Patrick Murphy calls for Corbett to apologize to PA women

Via Murphy for PA:

“It’s bad enough that Governor Corbett wants to force women to get an unnecessary and invasive procedure as a means of getting a government permission slip to undergo legal medical care. It’s worse yet that he wants to shame them by shoving an ultrasound screen in their face. But it’s unthinkable that he would so casually dismiss this by advising women to just close their eyes. Governor Corbett’s comments are disturbingly offensive, insensitive, and out of touch. He should apologize immediately.” Murphy said. “As I have said before, this legislation is an outrageous assault on women’s rights in Pennsylvania and an unprecedented intrusion into decisions that should be made exclusively between a woman and her doctor. The proposal is demeaning, mean spirited and wrong. There is no legal justification for forcing a woman to undergo an invasive ultrasound, and after careful analysis, I believe that no reasonable arguments can be made to support the Constitutionality of this bill. As Attorney General, I could not defend it against a Constitutional challenge.”

Murphy is running for Corbett's old PA Attorney General seat.

If you agree that Corbett should apologize, sign the petition here.

Gov. Corbett to PA Women on Mandatory Ultrasounds: "You just have to close your eyes"

Gov. Tom Corbett's (R-PA) advice to Pennsylvania women on PA HB 1077 which would have required women seeking an abortion to have medically unnecessary mandatory ultrasounds (which has thankfully been tabled for now):

Via Think Progress: QUESTION: Making them watch…does that go too far in your mind?

CORBETT: I’m not making anybody watch, OK. Because you just have to close your eyes. As long as it’s on the exterior and not the interior.

Hmmm, "just close your eyes." Kind of like the approach he took to the child rape investigation of Jerry Sandusky while he was state Attorney General.

Two local boobs on the wrong side of history

Just in time for Women's History month, PA's Forced Ultrasound Bill and The Blunt Amendment allowing any employer to deny birth control coverage any insurance coverage requirement on moral whims objections both went down in flames. One would be tempted to decry Republicans again and their relentless War on Women, but we can't ignore the Democratic douchebags are who foot soldiers in this war too.

The Trouble With Harry

PA State Rep. Harry A. Readshaw (D, PA-36) not only cosponsored the odious Forced Ultrasound (Rape by Any Other Name) Bill, he was completely out of line when replying to a constituents' letter to him about it (blogger Amadi). He began his thoroughly condescending letter to her by addressing her by her first name only. He proceeds to divulge his daughter's private medical condition as a part of his argument and concludes by letting Amadi know that he's looked up her voting record. Amadi also notes that the letter is handwritten -- perhaps to ensure that there is no digital trail (I guess he neglected to find in his inquiries that she is a popular blogger). Please read her account of it here, including a photo of his correspondence). I'm embarrassed to add that he is also my Rep.

What's the Matter With Bob?

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) was one of only three Democratic US Senators to vote against killing the Blunt Amendment. One must suppose that he favored it on the basis of his Catholic faith -- even though it was so broad as to allow employers to willy-nilly ignore any insurance coverage requirement (and as noted by Sen. Barbara Boxer, allow insurance companies free rein to deny coverage on "moral" grounds as well -- like that wouldn't be abused). Here's Obama for America's take on the bill, Bob:


(Click to enlarge)
Hey! Wait a minute? Doesn't Bob work for us? I think we should all vote on what health care coverage we want to deny him. Please be as arbitrary and capricious as you like! Also, I agree with Marcy Wheeler that Bobby (as someone who's been on the public dole for many years) needs to disclose to us, his employers, details as to what his history of reproductive choice has been, including details on what kinds of birth control he and his wife have used and who paid for it, as well as whether he's used erectile dysfunction drugs, and who paid for it. It's only fair! After all, employers have a right to have a say in these matters.

Here's a reason to vote for Patrick Murphy!

Via Patrick Murphy who's running for PA Attorney General:

Ultrasound Bill Unconstitutional, Legislature Must Stop Attack on Women
The legislature has no authority to force women to have an unnecessary, invasive medical procedure

(Philadelphia, PA) –Today, Iraq war veteran and former prosecutor Patrick Murphy issued the following statement in response to House Bill 1077, the so-called “Woman’sRight-to-Know Act,” which would force women to undergo a mandatory and invasive ultrasound at least 24 hours before receiving abortion care:

“We all support programs to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. But this legislation is an outrageous assault on women’s rights in Pennsylvania and an unprecedented intrusion into decisions that should be made exclusively between a woman and her doctor. The proposal is demeaning and wrong. There is no legal justification for shoving an ultrasound screen in a woman’s face and forcing her to deliver printout image to her physician – all so she can get permission from the government to have a legal medical procedure. The legislature has no Constitutional authority to require women to have this unnecessary and invasive medical procedure and,therefore, must abandon this insulting attack on women’s rights. Even Bob McDonnell, the conservative Governor of Virginia, was forced to abandon a similar bill, admitting that it ‘might run afoul’ of the Constitution and open up the state to serious legal problems. If the legislature here in Pennsylvania moves the bill despite overwhelming objections, it is Governor Corbett’s responsibility to veto it.”

University of Pennsylvania Professor of Law Tobias Barrington Wolff agreed that the bill is unconstitutional, saying:

"The Supreme Court has held that a State cannot pass laws for the purpose of obstructing a woman's access to a legal abortion, nor impose undue burdens on that access. A law mandating that doctors perform a medically unnecessary procedure, including the use of an invasive transvaginal probe in some cases, and requiring doctors to position an ultrasound monitor in the woman's face whether or not she wants to watch it, appears designed to intimidate and humiliate. Pennsylvania cannot mandate such mistreatment of women."

www.murphyforpa.com

PA's Forced Ultrasound "Women's Right to Know Act" (Women's Right to No Rights Act)

Ladies! It's time to hide your vaginas from the probing of the Pennsylvania General Assembly who's attempting to get all up close and personal with your lady business.

Pennsylvania's state legislature knows that women folk have very little actual knowledge of their own bodies -- especially when they have a bun in the oven. They know that the little ladies are weak in mind and could use a helping hand (holding a transvaginal ultrasound) when contemplating an abortion. (You know, like the old joke about whacking a mule with a 2-by-4 to get its attention.)

They know that to keep the ladies on the righteous path, they need to mansplain to them what's happening in their special lady parts so that they can see the error of their ways. After all, who knows better than them (83% of whom are male) what women want and need?

Little things like facts -- 42% of women obtaining abortions have incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level and 61% of abortions are obtained by women who already have one or more children -- mean little to them. The ladies are simply being hysterical if they think they can't afford more kids or need to keep a job. They obviously need a thought adjustment.

That's why the PA General Assembly has decided that the best way to get their attention is to force them to have a medically unnecessary ultrasound 24 hours prior to an abortion. It also forces doctors to turn the ultrasound screen towards the woman’s face. It then forces the woman take TWO prints with her (one for her scrapbook, and the other one SHE has to bring to the doctor performing the abortion.) And, furthermore, it forces civil and criminal penalties for doctors and patients who dare defy their legislating of medicine.

You can read PA House Bill 1077 in all its gorey here. (The bit about “free ultrasound providers” is included so they can funnel women to so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” where they can be fed state-funded, unregulated misinformation by ultrasound providers that don't even have to have any training!)

Have a problem with it?

Here's what you can do:

1. Call your state representative.
(Find yours here.)


2. Write your state representative.
(Find yours here.)


3. Sign the petition here.
(They smashed through their old goal of 10,000 signatures and are now going for 50,000.)

Then, be sure tell all your friends to do the same.

Just do something!