Mom Charged For Helping Daughter Obtain Illegal Abortion: Is This Our New Reality?

[demmiblue]

Source: Care2

Pennsylvania mother Jennifer Whalen is being charged with multiple crimes after allegedly purchasing drugs off the internet and giving them to her then 16-year-old pregnant daughter, who wanted an abortion. Whalen said she purchased the drugs after being unable to find a clinic close enough to have a legal abortion and not wanting to take her daughter out of state to obtain one (based on her location, the likely nearest clinic would have been in New York state).

Whalen has been charged with “felony count of medical consultation and judgment and misdemeanor charges of unlawful acts – not licensed as a pharmacist, endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault,” according to one news report. The charges themselves are horrifying — after all, helping your daughter end a pregnancy she doesn’t want surely isn’t “endangering the welfare of a child” or “simple assault” any more than forcing her to continue a pregnancy against her will would be. What is just as disturbing is the fact that the termination occurred in January of 2012, but the complaint wasn’t issued until December of 2013, nearly two years later.

<snip>

With clinics closing across the country, illegal medication abortions are and will continue to be a growing reality. This latest case is a red flag that anyone can be arrested as aiding a patient, regardless of age or relationship. That doesn’t mean less abortions. It just means that the practice will go further underground, making it more isolated for the person terminating the pregnancy and inevitably more dangerous as she grows even more fearful about bringing legal repercussions on herself and anyone who may find out about it.

This is the new post-Roe America, where abortion is legal in name for so many, regardless of what the courts say otherwise.

* emphasis mine

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/mom-charged-for-helping-daughter-obtain-illegal-abortion-is-this-our-new-reality.html

[elleng]

1. 'They' have been doing their damnedest to defeat Roe,

and to discourage anyone but themselves from having sex. Its not new, but the approaches continue to diversify.

[yeoman6987]

76. This story does not make sense

First of all, can the daughter sue the abortion clinics that turned her away? I cannot imagine that they can legally do this. I mean Philadelphia has abortion clinics that I cannot imagine turning people away. This story pisses me off quite a bit. The daughter has rights regardless of what the Repugnants Party says. The daughter needs a good lawyer to investigate the abortion clinics that refused service ASAP. What is this now? Jesus turned away from the manger time for people needing abortions? (Alittle ridiculous, but you know what I mean). This is just plain tragic! Our country is being taken over by the wackos who do not care about people at all.

[fredamae]

2. No. It's the "Old Reality"

We have to fight for our daughters and granddaughters as we Teach them our history and How we overcame this - They don't understand what it Was like--and by God these arses are Determined to bring this Back.

[kardonb]

7. going backward

the whole repug mindset is still cemented in the 18th century , they cannot fathom the 21st , their minds are too calcified .

[fredamae]

11. Women are to be Controlled

and managed-without "full person-hood" rights and liberties, meant only to serve their "men".

Corporations fare better than Women-have More rights and of course SCOTUS Awarded Them Personhood. We, otoh are Still fighting to get the ERA Ratified! We are Oppressed as are, our mothers, our sisters, our daughters-our Granddaughters.

I will Not yield!

[coldbeer]

35. Repubs are bullies

plain and simple. whatever they join and whatever they do
they try to get themselves in the position of boss.

[fredamae]

44. Yes, they are

I've honestly ever met one that wasn't. They don't like me much. Men who were never threatened by women-are who I was raised around and they taught me not to put up with crap like that.

[RKP5637]

3. Soon we'll be back to coat hanger abortions, unsanitary back room quack alley doctors and

worse. This is what they want, and apparently this is what those voting them in want too. Pathetic in the 21st century. More and more this country is being run by the Christian Taliban!

[tblue37]

54. The unsanitary, incompetent doctor is already a reality.

RWers want to hang around reproductive rights activists' neck the dangerous, incompetent abortion doctor who was in the news last year. But in reality, the antichoicers are the ones who made his dangerous abortion practice inevitable, by making it almost impossible for desperate women to access safe abortion doctors and clinics.

[theHandpuppet]

56. This statement says it better than I ever could.

Although this document pertains to women in the developing world, it is sadly becoming a reality right here at home.

WHO
World Health Organization
Note: the link below is to a pdf
Unsafe abortion: the preventable pandemic
http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/general/lancet_4.pdf

(excerpt from the WHO document)
Unsafe abortion endangers health in the developing world, and merits the same dispassionate, scientific approach to solutions as do other threats to public health. Although the remedies are available and inexpensive, governments in developing nations often do not have the political will to do what is right and necessary. The beneficiaries of access to safe, legal abortion on request include not only women but also their children, families, and society—for present and future generations.
Women have always had abortions and will always continue to do so, irrespective of prevailing laws, religious proscriptions, or social norms. Although the ethical debate over abortion will continue, the public-health record is clear and incontrovertible: access to safe, legal abortion on request improves health. As noted by Mahmoud Fathalla, “Pregnancy-related deaths … are often the ultimate tragic outcome of the cumulative denial of women’s human rights. Women are not dying because of untreatable diseases. They are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving.” Simply put, they die because they do not count.

[cui bono]

73. Exactly.

They claim something is broken. Then they break it. Then they say "see?".

[gollygee]

4. This is really frightening

Thanks for posting.

[laundry_queen]

24. It's very disturbing. nt

[redqueen]

5. Things just keep getting worse.

Old laws that were intended to protect the women who wanted to be mothers, whose fetuses were harmed during crimes, are now being used to jail women who fall down the stairs while pregnant.

New laws are being cooked up to further restrict every woman's right to control her own body.

CORPSES have more rights to bodily integrity than women.

That more women aren't up in arms over it sends a yet another clear signal that people are still successfully indoctrinated by demagoguery to vote against their own interests.

[theHandpuppet]

6. Yes!

The war on choice is not just old boring news that everyone agrees on anyway (as some have suggested), as if that's an excuse for why so many threads on the topic of reproductive choice sink like stones.

WAKE THE HELL UP, PEOPLE!!! We're in the fight of our lives here. If I have to kick this thread myself every damn day I will do it.

[DFW]

22. Please do. This is the opening salvo in an ugly war.

The charges read like something out of a Salem witch trial.

[JoeyT]

8. It's worth pointing out that had the woman killed her daughter

by refusing to take her to a doctor, she probably would've been given a second chance. Yes, this is the same state that let a nutbar couple kill a child through neglect, then decided they seemed decent enough to have a go at killing another one, which they did.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/23/herbert-catherine-schaible_n_3138001.html

Helping your daughter get a legal procedure is apparently totally unacceptable, though.

[Half-Century Man]

13. If I'm misunderstanding, I'm sorry.

Are you saying that the mother who got the drugs to terminate the pregnancy of her daughter, killed her pregnant daughter as well? If so, what source are you using?

[Schema Thing]

15. why did you ask that?

nothing in the post you responded to would make you ask that question. So why did you ask?

[Half-Century Man]

18. In reaction to the title of the response.

"It's worth pointing out that had the woman killed her daughter"

I'm nearly sure I'm misunderstanding.

Ahh, I see it now. Damn dyslexia, I misplaced the 'had" in the sentence.

[Schema Thing]

19. gotcha

[alcina]

20. Don't feel bad

I don't have dyslexia, and I misread it the same way initially. But I've done this enough times to know that if my initial reaction is WTF?, I need to read the post again, just in case I missed something.

[Half-Century Man]

25. Flipped the "had' and "the" repeatedly.

Should have closed the post and re-entered. I know I need to reset every once in awhile.

[JoeyT]

17. I'm saying that in the same state that a woman is being charged for

getting legal drugs for her daughter to use for a legal procedure is being charged with everything they thought might stick, even though the daughter was totally fine afterward, a couple killed their child by not getting it medical care at all, and not only did they not railroad them, they decided to let them have another shot at killing a kid, which worked out as well as any sane person would expect.

It demonstrates they don't particularly care about the health of her daughter, just stamping out abortion access.

[warrant46]

9. Be sure to thank the Catholic Church

For putting their screwed up doctrine to stop your personal liberty

[okaawhatever]

33. Unless the Catholic Church did something specific in this state, I wouldn't claim it was Catholic

doctrine that passed that bill. The worst of these laws are where the Catholic population is very low and the evangelical/fundamentalist Christian and Southern Baptist populations are very high. I just read that 24% of evangelical Christians voted for Obama. It was the lowest percentage group of all religious groups, but I was surprised it was that high. I guess some of them also take into consideration helping the poor, the death penalty, and fighting wars.

[warrant46]

40. READ THE ARTICLE

"What we want is to see the abortionists in jail, where they belong,” writes Priests for Life

[theHandpuppet]

43. I'd call this political lobbying, wouldn't you?

Some of these sites are enough to turn your stomach.

http://faithfulinthe8th.blogspot.com/2013/10/pa-catholic-conf-informing-your.html
http://www.pacatholic.org/current_issues/abortion-health-care/
http://phillycatholiclife.org/
http://www.pacatholic.org/tag/voter-guide/

It's fundamentalist evangelicals and the Catholic Church in this together. Sorry folks, but when you make bedfellows with dogs, expect to wake up with fleas.

[theHandpuppet]

42. Sorry, no free pass

The Catholic Church in Pennsylvania is CONSTANTLY lobbying against choice and uses all its resources to do so. In the area of rights for women and LGBTs, they are just as bad as the evangelical fundamentalists -- except no one here makes excuses for them.

[okaawhatever]

45. I wasn't making excuses. I was however, unaware of the Catholic church's role in passing

the legislation in Pennsylvania. The states that are currently re-writing reproductive legislation are largely Southern. Texas, NC, Alabama and Georgia. I know Ohio and Wisconsin have been pushing it maybe the Catholic church is behind the drive up there.

[theHandpuppet]

46. They are trying to rewrite it everywhere

Sorry to be curt, I'm just getting a bit worn from posting a lot of threads with information on the reproduction rights battle only to see them scroll of the page. The issues involve not only abortion, but contraception, access to clinics, sex education et al. The whole slate. Fundamentalists have joined with the Catholic church in a lobbying frenzy against reproductive choice. The battle has no single front -- they fight sex education in Maine and abortion in the Dakotas. They file lawsuit after lawsuit against the HHS mandate and lobby before Congress. They send their parishioners voting guides and urge them to lobby Congress against choice and equality. The tactics may vary on the state level but it's also a war at the federal level. The efforts and the funding overlap.

[okaawhatever]

47. I understand and am well aware of what they're doing to harm reproductive rights. The omnibus bill

in Texas was a good example. The Repubs said it was a ban on 20 wk abortions. Ha! Right. It was a full on assault of reproductive rights including pharmacy practices. It's funny who the "front man" for this legislation is. In the southern states, I haven't heard about the Catholic church lobbying, doing commercials or any other activity. It's Southern Baptists, fundamentalist Christians, and the like. I'm familiar with Lifenews and that group, and i knew the church's position on birth control and abortion, but I was unaware of their financial support for the cause. I'm going to have to look deeper at some of the contributors to the PACs and candidates on this issue. Thanks for the heads up.

[theHandpuppet]

49. Hi again...

I'm sending along a few links for you and others. I'm really beat today but I'll see if I can dig up some other links that I have posted recently, especially any to do with funding and lobbying. This is a start, anyway. The obsession with oppressing women and gays makes for some strange bedfellows, as the Rolling Stone article in particular, illustrates.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-stealth-war-on-abortion-20140115#ixzz2qqVtI3Fs
http://truth-out.org/news/item/21176-catholic-bishops-allies-dominate-hearing-on-sweeping-anti-choice-bill
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/catholic-hospitals-religious-rules-led-negligent-care-miscarriage-aclu-says-f2D11674429
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/bill-berkowitz/53369/the-anti-gay-anti-choice-politics-of-the-knights-of-columbus
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/10/07/2743471/catholic-bishops-to-house-shut-down-the-government-unless-we-get-our-way-on-birth-control/

[okaawhatever]

50. Thanks for this. I'll gladly read these articles and bookmark them. nt

[theHandpuppet]

78. Here are some more of those links I promised

Last edited Sun Feb 23, 2014, 06:01 PM - Edit history (1)

The easiest way to compile a quick list was to do a search through my own posts from the past few months, so this is by no means a comprehensive overview. I tried to limit the links to ones concerning the anti-contraception, anti-choice lobbying here in the US, though the issues are global. The involvement of the evangelical fundamentalists is already well known.
Hope this helps.

http://verdict.justia.com/2013/12/12/bishops-versus-womens-health-gloves http://churchandstate.org.uk/2013/08/playing-hardball-against-womens-rights-the-holy-see-at-the-un/
http://www.becketfund.org/hhsinformationcentral/
http://www.catholiccitizens.org/platform/platformview.asp?c=53771
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/31/bishops-ask-for-delay-in-contraception-coverage-mandate/
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/09/opinion/when-bishops-direct-medical-care.html?_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/us/lawsuit-challenges-anti-abortion-policies-at-catholic-hospitals.html
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20140206.htm#head1
http://www.wwltv.com/news/Aymond-Archdiocese-to-boycott-businesses-building-Planned-Parenthood-facility-243409661.html
http://www.fox8live.com/story/24401311/planned-parenthood-site-uptown-still-sits-empty
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/30/alabama-anti-cloning-bill-would-allow-hospitals-to-turn-away-miscarrying-women/
http://www.alternet.org/belief/how-christian-tribalism-empowers-hardliners-against-wishes-most-americans
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amelia-shroyer/reproductive-rights-today-still-not-safe_b_4587250.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/pope-francis-denounces-abortion-as-horrific-9058040.html
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/kathyschiffer/2013/11/archbishop-joseph-kurtz-is-the-new-president-of-usccb/
http://www.usccb.org/about/pro-life-activities/index.cfm
http://ncronline.org/news/global/spanish-bishops-back-bill-restricts-abortion-rape-health

[warrant46]

57. You are absolutely right about Pennsylvania

That church is Medieval in its treatment of everyone except

its own Pedophiles

Database of Publicly Accused Priests in the United States

Viewed by Diocese: Pittsburgh, PA

Total Individuals: 33

http://bishop-accountability.org/member/psearch.jsp

Link to all 8 diocese in PA

http://bishop-accountability.org/priestdb/PriestDBbydiocese.html#PA

[Dawson Leery]

70. Exactly.

Don't forget that SOB Bob Casey(not the Senator, his father the former Governor). I would have voted for Bill Scranton (R) in 86'.

[Bluenorthwest]

77. Just like Uganda, it is both Evangelicals and the RCC, not one to the exclusion of the other

who is culpable for the horrors. This routine of claiming it's 'just the evangelicals' is not something I respect. It is a lie.

[DirkGently]

81. No. It's not the Catholics in Uganda.

Why do you keep saying that?

Uganda's Catholic Archbishop of Kampala Cyprian Lwanga stated in December 2009 that the bill was unnecessary and "at odds with the core values" of Christianity, expressing particular concerns at the death penalty provisions. Lwanga argued that instead homosexuals should be encouraged to seek rehabilitation.[81] For its part, the Holy See has maintained excellent relations with Uganda, with Pope Benedict XVI receiving the Ugandan ambassador in December 2009 and commending the climate of freedom and respect in the country towards the Catholic Church. During this meeting, there was no mention of the anti-homosexuality bill.[82] However, three days earlier the Vatican legal attaché to the United Nations stated that "Pope Benedict is opposed to 'unjust discrimination' against gay men and lesbians".[83]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_Anti-Homosexuality_Bill

‘I am gravely concerned that a number of human rights violations will occur if the President signs this bill. Although the Catholic Hierarchy may not approve of same-sex relationships or a homosexual lifestyle, I believe the Hierarchy would agree that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. Imprisoning someone for life would clearly constitute an abuse of his/her rights.’ - See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/pope-francis%E2%80%99-representative-uganda-concerned-new-anti-gay-law291213#sthash.Eh6TSvRY.dpuf

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/pope-francis’-representative-uganda-concerned-new-anti-gay-law291213

Again, it's one thing to point out that the Catholic Church is still wrong on homosexuality, and quite another to attempt to equate it with the violent homophobia of radical American Protestants and the Evangelicals' active promotion of vicious new anti-gay laws worldwide.

[theHandpuppet]

82. Probably because of stuff like this

I don't want to turn this thread into one about gay rights but I do feel there needs to be closer examination of the collusion among Protestant evangelicals, the Anglican church and the Catholic church with regards to what led to these hateful laws in Uganda.

http://newwaysministryblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/ugandas-catholic-bishops-reverse-their-stance-to-support-death-penalty-bill-for-lesbian-and-gay-people/
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/petermontgomery/6065/ugandan_bishops_push_notorious_anti_gay_bill

[etherealtruth]

86. I think it has already been well documented

Linking US right wing Evangelical Christians to horrific (and codified) hate, violence and discrimination against the LGBT communities in Africa is well documented (and sickening)

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/24/evangelical-christians-homophobia-africa

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/world/africa/ugandan-lawmakers-push-anti-homosexuality-bill-again.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

http://publichealthwatch.wordpress.com/tag/right-wing-evangelicals/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2010/01/15/nprculturewar/

[awoke_in_2003]

39. No, thank the (fill in the blank) church...

they all have blood on their hands.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

10. hello El Salvador.

And thank you, evangelical christofascists.

[murielm99]

12. Ten years ago,

I watched a Planned Parenthood sponsored film about a similar story. The young girl did not want to disappoint her parents, so she obtained an illegal abortion. She died. They were in a state where the laws made it impossible for her to get an abortion without parental permission.

Her parents would have supported her decision. They spoke in the film. They also took responsibility for not being more open with her.

There is more of this going on than people realize.

[Control-Z]

30. Are you talking about Becky Bell? (nt)

[murielm99]

67. I don't remember her name.

She was not the only young woman mentioned in the film.

[theHandpuppet]

14. Fight back, folks, and donate -- please!

The anti-choice forces are well funded and use churches as their organization. To fight back takes money -- money to organize, to obtain legal services, to keep clinics open.

Where to donate
http://www.naral.org/
http://emilyslist.org/ (Vote for pro-choice candidates!)
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/

Thank you.

[DFW]

23. I do, I do and I do! n/t

[Erda]

27. I don't know how to set up an online donor site but

I hope we can find a way to help pay her legal expenses.

[demmiblue]

32. .

[Schema Thing]

16. Life in these fascist United States.

[TeamPooka]

21. The GOP is the Wire Hanger Party. nt

[valerief]

26. Sale on bonnets and Pilgrim dresses at Banana Republican!

Banana Republican's mission: Fight the plague of ankle-exposing whores.

[theHandpuppet]

29. And special discounts on scarlet letters!

As if we needed any more proof that the GOP is waging a war on women.

[RainDog]

28. k&r n/t

[PatrynXX]

31. Retro active charges

now thats scary. Nazi's running the country. When you choose to have an abortion thats wrong even when the fetus is dead. But When they force an abortion on you thats just fine. (ie this is the United States) and the other side claims they are Christian .. smh Well there's another life ruined. Not the mother but the what 18 yr old now. Dumb insensitive and certainly not what jesus would do

[Sarah Ibarruri]

34. How sick. Right wing fundies are a bunch of sickos. nt

[RBStevens]

36. K&R

[awoke_in_2003]

37. This is very sad...

we are creeping toward theocracy, and very few seem to care.

[Kablooie]

38. So the private prisons have a whole new category of prisoners to make money from.

Mothers who try to help their children can fill up our prison cells and keep the prison industry lucrative.

[randome]

41. It's not 'the new reality'.

It's a case that will get thrown out as unconstitutional. It's too bad these people have to go through this.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[karynnj]

48. Horrendous story

Even if the woman was NOT charged, this is a horrendous story. Abortion is legal and the daughter should have had that choice with any procedure used done by a doctor. I am not a doctor and have no knowledge of the drugs used, but I am pretty sure that there should be some monitoring by medical experts.

[theHandpuppet]

51. If there are no clinics, there can be no abortions

That's what the anti-choice forces are aiming for now.

http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/12/12/at-least-73-abortion-clinics-have-shut-down-since-2011/
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/08/26/2525301/wave-abortion-clinic-closures/
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/17/2795351/ohio-abortion-clinics-closing/
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20140106-federal-judges-question-whether-texas-abortion-law-has-forced-clinics-to-close.ece
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/26/abortion-clinic-closures_n_3804529.html

[sarge43]

52. No safe abortions

Abortions will continue. Women will be criminals, victims and corpses.

[theHandpuppet]

53. Yes. You are absolutely right.

The lives of millions of women and girls are at stake here. I will give no quarter to the opponents of reproductive rights.

[karynnj]

55. I completely understand that -- what I was speaking of was my reaction to

this mother having to essentially be the pharmacist and the doctor in administering this medicine. I know that I - not a doctor - would be terrified that I could miss some danger even if the risk of problems is low. Avoiding this - or the more primitive means of an illegal abortion in the 1970s is why many people fought so hard for legality.

Obviously to also have the legal consequences she has is indefensible as well.

[Autumn]

69. There have been and will always be abortions.

They must be kept legal and safe.

[blkmusclmachine]

58. The GOP "Rollback Club" doesn't ever quit its job. We shouldn't quit ours, either.

[theHandpuppet]

60. They're still pining for the antebellum South

And that's not hyperbole.

[spanone]

59. we're headed straight back into the fifties....

[demmiblue]

63. "It's amazing how hard we make it for women to kill their own children these days"

Go away, troll.

[pnwmom]

65. I wonder why we allow people to use corpses as fetal incubators.

Fetuses don't acquire separate legal rights until they are viable outside the uterus.

[Ilsa]

64. How did the law find out about this?

I couldn't tell from the article.

Did the girl's OBGYN or the nurse call family protective services? Was the mail order discover through spying?

[demmiblue]

66. According to one of the links in the article:

"On Feb. 6, 2012, her daughter was transported to the Geisinger Medical Center emergency room with severe abdominal pain. Medical records obtained by police stated she was "treated for an incomplete abortion and a urinary tract infection."

Perhaps the hospital was required to report the incident.

[indepat]

68. The RW beat marches on ad nausea

[AngryDem001]

71. Sooooo......a fetus's rights trump a fully-formed human being's?

Is that what the fetus humpers in the repig party would have us believe?

[alp227]

72. She's a "bad mother" no matter what, in right wingers' eyes,

for daughter to be pregnant in the first place.

Taking her outta state for legal abortion? Bad mother.

Letting her keep the baby...the daughter is now a TAKER!

The only thing that'd satisfy them would be a Baby Scoop Era type of thing, her to give up the child for adoption...and subsequent indoctrination in right wing religious doctrine.

Birth control? She's a bad mother for letting her daughter become a slut.

Typical fundie fear of female sexual autonomy.

[another_liberal]

74. What a sick, politically motivated prosecution!

Some DA had time to bring this kind of crap to court (undoubtedly as a means of promoting his own political career) but people living in the same State who want to prosecute Fracking corporations who poison and sicken them can't even get an appointment or a hearing.

[Snarkoleptic]

75. This poignant ad give us a peek at the dominionist wet dream.

[theHandpuppet]

79. Powerful. Thanks for sharing this.

[Eleanors38]

80. It's ba-a-a-a-ck.

[gerogie2]

83. The only reason they have been charged...

is because they talked to the police and prosecutors. We need to drill it into everyone's mind never talk to the police or prosecutors about anything, ever.

[etherealtruth]

87. There is great wisdom in what you say

.... I believe this with all my heart and I am a member of a traditionally safe group (generally safe from the POLICE) ... I am white, educated and middle class

[theHandpuppet]

84. Here's one victory, at least...

TPM Livewire
Federal Court Rules Against Notre Dame's Birth Control Appeal
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/court_rules_against_notre_dame_birth_control_appeal

A federal court ruled against the University of Notre Dame on Friday in a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act's birth control mandate, the Associated Press reported.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld a federal judge's previous ruling that denied Notre Dame's request for an injunction to prevent it from complying with the birth control mandate. The court noted in its decision that Notre Dame already notified the administrator of its employee plan as well as the insurer for students that the university would not pay for contraception coverage.

The Roman Catholic university had re-filed its lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's birth control mandate on the basis of religious freedom in December. Its original lawsuit had been dismissed because the school would not be subject to the health care law's regulation in the first place, as birth control is to be provided directly by insurers to employees at religious schools.

Make sure you read the comments section and the "every sperm is sacred" poem.

[theHandpuppet]

85. Sunday afternoon kick

[theHandpuppet]

88. Kicking

[theHandpuppet]

89. Women have a new ally

http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/kennedys-flip-to-pro-choice-on-abortion-issue-draws-ire-of-buffalo-bishop-20140219

The Buffalo News (NY)
By Robert J. McCarthy | News Political Reporter
on February 19, 2014 - 4:51 PM

Kennedy’s flip to pro-choice on abortion issue draws ire of Buffalo bishop
Malone rebukes senator for new view on abortion

Bishop Richard J. Malone says he is “extremely disappointed and deeply concerned” that State Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy has adopted a pro-choice position on abortion, in what appears to be an unprecedented statement by a Buffalo bishop about a local Catholic officeholder.

The bishop noted the conflict between Kennedy’s support for pro-choice bills such as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s Women’s Equality Act and the Buffalo Democrat’s faith.

“For anyone to say that he or she is a faithful Catholic and to be pro-abortion/pro-choice rights is totally inconsistent with Catholic teaching, which is clearly articulated in the catechism of the Catholic Church,” Malone said...

...A product of Catholic education through grammar school, high school and college, Kennedy said he will vote this year for the “10th point” of Cuomo’s bill addressing women’s issues, which expands abortion rights in New York.... MORE

[davidpdx]

90. Kick and Record

It is terrible that the mother is being charged with a crime. The Republicans keep chipping away at Roe v. Wade until there is nothing left.

[sufrommich]

91. The anti choice crowd won't be

happy until the clock is turned back to their version of the good old days when abortion was illegal and bad girls deservedly died getting back alley abortions. I'm horrified to think they may get their wish.

[theHandpuppet]

92. In some parts of the country we're practically there

The anti-choice forces have been so successful in some states they've shut down the clinics by imposing restrictions that are impossible to satisfy. And the women who are most affected are the poor.

[sufrommich]

93. The same crowd that effectively shuts down

a woman's choice in their states will eventually go after ALL contraceptive choice in the future. That's where they're heading,it scares me that people don't see this.

[theHandpuppet]

94. Couldn't agree more

Let me shout it again...

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!

Check out some the links I've provided in this thread. Take a look at the barrage of lawsuits, the lobbying. We are in for the fight of our lives.

[theHandpuppet]

95. Daily kick

For anyone who might have missed this thread.

[theHandpuppet]

96. South Dakota Spends $170,000 Defending Anti-Choice Law

http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/02/24/south-dakota-spends-170000-defending-anti-choice-law/
South Dakota Spends $170,000 Defending Anti-Choice Law
by Sharona Coutts, Director of Investigations and Research, RH Reality Check
February 24, 2014

The State of South Dakota has spent $170,000 in taxpayer money since 2011 defending a single anti-choice law, according to new figures from the state attorney general obtained by RH Reality Check.

The amount is based on the number of hours that staff attorneys in South Dakota’s Office of the Attorney General have spent working on HB 1217, a bill linked to controversial lawyer Harold Cassidy.

That bill contains numerous provisions that have been slammed by doctors and reproductive rights advocates. It forces women seeking abortions to wait 72 hours between their first consultation with a doctor, and when the doctor may perform the abortion. It also obliges doctors to “inform” the woman that abortion is linked to suicide, even though the medical consensus is that such claims are false.

Possibly the most controversial provision, however, is the requirement for women to receive “counseling” from an anti-choice crisis pregnancy center as a condition of accessing abortion.... MORE