Roundup: NYT Editorial Takes On Oklahoma Law Forcing Women to Put Medical Info on Public Website

Oct 26, 2009, 10:32am

In an editorial published yesterday, Oklahoma vs. Women, the New York Times takes on efforts by the state of Oklahoma to force women to put their private medical information on a public website. The Las Vegas Sun suggests an egg-as-person initiative in Nevada could be a "gift" to Democrats.

New York Times Editorial Takes on Oklahoma Law

In an editorial published yesterday, Oklahoma vs. Women, the New York Times takes on efforts by the state of Oklahoma to force women to put their private medical information on a public website.

In May, states the editorial,

Okahoma state lawmakers approved a beaut: a law
requiring that abortion providers fill out a 10-page questionnaire for
each procedure, and that details of abortions be posted on a public Web
site.

Among other things, the intrusive questionnaire asks
three dozen questions about the woman’s reasons for having an abortion,
including details about her relationship with the father that the
government has no business probing.

"The law’s purpose is
political," writes the Times.

Its real aim is to persuade doctors to stop performing
abortions by placing new burdens on their practice, to intimidate and
shame women, and to stigmatize a legal medical procedure that one in
three women have at some point in their lives.

Women —
especially those living in small Oklahoma towns — have reason to fear
for their privacy when information from the questionnaire is gathered
in government offices and at least some details are posted online.

The editorial applauds a judge’s decision to apply a temporary restraining order preventing the bill from going into effect on November 1, but does not, however, take on the current efforts of the State’s Attorney General’s Office to remove the restraining order.

"Egg-As-Person" Drive in Nevada May Benefit Dems in Election

The Las Vegas Sun reports that a recently introduced ballot initiative seeking to confer legal personhood on fertilized eggs could be “a gift to the Democratic Party" and mobilize the Democratic base.

If it gets enough signatures to make the ballot, voters would have
to approve the initiative in 2010 and 2012 for it to become part of the
Nevada Constitution.

"The biggest fans of social conservative Richard Ziser’s newly filed
anti-abortion ballot initiative might be Nevada Democrats facing the
ballot in 2010," states the Sun article.

“The top of the Democratic ticket right now doesn’t inspire a lot of
enthusiasm,” said Erik Herzik, professor of political science at
University of Nevada, Reno. “If you throw in a red meat issue like
abortion rights, it will activate the progressives and the second-tier
voters in a way they weren’t before.

Ziser, who authored a successful initiative a few years back defining marriage as between a "man and woman," told the Sun that the "principles behind the initiative are
more important than any negative effect it could have on Republicans or
conservatives."

“This is not a political decision,” said Ziser, who was the
Republican challenger to Harry Reid in 2004. “If all people think about
are the political ramifications of something, maybe they’re not so
principled. We’re not doing this because of a political outcome.”

Sure. And if you believe that, they have a mountain called Yucca to sell you.

Ziser told the Sun that his proposal would ban abortion, including in cases of
rape or incest, though he was "less clear about instances in which the
mother’s life is in danger." Details.

Helpfully, he also said that "the petition would protect the elderly from
so-called “death panels,” which some conservatives have claimed would
come about through Democrats’ proposed health care reform."

The
existence of such panels has been widely dismissed by experts.

The Sun reports that:

Ted G. Jelen, a professor of political science at UNLV who
specializes the politics of abortion, said the initiative is aimed at
restricting abortions. “The argument that they’re trying to protect
grandmothers is thrown in,” he said, calling the reasoning behind its
inclusion “absurd.”

End-of-life panels are “something the right-wing punditocracy has made up,” Jelen said.

He said he believes the ultimate aim of the initiative is to spur
the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling,
which legalized abortion. While the matter makes it way through the
courts, state governments might enforce the constitutional change, he
said.

Ziser acknowledged that the petition is part of a national movement
to define “personhood.” Groups in “six or seven states” are pushing
similar amendments, he said.

But it’s not political.

October 26th, 2009

ABC News Australia: Qld Health considering abortion consent form

Las Vegas Sun: Anti-abortion bid may have unintended effect

Jamaica Observer: 67% OF J’CANS POLLED OPPOSED TO ABORTION

KNDO: Hundreds protest a proposed Planned Parenthood

Brisbane Times: Abortion women told: ‘see a lawyer first’

Dayton Daily News: Abortion, birth control pill linked to breast cancer, surgeon says

October 25th, 2009

Seattle Times: Constantine, Hutchison hit familiar notes in last TV debate

NYTimes: Oklahoma vs. Women

Fourth Wave Feminism: Pro-Life and Order