Donald Trump's anti-woman agenda is having devastating effects around the world.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Women’s health clinics from Iowa to Kenya have been forced to close their doors. International nonprofits have lost the ability to provide birth control, HIV testing and fistula surgeries in the poorest communities around the world. Half a million U.S. teenagers no longer have access to sex education programs. 

In a single year, President Donald Trump has already decimated reproductive rights and access to family planning in the U.S. and around the globe. He reinstated and massively expanded the Global Gag Rule, restricting $8.8 billion in U.S. foreign aid funding for international health programs that provide or even mention abortion. He defunded the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a global maternal health organization that provides contraception and pregnancy care to low-income women in 150 countries. The group had relied on U.S. money to help to prevent 295,000 unsafe abortions ― a leading cause (13 percent) of maternal deaths around the world. 

International health workers are already seeing the effects of Trump’s policies on women and girls. 

“Girls aren’t able to get contraception, and they’re starting to come back pregnant, suicidal, bereft,” said Lisa Shannon, a global women’s rights advocate who works with reproductive health clinics in East Africa. “They’re desperate, and they’ll do whatever it takes. The only difference here is that the women will die from unsafe abortions.”

Donald Trump loves women when they look like Stormy Daniels, dress pretty for him, or constantly kiss is tangerine colored ass, but when it comes to supporting polices that help them, Trump simply does not give two shits.

Trump follows the GOP talking points and labels himself "pro-life," but in reality, living breathing people, who are not unborn fetuses, are already dying unnecessarily on his watch, and he has no intention of doing anything to protect them.

It drives me crazy when people try to convince us that John Kasich is a "better" Republican.

Hah! Fooled you.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Ohio is prohibiting doctors from performing abortions in cases where tests reveal the fetus has or likely has Down syndrome. 

Republican Gov. John Kasich signed the legislation Friday and the law goes into effect in 90 days. "The governor is pro-life and supports policies that protect the sanctity of life," press secretary Jon Keeling tells CNN.

The law prohibits abortions after prenatal tests reveal Down syndrome in a fetus or if there's "any other reason to believe" the fetus has the genetic condition. 

A person performing an abortion in such a case could face a fourth-degree felony charge, and physicians could lose their licenses. The woman seeking the abortion would not be held accountable, according to the legislation.

Sure Kasich may seem relatively reasonable when compared to the Donald Trump's of this world but he is still a Republican willing to tell women what they can do with their own bodies and condemning them to raising a child they may be ill equipped emotionally or financially to parent. 

Taking care of a child with Down Syndrome, or any other challenging diagnosis, can bankrupt families, destroy marriages, and negatively impact the other children in the home.

This is simply NOT a decision that anybody other than the mother and father of the child should be involved in making.

The fact that John Kasich does not respect that is why nobody should respect his criticisms of the Republican party or Donald Trump.

Trump Administration formally backs ban on abortions after 20 weeks. Oh come on, you KNEW this was coming.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

The Trump administration formally backed a House bill Monday that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. 

The administration "strongly supports" the bill and "applauds the House of Representatives for continuing its efforts to secure critical pro-life protections," the Office of Management and Budget wrote in a statement of administration policy. 

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), will come up for a vote in the House on Tuesday. 

It would make it a crime to perform or attempt an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with the possibility of a fine, up to five years in prison or both. 

There are exceptions for rape, incest or to save the life of the woman, and the bill wouldn't penalize women for seeking abortions after 20 weeks.

Oh well, gee at least they are willing to let a woman have control of her reproductive organs if there is a chance they might kill her.

How white of them.

It should be remembered that abortions performed after 20 weeks are typically for problem pregnancies, not only ones that endanger the mother, but also which might endanger the fetus, or due to newly discovered birth defects.

This should also serve to remind everybody why the Republicans are not exactly on board with impeaching Trump, no matter what emerges from the Russian investigations.

As long as he is pushing this ultra conservative agenda they could not care less that he is Putin's puppet.

Mike Pence brags that Donald Trump has "literally filled this White House and agencies with pro-life leaders.”

Trump signing his anti-abortion executive order

Courtesy of HuffPo:

Vice President Mike Pence declared victory for the anti-abortion movement Wednesday night, boasting that President Donald Trump has “literally filled” his administration with politicians who oppose reproductive rights. 

“Life is winning in America,” Pence said at a gala for the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List. “President Trump has been keeping his promises to stand for life. He’s literally filled this White House and agencies with pro-life leaders.” 

Pence, who led the fight against reproductive rights as a congressman and governor of Indiana, went on to list the members of what he called the anti-abortion “A-team”― Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, Housing Secretary Ben Carson, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Trump’s counselor Kellyanne Conway, who spoke at the gala before Pence. 

Also listed on his “A-team” was Charmaine Yoest, the former CEO of Americans United for Life, who is assistant secretary of health and human services, and Teresa Manning, a former lobbyist for the National Right to Life Committee who is expected to be appointed to oversee the nation’s family planning program at HHS.

Well I'm nauseous,  how is everybody else feeling?

I swear it is like a who's who of "women should not have control over their own reproduction" advocates.

If Trump gets even one more seat on the Supreme Court I think we can say goodbye to "Roe vs Wade." And hello to the return of back alley abortions. 

And remember folks these assholes only want to force you to have the baby.

Once you have birthed it don't go crying to them for the baby's health care needs, help with daycare, or improved educational opportunities for your little mistake.

Because they really don't give a shit.

Female Texas Representative introduces bill that would fine men for masturbating.

Courtesy of the Dallas News:

If state Rep. Jessica Farrar has her way, men in Texas will pay a $100 fine for "unregulated masturbatory emissions" and undergo a digital rectal exam to get a vasectomy, a colonoscopy or a Viagra prescription. 

Farrar's proposed legislation, filed last week, calls on the Department of State Health Services to explain the rules in an illustrated booklet titled "A Man's Right to Know." 

Sound familiar? The Houston Democrat's bill is a satirical version of a Texas law passed in 2011 that requires women to have a sonogram and hear a detailed description of the fetus before getting an abortion. Those rules are outlined in a booklet produced by the state called "A Woman's Right to Know." 

"A lot of people find the bill funny," Farrar told the Houston Chronicle. "What's not funny are the obstacles that Texas women face every day, that were placed there by legislatures making it very difficult for them to access health care."

As a supporter of women's rights I am all in favor of this.

As a man however I am deeply disturbed by even the idea of this.

Which one would assume is the point.

Besides what do I care? You could not get me to visit Texas at gunpoint.

Last night Samantha Bee addressed misconceptions about abortion and the negative impact that religion has on women's health and it was epic.

(Samantha Bee's abortion public service announcement starts at the 20 second mark.)

If that was not satisfying enough Bee then went on to address the insanely dangerous impact that Catholic hospitals have on women's health.
It is extremely gratifying to see a presidential candidate who understands what women's health is all about and understands the importance of having control over your own reproductive organs.

Hillary Clinton clearly understands both, and Samantha Bee is the unapologetic pro-choice advocate that we need to explain why that is important in this election.

This was a damn good show and I thought that Samantha Bee was really in her wheelhouse while explaining this topic to her audience.

Let's face it neither Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, or even Jon Stewart could have handled this topic nearly as well as Samantha Bee just did.

Which I guess also goes to show why we need more female hosts taking on controversial topics and explaining them to the American people.

Since 2010 maternal mortality rate doubles in Texas, now the highest in the developed world. Gee, I wonder how that happened?

Courtesy of The Guardian: 

The rate of Texas women who died from complications related to pregnancy doubled from 2010 to 2014, a new study has found, for an estimated maternal mortality rate that is unmatched in any other state and the rest of the developed world. 

The finding comes from a report, appearing in the September issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, that the maternal mortality rate in the United States increased between 2000 and 2014, even while the rest of the world succeeded in reducing its rate. Excluding California, where maternal mortality declined, and Texas, where it surged, the estimated number of maternal deaths per 100,000 births rose to 23.8 in 2014 from 18.8 in 2000 – or about 27%. 

But the report singled out Texas for special concern, saying the doubling of mortality rates in a two-year period was hard to explain “in the absence of war, natural disaster, or severe economic upheaval”.

Boy that is puzzling.

After all without war or natural disaster what could possibly account for so many women dying?

In the wake of the report, reproductive health advocates are blaming the increase on Republican-led budget cuts that decimated the ranks of Texas’s reproductive healthcare clinics. In 2011, just as the spike began, the Texas state legislature cut $73.6m from the state’s family planning budget of $111.5m. The two-thirds cut forced more than 80 family planning clinics to shut down across the state. The remaining clinics managed to provide services – such as low-cost or free birth control, cancer screenings and well-woman exams – to only half as many women as before. 

At the same time, Texas eliminated all Planned Parenthood clinics – whether or not they provided abortion services – from the state program that provides poor women with preventive healthcare. Previously, Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas offered cancer screenings and contraception to more than 130,000 women.

Oh that's right, the Texas Republicans took away the health services that many women rely on.

How could I forget?

But hey ladies you just keep right on voting Republican.

After all it's not like it was a matter of life or death or anything. Right?

VP candidate Tim Kaine seems to be at odds with Hillary Clinton's desire to repeal the Hyde Amendment.

(To hear the relevant portions fast forward to the 4:45 mark.)

Courtesy of CNN: 

Tim Kaine differs with Hillary Clinton on a longstanding rule banning federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions, the Democratic vice presidential candidate told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," in an interview that aired Sunday. 

That's a rare policy disagreement with Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, and her running mate, who said he was "so humbled" to be chosen for the ticket. 

"My job is really to just do everything I can to support a great Clinton presidency and I'm really excited to be off and running on that task," the Virginia senator said. 

Abortion, though, remains a point of difference between the pair. Kaine said he supports the Hyde Amendment, a 40-year-old rule preventing federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions. That contradicts comments by Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook in a July 24 "State of the Union" appearance. Kaine "has said that he will stand with Secretary Clinton to defend a woman's right to choose, to repeal the Hyde Amendment," Mook quoted Kaine as saying. 

"My voting position on abortion hasn't really changed," Kaine said in the interview aired Sunday. "I support the Hyde Amendment. I haven't changed that."

Well this is interesting, and kind of addresses some of the concerns that certain progressive had about Hillary's selection of Tim Kaine.

While it is nice to hear that he supports Roe vs Wade, it is a little troubling that he is not as pro-choice as Hillary. Or as pro-choice as the majority of progressives in this country.

The thing that is kind of frustrating to me is that Kaine's point of view seems to stem completely from his Catholic faith, which means that he is a candidate for the VP slot on the Democratic ticket whose opinions are informed by a belief in primitive superstitions.

That is quite troubling in 2016.

As I have stated before I really don't give a shit what fantasies you choose to embrace so long as they do not impact your real world decisions.

Governor Greg Abbott finds a way to work around the recent Supreme Court decision to continue restricting access to legal abortion in Texas.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

Texas anti-abortion lawmakers aren’t letting the Supreme Court stop them from standing between a woman and her reproductive health. Four days after the court’s June decision to block HB2, the Texas law that would have shuttered many of the state’s few remaining abortion facilities, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) quietly set a new anti-abortion strategy into play. 

His tactic: Requiring abortion clinic staff to bury or cremate the remains of every abortion procedure that takes place in their facility. 

Unlike past state anti-abortion laws, Abbott sidestepped the state legislature by simply proposing a new “rule” for the state health services agency. The public has just one month to comment on this rule before it could potentially go into effect — effectively cutting out months of debate and rewrites commonly found in legislature proceedings. This is a red flag to abortion advocates.

This guy might as well just walk around with a t-shirt that says "I Hate Women."

I bet there are a whole lot of ladies in Texas who wish they had worked harder to get Wendy Davis elected in 2014, instead of getting stuck with this asshole.

Supreme Court decision huge victory for women's rights and pro-choice groups in America.

Courtesy of the HuffPo:  

The Supreme Court struck as unconstitutional part of a restrictive Texas statute that threatened to shutter half of the state’s remaining abortion clinics and deny millions of women the right to a safe abortion. 

The ruling in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt represents the most significant victory for abortion rights at the high court since the turn of the century, as states have scrambled to pass and defend similar laws across the country, seeking to chip away at the landmark Roe v. Wade. 

Writing for a 5-3 majority, Justice Stephen Breyer said the two Texas laws at issue in the case are unconstitutional. 

“We conclude that neither of these provisions offers medical benefits sufficient to justify the burdens upon access that each imposes,” he wrote. “Each places a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion, each constitutes an undue burden on abortion access, and each violates the Federal Constitution.”

Damn there is so much going on today I can barely keep up. 

And I imagine that these are the kinds of decisions we can continue to expect from our Supreme Court once President Hillary Clinton replaces the now deceased Antonin Scalia with somebody who actually respects the laws in this country.

Damn kids, things are really starting to look up.

Gee it seems that if a fella defunds Planned Parenthood he can't even go out for a coffee without somebody shaming him for it.

Courtesy of Injustice:  

Rick Scott, the Trump-loving, women-hating governor of Florida, can’t even visit a local Starbucks for a caffeine fix without hearing from disgruntled Floridians enraged over his political theater. 

Cara Jennings, a 39 year old woman from Gainesville, happened to be in the local Starbucks when the Governor popped in unannounced for a drink. 

Jennings decided in the moment to let him know just what she thought of his recent decisions to de-fund Planned Parenthood and significantly cut Medicaid. 

“You cut Medicaid, so I couldn’t get Obamacare, said Jennings pointing her finger at Scott and simultaneously silencing one of his aides trying in vain to intervene, “You’re an a–hole. You don’t care about working people. You should be ashamed to show your face around here.”

I LOVE how Scott runs out of the Starbucks with his tail between his legs.

Well now this woman is my new hero.

Good for her in standing up for women all over her state, and calling this guy exactly what he is, an asshole.

Ted Cruz is starting a super wing-nutty anti-abortion group. Apparently he does not feel enough people hate him yet.

"Agh! I told you don't hold up a mirror to my face! It's terrifying!"

Courtesy of Mother Jones:

 During a campaign stop in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said he's created an anti-abortion group that will "champion every child, born and unborn." The Pro-Lifers for Cruz coalition already has more than 17,000 members, according to a press release, and will be chaired by Tony Perkins, the anti-LGBT president of the Family Research Council who recently said same-sex marriage is responsible for "havoc in our homes and blood in our streets." Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has also created a committee, but Cruz has cornered some of the more extreme members of the anti-abortion movement. Also heading up the coalition are 11 anti-abortion co-chairs "representing virtually every perspective on the pro-life spectrum." 

One of those perspectives is that of Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue and a board member of the Center for Medical Progress, the group behind the debunked Planned Parenthood videos, whose founder David Daleiden was recently indicted for alleged crimes in connection to the videos. In his announcement on Wednesday, Cruz called Newman's group "one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation."

This Troy Newman guy is so divorced from reality that he once said this about women's health clinics in California:

"Is it no wonder that California is experiencing the worst drought in history when it is the largest child-killer in all of the United States?"

Yes because a lack of precipitation and women controlling their own reproductive organs are so clearly intertwined.

Let's just add this to the growing list of reasons that Ted Cruz must NEVER be allowed to gain any real political power.

Bryn Greenwood, former Planned Parenthood employee, shares on Twitter what it was like to work there.

I worked at a #PlannedParenthood clinic in Kansas for 3 years. My coworkers & I were subjected to the following acts of terrorism:

— Bryn Greenwood (@bryngreenwood) November 30, 2015

Gasoline was poured under our back door & ignited 4 times. Twice while the clinic was occupied, causing patients to be evacuated.

— Bryn Greenwood (@bryngreenwood) November 30, 2015

Butyric acid (used as a stink bomb) was poured under our doors & into ventilation system so many times I lost count. Clinic evacuated.

— Bryn Greenwood (@bryngreenwood) November 30, 2015

2 cherry bombs were left on our doorstep after hours, causing damage & clinic closure. Imagine what it's like going to work after that.

— Bryn Greenwood (@bryngreenwood) November 30, 2015

We received hundreds of phone calls, threatening to torch our clinic & to kill the "murdering whores" who worked there.

— Bryn Greenwood (@bryngreenwood) November 30, 2015

3 times someone drove by at night & shot out our windows. Picketers stood on the sidewalk & harassed employees as we swept up broken glass.

— Bryn Greenwood (@bryngreenwood) November 30, 2015

Our clinic didn't perform abortions. We did well woman exams, pregnancy tests, dispensed birth control, & treated STIs.

— Bryn Greenwood (@bryngreenwood) November 30, 2015

Our clinic offered free & low cost services in a low income neighborhood, but every day the "pro-life" movement tried to frighten us.

— Bryn Greenwood (@bryngreenwood) November 30, 2015

The goal was to make us afraid to come to work, to make us quit, to make us close the clinic. That's terrorism. That's how terrorism works.

— Bryn Greenwood (@bryngreenwood) November 30, 2015

You should not have to fear for your life every time you go to work at a women's clinic in this country.

I think Ms. Greenwood is correct in calling this exactly what it is, acts of terrorism. 

While conservatives try desperately to play down the possibility the shootings at Planned Parenthood were the result of the anti-abortion propaganda, or those doctored videos, evidence starts to surface that their efforts might prove futile.

Robert Lewis Dear

As I pointed out yesterday there is an ongoing and concerted effort to redirect any suspicion that the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooter was inspired to go on his shooting spree by by the so-called "pro-life" movement or those doctored videos that have been all over the news recently.

Even Sarah Palin did her part to play down any connection:

Our prayers are for Colorado Springs and the families of the three killed there yesterday, including a heroic police officer who put his life on the line for others. Such a horrible, evil act perpetrated by a deranged man who'd been repeatedly investigated by law enforcement over the years. Senseless acts of violence involving stabbings, beatings, shootings, etc., are equally evil, abhorrent, unacceptable. The evidence isn't all gathered but it appears yet another criminal mind ignored all sensibilities and all laws to fulfill his mission to kill. Pray that our culture receives wisdom in dealing with any dark intention that is manifested in ugly violence - using any weapon - and that glorification of death and violence - using any weapon - is wholly condemned. We must have a collective commitment to reversing the trajectory we're on towards creating a hard-hearted, selfish civilization. Yesterday's crime was so wrong, so terrible, so tragic - as is every deadly act of violence we sufferably witness everyday here and around the world. May God comfort Colorado Springs' victims.

Did you notice that there was NO mention of Planned Parenthood, and the  emphasis on "any weapon" so as to distract from the fact that this was yet another senseless act of violence using a firearm?

Pretty clumsy misdirection for a journalism major don't you think?

Sadly for Palin, and her ilk, there is at least some circumstantial evidence of why Mr. Dear did what he did: 

In one statement, made after the suspect was taken in for questioning, Dear said "no more baby parts" in reference to Planned Parenthood, according to two law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case.

Now I am going to err on the side of caution and remind everybody that we still do not have definitive evidence as to what Mr. Dear's motives were, but I can tell you that if he did NOT go on this shooting spree because of abortion, then he is really going to disappoint his new fans:

Like I said we don't know what this guy's motivations were for sure, however there is still plenty of evidence that demonstrates an uptick in violence against Planned Parenthood since the release of those videos: 

Back in September, CBS reported that the FBI had noticed an uptick in attacks on reproductive health care facilities since the first video was released by the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress (CMP). There were nine criminal or suspicious incidents (including cyber-attacks, threats, and arsons) from July, when the videos first came out, through mid-September. 

An FBI Intelligence Assessment at the time found these attacks were "consistent with the actions of lone offenders using tactics of arsons and threats all of which are typical of the pro-life extremist movement." Moreover, the report said it was "likely criminal or suspicious incidents will continue to be directed against reproductive health care providers, their staff and facilities." 

Less than two weeks after CBS reported that, another abortion clinic was firebombed in California. It was the fourth arson at a Planned Parenthood location in as many months. 

"The toxic rhetoric directed at Planned Parenthood has dangerous consequences," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a press release at the time. "It sends a signal that using violence to close clinics and intimidate healthcare professionals and women is 'OK.' It is not."

So even if this guy was NOT there with guns blazing in response to those videos, it is really only a matter of time before somebody will be.

Update: Here's a little more from HuffPo:  

Planned Parenthood said late Saturday that witnesses said the gunman was motivated by his opposition to abortion. An official who has been briefed on the investigation told The Washington Post that the attack was "definitely politically motivated."

Still not case closed, but once the police release their statements I imagine the conservative media might have an awful lot of crow to eat.

Thanks to Obamacare more young women are being diagnosed with cervical cancer. And that's a good thing.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

More young women are getting screened and diagnosed with early-stage cervical cancer, potentially because Obamacare allows them to access insurance benefits through their parents’ plans, according to a new study from American Cancer Society researchers. 

The researchers examined a large database that tracks cancer cases in the United States. They compared the cancer diagnoses among women between the ages of 21 to 25 to the diagnoses among women between the ages of 26 to 34 — both before and after the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion took effect. 

An Obamacare provision that allows young adults to remain insured through their parents’ plans until the age of 26 appears to have affected the rates of cervical cancer diagnosis among that demographic. After the ACA, the diagnosis rates significantly rose for the women in their early twenties and remained fairly constant for older women. 

“It’s a very remarkable finding, actually,” researcher Dr. Ahmedin Jemal told the New York Times. “You see the effect of the ACA on the cancer outcomes.” 

It’s better to receive an early cancer diagnosis because the disease is easier to treat in its early stages and patients are more likely to survive. Even though it might not sound like a good thing that cervical cancer cases are on the rise, it’s actually reflective of the fact that more people are using their health insurance to get screened. Previous research has found that people with insurance are more likely to take advantage of preventative health services like screenings that can detect cancer as soon as possible.

Just another reminder of how President Obama has positively affected this country, and its citizens.

And don't forget that if the Republicans get their way, they will gladly take this away from us.

And in doing so condemn potentially hundreds of people to an easily avoidable death.

Over 100,000 women in Texas have turned to the do it yourself method for ending a pregnancy. With clinics closing all over the state just imagine how that number will increase.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

New research paints a bleak picture of what could be in store for U.S. women if the Supreme Court upholds an abortion law that makes it more difficult for health clinics to remain open. 

Somewhere between 100,000 and 240,000 women of reproductive age living in Texas have tried to end their pregnancy entirely on their own, without any medical assistance, according to a group of policy researchers. Most of these women either used home remedies, like herbs or vitamins, or went across the border to Mexico to buy misoprostol, the drug used in U.S. clinics to terminate a pregnancy. 

The Texas Policy Evaluation Project (TxPEP) — a research group based at the University of Texas that’s been tracking the state’s reproductive health policy over the past four years — released this information to illustrate the detrimental impact a recent slew of abortion clinics closures has had on its population. 

“As clinic-based care becomes harder to access in Texas, we can expect more women to feel that they have no other option and take matters into their own hands,” said Daniel Grossman, a TxPEP co-investigator and Professor in Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.

"We're protecting the sanctity of human life" they say.

Well what about the lives of thousands of women which are now at risk due to their archaic attitudes toward reproduction rights?

Is the "sanctity" of their lives not worth protecting?

ISIS accomplishes what the Republicans can only dream of accomplishing.

Courtesy of the Independent:  

Isis is believed to have ordered the closure of all women’s clinics supervised by male doctors in its Syrian heartlands in its latest assault on the rights of women. 

A culture of rape, forced marriages for child brides, the persecution of doctors and the exclusive use of medicines for militants have resulted in a crisis for women’s health under Isis’s brutal regime. 

According to activists, Isis has drastically restricted the work of male gynecologists in accordance with its leaders’ belief that men and women should be kept apart at all costs.

I read this and all I could think was how jealous the Republicans are that they don't have this kind of power. 

Because trust me, if they had this power, they would use this power.

The really terrible thing for the girls in Syria is that many of them are being forced into unions with ISIS fighters, often by their own fathers, and come to these clinics after suffering miscarriages, with STD's, or after suffering horrible abuse and rape at the hands of their new "husbands."

Some of these girls are as young as nine or ten, and without these clinics many of them will die. 

And you might want to believe that even Christian conservatives would be horrified at such treatment, but don't forget that no small number of them still see women as the property of men, and at least one website even supported the idea of marital rape.

Woman trolls Planned Parenthood protesters with sign that reads "Dear P.P. Thanks for helping with my yeast infection."

Courtesy of Slate:  

During her shift at Portland, Oregon’s Purringtons Cat Lounge on Sunday, Mary Numair looked out the street-facing windows and saw a woman carrying a sign that read “Abortion Kills Children.” Numair had noticed a group of protesters about a block away, gathered outside one of Portland’s Planned Parenthood health care centers. “I thought [the woman] might be lost. I said, ‘Hey, you’re gonna feel real silly. The protest is down that way,’ ” Numair, 29, told me. “She said ‘No, I need to stand here.’ I said, ‘Fuck this shit,’ went back inside, and started making my sign.” 

The sign, which Numair crafted out of masking tape and a piece of cardboard from the dumpster, praised Planned Parenthood for treating her chronic yeast infections when she was in her early 20s and uninsured. It also included a delightful cartoon of a vagina with a smiling clitoris and a stick figure with pigtails and prominent breasts (above). 

Numair’s best friend and co-worker clocked in early so she could head out to the protest, where she planted herself between two families with children. “In my first 30 seconds of walking out there, I did get called a whore,” Numair said. “One woman was shaking her head. I knelt down to her kid and said, ‘Do you know about yeast infections?’ ” 

Onlookers gave Numair the thumbs-up, and some passing cars honked in support, but she was the only counter-protester on the scene. Still, with a spontaneous chant, she managed to break up the protest in under a half-hour. “I don’t know why I started chanting ‘Yeast infections!’ but it just came out. I have this cold, so it was just this obnoxious squeak, cheerleader-like. And I started doing high kicks, which I don’t normally do, in my skinny jeans.” A religious leader was guiding a circle of protestors in prayers for Numair—but as her chants got louder and more grating, they stopped.

I love this SO much!

That my friends is how you call out these anti-choice nuts on their ignorance.

Texas has now defunded Planned Parenthood over those doctored videos. Well of course they did.

"Government should stay out of our business. Except vaginas. Government should all up in that."

Courtesy of Time: 

Texas is eliminating taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood in the state, based on concerns over the organization’s fetal tissue donations, the governor announced on Monday. 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office issued a statement, saying Texas is ending Medicaid’s participation with Planned Parenthood, which means the women’s reproductive health nonprofit will no longer receive Medicaid funding in the state. The decision came in a letter sent Monday by the Office of Inspector General at Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Abbott’s statement said. 

“Following the release of gruesome videos filmed at Planned Parenthood facilities, including Gulf Coast in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott announced his LIFE Initiative to provide greater protections for children in the womb and prevent the sale of baby body parts,” Abbott’s statement reads. 

The cancellation “calls for funding to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers out of taxpayer money to be eliminated completely, both at the State and local levels,” according to the announcement. 

Abbott said that canceling Medicaid participation for Planned Parenthood in Texas moves the state closer to “providing greater access to safe healthcare for women while protecting our most vulnerable – the unborn.”

Of course neither those last two statements are accurate as health clinics for women in Texas are rapidly disappearing and without access to safe legal abortion services women will resort to the same back alley butchers that performed them BEFORE Roe vs Wade.

By the way let's remember that Planned Parenthood has already said that they will no longer charge for the shipping of fetal tissue, and not only that Texas Planned Parenthood NEVER participated in fetal tissue donations.

So this defunding does NOTHING to address the concerns brought up by those bullshit videos, but instead puts the health of Texas women at serious risk and gives Governor Greg Abbott another victory against women's rights.

Hey, I tried to get y'all to vote for Wendy Davis. But did you listen? Hell no!

Update: Well guess who felt the need to chime in on this story?

None other than Nancy French wearing her Bristol Palin skin suit:  

There is no reason that an organization that has proven itself so untrustworthy and that has based its business around the murder of innocent babies should be receiving tax-payer dollars. Yet, Planned Parenthood has rallied its friends in the media, in Hollywood and in the White House to try to deflect our attention from the truth. 

It is so refreshing to see state’s standing up for life and refusing to be bullied by Planned Parenthood and all of their allies! I hope that my state follows suit soon!

Well I assume that when French says "my state" she is referring to Tennessee where she and her husband actually live, because now that Alaska dumped Sean Parnell there is no way we are doing anything this fucking stupid.

I assume at some point today Palin will link to this Brancy post and the trifecta of ignorance will be complete.

Opponent of Planned Parenthood admits that it is not really about abortion. It's about enjoying sex.

Courtesy of Politicususa:  

When Republicans and their evangelical base were desperate to restrict women’s access to any form of birth control, one of the complaints was that just the idea of a woman, married or not, having “consequence free sex” was an abomination that religious Republicans would not allow or condone. In their minds there has to be a severe, usually an 18 year and nine month, “consequence” for any woman who has sexual relations; even when their “man” demands being serviced” and the woman is ill. Now, a representative of one of the anti-choice cabals planning to harass Planned Parenthood clinics around the nation this weekend has admitted that the crusade against Planned Parenthood is a purely religious assault founded on ending the corrupt sexual ethic of promoting sex not intended for procreation. 

The spokeswoman for Citizens for a Pro-Life Society explained why evangelicals, the personhood movement, anti-choice fascists, Catholic bishops, and their Republican facilitators are so intent on destroying Planned Parenthood, and it is not about banning abortion or protecting zygotes and fetuses. Monica Miller is one of this weekend’s ‘harass Planned Parenthood” rally organizers who was honest and angry when she said, 

“Planned Parenthood from the top to the bottom is a corrupt organization… corrupt in its view of the sanctity of life and corrupt in its view of human sexuality. I say even if Planned Parenthood didn’t perform one single abortion, just the mere fact that its sexual ethic is corrupted means right there, should be the reason right there, that they should not receive any federal money. The kind of sexual ethic that Planned Parenthood promotes is sex for recreation, sex for mere pleasure.”

It has NEVER been about protecting lives in the womb, it is about making sure that the sexual organs of women are used only for procreation and not recreation. 

Which of course means that every woman who stands on the street corner outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic, waving a placard and viciously yelling at those walking through the front doors, are fighting to keep themselves, and others of their gender, oppressed and forever relegated to human breeding stock.