Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
I have written a number of posts for the Turley blog about The GOP’s war on women and proposed extreme anti-woman legislation which has been sponsored by members of the Republican party (here, here, here, here, here, and here). In a piece for Mother Jones, Stephanie Mencimer said that Paul Ryan has a “long history as a culture warrior”—and that people are taking “a fresh look” at it since Mitt Romney named Ryan as his running mate. I thought I’d do some investigating of my own to find out more about the Wisconsin “culture warrior’s” position on women’s issues.
According to Laura Bassett, Rep. Ryan “voted to defund federal family planning programs, authored a budget that dismantles Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, all of which disproportionately aid and employ women, and voted multiple times to prevent women in the military from using their own money to pay for abortions at military hospitals.”
Sylvia Casablanca, a medical doctor and holistic psychotherapist, wonders if Ryan will now “head the conservative war on women.” Casablanca wrote in a VOXXI article that Ryan “sounds, thinks, acts, so much like Rick Santorum!” She added that both men have spent much of their public lives “battling the things that matter most to women.” She continued, “He [Ryan] has been opposing contraception, eulogizing women who quit successful careers to be stay-at-home moms (like their own wives have done), and vowing to defund Planned Parenthood and repeal the Affordable Care Act. And, Ryan voted against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.”
Casablanca feels that Ryan’s stance on the issues mentioned above are “zilch” compared to his “support of a federal ban on abortion in all circumstances, including incest and rape.”
In her Mother Jones article, Mencimer also wrote the following:
What isn’t so well known about Ryan’s record, though, is that one piece of legislation he supported is so extreme that it would have turned Romney’s children into criminals.
The Sanctity of Human Life Act, which Ryan co-sponsored, would have enshrined the notion that life begins at fertilization in federal law, thus criminalizing in vitro fertilization—the process of creating an embryo outside of a woman’s womb. In IVF, doctors typically create multiple embryos and then only implant the healthiest ones in the woman. Some of them stick and become babies, and some don’t. The embryos that don’t make it to the womb are either frozen for later use or destroyed. The Sanctity of Human Life Act, if passed, would make all those embryos “people” in the legal sense, so if they aren’t used or don’t become babies after being implanted, they would essentially become murder victims under the law.
H.R. 212: Sanctity of Human Life/Personhood Bill
Sponsor’s Summary: To provide that human life shall be deemed to begin with fertilization.
Excerpt from the text of H. R. 212:
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act:
(1) FERTILIZATION- The term ‘fertilization’ means the process of a human spermatozoan penetrating the cell membrane of a human oocyte to create a human zygote, a one-celled human embryo, which is a new unique human being.
(2) CLONING- The term ‘cloning’ means the process called somatic cell nuclear transfer, that combines an enucleated egg and the nucleus of a somatic cell to make a human embryo.
(3) HUMAN; HUMAN BEING- The terms ‘human’ and ‘human being’ include each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, beginning with the earliest stage of development, created by the process of fertilization, cloning, or its functional equivalent.
Link to MSNBC Hardball Video: Revisiting Ryan’s extreme pro-life positions: Chris Matthews talks with Kate Michaelman, former head of NARAL, and Politico’s Maggie Haberman about Paul Ryan’s extreme pro-life stance, and his support for a federal ‘personhood’ law.
In addition, Rep. Ryan is a cosponsor of some other “extreme” anti-woman legislation that has been introduced in Congress. To wit:
H.R. 3805: Ultrasound Informed Consent Act
Sponsor’s Summary: To ensure that women seeking an abortion receive an ultrasound and the opportunity to review the ultrasound before giving informed consent to receive an abortion.
H.R. 3: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act
Open Congress Summary: This bill would make permanent and expand the Hyde amendment restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortions. It seeks to prohibit even indirect funding streams that may potentially come in contact with abortion services. For example, it would deny tax credits to companies that offer health plans that cover abortions and it would block anybody with insurance that covers abortions from receiving federal subsidies or medical cost tax deductions, even if the abortion portion is paid separately with personal funds. Women who use tax-free Medical Savings Accounts would have to pay taxes on the costs of abortions.
H.R. 358: Protect Life Act aka “Let Women Die” Bill
Open Congress Summary: Amends the new health care law so that no federal money could be applied to health insurance plans that cover elective abortions, even if the abortion coverage is paid for entirely with private funds. It also states that a federal agency can not force a health care provider that accepts Medicare or Medicaid to provide abortion services, even in cases when the mother’s life is endangered.
From Human Rights Watch:
US: House Vote Puts Women at Risk
Bill Would Permit Hospitals to Let Women in Need of Care Die
(Washington, DC) – The United States House of Representatives approved a bill on October 13, 2011, that would put women’s lives at risk, Human Rights Watch said today. The bill, if it becomes law, would reverse longstanding federal policy requiring hospitals to provide life-saving care regardless of expense, Human Rights Watch said.
The Protect Life Act, HR 358, would amend the healthcare reform law to grant hospitals far-reaching powers to deny patients abortion care, without any exception for emergency situations. US law currently requires hospitals receiving federal funds to provide emergency care to anyone in need up to the point at which they can be stabilized or transferred, if the original hospital is incapable of providing the care they need.
“The misnamed Protect Life Act is about allowing women to die if they need an emergency abortion,” said Meghan Rhoad, women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It is a vicious attack on women’s rights and on the most basic right to life.”
The Paul Ryan Vision: Ban Abortion, Defund Contraception, Outlaw In Vitro Fertilization
What do you think about Paul Ryan’s position on women’s issues?
SOURCES
Paul Ryan: the ‘Personhood’ Crocodile? (Huffington Post)
Paul Ryan Sponsored Fetal Personhood Bill, Opposes Family Planning Funds (Huffington Post)
Paul Ryan, new head of the Republican war on women? (VOXXI)
Bill Press: The Paul Ryan-Mitt Romney ticket: trouble for GOP (Newsday)
Sandra Fluke: 8 Points on Ryan’s Voting Record on Women’s Issues (Politic365)
Rep. Paul Ryan Supported the “Let Women Die” Bill (Blog for Choice)
How Did Your Representative Vote on the “Let Women Die” Bill? (Blog for Choice)
See How Your Lawmaker Voted on the “Let Women Die” Bill, H.R.358 (Prochoice America)
Sandra Fluke: Paul Ryan on women’s issues — so bad it’s unbelievable … but true (Lean Forward/MSNBC)
Five Reasons Why Paul Ryan Is Bad For Women’s Health (Think Progress)
The Paul Ryan Vision of America: Ban Abortion, Defund Contraception, Outlaw In Vitro Fertilization (Democracy Now)
List of Bills Sponsored and Cosponsored by Paul Ryan (Open Congress)
Mike,
I encountered children in elementary school who were much like Nick and idealist. They were the ones who liked to instigate trouble. They’d try to agitate other kids by poking them, taking their pencils, saying and doing nasty things to them. When the other children reacted to their taunts, teasing, actions, they’d come whining/crying to me that so and so did/said this to me…so and so did/said that to me. They hoped I’d punish the other kids. Unfortunately for them–I’d ask what they had done to the other children before the other children did this or that to them. That question usually took them by surprise. Most often, their type of irritating behavior stopped once they knew I was wise to them.
What the whole thing with Nick vs the old crowd is that the bandwidth is limited. Nick takes up too much room.
And he brings his own experiences from reality here.
They don’t like the competition.
Mike, I admitted my locker room vernacular was off base and said I will effort to not use it again. What the hell else do I need to do? Mea culpa, mea culpa. I’ve got no beef w/ you, Mike. I see there are some people here who aren’t lock step left. Mike, I was being lectured about rape victims by a person who finally admitted she has never done anything for them.Then I was portrayed as an idiot spitting on my computer. You know Mike, I try and think like other people. That was part of being a PI. So, I’m pretty good @ role reversal. I ask you, because you’re reasonable, to put yourself in my shoes. That should be easy since you have experience w/ rape victims. Mike I would sometimes go home and cry, particularly the kids! I bet you have also.Try and put aside the people involved. Would you not be pissed? If you have the time or desire, read this entire thread. I think it will be edifying. Shano is another story, and I separate him/her from Elaine, I’ve already said that.
Shano,
I did not think that you would capitulate so easily to the crowd here. You have from the beginning stood for your own thing.
Noe you attack Nick by riding on MikeS coattails.
Did you re-read as I suggested? Did you see the quote which another offended person quoted before saying an apology to Nick? What Nick said is there to read. And he did not suggest sacrificing a single mother to
aid childless couplles get adoptive children.
NIck,
MikeS is the psychotherapist who used DSM-IV terms to “diagnose” me here who he has never had as a patient. nor ever met for a conversation.
Don’t bother answering him. He will never give you the time of day. Only abuse. That you can count on.
That is true of GeneH as well. You will find quickly who are the old crowd, and who it is that have recently earned respect by adapting to the kiss ass norms here, and admittedly shown considerable acumen.
If you defeat one particular weak argument with one member, then the others will attack, as MikeS has done here.
The funny part is that MikeS inspired me through his passionate story of his return from death to write very openly on my childhood and how it has gone since.
He declared in response that we were blood brothers!!! Or was it almost?
Now I have gone through a troublesome period of attacking here because of reasons which I have declared and need not take up now. All know of these development problems I have. I am not ashamed of them.
But “psychotherapist” who do DSM IV diagnoses as weapons against people who comment here are despicable.
“Mike I would sometimes go home and cry, particularly the kids! I bet you have also.Try and put aside the people involved. Would you not be pissed?”
Nick,
I’ve read every comment on this thread and that is why it took me so long to respond. I appreciate the emotional effect that seeing some things can have on a person and I too have wept many a time when confronted with the horrors that people can do to other people. My objection with you was both the macho language and your assumption of people’s beliefs, particularly your characterization and pigeonholing of them.
Bron: “Holy sonogram, have the evangelical Christians finally gotten hold of the Republican party? If this keeps up no sane person will vote for any person on the ticket.”
Wow, where have you been for the last 30 years? the evangelical Xtian right has owned the GOP for decades now. At least since Phyllis Schlafly shut down the ERA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Schlafly
idealist, if any ‘owe’ an apology, it is nick for want to shove things up our netherparts. I see no reason to apologize to him whatsoever. You and nick have been throwing around insults & assumptions throughout this whole thread.
Mike is right, I would never use that phrase and only did to throw it back at nicks . He has a disgusting habit of assuming he knows people online when he knows nothing at all about them.
“Any suggestions from you Dems where to put my $’s if the good guys win?”
“I thought I would just give my blue collar, ethnic take on this. You can all go back to spewing hatred, sorry to inject a little sanity.”
Nick,
Those were taken from your first wo comments on this thread. I could go through all of your comments and provide numerous examples of the same type of thing. To wit: your false assumption that this is a “liberal” blog and that most of us here are simply PC automatons. Since that was how you started out on this thread why should you be shocked that when people respond to you in kind for your attempted derogation? You are no innocent actor here, nor are you dealing with knee-jerk thinkers here. Elaine and Gene for instance probably won’t vote for Obama and Tony C. definitely won’t. We don’t even know if Professor Turley will either. So your spurious attacks are merely your own mis-assumptions
However, the give and take on this blog can indeed get heated and to me that is fine. what is NOT fine is use of extremely derogatory terms when responding to people. I can assure you that my “blue vocabulary” is at least the equal of yours and I have never used that “up your ass” phrase even to people I have had angry arguments with. Why? Because that phrase has particularly vicious connotations, of which I’m sure you are aware. I’ve ever used those words in sports which I’ve also played extensively. your use of it, in the context of the discussion was disgusting to me and i’m hardly a shrinking violet.
As for your experience with women who have been raped that is laudable. However, my experience in child welfare, social work and psychotherapy tops yours. I’ve also helped send perpetrators to jail, while protecting the abused and worked closely with The Brooklyn Sex Crimes Unit of the Brooklyn DA.
I’m a child of the working class myself whose was an orphan by age 18 and thus had to support myself and worked my way through college living in a furnished room. So all your special pleading means nothing to me. The “up your ass” gives me pause to wonder just how protective or helpful you were to those in need.
From my perspective everyone is welcome here as long as they can logically and civilly defend their viewpoint. Trying looking in your own mirror.
idealist, We got Elaine’s thread over 300 and not an ounce of gratitude.
AY:
I did, Frank Szabo appears to be a kook. What is going on? It is like the republicans, or a least some, have gone bat shit crazy.
Vaginal probes in Virginia, preemptive strikes in NH, legitimate rapes in Missouri. Holy sonogram, have the evangelical Christians finally gotten hold of the Republican party? If this keeps up no sane person will vote for any person on the ticket.
They are bold about it too, Aiken should have resigned. I guess God told him to stay. If Obama wins a 2nd term it will be in no small part Aikens doing.
Pure friggen ego, what a putz he must be.
idealist, You just got a taste of the PC Police. The laws change almost daily. I’ll give a few important ones. There are protected classes of which you must not speak ANYTHING about. You can only talk about your own sex if you’re a male. You may only speak about your own ethnic group but if you show any sign of good hearted ridicule, you could get fined for self-loathing[I’ve been ticketed numerous times]. Idealist, if you want to steer clear of the PC Police you can always speak freely about fat people, conservatives, trailer park residents, hillbillys. You can actually get commendations if you ridicule a combo ala fat, conservative, trailer park residents. I’ll keep you updated on rule changes as they happen.
ElaineM.
I say that doctors have certain characteristics.
In fact internal medicine doctors are quite different in temperament than surgeons, in general.
Nurses have characteristics different than women in general.
And I say you appear to me to have the general characterisitic that teachers exhibit which differs from the population in general.
All are individuals, and can not be generalized. And should not. Again, my characterization was for the purpose of a dramatic summary of the situation I encountered. I think it was a good summary, and I stand by it still.
ONE, repeat ONE person did do a re-read as I requested, quoted the critical part of what the bone of contention was in what Nick wrote, and APOLOGIZED to Nick. I note that neither you nor Shano have said that you re-read as I requested you both do.
So be it. You have attacked me instead of reading, I conclude. Shano has not.
I will say no more on the matter. You are adamant. And I am not going to retreat from my position, however you challenge me with questions. I have explained. several times in fact, but you want an apology. And you won’t get it from me.
Fini.
“Again, my characterization was for the purpose of a dramatic summary of the situation I encountered. I think it was a good summary, and I stand by it still.”
In general Ex-Pats who have settled in Scandinavian countries for decades and have learned the language tend to have problems expressing themselves in their native English. Of course I’m just stating this as a dramatic summary of a situation that I’ve encountered on this thread, with no malicious intent whatsoever. Also any further comment made attacking my words will be unfair and prejudicial in nature and definitely hurt my feelings.
Paul Ryan’s ‘legitimate problem’
By Dana Milbank, Published: August 22
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-paul-ryans-legitimate-problem/2012/08/22/821dfe52-eca8-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html
Excerpt:
When Todd Akin sneezes, Paul Ryan catches a cold.
The Republicans’ soon-to-be nominee for vice president is supposed to be delivering a message about jobs and the economy, but he’s finding he cannot escape his longtime House colleague, now a national pariah for his exotic views on rape.
“His statements were outrageous, over the pale. I don’t know anybody who would agree with that. Rape is rape, period, end of story,” Ryan told Pittsburgh’s KDKA-TV in the first in a series of local TV interviews.
Except it wasn’t the end of the story. The questions were just beginning.
“Rape is rape. Rape is rape, period. End of story,” Ryan replied to another query.
“Rape is rape, and there’s no splitting hairs over rape,” he answered yet again.
Ryan is surely aching to talk about something other than Akin. But the outrage set off by the Republicans’ Senate nominee in Missouri has consumed the political world. It has been particularly harmful to Ryan, who has served for more than a decade with Akin, recently hailing him as “a great asset” on Ryan’s budget committee and an example of “exactly the kind of leadership America needs.”
More problematic in this situation: Ryan has the same antiabortion position as Akin — no exceptions — and some of the nearly 40 abortion bills he has co-sponsored have provided no exemption for rape victims.
This is more random bad luck for Mitt Romney, who has had more than his share in recent days. His running mate, chosen for his green-eyeshade savvy, has unexpectedly become a lightning rod in the culture wars, in an area where Republicans are at a decided disadvantage. Only 20 percent of Americans agree with Ryan and Akin that abortion should be illegal in all cases, according to a Gallup poll in May.
idealist,
Do you ever read what you write?
“I do not believe in generalizations…”
“I will use generalizations based on anecdotal experiences.”
*****
“I honestly expressed my incredulity, and do say now that if you can’t even imagine what I am talking about, ie the school-teacher attitude, then you won’t understand an explanation.
“That is not a condemnatioo, not at all. Again you would be wrong to assume that. It is just the realization that the effort would not lead to enlightenment.”
*****
You tell me I can’t imagine what the school teacher attitude is. First, you spoke of a school teacher/librarian profile. Do attitude and profile mean the same thing to you?
Can you explain how I wouldn’t understand what YOUR idea of a typical teacher profile is even if you explain it to me? Make the effort.
I never disclose my gender online. so, keep guessing.
Here is a good article about Romney sucking up to the same right wing radicals in the right to life movement.
Dr. Wilke is the old foggie anti abortion nut who thinks women cannot get pregnant if it is a ‘legitimate’ rape:
From wonkette: What you may not have heard (JUICY GOSSIPS) is that Romney met up with Willke during the primary in 2011 and sent him a giant love note with his mouth. The talky kind, not the other kind, even though it would have been a lot more supportive. Maybe next time.
Dr Willke told The Daily Telegraph that he did meet Mr Romney during a presidential primary campaign stop in the doctor’s home city of Cincinnati, Ohio, in October last year. Local news reports at the time noted that the candidate held “private meetings” during the visit.
“He told me ‘thank you for your support – we agree on almost everything, and if I am elected President I will make some major pro-life pronouncements’,” Dr Willke said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
“I thanked him, and said I knew where he was – that he was 99 per cent of what we wanted,” he said of the roughly ten-minute meeting. “I told him I would help in any way I could”. A spokesman for Mr Romney declined to comment.
Unsurprisingly, Dr. Willke thinks that Todd Akin is getting thrown into a dumpster like an unwanted consensual sex baby because he used one single wrong word once.
Dr Willke wrote an open letter on Tuesday declaring that “the pro-life movement and I unequivocally stand with Rep. Akin” despite Mr Romney and several other party heavyweights saying that he must step aside.
“The guy is clean,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “He made one mistake by using the wrong word and the volcano erupted. The powers that be in the Republican party threw this guy overboard”.
Paul Ryan also met with Doc W, and agreed with him, because for some reason the entire Republican Party travels to the doorstep of one crazy man in southwest Ohio and kisses his spastic tube ring.
The doctor said that he had also met Mr Ryan, who sits in Congress for the Wisconsin district in which one of his sons lives, several times. He said that after listening to Dr Willke’s views on abortion during their last encounter, Mr Ryan replied: “That’s where I’m at”.
The real question now is not whether Romney and Ryan still support Dr. Willke’s ideas – they do, of course, and will force children nationwide to learn that lady tubes flex and wiggle uncontrollably during rape, complete with awkward-yet-adorable middle-school song and dance performance – but whether they will reveal their identical “Willke Can Milk Me” back tattoos before Election Night. All signs point to yes.
Todd Akin’s “Legitimate Rape” Comment Sheds Light on Paul Ryan’s Extreme Stance on Abortion
Elaine,
I do not believe in generalizations, I only reported what others have said to me. I have had some schoolmarmy teachers and known some as an adult.
I will use generalizations based on anecdotal experiences. We all do, but it is not good, other than as a warning signal for danger. And shouid not deepen into a prejudice or attitude.
I honestly expressed my incredulity, and do say now that if you can’t even imagine what I am talking about, ie the school-teacher attitude, then you won’t understand an explanation.
That is not a condemnatioo, not at all. Again you would be wrong to assume that. It is just the realization that the effort would not lead to enlightenment.
If I am wrong, then so be it. And thus no reason for you to worry. My respect was offered. Accept it and go on.
Ealine, Do you read anything from the center or right? I feel like I’m reading our left wing paper here in Madison[Cap Times] w/ all your links. I read left, right and center…call me whacky!
idealist, shano is a male? That would support my original point that men harden and add violence to the debate. I should have picked up on the total lack of empathy and reason regarding infertility. You would have thought a woman would have called him on that, interesting that only 2 men did. That says a lot, paisan. The attitude of the women must have been, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” We know that philosophy is myopic and ends up biting you in the ass, but there are no prescription lens for some myopia.