A Sliver of Good News on the War on Women™ Front: Komen Foundation in Array; AZ Anti-Choice Bill Reworked
20 Mar
Today has been a shitty day on the War on Women™ front, as detailed by ABL and Emily. What with Tennessee deciding to up the intimidation of doctors who perform abortions and the women seeking abortions themselves; a Dick in Alaska suggesting that a pregnant woman seeking abortion should need the permission of the baby’s daddy in order to receive one to relieve his mind; a Proud idiot in Arizona saying that a pregnant woman seeking an abortion should have to view an abortion before having said abortion, and; anti-choice terrorists firebombing the office of Pro-Planned Parenthood Texas Senator Wendy Davis, it has been a shitty day to be the owner of a vagina.
But, it’s not all doom and gloom, Angry Black Readers. I have two small pieces of good news in the War on Women™. First, some news on our old nemesis, Komen for the Cure. Remember when we banded together and caused such an outcry, Karen Handel, VP of Propagating Bullshit resigned so she could nail herself to cross? Well, the latest news on the Komen Foundation is that two top execs have resigned and that the Foundation is in disarray. They aren’t sure how much they’ll be able to fundraise since their image took such a hit with the pulling funding from Planned Parenthood fiasco, and a number of local Komen affiliates have reported that they haven’t been able to reach their goals, either. For example, Jamie Leopold, the executive director of Komen South Arizona reported that its race only raised $200,000 of the $700,000 goal. We did this, Angry Black Readers, by uniting and raising a loud roar over the initial debacle.
The second little bit of good news is that Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Traitortohergenderville) is reworking her odious Tell Your Employer About Your Sex Life and Be Shamed for Being a Slut Bill because of the furor that arose over it. Now, the way she’s reworking it is pure bullshit, too, though less so than the original bill, but that’s not why I mention it. She wrote the bill expecting to cause an uproar about it; she says so in the aforementioned link. And yet, the furor was greater than she anticipated, so she’s rewriting it to make it less political.
This is a win, Angry Black Readers. The fact that she realizes she’s getting heat over it means we are winning. I know it doesn’t feel that way, and I know the bullshit is flying at us fast and furious – and I’m not including the firebombing as mere bullshit because that’s a whole different animal – and we have a metric shit ton of work still left to do, but these two small examples show that when we band together and lift our voices in unison, we win.
We have a hard road ahead of us, and this election is make-or-break in the fight against the War on Women™. I just wanted to give you all a bit of hope as we continue to battle on. We can win this. We must win this.
One last thing – many of us have been asking, where are the doctors in all this? Well, courtesy of my dear friend, Yutsano, John Scalzi has one physician offering a template to his/her fellow doctors as to how to practice civil disobedience in defense of their patients in the face of all these anti-women bills being passed. I thank this doctor from the bottom of my heart and hope that more doctors follow his/her lead in speaking out in defense of women across the nation.
Like I said on twitter when I saw that: let them fucking burn. There’s plenty o’ other cancer charities to donate to. And hey – maybe one day we can all say “FOR THE CURE” without getting fucking sued!
::standing ovation::
I done fake-married the smaht one.
I’ll take any good news we can get!
And thanks for linking to the John Scalzi piece. I read that earlier tonight, and heartily thank the anonymous physician. I hope more doctors start speaking out about these horrible laws. I’m surprised — and disappointed — that more doctors haven’t spoken out. I work in a field where there are a lot of laws and rules and so forth, and some of them have to do with acting with integrity. It has just boggled my mind that so many doctors seem to be remaining silent. Would not doing these transvaginal ultrasounds when they are not medically necessary violate the Hippocratic Oath: “I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone”? I realize that some doctors, like people in any profession, are low-down dirty scums, but I think most of them are not (this is just my thinking, not backed up by any stats).
And I know there are people in politics who are also doctors, and some of those doctors are helping to push these heinous bills. But they are operating as scum-sucking politicians, not as doctors.
Please, doctors, speak out more about this.