Paul Ryan and Reproductive Rights
August 15, 2012 at 12:02 pm Ed Brayton
As journalists and pundits dig into Paul Ryanâs record in the House, itâs looking worse and worse for womenâs rights. Ryan isnât just your run of the mill Republican when it comes to reproductive rights, heâs on the ultra far right of the party. If he had his way, even the most popular forms of birth control would be illegal. Yes, you heard that right.
Ryan is one of the sponsors of a federal personhood bill, which would declare that any fertilized ovum âshall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood.â The bill would not just ban abortions, it would ban hormonal birth control â that is, the pill â as well, because such contraception works by preventing implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterus. And there are no exceptions even for rape and incest. That idea is so extreme that it was rejected soundly even by ultra-conservative Mississippi two years ago. Itâs been rejected all over the country by wide margins. Itâs wildly unpopular, even among Republicans.
But thatâs just the beginning. He actually goes even further than that. Remember that terrible Virginia bill that would force any woman seeking an abortion to undergo an invasive ultrasound even if their doctor says itâs medically unnecessary? Ryan is one of the sponsors of a bill, the Ultrasound Informed Consent Act, to do that on the federal level. This, again, puts him on the furthest right wing fringe of his own party.
Mitt Romney has tried to have it both ways on this issue. He was pro-choice â he once told a story about a family friend who died from a botched abortion to explain why he was pro-choice and said âYou will never hear me waver on thatâ â until he decided to run for president because he knew he couldnât win the Republican nomination without sounding stridently anti-choice. So last year he said he âabsolutelyâ supported a personhood amendment.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/08/15/paul-ryan-and-reproductive-rights/
August 15, 2012 at 12:02 pm Ed Brayton
As journalists and pundits dig into Paul Ryanâs record in the House, itâs looking worse and worse for womenâs rights. Ryan isnât just your run of the mill Republican when it comes to reproductive rights, heâs on the ultra far right of the party. If he had his way, even the most popular forms of birth control would be illegal. Yes, you heard that right.
Ryan is one of the sponsors of a federal personhood bill, which would declare that any fertilized ovum âshall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood.â The bill would not just ban abortions, it would ban hormonal birth control â that is, the pill â as well, because such contraception works by preventing implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterus. And there are no exceptions even for rape and incest. That idea is so extreme that it was rejected soundly even by ultra-conservative Mississippi two years ago. Itâs been rejected all over the country by wide margins. Itâs wildly unpopular, even among Republicans.
But thatâs just the beginning. He actually goes even further than that. Remember that terrible Virginia bill that would force any woman seeking an abortion to undergo an invasive ultrasound even if their doctor says itâs medically unnecessary? Ryan is one of the sponsors of a bill, the Ultrasound Informed Consent Act, to do that on the federal level. This, again, puts him on the furthest right wing fringe of his own party.
Mitt Romney has tried to have it both ways on this issue. He was pro-choice â he once told a story about a family friend who died from a botched abortion to explain why he was pro-choice and said âYou will never hear me waver on thatâ â until he decided to run for president because he knew he couldnât win the Republican nomination without sounding stridently anti-choice. So last year he said he âabsolutelyâ supported a personhood amendment.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/08/15/paul-ryan-and-reproductive-rights/
