READ THIS

[lagilman]

here we go again. You might want to read this. No, in fact, you'd damn better well read this:

To implement equal protection under the 14th article of amendment to the
Constitution for the right to life of each born and preborn human person.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

For purposes of this Act: (1) HUMAN PERSON; BEING.--The HUMAN
terms "human person'' and "human being'' include each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including, but not limited to, the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.


And then, if you;re as outraged and disgusted as I am, go drop a note in your local congresscritter's ear.

Use phrases like "Republic of Gilead," "loss of personal freedoms," "distinctly anti-female bias," and "insane."



Me? I'm torn between packing for Canada, and packing ammo.


http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ for who and how and why and who their supportable opponents might be.

Comments

[neadods.livejournal.com]

ljforchoice and repro_rights have been all over this one. It cannot pass. Literally cannot pass, because in addition to criminalizing miscarriage and in vitro fertilization, it also sweepingly bans capitol punishnment. Furthermore, even the most right-to-life gynocologists can't measure a pregnancy before that bugger implants, whether they want to think of it as a human from conception or not.

I know that's not what the guy MEANS, but that's what the bill says.

What infuriates me is that all this anti-contraceptive shit - and that's what this really is, part of the push to criminalize contraception by equating it with abortion - is happening after the largest march in DC EVER in support of real sex ed, contraception, and reproductive rights. Dudes, you can't pretend that it was a bunch of fringers clicking form emails or a single "out of the mainstream" group or two, that was an ARMY OF PEOPLE who found these issues important enough to go and prove that we're here, we're standing up for our rights, and we will not be silent.

We're marching too the polls too, dumkofts. That's what needs to happen now, an immediate and public backlash reminding them that we are still here and still vote. If you live in the state of a sponsoring congresscritter, let them know you're pissed. Then let the papers know you're pissed. And tell them in such a manner that it is obvious that their pious mouthings about civil rights for zygotes is trampling the civil rights of existing citizens!

[lagilman]

Here is the list of sponsors:

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 2, 2005
Mr. HUNTER (for himself, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. BARTLETT of
Maryland, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. WICKER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mrs.
MYRICK, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. GAR-
RETT of New Jersey, Mr. AKIN, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. RENZI,
Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. RYUN of Kansas, Mr. KING of Iowa,
Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. NEY, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr.
NEUGEBAUER, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr.
JONES of North Carolina, Mr. WAMP, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina,
Mr. PITTS, Ms. FOXX, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. HOSTETTLER,
Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California, and Mr.
LAHOOD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary

I'm ashamed to see anyone from NJ on that list. Ashamed, and angry.

[ferragus.livejournal.com]

Virginia has always had more then it's share of nutjobs, but I think I'm going to take a special interest in Mr Renzi and Mrs Davis (Jo Ann).

If just one of them can be defeated the next time around, the country would be that much better off.

I have to agree with neadods though, on the face of it, this thing is just too full of holes to get past Committee. Still I'll be writing to the committee just in case.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland

Now how did I manage to overlook that name? Getting right on it.

[havocthecat]

Illinois? Illinois? *headdesk* Damn it, Illinois is in there?

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

I was just coming in to post a big WTF about co-sponsors from NJ. So, WTF?

[lagilman]

Republicans throwing a sop to the ones who elected them, I suspect. *spits to get rid of nasty taste* So much for NJ being home of progressive Republicans....

[havocthecat]

Wait, how can this criminalize contraception when there are many forms of such that prevent pregnancy before fertilization even happens? *scowl*

Must. Go. Renew. NOW. Membership.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Not all contraception. (Yet.) Just all forms of contraception that prevent implantation - such as The Pill, emergency contraceptives, IUDs, etc.

That was the whole point of this sudden "Life begins at conception" notion - the plan to lump common long-term birth control techniques as the moral equivalent of a third-trimester elective abortion.

Since the real intention is to punish women for having sex, combatting this with the notion that they have to respect women's rights won't work. We have to push it as "protecting the family" - which we most certainly can do, as attempts to regulate zygotes interfere with fertility treatments and the link between pro-life and anti-children policies are pretty strong. (See my LJ memories under "march" - I have a link to the article which proves that the states that most restrict abortion also have the lowest standards of living for women plus highest child mortality rates.)

[terri-osborne.livejournal.com]

Working on rant about this, m'self, but wanted to share this little tidbit I discovered while digging around. If you click on "Return to Bill Status:" on the GovTrack page, you see this little list of more places to write:

The Money Trail

These organizations are associated with campaign contributions to legislators who sponsored or cosponsored this bill. The top organizations are listed below. This information is from OpenSecrets.

National Assn of Realtors: $257,000Show Details
$5,000 to Rep. Steven Chabot [R-OH]
$4,000 to Rep. Joseph Pitts [R-PA]
$10,000 to Rep. Thomas Tancredo [R-CO]
$15,000 to Rep. Virginia Foxx [R-NC]
$10,000 to Rep. John Doolittle [R-CA]
$10,000 to Rep. Addison Wilson [R-SC]
$5,000 to Rep. Steve King [R-IA]
$6,000 to Rep. Jack Kingston [R-GA]
$10,000 to Rep. Robert Ney [R-OH]
$10,000 to Rep. John Gingrey [R-GA]
$10,000 to Rep. Ray LaHood [R-IL]
$7,000 to Rep. Todd Tiahrt [R-KS]
$10,000 to Rep. Mark Green [D-WI]
$10,000 to Rep. Thaddeus McCotter [R-MI]
$10,000 to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD]
$10,000 to Rep. Rick Renzi [R-AZ]
$10,000 to Rep. Duncan Hunter [R-CA]
$10,000 to Rep. Edward Whitfield [R-KY]
$6,000 to Rep. John Shimkus [R-IL]
$10,000 to Rep. Jo Ann Davis [R-VA]
$5,000 to Rep. Timothy Johnson [R-IL]
$7,000 to Rep. Walter Jones [R-NC]
$10,000 to Rep. Christopher Smith [R-NJ]
$10,000 to Rep. Steven Pearce [R-NM]
$5,000 to Rep. Mark Souder [R-IN]
$10,000 to Rep. Ron Lewis [R-KY]
$10,000 to Rep. Zach Wamp [R-TN]
$6,000 to Rep. Jim Ryun [R-KS]
$10,000 to Rep. Trent Franks [R-AZ]
$6,000 to Rep. Sue Myrick [R-NC]

National Beer Wholesalers Assn: $183,500Show Details
$4,000 to Rep. Timothy Johnson [R-IL]
$10,000 to Rep. John Gingrey [R-GA]
$10,000 to Rep. Steven Pearce [R-NM]
$15,000 to Rep. Virginia Foxx [R-NC]
$10,000 to Rep. Todd Tiahrt [R-KS]
$10,000 to Rep. E. Scott Garrett [R-NJ]
$10,000 to Rep. Duncan Hunter [R-CA]
$10,000 to Rep. Robert Ney [R-OH]
$10,000 to Rep. Rick Renzi [R-AZ]
$10,000 to Rep. Steve King [R-IA]
$5,000 to Rep. Jack Kingston [R-GA]
$8,000 to Rep. Walter Jones [R-NC]
$7,000 to Rep. Peter Hoekstra [R-MI]
$7,500 to Rep. Mark Souder [R-IN]
$10,000 to Rep. Ray LaHood [R-IL]
$7,500 to Rep. John Shimkus [R-IL]
$10,000 to Rep. Steven Chabot [R-OH]
$10,000 to Rep. Thaddeus McCotter [R-MI]
$7,500 to Rep. Gary Miller [R-CA]
$5,000 to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD]
$7,000 to Rep. Roger Wicker [R-MS]

National Auto Dealers Assn: $200,500Show Details
$7,500 to Rep. W. Todd Akin [R-MO]
$4,000 to Rep. Walter Jones [R-NC]
$10,000 to Rep. John Gingrey [R-GA]
$10,000 to Rep. Steven Pearce [R-NM]
$6,000 to Rep. Virginia Foxx [R-NC]
$7,000 to Rep. Ron Lewis [R-KY]
$7,000 to Rep. John Shimkus [R-IL]
$9,000 to Rep. Mark Green [D-WI]
$7,500 to Rep. E. Scott Garrett [R-NJ]
$10,000 to Rep. Addison Wilson [R-SC]
$10,000 to Rep. Todd Tiahrt [R-KS]
$6,000 to Rep. Sue Myrick [R-NC]
$10,000 to Rep. Robert Ney [R-OH]
$9,500 to Rep. Zach Wamp [R-TN]
$9,000 to Rep. Steve King [R-IA]
$5,000 to Rep. Jack Kingston [R-GA]
$5,000 to Rep. Jo Ann Davis [R-VA]
$10,000 to Rep. Ray LaHood [R-IL]
$9,000 to Rep. Steven Chabot [R-OH]
$9,000 to Rep. John Doolittle [R-CA]
$7,000 to Rep. Thaddeus McCotter [R-MI]
$7,500 to Rep. Gary Miller [R-CA]
$10,000 to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD]
$10,000 to Rep. Jim Ryun [R-KS]
$5,500 to Rep. Thomas Tancredo [R-CO]

Lockheed Martin: $87,499Show Details
$5,000 to Rep. Walter Jones [R-NC]
$10,000 to Rep. Todd Tiahrt [R-KS]
$26,800 to Rep. Addison Wilson [R-SC]
$11,000 to Rep. Duncan Hunter [R-CA]
$2,700 to Rep. Thomas Tancredo [R-CO]
$7,000 to Rep. Jack Kingston [R-GA]
$6,500 to Rep. Peter Hoekstra [R-MI]
$13,499 to Rep. John Gingrey [R-GA]
$5,000 to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD]

General Dynamics: $81,000Show Details
$10,000 to Rep. Walter Jones [R-NC]
$10,000 to Rep. Trent Franks [R-AZ]
$10,000 to Rep. Addison Wilson [R-SC]
$10,000 to Rep. Duncan Hunter [R-CA]
$7,500 to Rep. Jim Ryun [R-KS]
$9,500 to Rep. Jack Kingston [R-GA]
$4,000 to Rep. Jo Ann Davis [R-VA]
$10,000 to Rep. Peter Hoekstra [R-MI]
$10,000 to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD]

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

National Beer Wholesalers Assn

*represses bad joke about beer being responsible for some of those pregnancies in the first place*

[barbara-ferrenz.livejournal.com]

This is the email I just sent to my representative, Steny Hoyer, who has always been a good guy.

Dear Mr. Hoyer,
I am a contituent and a Democrat in Southern Maryland. I have recently heard about HR 552, the Right to Life Act. As it appears to be written in order to undermine women's reproductive rights as well as, perhaps unintentionally, make miscarriages and the death penalty illegal, I am very disturbed by its introduction. This is another example of extremism in our government that frightens many of us. I noticed that Representative Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland is co-sponsoring the bill. HR 552 is not good for Maryland or the United States of America. I hope I can count on you to help protect the rights of women to make decisions about their own bodies in consultation with their doctors. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Barbara J. Ferrenz

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping that Hoyer and Mikulski smack Bartlett into next year. They're both very pro-choice.

[nick-kaufmann.livejournal.com]

I know it's not the main point of your post, but I was surprised and confused to see the word "cloning" in there.

[lagilman]

It's all about "the sanctity of life." In theory, they're trying to protect babies. In actuality, they're reducing our right to make our own choices about medical/life decisions, pro or con, because that's Wrong.

[alpha-strike.livejournal.com]

Gah! *bangs head on desk* Time to write another angry letter to congress.