Friday, March 17, 2006

It's time to cry now

I'm rapidly approaching the point where laughing to avoid crying isn't working anymore. Now I'm just getting angry which should help to fuel my participation in the various Movements of Dissent I will be joining over the next several years. I think we need another March for Women's Lives, but with way more people, including those with varying abilities and women of color.

But on to my new reason to cry:

Missouri's House okayed ban on birth control plan.

The Missouri House voted Wednesday to ban state funding of contraceptives for low-income women and to prohibit state-funded programs from referring those women to other programs.
And the republican woman, Susan Phillips, who sponsored the bill? She's okay with it because the groups Missouri Right to Life and Missouri Catholic Conference supported her.

Even with some of her own republican collegues telling Phillips that this ban will only increase unwanted pregnancies and that, instead of reducing the need for abortion, banning tax dollars from funding birth control will only add to the problem.

Oh, the bill also bans state funded organizations from referring women to another clinic to get the pills. So woman friendly this Phillips is, isn't she?

The House held a voice vote and the amendment appeared to fail. But supporters quickly called for a roll call to put each lawmaker on record supporting or opposing Missouri Right to Life. The amendment was approved 96-59.
On a lighter note, the pro-choice crowd in South Dakota are finally getting presstime in the MSM. I knew they had to be around somewhere because no woman should take this new law lying on their backs.

PIERRE, South Dakota (Reuters) - Abortion rights supporters on Tuesday responded to South Dakota's strict new abortion law by organizing protests, raising money and debating whether to use legal action or a statewide vote to try to strike down the law.
******

11 states have followed South Dakota's example and not surprisingly, Mississippi is one of them. Now exactly why should I be happy about this? It is my personal autonomy being questioned and my right to self authoritative power being dwindled and slowly taken away, piece by piece.

And it puts the lives of women, such as Orange, in danger so we can merely be a vessle for a clump of cells that may or may not be a *real human*.

The state-by-state fight for access to emergency contraception lives on, too, but states like Colorado and New Hampshire are proving to the rest of us that they do still care about our lives as a collective whole, especially in the case of rape or incest.

(Link to Trust Women article.)