Ohhhhhh shit, how did I miss this – the House passed a bill in October that “makes it legal for hospitals to deny abortions to pregnant women with life-threatening conditions.”
Remember Thomas Olmsted, bishop of Phoenix? Who stripped St Joseph’s Hospital of its Catholic status because it aborted a fetus that was doomed in any case, in order to save the mother (who has four small children)? Remember the ACLU letter to the Feds urging them to enforce the law – the law that says hospitals can’t deny patients life-saving procedures? I guess the ACLU looks pretty silly now – because that’s not the law after all!
Well not quite. As far as I can tell the Senate hasn’t voted yet, and Obama has said he’ll veto it if it passes…
But Jesus H fucking Christ – they want to make it legal for hospitals to refuse to save the lives of pregnant women.
I could chew through a wall right now.
I’m sorry. I use this word sparingly, but that’s just evil
But Jesus H fucking Christ – they want to make it legal for hospitals to refuse to save the lives of pregnant women.
Thereby taking two lives, and not just one. Number of lives “saved” by this measure, should it become law? Not only zero, but a negative number.
Yes, “evil” sums it up for me, too.
Damn right. That bishop is evil. I looked into the matter in some depth a year ago, and it’s just horrifying. He seriously thinks it’s a bad thing that that woman’s life was saved – even though the fetus would have died anyway. He thinks she should have been left to die on principle. He thinks it so strongly that he did his best to use his theocratic power to make the hospital sign a statement promising never to do it again.
It’s a fucking nightmare.
Congress is nearly 1/3 Catholic.
Ah Christian priorities. Kinda makes you want to stab someone, doesn’t it?
I often cite shit like this when the morons I work with argue that no one is trying to prevent women from having access to abortions that will save their lives.
First thing a man’s principles do is kill someone.
Its still hard to imagine how people vote for these things however derange-dly religious they might be. How in the world is letting one person and one foetus(or even baby) die better than letting just the foetus die? Fucked up crazy assholes.
What in the hell is wrong with the House? Jesus H. Fucking Christ, as you say! This is all getting a bit too much of a muchness! The world seems to have gone right off its rocker! The more I hear about religion, the more I want to be able to stamp on it, and the stamp, stamp, stamp, until it’s only a grease spot, not enough left for carrion crows. But we know how this kind of law gets in the spotlight. It’s got a lot to do with the other story, about the influence of the USCCB. Remember, they even have an ambassador in Washington.
Sorry, missed the ‘b’ on ‘But’.
Ophelia, here’s a Bish. doing something any decent person would do. What struck was his explanation:
“There’s no way in the world one can penalise a child for what his or her parents do,” Bishop Manning said.
Umm, original sin anyone?
http://www.theage.com.au/national/school-forced-to-take-samesex-daughter-20111214-1ou92.html
During the blogging blitz I did on bishop Olmsted last year I read a blog post by a woman priest, who wrote that she was sure the bish didn’t mean what his words seemed to mean. The level of denial was staggering – and also alarming, because no doubt that’s what a lot of Catholics think. The bishop meant exactly what his words seemed to mean; he meant it with great emphasis. There was simply no room for misunderstanding.
It’s no joke that they hate female power, that’s why we get crap like the Let Women Die Bill.
I blogged about this a couple of months ago. I talked to a staffer in the office of the bill’s sponsor, and he just Did. Not. Get. why women would consider this a threat to their lives. He insisted that of course doctors would save women’s lives. I think he meant it, too; he just couldn’t acknowledge that his legislation would allow doctors not to.
Oh, gawd, TMJ – another example of denying what’s staring them right in the face. What can he have thought the clause meant?!?
That’s neither an excuse nor an explenation. More than 1/3 of Germany is catholic and most of them would shake their heads in horror at this.
I have a friend who lost a baby due to HELLP-syndrome. The boy was so premature he didn’t make it. They’ve had two healthy boys since. Makes a family of four plus one dead preemie. Now you’re allowed to calculate the family-size according to catholic doctrin…
The people who are pushing and supporting this bill will all have gone through some mental contortions in order to arrive at a state in which they have no doubt that they are doing the right thing. That’s the part that I can’t comprehend: the ability to ruthlessly stamp out all pangs of conscience and build up a fabric of rationalizations, thus gradually turning a normal person into a moral monster. How does that work? How do you reach a state where you can honestly say with equanimity that standing back and watching while someone dies unnecessarily is the right thing to do?
What’s next, denying care to the elderly and disabled?
I hate these people. I really genuinely do.
You and me both.
Everybody everywhere needs to make a big huge stink about this, because it’s mostly under the radar. That’s no good.
The bishop is a professional virgin. He has no clue about what normal people think or do in regards to sex or pregnancy. He follows the edicts of other professional virgins (all of them male) and proclaims The Big Guy In The Sky™ thinks abortion is icky. Like most religious leaders, he doesn’t give a shit about normal people, believing their role is to “pray, pay and obey” while he dictates their behavior.
Interestingly, the abortion rate for Catholic women is slightly higher than for Protestant women. So the bishop’s posturing appears to be in vain.
He told me that supposedly (“in California”), somebody is trying to get the law changed so that anytime a woman comes into an ER and wants an abortion for whatever reason, it’s considered an emergency. This was supposed to keep doctors from being forced to perform them under that circumstance. Again, I’m pretty sure he really believed this. I didn’t really know what to say to that (other than, “but … that’s not … what?”)
The Bishop’s God commanded these things before:
“The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open.” (Hosea 13:16)
“Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.
Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.” (Isaiah 13:15,16)
So God isn’t *completely* against abortion, it seems.
What a guy.