Republicans Believe in Government So Small It Fits Between a Woman's Legs!

Republicans claim to be the party of small government. Republicans claim to be against government intrusion into our private lives. Republicans also claim to oppose government interfering between a patient and their doctor. Guess what? Republicans are none of these things.

We live in a civilized society. Is it asking too much that we act civilized? On the issue of abortion, civilized people should agree that while some people believe that a woman should has a right to choose; there are others who believe that abortion should be banned, with various shades of opinion in between these two positions. Civilized people should also agree that if someone supports one position or another, they have the right to engage in debate and enact laws that support their position. However, what we should agree on is that in those situations where you cannot get laws passed that reflect your position, you should not support laws that result in pain and humiliation, impose mental and physical suffering, and cause financial hardship for those "on the other side."

In the past week, Republicans in Oklahoma overrode the veto of the Democratic governor of that state and enacted a new law that requires any woman seeking an abortion, including victims of rape or incest, to be forced to have an ultrasound and have the results of that procedure shown to them on a monitor and described to them in detail verbally. If necessary, depending on the status of their pregnancy, the ultrasound must be administered with a vaginally-inserted probe. There is no age limit. The law also makes it impossible to sue a doctor if the doctor lies to the patient about the status of their pregnancy, that is, unless the mother dies because of the lies. Another recently-passed law in Oklahoma, that is on the books, requires that all women who seek an abortion answer 34 questions including: how many times they have been pregnant, how many miscarriages, their marital status, their race, how many abortions they have had, how many children they have, and the town they live in. This information is then posted on the internet (using an alias name). It is believed that the names of women who live in small towns in Oklahoma will be easily identifiable from the information that is posted by the State. A great example of small-government Republicans staying out of our personal lives!

So, it is now the law in Oklahoma that a 13-year old rape or incest victim may be required to have a probe inserted into her vagina, have an ultrasound procedure whether her doctor thinks it is necessary or not, and, even though she has been victimized already, be subjected to visual and verbal descriptions of the abortion while it is being conducted. I would guess the next law these "believers in small government" will pass will require a video be made of the child while she is hysterically screaming and crying and begging that the probe be removed from her body, and that the video (with her face blocked out, of course) be required viewing for all future victims of this Republican-imposed "small government" intrusion into the body of a young girl who requests a procedure that the Supreme Court has ruled legal for 36 years.

So you won't think that there are just a bunch of crazies in Oklahoma, yesterday the Florida Legislature passed a similar law, by a vote of 23-16 in the Senate and 76-44 in the House on an almost strict party-line vote (to his credit, Dr. Ed Homan (R), a physician from Tampa, voted against this abomination). The Florida bill was introduced, and passed, in the last two days of the session as an amendment to a health care bill, with virtually no review and no opportunity for public comment. The Florida law does exempt women who have been raped or the victims of domestic abuse, so it only covers women who have had sex voluntarily (wow, aren't Republicans in Florida so much more enlightened than those in Oklahoma?). The Florida law does go one step beyond Okalahoma's, it requires the woman to pay for the medically unnecessary procedure she does not want and her doctor did not prescribe. It is hoped by the Republicans that the $100-300 charge will stop poor women from seeking abortions. The law requires a sonogram to be administered even in the first trimester when many abortions are conducted by means of a pill. The Florida law also makes it illegal for any business in Florida that receives any tax credits from the State to provide insurance to their employees that pays for abortions. During the brief debate on the bill, Representative Alan Hays (R) invoked a comparison to the "holocaust." I am sure glad that Republicans in Florida are staying out of the personal lives of the people!

Republicans in Oklahoma and Florida have now mandated that women, and teenage girls, who choose to have an abortion for any reason MUST have an ultrasound even when their physician believes that it is NOT medically necessary and the woman does NOT want one. Ultrasound is not a risk-free medical procedure. An ultrasound machine sends vibrations into the body and gains information from the echoes that "bounce" back. Not all of the energy bounces back; some is absorbed in the body. This causes heat and can result in tissue damage and the formation of bubbles from trapped gas (known as cavitation). So Republicans in these two states have now made it the law that women are required to have a medical procedure, against their will, against the advice of their doctor, that may cause them physical harm and they have to pay for it.

This is what happens when small pockets of extremists in a few states take control of the legislative process. This is why it is important that the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade be maintained (although the 4 "conservatives" now on the Supreme Court appear to have no respect for "stare decisis") since a woman's right to decide what happens to her body may have no other protection as some state legislatures become more and more extreme. This is also why you need to contact Governor Crist in Florida and let him know how important it is that he veto
HB 1143. It is another example of why it is vital that Alex Sink be elected Governor of Florida rather than Bill McCollum since the governor is the last hope to stop the extremist Republicans from wrecking public education and depriving women of the right to make their own medical decisions.

Following is an article from a conservative site that shows how the facts presented above regarding Florida HB 1143 can be distorted into a misleading argument:

http://www.lifenews.com/state5099.html