- Snake oil? – Information is Beautiful’s infographic on supplements. Sent in by a ton of peeps.
- The next anti-choice target: Miscarriage – “A new Utah law could charge women with homicide if they miscarry, making women’s rights advocates concerned that women will be brought up on murder charges for drinking, failing to wear a seatbelt, or falling down the stairs.” Also sent in by lots of people.
- Locked in: Chiropractic adjustment gone wrong – Scott Tatro suffered a brain stem stroke in 2000 after receiving chiropractic adjustments on his neck. He has now written a book about his experience and the risks of chiropractic. Â
- Tree Lobsters on safety measures – From Steve (not TreeLobsterSteve, an entirely different Steve who shares a love of a Tree Lobsters)
- Cute Animal Friday! The tree lobsters have competition. Tracy passed on this Lobster Cat from Maggie M. And I’m really not surprised that Elyse found this one. Giant gecko is gigantically adorable.
I know it is entirely missing the point, but I love the idea of a pedestrian pledge.
The miscarriage crap makes me rage every time I read something about it.
Women are nothing more than walking uteruses to these people. It’s disgusting.
The miscarriage story is just scary, the concept is so over the top and ridiculous that it seems like it should be some kind of dark satire.
What next, not having any children is murdering the potential for children? *shudder*
And the only reason this bill was even created was because a 17 year old allegedly paid a man $150 to beat her up so that she would be forced to miscarry.
There are, not surprisingly, parental consent laws in Utah, before a minor can get an abortion. I wonder what her home life was. Probably not pleasant. Which is why I am so against these parental consent laws. If a minor can’t talk to her parents about this kind of stuff, there is probably a good reason. But of course Utah doesn’t care; they probably hope the child can’t or won’t talk to their parents, and therefore can’t get a needed abortion.
No one asks why a 17 year old girl would feel so desperate as to put her life in danger so that she doesn’t give birth, but instead they make her into some horrible villain.
Not to mention, comprehensive sex education and birth control options are likely slim to none in Utah.
But you know, we must protect women from themselves, at all costs, no matter what!
@Alisha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Handmaid's_Tale
We need to send my cute animal submission to Utah!
@Elyse: Yes! Laser squirrels are very pro-choice.
@marilove:
Wow, I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but that actually makes this whole thing even worse. That kind of desperation should wake people up to the need for choice, I can’t imagine a more intimately abusive act than forcing a women to carry to term a child she does not want to carry, or is unable to carry.
Combined with abstinence only education in schools, I really despair for women living in countries where religion dominates social and health policy.
@marilove: What’s amazing to me is that anyone can hear the story of this girl and think anything other than, “what a sad story/home life.” And by amazing, I do not mean surprising; I mean that I cannot imagine what tragedy would have to befall me to make me think like this empathy-less asshats.
To me, this is an example of exactly why abortion needs to be legal. Women are going to get pregnant unintentionally and seek termination- whether or not it’s legal. Shouldn’t we make it safe? By the way, I don’t mean to imply that “evil women will do it anyway, so let’s do it safely” is the best argument- but I do think it’s something even people who believe “abortion=holocaust” should be able to identify with. Although I’m not that naive.
*giggles wildy while playing with the “Snake Oil?” blubbles*
That is kind of usefull, if the information is to be relied upon. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
@Displaced Northerner: Yep, this is a classic “back alley abortion” — but these people don’t see it this way. These people aren’t rational.
@Izzy: While it is a bit unwieldy, click on the Googledoc that the info-graphic is generated from. All the references are listed. It’s a lot, but it’s somewhere to start.
@marilove: Looks like it’s time to break out the Barbara Kruger posters in Utah. http://weheartit.com/entry/516031
Lobster cat reminds me of what some acquaintances did for Halloween a few years ago. They had a very laid back elderly cat named Red Dog (flame point Siamese). So they dressed him up as a lobster, got a giant pot, and went to a friend’s party dressed as chefs with him.
@LtStorm: I have friends who did the same thing- but it was their cute chubby little baby who was the lobster. It was adorable.
Have the chiropractors sued Scott Tatro yet?
Once, I overheard a coworker responding to some news that people who participated in AO sex ed were just as likely to have premarital sex as those who had regular sex ed. Bear in mind, this was a statistician. And, that got me to thinking….
Did I miss something, or is that about right?
Yeah, the miscarraige bill gets worse right towards the end.
“The father, if married to the mother at the time she receives a partial birth abortion, and if the mother has not attained the age of 18 years at the time of the abortion, the maternal grandparents of the fetus, may in a civil action obtain appropriate relief, unless the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff’s criminal conduct or the plaintiff consented to the abortion. Such relief shall include: (a) money damages for all injuries, psychological and physical, occasioned by the violation of Section 76-7-326 [or 76-7-329 ]; and (b) statutory damages equal to three times the cost of the partial birth abortion.”
Please tell me I’m misreading this, and it doesn’t say that a woman’s husband, or if she’s underage, her parents, are allowed to sue if she gets an abortion without permission…
@Sunioc: D:
This whole thing makes me sick to my stomach.
The thing about miscarriage is that it’s usually just a random act of nature. Miscarriage is very common, and it’s usually due to genetic defects that make the embryo non-viable. It is rarely the woman’s fault, or anyone else’s. The womb is made to pretty protective of a pregnancy, so falling down the stairs probably won’t cause a miscarriage. And drinking alcohol has never been implicated in miscarriage risk, as far as I know.
For wanted pregnancies, miscarriage can already be devastating enough to a woman. We do not need to add guilt, fear, and even shame on top of that. The myth that women cause their own miscarriages, even accidentally, is largely what led Michelle Duggar to have so many kids.
@Sunioc: While I’m sure this is an unpopular opinion, I do think the father-and only the father-should have some say wheather or not a woman can get an abortion. After all, if we are going to hold him responsible AFTER the birth, shouldn’t he have some say BEFORE the birth also?
@infinitemonkey: No. The father has no official say. It’s NOT his body. He can have an opinion and in an ideal world, both the women and the father should be able to discuss things like this, but the real world is not ideal.
No. He does not have any say because he cannot get pregnant.
Period.
What if the father is abusive? What if she doesn’t want to carry the child to term, but he is insistent that she does? Forcing a woman to carry a child to term is unacceptable, period, end of discussion.
This is something two people should discuss *before* having sex, in an ideal world, but the world is not ideal. We can’t even get comprehensive sex education in most of the country!
My boyfriend knows I do not want to have children, and that I’d abort if I were to ever accidently have a child. He’s said he’s perfectl okay with this, but of course I’ll never *really* know — sometimes when people are suddenly faced with the reality of abortion, things change.
And if for some reason he wasn’t comfortable with my decision to abort, he can have all the opinions in the world against it — but I’d still abort.
It’s not his decision. It never will be. It is mine and only mine.
Take this 17 year old girl into consideration. She literally put her life into danger so that she could prevent herself from giving birth. Something tells me the father of the child wasn’t exactly supportive of her, or her desperate need to not give birth.
@infinitemonkey: Also, of course we hold him responsible after the fact, because after the fact, there is a living, breathing human that has needs, and we cannot punish the child just because the father suddenly decides to bail out.
But it is not his decision because it is not his body.
He cannot get pregnant.
He cannot carry a baby to term.
It is not his decision.
@marilove: “if I were to ever accidently have a child. ”
Er, get pregnant. LOL I can’t very well abort after the fact!
@marilove: I never said anything about FORCING a woman to carry a baby. However, if we are going to hold a man responsible for the child after birth, then he should have some say in the prenatal care of this same child. I think he should have paternal abortion rights-where he has the right to abort his paternity to the child, and can lodge official protests saying he wants to keep the child, even if she wants to abort it. He can’t stop her from having the abortion, however, if he offically protests, he should have recourse. To say before the birth he has no say because he can’t get pregnant, but then turn around and say he’s partially responsible after the birth because he helped create it is, IHMO, just as sexist and uncaring as forcing the pregnancy to term.
While yes, in a perfect world, this would all have been discussed, that’s not what we are living in. And, if you’re going to use a what if, what if she gets an abortion just to hurt the father. While men have the market cornered on physical abuse, women are more abusive in psychological and verbal forms. Studies have shown that men and women are just as likely to be abused by their spouses in their respective categories.
@marilove:
What @infinitemonkey: said. He’s not saying the man should get a 50/50 say in the matter, but a father should have SOME say!
BTW ending arguments with “period” is just like you saying “LALALA I’m not listening to your side.” And you do that all the time on here.
@infinitemonkey: That’s ridiculous. That puts undue stress on a woman who already has to make a difficult decision.
Sorry, but no. The decision is ultimately hers. If he has an opinion, sure, but making it into a legal matter just opens it up to coercion.
I would humbly like to add a codicil to the miscarriage bill.
Apparently tree lobsters confirm that crabs are not impacted by safe sex practices.
@Briarking:
That’s because it’s pretty clear to me that, since the man can’t get pregnant, he really does not have any official say in the matter.
He can have an opinion.
But it is in no, way, shape or form his decision.
It is interesting to me that it’s men — men who can’t get pregnant, who will NEVER know the fear of an unwanted pregnancy — who are so insistent about this.
When I clicked on that link about the miscarriage law I was sure I would see The Onion pop up. Dang, they’re serious!
@infinitemonkey:
Yes, because abortion is just oh-so-easy and women just LOVE to get back at men by getting them!
Um, no.
That’s classic sexism right there. That’s along the same lines of, “She totally put a hole in the condom to TRAP ME!”
That has nothing to do with anything.
A women has the ONLY SAY in whether or not she gets an abortion. It is up to no one else but her.
So basically, you want a woman who is already in a lot of stress and already facing a difficult decision to go on trial and “prove” that she should have an abortion? You do realize that this kind of stuff can take a long, long time — long enough that the abortion could be stalled so that suddenly she IS forced to have a child she doesn’t want, right?
The thing is, when you start giving *other people* the ability to make these kinds of choices for women, they will abuse that ability, and the result is things like a 17 year old paying someone to beat her up because she is so afraid of being pregnant.
Parental consent laws are very similar to “father consent laws” in that it puts yet more restrictions on access to abortion. Women no longer have official say — someone else does. And if you don’t think these kinds of laws will be used to force women to give birth (or forced to have an abortion she doesn’t want, as it can work both ways, and both are just as wrong), then you are naive — look at this Miscarriage bill and the reason why it was created in the first place! This is a really, really great example at why this stuff is not the way to handle things (parental consent laws being a big one), and yet people are still insistent that women must have the approval of someone else before they make the decision.
Pregnancy and childbirth are not walks in the park. Neither is abortion. No one should be forced to go through either, for any reason. Any.
And these kinds of laws WILL make it more difficult for women to give birth, because just tell me, what happens when she gets before a judge that is biased, or pro-life, or otherwise anti-women? She won’t have a chance in *hell*.
@James Fox:
Female crabs (at least the oh-so-yummy Blue Crab…I digress…) mate once. I don’t think they think about safe sex.
Besides, where the hell do you put a condom on a crab?
@marilove: And you don’t think that there isn’t coersion on the women’s side? Bear in mind that with all the social safety nets in place, there really isn’t a need to worry about the finances on the part of a woman. the financial risk is all the man’s part. The biggest risk to a woman is her social network. If isn’t at risk for losing the social network-being abandoned by her friends and family-then there is no danger to her.
@marilove: It’s men who are so insistent upon this because the way the issue is framed, men are the sexual predators just looking for someone to screw, and women are helpless victims, which is SO 1950’s.
I mean, look at the divorce laws. Its much easier for a woman to take a man for everything he has. This may have been a neccessity back in the 1970’s, when a woman was expected to be a housewife. However, now a woman can be just as successful as a man.
@Chasmosaur: I was thinking more of these guys for which condoms are ineffective protection.
http://sedgemore.com/2009/02/mystery-of-the-crabs-possibly-solved/
@marilove: “for women to give birth,”
Er, “for women to get a needed abortion”.
@infinitemonkey:
WHAT!
Now I know you’re just fucking ignorant. Yeah, the biggest risk to an unwanted pregnancy is JUST her social network!
Yeah, totally, that’s it!
Are you fucking serious?
Oh, yeah, because women can’t be prosecuted for having a miscarriage or anything … oh, wait.