How Many of these Witnesses Can Get Pregnant?

Filed in National by on February 16, 2012

The Republican House is holding a hearing against the birth control benefit in the Affordable Care Act. These are the witnesses:

h/t Joanne Cabry

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  1. socialistic ben says:
    February 16, 2012 at 12:23 pm

    call me crazy, but this “people can deny various coverage to employees based on the employer’s moral beliefs” is enough of an argument to make denial of ANY coverage to gay employees ok…. or muslim employees.
    Hell, if i follow a dogma that says gays are bad, why should i be FORCED to hire them so they can make a living and feed themselves. Let someone ELSE fund their choices.

    Maybe it really ISNT about birth control. maybe this is about promoting christian theology via the “free market” and women are just at the top of the hit list.

  2. cassandra m says:
    February 16, 2012 at 1:49 pm

    According to Think Progress, there’s more to this — apparently the Dems wanted witnesses (including female ones) that Issa disallowed. So the Dem women boycotted the hearing.

    So there we have it — Republican men are working overtime to make sure that women have no say in this issue. None whatsoever.

  3. anonymous says:
    February 16, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    50 Doctors supportng Single Payer Health Care System are urging the Supreme Court to strike down the individual mandate as unconsitutional. Filing as a friend of the court, PNHP doctors believe and will support a true universal health care system in lieu of the for profit health care industry still stealing millions for their CEO’s, shareholders, and advertising.

  4. thenewphil says:
    February 16, 2012 at 2:42 pm

    to be fair, this hearing wasn’t about contraception, it was about the constitution.

  5. Delaware Dem says:
    February 16, 2012 at 2:44 pm

    So women are unqualified to speak on the Constitution?

  6. Que Pasa says:
    February 16, 2012 at 2:48 pm

    Yes, they are. Just get their names on the witness docket next time.

    http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/rep-darrell-issa-bars-minority-witness-a-woman-on-contraception-2/

    Yeesh! Quit trying to manufacture controversy.

  7. Joanne Cabry says:
    February 16, 2012 at 3:13 pm

    “Just get their names on the witness docket next time?”

    Committee Democrats said they were told they could have only one witness, and they chose Sandra Fluke, a third year law student at Georgetown University who was prepared to speak of the consequences women face when they are denied contraceptive coverage.

    Committee chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif. rejected Fluke because she did not have the appropriate credentials to testify at a hearing focused on threats to religious freedom and not on a single aspect of the health care law.

    Jim Abram, AP writer

  8. MJ says:
    February 16, 2012 at 3:51 pm

    Not really a manufactured controversy at all.

    Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) complained about the matter in a letter to Issa on Wednesday.

    “When my staff inquired about requesting minority witnesses for this hearing, we were informed that you would allow only one,” Cummings wrote. “Based on your decision, we requested as our minority witness a third-year Georgetown University Law Center student named Sandra Fluke. I believed it was critical to have at least one woman at the witness table who could discuss the repercussions that denying coverage for contraceptives has on women across this country.”

    You really need to take those blinders off, QP. You’re beginning to sound like a crazy person.

  9. thenewphil says:
    February 16, 2012 at 4:33 pm

    ” who could discuss the repercussions that denying coverage for contraceptives has on women across this country”

    that’s exactly why they declined to hear her speak; what she had to say was not at all germane to the conversation.

    The discussion was not “is contraception good or not?” it was, “is it constitutional to force religious organizations to pay for contraception?”

    those are two different issues.

  10. V says:
    February 16, 2012 at 4:39 pm

    call me crazy, but isn’t the determination of whether something is constitutional or not up to the Supreme Court? and even then only when a case presenting that issue comes before them?

  11. pandora says:
    February 16, 2012 at 4:43 pm

    The discussion was not “is contraception good or not?” it was, “is it constitutional to force religious organizations to pay for contraception?”

    Of course, it was about contraception. Oh, Republicans think they can avoid that topic. Oops! Too late.

    But let’s pretend you’re right. So… no women clergy? Still an issue.

  12. liberalgeek says:
    February 16, 2012 at 5:01 pm

    and for the record, Georgetown is a Catholic institution that currently includes contraception coverage for its employees.

  13. Jason330 says:
    February 16, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    Do the optics on this contraception fight look as horrible for the GOP as I think they look?

  14. thenewphil says:
    February 16, 2012 at 7:29 pm

    pandora, if women and men are equal, then what makes a female member of the clergy any more or less adequate of a witness than a male member of the clergy? Male members of the clergy outnumber female members b a factor of many, so in any given random sample I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see a panel of all male members. AND I would expect that panel to be representative of female issues as well, since men and women are equal.

  15. anon40 says:
    February 16, 2012 at 7:29 pm

    “You really need to take those blinders off, QP. You’re beginning to sound like a crazy person.”

    QP is a prime example of what the Republican Party has become. These morons aren’t exactly crazy, they’re just clueless. They live their lives in the right-wing echo chamber, and they’re shocked when they venture outside of their little world. It’s sad, really. It’s especially sad that their vote counts as much as anyone else’s.

  16. Jason330 says:
    February 16, 2012 at 7:56 pm

    I’m sure he is smirking as he types, but if he is serious, thenewphil’s take on equality has a lot in common with the Taliban’s.

  17. cassandra m says:
    February 16, 2012 at 8:03 pm

    And this isn’t an issue of equality — it is an issue of interests. Men simply do not have the same interests as women in the issue of contraception.

    Besides, I’m not sure where Issa gets off telling an taxpaying American that she has no business speaking in front of his committee.

    But I note thenewphil’s Slouching Towards Sharia Law position.

  18. Jason330 says:
    February 16, 2012 at 8:06 pm

    I found this observation at TPM:
    “If the hearing was really about “about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience”, then the witnesses should have been constitutional experts and scholars. Not clergy men.”

  19. Jason330 says:
    February 16, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    Delaware’s own Foster Fries (billionaire Santorum supporter) inserted himself in the debate by saying that women just need to keep their legs closed.

    That’s the GOP position in a nutshell. It isn’t about women’s health – it is about all these sluts running around.

  20. cassandra m says:
    February 16, 2012 at 8:11 pm

    Response to Issa’s claim that the woman didn’t have the right credentials to testify in front of his committee:

    “She didn’t have the right credentials?” NOW President Terry O’Neill scoffed. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Buddy, you and your little panel over there don’t have the right anatomy to talk about birth control.’”

    Fuckin’ A!

    TPM inventories how the GOP has turned the clock back to a pre-Don Draper era.

  21. anon40 says:
    February 16, 2012 at 8:14 pm

    ” Men simply do not have the same interests as women in the issue of contraception.”

    I disagree.

    Most men don’t want to impregnate a woman unintentionally. Raising a child is expensive & birth control (condoms) is FREE at State Service Centers, schools, community centers, etc.

    I don’t claim to speak for women (or ANY woman for that matter) but I’m reasonably certain most women don’t want to get pregnant unexpectedly.

  22. cassandra m says:
    February 16, 2012 at 8:31 pm

    Even if we agree that most men and most women do not want (most) unintentional pregnancies, the consequences of dealing with one is largely the woman’s. Walking away from a pregnancy isn’t an option for her, meaning that access to safe and effective contraception is of greater interest for women.

  23. Unstable Isotope says:
    February 16, 2012 at 8:33 pm

    Birth control benefits men too. How many men want to support a dozen children? Not many.

  24. thenewphil says:
    February 17, 2012 at 6:30 am

    Every single person who is saying women should have been on a panel, or testified in front of the panel on birth control is right.

    Too bad that’s not what THIS panel was talking about.

  25. pandora says:
    February 17, 2012 at 7:01 am

    Keep telling yourself that, Phil. No one is buying it. Republicans are desperately trying to not make it about contraception, but that ship has sailed.

    Altho… I guess we could look at your earlier comment.

    Male members of the clergy outnumber female members by a factor of many

    Why is that? Yes, I know the answer, and it’s just one more anti-women optic, because women aren’t allowed to be clergy in the Catholic Church – which is the group front and center of this fight.

  26. Truth Teller says:
    February 17, 2012 at 7:16 am

    thenewphil

    If women and men are equal, then what makes a female member of the clergy any more or less adequate of a witness than a male member of the clergy?

    To the best of my knowledge no female member of the clergy has been charge with molesting children or protecting those that do.

    You insistence on pushing Fox Noise and Rush the junkie’s false premise that this hearing was not about birth control is a feeble attempt of yours and the right wing nuts to change the subject in a loosing cause.

    So I would suggest that you remove the Tin Foil from your hat and let the truth penetrate.

  27. anon says:
    February 17, 2012 at 8:11 am

    This is why we need to fight on the local level to keep anti choice politicians who want to force rape victims and women who may die to have the baby out of public office and all government. We had a candidate in Delaware in 2010 who openly said that rape and incest are no reason for abortion. Thank God he never made it to Washington, DC, but now we have to keep him out of the Delaware State Senate or we’ll end up like Virginia.

    One more point, the Catholic Church believes that a woman who dies in child birth goes right to heaven, and it’s the most wonderful thing a woman can do. But what do they care if women die? They’re more interested in our 8 year old sons, maybe because they can’t get pregnant through anal rape.

    Keep your f*cking religion off of my body, this isn’t 1700, women should be allowed access to contraception and safe abortion.

    Where the Hell is the National Organization of Women?

  28. socialistic ben says:
    February 17, 2012 at 10:06 am

    Control of women IS religious liberty to these folks. That is why they keep INSISTING it is about liberty.

  29. thenewphil says:
    February 17, 2012 at 2:04 pm

    We’re going to wish we hadn’t trashed the Constitution when the repubs decide what their next extraconstitutional project will be…

  30. Anonymous says:
    February 17, 2012 at 2:36 pm

    Perhaps the ole angry men on that panel also believed as Freise that “women can put an aspirin between her knees”. Christian Evangelical men have never accepted womens rights or a right to choose. They want women back in the kitchen, barefoot, pregnant and totally dependent on them. This is about control. Controlling women is the name of their sick game and Darryl Issa was a fool to let this game be exposed to american public. Birth Control is not just a womens issue, its takes two to tango. Problem is a lot of men refuse to take care of their children and leave it women who are paid less and expected to raise perfect children. Women will rise up against the republicans and vote democratic. After all, their “men” won’t be looking over their shoulders to see who they vote for.

  31. Anonymous says:
    February 17, 2012 at 2:38 pm

    As long as they can play this silly tune, they dont have to answer any questions on War with Iran, or jobs..its a ruse to keep the dumbed down, dumber.

  32. Truth Teller says:
    February 18, 2012 at 8:42 am

    The best form of birth Control is to avoid sex with a Republican

  33. anon says:
    February 18, 2012 at 9:08 am

    TT is right, look at Sussex County’s favorite Republican blow hard Bill Colley, he abandoned his 12 year old daughter in upstate NY to come to Delaware to be a radio star, yet he goes on the air every day and berates anyone who isn’t pro life. It’s easy to be pro life when you only have to deal with your offspring 4 times a year.

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