[Vision2020] The GOP War On Women Accelerates

Wed Aug 22 10:26:45 PDT 2012

Hi Roger,

Where do you stand on the extreme, no exceptions GOP plank on abortion?  As
a local GOP leader you should tell us what you believe.

And do you support Ryan after he teamed up with Akin in proposing a bill
with "justifiable rape" in it, which is what Akin said he meant when he
said "legitimate rape."  Fortunately the language was rejected.  Ryan and
Akin are two peas in a pod with regard to social issues.

Inquiring mind wish to know.

Nick

On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 10:12 AM, lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:

> The Republicans want him to  drop out. His opponent wants him to stay in.
> Apparently both sides think he will be easy to beat. The rumor has it that
> Mccaskill's backers funneled a lot of money into his campaign in the
> primary.
> Roger
> -----Original message-----
> From: Art Deco art.deco.studios at gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 06:11:15 -0700
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] The GOP War On Women Accelerates
>
> > V
> >  [image: The New York Times] <http://www.nytimes.com/>
> >
> > <
> http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=goto&opzn&page=www.nytimes.com/printer-friendly&pos=Position1&sn2=336c557e/4f3dd5d2&sn1=a36510e4/68ad5fe5&camp=FSL2012_ArticleTools_120x60_1787508c_nyt5&ad=RubySparks_120x60_June25_NoText&goto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efoxsearchlight%2Ecom%2Frubysparks
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> > August 21, 2012
> > Akin Controversy Stirs Up Abortion Issue in Campaign By JENNIFER
> > STEINHAUER<
> http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/jennifer_steinhauer/index.html
> >
> >
> > WASHINGTON — As an orator, Representative Todd
> > Akin<ttp://
> topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/todd_akin/index.html?inline=nyt-per
> >of
> > Missouri may stand out for his clumsiness. But as a legislator, Mr.
> > Akin
> > has a record on abortion that is largely indistinguishable from those of
> > most of his Republican House colleagues, who have viewed restricting
> > abortion rights as one of their top priorities.
> >
> > That agenda — largely eclipsed for two years by a protracted fiscal
> crisis
> > and the fight over how to manage the federal deficit — has wedged its
> way,
> > for now at least, to the center of the 2012 campaign. It is focusing
> > attention on an issue that helped earn Mitt
> > Romney<
> http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/primaries/candidates/mitt-romney?inline=nyt-per
> >,
> > the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, a reputation as a
> > flip-flopper, threatening the Republican quest for control of the Senate,
> > and leaving Representative Paul D.
> > Ryan<
> http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/candidates/paul-ryan?inline=nyt-per>of
> > Wisconsin, Mr. Romney’s vice-presidential pick, in the uncomfortable
> > position of distinguishing himself from Mr. Akin, with whom he has often
> > concurred.
> >
> > It is an agenda that has enjoyed the support of House leaders, including
> > Speaker John A. Boehner and Representative Eric Cantor, the majority
> > leader, who has called anti-abortion measures “obviously very important
> in
> > terms of the priorities we set out initially in our pledge to America.”
> It
> > became inextricably linked to the near-shutdown of the federal government
> > last year when an agreement to keep the government open was reached only
> > after it was linked to a measure restricting abortion in the District of
> > Columbia.
> >
> > Even as Congressional Republicans, including Mr. Boehner, denounced Mr.
> > Akin’s remark that victims of “legitimate rape” were able to somehow
> > prevent pregnancy, an agenda to roll back abortion is one that House
> > Republicans have largely moved in step with.
> >
> > In an anti-abortion measure once sponsored by Mr. Akin, Mr. Ryan and
> scores
> > of other Republican lawmakers, an exemption was made for victims of
> > “forcible” rape, though that word was later removed.
> >
> > *On Tuesday, Republicans approved platform language for next week’s
> > nominating convention that calls for a constitutional amendment outlawing
> > abortion with no explicit exceptions for cases of rape or incest. That
> is a
> > view more restrictive than Mr. Romney’s, who has said that he supports
> > exceptions to allow abortions in cases of rape. *
> >
> > * *Mr. Ryan’s more conservative views, which have been reflected in votes
> > that would restrict family planning financing overseas, cut off all
> federal
> > funds to Planned Parenthood and repeal President Obama’s health care
> > law<
> http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
> >,
> > have come into sharp relief as Mr. Akin struggles for his political life.
> > Mr. Akin and Mr. Ryan each have voted in this Congress for 10
> > abortion-restricting measures as well as those that limited other family
> > planning services.
> >
> > Both Mr. Ryan and Mr. Romney have earned praise for their positions from
> > the National Right to Life group and other anti-abortion organizations.
> > “The right-to-life Romney/Ryan ticket is now complete,” wrote Barbara
> Lyons
> > and Sue Armacost, executive director and legislative director for
> Wisconsin
> > Right to Life, on the organization’s Web site.
> >
> > It is a legislative theme Democrats plan to highlight, even as House
> > Republicans try to keep the focus on economic issues.
> >
> > “All you need to know is that the House Republicans were willing to shut
> > down the government rather than fund Planned Parenthood,” said
> > Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, in an e-mail on
> > Tuesday. “This is in keeping with their efforts — whether it’s
> Congressman
> > Akin or Chairman Ryan or others — to deny investments in critical women’s
> > health services, weaken the definition of rape, and take away access to
> > preventive care like cervical and breast cancer screenings.”
> >
> > The House Republican agenda has troubled the half-dozen or so Republican
> > House members whose views differ from those of their colleagues.
> >
> > “I have time and again spoken out against this to leadership,” said
> > Representative Robert Dold of Illinois, who is in a tough re-election
> > battle. “I’ve tried to talk to them about the issues that we ought to be
> > moving forward on, like out-of-control spending.”
> >
> > Mr. Dold has voted in favor of half of the abortion restriction measures
> in
> > this Congress, far fewer than most of his colleagues. “There is no
> question
> > that there are times when I may disagree with a vote that’s brought to
> the
> > floor,” he said in an interview, “and the majority of my Republican
> > colleagues, but that is just part of what we deal with every day.”
> >
> > There have long been lawmakers, like Mr. Akin, whose main legislative
> > agenda centers on the abortion issue. They got a boost after the 2010
> > election when a large group of conservative members joined them.
> >
> > Mr. Romney’s views align with that of the Mormon Church, which opposes
> > abortion except in cases of rape and incest or when the life of the woman
> > is in danger. He has said he is personally opposed to abortion; as a
> Mormon
> > bishop in the 1980s he attempted to talk a congregant out of terminating
> a
> > pregnancy after doctors advised her to do so because of a potentially
> > lethal blood clot.
> >
> > But abortion has proved to be a politically volatile topic for Mr.
> Romney,
> > whose evolving views have disappointed liberals and stirred distrust
> among
> > conservatives.
> >
> > In 1994, when he challenged Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Mr. Romney said he
> > would “not force our beliefs on others on that matter.” In 2002, as a
> > candidate for governor, he claimed to support “the substance” of Roe v.
> > Wade. By 2005, though, when he was beginning to consider a presidential
> > run, he had reversed course and described himself as a “pro-life governor
> > in a pro-choice state.” Now, as a presidential candidate, he refers to
> > himself as solidly “pro-life.”
> >
> > Aides to Mr. Romney declined to say on Tuesday whether he would call on
> the
> > convention delegates to reconsider their position on abortion.
> >
> > Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, tried
> to
> > deflect questions on behalf of Mr. Romney, saying on Fox News that “this
> is
> > the platform of the Republican
> > Party<
> http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org
> >;
> > it is not the platform of Mitt Romney.”
> >
> > The idea of outlawing any exceptions for abortion is not new in American
> > political discourse or in legislation, nor are proposals to narrow the
> > definition of rape to distinguish between what some call “forcible rape”
> > and cases involving statutory rape or even some types of date rape.
> > Anti-abortion activists have long been concerned that women would falsely
> > claim to have been raped to gain an exemption to terminate a pregnancy.
> >
> > Historians and other experts on abortion politics say the no-exceptions
> > idea became part of the debate virtually as soon as Roe v. Wade legalized
> > abortion in 1973. “It has deep roots,” said Donald Critchlow, a historian
> > at Arizona State University who has studied abortion politics. He added,
> > “It’s appealing to segments within the Republican Party to show that
> you’re
> > pro-life.”
> >
> > Susan Cohen, director of government affairs for the Guttmacher
> Institute, a
> > research group in Washington that supports abortion rights, said the
> > no-exceptions idea is “not new and it’s not fringe.”
> >
> > “It is something that has been part of mainstream anti-abortion
> movement,”
> > she said. “The record is replete with evidence of the fact that there was
> > this no-exceptions attitude, and of course this makes logical sense from
> > the perspective of people who believe an embryo should have the same
> legal
> > status as you and I do.”
> >
> > In the 1992 election, the Republican Party included in its platform
> > language opposing abortion, allowing no exceptions and calling for a
> > constitutional amendment to make abortion illegal. Similar language
> > opposing any exceptions was included in 2000 and 2004, even though George
> > W. Bush also supported outlawing abortion except in cases of rape,
> incest,
> > or when the life of the woman was in danger.
> >
> > Four years ago, the Republican Party adopted a platform seeking an
> > unconditional ban on abortion, though its nominee, Senator John McCain,
> had
> > urged the party in the past to allow certain exceptions. After this
> year’s
> > abortion plank language was approved with little debate, the chairman of
> > the platform committee, Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia, praised the
> > committee for “affirming our respect for human life.”
> >
> > Pam Belluck and Michael Cooper contributed reporting from New York.
> >
> > --
> > Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
> > art.deco.studios at gmail.com
> >
> >
>
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