Activist Wednesday: Desperately Seeking Smith-Lipinski
Posted by: madamab on: August 11, 2010
- In: Civil Liberties | Feminism | Healthcare | misogyny | Morning Widdershins | Open Thread | Sexism | Snark | Women
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MB's Outrage-O-Meter
Since Blue Lyon alerted us to the latest salvo in the fundiegelicals’ War on Women (otherwise known as Smith-Lipinski) I have searched in vain for any protest or reaction from a liberal/lefty/women’s group. Here’s what I’ve been up to:
I check my Gmail every day. Alas, MadamaB’s Mailbox is empty of any alerts or alarms about this legislation, which hopes to make us look back fondly to the halcyon days when we ONLY had the Hyde Amendment to deal with.
At regular intervals, I search for “Smith-Lipinski” in Teh Google. The only liberal/lefty/women’s perspective that comes up within the top ten, is my own post on Correntewire. Sheesh! No NOW, no NARAL, no Planned Parenthood. However, there are some lovely entries from the anti-choicers, all about how wonderful Smith-Lipinski would be because it would FINALLY stop the federal government from funding a legal, vital medical procedure that is, uh, how shall I put this delicately? Oh yes. None of their fucking business. That is why we say that the right to privacy ends at the tip of one’s nose. Last time I checked, a baby grew inside, not outside, of a woman’s body. But hey, I’m not a doctor! I could be wrong! (wink)
Undaunted (okay, slightly daunted), I do more Google searches. Maybe there would be better results under the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” (note, the name is quite honest – this Act would ultimately prevent both federal AND state funding for abortion). Nada, niente, rien.
I try other search engines. Maybe Google has an anti-choice bias!
I try other places where women gather on teh Interwebz. Let’s see now:
- Jezebel? Nope.
- Shakesville? Nope.
- RH Reality Check? Nope. The only thing that comes up is this December 2009 article about Ben Nelson.
- The Women’s Media Center? Nope.
I don’t even try to check any of the “new feminist” sites for this information. They don’t do reproductive rights, so they’re out of the picture.
I am becoming more convinced by the day that this legislation is going to fly under the radar and be quietly approved by the new, improved faction of “pro-life” Democrats who took money from the Movement “Pro-Lifers” and now are going to be forced to pay the piper. And yes, this CERTAINLY includes President Barack “When life begins is above my pay grade” Obama.
That is, unless we do something about it.
My comment on NOW’s website last week went unanswered (there were only five comments the last time I checked, so it’s not as if the VP of Action! could have missed it), and their action center still contains nothing about this horrible bill. Just as with Stupak and Nelson, pro-choice forces are in danger of being ambushed by the anti-choice movement, once again.
I think maybe it’s time to make some phone calls. What do you say?
Call your representative:
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
Call NOW, the national organization:
Phone: (202) 628-8669 (628-8NOW)
Call Planned Parenthood (they have two national offices):
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
212-541-7800
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
202-973-4800
And/or, call NARAL.
NARAL Pro-Choice America and NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation
Main Number: 202.973.3000
I will rescind my NOW membership if they don’t get on this STAT. Standing by while American women go back to the coathanger days is not my definition of feminism. I’m still shaking my head that it’s come to this in 20-Fucking-10.
This is an open thread.
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40 Responses to "Activist Wednesday: Desperately Seeking Smith-Lipinski"
August 11, 2010 at 7:25 AM
It also goes with this thread with one slight modification…that I made!
August 11, 2010 at 8:21 AM
I have to wonder what it will take to rally the women of America. If not a measure this draconian, then what? Downright abolition of the right to choose?
August 11, 2010 at 8:29 AM
These groups have got to get it through their heads that NEITHER party is their friend right now. Oh yes, they may have more sympathetic members in one than the other, but that doesn’t mean they should be giving the PFKD a pass.
August 11, 2010 at 9:02 AM
Chat> I think so. The women of America haven’t been paying attention since Obama came on the scene. I think a downright ban on abortion might finally make an impression. But right now they don’t think there’s any danger of that happening.
August 11, 2010 at 9:03 AM
@4 – they are so used to the Democrats being the “pro-choice” Party that they are still playing catch-up a year and a half after Mr. Post-Partisan was elected. Their slow learning will be the death of a woman’s right to choose.
@3 – Chat, this bill is basically the best the anti-choice movement can do without overturning Roe v. Wade. They will just make abortion so expensive that no woman will be able to afford one. Will women get a clue THEN? I don’t know. Sometimes I really wonder if people are just too overworked, broke or overwhelmed to do anything but survive anymore.
August 11, 2010 at 9:03 AM
Obviously, when I say “the women of America” I’m using a sweeping statement that’s not entirely true across the board. Maybe it’s safer to say “the younger generation of American women.”
August 11, 2010 at 9:03 AM
This issue is one that distresses me like no other.
I keep pointing out that with reproductive rights slowly but surely fading away due to the relentless pounding of the fundies in a state by state effort, the same will apply to the gay community, or any other group protection that stands in the way of social conservatives.
The silence from women activists convinces me that they are “in league” to a certain extent with this movement because of their overall commitment to push and support women candidates without regard to where they stand in this fight.
The Democratic Party has been an overall failure to protect and defend women and other communities are not far behind.
Where are the voices that echo those of yesteryear that led the fight to protect women and guarantee the rights of equality? The sound of silence is deafening.
It is disheartening, to say the least, that we are not just drifting toward the loss of equality but are plunging headlong into the abyss.
August 11, 2010 at 10:27 AM
@8 – Amen, Pat. I was thinking of that poem today, “First they came for….” It was applied to the Holocaust, but I think it can apply to the forces of American Theocracy as well.
Who will be safe from the judgment of these self-righteous hatemongers? Not the LGBTQ community, not women, CERTAINLY not people of color. Only white, straight males will be allowed any rights whatsoever. And what kind of world will we be living in then?
I remember when the (thankfully) former President of NOW applied for a high-profile position in the Obama Administration. It seemed evident at the time that she felt it was her due for betraying women’s rights in her support of Obama. NOW has changed leadership, but none of the other traditional women’s groups have done so.
As for the “new” feminists, I find it difficult to fault them for wanting to increase the participation of women in all levels of our society. What I do fault them for is taking a mulligan on women’s rights to do so. That is simply wrong on every level, IMHO.
By the way – Smith-Lipinski isn’t just about abortion. As Blue Lyon pointed out, it codifies Bush’s “conscience clause” into law, and that applies to birth control as well.
August 11, 2010 at 10:47 AM
What they fail to understand is that we are talking about “equality” not whose personal religious beliefs trumps another’s.
A female GOP candidate must pass the test of supporting the “pro life” stance if they expect financial backing, but it is ludicrous to expect that once in office they will back away from that stance in favor of women’s issues. They are not about “equality” by a long shot.
The female Dem candidates, afraid of losing ground with their conservative constituents, shy away from taking a positive stand against this patriarchal position. It’s lose, lose in the end.
Where is our latter day Bella Abzug or Betty Friedan? Or Gloria Steinem for that matter? Difficult to identify even one strong voice today who is willing to stand up against the flood of the social conservatives who seem to be making headway in reducing the rights of women to the ash heap of history.
If one loses control of their own bodies there is little else to celebrate by way of “progress”.
August 11, 2010 at 11:06 AM
@9 MB, I’ve been thinking about that poem a lot lately in relation to jobs and the economy. We were all troubled by the horrible numbers and the reports of people losing their homes and jobs, but they were numbers and stories about other people. Now, as more and more of my friends and neighbors are losing their businesses, homes, jobs, and their children’s futures, it’s really hitting home, at least for me. I confess to being concerned before, now I’m terrified.
August 11, 2010 at 11:30 AM
I think what we have learned over the last few election cycles is that we are no longer a “democracy” but a nation run and ruled by special interests and corporate concerns.
Admittedly, I am not a scholar but it seems that the slide became evident during the Reagan years and the 2000 election guaranteed that those two elements were pretty much ingrained within the fabric of governance.
Politicians have shown that they can be bought and that culture sums up members of both parties. “We the people” have been denied access while “us, the oligarchy rule”.
The whole apparatus should be dismantled and that is not likely as things stand now. Corruption is standard, the middle class is on life support, and the nation drifts even further away from the founding principles.
The distress is apparent.
August 11, 2010 at 11:37 AM
Janicen, I’m scared too – especially since my father has lost his job too. I have no idea what he’s going to do, and I can’t help him right now! It’s terrifying!
I was just speaking to a recruiter about how she was doing in this awful economic climate. Turns out she lost her funding about a year and a half ago, and is keeping afloat only because she has so many contacts AND because her husband has a cab business. Until she starts making money again, she’s driving a cab on the weekends. This is a woman with decades of recruiting experience, and I’m sure she never thought she’d have to start over at her age.
One thing I know – if/when I get a permanent job, I am going to make sure I sock away as much money as I can in a safe (community bank, I hope) savings account. I won’t be playing the stock market. Money market Roth IRA for me.
August 11, 2010 at 11:43 AM
@13: Isn’t dad retired? Could he be? You see, here is the rub about extending SS benefits with 70 as the new retirement age. 1. Older Americans are the last hired and first fired. 2. Do Americans really want their parents on the street/living with them?
August 11, 2010 at 11:44 AM
Pat – I wonder how long we can last under this strain. Our government has become completely unresponsive to we, the people. And they just passed some teeny weeny little stimulus package to the states. $26.6 Billion? Oh please. New York’s budget shortfall alone is in the billions, so I doubt we’ll even get enough to get us out of the red.
August 11, 2010 at 11:47 AM
Chat, I wish Dad was retired. He’s 69 now but, due to some very bad financial decisions, he is under water with his debt and expenses. He has no savings. (It kills me to type that sentence.)
We were making plans for Hubby’s mom to move in with us in a couple of years, but not my dad and stepmom, like, NOW! We have a 10×12 room in a teeny NYC apartment that they could use, but they would kill each other and us within three days.
They may end up moving in with my stepbrother, who is the only one of the immediate family that actually has a house in the suburbs.
August 11, 2010 at 11:48 AM
From what I have researched, it appears Smith-Lipkenski was presented because HHS was unclear and had made no statement if abortion would or could be covered in the High Risk Pools (the preexisting condition issue).
When Republicans started researching if elective abortions would be covered in this pool, they interpreted that States who choose to administer the High Risk Pools themselves rather than have the Feds do it would still be covering abortions because the money for the High Risk Pools was still funded by the Feds under the new Health Insurance Bill.
In other words it is fucked up and even gets more complicated than the long-ass sentence I just wrote above.
From what I can untangle at the moment, is that the Smith-Lip could have been averted or battled long ago: The Executive Order stated that OMB and HHS would set up the regulations and wording within 180 days of the signing of the Executive Order. It seems clear that it was not battled long ago, because it is better to “battle” it now as we get closer to the Midterms.
August 11, 2010 at 11:50 AM
@15 – Exactly. Nevada’s is projected to be 3 billion. Whether that will turn out to be the final number isn’t the point. If it’s half that it is still a huge nut to crack.
August 11, 2010 at 12:05 PM
I am beginning to understand better the powerlessness of prostitutes. Though I am not in that ultimate position of powerlessness, I am actually starting to feel like my body is being pimped out by the Democratic Party. I just expect the Republicans to beat the shit out of a woman’s body, but if the Dems weren’t pimping out my body in the first place, would I get the shit beat out of me or raped? In other words, “Don’t get raped” and this whole abortion issue could just go away. Fuck them.
August 11, 2010 at 12:11 PM
@17 – That is the excuse for Smith-Lipinski, not the reason, I think. There is actually no legal basis for denying women taxpayer funding for abortions and birth control. Both are legal and private matters according to Roe v. Wade. This is none of anyone’s business and this fight should have been won long ago.
The fundies are using every method they can find to make America into a Theocracy. Smith-Lipinski is just another step along the way.
August 11, 2010 at 12:12 PM
I see, La-T-Da @17, so the Republicans want to make sure that a woman’s right to autonomy over her healthcare decisions is restricted at the federal level, but the right to marry regardless of orientation, be legislated on a state-by-state basis.
There is no end to their hypocrisy
MB @13, I see little or no good news on the horizon. I’m walking around with a knot in my stomach all the time. The gigantic beast that is corporate America is sucking the life blood out of this country.
August 11, 2010 at 12:19 PM
@ 20. My post at 19 should cover the issue that I do not see it as an excuse. Nor do I buy into it as an excuse. It is the methodology on both the Democrats and Republicans part that led up to this. There methodology is becoming one and the same. Who is the lesser of the two evils? The Pimp? Or the rapist?
August 11, 2010 at 12:20 PM
@16: I understand. My parents outlived their money, and I supplemented their income – still am supporting my stepmother, as her children cannot seem to manage to help her.
August 11, 2010 at 12:21 PM
@22 – Amen, LTD – and why should we have to always choose between bad and worse?! “We the people” didn’t decide that this is what we wanted from our government, did we?! Sheeeeeesh!
August 11, 2010 at 12:29 PM
@24. All I can say is that I a not only glad but proud that I reregistered from a Commie Independent to the Green Party. Their “Green New Deal” did it for me. They presented it in front of a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt. That covered both the economic and civil rights issues for me. They might not ever win on a Federal level but those are my principles. I see no way for Democrats to work within the system anymore.
August 11, 2010 at 12:38 PM
@25 – I just registered as a “Working Families” member in New York. I was going to register Independent, but it seemed unclear that I’d be able to vote in a primary election, and I want to make sure that I vote against Reshma Saujani in September. Local issues sometimes dominate these types of decisions.
I knew I wasn’t going to register Dem again, though. That wasn’t even an option.
August 11, 2010 at 12:38 PM
BTW, the national NOW chapter doesn’t even allow you to speak to a human being. Great! I left a voicemail.
SIGH.
August 11, 2010 at 12:42 PM
I did speak directly to someone without voice mail at NOW back when I was awaiting their response to the Executive Order. I don’t know where I found the number. Somewhere on their website. Perhaps I called NY chapter of NOW.
August 11, 2010 at 12:48 PM
@26 AZ does not have open primaries. What I did in 2008, when I decided to get back into the BS of Dem politics to support Hillary, was volunteered for her to make sure someone else or others picked up my lack of vote.
August 11, 2010 at 12:51 PM
@27 – They are short staffed. From what I understand, they’ve been victims of the recession too.
August 11, 2010 at 2:38 PM
@30 – Not just the recession – I think a lot of women pulled their memberships after NOW’s horrible showing in 2008.
LibbyLiberal at Corrente found this site, which I’ve just added to our “Resources for Women” page:
August 11, 2010 at 3:46 PM
Geez, you guys are scaring me big time. Canada is, by and large a moderate nation – abortion, GLBT issues, Gay marriage etc, however we have currently an ultra conservative government, who would love nothing better than to overturn the laws that protect women and gays. I don’t want to see any rescinding of rights to gays or women – ever. It’s a matter of equality – equal rights for all.
August 11, 2010 at 3:52 PM
And btw, I’m long past the age where an abortion would be an option (I had both of my children while I was in early menopause), however, my daughter is 23 years old. If she needs one, I’ll be there taking her to the clinic and supporting her, because a zygote is not more important than the health of my baby. And another thing, although neither of the gruesome twosome is gay, they went through special arts school, and most of their friends are. I’ve loved those wonderfully talented folks for years, and I would never contenance a law that would deny them the right to be themselves. Thanks goodness I only have another 15 years at best (smoke and drink will do me in), because I really don’t want to live in Attwood’s vision of the future.
August 11, 2010 at 7:24 PM
I can’t believe the womens’ groups/organizations are not taking this one on. The fact that they are silent gives me chills.
August 11, 2010 at 7:48 PM
Fredster, I suspect that the uppers have been bought out, and the troops are so disoriented and lacking direction, that they’ve given up trying. Mind you, with the attitude of the younger gen – I.E. there’s no problem, I suspect that they are drying up from lack of funding.
How are you doing? What’s up – assume you’re back in NO, cause that’s where ….well anyway, what’s up with you? Are you okay? Been lurking around for a few years at a few sites, and you (and Fuzzy) have always been a favorite. Just want to make sure you are okay.,
August 11, 2010 at 7:55 PM
Nope, not back in nola yet. Went home to bring mom home and came back to AL the next day so I could try to wrap up things here and get back.
Then Saturday, was going to go out for something to eat and could not get the truck out of park! After talking to a few mechanic friends they think it’s either the linkage or the gear shifter inside. It’s at the dealer now. I totally realized, while bringing Mom home, how much I missed the area and I want to get back asap.
August 11, 2010 at 8:06 PM
Fredster, I’m sending positive thoughts your way. I love NOLA – honestly, it’s the only place in the U.S. that I felt peaceful – strange that. I hope that all will be well with the truck and you can go home soon. Do you need financial assistance? Can’t give much, but whatever I can is yours.
August 11, 2010 at 8:35 PM
HT@37: Oh no! That’s okay. Since it is at the dealer I’m having a couple of other things taken care of that only they could do, including one recall for the cruise control. After I got the notice on that I just stopped using it! 
So now I’ll have them fix it.
August 11, 2010 at 9:35 PM
After more research, it seems that NOW et al and Maloney have been working on confronting Obama via petition and pretty strongly letter from Maloney to Obama about the HHS announcement to exclude abortion coverage from the High Risk Pool. That was on 7/22 and I noticed NARAL and PP stopped collecting petition signatures on 8/6. It is all lumped together and all coming down at once.
Basically, I would think they are all drinking together trying to recover from the High Risk Pool shit and drinking more to try to figure out how to stop this shit as a whole. I am willing to cut them slack. They don’t know what to do anymore than we do. Radical measures are needed and they will have to decide whether to go radical on his ass or not. Anything else will not work.
NARAL et all will actually have to rally the Pro-Choice caucus first, I would think, before they go public. They will have to have backing of congress people since it is legislation. If they come out now confronting the legislation before the midterms it will only rally Republican votes and then votes for Obama who is need of votes. It will put abortion in the forefront and make it another wedge issue for votes for all the assholes once again. Democrats loose big in the midterms, those bitchy baby killer women will get the blame.
It is a pickle. My final assessment: We are fucked!
August 11, 2010 at 10:05 PM
The good news: We have 31 blooms on our San Pedro Cactus. 12 of the flowers are going to bloom tonight. It is spectacular!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinopsis_pachanoi
Our Echinopsis Pachanoi only has four tall arms in comparisons to the ones in the pics above. That is why 31 blooms is amazing.
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August 11, 2010 at 7:20 AM
from the last thread….to good not to repost or paraphrase!
The Obama Administration might as well have said look we are republicaning the democratic party Liberals and lefties are no longer welcome!
Fundgelicals Dominionist Homophobes Sexests….Our hearts our minds and our doors are open for you!