Pro-Choice Maryland

Republican lawmakers are raising concerns that the party will alienate young voters and women by voting for an antiabortion bill coming to the House floor next week, on the 42nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.

In a closed-door open-mic session of House Republicans, Rep. Renee Ellmers spoke out against bringing up the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban abortion after 20 weeks, telling the conference that she believes the bill will cost the party support among millennials, according to several sources in the room.

"I have urged leadership to reconsider bringing it up next week.… We got into trouble last year, and I think we need to be careful again; we need to be smart about how we're moving forward," Ellmers said in an interview. "The first vote we take, or the second vote, or the fifth vote, shouldn't be on an issue where we know that millennials—social issues just aren't as important [to them]."

The frustration comes as the GOP retreat on Thursday night hosted demographer Neil Howe, the man credited with coining the term "millennial," and as the party has been discussing how to appeal to young voters.

Other members voiced concerns in the meeting that the bill, which passed the House last year, distracts from the GOP's stated message of creating jobs and spurring economic growth.

Dear GOP,
Please do two things. A-listen to Rep. Ellmers and B-See where it says that the GOP's state message of creating jobs and spurring economic growth? Yeah, what happened to that agenda? Going after healthcare a hundred billion times and reproductive rights wasn't part of the plan. If I had been a republican that voted for you economically, I would be miffed right now that you're doing something exactly the opposite of what you said you would do.

Sincerely,
Me

Cross posted to we_r_the_middle

The Supreme Court has been making horrible decisions lately. Frankly, I hope these decisions bite them and the supporters in the ass.

First one: WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously struck down a Massachusetts law that barred protests, counseling and other speech near abortion clinics.

“A painted line on the sidewalk is easy to enforce, but the prime objective of the First Amendment is not efficiency,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote in a majority opinion that was joined by the court’s four-member liberal wing.

The law, enacted in 2007, created 35-foot buffer zones around entrances to abortion clinics. State officials said the law was a response to a history of harassment and violence at abortion clinics in Massachusetts, including a shooting rampage at two facilities in 1994.
What is so hillarious is that the Supreme Court has a huge buffer zone itself. If you ever protested in front of the Supreme Court before, you aren't allowed to be on the steps. You have to be off the steps when you protest. I mean...it has a 35 foot buffer zone that this clinic was trying to get. Yet, I haven't heard any one tried to get this buffer zone in front of the Supreme Court taken down because it violated their freedom of speech.

( More personal thought )

Then the second, more fucked up one (imo): WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that requiring family-owned corporations to pay for insurance coverage for contraception under the Affordable Care Act violated a federal law protecting religious freedom. It was, a dissent said, “a decision of startling breadth.”

The 5-to-4 ruling, which applied to two companies owned by Christian families, opened the door to many challenges from corporations over laws that they claim violate their religious liberty.
I really hope this ruling comes back and bites supporters in the ass. It would suck for these people if they had relatives denied certain medical services like blood transfusions and meds for mental illness because it went against their relatives' employer's beliefs. Worst, if their relative or friend's employer was against any medical intervention. An employer has no place in their employee's health, whether if it's reproductive or general. However, I hope this costs the republicans their power in the House between this election and the one in 2016.

From NOW:
All women have the right to have the children they want, raise the children they have, and plan their families through safe, legal abortion, and access to contraception, and pre and post-natal care. For those rights to become a reality, women in all communities need to have the resources and the economic, social and political power to make health decisions about their bodies, their sexuality and their reproduction.

Sign the NOW Pledge to protect reproductive rights

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called for anti-abortion rights advocates to reach out to pro-abortion rights advocates Thursday evening, making him the latest Republican to urge like-minded voters to be open to a group not traditionally viewed as conservative.

"To advance the pro-life cause, we need to work with people who consider themselves pro-choice, because our task isn't to purge our ranks. It's to grow them," Ryan said at a D.C. gala for the Susan B. Anthony List, a political action committee that helps anti-abortion candidates get elected to Congress.

The former GOP vice presidential nominee and current House Budget Committee chairman told those in the audience they needed to "expand our horizon" but urged them to "stay vigilant" and to work "with patience" and "with good cheer."

"We don't want a country where abortion is simply outlawed," Ryan said. "We want a country where it isn't even considered."

The Wisconsin congressman, who headlined the event, told the group it needed to "show the pro-life cause isn't just the cause of the unborn" but a "deep affirmation of human rights."

( More )

Cross posted to we_r_the_middle

Sign the Bill of Reproductive Rights if:
-You want everyone to have the right to make their own decisions about their own reproductive health and future, free from intrusion or coercion by any goverment, group, or individual

-You want everyone to have the right to a full range of safe, affordable, and readily accessible reproductive healthcare. This includes pregnancy care, preventive services, contraception, abortion, fertility treatment, and accurate information about all of the above.

-You want everyone to have the right to be free from discrimination in access to reproductive healthcare or on the basis of our reproductive decisions.

From NOW:
Send a message to your Congress members today, urging them to vote down any effort to restrict contraceptive coverage in health care.

Background:
Continuing Attacks on Birth Control - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other extremists are expanding their campaign against women's reproductive rights by going all out to restrict birth control. They are not content with the Obama administration's extraordinary accommodations to religiously affiliated organizations -- namely, churches have carte blanche to keep birth control out of their health plans, while for other religious employers the cost of birth control coverage is absorbed entirely by the insurer. Now the bishops and their allies in Congress want all employers to be able to strip birth control from their health plans. That this is happening in a volatile election year is no accident.

( More )

This information needs to be conveyed to your senators in order to defeat these attacks on birth control.

I got this from NOW, but MoveOn.org is hosting this:

Trust Women Week is from Jan 20th to Jan 27.

People around the country are joining together to show our strength and advocate for women's health and reproductive justice. Join the march now and add your name to our message for Congress and other elected officials.

Many reproductive rights and women's rights organizations support this