“Neanderthal Chris” Jones’ Bill Passed House

[Note: This article is cross-posted at RaisingKaine.com.]

One just can’t afford to be sick. While we weren’t looking, Neanderthal Del. Chris Jones’ (R-Suffolk) monstrous bill (HB 1126) passed the House (68 to 31) and is in Committee (Education and Health) in the Senate! Del. Jones wants to felonize women having either an abortion or miscarriage. It’s bad enough to felonize women having an abortion. But the inclusion of miscarriage, which occurs naturally in 20% of all pregnancies, is simply draconian.

The upshot would be 20% of all pregnancies would result in criminal investigation. Talk about feeding the prison industrial complex. And that’s what this punitive, unAmerican bill will do.

Miscarriages which are “caused” by the woman, or anyone else, could yield a five-year prison sentence. As the full text reveals (below), “cause” is defined very vaguely. It’s bad enough to try to felonize women for abortions. But to treat miscarriage as if it were a criminal matter is, well, downright grotesque.

And the roll call contains the usual radical wrong, who’d be considered buffoons, but for the tremendous damage they do. It really goes to show how uncompassionate conservatives (and their gutless enablers on our side of the aisle) are. These folks are right out of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

You know the crew: Dave Albo, Terry Kilgore, Bob Marshall Bill Carrico, John Cosgrove, et al. And as for Democrats Phillips, Valentine, Armstrong, Barlow, (Algie) Howell, Johnson, Morrissey, and Lewis, get them out of office. Soon!

Here’s the text:

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 18.2-71 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 18.2-71. Producing abortion or miscarriage, etc.; penalty.

Except as provided in other sections of this article, any person, including the pregnant female, who administers or causes to be taken by a pregnant female any drug or other thing, or uses means, with intent to destroy her unborn child, or to produce abortion or miscarriage, and thereby destroys such child, or produces such abortion or miscarriage, is guilty of a Class 4 felony. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any medically approved contraceptive whether used before or after sexual intercourse [ or any medication legally prescribed by a physician ] [ specifically to induce or cause an abortion ] .

2. That the provisions of this act may result in a net increase in periods of imprisonment or commitment. Pursuant to § 30-19.1:4, the estimated amount of the necessary appropriation cannot be determined for periods of imprisonment in state adult correctional facilities and cannot be determined for periods of commitment to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice.

There you have it. This bill is more draconian than back in the days of pre-Roe, when a woman would never have been prosecuted for a loss of a pregnancy, whether by miscarriage or abortion. In 2008, the Neanderthal House of Delegates wants to bring us back to the stone age. And it needs a shakeout. And the time is 2009. Meanwhile, let’s make their lives miserable. Call their offices, often. Hound ‘em. Give em some Molly Ivins’ style hell.

Final anti-choice bills to be heard this week

This Thursday at 8:30am, the Senate Education & Health committee will consider the following bills. The descriptions are from a legislative update I received from Planned Parenthood:

• HB 894 requires any medical facility providing 25 or more abortions a year to comply with the regulatory requirements of an ambulatory surgery center.
• HB 1315 requires that an ultrasound be performed before providing an abortion.
• HB 1556 requires that an ultrasound be performed before providing an abortion. If pregnancy is past 20 weeks, requires doctor to provide medically inaccurate information about fetal anesthesia.

Planned Parenthood will be there and is organizing supporters. Email them if you are interested in attending the meeting. You can contact the members of the committee and ask them to vote against these bills by using this form.

Del. Bob Marshall submitted a budget amendment that to prohibit Medicaid funding for abortion care for women with a serious health condition or non-viable pregnancy. This amendment was agreed to in the House. You can contact the budget conferees by using this form.

What’s Next? (Hint: Stop Del. Jones, Again)

The Virginia primary polls have closed. We’ve done what we can for now. And, until the general election presents, it’s on to the next cause or worthy endeavor. Life has a way of sneaking up on us and presenting some new wrinkles and worthy actions. And this one will likely unite not just female supporters of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but also women and men who support choice and those who do not. At least that is my hope. The irrepressible Del Chris Jones is B-A-A-A-C-K, as surely as a Jack Nicholson movie character! And Jones’ actions require a feisty women’s backlash. You see, he’s back with more legislation designed to felonize women who miscarry. A little history first.

No doubt Jones was originally inspired by Del. John Cosgrove, who several years ago, had ideas of his own about blaming women for miscarriages. It mattered not that 1/5 of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, unfortunately labeled by the medical term “spontaneous abortion.” And, where ignoramuses are concerned, that must mean bad, bad, bad. And so Cosgrove wrote a bill to require women who miscarried to file a police report within 12 hours of said miscarriage. When I miscarried many years ago, there was no way I was hauling myself off to the police department for paperwork after three-days-of-useless and terrible pain leading to miscarriage. I was heartbroken. But that kind of thing doesn’t matter to a “knight” on his high horse.

But women had other ideas for Cosgrove back then. A brilliant blogger named Maura Keaney, formerly of Democracy for Virginia and now of My Left Nutmeg , happened to be monitoring the House of Delegates with the Legislative Sentry Project. Maura blogged the Cosgrove story, and even guested on ABC’s Nightline, where she did us proud and showed the almost hapless Cosgrove was no match for a smart woman. (I also blogged this story at Democracy for Virginia.) But an interesting thing happened. Women who oppose abortion also have miscarriages. And they joined in to get the bill withdrawn. Cosgrove licked his wounds (poor puppy) and that was that.

Fast forward to last year, when Jones upped the ante. Last year at this time I wrote at Raising Kaine and Democracy Upside Down about Jones’ efforts to felonize women who “cause” their own miscarriage (by any means whatsoever). The word “cause” here is loosey goosey, just as Jones no doubt wants it. The prison-industrial-complex must be served. Last year’s bill was even more draconian than this year’s (if that’s possible). It even passed the House (75 to 25). That’s how close women came to being felonized for a miscarriage that any miserable, nasty, unsympathetic person might want to charge them for. Compassionate conservatism, indeed. The Senate did its thing and blocked the bill. And that was that.

But now Jones has redrawn the bill. And it’s almost as outrageous. The main change is eliminating birth control pills and legal prescriptions from the causal list. But the wording vaguely encompasses just about anything else in which the woman herself (or anyone else) had the “intent” to terminate a pregnancy or miscarriage. How one proves, or more likely infers, that is anyone’s guess.
From Richmondsunlight.com, here’s the summary of HB1126:

“Producing abortion or miscarriage, etc.; penalty. Provides that any person, including the pregnant female, who administers to or causes to be taken by a pregnant female any drug or other thing or uses means with intent to destroy her unborn child or to produce abortion or miscarriage and thereby destroys such child or produces such abortion or miscarriage is guilty of a Class 4 felony. The bill excepts medically approved contraceptives as a means of producing abortion or miscarriage. Current law does not with specificity include the pregnant female as a possible perpetrator.”

And the full text:

I have no profound words tonight, only one mantra: What would Molly Ivins do? Let’s get get busy. Let’s stop the madness of felonizing women.

Ohio and Texas or Hillary’s out

Sources tell The New York Times Hillary Clinton’s campaign is “coming to terms” with her need to win the primaries in Ohio and Texas March 4, and win them comfortably, or she’s out.

More here at From Scratch.

Caroline Kennedy for Obama

The New York Times has endorsed Hillary Clinton in the Democrats’ race, but in tomorrow’s edition, Caroine Kennedy endorses Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

In an op-ed piece called A President Like My Father, Kennedy says she has never found a president who inspires people the way her father did, but that Obama might be that president, not just for her but for a new generation.

Obama won today’s South Carolina primary by near-landslide proportions, with 55% of the vote.

(by Ella)

Election Tales From Outside the Trenches: Our Fractured Presidential Selection System

It’s hard to call what passes for our national parties’ selection processes “systems.” Selection processes are fractured, inequitable, and chaotic. From the proliferation of so-called debates on cable news, it’s clear someone is benefiting. Primary among the beneficiaries are big media, which tout the horse-race and “character;” lobbyists; polling groups; and campaign professionals, who drift from one campaign to another. However, citizens do not benefit. The tail now wags the dog. Indeed, most of all, our mixed caucus-primary system disrespects the citizens of these United States. And they serve as poor examples for the world for whom we strive to set an example. Watching from partial sidelines (which is to say I have my presidential leanings, but no active role in this particular election), I see even more clearly than I did from deep within the trenches last time, how severely fractured our system is.

Recently, Bill Clinton railed about the unfairness of at-large caucuses set up in workplaces. He was, in effect siding with the teachers’ union in the NV caucus litigation. However, as one NV political analyst observed, if Bill Clinton really cared about one person, one vote, he’d oppose the caucus system itself. But caucuses favor insider candidates and thus Hillary has an overwhelming advantage.

I believe that caucuses are playgrounds for much political mischief. And it is hard to believe that some court somewhere hasn’t knocked them out of political existence. In general, however, the parties have been left to figure out their nominees themselves. And history and the current campaigns show the parties cannot do it.

In 1972 I reluctantly became an alternate to the Spokane County convention. My husband was a delegate. I say reluctantly because I didn’t really like McGovern and saw him as a very weak candidate. I’ve written elsewhere about how sorely McGovern lacked interpersonal skill along the campaign trail. He was a cold, distant, and impersonable candidate. But the only other choice was to support a ‘favorite son” candidacy of Scoop Jackson, who wanted to be a power broker at the national convention. Insiders were only to happy to hand over their decision making. I, not originally, call that Banana Republicanism. Because we already have delegated democracy (i.e. a republic) in this country, I couldn’t see adding yet another layer of deciders in the process.

And so, following precinct caucuses all over the county, we duly elected alternates and delegates went one Saturday to our county convention and were promptly kicked out by the credentials committee, which wouldn’t recognize anyone but Jackson delegates. It is hard to describe the enmity Jackson created with that single move. It’s a microcosm in how not to treat the worker bees of the party. And this followed the knocking of heads convention/coronation of Hubert H. Humphrey. Humphrey cared so little about a fair process that he said nothing as Richard Daley unleashed his police state onto lawful demonstrators.

I “escaped” to a primary state – for a while. Fast forward to 1981. As luck would have it (or lack of luck, as the case may be), I wound up smack-dab in the middle of yet another caucus state, Virginia. And there I have remained. The unbelievably small number of voters who actually caucus and decide our candidates was the first real shock. Here in Montgomery County, VA, around 200 voters (out of tens of thousands) determined the Democratic nominee our last caucus year. Another was who really gets to go to the national convention. Those who work the hardest are not necessarily the ones who get to go. Sometimes it’s the people with money. Attendees also need some knowledge about how such meetings work (Robert’s Rules) and how debate can swiftly be shut down if one doesn’t pay attention. It helps to come with allies who can second motions swiftly.

However, the Democratic Party of Virginia has seen fit to “let us” have a primary in recent years. It should not be its to decide. It should go without saying that primary elections, not selections, are the way to go. Even with primaries, however, we still need one national election day. It should not be possible for the whole thing to be “over” before half or more of America even votes. One person, one vote gets up-ended. One primary, one day. Make it in June. National conventions can go on as usual, but for the purposes of platform writing and other party business. Celebrate the winners. But don’t select them before we’ve even voted!

I am sick of candidates spending a year in Iowa and New Hampshire while giving scant attention to the rest of us. 48 states get next to nothing. Why have we persisted in the political correctness of favoring the Iowa and New Hampshire? Pols refuse to speak the truth about the inherent unfairness and just play along. Two states get the presidentials even ringing their doorbells. We never see them at all, or have to drive many hours for the so-called privilege. Who is applying to work for whom? Representation shouldn’t be that hard.

Additionally, The shameful spectacle of the me-first state parties must stop. It’s calendar-derby, but it more approximates roller-derby. If the courts cannot get tough on this, the parties should do the right thing once and for all.

I’ll write more on our political system in the next of a series.

KathyinBlacksburg

 

Planned Parenthood legislative update

Planned Parenthood is following a number of bills during this legislative session. Their bill chart, indicating which bills they support and which ones they opposed, can be found here.

A few bills that they highlighted in their recent email:

• HB894. Sponsored by Matt Lohr (R-26), this bill passed the House by a 60-37 vote. Prior to its passage, Del. David Englin (D-45) spoke against the bill, challenging the claims made by Lohr. You can see a video of his remarks here. Planned Parenthood believes that this bill, which would require licensing of abortion clinics, would result in the closing of nearly all of them.
• HB1071. Del. Kris Amundson’s (D-44) bill, the Birth Control Protection Act, already has 27 co-sponsors and has been referred to the House Courts of Justice committee. Contact your legislator and ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor.
• HB89 and HB188. Del. Bob Marshall (R-13) sponsored both of these bills. HB89, which would have repealed the requirement for the HPV vaccination, failed in committee. HB188 delayed implementation of the vaccination requirements from 7/1/2008 to 10/1/2010. The bill passed the House, despite this effort by Del. Jeion Ward (D-92).
• HB422 (Marshall) and HB1315 (Kathy Bryon R-22) mandate medically unnecessary procedures. Both bills are expected to be considered by the House this week.

Just a reminder that Pro-Choice Lobby Day is Thursday, January 31.

Hillary’s femininity

The notion that a contemporary woman must look mannish in order to be taken seriously as a seeker of power is frankly dismaying.

That’s from Vogue magazine’s February editor’s letter, in which editor Anna Wintour takes Hillary Clinton to task for cancelling a photo shoot. A Vogue spokesman confirmed to Women’s Wear Daily, “We were told by Ms. Clinton’s camp that they were concerned if Clinton appeared in Vogue that she would appear too feminine.”

Wintour’s letter, alongside a 2003 photo of Hillary in Vogue, goes on to say, “This is America, not Saudi Arabia. It’s also 2008: Margaret Thatcher may have looked terrific in a blue power suit, but that was 20 years ago. I do think Americans have moved on from the power-suit mentality, which served as a bridge for a generation of women to reach boardrooms filled with men. Political campaigns that do not recognize this are making a serious misjudgment.”

But not all is lost. The magazine’s spokesman also told WWD they are “working on something together” for the future.

While Wintour’s letter is not on the website, there is a nascent discussion about it on the magazine message boards.

 Cross posted from From Scratch

Hillary takes Nevada

MSNBC has called the Nevada Democratic caucus for Hillary Clinton. According to the exit polls, 52% of the female vote went to Clinton, while 79% of the black vote went to Obama.

Misogyny in America

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert’s op-ed from Tuesday was reprinted in Wednesday’s Virginian Pilot.

If there was ever a story that deserved more coverage by the news media, it’s the dark persistence of misogyny in America. Sexism in its myriad destructive forms permeates nearly every aspect of American life. For many men, it’s the true national pastime, much bigger than baseball or football.

The question in my mind is why? Why is it that is remains perfectly OK to be openly sexist (or, as they called it back in the 1970s, a male chauvinist pig)? The politically correct police have made no headway in this issue. Herbert offers this explanation:

We’ve become so used to the disrespectful, degrading, contemptuous and even violent treatment of women that we hardly notice it. Staggering amounts of violence are unleashed against women and girls every day. Fashionable ads in mainstream publications play off of that violence, exploiting themes of death and dismemberment, female submissiveness and child pornography.

Has America become so desensitized to misogyny that they don’t even see it?