Iowa Women Have A Führer

[Cowboy]

http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/go ... 6/13/68582

Governor Terry Branstad, Iowa’s New Abortion Decider-In-Chief

by Jean Ann Esselink
June 13, 2013

Iowa is about to become a one-of-a-kind state – the only state with its own abortion arbiter. From here on out, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad will be personally signing off on each and every request for a Medicaid-covered abortion in his state. In Iowa, that means victims of rape. Victims of incest. Women whose lives are endangered by a pregnancy. Women who are carrying a fetus so malformed it won’t survive. The Governor says he plans “to be thoughtful.”

I admit I am curious to know what that “thoughtful” process would look like. About 25 women a year make a claim for a Medicare-covered abortion in Iowa. The cost to the state is about $20,000. Budget dust. This is not about money. This is about punishing bad bad women. Will the governor meet with each woman individually? Will he demand each one tell him her own personal story of how she became pregnant? Will it be one-on-one in his office? Will he have a female staffer present, like a gynecologist does during an exam? I have to say, the idea of a 13-year-old being forced to whisper to the strange man in that photo above the details of her rape by Uncle Bob? Too creepy.

Maybe the interview won’t be held in the governor’s office. Maybe Governor Branstad will devise some formal procedure. He could have group hearings in one of those imposing wood paneled, gilt trimmed courtrooms. The governor would wear a black robe and look down on the women from the judge’s chair. The women would be brought before him, one at a time, for their chance to throw themselves on his mercy. It would be Governor Branstad’s job to “thoughtfully” size them up with probing questions designed to catch those not legitimately raped. The advantage to this plan would be that the governor could give an actual thumbs up or thumbs down, and be cheered or jeered by the audience, like a Roman emperor at a gladiator match.

I suppose the most likely way the governor will make his decision will be with pieces of paper in front of him. Their medical records? I don’t think the governor has the background to be “thoughtful” about their medical histories. Maybe he will request a summary from the doctor? Or maybe it would fall on some political aide to write a history of each case for his boss? Will that aide also make recommendations? Will photos of each woman be included? Can friends and relatives write letters of support? How about the biological father, will he be heard from? Perhaps each woman will have to make a personal written request directly to the governor? Will those letters be public? What about at election time when the governor needs to explain to his base why he approved any abortions at all? And that brings up the biggie: Will the governor deny women abortions just to keep the goodwill of his Conservative political constituents?

Maybe it can be a new reality show: Iowa Incubators. (I’ll work on that title.)

And while we’re thinking about how this new law is going to work, let’s think about Governor Branstad’s public remarks on the subject. He said he will be “thoughtful,” and he hopes he will be able to “reduce the number of abortions” paid for by Medicare. That sounds like he will be making moral judgments on each woman’s story, not an impartial judgement on whether each woman’s medical condition meets the requirements of a covered procedure. If he needs to be “thoughtful” it means Governor Branstad will be sitting in judgement on the character of the women. Thumbs up, or thumbs down.

The moment you start thinking about how a male politician with no gynecological training goes about making life and death medical decisions for indigent women, this new power becomes a nightmare. Someone needs to ask the Iowa legislature, “What in the hell were you thinking?”

Yikes!

[Cowboy]

Very informative to watch what the party of small government and restriction of government powers does when it gets into office.

"We are in charge of your bodies, not you.
We decide whose baby you carry.
We decide if you were raped or not"

[bannination]

Seems like it'd be better to just hand out the glasses of bitter water..... cheaper too... Why can't they just follow the bible in most cases?


http://www.biblestudytools.com/numbers/ ... rs+5:11-22

The Test for an Unfaithful Wife
11 Then the LORD said to Moses, 12 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If a man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 by sleeping with another man, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure--or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure-- 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder offering to draw attention to guilt. 16 " 'The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the LORD. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the LORD, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, "If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband"-- 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse of the oath--"may the LORD cause your people to curse and denounce you when he causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell. 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells and your thigh wastes away. " " 'Then the woman is to say, "Amen. So be it."

[Cowboy]

It's a scam to hustle a tenth of an ephah of barley flour.
Wonder what Terry Branstad plans to hustle?

[Stinger]

It's a scam to hustle a tenth of an ephah of barley flour.
Wonder what Terry Branstad plans to hustle?

Damn. I got ripped off. The priest charged me a fifth of an ephah of barley flour.

[Cowboy]

Damn. I got ripped off. The priest charged me a fifth of an ephah of barley flour.

A believer and his ephah of barley flour are soon parted.

[Dryer Vent]

One man's ephah of barley flour is another man's ephah of grits.

[Stinger]

One man's ephah of barley flour is another man's ephah of grits.

No way am I giving any priest a tenth of an ephah of grits. She can just fool around for all I care.