This is the kind of utter horseshit, that reveals the true depth of the lack of either concern or understanding demonstrated by those male legislators who make such ludicrous pronouncements regarding women's health issues.
What Representative Rothlisberg apparently hasn't done is his homework. In point of fact, only about 18% of Ovarian cancer diagnoses are made in women under 50! 22,000 were diagnosed last year, and the key to the (limited) survival rate is early detection. In plain speak, the "honorable" gentleman would consign the health needs of all women over 50 to the scrap heap!
Similarly, in fact, uterine/endometrial cancer diagnoses are relatively rare in women of reproductive age, with over 75% being diagnosed after age 55. About 50,000 new cases were diagnosed last year, which means over 38,000 would have remained undiagnosed in Rothlisberg land.
This lack of concern by legislators regarding women's issues is ongoing and troublesome (at least to me).
We have:
"Women don't get pregnant that often from rape!" from Rep. Franks of AZ,
"If babies had guns, they wouldn't be aborted." from Rep. Stockman of TX,
Dear Liberals, go bookmark this site now: storesupply.com/c-480-hangers …" (The link is for a Web site that sells coat hangers.) This from a Faux news correspondent after TX banned many abortions.
"In the emergency room they have what’s called rape kits where a woman can get cleaned out" - Texas state Rep. Jodie Laubenberg (a woman if you can believe it), on why there shouldn't be a rape or incest exception in Texas anti-abortion bill
"Understand though, that when we talk about exceptions, we talk about rape, incest, health of a woman, life of a woman. Life of the woman is not an exception."(really?) — former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh (not the Eagles' guitar player)
"If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." -
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Missouri). His lost his Senate bid in 2012.
"One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country.... Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that's okay, contraception is okay. It's not okay. It's a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be."
—Rick Santorum, former Republican senator from Pennsylvania and former presidential hopeful
"As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it." —Former Texas Republican gubernatorial contender Clayton Williams on rape
In North Carolina, the war against women and their rights is more institutionalized, as in by state legislation. The state has diverted funds from Planned Parenthood (an organization whose founding principles were to counsel woman on ways to avoid pregnancy) to CPCs (Crisis pregnancy Centers) run by a religiously affiliated group known as the Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship. They tend to be concentrated in poor areas which have higher than average populations of persons of color.
An investigation done by NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina found that most North Carolina CPCs provide inaccurate information. Ninety-two percent of CPCs had no medical providers on staff. Almost half of the CPCs told women seeking family planning services that "none of the most common forms of birth control" were effective at preventing pregnancy. Twenty-four percent of the CPCs investigated encouraged women to hold off on obtaining an abortion because of the possibility of miscarriage. This is a tactic meant to delay abortion until it is more expensive, more complicated, or too late. One CPC even claimed there was a link between abortion and lung cancer, second degree burns, and embolisms. Rather than providing health care services, some CPCs gave women bibles and prayed for them, offered ultrasounds, not for medical care, but rather to encourage the woman to “emotionally connect” with the image, and provided baby items as an incentive not abort. This decision by the North Carolina Senate took money away from medical centers that provide comprehensive medical care to women in North Carolina and give it to deceptive and manipulative CPCs.
Ohio has tried a similar tactic, denying funds form planned parenthood and diverting them to " Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs). CPCs are organizations that purport to provide medical services to women, but in fact give women deceptive and misleading information about abortion and birth control.for any Rape Crisis Center which refers women to abortion services. Rape crisis centers usually help victims navigate the legal system so they aren’t forced to do so alone. By defunding these centers, the Ohio Senate is essentially saying that protecting rape survivors and ensuring they receive the care and justice they deserve is not a priority. How shameful.
In summary, decades of generally accepted medical wisdom are threatened by the ignorance of male dominated state legislatures and in some cases in the US House of Representatives. Statements such as the recent one by representative Rothlisberg are all too frequent, and reflect not only ignorance, but unconcern for things too many males, legislators or not) don't (and probably can't) understand. The corrolary to this, as in the case of Mr, Santorum, is the burning need to force his own moral(?) point of view on all of those who may or may not (most don't) agree with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment