I don't know any of these male "South Park Democrats" you're speaking of. I look forward to hearing their well-reasoned arguments for not giving a fuck about Religious Conservatives turning America into Ireland.

Like every other civil rights issue, women are always pushed to the back of the line.

I really don't understand why there is so much hate for abortion, given how much the MRA crowd "loves" to pay child support. I guess they love being able to control women more.

I will believe people who advocate forced birth are "pro-life" when I see them roundly protest war and the death penalty.



Until then, it is just about punishing women who violate some arbitrary sexual rules thought up by bronze age goat herders.

I think that it also has a lot to do with money. Affluent voters (who are likely to donate and likely to be or be heard by candidates for public office) are being inconvenienced by the decisions of anti-choice states, but they're not actually being denied access to abortion. They take a couple days off work, a little trip to the nearest town with a functioning clinic, and that's that.



Now poor people, the very people who are less likely to have access to proper birth control and are a lot more likely to be faced with unwanted pregnancy, those people are being denied access to abortion by states like Texas. And our politicians (and our electorate) have proved that, by-and-large, they do not care about the needs of poor people.

I saw the Life Chain protest yesterday in Silverdale and it moved me to make a donation to the National Abortion Federation's Rachel Falls Patient Assistance Fund which helps low income women afford an abortion.

http://prochoice.org/

Seeing those people on the street, even with the relatively tame signs that Life Chain promotes, makes me shudder. Every woman should be allowed control over her own body, not told the absurd nonsense that "Abortion kills children" or "Abortion hurts women". By all means, pray to end abortion, but don't fuck with people's ability to get one.

If the Democratic party can't bother to campaign on rights for women and immigrants, then no money for them. I've stopped thinking the two parties care about votes as much as they seem to just care about bringing in money for campaigning and personal expenses.

This article lists many medical procedures which aren't held to the same standards as abortions, despite carrying similar levels of risk, such as colonoscopies, wisdom teeth extractions, lasik, miscarriage treatment (= D&C), etc:
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpa…

@5--you nailed it.

This means women need to rise up and say "No!" and VOTE or anti-abortion Republicans will see you die in alleys and they won't care!

Well, that and the fact that shouting "THEY'RE KILLING BAYBEEEES" seems to always be a pretty successful strategy.



Marriage? You can break it down to what it really is: a binding contract between two consenting adults conferring certain specific rights and benefits. After a point, beyond the religious arguments, you're talking about basic legal equality. Abortion is murkier: one person's "fetus" is another person's "baby", just depends on whether the clump of cells is "wanted" or not. That makes it personal for a lot of people, regardless of whether they know someone who has had an abortion before (and this is how support for late-term abortion remains tepid and conditional, even among social liberals). Conservatives have capitalized on that emotion to inject endless vitriol into the issue.

Most of the (admittedly few), pro-life people I know are pro-life because they believe zygotes are human beings. The reason why they can budge on gay marriage and not on zygotes is that even the most stubborn whackaloon has to eventually admit that gays getting married isn't going to result in crowdfuckery on public school lawns (by the simple fact of that not happening in the states where gay marriage is legal). But if you believe that a zygote is a person, even an astute philosopher isn't going to move you, because neither science nor philosophy had a strong definition for what life is. If you told me that there were doctors euthanizing gingers by the consent of their disappointed mothers, I'd set the building on fire. I believe a woman has a right to terminate a pregnancy at any time under the 13th Amendment; bodily autonomy is to me sacrosanct. Even if I were to grant a zealot's definition of when life begins, I'd still be pro-choice on those grounds.

If women in Texas would vote out Republicans, they could reverse the damage done to their reproductive rights. Too bad that won't happen despite the fantastic Wendy Davis running for governor.

@5 Ridiculous. Coming out as gay and announcing you had an abortion are not the same thing. People are born gay; abortions are a choice. We live in a society where more people are accepting that gay people are born gay, making it easier for gay people to come out. At the same time, views on abortion are going back to the 1950s; many think it is akin to murder. It was not safe to come out as gay in the 1950s, and it's not safe for women to risk their jobs (and maybe spouse's/partner's jobs, kids' reputations, etc) and "come out" on abortions.

All that aside and more importantly, it's nobody's fucking business. It's a legal medical procedure that should only be discussed between a woman and her doctor.

@5 that idea could work, and I do agree that people need to start talking about it more, but wouldn't it be simpler if people "came out" as a wanted person? Most people don’t discuss their medical history in public but if you're born after Roe v. Wade (which is a pretty good chunk of folks) most likely your mom chose to have you, maybe not planned and maybe not with a lot of follow-through but it was legally her choice. We've had birth control pills for over 60 years-that'sa lot of planned kids. I'm pretty cool with being a wanted child, a lot of people I know where wanted kids-seems to work out well. That should be the focus, and everyone should care.

I totally agree with @5 - women who have had abortions do need to "come out". It's just met with such a stigma but it needs to be done.

I am one of those women. I have had 2 abortions - yes 2 - and I came from an educated middle-class family in the Midwest. The first was in High School and it was completely unplanned despite using protection. I was in a bad place at this time, very depressed and started running with the wrong crowd. But I wanted to go to college and have a future, so I got an abortion with the encouragement of my parents. They are both Christian but they knew it would SAVE MY LIFE. My Dad took me to the appointment.

The second time was more recent and it was while I am happily married. Also happily using birth control. Didn't even KNOW that I was pregnant. I continued to get my period and was taking prescription drugs (that were prescribed to me!) and drinking and doing other things that young folks do. By the time I found it I would've done severe damage to the fetus so it was much better to have an abortion. Again IT SAVED MY LIFE as we were not ready for a baby - and this baby would've had some serious issues.

I had to walk through picket lines each time and have suffered many emotional consequences as a result of all of this but I don't regret a thing.

Now I've been able to be very successful in my career, and I continue to be a productive member of society. And a pretty decent human being overall. My husband and I are preparing to have a baby now that we have stable jobs and have been married for a few years - we have a solid foundation.

And that's my story.

@17 this is a fabulous idea, much better than encouraging women to out themselves about their legal medical history.



I have pictures of me and my sister as young girls in the 1970s marching for abortion rights and carrying signs that said as much: "I am a love child. I was chosen" and "Every child should be a love child."

@11 and @12 are right.

There's no changing religious conservatives' minds about this. To them it's a baby and you're guilty of the murder of that baby if you have an abortion. That's their belief system.

IDK This ruling in Texas could prove to be the wave hitting the break wall. The number of the clinics just dropped to 8 at best more likely 6 when the dust settles. That is a big swath of territory and population. Roe v Wade was a judgement based on public health concerns as much as on privacy. Bodies will start to pile, the argument could shift back. Still not a good day for abortion rights.

@12 +1 million.



To reiterate with emphasis.



Simple solution: treat every living person's body as sacrosanct. If something happens to live inside it, there are no rights for it. I don't care if it's a dead mass of cancer, Jesus masquerading as the holy reincarnation of Albert Einstein. Whatever it may be is subject to the wishes of the person's body it's in.



The person with the birth certificate and certifiable and codified existence has absolute authority over the right of their body. The end.



Any other opinions? Go home; you're drunk on the power of your own self righteousness.



Don't judge another for how they treat their own body unless you would usurp the power of whatever unholy evil ghost you believe in.

Dare I say that the solution to this issue may be the same as the solution for the gay marriage issue? As Dan always says, people come around on gay marriage when they realize they know, and like, gay people. They would probably come around on abortion if they realized how many of the women around them had abortions.

I recognize that most women probably don't want to talk about their abortions, and that it's a bit more complex than just dropping a "my boyfriend and I went camping this weekend", but when voters realize it's not just the "welfare queens" cranking out a dead baby every few months but that it's their wife before they met, or their friend with 3 kids who couldn't afford a fourth then you'll probably find people voting differently.

A good friend had an abortion years ago because her lover was bad with a condom.

I think it's a good thing to abort pregnancies when the baby's life would be unsustainable, or with other severe genetic abnormalities, instead of the risks of a stillborn birth.

I've never met a reasonable pro-lifer. The argument always comes down to "I know the right thing to do with your body and you don't."

The last 'pro-lifer' I spoke to claimed that "abortion is murder". My response was an incredulous look combined with, "Really?". She immediately backed down from that statement and started equivocating. It's amazing what a little incredulity can do to a fanatic's argument, even if only for the length of a bus ride.

I've had an abortion. I'm divorced, but while I was married we had two sons. Both planned and loved. We split up, and I was very young. I had a fling and regardless of my best efforts, ended up pregnant. I did not love this man, and I was in a very bad place. I was depressed because of my divorce and this dude was a rebound. I did what I had to do.

Coming out is fun, but I've got a better idea. Instead of abortions, let's let all the unwanted pregnancies go full-term. Then, let's send all these rugrats off to the people that impose their ridiculous pro-life ideas on the rest of us. If they care so much about "lives" that are none of their business, let them care for and raise the "children" they're fighting so hard to "protect".

@27 Thank you! I shared my story as well and I couldn't agree more.