Republican state senators in Wisconsin on Wednesday silenced Democratic lawmakers while passing a bill requiring women to undergo an ultrasound procedure before being able to receive an abortion.
Wednesday’s Senate session began with state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (D) reading letters from several constituents who opposed the bill.
“The idea of — quote — small government is in direct conflict with big government Republicans sticking their nose my vagina,” one voter named Suzanne wrote. “How can we get the conservatives — mostly men — to quit blaming women, many times girls, solely for unwanted pregnancies?”
A second letter pointed out that the bill’s provision excluding rape and incest would not be effective because only 16 percent of rapes were reported to police.
Vinehout said that she had been touched by the letters because she had also been a victim of sexual assault at the age of 15.
“And if we truly want to make abortion rare, Mr. President, why are we defunding Planned Parenthood?” the Alma Democrat asked.
Republican state Sen. Mary Lazich, who sponsored the legislation, however, encouraged her fellow lawmakers to ignore “the theatrics surrounding” Vinehout’s presentation and then launched into an impassioned speech of her own.
“If you have a loved one that’s thinking about terminating their pregnancy, for crying out loud, you want them to have full information, you want them to have an ultrasound, you want them to know what’s going on in that womb and what they’re doing, and that they’re not going to be able to change that for the rest of their life!” she exclaimed. “They make that decision, it’s over! It’s over in a few minutes. And then later on they can live with the fact that they terminated their pregnancy and it was the best thing for them or they killed their child and they made a horrific decision and they regret it and they wish they never would have done it!”
Following Lazich’s remarks, Democrats tried to continue debate but Senate President Mike Ellis (R) called for a vote.
“It’s non-debatable! Call the roll!” he shouted. “You’re out of order!”
“You’re out of order!” someone on the Senate floor shouted back.
“You’re interrupting a roll call! Sit down! Right now!” Ellis yelled, repeatedly banging his gavel in anger.
That pic is wrong on so many levels. If Mike Tate and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin aren't showing that picture from now until Ellis is up for re-election in November 2014, they deserve to be fired immediately and replaced by someone with a clue.
Yes, weak-minded Wisconsinites, THIS what you voted for when you decided it was mean to try to remove Scott Walker and the Republicans from office. Not one GOP Senator voted against this case of big government at its worst, including the allegedly "moderate" Dale Schultz and Luther Olsen. They've got no problem forcing this thing onto women and their doctors.
And Governor Walker's totally cool with this bill, as he told the Associated Press yesterday.
The support from Walker, a longtime abortion opponent, was no surprise.Of course you think it's "just fine", Scotty. Because YOU'RE NOT THE ONE WHO HAS TO GET IT JAMMED UP INTO YOU, you self-absorbed prick.
"I don't have any problem with ultrasound," Walker told reporters after a school choice meeting in Milwaukee. "I think most people think ultrasounds are just fine."
This is the type of damage that happens when you elect Republicans and give them even a few months of power. And I'm not even going into the $500 million structural deficit that the Joint Finance budget has, or the rising property taxes that this budget will cause, or the "49th in the nation" economic outlook and 2 year track record of total economic failure.
Never again. We have to pledge and pound this message into the heads of every low-attention voter. NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN.
I suppose this is one way to look at it.
ReplyDeleteThe other way to look at it is that by doing the recall, we pretty much guaranteed Walker an easy win in 2014, meaning that by trying to avoid even two more years of Walker, we instead gave ourselves another six. Don't believe me? Why isn't anyone even in the race yet?
I supported the recall at the time. Knowing what I know now, I would not have supported it, and I think it was a big mistake.
Looking back on it, the only way we were ever going to win the recall was if Russ Feingold would have run. The only way we should have ever actually gone through with it would have been if Feingold would have committed to the race before petitions were gathered.
ReplyDeleteI'd agree that the only reason Walker's approval rating is/was above 40 is that he survived the recall, which riles up all the suburb trash that stupidly still back him. But I blame Mike Tate and the Dems for that, because they should have been pushing the meme of "Walker lied to you," and "This guy is dangerous and must be stopped." It was still the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteBut I also think Walkers a paper tiger, and a lot of people will abandon him like Bush circa 2006. Especially if we expose people to the crap they've pulled this week. That Ellis pic is damning on a whole lot of levels