Abortion, homosexuality becoming heated battlegrounds in legislative 'culture war'

Hello John Adams of the GF Tribune. Excellent reporting on these kooky nutjobs in the legislature.

Hagen said she believes GOP conservatives are elevating hot-button social
issues this session in an effort to fracture the Democratic Party and distract
voters from other debates on issues such as children's health care."I think that
they're just trying desperately to find a wedge issue that works," Hagen
said.

"I would say it's a culture war, quite frankly. I think Montanans have
stood pretty strongly on one-man, one-woman marriage — you know, mom, dad,
kids," McGillvary said. "If you don't have that down in your society, your
society will implode."

Maybe your society will, but mine, it will be just fine, even with Juneteenth AND alternative lifestyles AND abortions AND. . . AND. . . AND.

Sore Loser McGee

McGee had a press conference yesterday to whine and spit out and out lies about Montana's democrats and the "abortion industry".

"Sen. Dan McGee, R-Laurel, the sponsor of two of the bills, also promised that anti-abortion forces will try to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2010 to define life or a “person” as beginning at conception.“When the people of Montana are able to express themselves — and they will — they will define that a person is a person,” he said at a Capitol news conference."

Um, gee, didn't Montana have that opportunity in 2008 and Jore's egg as a person amendment failed to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Montana's voice is clear, keep creepy old guy politicians out of our reproductive organs, and for that matter, keep creepy young women politicians out of there too.

'“Last night the Democratic Party essentially voted to muzzle the people of Montana on one of the most important issues of our time: Abortion,” said Rep. Wendy Warburton, R-Havre. "

Dear Wendy, if you think that abortion is one of the most important issues of our time, pick up a newspaper. Read about global warming, the economy, the war in Iraq, hell even teenage deaths due to texting while driving. Count how many articles there are about abortion. Now, tell me again, what is the most important issue of our time.

It is interesting that she uses the term muzzle. When I hear the word muzzle, I think of someone trying to control a mean dog from attacking and biting people or barking. The only voices that are being muzzled are the uber religious right, and yes they are much like barking, biting, rabid dogs. These people are not mainstream Montana. I am sad for the people of Havre, sending this *woman* to represent their welfare and this is the kind of crap they get. But wait, here is the man, Bobby B. Good work Havre.

"House Speaker Bob Bergren, D-Havre, said Tuesday that most Democrats oppose the measures because they support the right to privacy and the rights of women to decide reproductive issues for themselves. . . Bergren also said he found it “hypocritical” that the same lawmakers who want to restrict or block abortion usually vote against sex-education programs and publicly funded contraception, which can prevent unwanted pregnancies.“I’ve worked my whole life to make sure that (abortions) are safe, legal and rare,” he said." Love you Bobby B.

It is a good thing MT's legislature is making it easier to get guns because McGee is declaring civil war on 64% of Montanans (the pro choice majority).

P.S. I found this on LITW, love it!

House Judiciary

Egg as person's house judiciary hearing was yesterday. Crazy crazy crazy anti-choicers lined up to talk about Jesus and SLEDS. I mean, thank goodness the hearings are over.

Prediction, SB406 goes down 9-9. Blast motions fail. Women celebrate, but are also pretty sad because there was 8 major attacks on reproductive freedom this session. EIGHT.

Plus many of them recieved votes in the Senate.

Book Club

Harris Himes, a preacher, attorney, and general uterus hater writes a book, Stand!

Oh, he doesn't just hate uteruses, he also hates gay people, uterus or not. His Big Sky Christian Center in Ravalli County is a hive of freedom hating in the name of Jesus. He is also a giant liar, go ahead and listen in on any of the hearings on SB406 and SB46. His slimy lies are all over them.

The Bitterroot - ug. Creepy old men trying to control womens reproductive choices - ug. Hatemongers for Jesus - ug.

Good News

For anyone who loves good news. SB46, state's compelling interest in my uterus dies in House Judiciary 9-9.

I love you Deb, Arlene, Anders, Robyn, Margret, Edith, Mike, Bob and Diane. Thank you for making us baby vessels safe from government intrusion.

Hate You McGee!

F-ing S-it!

Egg is a person SB406 makes out of the Senate 26 to 24. God DAMN it! Not even the completely ass hat crazy (ala Mike Lang, Rick Jore, Scott Mendenhall) House from 2007 passed it out. Now on to the House Judiciary.

I have heard that douche bag Dan McGee went around to the mixed choice Ds and Rs and CRIED his wee little eyes out begging for the chance to pass his legislation because *sob* it is his last session. This man claims that he speaks for the unborn and is on some personal mission from Christ to ban abortion. And he cries. As Kathy pointed out, if a female legislature would have done the same thing. . . just think of the way she would be talked about or treated.

I seriously want to PUKE when I think that 26 out of 50 think that this is a good idea, much less think that their constituents want them worrying about fertilized eggs, zygotes, embryos and fetuses. Montana is pro-choice. Montana is pro-privacy. Obviously the Montana Senate missed that.

On to other bad news. SB374, Parental Notification passed the Senate 29 to 21 and is on its way to the House Judiciary. F!

SB46, State's compelling interest in the unborn, another McGee doozie passed 28 to 22 and is on its way to House Judiciary. F! F! F!

Gary Perry's sexist insurance law, SB142 also passed out of the Senate. Mother effer.

What does all of this mean, you people of Montana, the ones with a uterus, you are a second class citizen. Hell even your eggs have more rights than you.

What to do now? Start calling, start writing, and stand in line to let the House Judiciary know to keep these laws out of our reproductive organs.

Judiciary
Meets Mondays-Fridays, 8 a.m., Room 137
Stoker, Ron (R) (Chair)
Kottel, Deborah (D) (Vice Chair)
Peterson, Ken (R) (Vice Chair)
Becker, Arlene (D)
Bennett, Gerald (R)
Blewett, Anders (D)
Driscoll, Robyn (D)
Ebinger, Bob (D)
Howard, David (R)
Kerns, Krayton (R)
MacDonald, Margaret (D)
McClafferty, Edith (D)
Menahan, Mike (D)
More, Michael (R)
Regier, Keith (R)
Sands, Diane (D)
Wagner, Bob (R)
Warburton, Wendy (R)

Life Begins At Conception. . .AGAIN!

SB 406 as mentioned eariler, bad idea all around, got its ass kicked in the 2008 elections as CI100, is back. I was able to watch the hearing last night on TV.

Some very creepy proponents showed up. The woman who claimed that Obama could have been aborted was unable to attend, but sent her very overweight and very unshowered middle age son to deliver her message. Boy howdy was he disturbing. He also quoted Susan B. Anthony in trying to make a point that our feminist foremothers were "pro-life". The quote he delivered was basically saying that men are equally responsible for pregnancies as women and that women who are criminalized for ending pregnancies should share their guilt with men, this in a time where abortions were illegal. All in all, completely creepy. There was also the very elderly male doctor who rambled on about tissue harvest from abortions for stem cell research and to top it all off the balding man with the pony tail who held up photos from a hurricane and told the committee that "God is watching."

Ahhh. Anti-choicers say the darndest things.

Anyway, I would have LOVED to testify, but I could not, so I emailed my testimony to the members of the committee. Here it is. Feel free to do the same. I don't think they will take Executive Action for a couple days.

Senate Judiciary.

Senators Perry, Shockley, Curtiss, Esp, Hinkle, McGee, Murphy, Jent, Juneau, Larsen, Laslovich, and Moss:

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Connie. I was unable to attend yesterdays hearing on SB 406, but I was able to watch most of the hearing on TV last night.

I hope that you take the time to read my testimony included in this e-mail. Please share this e-mail with the three committee members that do not have e-mail accounts. Thank you.

Within the past year five of my good friends got pregnant, at the current time only two of them will give birth to babies this spring. That means that three of them lost their pregnancies to miscarriage. These women mean more to me than just acquaintances, I love them like they are sisters. The sorrow these women have faced in the wake of losing the pregnancies is indescribable.

It terrifies me that in the wake of passing a constitutional amendment as SB 406 defining life beginning at conception, these women could be investigated or even prosecuted after a miscarriage. During the 2007 Legislature, when former Rep. Jore sponsored the same bill, he stated on the floor of the house that he did, in fact, intend that HB 403, if passed could be used to investigate women in the cause of miscarriages.

Introducing the State into private medical decisions that should be between a woman and her doctor could be very dangerous to mothers and/or babies. Women, in fear of investigation or prosecution, may not report miscarriages or pregnancy complications to their doctors and miss out on critical medical care.

Miscarriages are very common, anywhere from 10-25% of pregnancies will end in miscarriage, 1 in 3 women will miscarry at some time in their lives. There are so many things that can go wrong with a pregnancy, and at those difficult times, women must feel safe to make the decisions that are best for them and their families with their doctor. Politicians like Rick Jore and Senator McGee have no business policing pregnancy. Pregnant women are not criminals.

Additionally I oppose this bill because of it could be used to ban abortion in Montana, which is basic health care for some women, but also because SB 406 has far reaching implications into invitro fertilization and access to certain forms of birth control.

I grew up in Montana, and I know that Montanans value freedom and privacy, and we also value our mothers, sisters, daughters and friends. And we don’t think the government should be making personal private medical decisions for us.

To answer Senator Hinkle’s question about why we would oppose putting this constitutional amendment in front of the voters of Montana, my answer would be this, Rick Jore did put this amendment in front of Montana voters, and it failed to get enough signatures to make it on the ballot, in fact it didn’t even come close. Additionally it failed to pass in the 2007 Legislature, the people who represent the interests of the citizens of Montana. The people of Montana have made it clear that they would not support this constitutional amendment.

I encourage you to reflect on the women in your lives and that you represent that have had miscarriages or difficult pregnancies and vote do not pass on SB 406.

Connie
I live in Helena, MT 59601

Freedom of Choice

Wow, this is a new one. Sen. Balyeat is introducing SJ27 A JOINT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MONTANA OPPOSING THE FEDERAL FREEDOM OF CHOICE ACT.

Holy sour grapes batman. I guess the MT Legislature is the only republican dominated show in town so they are running at us gangbusters to prove that they are not obsolete. I mean REALLY, Joe?

My least favorite part of SJ27 are the two MASSIVE lies smack dab in the middle.

WHEREAS, the federal Freedom of Choice Act will not make abortion safe or rare, but will instead actively promote and subsidize abortion with state and federal tax dollars and do nothing to ensure its safety; and
WHEREAS, the federal Freedom of Choice Act will silence the voices of everyday Montanans and other Americans who want to engage in a meaningful public discussion and debate over the availability, safety, and even desirability of abortion.

1. By ending the funding of this back and forth fight about the legalities of certain aspects of abortion such as parental notification, constitutionally defining life at conception, constitutionally defining that the state has an interest in the unborn, groups like NARAL Pro-Choice MT and NARAL Pro-Choice America can focus their dollars on proactive solutions to unplanned/unwanted pregnancies such as medically accurate sex education, access to birth control and access to free pre-natal care. And if the sour grapes republicans could get the f over themselves, they could spend their monies there too.

2. I don't think that hog tying and physically gagging the anti-choice community in Montana could silence their voices. AND these anti-choicers are not every day Montanans, they are extremist, right wing, constitutional party members, Jonathan Martin dead baby photo holding nut jobs. Every day Montanans are pro-choice. In all seriously, if these crack pots want to go on and on about adoption over abortion and staff their creepy crisis pregnancy centers, the Freedom of Choice Act will do nothing to stop them.

We are going to listen live this morning. If you miss it live, you can listen to the 2/20/09 Senate Judiciary file here.

Pledge A Picketer

Susan Wicklund, a friend of Montana Women, has opened up a Women's Health Clinic in Livingston. She is, of course, enjoying some protest. Join me in supporting her clinic by contributing to pledge a picketer!

We Are Listening

Currently I am listening to Senate Judiciary getting ready to hear SB374 AN ACT REVISING THE PARENTAL NOTICE OF ABORTION ACT BY REVISING THE JUDICIAL BYPASS PROVISION; AND AMENDING SECTION 50-20-212, MCA.

Senator Perry, you no talent assclown.

I will say this again. Teenagers who get abortions will talk to their parents, and if they do not, there is probably a very compelling reason not to, abuse, incest, etc. To have them go in front of a judge or youth court to get a guardian in order for them to have an abortion is re-god damn-diculous! This process is not going to protect the privacy of that minor, and is designed to scare a minor into not seeking medical attention, or other more life threatening methods to deal with the unwanted pregnancy.

Plus, it is unconstitutional. Minors in MT should receive the same privacy rights as adults.

The other terrifying part is that they court may find that the medical treatment that the minor is seeking is not in the best interest of the minor and then may not grant judicial waiver. In other words, small town judge says no no little lady, you are having that baby. What happens then? Scary stuff.

This bill is not at all protective of minors rights.

If Senator Perry really cared about teenagers he would support allowing birth control coverage in CHIP. Probably not though.