"limited to "forcible rape"---WTF

[trumad]

Jesus Christ Republicans are sick fuckers!

For years, federal laws restricting the use of government funds to pay for abortions have included exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. (Another exemption covers pregnancies that could endanger the life of the woman.) But the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," a bill with 173 mostly Republican co-sponsors that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has dubbed a top priority in the new Congress, contains a provision that would rewrite the rules to limit drastically the definition of rape and incest in these cases.

With this legislation, which was introduced last week by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Republicans propose that the rape exemption be limited to "forcible rape." This would rule out federal assistance for abortions in many rape cases, including instances of statutory rape, many of which are non-forcible. For example: If a 13-year-old girl is impregnated by a 24-year-old adult, she would no longer qualify to have Medicaid pay for an abortion. (Smith's spokesman did not respond to a call and an email requesting comment.)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_01/027742.php

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[H2O Man]

2. To correctly document

and define the mind-set of the opposition.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[H2O Man]

6. oh

[XanaDUer]

11. I'm a female, and I get worried with this fascist shit

will this pass? Probably not. But it's good to see what they are up to and thinking, esp when it negatively effects me.

[eridani]

15. You'd jolly fucking well better worry about it

Whackjob propositions like this getting a hearing means that all kinds of other unacceptable restrictions don't look so bad by contrast.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

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[eridani]

20. No, but it will strongly enable the Repuke assault on reproductive rights--

--for the reason I indicated.

[Name removed]

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[eridani]

25. Yes they do--by shifting the terms of debate much farther toward the whackjob end of the spectrum n

[CrispyQ]

27. Eridani is absolutely right.

Pharmacists in some areas are refusing to fill legal prescriptions, based on their personal religious beliefs. This is where it starts.

Now the GOP wants to engage in a discussion, where they put forth, that a woman who was drugged & raped, does not fit the definition of rape. I fear for all women, who live in a society that goes down that path.

If you support a woman's right to choose, this is a very important issue.

"The Handmaid's Tale" should be required reading in high school.

[CrispyQ]

26. Damn straight. --nt

[csziggy]

19. Why should we not be worried about this and similar efforts?

Even if many of the proposals to block women's choices are not successful, each time they are introduced they further desensitize the public. Over the time I have been an adult I have watched the country go from limited support for abortion access to increasing prohibition on abortion and inroads into reducing access to family planning and contraceptives.

Each time a new law is proposed, people do not compare it to full access to choice, but only to how more or less restrictive it is to whatever the most recent publicized effort was. There is a constant erosion of the level of access women have to the choices that can make a difference in their lives. Now abortion is nearly as inaccessible for many women as it was before Roe v. Wade, even though it is a legal procedure in this country.

I will be worried about every effort to make women subject to the whims of controlling men, especially when they try to put those whims into law.

[uppityperson]

24. If we are not aware of this crap, we cannot counter it. By posting such info,

we can work together to make sure this sort of crap doesn't pass, and can attempt to talk with those who might emotionally react in support of it.

[H2O Man]

3. Recommended.

They are sick people.

[justiceischeap]

4. Um, isn't all rape forcible... just asking. (eom)

[madinmaryland]

8. That is my comment, also. It is the very definition of rape, is that it IS forcible.

[Bunny]

10. Seriously. I think forcible is practically in the definition of rape.

But I guess if you're not broken, bruised, and bloodied, then you weren't really 'forced'.

What assholes.

[uppityperson]

13. No, it isn't. Statutory rape may not be, it may be consensual between 2 people BUT with

a power differential which makes it illegal. A 14 yr old and a 17 yr old. A 14 yr old and a 40 yr old.

Otherwise, yes, Rape is violence disguised as sex. I wish they had another term for statutory rape as sometimes it includes my definition of Rape, sometimes not.

[TheWraith]

14. To be fair, no.

Statutory rape can be entirely consensual, but defined as "rape" anyway. That's not to be confused with supporting this bill, which is ridiculous, but the myths about statutory rape bug me.

[dkofos]

7. I thought they were about creating jobs.

How does this BS create jobs??

[madinmaryland]

9. Boehner has created jobs?

[dkofos]

22. Maybe a hand job

[neverforget]

12. love the fetus hate the woman

[Maru Kitteh]

17. And again, the war on women continues.

[alp227]

18. This bill was first intro'd last year

by Rep. Smith back in July 2010 (when the Democrats still controlled both bodies of Congress) as HR 5939:

Prohibits:
(1) the expenditure of funds authorized or appropriated by federal law or funds in any trust fund to which funds are authorized or appropriated by federal law for any abortion or for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion;
(2) any tax benefits for amounts paid or incurred for an abortion or for a health benefits plan (including premium assistance) that includes coverage of abortion; and
(3) the inclusion of abortion in any health care service furnished by a federal health care facility or by any physician or other individual employed by the federal government. Exempts from such prohibitions an abortion if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest with a minor, or if the woman suffers from a physical disorder, injury, or illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the women in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. Makes such prohibitions applicable to federal funding within the budget of the District of Columbia. Prohibits federal agencies or programs and states and local governments that receive federal financial assistance from discriminating against any individual or institutional health care entity on the basis that such entity does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions. Designates the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to receive, and coordinate the investigation of, discrimination complaints.

It seems that it wants to make the Hyde Amendment not just a rider in Medicaid and HHS-related law but rather codified.

In this congress it's HR 3, regarding rape it says:

The limitations established in sections 301, 302, 303, and 304 shall not apply to an abortion--

(1) if the pregnancy occurred because the pregnant female was the subject of an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest; or

(2) in the case where the pregnant female suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the pregnant female in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.

That's a pretty narrow definition right there. What about adults in incestuous situations? And this law doesn't even expand on what "forcible" means.

Vanessa Valenti at Feministing put it: "Have you been drugged and raped? Raped while unconscious? Raped by your uncle? Apparently according to the GOP House, this isn’t really rape."

[get the red out]

21. Witnesses

Are two male witnesses also required to prove rape? Does the victim also get stoned or will that take further legislation?

Sorry, I may be getting my "Talibans" confused, ours and theirs, easy to do.

[The Backlash Cometh]

23. They're neanderthals.