Look Who’s Testifying
Posted: March 1, 2011 Filed under: Domestic Policy, Women's Rights | Tags: Armageddon on Women's Civil Rights, gender politics, Ohio "fetal heartbeat" bill, people over profit, Stupakistan, universal access to reproductive healthcare, wedge issues leave us all behind, Working and Middle Class Unite 43 Comments
Basically this is "who" is testifying.
The armageddon on women’s civil rights never stops. How else to prevent the middle and working class from coming together and demanding people be put before profit than to keep conflating corporations and fetuses with the lives of living, breathing human beings. From RH Reality Check’s Martha Kempner:
A fetus is scheduled to testify in front of the Ohio legislature. I kid you not. Though I suppose I should rephrase that to say that an “unborn human individual” is scheduled to testify as that is the term that the bill, originally introduced by Representative Lynn Wachtman, prefers. The legislation, nicknamed the “Heartbeat Bill,” is being piloted in Ohio by a group called Faith 2 Action and seeks to make illegal all abortions that take place after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. It defines “unborn human individual” as “an individual organism of the species homo sapiens from fertilization until live birth.” And one of these organisms is apparently going to address the Ohio House of Representatives.
How exactly its handlers are going to arrange this is not quite clear, though it appears that a woman who is nine weeks pregnant is going to have an ultrasound on the spot. ( It seems worth noting that at nine weeks fetuses tend to be too small to be detected by the classic over-the-belly ultrasounds of TV and movies, so in order for the audience to see this “witness,” it will be necessary to use an intra-vaginal probe.) It seems obvious to me that the witness, described by Faith 2 Action as “the youngest witness to ever come before the House Health Committee,” will not actually be speaking. While the pregnant woman may have something to say, my guess is that the bill’s supporters are hoping that a picture really is worth a thousand words.
Of course, it gets worse… Stupakistan is the nightmare that never ends after all:
Clearly, the promoters of this bill hope that the vaguely human images on the screen will convince lawmakers that this organism in its earliest stages of development is, in fact, a person. Faith 2 Action makes this clear in its new music video supporting the bill. Set to the tune of “99 Red Balloons,” the video intersperses in-utero images of fetuses with those of adorable dancing babies and includes lyrics such as “some time ago, we don’t know why, a court ruled to make babies cry. Now we can stop their decree and protect children like me.” It continues: “when they hear our hearts they’ll care, send a message someone’s in there.”
Here’s the youtube:
It’s like the activism gene went awry in a segment of the population, and they seriously think this is the biggest issue going on today. Genocide? Nope. Unemployment? Nope. Lack of healthcare? Nope. Maternal health? Nope. Education of Girls? Nope. Anything that actually affects the living? A big fat nuh uh. Anything that would actually result in less pregnancies to begin with? Negative (rather Speaker Boehner wants to win the war against this…) But, the life of the unborn… my goodness yes, let’s protect the right of more unborn “people” to become miserable un-people like the rest of us.
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
If only these people would actually give a shit about the LIVE women, men and children…the world would be a better place.
I swear this is getting out of hand.
Google “abortion” for news and see what you get.
this is absolutely nuts… having a live ultrasound? I mean this is Keeping Up With Kardashians meets public policy. just nuts.
The one from the Outer Limitz is ‘Death Penalty for Miscarriages’ which was featured in the Wael Abbas daily from Egypt. Now, if people in Egypt are worried about that one, then it is a clear problem. Oh, what trouble that Supak Executive Order started.
It’s called grasping at straws.
Let them grasp a little more, this overreach should do them in. If we had a real Democratic president like Big Dawg or Hillary, they’d be roping a dope out of this.
You think maybe it’s possible to turn Ohio Legislature into a giant, state run nursery, wouldn’t that help women get health care, housing, and jobs? I think that’s what we ought to be pushing for.
From Cincinnati.com, via the Care2 link:
They want to defund Planned Parenthood…but how do voters keep their fungible $$$$ away from money spent on this kind of nonsense. This isn’t serious legislative business. It’s show-and-tell for the American Taliban.
There is ‘Anonymiss’, is that a hoot or what. The Techie womminz are aware of the trials and hardships of other wimminz! What a surprise especially for International Women’s Day in March 8. WOWZA!
When passed Pretty confident, eh?
Confident or delusional. Even Ohio Right to Life won’t back this.
Don’t worry, of course they’ll find a way to make money off this sideshow. The Ameritrade baby will be unveiled as the new spokesperson for the post-fetal futures commodities market, or something.
Oh I fully expect that… No Profit Left Behind is what the culture of selective life has always been rooted in after all. What I worry about is that we don’t have a real Dem president or party (i.e. meaningful alternative) right now to mine this for the opportunity that it is to expose these nutbags once and for all. I can’t imagine if Hills were president, there would be dead silence out of the WH.
Good Grief! A heartbeat means absolutely nothing in terms of whether the fetus is a “human individual.”
I feel sick just trying to imagine how these people (?) think.
so in order for the audience to see this “witness,” it will be necessary to use an intra-vaginal probe
Are they going to do that in front of the lege too?
Good question, hadn’t thought about that Fredster. Hemm…
Really, I was wondering..are they going to wheel the woman in, legs up in the stirrups draped?) to be able to “see” the “witness” ? Or, will they prep her beforehand and she’ll sit at a table? I mean…the mind boggles.
This is the problem with encouraging the idea that the US is a Christian country. Those unchristian-like demagogues try to force everyone, especially women, into their narrow minded perception of life. No thinking outside their box is allowed.
Did some one tell these people that brain dead life forms can have heart beats too?
Cheney doesn’t have a heartbeat. Does that mean under the Ohio bill he would no longer be protected?
I think so.
No it just means that he can slap them with one hell of a lawsuit for discrimnation.
Well, I hope these ‘unborn’ don’t want anything once they’re born like nappies or formula or decent housing. And the unborn better be in tiptop shape healthwise. Because if they need healthcare? Forget about it. You don’t get born into a family with a big bank account? Tough tooties.
My suggestion to the unborn? Stay in the womb. You have champions galore. But once you’re a fully realized human being [btw, that means more than a mere heartbeat], you’re out of luck. Any questions? Ask your Mom. Once in the world, you become a member of the forgotten, a social liability. So, dig those heels in. Stay as long as possible.
Because on the other side of the divide? It ain’t so pretty.
Btw, are they planning to set up an OBGYN exam table for the Congressional presentation? Get those stirrups shined up!
These people are positively disgusting.
PeggySue cheer up! At least in Missouri they’ll do away with the child labor laws so the little darlings will be able to go to work at a much younger age.
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/mo-state-sen-jane-cunninghams-bizarre-b
h/t to Chat Blu at The Widdershins
You know I saw that, Fredster. In fact, I heard the original yahoo stand up in DC and righteously declare that Child Labor Laws were unConstitutional.
What could go wrong? We can go back to the ‘good ole days,’ when children [out of the womb, of course] had no protection at all. Put ’em back in the old Breaker Houses. Builds character! Besides, it’s almost like having our own endless supply of slave labor. That’s the ticket. That’ll bring the economy back.
These people are truly insane. Getting rid of collective bargaining is only Step 1.
Exactly PeggySue and when that woman specifically mentioned hotels and lodging I thought “Great, get rid of the immigrants who work most of those jobs and just hire kids!” They don’t work housekeepers full time in most hotels so it’s perfect! Grrrr.. 👿
Once that happens, the unemployment rate will really skyrocket. We don’t have any jobs now, and they want to put little kids to work? Doing what, exactly?
bb: from the C&L link:
Perfect for housekeeping jobs since they rarely work 8 hrs a day. Or at least that was the first thing that came to mind from numerous evacuations from nola. You end up kvetching with the staff and stuff.
I didn’t make it far through the video – it only has a little over 5,000 hits on Utube – so that’s encouraging.
This issue isn’t going to help the Republicans. It reinforces their religious, stone-throwing, twisted morality that comes across as archaic when combined with their denial of science and their views on the environment. At first glance you almost think it has to be from the Onion or Wonkette.
A lot of things the Republicans have done lately seem like they belong on the Onion–including the weepy Speaker of the House.
Same here. About 30 seconds in I could only ask myself who thought all children end up in loving surroundings with parents who can afford to videotape them doing those cute things, and why didn’t they show any children being raised on the streets, disabled or abandoned. I wondered about how many more babies will be found in trash bins, or just left for “the system” to raise.
The video may have been obscuring the rest of my post, so I made the youtube smaller. Just in case anyone was confused.
I really can’t bring myself to watch it, Wonk. Sorry….
Mischief drives change in Virginia abortion rules
A new editorial over at Washington Post:
Read it all. They are trying to push it through the Board of Health, so that it only gets 280 days of debate instead of 15 to 18 months. Also, this bill in VA was slipped into other legislation. Sneaky bastards.
Am I the only person who wants to burst out laughing because of this story? I mean, how are they going to address the fetus in the session?
Psycho Ohio Legislator: “Mr. uh Miss uh Fetal American Person, can you tell us why you feel you have a right to life?”
I mean, they do realize that at nine weeks, the fetus has no ears, right? No mouth or throat? And that it looks sort of like a peach-colored lima bean?
http://baby2see.com/development/week9.html
Sorry. Bad, bad, MadamaB. I just can’t help myself!
Hey MB, I’m envisioning some type of weird scene from Young Frankenstein when Wilder was still at the med school and they brought the old geezer out for the reflex test.
I was thinking more like the baby in the old movie, It’s Alive springing forth into the room.
Somebody on my blog suggested we make a law that every anti choice creature in the House and Senate should be forced to adopt two kids. The first one should be an HIV/Crack baby and the second one should be an older unadoptable child with serious borderline-psychotic behavioral problems. After all it’s the least they can do for The Children they care so much about.
😆
Uppity, why stop with two? These Christian Taliban sh*theads think women should bear their “blessings” even when raped. In fact, they should have a Quiverfull because Jeebus is their real husband and He is the one giving them the children.
I was thinking they could try adopting 19 kids each, and not one should be white. Or Christian. 👿
This country needs a Lysistrata. Cut the bastards off across the entire country and see how fast they shut the hell up about our reproductive rights.
God or Goddess knows we need something cuz what we got ain’t workin’.
Uppity said: I was thinking more like the baby in the old movie, It’s Alive springing forth into the room. Perfect. It could attack and devour all the legislators.
and the second one should be an older unadoptable child with serious borderline-psychotic behavioral problems.
Yeah, but then they’d decide it’s okay to sign up and have the “crazy money” for the child.
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I’ve got a medical embryology book. These are some weird little creatures they want to confer personhood on – spheres, disks, tubes, kidney beans, before they begin to look humanoid.