Arkansas GOP eyes Planned Parenthood funds next

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Arkansas GOP eyes Planned Parenthood funds next
By ANDREW DeMILLO, Associated Press
Updated 5:38 pm, Thursday, March 7, 2013

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Not content with enacting the most restrictive abortion law in the country, Arkansas Republicans plan to press the legislative advantage their party hasn't enjoyed since Reconstruction by making it even more difficult for women to get abortions in the state.

The GOP-controlled Legislature on Wednesday overrode Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of a bill banning nearly all abortions beginning in the 12th week of pregnancy, when a fetus' heartbeat can typically be detected through an abdominal ultrasound. That law wouldn't take effect until 90 days after the legislative session ends in a month or so, but the Legislature last week overrode a veto of a near-ban on abortions starting in the 20th week. That law took effect immediately.

State Sen. Jason Rapert, who was behind the 12-week ban, now wants to cut all public funding to Planned Parenthood. And the state's top anti-abortion advocacy group is urging lawmakers to ban providers from remotely administering the abortion pill via a video hookup — a practice they've derided as "webcam abortions."

The moves mark a major shift in a state already considered to have some of the most tightest restrictions on abortion in the nation, and they're worrying Democrats who say the newly Republican-controlled legislative majority is obsessing over abortion at the expense of issues such as education, health care and economic development.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/texas/article/Arkansas-GOP-eyes-Planned-Parenthood-funds-next-4331588.php#ixzz2MtuESO10

[ellie]

1. Monsters, every single one of them

[Squinch]

2. Well it worked so well for Texas...

[Art_from_Ark]

3. Their hero is undoubtedly the late Paul van Dalsem,

a former state legislator who is best known for his views on women:

"During a speech to the Optimist Club of Little Rock on August 27, 1963, Van Dalsem stated: “We don’t have any of these university women in Perry County, but I’ll tell you what we do up there when one of our women starts poking around in something she doesn’t know anything about. We get her an extra milk cow. If that don’t work, we give her a little more garden to tend to. And then if that’s not enough, we get her pregnant and keep her barefoot.” When the Arkansas Gazette reported his remarks on August 28, it created a firestorm."

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=4771

[Kolesar]

4. There are men in Ohio who are similarly repulsive

Although that trend is fading

[Art_from_Ark]

5. I thought the trend had been fading in Arkansas as well

Heck, back when I was in high school, we used to make fun of Mr. Dalsem as being "Li'l Abner's evil twin" or "Snuffy Smith's long-lost pa". I can't believe how things seem to have turned around so much since that time.

[Kolesar]

6. I meant men who believe women are inferior

When I was five, I used to thing Lil Abner was Jethro Bodine on the Beverly Hillbillies.

[Tempest]

7. I thought I read somewhere AR has the highest number of foster children in country

If not the highest, one of the highest.

[backtoblue]

8. opportunistic, sexist, leaches these legislators

[geek tragedy]

9. Mississippi's move to ban slavery has created an opening

for Arkansas to claim the title as "Most Backwards State" and they're going for it.

[Brayshawna Williams]

10. Is that how they plan to modernize the party?

Good luck winning elections!