Politics & Current Events
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Kansas Abortion Bill: Lawmakers Pass Sweeping Measure
Following more than two hours of emotional debate, the Republican-controlled Kansas House of Representatives passed a sweeping 69-page anti-abortion bill.
The passage sets the stage for Kansas to potentially enact one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the United States, coming a year after the state passed measures severely limiting the types of buildings that could house abortion clinics. The bill now heads to the state Senate for consideration. Gov. Sam Brownback (R) told HuffPost in February that he would sign the bill, which he said he had not read.
The bill contains provisions to prohibit tax deductions for abortion insurance coverage and abortion services; to provide for a sales tax on abortion; to establish a personhood stance for when life begins; to limit late-term abortions; to prohibit state employees from performing abortions during the workday; and to mandate that doctors tell women that abortion cause breast cancer along with other state-approved health issues.
The bill also allows doctors to withhold medical information from a woman if it might lead her to have an abortion. It prevents medical professionals from facing a medical malpractice suit in the event that withholding the information adversely affects the health of the mother or child. A wrongful death suit could be filed in the event of the mother's death.
Opponents of the bill were out in force, attempting to defeat or change it.
"We have a body that says they want small government. Why the heck are you so insistent that you know better then women about their health care," Rep. Annie Kuether (D-Topeka) said. "Where are the jobs that we promised to create? We have all this time to debate bills that discriminate against some of the people and tell women that they will be ruled by men."
Rep. Barbara Bollier (R-Mission Hills), a retired physician, broke from her party to help lead the charge against the bill. Bollier proposed several amendments to the bill which were defeated. Among them, she proposed to sever 40 pages of tax code changes relating to abortion from the bill and send them to the taxation committee for discussion. Another Bollier amendment would have sent the bill to the health committee; she noted that the bill had not been reviewed from a health perspective. The bill was considered by the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, which handles abortion, tobacco, strip club, gambling and alcohol policy.
Bollier's amendment which would have mandated women receive a list of pregnancy health concerns along with abortion health concerns, also was defeated. Rep. Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe), the bill's author, said the amendment was not needed since other provisions of Kansas law address the issue.
"I cannot support this bill because of these issues related to health care," Bollier said. "We are not providing women with all of the information related to pregnancy. There are serious questions about the tax code that have not been addressed. I realize this body will pass this bill. I find that disappointing for the women of Kansas."
Opponents also sought to amend the bill and allow abortion training for OB-GYN residents at the University of Kansas Medical Center to continue indefinitely. A provision had been added to extend the training for only one year after KU officials expressed concern that the original language could have placed the program's accreditation in jeopardy. The House defeated the opponents' proposed amendment after an impassioned speech by Kinzer.
"We should not pay residents to kill babies," Kinzer said to applause from Republicans. "No taxpayer dollars to pay residents to kill babies. This is training for elective abortion. It is frankly disgusting for me to allow that to go on for another year."
Rep. Sean Gatewood (D-Topeka) told his colleagues that the bill could place funding for new research by the National Cancer Institute in jeopardy. He said that NCI has come out against the theory that abortion causes breast cancer, which lawmakers want to affirm.
"There are conflicting scientific studies on that," Rep. John Rubin (R-Shawnee) said earlier in the debate over the breast cancer connection.
Rep. Gail Finney (D-Wichita) questioned Rubin, who was leading the floor debate on the bill, over the provisions that would only allow abortions after 20 weeks in the event a woman's life is in danger. Finney asked if that includes women who are raped or are facing emotional harm. Rubin said that it would if it was a "medical emergency."
Finney also questioned Rubin on the provision of the bill that would prohibit abortion service providers from authoring sex education materials for public schools in the state, asking if there were other groups besides Planned Parenthood that offered the service.
"I'm sure there are," Rubin said in response. "I can't tick them off -- education companies that can offer the curriculum. I'm sure there are, I can't name them."
Finney said she is worried for the state. "I fear the state of Kansas will get to the point of severe consequences," she said. "That we will get back to back alley abortions or the coat hanger days."
The passage sets the stage for Kansas to potentially enact one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the United States, coming a year after the state passed measures severely limiting the types of buildings that could house abortion clinics. The bill now heads to the state Senate for consideration. Gov. Sam Brownback (R) told HuffPost in February that he would sign the bill, which he said he had not read.
The bill contains provisions to prohibit tax deductions for abortion insurance coverage and abortion services; to provide for a sales tax on abortion; to establish a personhood stance for when life begins; to limit late-term abortions; to prohibit state employees from performing abortions during the workday; and to mandate that doctors tell women that abortion cause breast cancer along with other state-approved health issues.
The bill also allows doctors to withhold medical information from a woman if it might lead her to have an abortion. It prevents medical professionals from facing a medical malpractice suit in the event that withholding the information adversely affects the health of the mother or child. A wrongful death suit could be filed in the event of the mother's death.
Opponents of the bill were out in force, attempting to defeat or change it.
"We have a body that says they want small government. Why the heck are you so insistent that you know better then women about their health care," Rep. Annie Kuether (D-Topeka) said. "Where are the jobs that we promised to create? We have all this time to debate bills that discriminate against some of the people and tell women that they will be ruled by men."
Rep. Barbara Bollier (R-Mission Hills), a retired physician, broke from her party to help lead the charge against the bill. Bollier proposed several amendments to the bill which were defeated. Among them, she proposed to sever 40 pages of tax code changes relating to abortion from the bill and send them to the taxation committee for discussion. Another Bollier amendment would have sent the bill to the health committee; she noted that the bill had not been reviewed from a health perspective. The bill was considered by the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, which handles abortion, tobacco, strip club, gambling and alcohol policy.
Bollier's amendment which would have mandated women receive a list of pregnancy health concerns along with abortion health concerns, also was defeated. Rep. Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe), the bill's author, said the amendment was not needed since other provisions of Kansas law address the issue.
"I cannot support this bill because of these issues related to health care," Bollier said. "We are not providing women with all of the information related to pregnancy. There are serious questions about the tax code that have not been addressed. I realize this body will pass this bill. I find that disappointing for the women of Kansas."
Opponents also sought to amend the bill and allow abortion training for OB-GYN residents at the University of Kansas Medical Center to continue indefinitely. A provision had been added to extend the training for only one year after KU officials expressed concern that the original language could have placed the program's accreditation in jeopardy. The House defeated the opponents' proposed amendment after an impassioned speech by Kinzer.
"We should not pay residents to kill babies," Kinzer said to applause from Republicans. "No taxpayer dollars to pay residents to kill babies. This is training for elective abortion. It is frankly disgusting for me to allow that to go on for another year."
Rep. Sean Gatewood (D-Topeka) told his colleagues that the bill could place funding for new research by the National Cancer Institute in jeopardy. He said that NCI has come out against the theory that abortion causes breast cancer, which lawmakers want to affirm.
"There are conflicting scientific studies on that," Rep. John Rubin (R-Shawnee) said earlier in the debate over the breast cancer connection.
Rep. Gail Finney (D-Wichita) questioned Rubin, who was leading the floor debate on the bill, over the provisions that would only allow abortions after 20 weeks in the event a woman's life is in danger. Finney asked if that includes women who are raped or are facing emotional harm. Rubin said that it would if it was a "medical emergency."
Finney also questioned Rubin on the provision of the bill that would prohibit abortion service providers from authoring sex education materials for public schools in the state, asking if there were other groups besides Planned Parenthood that offered the service.
"I'm sure there are," Rubin said in response. "I can't tick them off -- education companies that can offer the curriculum. I'm sure there are, I can't name them."
Finney said she is worried for the state. "I fear the state of Kansas will get to the point of severe consequences," she said. "That we will get back to back alley abortions or the coat hanger days."
Slainte!
my read shelf:
my read shelf:
Re: Kansas Abortion Bill: Lawmakers Pass Sweeping Measure
WHAT THE MOTHER FUUUCKINGS FUUUCK IS THIS SHIIITS???
Can a state employee perform an abortion after hours then? Is that cool? And are you kidding me with this breast cancer shiiiit?
I am outraged over this.
I'm glad someone can still muster up outrage. I'm just exhausted.
my read shelf:
I was just raging over this. It's one thing to try and prevent a "regular" abortion but it's quite another to be allowed to withhold medical info from a patient because a oc " thinks" they "may" have an abortion.
Im sorry but this makes me seriously sick.
I am ripshiit. Abortion is legal. I still can't get past why there suddenly have to be all these hoops to jump through and hills to climb. It's disgusting. It's terrible. It makes me sick. It's so narrow-minded.
And this? ""We should not pay residents to kill babies," Kinzer said to applause from Republicans. "No taxpayer dollars to pay residents to kill babies. This is training for elective abortion. It is frankly disgusting for me to allow that to go on for another year.""
Um. Do they realize that an abortion is technically called a D&C, and it's a medical procedure that can be done even when there is no fetus? Are they saying that they don't want to train residents to perform this type of surgery? Because hello, you can have a D&C and not be having an abortion.
Stupid, stupid, stupid assssholes.
So I went googling and it seems like it is this study on which what many are resting their laurels on. o_O
http://www.jpands.org/vol12no3/carroll.pdf
Me too. I'm so, so tired. Which is what they want, and it's how they win. But gawddamn, I'm just so tired of being beaten down with fake science and fake moral outrage over baby killings. Somehow my lady brain manages to figure out facts just fine - I wish the men of this country, who are in charge and intent on keeping us under heel, could figure them out as well - if not discount them outright.
fuckthem all.
I'm wondering about the medical school part of the article. Maybe I didn't read closely enough, but the bill stops all training of how to perform an "elective" abortion--but is the medical procedure any different between an abortion and a D&C for a miscarriage?
It's also incredibly discouraging that none of the representatives heeded the calls to have the bill assessed from a health perspective or a tax perspective. Sorta shows what their goal is, right? I guess we can call the abortion tax the "penalty for being a bad woman" or someshit.
Yes it sure does. One of the lone republican dissenters is a former physician. She asked for it to go to a health committee. Infuriate isn't strong enough of a word for this.
Gretchen Evie, born 7/8/2012 at 35w5d
see, women seeking abortions *are* on par with strippers!
It's extremely telling that they refused to have the bill screened from a health perspective.
"We don't need none of that science or medicine hocus-pocus to tell us how to control our women! Now shut up and get back in that burqa!"
Here's the bill if anyone wants some light reading.
http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2011_12/measures/documents/hb2598_01_0000.pdf
This bill is very upsetting to me. I was in the capital of Kansas last weekend protesting and being yelled at by the Phelps group. Less than a week later this happens.
I have issues with John Rubin on a personal level and this does not help that.
may I call your attention to this passage
" The bill also allows doctors to withhold medical information from a woman if it might lead her to have an abortion. It prevents medical professionals from facing a medical malpractice suit in the event that withholding the information adversely affects the health of the mother or child. A wrongful death suit could be filed in the event of the mother's death."
Sooooooooo fuuuuuvvvvvvcked up!
I hate to be the voice of reason here, but we went over this type of issue before when I posted an similar article about a similar (maybe it was even the same?) provision.
The law (as far as I can tell) doesn't allow doctors to INTENTIONALLY withhold information, or to be grossly negligent in withholding information. It just protects them if they are negligent in withholding the information (it's the same protection doctors get for a lot of negligent actions).
Now, off to actually read the law more closely to double check that's what it does.
"You don't get to be all puke-face about your kid shooting your undead baby daddy when all you had to do was KEEP HIM IN THE FLUCKING HOUSE, LORI!" - doctorwho
Anything you can achieve through hard work, you could also just buy.