Sam Brownback got a standing ovation during his first State of the State address in January when he called for tighter regulations on abortion clinics. Right-wingers had to be embarrassed that, even with only four abortion doctors working in the state in 2008 (the number comes from before Dr. George Tiller assassination), the Kansas abortion rate was still the 13th highest in the country.
Well, say what you will about Brownback's agenda, but don't say he's ineffective at pushing it through. On Monday, Brownback signed a bill placing controversial new regulations on the state's remaining three abortion providers.
The Associated Press reports that under the new rules, which take effect July 1, the state will require annual and unannounced inspections of abortion clinics, and have new health and safety rules preventing them from using telemedicine systems to dispense pregnancy-terminating drugs under legislation, cutting off women who can't make it to one of the three clinics left in the state. Rather than accessing medications through the telemedicine systems, only a licensed physician will be allowed to prescribe abortion-inducing drugs, and then only in the presence of the patient. Abortion drug RU-486 was responsible for about 26 percent of Kansas abortions last year.
On top of the new medication rules, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment will be asked to write standards for exits, lighting, bathrooms and equipment for the clinics. The department would issue annual licenses to clinics as well as be able to fine clinics and get court orders shutting them down if they don't comply with the new laws.
Of course, Kansans for Life thinks this is great, because if you can shut down a Planned Parenthood based on not having enough exits or having poor bathrooms, then they're all for it. The group's director, Mary Kay Culp, claims that this is about making women safe from bad doctors, but even if you could show that abortion was 100 percent statistically safe mentally and physically in every single case, all this comes down to KFL wanting abortion outlawed and it doesn't really matter to them how the women entering the clinics are treated. Why she just doesn't admit it is beyond me, since the line about protecting women from malpractice by making sure the bathrooms are clean and well-lit isn't swaying anyone on either side and just makes her look disingenuous.
As for the abortion providers, they see this as a naked ploy to try and force them out of business, seeing as regulations on the buildings alone will require tens of thousands of dollars just to bring the places up to the new, arbitrary code. Aid for Women in KCK says it'll have to find $10,000 to install a brand-new exit or risk getting shut down by the state.
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Women will always find a way to get abortions. But if they're not safe and legal, they'll end up like Gerri Santoro, who died alone in a motel room on June 8, 1964 after the man performing the abortion (who was also the father of the fetus she was carrying) abandoned her because she started hemorrhaging. Is this what you want, "pro-life" activists?
I'm sure every guy in Kansas with a pair of rusty knitting needles and a standing reservation at a rent-by-the-hour motel is overjoyed to hear this.
Yes I accidently misused the pluaral form of women rather the the correct singular form of woman, but if this is the only statement you have to say, well I feel sorry for you.
I know this is such a hard concept but for myself, a young, educated hispanic women, it's not that hard.
Unlike the difference between singular and plural.
Why she just doesn't admit it is beyond me
Because she's a Republican, of course. Have you ever met one who wasn't a lying piece of shit? I haven't.
No Peter I absolutely agree, you should break down who is getting an abortion by race and also by age and so on, for education purposes. I do think that taking in socioeconomic issues would help clarify some of the disparity specific to race. Also it may claify some underlining reasons why places like planned parenthood and other clinics place their clinics in highly populated minority neighborhoods. My last post was a little sarcastic, this post is not. I truly agree with you. Thanks for your post.
Speaking without the benefit of a law degree, and therefor absolutely no way of knowing whether I'm right, yes FriedmanIsDead I think you have it figured out.
This is just my two cents, and I'm no legal scholar:
I think that these type of "laws" might fall under the rubric of "Bill of Attainder". It is defined as, "...an act of a legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a judicial trial."
Because these places have done nothing wrong, these a-holes seek to create ways to make them non-compliant or criminal without the "inconvenience" of having to prove any wrongdoing.
Not "brought up to code". More accurately, it's "forced to comply with new codes that apply only to these clinics".
Also, "just say no" works with neither sex nor drugs.
I know I shouldn't do this, but if we want to break down who's getting abortions by race, the most recent stats I could find placed abortion rates among Hispanic women at double that of white women. Hispanic women also have a higher rate of unintended pregnancy than white girls. Both of those groups trailed black women, who had an abortion rate almost five times higher than the white ones. I assume the comments section will draw reasonable conclusions about these numbers taking into account socioeconomic issues, and well as matters of race and gender disparity. You're welcome.
Really force them out of business???? They make tens of thousands of dollars, if not more and they can't afford to be brought up to code?? As for the annual and unannounced inspections, there should be no issue about this if they are not doing anything wrong. Last but not least, if women don't want to be mothers then DON"T HAVE SEX!! I know this is such a hard concept but for myself, a young, educated hispanic women, it's not that hard.
As you mention, it's frustrating that they're being so disingenuous about this. We all know your goals - stop being pussies and introduce some legislation to get it banned. Enough with this passive-aggressive manipulation of building code bullshit.
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