A Preview Of The Domestic Fascism Headed Our Way-- No More Choice For You!

How did you like that crackpot anti-Choice bill Boehner and Cantor-- who claim they're too busy to even allow a vote on the president's proposed jobs legislation-- passed yesterday? They're calling it the Protect Life Act and it passed the misogynistic-dominated House 251-172. If Mitt Romney or any of the other right-wingers running for the GOP presidential nomination were in power to sign this dreck, here's some of the damage it would do:

• Allow hospitals receiving federal funds to deny emergency abortions to women whose lives are in danger due to a pregnancy gone horribly wrong.

• Forbid state health care exchanges from providing abortion coverage even under policies paid for entirely with your own money. Exchanges are the public marketplaces for health insurance policies that will be rolled out by 2014 under the Affordable Care Act. Eventually, most people are expected to get their insurance through the exchanges. Exchanges were conceived as a means of expanding health care services, but under this and other legal restrictions they would in fact eliminate coverage most women already have.  If H.R. 358 is successful, getting insurance that includes coverage for abortion will be nearly impossible-- putting abortion out of reach of even more women.
 
• Place a gag order on insurers, preventing them from even giving women information about how to get abortion coverage.

Earlier in the day, every single Republican plus 11 anti-Choice fanatics who claim to be Democrats voted for the enabling legislation, which passed 248-173. The Democrats who crossed the aisle to vote against women's choice were:

Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA)
Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK), retiring
Jerry Costello (IL), retiring
Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN), making a hail-Mary-pass Senate run, backed by the DSCC
Lipinski Junior (IL)
Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)
Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC)
Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
Nick Rahall (WV)
Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR), retiring
Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC), being primaried by progressive champion Cecil Bothwell

Later in the day, the vote itself saw only two Republicans-- Judy Biggert (IL) and Richard Hanna (NY)-- unwilling to go along with Cantor and his insane caucus. The 15 Democrats who crossed the aisle and voted with the GOP against Choice were:

Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA)
Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)
Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK)
Jerry Costello (IL)
Mark Critz (PA)
Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN)
Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA)
Lipinski Junior (IL)
Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)
Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC)
Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
Nick Rahall (WV)
Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR)
Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC)

Cecil Bothwell, the Asheville City Councilmember who's challenging Shuler, was disappointed that the Republicans and their Blue Dog allies are wasting time on these kinds of divisive, pointless issues instead of tackling the economy. "For the federal government to step in and prohibit private health plans from covering women's health issues, including abortion, is beyond belief," he told me late last night. "It's really amusing that conservative legislators who claim to oppose government intrusion into private affairs have decided that it's urgent to intrude government into what is the most private of affairs." This was Rep. Jerry Nadler on the floor of the House before the vote was taken:

“Madam Speaker, this bill seeks to undo hard-fought constitutional rights under the guise of being about government funding for abortion. 
 
“Current law, unfortunately, already forbids federal funds from paying for abortions, except in the case of rape, incest, or where the woman’s life is endangered. This bill goes well beyond that. It would make it virtually impossible for any of the health plans offered through the health exchanges, set up as part of the Affordable Care Act, to cover abortions. As the authors plainly intend, it would make it virtually impossible for most women to buy insurance coverage for abortions with their own money.   
 
“The bill would also allow a doctor or hospital to refuse to provide an abortion to a woman whose life is in imminent peril. They could let that woman die right there in the emergency room, and the government would be powerless to do anything. 
 
“Mr. Speaker, I remember a time, not that long ago, when women had no options for legal abortions, and often resorted to illegal back alley abortionists. Women were butchered. Many died. Others became sterile. All because the medical care they desperately sought, and the compassion they desperately needed, was denied to them. No woman should be treated with this contempt. 
 
“The real purpose of this bill-- which denies women the right to purchase insurance coverage for legal abortions with their own money-- is to make it impossible for women to exercise their constitutional right to choose. This bill is an abomination.

“I urge my colleagues to vote NO.”

Only two of his Republican colleagues took his advice. The rest of them all voted against women and against Choice yesterday-- even the ones who still try to pass themselves off as vaguely mainstream-- not Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA), not Chris Gibson (R-NY), not Timothy Johnson (R-IL), not Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), not Bob Dold (R-IL), not Jim Gerlach (R-PA), not Fred Upton (R-MI), not Charlie Bass (R-NH)... not even Republican women like Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Nan Hayworth (R-NY) or Mary Bono Mack (R-CA).

And not Leonard Lance (R-NJ). Lance is always trying to pass himself off as a moderate to his constituents in suburban New Jersey. Inside-the-Beltway they know he's just another zombie-vote for whatever the extreme right wants. This was another good example. We called his Blue America-endorsed challenger, Ed Potosnak for a comment:

I am shocked Republicans are focused on abortion legislation instead of creating jobs and appalled that this bill passed the House. This abortion legislation allows hospitals to deny pregnant women treatments to save their lives and further deny transfer to a medical facility equipped to treat them. Essentially this bill aims to kill pregnant women.

It is a fraud that my opponent, Congressman Lance, is a moderate. He is not, he is a right wing, tea party appeasing, extremist and is wrong for the families and businesses in our District. We want jobs and Rep. Lance is sipping champagne with Republican Leaders and right wing extremists celebrating what they consider a social victory. It disgusts me.