procedures only reinforces ACOG's position: in the individual circumstances of each particular medical case, the patient and physician -- not legislators -- are the appropriate parties to determine the best method of treatment.

# # #

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is the national medical organization representing 45,000 members who provide health care for women.

http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr10-03-03.cfm

It seems overwhelmingly obvious to me that the Supreme Court is going to strike this law down since it expressly violates the provisions of similar state laws found unconstitutional by the Court. Given that, I wonder whether the republican party has ulterior motives in passing this in its present form or whether it is just pandering to the base.

[Scott Lee]

35. That says it all.

.

[proud patriot]

28. Thanks Nancy

Keep it up ... and get louder ..

I'm here you want us to march ..

Let's go ..

This is about the rights over my body .

[PVnRT]

31. About time

someone started making a big public stink about it.

[realFedUp]

32. I'd use this photo on any mailing from NARAL

some people need visuals to wake up....

[Karenina]

34. There needs to be a graphic spot

Our baby was dead in-utero at 7 months- my wife was denied care- she died from infection. Our LIVE children are now motherless...

Then a FACT BLAST about how often and under what conditions this procedure is utilized... THEN THE STARK QUESTION:

DO YOU WANT THE GOVERNMENT'S NOSE SNIFFING UP YOUR CROTCH?

WHAT IS NOT TO GET HERE???? :argh:

[David Zephyr]

40. Goddamnit!

I don't even know what to say.

Absolutely sickening beyond description.

[Woodstock]

42. right to some life, not other

[veganwitch]

46. actually that first one...

would never happen.

bush would never ever admit that something he did directly caused the death of anyone (except maybe in death penalty cases).

that fuckwad feels absolutely no remorse for anything he does.

[lumpy]

43. Can't get over the smirking faces of those men.

Smug SOBs, put one over on the men, women and DOCTORS, the only ones who should be concerned in those heartwrenching events of a pregnancy in trouble. Bastards !

[Gloria]

45. I would plaster across that picture of those smug creeps a simple phrase:

WOMAN KILLERS

It's time to get as mean as these thugs have been for YEARS!!!

I marched twice during the Reagan/Bush years in DC....for 8 years with Clinton I felt safe..

Not any more....

[roguevalley]

48. why, oh why are they always so ... so ... *WHITE*!?!?!?!?!?!