Contraception next on list of forbidden things? Next slide down slope for women's rights?

madfloridian

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Tue Jan-13-09 01:42 AM
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Contraception next on list of forbidden things? Next slide down slope for women's rights?

I don't think we realize how slippery the slope is getting for women's rights. The Southern Baptists are among the organizations calling for condemnation of birth control.

Minister says birth control is murder...on video

The Southern Baptist Convention is reacting after News 8 showed a message from a Southern Baptist preacher teaching Fort Worth seminary students that the birth control pill equals murder.

In a controversial sermon to students at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Thomas White, acting as the student services vice president this month, preached that birth control is murder and called attempts at family planning selfish.

"Some of you are involved in that exact same sin," he said.

The head of the Southern Baptist Seminary says to reject the "contraceptive mentality."

I am trying to look at this from a perspective that begins with God's creation," Mohler said. "God's purpose in creation is being trumped by modern practices."

"I would argue that it ought to be falling short of the glory of God. Deliberate childlessness defies God's will," he said.

"..."First, we must start with a rejection of the contraceptive mentality that sees pregnancy and children as impositions to be avoided rather than as gifts to be received, loved, and nurtured. This contraceptive mentality is an insidious attack upon God's glory in creation, and the Creator's gift of procreation to the married couple."

Some of the same danger signs that happened in other countries in which abortion can bring a prison term are going on now in our country. There are efforts to pass bills to criminalize the doctors.

The bill from 2003 read like this:

Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003: Vote to pass a bill banning a medical procedure, which is commonly known as "partial-birth" abortion. The procedure would be allowed only in cases in which a women's life is in danger, not for cases where a women's health is in danger. Those who performed this procedure, would face fines and up to two years in prison, the women to whom this procedure is performed on are not held criminally liable.
Reference: Bill sponsored by Santorum, R-PA; Bill S.3 ; vote number 2003-530 on Oct 2, 2003

Voting yes on the bill were Democrats Harold Ford, Tom Carper, and in the senate were John Breaux, Harry Byrd, Kent Conrad, Tom Daschle, Byron Dorgan, Fritz Hollings, Tim Johnson, Mary Landrieu, Patrick Leahy, Blanche Lincoln, Miller (GA), Ben Nelson, Pryor AK, Harry Reid.

Not voting.
John Edwards, John Kerry, Joe Biden.

Even though our new party chairman is admittedly anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, and anti-civil unions....at least he does not think doctors and women should be criminalized

Thank God for small things, right?

Kaine made his abortion remarks at a luncheon event featuring Granholm. About 300 women, and a handful of men, paid $100 each for the fundraiser, which Granholm dubbed "estrogen in the afternoon."

Kaine spoke more extensively than he has previously about abortion, which he said is a "critical issue" in the race because of the changes on the high court, which has protected abortion rights.

"Jerry Kilgore believes that you can't be anti-abortion unless you want to make abortion a crime, and I fundamentally reject that," Kaine said. "I've always opposed making it a crime -- outlawing a woman or a doctor for participating in an abortion. And you don't have to criminalize women or their doctors to be anti-abortion."

But when religious leaders in our country are already condemning birth control, and not even standing up strongly for women's rights....the next slide down the slope is easy.

Look how easy it was to get the criminalization bill through in El Salvador. The party leaders feared losing and went along with the amendment to jail women and doctors for abortions performed. From the NYT 2006 article called Pro Life Nation:

Party caved in on criminalization of women and doctors because they were fearful of losing.

Julia Regina de Cardenal runs the Yes to Life Foundation in San Salvador, which provides prenatal care and job training to poor pregnant women. She was a key advocate for the passage of the ban. She argued that the existing law's exception for the life of the mother was outdated. As she explained to me, "There does not exist any case in which the life of the mother would be in danger, because technology has advanced so far."

Scary stuff. The leadership went along so they would not lose. Freed from taking a stand.

The leadership of the FMLN, afraid that the party would be trounced in the coming elections if they were on the record as opposing the amendment, freed its deputies from their obligation to follow the party's position and urged them to vote with their consciences. When the final vote was taken, the amendment passed overwhelmingly.

And the women pay the price.

Donna Ferrato for The New York Times
The Doctor: Carmen Vargas, chief of OB/GYN residents at a maternity
hospital in San Salvador. "When we see physical evidence," she says, "we are
required to report."

Our party which is supposed to be looking out for our rights has not shown much backbone in fighting back on this issue.

Plan B, abstinence only education, our new HHS secretary who once tried to pass a rigid anti-abortion bill

What are we supposed to assume from all these things? I do not assume that women are the priority of the party. I do not get that feeling.

On Wednesday, May 16, advocates were optimistic that legislation requiring emergency contraception to be stocked on all military bases would pass in the House. �We had the votes on Wednesday night. Things were looking good,� says Monica Castellanos, press secretary for Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine), one of the lead co-sponsors of the amendment that was scheduled for a vote the next day. But then, something mysterious happened. For reasons that remain unclear, Michaud withdrew the legislation the next morning.

Democrats controlled congress then.

"The Democratic leadership of the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Service, and Education (LHHS) Sub-Committee set science and commonsense aside by increasing the funding for discredited abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Despite a congressionally mandated report that found these programs do not work to help teens delay sexual initiation, House leadership allocated $141 million (an increase of $27.8 million) to continue feeding America's young people misinformation.

"Let's face it, with friends like these, who needs conservative Republicans?" said James Wagoner, President of Advocates for Youth. "By continuing to fund these ineffective programs, the House Democratic leadership has signaled that the health and well-being of America's teens are not their priority. Young people and their parents should be outraged.

Read about an anti-abortion bill our new HHS Secretary tried to pass about 10 years ago.

"Daschle's so-called compromise bill, as quoted in the New York Times, permits an exception to the ban for `a severely debilitating disease or impairment specifically caused by the pregnancy (emphasis added),' but makes no provision for a pre-existing, life- and health-threatening `debilitating disease or impairment' that is being exacerbated by the pregnancy. This could include kidney disease, severe hypertension and some cancers. Nor does the Daschle bill allow for an abortion in cases of severe fetal abnormality where it is unlikely the fetus would live long outside the womb, even with technological support.

"The physician certification requirement and the potential loss of a medical license in the Daschle language invites government scrutiny of private medical matters and threatens doctor-patient confidentiality. The intent of this and other abortion ban bills is to control women and to limit their ability to make critical reproductive decisions that affect their families, their health and their lives. These bills represent the ultimate in Congressional arrogance," Gandy charged.

The bill was more rigid than the Republican bill. Has he changed his anti-choice views? Some say he has, but I don't know.

Those things that happened in places like Romania ( be sure to read the linked post by Shallah), and El Salvador could possibly happen here if we are not on guard.

We don't seem to have an opposition party on the side of women and gays anymore. Disturbing.