USA: One Step Closer to a Burka

[villager]

One Step Closer to a Burka

Lauren Herskovic

Imagine this: a young girl, only 16-years-old, gets raped by her uncle—her mother’s brother. The event was traumatizing, but the aftermath is even worse: she is pregnant. Afraid to tell anyone in her family, this young girl turns to a teacher for help. She begs and pleads for her teacher to keep this a secret from her family. Secretly, this young girl blames herself. What she tells her teacher, though, is that she doesn’t want to tear the family apart.

The teacher doesn’t know what to do, but she cares deeply about this student and wants what is best for her. At the age of 16, the girl is in no way ready to have a child; she is young, immature and the victim of a horrible crime. The teacher agrees to take her to get an abortion. Unfortunately, in this state, abortions are illegal for women under the age of 18 without the consent of a parent. So, teacher and student pack up the car and head across state lines to get this girl what she needs. The next day, they return home. The student is sore and emotional, yet extremely grateful to her teacher for giving her back her future.

Now imagine that teacher being thrown in jail and slammed with a large fine for helping her student. This is a harsh reality with a new bill passed yesterday by the Senate. The bill, which was passed 65 to 34, will make it illegal for anyone to help a minor cross state lines to get an abortion. More important, though, this bill is yet another roadblock, keeping women from deciding the fate of their own bodies and lives.

Abortion is a very sticky situation. When I was in 6th grade, I chose to oppose abortion for my debate class. I truly felt it was wrong to kill a defenseless baby; to end the life of an innocent child. But, as I've grown older and experienced the world, I've realized that it is not my (or anyone else's) choice. I also realized that if I were to find out that I was pregnant, I would seek out my options. Including abortion.

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http://www.co-edmagazine.com/story.cfm?pid=1&sub=2&storyID=484&sid=107&message=&CFID=460395&CFTOKEN=11092270

[Lindacooks]

1. Exactly.

Repukes have this neverland fantasy of mom, dad, and kids all existing together in a perfect little rambler with a rose garden. They totally ignore reality, which is that many families are dysfunctional, and incest isn't uncommon.

So they create these asinine authoritarian laws that have no basis in reality, therefore hurting thousands, if not millions, of people.

[villager]

2. no, the family is a cover. The GOP fantasy is "Handmaid's Tale"

n/t

[ThomCat]

3. Or something very close too it.

[xchrom]

4. conservative christians want control of your genitals.

they think about your genitals every minute of every day.

they think about who plays with your genitals -- and they think about the genitals of the person you play with.


abortion isn't about an embryo -- but about your vagina -- whether you are 9 or 90 -- the want to control your vagina -- and they want to control his penis.

if you control someone's genitals -- you pretty much control their life.

control. power and control.

[villager]

5. those rightwing "Christians" probably think about sex

more than anyone else, since it is, after all, their greatest fear and obsession...

[ThsMchneKilsFascists]

8. As homeo sapiens we all think about sex quite often

The RW fundy xtians are ashamed of this fact and wish it was happening to someone else, so they pretend it is.

[villager]

9. "My body way down there."

No wonder they spend their whole lives wishing to be raptured away from...life

[abester]

6. LOL!

you can't blame them. They are told to do so by figments of their own twisted imagination

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. Well, they are told from youth that thinking about sex is a sin

It sounds crazy, but my late father, a (liberal) Lutheran pastor, got on all sorts of fundamentalist mailing lists because he had a "the Reverend" in front of his name.

One was a fundamentalist teen magazine, and was it ever messed up! One article was about what you should do if you start "having lustful thoughts." (Pray, take cold showers, go run around the block, etc.)

Another eyebrow-raiser was a letter to the editor by a young man who proudly boasted that he never touched his fiancee because it "gave him lustful thoughts." My reaction was, "Gee, if he doesn't have lustful thoughts about his fiancee, he shouldn't marry her." I bet his wedding night was...well, weird.

But my point is that telling someone not to think about something is a sure way to make them obsessed with it.