Sunday, February 20, 2011
California Rep. Jackie Speier uses a very personal story to put anti-abortion crusader in his place. A must see.
Courtesy of the Daily Kos:
"I really planned to speak about something else. But the gentleman from New Jersey just put my stomach in knots. Because I'm one of those women he spoke about just now. I had a procedure at 17 weeks pregnant with a child who moved from the vagina into the cervix. And that procedure that you just described is a procedure that I endured.
"I lost the baby. And for you to stand on this floor and suggest that somehow this is a procedure that is either welcomed or done cavalierly or done without any thought, is preposterous."
"To think that we are here tonight, debating this issue, for the American people, if they are listening, are scratching their heads and wondering, "What does this have to do with me getting a job?" "What does this have to do with reducing the deficit?" And the answer is, "Nothing, at all".
There is a vendetta against Planned Parenthood and it was played out in this room tonight. Planned Parenthood has a right to operate. Planned Parenthood has a right to provide services for family planning. Planned Parenthood has the right to offer abortions. Last time I checked abortions were legal in this country. Now you may not like Planned Parenthood, so be it. There are many people on our side of the aisle that don't like Haliburton. And Haliburton is responsible for extortion, of bribery, for ten cases of misconduct in the Federal database, for a $7 billion sole source contract. But do you see us over here filing amendments to wipe out funding for Haliburton? No, because that would be irresponsible.
I would suggest to you that it would serve us all very well if we moved on from this process and started focusing on creating jobs for the Americans who desperately want them.
I yield back.
Pretty hard to vilify Planned Parenthood with courageous women like Jackie Speier in the room isn't it Rep. Smith?
Damn that was beautiful.
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Thank you Rep. Speier!
ReplyDeleteShe is a very brave woman (although I believe she meant to say uterus, not vagina).
ReplyDeleteI watched this and it made me cry. I was crying for her and for every woman in this country (including myself). Defund Planned Parenthood? OMG! Do they even think things through???
What is going on in this country???
Who here has read Margaret Atwood's THE HANDMAID'S TALE? because I swear that this is what the Christian Right is going for.
Unbelievable...
I think she meant "moved from the uterus into the cervix".
ReplyDeleteExcellent that she brought something so personal into the debate. A real woman with a real pertinent experience trumps hypothetical blather (I'm assuming it was hypothetical blather although we didn't get to hear what the guy said).
One of if not the most important activity of Planned Parenthood, beyond birth control advice, is prenatal care.
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans say they are pro life, that God wants an unsustainable birth rate, (unsustainable in that we can no longer produce enough food feed our own population)therefore Republicans love all the babies no matter how many.
But then turn around and create a reality in which many of these babies will be born less that they could or should be because of malnutrition of the mother, side effects of the mother's ill health, or complications during pregnancy that are avoidable with good medical and nutritional care as well as mechanical complications that can occur during pregnancy, especially in the latter months that can be successfully dealt with if detected, and if not detected often lead to irreparably damaged neonates, and often to still births and occasionally to dead mothers.
That is stunningly heartless and totally illogical. Republicans cripple and kill babies to punish poor women. And hold the women responsible.
That is just so sick and very very sociopathic. When it happens in a one on one relationship its called abusive.
Bravo. It galls me that the most anti abortion proponents seem to be MEN, who will never have to make a choice about giving birth. What if women all came out against Viagra? We don't use it, do we, why is it funded under healthcare plans?
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, Speier's experience would almost certainly be one of those abortions that the hospital could refuse to do that would eventually lead to the death of the mother, if the already dead or dying fetus and placenta were not removed.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally surgical removal of the fetus would allow the mother to recover and most likely be capable of a successful pregnancy later.
One has to wonder what it must feel like for her to speak in a room where more than half of the people listening to her would rather she be dead.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteShe is a very brave woman Do they even think things through???
5:33 AM
No. Remember the freshman Repo who voted yes as a Patriot Act bill that he would have voted no on because, as he admitted, no one had told him how to vote, no one had told him what was in the bill.
This is the quality of Republican that the party has been putting up for office for over a decade. The have no brains and no knowledge. That is why so many of them say such blindingly stupid things when get get off their talking points.
They are, as a group, butt ignr'nt.
$82 million per day, $3.4 million per hour, $57000 per minute, is how much American tax payers pay to deploy each soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteAnd these upperclass, powerful white men who have health care and pension security guaranteed for the rest of their lives - viagra insurance coverage and guaranteed prostate exams - are dicking over less than 300 opportunities for women to get an abortion from Planned Parenthood.
Perspective folks. Perspective. The GOP has none. How are those extended Bush Tax working for us?
If men could get pregnant, there'd be NO stigma to any pregnancy related health care options, especially from the likes of Planned Parenthood - hell, they'd be on every corner like a 7-11.
How do we regulate women's menstral cycles? Cause that is what we'd have to do. Talk about Nanny State - Big Brother would be watching our medical charts and ensuring our monthlies would be right on schedule and not be carrying any bundle of cells that have a 'potential' to be a baby.
ReplyDeleteAbstinence would be the least of our concern as to what they want to teach in school, there would be hyman inspectors to make sure our daughters aren't being sexually active. The Palin Administration mandation for chastity belts would be subject to tax breaks.
How about this, mandatory vasectomies for all males at the sign of their first wet dream and they can ONLY get it reversed when they present their marriage certificate (to a WOMAN) to a judge?
Sound fair? Absolutely not, so why do these pro-life folks get the right to try and manipulate government funding for everyone and affect our intimate privacy, health care, family planning and legally protected rights all the time?
The religous Taliban is what they are. I'm just so sick of them. They really don't know what the bible says, or what the constatution says. They are nothing like what a true Christian should be. So many children are born into bad situations not taken care, used sexually, unthinkable things happen to children. My own opinion has done a 180 on how I felt as when I was young. Better not to be born, just to be treated in such inhumane ways. Dogs have more rights, than once children are born. I see this every night on NG. No! I do not believe it is God's will for this to go on. Better birth control but they don't even want a woman to have that.
ReplyDeleteI lost my first child at 23 weeks. I would have moved mountains to keep that baby in my womb for another 7-10 weeks standing on my head if that is what it took. But complications form and happen and it was God's will. Can you imagine me and my doctors having to go and testify to a Pro-Life Court that it was spontaneous and not medically or irresponsibly induced?
ReplyDeleteMiscarriages, morbid prematurity and still-borns happen. For these arrogant, self-righteous folks to label our loss (whether by choice, accident or divination) is none of their fucking business.
And another thing, you can't qualify yourself as Pro-Life when you want to justify the murder or pray for the harm/death of those that don't have the same rigid but hypocritical morals as you.
Anon @ 5:54 a.m.
ReplyDeleteThat is stunningly heartless and totally illogical. Republicans cripple and kill babies to punish poor women. And hold the women responsible.
Yes. Thank you for saying that. It is a black and white truth, no matter how righteous they spin it.
Anon @ 6:16 a.m.
ReplyDeleteOne has to wonder what it must feel like for her to speak in a room where more than half of the people listening to her would rather she be dead.
----------
This woman survived the Jonestown massacre after being shot five times. Whereas her boss, a Congressman died, she lay there for over 20 hours waiting for medical rescue. To think some would rather she have died in such a horrible fashion than to unwittingly lose that late-term baby - is horrifying - but not surprising.
This is a true grit woman, she reveals Sarah Palin to be a pussy and out of her depth, completely unworthy of dignified leadership credentials the world has allowed her to claim.
This is what "pro-life" means?
ReplyDeleteHouse Republicans just cut off funds for abortions -- and breast exams, cervical cancer screenings and STD testing
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/18/traister_speier_abortion
The last thing Republicans want is to overturn Roe V Wade. It's the mother of all wedge issues. I'd bet my life savings that in a secret vote not a single one of them would vote to illegalize abortion. The sad fact is that these assholes value abortion as a campaign issue more than they value human life.
ReplyDeleteAwesome defense from Hillary. YEAH!
ReplyDeleteSec. Hillary Clinton Defends Reproductive Rights and Family Planning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH9rC0MaBJc&feature=player_embedded
Anon at 6:43, one southern state rep wants this to be a reality. Every miscarriage, whether at home or in a medical setting, would be investigated by the POLICE. You'd have cops crawling around your vagina to make sure that baby was not aborted. Vagina police, that's what the GOP is fast becoming. Misogynist to the CORE.
ReplyDelete"Pretty hard to vilify Planned Parenthood wish courageous women like Jackie Speier in the room isn't it Rep. Smith?"
ReplyDeleteYet they managed to do just that. The bill to de-fund Planned Parenthood passed in the House almost strictly down partisan lines. Of course, it was simply another 'waste of govt's time for political theater' vote because the Senate is likely to veto it, but the hard core conservatives in the House remained entirely unmoved by the actual experiences of someone who knew the value of the services provided by PP.
And yet for all the outrage over the GOP's tactics,... people still vote for them.
ReplyDeleteEven after this brave woman told her story,...they still voted to de-fund Planned Parenthood.
"They" are still yelling louder, voting more, and getting "their' way even though "We" out number them.
What does that say about the rest of us ?
That was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I find the Right's use of abortion opportunistic and dishonest.
It's a means of ginning up votes from equally hateful people or those easily led by their false emotional arguments.
If those "pro-life" sentiments were sincere, they'd work with others to reduce the need for abortions. And they'd certainly be more concerned that babies, once born, had adequate food, shelter, and access to medical care and education. Instead, they salivate at the prospect of cutting those programs.
As it is, making abortion illegal will serve only to send thousands of scared pregnant teens to the illegal abortion doctor death panel. Maybe they'd better stop to consider whether one of their own could be at risk. Desperate teens will do what they will do, their parents wishes and the law entirely beside the point.
I guess I'm too optomistic: I had hopes that the Teapartiers would at LEAST scream and shout that the House stay on the track that got them the majority vote, and managed to get all those village idiots elected to high positions.
ReplyDeleteBut NO: just like there wasn't a peep from a single one of them, over the passage of the extra tax cuts for the super rich, that boosted the deficit by an obscene amount, there is nothing being murmured by any of those cowards, about how JOBS should be the number one priority of congressional doings, now.
one of my very best friends had an abortion of a very wanted first baby at the end of the 2nd trimester about a year and 1/2 ago. it was only then that the doctors discovered that the child had no kidneys and would die shortly after birth. he was still moving and living perfectly in the womb. her other choice was to carry him to term for 3 more months knowing that he would die as soon as born. it was such a difficult choice. what she had was a partial birth abortion and she had to have it at an abortion clinic as no hospital will do them here. it was all legal, but it involved several visits (they had to dilate the cervix gradually) and i went with her once. an old geezer outside holding a sign yelled at us, i confronted him and i swear i would have tackled him to the ground an pummeled him if she had not restrained me. nothing makes me angrier than people who judge the motivations of other people. NOTHING! and for these republicans to try to remove women's choices is just beyond the pale. bravo, bravo Jackie Speier. and i don't care that she said vagina instead of uterus. can you imagine how nervous/scared she was and she said this anyway!
ReplyDeleteI think it will take more and more women speaking up about having had an abortion before people realize how many of their friends and neighbors have had this legal medical procedure.
ReplyDeleteBirth control can fail; women can be in situations where they do not want to subject a child to poverty and abuse. Abortion is not an easy choice and the procedure is not pleasant. I will share my story.
I married a man, who when we were dating seemed like the kindest, sweetest man you'd ever meet. However, once we were married, his true nature came out. He beat me, couldn't hold down a job, had multiple secret affairs. I worked to support us and he used my money for his schemes, so we were always broke. Over time, my self-esteem took such a hit from his constant verbal abuse that I felt totally trapped in this relationship.
When I got pregnant, once after he raped me (and kept me from using birth control) and a second time after our birth control failed, I got abortions.
There was no way I was going to subject a child to this environment. I have no regrets. I did the right thing.
It took me years to get the courage to leave him--my self-esteem was in the toilet. And when I did, my life blossomed in countless ways. I am now married to a truly kind man. If I had met him as a younger woman, I would absolutely have had children with him.
My ex is currently wanted by the police. He fled the state with his new wife, who he beat up, and for this he is facing felony charges. Looking back at that relationship, I realize that I got together with someone who had a personality disorder, and though I tried for years to just love him and hoped that he would change, he was mentally ill and there was nothing I could do about it.
I am so glad that we don't have children together. I hope I never see him again, although I admit that I am curious about what became of him. I am truly glad that I had those abortions. It would have been heartbreaking to subject children to that kind of abuse.
The claim that these people are 'pro life' is complete garbage, as we have all stated repeatedly because they continue to cut programs that insure children's health and safety.
ReplyDeleteThe abortion issues is solely for political purposes because the same people who try to outlaw them also do their best to prevent women from preventing pregnancies. If they truly wanted to reduce the number of abortions they would enthusiastically support the family planning services that organizations like PP provide.
They don't care about women, they don't care about children and they are only interested in increasing their power and political victories.
My younger sister found out, through ultrasound, that the child she was carrying had only a brain stem, and nothing further. This child would have had NO chance of surviving outside the womb, and yet she could have carried it to term, knowing all the while it could never be a viable child. She was given the choice to abort, and did indeed make that choice. Her grief is NO LESS for that child, even though she chose to terminate the pregnancy. She would have suffered through losing her son either way, and she went on to have several more children, all born perfectly healthy. God must have allowed ultrasound to be invented for a reason, wouldn't you say?
ReplyDeleteI, too, join Jackie Speier in saying a woman has to have choice. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAnd one of the commenters is right: folks have no idea how many of their friends have had abortions and miscarriages. Who are we to judge?
What I have noticed my whole life (and yes, I used Planned Parenthood when I was young and too broke to afford much--and I saw LOTS OF RESPONSIBLE, "LOW INCOME" FAMILIES THERE FOR PRE-NATAL CARE!) is that old white men want to legislate my vagina. They sit around and think about vaginas all day long (or if not interested in vaginas for reasons of sexual preference, they pretend to be). Even their Viagra healthcare support is proof of that.
bless her for raising consciousness of the whole darn country.
ReplyDeleteWhat I am find offensive are these "politicians" who are attempting to deny women access to LEGAL MEDICAL procedure based on their personal bias & mis- information. They seem to want women to "justify" to them WHY they made the choice they did.
ReplyDeleteEnding a pregnancy is a private matter for the woman (and Dr.) - not a Washington bureaucrat.
evidently the gop has not remembered that women are 50% of the voter in the u.s. and we have long memories.
ReplyDeleteIn Idaho we had a representative named Bill Sali. He won in spite of the fact that he is universally hated by his own party (the only party in Idaho). His campaign was financed by the Club for Growth (billionaires for lower taxes), and his one single campaign issue was anti-abortion.
ReplyDeleteHe presented some idiotic anti-choice bill in the state legislature. In his presentation he actually suggested that women just get abortions to preserve their girlish figures. He then went on to present a bogus study that purported to prove that abortion causes breast cancer. At least one representative left the chamber in tears -- she had recently been treated for breast cancer.
I know Bill Sali, I've worked with him. He is the ultimate amoral slimeball. Would Bill Sali burden himself with an unwanted pregnancy? Not on your life. Would he force a poverty stricken victim of incestuous rape to carry a baby to full term? You betcha!
Please call Begich and Murkowskis office and make your thoughts known. Harry Reid is pro-life. This is not a given that this will be stopped in the Senate. Women's lives depend on this, so please act. And beyond that, women especially need to wake up and vote for pro choice candidates. We could very well see an America that looks very much like The Handmaids Tale. Its coming faster than you might think
ReplyDeleteThank god for women like Jackie Speier.
ReplyDeleteYou have no idea how discouraging it is to have to fight this battle again. We went to war with them in the 60's and we won - only to find out that all we really did was send them back to regroup?
I really hope the young women of this generation are paying attention because if things keep going like they are, they are going to have to fight for ALL of women's rights all over again.
It's a war on women. And I think women in this country have to wake up to that fact.
ReplyDeleteI know they don't want to think about it, especially the younger women. But it's no coincidence that the increasing disrespect of women and their loss of political and cultural power are both on the rise, because they go hand in hand. You see it in other countries more profoundly. And that's why in other countries women are standing up, because they have no other choice. Even in Egypt, where Lara Logan was brutally attacked, the women tell you that the whole reason they are going to that square, veiled or not, and participating in this revolution even though they put themselves at the same risk, is because they have to have visibility, to be seen participating in the process, otherwise they fear they will be left behind.
This is something American women have lost. They lost this knowledge of what it takes to claim their rights. And certainly the handful of conservative women in this country who want to speak out for all of us, should NOT be allowed to. Let them speak for themselves only. Let Sarah speak for Sarah, let Bachman speak for Bachman and let the rest of us work to ensure that we won't perish in gender warfare.
Speier's speech was great. And I watched the clip someone put up of Hillary's speech as well. This only goes to show you how important it is to get pro-choice people in elected office. If nothing else, to be heard, even if outnumbered. Because a DINO who sits on his or her hands during moments like this is of no use to us. Yes, there will be some areas of the country which we're going to have to have a conservative-leaning democrat to keep the state. But let this be the exception, not the rule. This was Kos's strategy before 2008, elect the "D" no matter how far they throw women under the bus. And as we clawed back from 2 terms of Bush, it was tempting to do that. But remember....we do it at our peril. We need to fill seats with progressives, not compromisers. And honestly, at this point, while I don't totally regret my primary vote for Obama, I'm in a way ashamed of it, because Hillary was a solid candidate who would have staunchly supported women's rights, and would have been less inclined to bargain away our rights to abortion coverage in insurance, for example, in order to get basic health coverage for all Americans. And she was very pro-gay as well.
This is a GREAT BIG LIE! There will NEVER be a time, whether abortion is practiced or not, legal or not, where if a doctor needs to perform emergency surgery he will be unable to do so if that surgery requires aborting an unborn fetus! IT'S A LIE!
ReplyDeleteAt age 18 I had sex against my will while a naive (virgin) freshman at college. I was horrified and just wanted to forget everything. However, my very first sexual experience resulted in a pregnancy. I was bipolor, afraid, and away from home for the first time. I got the abortion myself and was terrified. Aferwards I flunked out and was diagnosed with clinical depression. This obviously was a tramatic situation and did not have the psychological strenth to deal with a baby. I have no doubt that trying to raise the result of a rape would have eventually caused me to end my life. Psychologically, these events took years to recover. Men need to understand that none of these events were easy. However, it was not my choice to be raped. It was not my choice to get pregnant. If I had not been able to get an abortion, I believe I would have ended my life. But maybe Repubs wouldn't have seen that as a big deal. It's 30 years later and I have never once at any moment have regreted my decision.
ReplyDeleteNice try, VidTruth.
ReplyDeleteIs this a lie?
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/nicaragua-abortion-ban-stymies-woman-chemotherapy-cancer-treatment/story?id=9936908
Women will die, but that's better than a fetus dying. That's the calculus behind making abortion illegal.
Fetus = more valuable than female. It's all to do with male ego, because -ya know- that might be a BOY fetus. It would be like aborting THEM! And we can't have women rejecting men to that degree, or it's the apocalypse or some damn thing. The bitchez iz outta controlllll!!
I saw her impassioned speech, and it was beautiful. In their zeal to outlaw abortion altogether, Rep. Smith and his ilk are more than willing to throw out the baby with the bath water by stopping funds for breast exams, pap smear tests, and birth control, which benefit untold numbers of women.
ReplyDeleteBut the actions of this House also show me that they are trying to turn back the clock on progress on so many fronts. That's why those of us concerned with the future of this country need to stand up to their idiocy.
Comprehensive 10 Take a look at Panel exams
ReplyDeletefor frequent STDs.