Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The GOP War on Women resumes today with a vote in the Arizona Senate on HB 2800, a bill designed to defund Planned Parenthood, denying low-income women access to preventitive health care and family planning services because Planned Parenthood also provides safe and legal abortion services. Call your state senator in oppostion … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: In all the kvetching by conservative media villagers and Beltway bloviators over Hillary Rosen's poor word choice, this statement from Ann Romney appears to have slipped by their selective attention. Ann Romney: "My Career Choice was to be a Mother" (Romney Press Release): "My career choice was to be a mother. And … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
In addition to the "Baby Blunt" contraception bill I posted about yesterday, the Arizona Senate gave preliminary approval Thursday to a bill that would defund Planned Parenthood, HB 2800. Bill on abortion funding advances in Senate:
The state Senate gave preliminary approval Thursday to a bill that would prohibit public money intended for family-planning services from going to organizations that provide abortions.
Opponents called House Bill 2800 a thinly veiled swipe at Planned Parenthood that would curtail access to health-care services such as breast exams and testing for sexually transmitted diseases, particularly for Medicaid recipients.
"All they're going to do is alienate 70 percent of the population, and that's not just women but it's men as well," Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, said.
The Senate Committee of the Whole recommended the bill for approval, setting up a vote by the full chamber that would send it back to the House.
Let's hear from one of the "intellectual lights" of the Arizona Senate, Cap'n Al Melvin:
"If this organization Planned Parenthood would get out of the abortion business then this controversy might go away, but it's morally and ethically wrong to expect taxpayers in the United States to pay for abortions," said Sen. Al Melvin, R-Tucson, who signed on as a co-sponsor.
The assumptions contained in this ignorant statement from Cap'n Al Melvin are FALSE. The federal Hyde Amendment banning federal funds for abortions has been in place since 1976. Arizona law already bars the state from using any public funds for abortions except when a woman's life is in danger. Public money may also not be used to pay for a health insurance that provides for abortion services. Not one effin' dime of government money goes to elective abortion services. And yet this LIE persists.
Planned Parenthood does a painstaking job of bookkeeping to keep funds received for women's healthcare services segregated from the funds it receives from donors to provide safe and legal abortions, which accounts for less than 3 percent of its services. Planned Parenthood does this painstaking bookkeeping in the event of an audit of its books from the likes of Arizona legislators.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Bad bills are never really dead until sine die. Political chicanery through back room deals and "strike everything" amendments allows bad bills that are dead to return to life. That is what happened today. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Senate OKs bill to allow employers to deny contraception coverage; but … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The GOP war on women returns today in the Arizona Tea-Publican legislature.
First, the bad news. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Bill banning abortions after 20 weeks sent to Brewer – Arizona Capitol Times. It is actually less than 20 weeks, based on how the bill calculates time from the menstruation cycle, making Arizona one of the most restrictive states for a safe, legal abortion.
The House’s vote of 37-22 on Tuesday sends the bill to Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican who has signed previous anti-abortion legislation.
Besides the 20-week ban, the bill’s other requirements include mandating the state establish a web site with images of fetuses at various stages of development for women to view.
The 20-week abortion ban would affect only a tiny percentage of abortions performed in Arizona.
The state would join six other states that have similar bans.
Now the good news, at least for today. It appears bill sponsors cannot convince two Tea-Publicans to switch their votes following the defeat of the "baby Blunt" bill last week that would allow any employer to object to a health insurance plan providing coverage for female contraception based on religious or moral objections.