Monday Open Thread [9.8.14]
As states restrict the ability of women to get legal abortions, there will be more stories like this:
A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to up to 18 months in prison for obtaining so-called abortion pills online and providing them to her teenage daughter to end her pregnancy.
Jennifer Ann Whalen, 39, of Washingtonville, a single mother who works as a nursing home aide, pleaded guilty in August to obtaining the miscarriage-inducing pills from an online site in Europe for her daughter, 16, who did not want to have the child.
Whalen was sentenced on Friday by Montour County Court of Common Pleas Judge Gary Norton to serve 12 months to 18 months in prison for violating a state law that requires abortions to be performed by physicians.[…]
Whalen told authorities there was no local clinic available to perform an abortion and her daughter did not have health insurance to cover a hospital abortion, the Press Enterprise newspaper of Bloomsburg reported.
And this is what the War on Women looks like — criminalizing what shouldn’t even be the state’s business.
Henry Kissinger endorses Hillary! Well, sort of:
I know Hillary as a person. And as a personal friend, I would say yes, she’d be a good president. But she’d put me under a great conflict of interest if she were a candidate, because I intend to support the Republicans. …
Yes, I’d be comfortable with her as the president.
His response about the bombing of Cambodia and Laos is maddening though — that somehow the drones being used by the Obama Administration are somehow the cams as the carpet bombing by B-52s.
The Washington Post takes a look at why polarization in Congress won’t change under a new President:
Anyone who has watched Congress recently can see how Republican hard-liners in the House have changed the governing environment. Thomas E. Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman J. Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute described this in their 2012 book, “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks,” as “asymmetric polarization” — Democrats playing by traditional rules; Republicans playing by new and unconventional rules.
Mann and Ornstein, along with others, pin the blame for dysfunction on the GOP. Republicans point to Obama’s policies and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid’s tactics as related causes of the gridlock, but it’s been the arrival of tea party Republicans that changed the equation.
Surprise.
What interests you today?
If we continue to take our beatings lying down and redouble our efforts to build bipartisanship, the Republicans will come around.
That above comment was from me. I bent the “one name” rules for comic effect.
😆
I can’t figure out which is a bigger problem — representatives who will DO ANYTHING for bipartisanship or the people who vote for them who think that bipartisanship is the only thing there is.
And I am posting this because I LOVE the title:
Has Politico hit peak strawman?
Agreed, the Republicans are playing under the rules of war. Or we could just call it anything goes. At some point the Dems will have had enough and call off the hunt for adult behavior and respond in kind. If they lose the senate expect the war to heat up quickly. As for the woman going to jail this is exactly what the Republicans wanted, making abortion appear illegal and punish people who want one to play an ever more intricate game.
cass–Totally get your intent on lack of access, affordability, and woman’s body in the abortion mention. But I’ve seen details of this sentence in 4 different media outlets that has me wondering. The decision IMHO seems to have been rendered because of accessing prescribed medicine, and dispensing without MD knowledge or care.
And seriously, what the hey did the mother expect after issuing those pill(s)–a good night’s sleep? It was reckless of her to dispense, and I’m not buying the “no insurance” angle. Any pregnant, minor in this country has carte blanche medical care.
Mama didn’t want to drive 70 miles in her kid’s behalf, and keep things sane, safe, and legal–the way abortions, as a procedure are legislated to be. If it were tonsils, would that be enough to back out of the driveway? It’s probably a good thing the daughter took the meds. The world sure doesn’t need to breed anymore idiots that can’t respect pharmaceuticals, and are derelict in acquiring proper medical care and intervention for their kids.
Just a thought.
I get that the sentence was made largely for dispensing perscription drugs without a license. My only point here is that the tougher it is to get an abortion (and 70 miles away is at least a half day away from work, and what did it cost? — none of us knows if that was a reasonable choice for her) the more we are going to get stories like this one — where women will choose more DIY methods simply because that is more available to them.
JC, your last paragraph is pretty heartless.
You dont know anything about that family, or what went through the mother’s head.
What you can figure out from that article is that she is a medical professional and possibly has some knowledge or, as you put it “respect” for pharmaceuticals.
Perhaps she didnt want to subject her daughter to a 2 hour drive followed by harassment from “heroes”..
A parent made a medical decision on behalf of their child… OR..you translated that into… well, everyone can read the judgmental comment you wrote.
Also…”Any pregnant, minor in this country has carte blanche medical care.” is total bull.
Did the mother have a car? Did she have a job where she could take two days off?
According to PA law: Counseling is required followed by a 24 hour waiting period. So, this wouldn’t be one trip. It would be two 140 mile round trips (or they could stay (and pay) at a hotel).
And this is the point of these restrictive laws that close down clinics, make women wait, etc.. This is about the choice between forced birth or back alley abortions. And we always knew this was what the “pro-life” crowd wanted – they aren’t exactly subtle.
The GOP in a nutshell (on everything relating to governance):
“It’s an election year. A lot of Democrats don’t know how it would play in their party, and Republicans don’t want to change anything. We like the path we’re on now. We can denounce it if it goes bad, and praise it if it goes well and ask what took him so long.” Rep. Kingston (R-GA)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/09/1328322/-GOP-congressman-explains-why-his-colleagues-don-t-want-to-vote-on-military-strikes-against-ISIS?detail=hide
He can’t even get through this statement without lying. The GOP would NEVER praise Obama. For anything. Its the first commandment in the coven of conservatism.