FL Senate takes hard right turn, passes 2 restrictive abortion amendments.

madfloridian

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-29-10 02:14 PM
Original message

FL Senate takes hard right turn, passes 2 restrictive abortion amendments.

The religious conservatives are gaining more power quickly here in this state.

From The Tampa Tribune:

2 abortion amendments pass

TALLAHASSEE - Religious conservatives scored a last-minute victory on Wednesday when the state Senate advanced two controversial bill amendments targeting abortions.

Among those arguing hardest for the measures was Sen. Ronda Storms. In the end, the Valrico Republican was the only female senator who voted for the first bill amendment, requiring women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound before the procedure.

She was among several female senators, however, who voted for the second amendment preventing the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. A response to recent federal health care legislation, the amendment would prevent insurance policies purchased using taxpayer dollars or new tax credits to cover elective abortion procedures.

State Senator Dan Gelber spoke out strongly on this.

During debate, Democratic Sen. Dan Gelber blasted proponents for ramming the controversial amendments through in the final days of the legislative session and called the ultrasound mandate particularly "offensive to women."

Storms chastised Gelber and other male senators arguing "about how I should be offended."

"We're not little girls; we are adult women," she said. "We are not afraid of information."

Ronda Storms is known for her unwaveringly rigid views on almost any topic.

Ronda is one of the most rigid, unbending members of the religious right in Florida. She sponsored a bill that would require every pregnant teen to be reported by doctors to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

She once mockingly referred to Barack Obama as The Messiah

The real problems in this meeting came from Storms. She made a sarcastic remark about President Barack Obama, referring to him as "the messiah," and whining that Obama supporters can't stand to see him questioned. Fasano reprimanded her for the remark, saying that the president should be respected, regardless of who is in the office. She failed to apologize. No surprise there, she's batshit crazy. And remarks like that are to be expected from her. That remark wasn't the problem and, again, we have bigger things to worry about.

But she also repeatedly lied before the committee. And that's a significant problem. Most media reports gloss over the rest of her remarks focusing on the dueling inappropriate comments. The problem is that while those are sexy, headline-grabbing remarks, the fact that Storms repeatedly referred to discredited smears of the president and used ridiculous logic while discussing actual public policies is the real story here and few (outside of NPR) are letting the public know about it.

For now at least the Democrats in the Florida House are taking a stand against the abortion bill that requires an ultrasound and is so restrictive toward women.

Democrats block House votes until abortion bill is killed

In Florida their taking a stand is good sign. They usually don't bother.

TALLAHASSEE - The debate over abortion in the state Legislature reached a sudden crescendo Thursday, as Democratic leaders united to slow or stop any bills as Republicans made an 11th-hour move to add new restrictions to abortions.

It started when Republicans in the Senate on Wednesday added language to a bill that would force women to pay for and view a live ultrasound of an unborn fetus before an abortion.

The ultrasound proposal would require all women seeking an abortion not only to have the screening first but also to review the image unless they declined in writing to do so. Either way, the women would have to pay for the ultrasound. Any woman who was pregnant because of rape or incest could only waive that step by producing a legal document proving she was assaulted.

They have been trying to get this bill through for several years now.

From Chan Lowe: With all the serious problems this state has, the Republican-dominated legislature always manages to find the time to address this subject in an election year. Gay marriage, in recent years, has become another reliable vote-getter. It's one of those amazing natural phenomena that the fate of the unborn and the sanctity of heterosexual marriage never seem to be under threat in years that end with odd numbers.
From the Sun Sentinel

As Florida economy crumbles the religious right files ultrasound bill again.

Here's the really ugly part. A woman will have to PROVE she was raped or PROVE it was incest to be exempt from this law. That is punishing the victim.

The bill has several exceptions, including if women can prove they have a medical condition necessitating the abortion or their pregnancy resulted from rape, incest, domestic violence or human trafficking.

That doesn't satisfy the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which told members of a House health care panel that a majority of rape and incest victims do not report the crime to authorities.

Glad to see Dan Gelber speaking out on this issue. Not too many Florida Democrats have done that.

Kudos to him.