Jan 18 2012
The Activist Beat – 01/18/12
The Activist Beat with Rose Aguilar, host of Your Call on KALW in San Francisco is a weekly roundup of progressive activism that the mainstream media ignores, undercovers, or misrepresents.
This Sunday marks the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision recognizing a woman’s constitutional right to have a safe and legal abortion.
Women’s rights and pro-choice activists across the country are planning to mark the anniversary with rallies and demonstrations to express support for a woman’s fundamental right to abortion and reproductive justice.
If Republican presidential hopefuls Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul had their way, Roe v. Wade would be overturned. These four men are so extreme, they believe abortion should be illegal, even in cases of rape, incest, and threats to a woman’s health. That needs to be repeated. These four men believe that abortion should be illegal, even in cases of rape and incest. They believe that if your sister or best female friend is raped, she should be forced to go through with the pregnancy.
Why isn’t this getting more attention?
During the last presidential campaign, Republicans used the abortion issue to get votes as they always do, but they didn’t go this far. In 2008, Republican Senator John McCain, a supporter of a Constitutional amendment that would outlaw abortion, was heavily criticized for pressuring the Republican Party to change its platform to recognize exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
Here we are just four years later. Perry, Gingrich, Santorum, and Paul have all signed the first-of-its kind Personhood Pledge from Personhood USA. That’s the organization that is putting so-called personhood amendments on ballots across the country.
By signing this pledge, these candidates support a “human life amendment to the Constitution, and endorse legislation to make clear that the 14th amendment protections apply to unborn children.”
They also oppose assisted suicide and embryonic stem cell research. Rick Santorum is so extreme, he believes states should have the power to ban birth control.
And then there’s Ron Paul. Most of the coverage about Ron Paul focuses on his popular views about the military industrial complex and the drug war, but what’s missing is his extreme position on abortion. He calls himself “strongly pro-life” and believes that life begins at conception and abortion leads to euthanasia.
Ron Paul added an addendum to his Personhood pledge, stating that the 14th amendment has no role to play in protecting a fetus. He believes the states should decide.
It’s important to note that in November, when the so-called personhood movement backed a ballot initiative in Mississippi defining a fertilized egg as a human being, it lost by 58 percent. That tells you how extreme this measure is and how out of touch these men are with one of the most conservative voting blocks in the country.
Tonight in South Carolina, these men are attending Personhood USA’s Presidential Pro-life Forum. I’m guessing very few questions will be asked about what happens once the child is born. Their records are horrible on issues like early childhood education, children’s health insurance, or child poverty. In 2010, 16 million children lived in poverty. Do these so-called pro-life candidates ever address these issues? Of course they don’t.
The Children’s Defense Fund scores members of Congress based on how they vote on issues of importance to children. Representative Ron Paul is one of the worst representatives for children scoring zero percent. Even though the state of Texas has one of the worst child abuse records in the country, Governor Rick Perry has consistently cut child abuse prevention funding.
The new motto for men like Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul: Pro-life Until Birth. Let’s end this “pro-life” charade once and for all. They know the personhood amendment won’t pass, but rolling back reproductive rights is now becoming normalized.
So where is the outrage? Hopefully we’ll see it on the streets over the next week.
One Response to “The Activist Beat – 01/18/12”
Why is it that EVERYONE can see the threat from Iran, a country which MIGHT get nuclear weapons in the next 10 years but would have to deliver their ONLY warhead using a steam powered wooden rocket? Even if they were to do so successfully, a first generation warhead could kill maybe 50,000 people, whereupon the entire surface of Iran would be converted to craters and molten slag.
Why is it those same people CANNOT see the national security implications of a 16 trillion dollar debt and 100 trillion in unfunded liabilities? There are at least three countries now that could, if they desired sell off enough T-Bills, Mortgage backed securities and other cash equivalents to cause a crash in the dollar – thereby effectively cutting off imports like oil and gas, without which our transportation infrastructure will crash.
Did you know supermarkets only keep about 3 days worth of food on hand? Imagine there’s no diesel available and all the trucks are idled for a few weeks. Can you spell national emergency and martial law?
Did you know the loss of manufacturing in the US has left us dependent upon foreign powers for vital raw and finished materials? It takes YEARS to open a mine or a factory due to federal regulations.
You need to vote for Ron Paul, but if you can’t do that then for heaven’s sake store a couple of months of dry food.
Vote Vertebrate – Ron Paul is the only choice consistent with the principles of self preservation. Think of your family.