Doctors speak out about Florida's new punitive, invasive abortion law.

[madfloridian]

I am glad to see some doctors speaking out about this newly passed bill. Some politicians are wary of it as well. Crist may veto it, but until then I hope more sound off about it.

From the St. Pete Times:

Abortion description law worries doctors, politicians

"It's such a third-party intervention in the doctor-patient relationship," said Dr. Shayne Plosker, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South Florida. "It's impinging on our rights and freedoms as Americans. There are very few things as personal to people as their health care and their relationship with their doctor."

..."Plosker does not perform abortions. But the legislation is so vague, he doesn't know what he is obligated to say, and he worries for parents whose fetus shows abnormalities. "To force that person who's already hurting and who's already having to make a difficult situation to look and hear a graphic explanation of what's going on, I find it repulsive and cruel," Plosker said.

Dr. Joshua Copel, a professor at Yale medical school and prenatal diagnostician who doesn't do abortions, opposes this kind of legislation. "The theme to these laws is either, doctors are convincing women to have abortions, or that women are not thinking seriously about the decision before they come to see us," he said. "Having counseled many women over many years, I really find that's not the case."

Rep. Ed Homan, R-Tampa, a physician and abortion opponent, voted against the measure, saying its purpose "wasn't to practice better medicine. It's an ideology issue.'' Some day, he said, liberals might be in charge and could impose their ideology.

"The bottom line is, don't go there,'' said Homan, an orthopedic surgeon at USF. "Just let doctors practice medicine."

The law is very intrusive on the woman's right to counsel and make decisions about her reproductive care with her doctor.

Florida's restrictive abortion amendment

The patient would be required to pay for the ultrasound.

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.

..."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."

Florida political cartoonist, Chan Lowe said it best of all.


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

Amen.

[tavalon]

1. Florida is just jealous

Arizona is getting all the attention they think should be showered upon them.

[madfloridian]

2. Good point maybe.

AZ is getting more attention than we are. :evilgrin:

[tavalon]

3. I used to live in Central Florida

But just to let you know how long ago that was, Florida was full of Dixiecrats, a distinction from Democrats that I didn't know anything about until many years later. My grandfather took me to the polls when I was eighteen and told me to "just pull the Democratic lever". It's hard to imagine, but fairly indisputable, that my grandparents, were they alive today, would be Republicans.

[madfloridian]

4. Central Florida very fundamentalist area.

Hard to be a Democrat or liberal..

[tavalon]

5. Yep.

I spent my teen years living with my grandparents (long, ugly backstory) and every Sunday we had Sunday School, Church, KFC (no cooking on the Lord's day) afternoon nap and back to Church for evening services, Wednesday Prayer Meeting, Friday youth group and so on.

Unfortunately, I've always been a thinker, some might even say critical thinker. I have some fond memories of the community fostered at the Church I went to, but just like Jimmy Carter (and well before him, I might add) I just couldn't cotton to the anti-woman slant of the Southern Baptists. And I remember being so annoyed at my grandfather saying I should just mindlessly pull the Democratic lever, that I researched all of the candidates. I can't remember who I voted for, but I voted for them based on their positions, not their letter. Nowadays, I still do that, but it's a rare Republican who even gets a glance.

[madfloridian]

8. And pot luck dinner before the Wednesday prayer meeting...

Later the pot luck turned into a church cooked dinner and we paid for it.

Those days are long gone since we left when they preached that the Iraq war was a holy war.

[tavalon]

9. I'd forgotten about the pot luck

[madfloridian]

13. And alternating clean-up times..

I used to enjoy it years ago. Then I became one of the liberals who just don't fit in Southern Baptist churches anymore. :shrug:

[awoke_in_2003]

32. pot luck...

is the only thing that made church bearable for me.

[lark]

30. I quit going to my family's Baptist church during Vietnam

for the same reason. It was really bad here in No. FL. I remember getting in near fights at work over My Lai (sp?). Couldn't take it, moved to CA to get a real education and away from the redneck creeps, came back when dad got cancer - been here since then caring for my very elderly mom. It's not nearly as backward as it was then, but still very conservative, fundamentalist and Repug.

[lark]

29. Northern FL is owned and run by Repubs

Only Dems are African Americans, teachers, lawyers and very few others

[lark]

28. Yay, for once we are not the very bottom of the barrel

:toast:

[BlancheSplanchnik]

6. Well, Florida, if it's attention you want, then stomp on your ethnic population. Or dogs.

because stomping on women is always a sure fire ratings fail.






one example of many: the recs for the OK and FL threads compared to the AZ ones.

[madfloridian]

12. Yep. "stomping on women is always a sure fire ratings fail"

So true.

[Dappleganger]

7. Similar to how I worded an email to the Governor and phone call.

The bill insists that Big Government become the deciding factor for what happens with a woman's LEGAL, PRIVATE medical procedure. It forces women to pay for an unnecessary medical procedure (the ultrasound) out of her own pocket even if she has paid for her own insurance. It is a HUGE invasion of privacy and IMO violates HIPAA as well.

[ensho]

10. kick

nt

[madfloridian]

11. Glad you wrote him.

Hope he vetoes it.

[RobertPlant]

14. it would help if the panhandle gets annexed by Alabama

:evilgrin:

[madfloridian]

16. Heh heh

But they would have to annex more than just the panhandle to make a difference.

:7

[gratuitous]

15. Are they really serious about stopping abortion?

Because here's my suggestion: Every woman who goes in for an abortion has to name the father. Even a made-up name, like, say, "Marco Rubio" will count. And, if any man is named three times by one woman or by up to three women, it constitutes prima facie evidence of sexual irresponsibility by that man.

So, in my totally hypothetical situation, three women name the father of their unborn child as "Marco Rubio," every man named Marco Rubio has a choice (oh, but there must always be a choice, hee, hee, hee): castration or intense sexual counseling about sexual irresponsibility. There will be mandatory testing for sexually transmitted disease, and the man must submit a detailed list of every woman he’s ever had sex with, whether birth control was available, if it was used, if not, why not, as well as a required 500 word essay on what "Marco Rubio" has learned about sexual irresponsibility.

Oh, and whatever the choice, "Marco Rubio" is required to pay for the procedure or all counseling out of pocket. Insurance companies will not cover it.

[Biker13]

34. Where is the sarcasm icon?

I'm a woman, and have never been pregnant. MY choice, my responsibility. It takes two to make a baby. I was married for 20+ years and managed my own birth control.

What the hell happened to personal responsibility?

For the record, I believe abortion is murder, but that's MY opinion, and I would NEVER mandate this to other women. It's their own business, not mine. But as I've said, it takes two.

It's not just the man's fault. Women have to learn to take control of their own lives.

Biker's Old Lady

[madfloridian]

17. Rubio loves the abortion bill.

Urges Crist to sign it.

http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/news/story/rubio-backs-abortion-ultrasound-bill/

"Marco Rubio says he thinks Gov. Charlie Crist should sign HB 1143, a bill that would require women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound scan, and would force many employers to stop offering employee health coverage that covers abortions.

“It is my hope that Governor Crist will come down on the side of life,” Rubio said in a news release today.

He called the ultrasound requirement “an important step toward providing women with vital information during perhaps the most critical healthcare decision they will ever make.”

Rubio also said he backs another, less-discussed provision of the bill. It would prevent employers in Florida from offering group employee health coverage that covers abortions, if the insurance plan uses any kind of federal or state tax credit or deduction."

[Solly Mack]

18. k/r

[Liberal_in_LA]

Florida women (and Oklahoma women) need to vote these pigs out of office

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. Florida women (and Oklahoma women) need to vote these pigs out of office

[dflprincess]

20. But but but I thought the conservatives were opposed to government

coming between anyone and their doctor.

Hypocritical assholes.

[Nikki Stone1]

21. This isn't about fetuses: It is about Torturing women. Can you imagine if a guy had to go through

this SHIT?

[JCMach1]

22. It's symbolic rape by the legislature

i.e. using the insertable ultrasound...

Every woman who now wants an abortion must go through a symbolic rape...


A serious FU to the bastards in FL and OK

[Nikki Stone1]

23. That's exactly right.

This is so much worse than saying the wrong word to someone. This is just pure evil.

[SeattleGirl]

24. You said it, Nikki!

This law makes me want to throw up, and I live about as far from Florida as one can in the US (except for Alaska and Hawaii). I want to go kick the shit out of the people who voted for that law.

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[JCMach1]

25. Any word as whether Crist will veto? I think there may be enough

Dems in the FL Senate to stop an override like what happened in OK.

answered my own question: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/05/1615450/crist-feeling-the-pressure-on.html

Still hasn't decided...

[Nikki Stone1]

27. Crist hasn't decided? Are there no human rights in Florida?

Oh, wait. It's only human rights when it involves males.

[defendandprotect]

33. Absolutely . . . . males making laws that effect women's bodies . . . .

and decisions over childbearing!!

Total rape of body and mind --

[bertman]

26. Too late to rec. Here's a kick.

[judesedit]

31. Repugs want big government. Tell us who to pray to, what to do with our bodies, how to die, and

everything else in our lives they think they can control. And on top of it, they want US to pay for it all! They're a sick bunch and we have to get the old coots out of there! I know I've had way too much of them and their supremist, entitled, greedy bullshit.