Video of the Day (How The New Ohio Budget Affects Your Vagina)

Call it a human sacrifice

Savita Halappanavar

"Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual (ritual killing). Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history. Victims were typically ritually killed in a manner that was supposed to please or appease gods, spirits or the deceased, for example as a propitiatory offering, or as a retainer sacrifice when the King's servants are killed in order for them to continue to serve their master in the next life. "

- Wikipedia

Savita Halappanavar's life was sacrificed to comply with Catholic religious doctrine which demands that termination of a pregnancy never be permitted -- including to save the life of the woman. Via The Irish Times:

Savita Halappanavar (31), a dentist, presented with back pain at the hospital on October 21st, was found to be miscarrying, and died of septicaemia a week later.

Her husband, Praveen Halappanavar (34), an engineer at Boston Scientific in Galway, says she asked several times over a three-day period that the pregnancy be terminated. He says that, having been told she was miscarrying, and after one day in severe pain, Ms Halappanavar asked for a medical termination.

This was refused, he says, because the foetal heartbeat was still present and they were told, “this is a Catholic country”.

She spent a further 2½ days “in agony” until the foetal heartbeat stopped.

Savita was neither Catholic or Irish. Think it can't happen here? Think again. This same view was espoused by the Republican Party Platform which offered no exceptions for abortions. Now, Ohio wants to put it into practice. Via Think Progress:

During this year’s lame duck session, Ohio legislators are planning to revive HB 125, a so-called “heartbeat” bill that would ban abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected — which can first occur as early as five or six weeks, before many women may even know they’re pregnant. The proposed legislation represents the most restrictive abortion ban in the United States. If HB 125 is passed, it would criminalize all abortions after the emergence of a fetal heartbeat without allowing even the narrowest exceptions in potential cases of rape, incest, or the mental health of the woman.

Even if Ohio’s bill includes some kind of provision that would allow women to seek abortions in life-threatening situations, Halappanavar’s death points to the fact that health risks aren’t always immediately apparent. A 1992 Supreme Court ruling in Ireland amended the country’s abortion ban to include an exception in cases where the woman’s life is in danger, but Irish hospitals don’t always know how far that medical exception can stretch. They are often reluctant to provide women with abortion services unless the situation is very clearly life-threatening — and for women like Halappanavar, that can already be too late.

And in cases where the fetus is not expected to survive — when women like Halappanavar are undergoing a miscarriage, or when doctors discover fatal fetal defects — anti-abortion legislation is often murky, even in this country. In Arizona, where a stringent abortion ban outlaws the procedure after just 20 weeks, women who discover fatal defects that will not allow their fetus to survive are forced to carry the fetus to term anyway.

In other words, a doctor would have to wait until a woman is literally dying before intervening. Has she lost enough blood? Is the infection so pervasive that she may not recover? Because . . . because . . . of a religious concept of a soul which presents itself at conception but is stained by sin because a woman talked to an evil serpent? Because . . . because . . . How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

This is what happens when religion is allowed to be the state. An intelligent, beautiful, young woman's life is sacrificed for the fetus who is already dying inside her.

Both are dead.

"With modern technology and science, you can't find one instance," Walsh said. "There is no such exception as life of the mother, and as far as health of the mother, same thing."

- Republican Rep. Joe Walsh (Ill.)

A Tale of Two Elections

As with everything in our Two Americas, your voting experience varied radically depending on how much money you have.

In an African American neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio, the scene was long lines and long waits as extended hours early voting only really extended to the white, Republican suburbs:


Meanwhile, voters in Bel Air, California were met with free valet parking, lattes and finger food in the luxe version of democracy:

USA! USA! USA!

More and more voter suppression

Pennsylvania:
From Capitol Ideas we see that Spanish-language billboards and radio ads in Philadelphia, PA are still telling voters that they need photo ID to vote in Pennsylvania -- after the temporary injunction.

Ohio:
We learn from Daily Kos that an Ohio county is sending voters both the wrong election date and the wrong directions to the polls.

Song of the Day

42 years ago today.

Pittsburgh City Council to proclaim respect for public workers today

Via the AFLCIO:

IN THE FACE OF ANTI-PUBLIC WORKER LEGISLATIVE FIGHTS IN WISCONSIN AND OHIO, PITTSBURGH CITY COUNCIL TAKES A STAND

Council members and Pittsburgh public workers to hold preview of proclamation honoring public workers before Council vote

Pittsburgh, Penn. – On Tuesday, February 22, 2011, at 9:30 AM, Councilmember Natalia Rudiak will preview a proclamation co-sponsored by all nine City Councilmembers expressing support and respect for public workers prior to the Pittsburgh City Council’s regular weekly meeting where it will be on the agenda. Council Member Rudiak and other Councilmembers will be joined by a variety of public workers including firefighters, bus drivers, snow plow drivers, school crossing guards and others for the preview.

The proclamation comes at a time when public workers are under attack in state legislatures across the county, targeted by right-wing and corporate political committees funded by nearly unlimited and undisclosed corporate cash, seeking to roll back collective bargaining rights and half-a-century of labor reforms.

“The right-wing assault on public workers grossly misrepresents facts and tries to lay blame for budget deficits and pension problems at the feet of dedicated public servants who come to work everyday and do their jobs delivering the services that keep us safer, healthier and contribute to the vital functions of government that serve the public good”, said Jack Shea, President of the Allegheny County Labor Council.

“On Tuesday, we will stand in solidarity, not just with the public workers in Pittsburgh, but with all public workers in America, especially our brothers and sisters under attack this week in Wisconsin and Ohio,” Shea added.

What: Preview of Respect our Public Workers Proclamation

Who: Councilmember Natalia Rudiak and colleagues, public workers from a variety of departments and trades, Jack Shea, President of the Allegheny County Labor Council.

Where: 5th Floor, City-County Building, outside of City Council Chambers

When: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 9:30 AM