AFY_Joe's Amplify Diary

New Oklahoma abortion law confirms conservative hypocrisy and contempt for women

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:52:00 -0500

For the last 4 months, conservatives having been screaming about the threat of healthcare reform allowing the big scary government to interfere in their personal lives. Death panels, forced government coverage that denies you services, etc...

All scare tactics, sure, but take a look at what conservatives in Oklahoma have just passed. A new law will mandate that women seeking an abortion have the following personal information about them posted publicly on a website:

Date of abortion
County in which abortion performed
Age of mother
Marital status of mother (married, divorced, separated, widowed, or never married)
Race of mother
Years of education of mother (specify highest year completed)
State or foreign country of residence of mother
Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother (Live Births, Miscarriages, Induced Abortions)

OK, so I assume I don't have to explain the hypocrisy to you...

But this also publicly reveals the very nature of extreme anti-choice conservatives and what motivates them. It is a lack of respect and absolute contempt for women... their rights, their independence, their privacy, and their standing as equal members of society.

Rachel Maddow hit the nail on the head last night when she talked about the possible motivations for such a law. Conservatives know that abortion is a safe, legal and common medical procedure, and they are having great difficulty changing this reality. So in the face of not having the constitution to stand on, they just want to make the process of going through an abortion as difficult, public, and degrading as they possibly can for women who choose to do so. It is nothing less than legalized intimidation and harassment of women... simply because they can.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

No Marshmallows Until Marriage

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:12:00 -0500

The good folks at the League of Young Voters made this video to poke fun at the ridiculousness of abstinence-only education:

Remember, tell your Senators we need to get rid of the Hatch Amendment passed last week that saved abstinence-only federal funding from the grave!

J Smooth on Hollywood's shameful defense of Polanski

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:37:00 -0500

J speak, you listen:

Jon Stewart grills the Democrats for allowing abstinence-only funding to come back from the grave

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:18:00 -0500

The Daily Show's Jon Stewart absolutely hammered the Democratic Party and their supposed "Super-Majority" last night. Even though they have the White House and huge filibuster-proof majorities in Congress, they have so far failed to make any progress in reforming our broken healthcare system by creating a public option.

But what have they made progress on? Oh right.... restoring funding for Title V abstinence-only programs.

Check out the awful truth here:

And remember that in order to get rid of this awful amendment, we all need to contact our Senators and let them know that abstinence-only funding has got to go!

Blue Dogs RESTORE federal abstinence-only funding

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:14:00 -0500

Thought federal funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs was a thing of the past?

Think again.

Last night, the Senate Finance Committee voted 12-11 to pass Hatch Amendment #C30 to restore the $50 million a year funding to Title V abstinence-only programs. All Republicans on the committee (including Snowe from ME) voted for it, as well as 2 Democrats, Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

Here is the gloating response of the National Abstinence Education Association:

This positive bipartisan vote by the Senate insures that valuable programs teaching teens to make the healthiest choices regarding their sexuality will continue. Committee members courageously put politics aside in favor of the health and well-being of the American families. Tonight's vote is a show of support for valuable and proven abstinence education that has made such a difference in the lives of so many teens, while also supporting parents who soundly endorse such programs. "It is encouraging that the hard work of grassroots constituencies from across the country have prevailed to ensure these common-sense programs will continue, " said Valerie Huber, executive director of NAEA. "While the amendment still needs to pass a Senate floor vote, tonight's decision is a significant step in the right direction for the optimal health of America's youth," she added.

Let me emphasize that last point: it still needs to pass a Senate floor vote.

We can still stop this amendment if we all let all of our Senators know that this MUST be stripped out of the Baucus healthcare bill.

Click here to urge your Senator to strip the Hatch Amendment out of this bill.

This Title V money has gone (and would continue to go) to abstinence-only groups so that they can lie to students about condoms being ineffective, set up fake “crisis” pregnancy centers that tell women that abortion is unsafe and will give them breast cancer, and actually send a juggling abstinence clown into middle school classrooms to teach them about “sex”.

The abstinence clowns have to go, no matter how much fellow “Blue Dog” clowns like Blanche Lincoln and Kent Conrad try to save their funding.

We’ve come too far and learned too much about the failure of abstinence-only programs to allow this federal funding to continue. ACT NOW.

Another young victim of our broken health care system

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:43:00 -0500

A larger percentage of young Americans are uninsured than any other demographic in this country, approximately 1 in 3. When you don't have insurance, you hold off on going to the doctor because you can't afford the prices. And then you get tragedies like the one this Wednesday in Ohio:

OXFORD — Friends say the Miami University graduate who died this week after reportedly suffering from swine flu delayed getting medical treatment because she did not have health insurance.

News of Kimberly Young’s death Wednesday, Sept. 23, came as a shock to those who knew the vibrant 22-year-old who was working at least two jobs in Oxford after graduating with a double major in December 2008.

Young became ill about two weeks ago, but didn’t seek care initially because she didn’t have health insurance and was worried about the cost, according to Brent Mowery, her friend and former roommate.

Mowery said Young eventually went to an urgent care facility in Hamilton where she was given pain medication and then sent home.

On Tuesday, Sept. 22, Young’s condition suddenly worsened and her roommate drove her to McCullough Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford, where she was flown in critical condition to University Hospital in Cincinnati.

“That’s the most tragic part about it. If she had insurance, she would have gone to the doctor,” Mowery said.

Tragic indeed. But unfortunately, not uncommon. In fact, Kimberly is likely to be one of the 45,000 Americans to die because of lack of health insurance this year, on average:

Research released this week in the American Journal of Public Health estimates that 45,000 deaths per year in the United States are associated with the lack of health insurance. If a person is uninsured, "it means you're at mortal risk," said one of the authors, Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

If you haven't let your representatives know that we need real comprehensive health care reform, now is the time.

Sen. Hatch throws abstinence-only a life preserver

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:50:00 -0500

Federal funding for the harmful and ineffective abstinence-only-until marriage programs was supposed to be a thing of the past. President Obama zeroed out their funding in his 2010 budget. The House of Representatives, even former ally Appropriations Chair David Obey, approved the budget without allowing ab-only funding to be snuck back in. And it looked like the Senate would land the final blow and get rid of it for good.

But Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has decided to make a last ditch effort to sneak abstinence-only funding back in, attaching an amendment to the Baucus Health Care Reform bill that would revive the $50 million in funding to the Title V program.

The amendment’s fate will come down to the vote of 5 Senators in the Finance Committee who are all on the fence.

Thomas Carper (D-DE)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

If you live in Delaware, North Dakota, Arkansas, Maine or Florida, please click here to send them your message that over 10 years and $1.5 billion for these failed abstinence-only programs is enough. We can’t allow students to continue receiving this ineffective and harmful miseducation on the taxpayers’ dime.[More]

Mississippi Lt. Gov. tells girls to be good abstinent Christians

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:04:00 -0500

Today is Constitution Day all across America, recognizing and celebrating the 222 year old document that defines our political system, rights and liberties.

Except, perhaps, in Mississippi.

Why? In May, the state of Mississippi threw a state-funded abstinence-only rally for students where they were told the value of not having sex until marriage (including a chant that went “Stop! Don’t touch me there! This is my no-no square!”). That in itself is legal, but not when the rally itself is from start to finish a blatant attempt at proselytizing students in Christianity.

The ACLU just brought forth a lawsuit against the state of Mississippi last week for violating the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from promoting one religion over another. Which elicited this mind-numbing quote from Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant (also in video below):

"I was so disappointed that the ACLU has decided that we don’t need to tell young women in the state of Mississippi about our faith; we don’t need to explain to them that abstinence, we believe, is related to our faithful Christianity beliefs."

Wow.

First of all, I don't think this is going to help you out in court, Mr. Bryant. We'll just call this video "Exhibit A".[More]

Operation Rescue "completely out of money"

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:49:00 -0500

I guess donating money to a group that tiptoes on the line of being domestic terrorist group is not as popular as it once was.

Some fabulous news today from the Kansas City Star, as they published this fundraising letter that Operation Rescue recently sent out:

We're now so broke (as the saying goes), we can't even pay attention.

Seriously. We struggle to pay every bill. I had to borrow money just to send you this letter, in hopes that you will come to our rescue so that we can continue to rescue babies.

The letter goes on, saying that they have a new super-duper plan to "help end abortion in America once and for all", if they weren't so... you know, broke.

However, now that we're completely out of money, I'm afraid we won't even be able to launch it... ever!

And that would be the worst defeat imaginable.

The only thing that can save this project is EMERGENCY FUNDING -- and EMERGENCY PRAYERS -- so that we can move forward as planned.

I guess harrassing women and threatening doctors is expensive work. After the tragic assassination of Dr. George Tiller, hopefully more and more people have seen the light that Operation Rescue is nothing but a fanatical organization that incites violence. May their journey in the red be a long one...

Alabama continues its War on Dildos

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:59:00 -0500

The Alabama Supreme Court has just reaffirmed its position that citizens may not buy and sell weapons of mass distruction within the state borders.

Automatic weapons? No.

Dildos.

The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday upheld the state’s ban on the sale of sex toys, but Love Stuff, the Hoover store that filed the challenge, has no plans to stop selling the devices.

While people have the right to use the devices in private, the Legislature has the right to ban public distribution of those products, the court majority ruled in a 7-2 decision.

..."Public morality can still serve as a legitimate rational basis for regulating commercial activity, which is not a private activity,” Associate Justice Michael F. Bolin wrote in the majority opinion.

..."As the 11th Circuit pithily and somewhat coarsely stated: `There is nothing `private’ or `consensual’ about the advertising and sale of a dildo,’” the majority opinion said.

That's right ladies... female orgasms are BAD BAD BAD unless your happily married husband is giving you one. Why, if you could get off without us, we'd have anarchy, I say!

Insanity.

(h/t Pam Spaulding)

Meet Kristin Maguire, America's new abstinence-only hero

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:54:00 -0500

The smell of social conservative hypocrisy has been overwhelming in South Carolina, of late.

First, it was Republican Governor Mark Sanford. The strong defender of the "sanctity" of marriage (between one man and one woman) apparently didn't mind occassionally leaving his wife at home while cavorting down to Argentina to hook up with his "soul mate".

And now, we have Kristin Maguire, the recently departed chairwoman of the South Carolina Board of Education. A "strong social conservative", she co-founded and lead South Carolina Parents Involved in Eduction, an abstinence-only group that received federal Title V money and listed this as their mission:

South Carolina Parents Involved in Education (SC PIE) provides a sustainable intervention model that addresses South Carolina’s persistent problem of adolescent sexual activity which results in adolescent out-of-wedlock pregnancies and adolescent sexually transmitted diseases. SC PIE’s unprecedented model equips public school teachers to provide a strong abstinence until marriage message to students and empowers adult community members to support and reinforce this message.

Teachers in seven public school districts are being trained to understand the social, psychological and health gains to be realized when adolescents abstain from sexual activity until marriage. The teachers are further provided a curriculum-specific training to implement Scott and White Worth the Wait abstinence education curriculum.

But it appears that Maguire didn't really follow this abstinence-only role model behavior in her personal life.[More]

Dr. Carhart's supporters outnumber and outclass Operation Rescue in Nebraska

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:38:00 -0500

Operation Rescue, the professional intimidation by violence group founded by this nutjob, decided to do a mass protest in front of Dr. Leroy Carhart's clinic in Nebraska this Saturday, vowing to "Close the Clinic".

Local chapters of the NOW had other ideas. They brought in supporters from all over Kansas and Nebraska, and on Saturday they outnumbered Operation Resuce almost 3:1.

The clinic will stay open. Below is their victory rally, afterwards.

"You don't have to tell me about 'the parts'... just tell me to wait"

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:41:00 -0500

No, that's not Leslee Unruh or the National Abstinence Education Association.

It's the Obama Administration.

Here's the new tv ad from 4parents.gov, run by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services:

So, let's see, you've been in office 8 months now, right Barack? And this is what we're still peddling?

It gets worse at their website. Here's what they have to say about marriage:

This Web site talks a lot about marriage, and that waiting until marriage is a sensible choice for your son or daughter to make when it comes to sex. But what's so valuable about marriage? Why is marriage any different, or any better than other family situations?

First of all, let's be clear on one important point. In general, children - and adults - do better in homes headed by a married mother and father.

****

What are the benefits married people enjoy?

Live longer.

Have better physical and emotional health.

Are happier.

Earn more.

Enjoy better sex lives.

That's right, folks. Tell your kids they better get hitched to their heterosexual partner, or else you'll never have great sex and you'll die young, poor and unhappy. And whatever you do, don't talk about "the parts"...

Your tax dollars (still) at work...

What we heard at Netroots Nation

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:22:00 -0500

Team Amplify was in full force at Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh recently, asking bloggers and activists what they thought of the Obama administration's performance so far.

Here's what they thought about Obama's desire for "common ground" on abortion, and it's exclusion from the health care debate.

We also asked if they thought that Obama was doing enough to expand LGBT rights:

And finally, we asked (since young people largely put Obama into office by turning out and voting for him in record numbers) what Obama should be doing for young Americans:

"Are you a treasure or a target?": More sex ed FAIL from Ohio

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:25:00 -0500

For some reason or another, Ohio schools seemed to be inundated with some of the worst abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in the entire country.

Ohio is the home of Elizabeth’s New Life Center, notable for employing Derek the Abstinence Clown, who comes to middle school classrooms to perform and inform kids that using condoms is like juggling machetes. Elizabeth also teaches that abortion will give you breast cancer and "post-abortion-syndrome", a nice fallback for those unfortunate students who learned sex from a fracking clown and find themselves with a positive pregnancy test.

Ohio also has the creatively named Abstinence Till Marriage program, whose Miss the Mess website happily promoted Rape Culture, informing youth that, as Jill put it, “you can’t rape a slut” (this was before the Netroots shamed them into taking it down, fortunately).

But Ohio also has Operation Keepsake, another multi-million dollar ab-only beneficiary of our tax dollars over the past decade. (I’ll give you a hint what the “keepsake” is: it rhymes with rhymin’)

I recently ran across a quiz on their website called “Are you a treasure or a target”, aimed at young women.

Yea, I bet you see where this is going…

Below is the quiz. I bolded hypothetical answers for each question to see if I was, in fact, a “target”.

[More]