Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[SalmonGod]

Umm... yeah... abortion was only like 40% of the argument there.

[Owlbread]

You're kidding.

*Looks at thread*

...You're not kidding. Kingfisher, WTF?

I don't think Kingfisher is very familiar with menstruation.

[palsch]

If people want to understand the deeper cost of these anti-abortion laws, realise that black market abortion drugs are already on the rise. The new law is going to make those even more common as women simply can't afford or access a legal and safe alternative.

Only now the clinics that so often deal with the complications from these illegal abortions are going to be shut down. Often these are the clinics that deal with them because they are the only ones around. They are also the places that afford women (and men) access to and information on birth control. Texas already cut family planning budgets by two thirds in 2011, mostly targeted at shutting down Planned Parenthood but with a hell of a lot of collateral damage. That round of cuts wiped out 56 clinics completely and knocked a number of others back to limited hours or days. This will shut down another 37 clinics.

[Loud Whispers]

He was also in favour of not letting women use tampons

Not quite. He specifically said he was against their use in Texas basilicas, so that any afflicted women would be unable to delay votes on any future bills.

[Vector]

The thing is that there's exactly two reasons a woman usually (prrrrrretty much always) would choose a late-term abortion, which has somewhat changed my opinion on allowing them.  Those are

a. Developmental issues showing up

b. Early abortion restrictions and lack of access to abortion meaning that the decision has to keep getting pushed until later or later because the woman in question can't transport herself or doesn't have the money or etc.

That's it.  It's not people thinking "eh, I'll just wait."  No.  Pregnancy is not pleasant.  If you don't want to be pregnant, you shut that shit down as soon as possible, especially because abortions become more and more unpleasant and painful the later in the term they are.  And similarly, because of this, forcing women to carry the fetus to term is not a zero-impact decision.

For example, a lot of women will, after having babies, experience Bell's palsy (partial paralyzation, often temporary) or lifelong sporadic incontinence (this is most women--it may surprise you, but controlling this is another reason why people carry sanitary pads everywhere).


For those of us late to our lime party, I've been hostile because of Kingfisher's explanation that restrictions on menstrual products in the debating room were not a problem and, in fact, it was a pure and honorable sort of thing for the legislature to do.

I'm scared of this practice becoming standard.  I no longer trust the federal government to intervene on the behalf of women who are in the process of being disenfranchised; I don't think anyone will say anything about the illegal revote, or the attempts to keep women out of it.  I would not be surprised if this tactic became a trend, because as we've discovered here, it seems so reasonable.  And it taps into a lot of conditioning women have had in this country, being told that we're dirty and unclean and desperately need to hide that filthiness.  Everyone's taught not to pee their beds or their clothes, and then almost immediately after children get that, girls start menstruating.

This is only the beginning.

[Helgoland]

He was also in favour of not letting women use tampons

One of these days, I'll get myself a piece of that sig thread...

Also: I'm back, baby!

[alway]

I think the most effective protest to such bans would simply be this: Send in the women. Send in hundreds, upon hundreds of women; all on their periods. I suspect the ban would be revoked as soon as the state legislature begin slipping on the gore-streaked floor tiles. When they start to realize that with such bans

*sunglasses*

there will be blood.

[Scelly9]

Oh god that would be hilarious.

[Sirus]

Oh god that would be hilarious.

And a little disturbing.

* Sirus is slightly squicked by blood

But mostly hilarious.

[Loud Whispers]

I think the most effective protest to such bans would simply be this: Send in the women. Send in hundreds, upon hundreds of women; all on their periods. I suspect the ban would be revoked as soon as the state legislature begin slipping on the gore-streaked floor tiles. When they start to realize that with such bans

*sunglasses*

there will be blood.

That's funny, but they'd probably have to put the whole place down on quarantine.

...Somebody call Michael Bay.

[alway]

Oh, and I find the other line of reasoning, if it can be called that, absolutely ridiculous:

"Remember kids, children are your punishment for having sex!" Which is literally the argument that was being used here against abortion. That somehow 'sex' is some ultimate evil which must be punished; and that children are to be interpreted as some inherent evil which enacts that punishment. Which is both incredibly prudish and incredibly offensive to human dignity. This notion that 'you exist to punish your parents' is absolutely disgusting.

[Helgoland]

Oh, and I find the other line of reasoning, if it can be called that, absolutely ridiculous:

"Remember kids, children are your punishment for having sex!" Which is literally the argument that was being used here against abortion. That somehow 'sex' is some ultimate evil which must be punished; and that children are to be interpreted as some inherent evil which enacts that punishment. Which is both incredibly prudish and incredibly offensive to human dignity. This notion that 'you exist to punish your parents' is absolutely disgusting.

There was a party tonight which I could not attend that had a Foucault theme (yeah, the people I know are awesome ). Apparently that repression of sexuality is a huge part of his philosophy.

Of course, most of my knowledge about Foucault comes from here, so take that with a grain of salt

[Vector]

Foucault discusses the repression of sexuality, but it's not something he's advocating.

[MonkeyHead]

I would so go to a party like that as a giant pendulum, just to mess with people.

[Vector]

Article about freelance journalists.  Read it.