Slog
News & ArtsThursday, October 25, 2012
2012 Pennsylvania Republicans Write Bill Punishing Newborns, Rape Victims
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 8:11 AM
Holy shit. Slog tipper facet sent this ThinkProgress article along:
A Pennsylvania House bill seeks to limit the amount of TANF assistance that low-income women receive based on the amount of children they give birth to while covered under the program.
Despite the fact that low-income women who give birth to children would logically need increased assistance to care for their larger family, Pennsylvania lawmakers — State Reps. RoseMarie Swanger (R), Tom Caltagirone (D), Mark Gillen (R), Keith Gillespie (R), Adam Harris (R), and Mike Tobash (R) — don’t want their state’s welfare program to provide additional benefits for that newborn. If a woman gives birth to a child who was conceived from rape, she may seek an exception to this rule so that her welfare benefits aren’t slashed, but only if she can provide proof that she reported her sexual assault and her abuser’s identity to the police
Jesus Christ. Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write: Let's leave aside the terrifying pro-rape portion of this bill for a second. Let's look at the fact that this is a bill designed to leave the most helpless members of society—newborn infants—to starve. Previously, Republicans at least claimed to have sympathy for babies. But now they apparently only have sympathy for rich babies.
Now, then. Back to the pro-rape part of the bill. This is a bill that is trying to disguise itself as compassionate by making an exception for rape victims. But it's so fixated on making sure that nobody possibly could get any extra, "unearned" money from the system that it basically ensures that no rape victim would ever try to claim it. There is no compassion here for women, or for human life. The thing I can't figure out about this kind of Republican thought is, why is it worse to believe that a single human being is milking the system for some extra money than it is to know that innocent children are suffering? Why do a few welfare cheats make the whole system of welfare evil? Every system has flaws. Every system has a few people who try to game it. But the fact that some small amount of people might be trying to game the system, when it comes to welfare, makes the whole system illegitimate. And that kind of Republican hatred for the system results in evil bills—yes, evil bills—like this one. This is not the law of a compassionate society. This is barbarism.
1
It had to come to this. Republicans don't want birth control and abortion for women, so that means more poor women with babies. And if there's anything Republicans worship it's money. Once you are born, you are on your own. It's positively medieval. Just like Republicans.
2
I kind of wish that for a year everyone on the plant magically switched genders. Hormones, bodies and all.
Then perhaps we would not have sociopathic, empathy free bills like this one.
So if there are any aliens, wizards, or alien wizards reading, help me out here.
Then perhaps we would not have sociopathic, empathy free bills like this one.
So if there are any aliens, wizards, or alien wizards reading, help me out here.
3
She has to report her abuser's identity? So, this only applies to acquaintance rape? Oh wait I forgot the Akin Rule: stranger rape = legitimate rape = no pregnancy.
4
@3 - That's how they get you. If you can identify your rapist, it wasn't legit, and you should have just laid back and enjoyed it. In fact, you clearly did enjoy it a little bit since your body never shut that whole thing down.
6
What's evil about the welfare system is it provides so little support for the needy they have to cheat it to get by.
And is it sexist of me to say it's bad enough these idiot men talk about how they had to search their soul to decide babies are gifts from God and should never be aborted when there's no chance they'll experience an unwanted pregnancy but they can, after all, only approach the idea theoretically and what really kills me is there's a *woman* sponsoring this bill? I don't care because it's true. In this room full of rich white people who want to kill the poor, it's the old lady who hurts me the most.
And is it sexist of me to say it's bad enough these idiot men talk about how they had to search their soul to decide babies are gifts from God and should never be aborted when there's no chance they'll experience an unwanted pregnancy but they can, after all, only approach the idea theoretically and what really kills me is there's a *woman* sponsoring this bill? I don't care because it's true. In this room full of rich white people who want to kill the poor, it's the old lady who hurts me the most.
7
Shouldn't "amount of children" be "number of children", or is this program based on collective birth weight?
8
@1 What Republicans want is to make women dependent on their husbands. Limiting access to family planning and limiting public assistance to single mothers both serve that end.
9
And I'd like to add that children who are born with mild to severe deformities need expensive care. Maybe it would be best to start placing them in Catholic torture chambers again.
10
No, you cannot have an abortion.
No, we will not teach reproductive responsibility in school.
No, we will not cover your birth control... there are plenty of places you can get free condoms...
Except, we're going to try to shut down all those places.
No, you will receive no help from us to raise your kids.
Republicans only feel satisfied when everyone is miserable and suffering. Republican beliefs and ideas are evil.
No, we will not teach reproductive responsibility in school.
No, we will not cover your birth control... there are plenty of places you can get free condoms...
Except, we're going to try to shut down all those places.
No, you will receive no help from us to raise your kids.
Republicans only feel satisfied when everyone is miserable and suffering. Republican beliefs and ideas are evil.
11
goodness.
the troll posted about this just a few days ago....
memo to the underclass:
we can not, and no longer will, subsidize your depraved lifestyle.
if you economically can not afford kids we hope you do not have any.
if you plan to kill your kids you'll need to pay the hitman yourself.
sorry.
we have really enjoyed paying for your irresponsible choices for the past half century; thanks for the memories; but it isn't in our budget anymore.
XoXo
the producers
the troll posted about this just a few days ago....
memo to the underclass:
we can not, and no longer will, subsidize your depraved lifestyle.
if you economically can not afford kids we hope you do not have any.
if you plan to kill your kids you'll need to pay the hitman yourself.
sorry.
we have really enjoyed paying for your irresponsible choices for the past half century; thanks for the memories; but it isn't in our budget anymore.
XoXo
the producers
12
I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: so-called "pro-lifers" aren't PRO-anything; they're anti-woman, period. They'll literally kill to "save the unborn", but once that kid pushes its way out of mom's uterus, they couldn't give a shit about what happens to it from there on out - unless perhaps, it's born into a good, God-fearing, GOP-voting, right-wing, one-man one-woman nucular (sic) family that has a high enough annual income to make the maximum in contributions to their campaign war-chest.
Otherwise, it's "fuck off, you Godless, skanky, welfare-cheats"...
Otherwise, it's "fuck off, you Godless, skanky, welfare-cheats"...
13
We're the opposite of a compassionate society.
You'd think this deranged and sadistic KKKuntree couldn't sink any lower--until RAPE became a winning campaign issue. Jeezus Fooking Kee-rist.
You'd think this deranged and sadistic KKKuntree couldn't sink any lower--until RAPE became a winning campaign issue. Jeezus Fooking Kee-rist.
14
and are you people really that stupid
or do you just play morons on slog....
a rape exception
without a requirement to report
would mean that every unwanted pregnancy
would suddenly become the product of a RAPE.
you really think reporting rape is unreasonable?
you prefer that rapists go unreported, free to continue raping?
really?
or do you just play morons on slog....
a rape exception
without a requirement to report
would mean that every unwanted pregnancy
would suddenly become the product of a RAPE.
you really think reporting rape is unreasonable?
you prefer that rapists go unreported, free to continue raping?
really?
15
Doesn't it make sense to deincentivize having more kids just for the sake of increased welfare...doesn't that ultimately help alleviate poverty.
16
Slate has a well-supported article that claims that No Rape Exception for Abortions is no longer a fringe element of the Republican party: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_p…
17
Ah I should know better than to click on an unregistered comment but sigh......
@14: Sweetie. The objection raised is to this portion:
....."and her abuser's identity". If the victim can't provide the identity of her rapist, then she is shit out of luck according to the wording of this bill.
See now for people like me, who did not know the identity of their attacker, that would be a bit of pickle now wouldn't it?
@14: Sweetie. The objection raised is to this portion:
....."and her abuser's identity". If the victim can't provide the identity of her rapist, then she is shit out of luck according to the wording of this bill.
See now for people like me, who did not know the identity of their attacker, that would be a bit of pickle now wouldn't it?
18
In Washington state, a single parent with one child gets $385 a month. To live. If she has two children gets $478. Do you think that even covers rent anywhere in the state, let alone paying for extra diapers?
19
@18 I doubt many women pop out an extra kid just so they can get an extra $93 a month from the government.
21
@11: Yup, those red states are gonna be plumb out of luck once the blue states stop footing the bill. http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo33/… http://taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfounda…
22
but they provide free birth control, right? what's the problem?
note that a democratic rep is cosponsoring the bill. with friends like these...
note that a democratic rep is cosponsoring the bill. with friends like these...
23
Someone somewhere out there is getting a deal and it ain't me!!!
Once we stop paying them peoples to have babies, we can finally address the fake handicappers. I seen you park in the handicap spot and you walk just like a normal person.
Or hows-about when they don't have to pay when they get on the bus? Just because you cousins with the bus driver you don't has to pay?
You was raped you say? Real-raped or want-a-tax-break raped?
There ought to be a law!
Once we stop paying them peoples to have babies, we can finally address the fake handicappers. I seen you park in the handicap spot and you walk just like a normal person.
Or hows-about when they don't have to pay when they get on the bus? Just because you cousins with the bus driver you don't has to pay?
You was raped you say? Real-raped or want-a-tax-break raped?
There ought to be a law!
24
21
go ahead.
teach us a lesson......
17
you really don't have to trivialize your own experience just to make a partisan point.
Whatever identifying information the victim can provide (a medium height stocky while male...) will be enough.
Of course, if it is awkward for women to come forward they shouldn't have to; the women raped later by their attacker are just out of luck....
go ahead.
teach us a lesson......
17
you really don't have to trivialize your own experience just to make a partisan point.
Whatever identifying information the victim can provide (a medium height stocky while male...) will be enough.
Of course, if it is awkward for women to come forward they shouldn't have to; the women raped later by their attacker are just out of luck....
25
@24: Thank you soooooooooooo much for you concern! Actually I need to amend my post. Upon further reading of the bill it does contain the qualifier "where possible" in regards to reporting the identity of one's assailant.
26
So, they'll grant benefits to newborns if they are conceived via the violence and trauma of forced sex, but not for newborns who are the result of consensual, pleasurable coitus.
This has nothing at all to do with 'welfare abuse'. It's entirely about punishing single women for having sex.
This has nothing at all to do with 'welfare abuse'. It's entirely about punishing single women for having sex.
27
Medicaid has an exception for paying for abortion when the Medicaid recipient was raped; this was the reason behind Todd "Legitimate Rape" Akin's and Paul Ryan's attempt to change the exception to "forcible" rape.
The thing is, virtually no Medicaid recipients who qualify for that exception take advantage of it because, even with a fairly wide exception (no "forcible" requirement), having to prove sexual assault to some government bureaucrat is a step too far for those women. They'd rather borrow or scrounge up the money to pay for the abortion themselves.
No welfare recipient will take advantage of that rape exception, which is, of course, the entire point. Republicans can pretend to be compassionate when in fact they want to see poor people starve.
The thing is, virtually no Medicaid recipients who qualify for that exception take advantage of it because, even with a fairly wide exception (no "forcible" requirement), having to prove sexual assault to some government bureaucrat is a step too far for those women. They'd rather borrow or scrounge up the money to pay for the abortion themselves.
No welfare recipient will take advantage of that rape exception, which is, of course, the entire point. Republicans can pretend to be compassionate when in fact they want to see poor people starve.
28
@8
::ponders:: Hey, I know regimes where this is the norm. Woo-hoo. Laissez le bon temps rouler.
What Republicans want is to make women dependent on their husbands.I'll go you one better. What Republicans want is to make women dependent. Women will be passed from father (or brother) to a prospective husband (money optional but preferred). And they won't need to worry their pretty little heads over going to school, working or shopping. No, wait. Shopping will be okay, as long as they are chaperoned. So, that will also remove the possibility of unwed intercourse or rape and any resulting pregnancies.
::ponders:: Hey, I know regimes where this is the norm. Woo-hoo. Laissez le bon temps rouler.
29
@24: You want a lesson? I'll give you a lesson.
The hagfish is one of two kinds of surviving agnathans (jawless fish). They are typically deep-water scavengers, living on detritus such as whale carcasses. Their primary defense mechanism is slime; when disturbed, a hagfish can secrete enough proteins to turn several gallons of water around them to slime, making them difficult for predators to catch and eat.
The hagfish is one of two kinds of surviving agnathans (jawless fish). They are typically deep-water scavengers, living on detritus such as whale carcasses. Their primary defense mechanism is slime; when disturbed, a hagfish can secrete enough proteins to turn several gallons of water around them to slime, making them difficult for predators to catch and eat.
30
Has anyone checked to see if Fluck
has had her free abortion today?
if she can't remember give her another.
just in case.....
has had her free abortion today?
if she can't remember give her another.
just in case.....
31
1) This bill was introduced by Rep. Rosemarie Swanger. The last bill she authored? A bill to declare the apple the official fruit of Pennsylvania. Seriously.
2) The PA Legislature is done with lawmaking until January, but even then I doubt this makes it out of committee. Or at least I can only hope.
2) The PA Legislature is done with lawmaking until January, but even then I doubt this makes it out of committee. Or at least I can only hope.
32
Oh ,Republicans seem to be fine with gaming the system/cheating the government, so long as the ones who do the gaming are rich people, and they are gaming the tax system.
33
Morons. Republicans are sick of people using the system for years and years. Those people that have babies to effectively give themselves a 'raise'. Those people that have babies as the older ones turn 18, so that they can maintain their 'income', Personally, I think it's a great idea to limit these free loaders, and force them to work. If they don't like working, they are free to go to Canada and live off the government there.
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