Abortion

[The Straight Story]

New abortion restrictions win Indiana House committee approval

Two Democrats walked out of a House committee meeting in anger this morning after lawmakers approved 8-4 a series of wide-ranging restrictions on abortion, including a ban on abortions after 20 weeks.

"What's happening is they're making women second class citizens, trying to roll back to the time when women didn't have rights and I couldn't listen anymore," said Rep. Vanessa Summers, D-Indianapolis, who walked out of the Public Policy Committee with Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond.

HB1210, authored by Rep. Eric Turner, R-Marion, was originally drafted as a measure forcing abortion doctors to tell their patients that "the fetus may feel pain" and forcing patients to view an ultrasound picture unless they said in writing that they did not want to.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20110217/NEWS05/102170489/1001/New-abortion-restrictions-win-Ind-House-panel-s-OK?odyssey=nav|head

Kan. abortion opponents push fetal pain measure

Abortion opponents in Kansas are trying to follow Nebraska's lead in enacting a law to restrict abortions based on when a fetus is likely to feel pain, telling lawmakers Wednesday that the issue could change the debate over abortion.

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee is considering a bill that is patterned after a Nebraska law that restricts abortions after 22 weeks. The argument is that a fetus is developed enough by 20 weeks into the pregnancy to feel and respond to pain, but not manage or modulate that pain until closer to 40 weeks.

Three physicians, including a pediatrician, testified that research supports that theory. And supporters said the bill has the potential to change the abortion debate, which has centered on when a child is viable.

http://www.eldoradotimes.com/newsnow/x1712691057/Kan-abortion-opponents-push-fetal-pain-measure

GOP abortion plans could lead to more teen pregnancies, abortions in Minnesota

Congressional Republicans are set to vote on a trio of bills intended to prevent health care clinics that perform abortions from receiving federal funds, and leadership has offered a budget that slashes the Title X program, which funds contraception and reproductive health services. A study by the Guttmacher Institute released on Wednesday shows that those cuts would be devastating to low-income women in Minnesota. Without this funding, Minnesota would’ve seen 33 percent more teenage pregnancies — and a spike in the number of abortions.

Currently, Congress is set to vote on HR 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act; HR 358, the Protect Life Act; and HR 217, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, and the Republican budget proposal could slash the entire $327 million Title X program

http://minnesotaindependent.com/77790/gop-abortion-plans-could-lead-to-more-abortions-teen-pregnancies-in-minnesota

Texas Senate passes bill requiring pre-abortion ultrasound

The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a measure that would require women seeking an abortion to first get an ultrasound.

Women could choose not to view the sonogram image or listen to the heartbeat, but they would be required to listen to an explanation of the images, except in cases of rape or incest or if there are fetal abnormalities.

State Sen. Bob Deuell, a physician and a supporter of the bill, said that since abortion is the only medical procedure in which the object is to kill a human being, it is crucial to give the mother all the information she needs.

"Can we not at least give the baby at least one more chance for survival by giving that mother that information?" asked Deuell, a Republican. "That's what this bill does."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/17/us-texas-abortion-idUSTRE71G7EK20110217

[Drale]

1. This is why I could never get into politics

I would not have just walked out, I probably would have picked up something heavy and through it at the head repuke.

[sharesunited]

2. Only first trimester is protected under Roe. What is that, twelve weeks?

[and-justice-for-all]

3. GOP: Killing women and invading privacy...nt

[The Straight Story]

4. That invading privacy part and removing choice

riles me up to no end :)

[and-justice-for-all]

5. Repukes and "prolifers" live in a fantasy world...

believing that all pregnancies are healthy ones, that all fetus develop to be perfect babies and that all abortions are murder. Leave to those fucking morons to force a women to carry a dead child in her womb for the full terms rendering her unable to have child at all or to force a rape victim to have a child she does not want...

An abortion, is a hard decision to make and is not taken lightly; the fundies have issues with women having the sole power to decide who lives and who does not.