162: NUMBER OF ANTI-ABORTION LAWS PASSED BY THE STATES IN 2011

[tpsbmam]

In the first six months of 2011, states enacted 162 new provisions related to reproductive health and rights. Fully 49% of these new laws seek to restrict access to abortion services, a sharp increase from 2010, when 26% of new laws restricted abortion. The 80 abortion restrictions enacted this year are more than double the previous record of 34 abortion restrictions enacted in 2005—and more than triple the 23 enacted in 2010. All of these new provisions were enacted in just 19 states.

Much more at the Guttmacher Institute. It's a comprehensive report well worth reading and passing along.

In addition, family planning programs were also "in the crosshairs":

For the first time in recent memory, state legislatures devoted significant attention to issues related to family planning in 2011. Much of this came in the context of state budget bills.

Holding the line in some states. Considering the historic fiscal crises facing many states, it is significant that family planning escaped major reductions in nine of the 18 states (CO, CT, DE, IL, KS, MA, ME, NY and PA) where the budget has a specific line item for family planning.

Deep cuts in others. The story, however, was different in the remaining nine states. In six (FL, GA, MI, MN, WA and WI), family planning programs sustained deep cuts, although generally in line with decreases adopted for other health programs. In the other three states, however, the cuts to family planning funding were disproportionately large: Montana eliminated the family planning line item, and New Hampshire and Texas cut funding by 57% and 66%, respectively.

[spanone]

1. they're on a mission from gawd

[Drale]

3. These guys were on a mission from god.

The Repukes are on a mission of destruction from Xenu.

[Dappleganger]

2. This is anything but a coincidence...

this seems to be an organized effort on behalf of ??? to erase the right to privacy of women and eventually get Roe v. Wade overturned. With this SCOTUS makeup it certainly could be overturned, too.

What organizations are behind this? They need to be exposed for the scum they are.

[tpsbmam]

4. I'm frigging bumping this -- I can't believe this is getting

so little attention on DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! Incredible.

[NNN0LHI]

5. I have noticed recently that women's rights just aren't what they used to be around here any more

I don't understand why that is?

Don

[tpsbmam]

6. You, unfailingly, support women's rights and post some great

threads about it. It doesn't go unnoticed by me! (When I'm in a hurry or don't think I have anything of interest to add I recommend....a lot, including your threads.)

It astounds me that this isn't getting more attention. This is about the chipping away of Roe v. Wade slowly but very surely. It's about the chipping away at civil rights, too -- so many moves by the ReTHUGS have undermined women's rights, this is one more way of narrowing women's rights and choices. Hell, in the states where a woman could end up in jail after having a miscarriage, as far as I know that's a whole new barbaric level the US has never gone to before. The fact that it accelerated so significantly in 2011 is no surprise given the ReTHUG winnings in 2010. But Dems ignoring this? :shrug:

[MountainLaurel]

16. Some of them hate being proven wrong

I can tell you how many times in the 10 years I've been coming to this site that I've been told "Roe v Wade isn't in any danger, you're just fearmongering" or "Republicans will never ban abortion, it brings in too many contribution dollars."

[fascisthunter]

7. so where are our dems?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

10. Look at the states where the worst and majority of these passed. They're the minority. nt

[smokey nj]

8. K&R!

[mopinko]

9. where are the jobs?

just another campaign stunt for these assholes.

[Ohio Joe]

11. The war on women marches on - nt

[dembotoz]

12. i was just asked to leave my local dem party because i wore a pro-choice t-shirt

at a parade

to controversial. Offended people. gutter politics.

i admit, my shirt is over the top
picture of a coat hanger with the text--Republican family planning services

alas

the situation gets worse and the dem party just rolls over and plays dead

[tpsbmam]

14. Unbelievable!

For DEMOCRATS to censor that is what's over the top, not your shirt. The shirt merely tells the truth -- people these days don't like the truth. They like living in Democratic polite land where we're all polite about the heinous actions and statements from right-wing whackjobs. Screw that! This is NOT time to be polite about what's going on in this country. It's time to RAGE! :grr:

Were you asked to leave the Party or the parade? Either is egregious, but being told to leave the Party....WTF???!!!

[dembotoz]

20. both actually- was vice chair

in retrospect i feel pretty good about it.

had i known what was at stake before the parades i would have worn the shirt anyway

words i believe in

if you never stand up for something, you never stand for anything.


I guess the time just came for me to show that.

[tpsbmam]

21. I'm saddened and disgusted

And in WI, no less, the bastion of democracy right now. Your Dem party is poorer for the loss of you and, I suspect, those like you. Sadly, this seems to be the way it's going for liberal Democrats (i.e., the ones that believe in what the Dem Party traditionally stood for in the past) -- progressive voices aren't welcome.

[dembotoz]

22. thank you for your kind words

some of the recall groups seem much more progressive
if they have legs maybe i will find a home there.

I am amazed how some folks belong to both.
rah rah picket, picket, then off to the dem meeting home of the bland....

always had trouble doing that.

[BlueIris]

13. Sick, sick SICKOS.

Women die because of these laws.

[mrs_p]

15. I truly fear for my daughter. nt

[Brickbat]

17. K&R for women's health. It's amazing that this is even an issue in 2011.

[ceile]

18. k&r!

I feel like it's 1911 not 2011.

[kenny blankenship]

19. Yeah, America definitely seems to be accelerating in reverse

Worse yet, it's driving backwards onto a seaside pier.