Congressman: Women Should Be Forced To Give Birth To Fetuses With No Brain Function
Posted by Michelle Moquin on May 28th, 2013
Good morning!
And this is the kind of crazy thinking that women need to deal with. When will women rise up and refuse to support these kind of men? Southern boys will be Southern boys. Sick. When the time comes…vote ‘em out!
A write from Think Progress:
Congressman: Women Should Be Forced To Give Birth To Fetuses With No Brain Function
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
At a congressional committee hearing to discuss a proposed measure to criminalize abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, a Texas lawmaker told a woman who made the difficult choice to terminate a non-viable pregnancy that she should have carried the fetus to term anyway — even though an MRI had already revealed that he was missing a large part of his brain and didn’t have much chance of survival.
On Thursday, Christy Zink testified in opposition to H.R. 1797, a 20-week abortion ban that anti-abortion representatives of Congress keep attempting to impose upon the women in the nation’s capital. Abortion opponents claim that 20-week bans are necessary to prevent “fetal pain.” But in her testimony, Zink pointed out it’s misleading to suggest that this abortion restriction would serve this purpose, since forcing her to carry her pregnancy to term would have actually caused her unborn son considerable pain.
At 21 weeks, Zink’s doctors discovered that her fetus had no brain function. That type of fetal abnormality was impossible to detect earlier in her pregnancy. “If this bill had been passed before my pregnancy, I would have had to carry to term and give birth to a baby whom the doctors concurred had no chance of a life and would have experienced near-constant pain,” Zink explained. “If he had survived the pregnancy — which was not certain — he might never have left the hospital. My daughter’s life, too, would have been irrevocably hurt by an almost always-absent parent.”
In order to justify his support for H.R. 1797, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) suggested that Zink should have given birth to her son anyway, regardless of the pain that may have caused her family. The congressman told a story about a different couple who decided to give birth to a fetus with different types of disabilities — suggesting that Zink should have made the same choice for her son, instead of deciding to “rip him apart”:
GOHMERT: Ms. Zink, having my great sympathy and empathy both. I still come back wondering, shouldn’t we wait, like that couple did, and see if the child can survive before we decide to rip him apart? So. These are ethical issues, they’re moral issues, they’re difficult issues, and the parents should certainly be consulted. But it just seems like, it’s a more educated decision if the child is in front of you to make those decisions.
Watch it (around the 5 minute mark):
Even though medical experts have repeatedly warned that cutting off legal abortion access at 20 weeks will force more women to carry non-viable fetuses to term, several states have enacted “fetal pain” bans over the past several years. After Arizona passed this type of stringent measure in 2012, the volunteer organizations that counsel women whose unborn children die from fatal fetal defects braced for an influx of new families dealing with that grief. When that restrictive law ended up in court, and opponents pointed out that it’s cruel to require women to give birth to children only to be forced to watch them die, Arizona defended its abortion ban by claiming that those fetal abnormalities are “the woman’s problem.”
Just earlier this week, Arizona’s abortion ban was struck down by a panel of judges, sparing the women in that state from potentially devastating effects of being denied the choice that Zink had. Nonetheless, that hasn’t deterred the anti-choice politicians in the state. Arizona Rep. Trent Franks (R), who has repeatedly pushed the 20-week abortion ban for the District of Columbia, recently announced that he intends to expand H.R. 1797 to apply to women in every state.
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Thoughts? Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
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michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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May 28th, 2013 at 2:51 pm
Hi Mischa, working on jpeg-in’ pictures, very busy today so I’ll get it done soon…
It’s a tough thing for me when someone is working their agenda by tugging on my heart strings, on the one hand I get it from his perspective, it’s personal story and that always persuades, after all – his baby was saved and lived, he can tell a happy ending story. On the other hand, he didn’t stop and consider for one moment that someone else’s circumstances might be vastly different and a similar outcome unattainable, and should, therefore, have to the right to end the babies suffering, their own suffering, and the family units suffering and struggle, once a child with a myriad of clearly unfixable issues is born. And that’s why I object to his approach. I think a case by case basis is the best approach and no law is going to have a cut off date that works for every situation, why isn’t this kind of thing kept between a woman (and her family) and her doctor only? Why is the general public’s business?
Luv, Zen Lill
May 28th, 2013 at 8:41 pm
Men are just sick period.
May 28th, 2013 at 8:56 pm
Stop Driving Drowsy! How to Stay Awake at the Wheel
The last thing Willa remembers is yawning hugely, blinking hard to focus her gaze and thinking, “It’s just after midnight. In 15 minutes, I’ll pull over, wake my husband and let him drive the rest of the way home.”
Then she must have dozed off, because at 12:05 her van bashed against the highway guardrail and her terrified kids started screaming. No one was badly hurt, thank goodness, but it was a bad end to a family vacation.
My friend Willa, having learned her lesson that scary night, was never again tempted to keep driving when she was fighting sleep.
Unfortunately, a whole lot of people have not learned that lesson. In a recent AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety survey, nearly one-third of participants admitted that, just within the previous month, they had driven when they were so sleepy that they could barely keep their eyes open!
In fact, AAA says, one out of every six deadly crashes involves a drowsy driver.
Bad news for women:
In comparable car crashes involving seat-belted motorists, female drivers are 47% more likely than male drivers to sustain severe injuries, according to a University of Virginia study.
With vacation season upon us, I asked William Van Tassel, PhD, manager of driver training programs at AAA’s national office in Heathrow, Florida, for suggestions on how to stay alert at the wheel. His strategies…
Avoid driving at the times when drowsiness is most common. AAA reports a peak in drowsy-driving crashes between midnight and 6:00 am, when most of us are accustomed to sleeping.
What you may not know:
Reaction time and eye-hand coordination can become as badly impaired after 17 to 19 sleepless hours as when your blood-alcohol level is .05, which is almost the legal limit, Dr. Van Tassel noted.
Another surprise:
Drowsy-driving accidents also spike in the two hours after lunch. That’s because the body diverts blood toward the digestive tract, which leaves less invigorating oxygen for the brain…and our circadian rhythm naturally dips in the afternoon, triggering the urge to nap.
It may not be practical to swear off post-lunch driving altogether, but you can try to limit prolonged afternoon drives.
On long trips, stop the car every two hours or every 100 miles, even if you don’t feel drowsy, and walk around for five to 10 minutes. This increases blood flow, sending more oxygen to your brain and enhancing alertness.
If you start to feel sleepy and are less than an hour’s drive from your destination, you might consider trying what Dr. Van Tassel calls the “2 + 20” trick.
Pull over somewhere safe, take a double dose of caffeine (two cups of regular coffee or two cans of caffeinated diet cola, for example), then nap for 20 minutes.
While you snooze, your brain gets a bit of rest…and by the time you wake up, the caffeine will have entered your bloodstream and provided an energy boost.
Try this only if you have less than one hour left in your journey, because once the caffeine wears off, your drowsiness will likely be worse than before, Dr. Van Tassel cautioned. And don’t go for a second round, as your body won’t fall for this trick twice without getting some real sleep in between.
Travel with a passenger—in AAA’s survey, this reduced the risk for drowsy driving-related crashes by nearly 50%. Conversing with a passenger helps you stay awake…and you can share driving duties.
Stagger your caffeine consumption so your companion starts to feel her energy burst and can take the wheel just as your caffeine buzz is waning.
Avoid sugary or fatty foods, as they can reduce a driver’s alertness, Dr. Van Tassel advised. (Personally, I find it helpful to munch on foods that keep my mouth busy and take a relatively long time to eat, such as carrots and celery sticks.)
Watch for warning signs of drowsiness.
If you yawn repeatedly, bob your head, can’t keep your eyes focused, drift from your lane or fall into a momentary micro-sleep, do not tempt fate.
You’re lucky that you didn’t crash already! Pull over at the first safe spot and get some shut-eye. Yes, this will delay your arrival a bit—but better late than never.
Source: William Van Tassel, PhD, is the manager of driver training programs at AAA’s national office in Heathrow, Florida, where he also is the chair of the Stakeholder Panel for the Large-Scale Evaluation of Driver Education Project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
He has published peer-reviewed articles in various journals relating to public health and safety. http://www.aaa.com
May 28th, 2013 at 9:24 pm
Guam man convicted of sexually assaulting 3 girls after 11-year-old becomes pregnant
HAGATNA, Guam — Prosecutors intend to seek a maximum sentence of life without parole for a Guam man convicted of sexually assaulting three girls.
The Pacific Daily News reports (http://is.gd/xD9ZsS) that Nicholas Camaddu, 52, was convicted of six counts of criminal sexual conduct. The verdict came Tuesday after a day of deliberations and a weeklong trial.
Camaddu was arrested last year after one of the girls, not yet a teenager, reported that she was pregnant. Police then uncovered the two other victims.
During the trial, one of Camaddu’s victims testified that he said he would kill her family if she told anyone about the abuse. The oldest of the victims, who is now an adult, told police Camaddu had molested her for about a decade, from the time she was 8 years old.
Prosecutors plan to pursue a sentence of life in prison without parole, according to Carlina Charfauros, spokeswoman for Attorney General Leonardo Rapadas. Sentencing is set for June 20.
Camaddu previously was convicted of criminal sexual conduct in 1979 after he and two other men raped a woman at knifepoint. The judge in that case described the crime as “gruesome” and said he regretted not being able to sentence Camaddu to life in prison.
“The defendant is a career rapist who must be locked up for a long time,” Attorney General Leonardo Rapadas said in response to Tuesday’s conviction.
May 28th, 2013 at 10:01 pm
I am so horny I can barely stand it.
May 28th, 2013 at 10:08 pm
That is what happens when you get a taste of something so delicious that it lingers on your tongue, and signals your brain that you just have to have more.
I am here to please you. Just tell me when and where and I will be there.
May 28th, 2013 at 10:21 pm
YM, YW
Ever up for a threesome? ;-)
May 29th, 2013 at 6:53 am
Lea on Guam, that man should be fish food, why waste our air, food, water and jail space on scum like that, that story is sickening.
- ZL
May 29th, 2013 at 8:10 am
I agree with you Zen Lill on both accounts. Men are just nasty. My boyfriend loves making excuses for their behavior. I turned him on to this blog and now all he talks about is how it destroys men.
I ask him what is not true about men on that blog. He says just because it is true doesn’t mean anything.
May 29th, 2013 at 8:55 am
Heidi, I made my call to action for the good men who are on MM blog, no one responded so what’s that tell you?
& I’ve overheard men say things like – ‘women can be emotional, irrational, hormonal, etc…(fill in the blank)’
….and yet, who screws shit up in the world more often than not?
If they’d set their egos aside they would readily admit as much.
Ah, I still love em’ though, they provide something my female friends just cannot ; ) and for that alone, I stay in the game.
Some of my lesbian friend tell me that the roles aren’t so much different in their relationships and they have had partners who cheat and act like Aholes, too, so I’m not ready to trade em in yet. The femmes that approach me are lovely people in spirit, mind and body though so it could happen yet…never say never…
Keep educating your dude, and ‘just because it’s true’ NOW doesn’t mean its going to stay that way, tell him that ; )
Luv, Zen Lill
May 29th, 2013 at 8:56 am
…and I still want men to stay out of decisions involving a woman’s body bc as I’ve said before, unless your invited in here, stay out. – ZL
May 29th, 2013 at 9:41 am
Why am I supposed to feel sorry for a bunch of idiots in Oklahoma who profess not to believe in global warming.
Okay idiots you deal with what isn’t.
May 29th, 2013 at 9:47 am
I’m not about to trade in men either. But I am thinking about swapping this neanderthal for a better model.
Hell, if I have to put up with their self centered attitudes at least it should be from a better looking model or a better performing one.