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H/T to Scarce for the video.

Anti-abortionists may have some compelling arguments to support their views,but I haven't heard one yet and Republicans can’t seem to find one. As the House prepares to debate outlawing all abortions after 20 weeks, Texas Republican Michael Burgess has come out with possibly the most bizarre case for fetal sentience yet.

“Watch a sonogram of a 15-week baby, and they have movements that are purposeful,” he said. “They stroke their face. If they’re a male baby, they may have their hand between their legs. If they feel pleasure, why is it so hard to believe that they could feel pain?”

Before joining Congress, Burgess was...an OB-GYN.

Adele M. Stan writes:

The rationale for the Republican bill, which advanced through the House Judiciary last week on a near-total party-line vote, is one scientifically disputed study, touted by Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) in his opening remarks at today’s Rules Committee hearing, that asserts fetuses can feel pain as early as 20 weeks after sperm meets egg.

“Well, I think all the members are cognizant of the fact that this is not a Congress that cares much about science,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), the Rules Committee’s ranking member, in her questioning of Goodlatte, who refuted that claim by saying that since 1973, the year when the Supreme Court legalized abortion, much more had been learned about fetal development.

Major medical bodies in the United States and the United Kingdom have refuted the claim of fetal pain before the third trimester.

The 20-week abortion ban, if passed into law, would set up a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, which allows abortion up to the point of fetal viability outside the womb, and mandates exceptions for abortions in the case of pregnancies that threaten the life or health of the woman.

Now before anyone thinks the Republicans have been generous with these mandates, there's an "exception" for victims of rape and incest as long as the victim has previously reported the crime and doesn't mind having a third party notify law enforcement that she is going to have an abortion.

“So, the authors of this bill apparently believe that women are too dishonest to be believed when they say they were raped or the victims of incest,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) said. “It is Congress siding with her abuser…”.

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The government is moving the morning-after pill over the counter, but only those 15 and older can buy it -- an attempt to find middle ground just days before a court-imposed deadline to lift all age restrictions on the emergency contraceptive.

The Associated Press:

Today, Plan B One-Step is sold behind pharmacy counters, and buyers must prove they're 17 or older to buy it without a prescription. Tuesday's decision by the Food and Drug Administration lowers the age limit and will allow the pill to sit on drugstore shelves next to spermicides or other women's health products and condoms — but anyone who wants to buy it must prove their age at the cash register.

Some contraceptive advocates called the move promising.

"This decision is a step in the right direction for increased access to a product that is a safe and effective method of preventing unintended pregnancies," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "It's also a decision that moves us closer to these critical availability decisions being based on science, not politics."

The pills contain higher doses of regular contraceptives, and if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. However, the morning after pill should not be confused with the "abortion pill," mifepristone (It was called RU-486 when it was being developed).

Highlights from the Seattle Rally Against the War on Women. April 28th, 2012. Speakers include Marilyn Stockland, Mayor of Tacoma, Verlene Jones, Dorli Rainey and many others.

This week has seen some of the most horrific assaults on women's rights and health care for women in decades.

On Wednesday, David Edwards reported on a new measure that passed the Arizona senate that effectively bans abortion after 18 weeks of pregnancy, and can consider a woman to be pregnant 2 weeks before she has even had sex.

Then on Thursday, new restrictions appearing in anti-choice bills around the nation allow for doctors to lie to their female patients if doing so will help them to prevent an abortion.

Via:

In both Kansas and Arizona measures are advancing that exempt doctors from medical malpractice suits should they withhold medical information in order to prevent a woman from having an abortion. These bills also shield doctors from malpractice claims if a woman suffers an injury from a pregnancy as a result of information withheld from her to prevent an abortion. Georgia just snuck a liability shield into their 20-week abortion ban. We can expect more to follow.

Proponents of these "wrongful birth" bills argue they are necessary to stem the tide of lawsuits like one in Oregon where parents sued for costs related to the care of their daughter who was born with Down's Syndrome. In that case the parents argued that the medical professionals were negligent in conducting the genetic testing, and that had they known their daughter would be born with a disability, they would have had an abortion.
...

In practice this means that instead of an objective inquiry into the medical treatment and advice given to a pregnant woman based on what the profession as a whole considers competent medical treatment, the individual beliefs of the doctor will determine if advice given or care rendered was reasonable. In legal terms that changes the inquiry from objective to subjective meaning; there is no real basis to judge conduct against. It will no longer matter what a doctor’s peers believe to be considered good medical care: it will only matter if that particular doctor thought the care would avoid an abortion.
...

That also means that women in states with wrongful birth bills can never be sure the medical information they are receiving is accurate and unbiased, nor can they sue in the event that its wrong or negligent. And that women in states without these bills will have to exercise even more caution and be even greater advocates for their own care as what constitutes good accepted medical practice is no longer easily determinable.

This goes against the grain of the medical profession's modern Hypocratic Oath that says "Above all, I must not play at God," and tosses true "Informed Consent" out the window. As RH Reality Check puts it "Pregnant women will, in effect, be returned to the same legal standing of juveniles or persons under legal guardianship and conservatorship, devoid of the ability to consent to a full course of medical treatment on their own."

A boon for bad doctors, this shield for medical malpractice "strips women of the ability to be compensated for sub-standard medical care rendered to them while pregnant and nothing more." And while right-wing Republicans insist that there is no war on women, the evidence is in the efforts to pass legislation like the medical malpractice shield that essentially says that women's lives have no value, as that is what taking away your right to bring a claim based on the value of that life does to women.

This is absolutely war. Defend your rights, or risk losing them.

Opponents of an Arizona proposal to limit birth control coverage sent knitted uteri with large, glued-on plastic eyes to more than 12 state lawmakers in clear plastic bags. Each gift was accompanied by a letter from a woman who is against the bill. Proponents of the bill say employers shouldn’t have to provide contraception if it violates the organization’s religious stance. Opponents say the measure would violate a woman’s right to privacy. Arizona lawmakers are expected to vote on the bill next week.

Animation: Rush vs Women (Actual Audio) from scottbateman on Vimeo.

BTW, A commercial radio station in Pittsfield, Massachusetts-- 96.9 FM, WBEC-- says it is dropping the Rush Limbaugh show in the wake of Limbaugh's comments on contraception last week.

And check here for a list of companies still advertising on the Limbaugh show. Netflix, et tu?

This is Bob McDonnell's Virginia: The Virginia state capitol was the scene of an enormous women's rights protest. A peaceful protest, with young, old, and everything in between, men and women alike. The overreaction by the police was appalling and shows the extent to which the Republican party is willing to use police power to suppress peaceful dissent.

The Richmond-Times Dispatch reports:

Thirty-one women's-rights demonstrators were arrested this afternoon in a protest at the state Capitol that drew hundreds of protesters and Virginia State Police in riot gear.

Capt. Raymond Goodloe of the Virginia Division of Capitol Police
said 17 women and 14 men were arrested. He did not have a breakdown on charges but said those arrested were likely accused of either trespassing or unalawful assembly.

The arrests took place after some protesters, who had marched on downtown streets before entering Capitol Square, refused to leave the south steps of the Capitol. They were hauled off by officers and taken away in a bus parked nearby while other armed officers held protesters at bay with riot shields.

The demonstration came after the General Assembly approved hotly disputed legislation that requires women to have an ultrasound before getting an abortion.

The Washington Post reports:

The group had a permit to rally at the Bell Tower on Capitol Square earlier in the day, but Goodloe (The Virginia Capitol Police Captain) said rallies are not allowed on the Capitol steps. The group had planned to march to the Executive Mansion where Gov. Bob McDonnell lives after the rally.

Another report from the Washington Post, or rather a Washington Post fail. This is the headline:

"More than 30 arrested at abortion rally in Richmond"

What the hell is an abortion rally?!?

An update from the Richmond-Times Dispatch:

Del. Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond, tonight spoke out against the arrests of 31 women's rights demonstrators in a protest at the state Capitol earlier today that drew Virginia State Police in riot gear.

She said the arrests "are just the latest example of government overreach that we’ve seen in recent weeks."

"The men and women who marched on Capitol Square have a right to peacefully protest without the threat that they will be arrested for exercising that right," McQuinn said in a news release. "At several recent women’s rights events, there has been an overabundance of police presence. In fact, the Capitol Police tactical team has been at all of the events," she said.

McQuinn said she had "never seen a similar police presence when guns rights advocates assemble on Capitol Square on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday."

McQuinn called the arrests "a sad reminder that our progress towards equality for all Virginians has not been achieved.”

Much, much more at Daily Kos - including more videos, photos and details from a Virginia blogger. Interesting note, that Washington Post headline fail that I mentioned? It seems that was an attempt to correct the original headline! Info on that at Kos as well.