The number of pro-life women running for office has increased, perhaps paradoxically, because of the social changes of the last few decades. The first generation of women to become active in politics strongly identified as feminist and considered abortion rights central to their feminism. Pro-life women were more likely to be full-time homemakers. Their invisibility on the public stage contributed to an impression that the vast majority of women were pro-choice.
These days socially conservative women are likely to have careers, too. The growing number of Americans who consider themselves pro-life suggests that fewer people, of either sex, consider access to abortion to be crucial to women’s economic success. The pro-life stance generally wins Republicans votes in general elections, because pro-lifers are more likely to vote on the issue than pro-choicers are.
That advantage is likely to be more pronounced for pro-life women running for office. Kellyanne Conway, a Republican pollster, says that her surveys have found that voters respond more positively to the pro-life message when it comes from women. Pro-life women won’t be suspected, or credibly accused, of opposing abortion because they want to keep women in their place; they can therefore talk about the issue less defensively than male pro-lifers sometimes do.
At the Abortion Gang blog, Shayna attempts to argue that prolifers know fetuses aren’t the same as children because they haven’t (to the best of her knowledge) pushed for tax exemptions for unborn children and stillborns. The argument is obviously logically flawed for a number of reasons but Shayna is also unaware that prolifers in at least one state have successfully passed legislation to give families who experience a stillbirth after 20 weeks a one-time tax exemption. The legislation passed unanimously.
Open mouth, insert foot.
A man in Connecticut named Arturo Rojas has been arrested for repeatedly hitting his pregnant girlfriend in the stomach because she wouldn’t get an abortion.
According to police, Rojas came back to the woman’s apartment while they were investigating and told them: “Yeah, I (messed) that (woman) up. She is stupid and won’t get an abortion.”
Governor Charlie Crist vetoed Florida’s ultrasound legislation on Friday.
"Such measures do not change hearts, which is the only true and effective way to ensure that a new life coming into the world is loved, cherished and receives the care that is deserved," Crist wrote.....
GOP reaction was so swift that the House Republican office issued a news release decrying the veto seven minutes before the governor's office announced it.
"This is just another example of Charlie Crist saying something publicly one day and then doing the opposite the next," said House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach. "Charlie Crist is becoming easy to predict: disregarding principle, previous statements or public assurances, he will switch his positions to whatever he thinks will get him the most votes.'
The Washington Post has an article on ella, a new emergency “contraceptive” which may act to prevent implantation.
Ella works as a contraceptive by blocking progesterone's activity, which delays the ovaries from producing an egg. RU-486, too, blocks the action of progesterone, which is also needed to prepare the womb to accept a fertilized egg and to nurture a developing embryo. That's how RU-486 can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting and dislodge growing embryos. Ella's chemical similarity raises the possibility that it might do the same thing, perhaps if taken at elevated doses. But no one knows for sure because the drug has never been tested that way. Opponents of the drug are convinced it will. "It kills embryos, just like the abortion pill," said Donna Harrison, president of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists....
They also fear some women will try to use ella to abort a fetus, putting themselves at risk for potentially life-threatening complications that have been reported among a small number of women using RU-486, and possibly damage their developing child if it doesn't work.
Proponents dismiss those concerns, saying that ella has been tested only within five days of unprotected sex and there is no evidence that it works as anything other than a contraceptive. Ella appears to be about twice as effective as Plan B in preventing pregnancy, and its effectiveness remains constant for at least 120 hours. Plan B begins to lose its effectiveness almost immediately and becomes ineffective after 72 hours.
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