Tennessee is considering legislation that would make a woman obtain a signed consent form from "the man by whom she is pregnant" before getting an abortion.
Meanwhile, Missourians' abortion rights are headed down the toilet as well. The state Supreme Court upheld the 24-hour waiting period, a state senator introduced an abortion ban bill, and another piece of proposed legislation would make Christianity the state's official religion.
Pop Politics does some "bitch"-ing about what's acceptable language at the Oscars. (via Deanna Zandt.)
Campus Progress takes a five-minute coffee break with Helen Thomas.
After years of chipping away at Roe, anti-choice activists weigh South Dakota's frontal assault. The article notes that the National Right to Life Committee, the nation's largest anti-choice group, has been notably silent on the South Dakota ban.
Also, anti-violence groups speak out, and here's a legislative history the ban.
Here's a justly outraged take on recent repro rights setbacks: "Your War in My Womb, My Middle Finger in Your Face."
The Women On Their Own report examines the voting power of unmarried women.
Now that there's only one woman on the Supreme Court, Anna Quindlen imagines the world if homes, businesses, schools, had one woman for every eight men.
The Guttmacher Institute ranks states' efforts in reducing unplanned pregnancies.
John Tierney does it again. Echidne and Garance Franke-Ruta respond.
Why journalists should ask about celebrities’ sexual orientation.
The American Prospect outlines the gay-rights movement's 15-year strategy to combat a new wave of anti-marriage initiatives... and Pistil magazine blasts traditional marriage.
Rebecca Traister reviews the updated version of Judy Blume's "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret."
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RE: Tennessee
It's about time that the rights of fathers are considered before throwing away a baby.
Is this the ideal solution? Probably not.
Is something along these lines long overdue? Damn straight.
Welcome to the concept of *real* gender equality, ladies. It's probably not what you had in mind, is it?
Re: "Real" Gender Equality--
Funny, I was under the impression that men couldn't get pregnant.
The Tennessee consent form implicates that women are perpetual minors--her needing a signed permission slip before she acquires medical care.
Negative. The Tennessee legislation recognizes the rights of fathers as equal parents. Actually, the proposed law falls short of that. It only requires notification. It SHOULD require consent.
Hey Wally, I'm sure we'll jump right on your bandwagon as soon as men are subjected to the same rates of poverty due to abstentee partners, the same legislation restricting their health care, the same rates of incest and rape,and the same economic repercussions of an unwanted pregnancy.
ctually, the proposed law falls short of that. It only requires notification. It SHOULD require consent.
How is a signed "notification" form not a consent form in practice? If the man refuses to give his "consent" (as though he had a right to do that, outrageous) he can simply not sign the form.
Or aren't you baby-fascists smart enough to think of that?
Sorry, Wally, the father has no right to compel the woman to carry a pregnancy to term. Maybe he could sue for the possession of whatever they scrape out of her uterus, but that's all he has any legitemate claim to.
If you want the fetus, you can come to the procedure and have the fetus. Finding a uterus to put it in is your problem.
well then, yellow, how is it that a woman has a right to collect child support for a child that she has carried to term against the father's wishes. where is the equity in that?
Hey, Wally, here's an idea - IF HE DOESN'T WANT TO PAY CHILD SUPPORT, HE SHOULD WEAR A FUCKING CONDOM! If he doesn't want a pregnancy he contributed to to be terminated, HE SHOULD WEAR A FUCKING CONDOM! Or better yet, get a damn vasectomy! Or practice abstinence! Isn't that what you sexist assholes are always telling US to do?
well then, yellow, how is it that a woman has a right to collect child support for a child that she has carried to term against the father's wishes. where is the equity in that?
Meh. It's not like almost 70% of these poor men don't avoid paying child support anyway. Somehow I think they're going to be fine.
Wally, instead of you trying to assert ownership over the uteruses of women you've blessed by sticking your dick in them, why don't you get more vocal about better male birth control? That would give you the best of both worlds - you could act like the man-slut that you seem determined to prove to us that you are, and you wouldn't get stuck with having to duck out of child support obligations.
Wally, child support is not owed to the mother, it is owed to the child. And God knows that child support isn't exactly a cash cow. There isn't equity in reproduction, and we can't create it with laws - maybe technology, but that's a while in coming. This inequity does not mean that anyone has the ability to usurp the rights of another. A father does not have the right to tell a woman whether or not she has to continue sustaining a developing embryo. It's her body and her pregnancy. Just like it's bad luck that a woman will be the one that has to have an abortion or carry a child to term if a pregnancy results from intercourse, it's bad luck that means a child may result from intercourse that a man may not want and may not want to pay for. The only legal way I could see to make this fairer - without trampling on a person's rights to control their body - would be to create a sort of societal fund that a mother (or father) left with a child could tap into to support their kid. Everyone has sex, so everyone has to pay in. How to make that work, I have no idea. And I sincerely doubt that it would ever be voted into existence. Still, an accident is not an opportunity to tread on the rights of others - it's just an accident, and the consequences have to be dealt with in such a way that the rights of all are preserved as much as possible.
"well then, yellow, how is it that a woman has a right to collect child support for a child that she has carried to term against the father's wishes. where is the equity in that?"
It's certainly a step up from her being able to demand the full-time use of his body for several months.
"Negative. The Tennessee legislation recognizes the rights of fathers as equal parents. Actually, the proposed law falls short of that. It only requires notification. It SHOULD require consent."
He can consent when he gets pregnant. He can be notified when he gets pregnant. They are NOT equal parents when one is doing all the work. Gods, but this father-consent business is flawed logic or deliberate misogyny, if not both: the man is affected by the abortion, so he should be able to have sole control over the decision even though it affects the woman so much more? That's like two patients going into the emergency room, and the doctors treating one of them for a small cut while the other sits there having a heart attack, because to treat the heart-attack patient first would inconvenience the one with the cut.
Remember, you can always give up parental rights after a child is born. That eliminates all child support payments and such.