This Must Not Become Our Future.

[cali]

And it's one big reason I will vote for Clinton if she is the nominee. I look forward to hearing her address the sad state of abortion rights in the U.S. and how we need to reverse this abrogation of women's constitutional rights.



When Guadalupe Vasquez became pregnant at 17 after being raped by a neighbor of the house where she worked as a maid, she decided she wanted the baby. She even picked out a name: Gabriel.

Then, on a day in late 2007, pain shot through her back and abdomen. Vasquez says she started bleeding, but her employer wouldn't let her leave the house to get medical care. Sick in her room and alone, she went into labor.

She heard the baby cry briefly, and then he was dead.

Only then did the employer send her to the hospital, saying she did not want to "deal with two dead in my house," Vasquez recalls. She passed out, and when she came to, she was handcuffed to the bed at a state hospital.

The rapist was free, but now it would be Vasquez who would go to prison — for seven years and three months.

<snip>

http://www.latimes.com/world/great-reads/la-fg-c1-el-salvador-women-20150415-story.html?track=lat-pick#page=1

[cali]

1. kick

[herding cats]

2. We're not far off from that right now.

Indiana Sentences Purvi Patel to 20 Years for Feticide

All it takes is the proper framing to land a woman in jail in some states already.

[cali]

3. yep. it's horrendous.

[calimary]

11. No shit. It IS happening, and if we don't keep the White House it WILL get worse.

Roe v Wade is on the ropes. We fought awfully hard for that in my younger days. And nobody cared. They'll care plenty when it's too late, though.

[MoonRiver]

4. OMG

My aunt, who I never met, died from an illegal abortion. Left three small children motherless. If abortion had been legal at that time, I don't doubt she would have raised those kids to adulthood. That horrible event was one reason my mom became an activist for reproductive choice and correctly guided my views on the subject.

[cali]

5. that is tragic. and we must not go back

[MoonRiver]

6. No we can't.

Things have become truly horrifying here in Kansas though. Brownback has just about sent this state back to the 1940's.

[byronius]

7. 1340's is where he wants to go.

But Kansas is going to declare bankruptcy and go full Thunderdome long before that.

[MoonRiver]

8. That's why we call this place Brownbackistan now.

I know there was probably cheating in the last election, but also just a lot of stupid.

[mountain grammy]

9. "Now it's up to God"

That's the last line of the story; what Vasquez says after serving 7 years in prison. That unshakable faith is the same faith that keeps women oppressed all over the world.

[JDPriestly]

10. It isn't Hillary or a Republican.

That is not the choice. We could nominate Hillary, and she could lose to a Republican.

We need a primary and let the best candidate win.

We also need women's rights.

Democrats love Hillary, but we need a primary to test not just Hillary but other candidates who are qualified.

It is too early to make the contest Hillary vs. a Republican. We are not there yet.

Talk about panic. The Hillary rush is the panic. It's absolutely an overblown panic attack on Democrats. It is irresponsible.

See my post here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6518877

Lots of work to do. Don't panic.

[Fearless]

13. +1

[RecoveringJournalist]

12. Yes, but...

Who is going to make the push for true change? By that I mean who is going to TRULY challenge the status quo to do absolutely whatever is necessary, regardless of career consequence, regardless of threats to their well being from the shadow establishment, regardless of big money and all it's influence to quash not only the message but also the person (or people) shouting it? It won't be easy. And it won't happen overnight.

Who is truly up to that challenge? And even if someone is, who is willing to step in when that person (or people) is taken down?