Democratic women seek a state ban on vasectomies for men
This afternoon, the House Judiciary (Non-Civil) Committee will take up HB 954, a measure that would prohibit abortions on women who are more than 20 weeks pregnant. Current law prohibits abortions after the second trimester, or about 24 weeks.
The bill sponsored by Doug McKillip, R-Athens, asserts that 20 weeks is the point at which a fetus can begin to feel pain. The measure also attempts to tighten “life of the mother” exceptions to abortion:
No such condition shall be deemed to exist if it is based on a diagnosis or claim of a mental or emotional condition of the pregnant woman or that the pregnant woman will purposefully engage in conduct which she intends to result in her death or in substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.
In response, House Democrats have scheduled a 3 p.m. Wednesday hearing at the state Capitol, to propose a bill that would ban Georgia males from seeking vasectomies. From the press release:
“Thousands of children are deprived of birth in this state every year because of the lack of state regulation over vasectomies,” said Rep. Yasmin Neal, author of the bill. “It is patently unfair that men can avoid unwanted fatherhood by presuming that their judgment over such matters is more valid than the judgment of the General Assembly, while women’s ability to decide is constantly up for debate throughout the United States.”
House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams added, “The Republican attack on women’s reproductive rights is unconscionable. What is more deplorable is the hypocrisy of HB 954’s author. If we follow his logic, we believe it is the obligation of this General Assembly to assert an equally invasive state interest in the reproductive habits of men and substitute the will of the government over the will of adult men.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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432 comments Add your comment
Facepalm
February 22nd, 2012
12:52 am
Abortion = Vasectomy?
I don’t think so.
Tubectomy = Vasectomy
drdreiberg
February 22nd, 2012
1:25 am
I am very tired of arrogant pseudo-intellectuals conveniently glossing over the fact that there’s a significant difference between doing what you will with your own body, and destroying a new human life.
I learned in college and in medical school, and it’s no less true today, that a new mammalian life forms when the conception process is complete; when this process is completed may vary, but in any event it’s not more than a few days after intercourse. The zygote is the total human organism in its earliest stage of development; it is distinct vis a vis the mother. This isn’t religion speaking (I’m an agnostic); nor is this philosophy, with its subjectivity and shifting sands changing over time (it also used to be the consensus of the so-called “intellectuals’ ” that non-Europeans weren’t persons either). Abortion destroys a distinct, human life, separate from the mother’s own. Sorry, truth hurts.
And all of you arrogant posters who condescendingly sneer at pro-lifers should consider your own stupidity for not knowing that new mammalian life does in fact form at conception. It reminds me of a psychology study whereby we found out that the people who were quick to criticize others for lacking a skill (like math or reading) were often severely deficient in that skill themselves. That dynamic seems to play out with these condescending pseudo-intellectuals.
StupidIsAsStupidDoes
February 22nd, 2012
1:35 am
drdreiberg rocks. Beautiful explanation!
h4x354x0r
February 22nd, 2012
1:35 am
@Ashamed: Sorry, already taken.
I live in the “Liberal Game Preserve” of Missouri; but even at that, all the local media discussion boards are completely overrun by a handful of elderly male retirees who rail against “Socialist” government spending (while collecting SS and using Medicare or VA benefits); and spew all the same misogynistic bunk you deal with from these “Smart Guy” people, who have so far provided zero information about reproduction. One single “Left-wing crazy” has provided infinitely more facts than him so far.
They’ve basically got walls in their brains. They are completely unable to make connections between two closely related things: crying crocodile tears about all those poor innocent unborn babies, while cheering for military actions that kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people who have already been born; despising all the “imperfect” babies that do end up getting born – gays, left-handers, hermaphrodites, those with physical deformities and/or neurological disorders, etc.; failing to question their own God that supposedly tells them abortion is wrong, for performing so many abortions; and finally, despite the fervent desire to see every single baby that could possibly be born brought into the world, the moment they are here, half of them are cast aside as worthless wards of the state that they aren’t willing to support, and should just be locked up and/or put down.
I truly wonder how so many human beings have become so disconnected from humanity and so hateful and mean-spirited. I have my theories. But, just like the fact that you can’t really stop people from having sex, and you can’t really end abortion, the fact is plenty of those people exist, and the rest of us have to deal with them.
Being a guy, I’ll never experience or understand pregnancy. I might imagine what it’s like, but I’ll never face a decision about pregnancy. I honestly don’t feel like I have any authority to make that call for someone else, when I’m so absolutely and totally incapable of experiencing it myself.
Even if I *did* feel like I should be able to make that decision for a woman, I keep coming back to the fact that, no matter how much I might want to, might believe I have the right to, I simply don’t have that power. The woman has total and complete control, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about that without inflicting some type of harm on both the woman, and the baby that is absolutely, positively, 100% dependent on that woman’s well being for it’s own well being.
To the point of viability, the woman is God. Quite frankly, I don’t envy that responsibility. Neither will I try to assume it.
John
February 22nd, 2012
1:46 am
Is this for real?!
So instead of using her time, money, and resources to help legalize abortion, she is deliberately taking a step backward in trying to ban vasectomies. When will the USA join the rest of the western nations in the 21st century.
Shameful
h4x354x0r
February 22nd, 2012
2:00 am
@drdrieberg: You might as well have addressed me directly.
While the life may technically be separate, it is entirely incapable of living more than a few days without attaching to the mother’s body. You can say ’separate’ but the placenta grows out of the embryo, and attaches itself to the mother’s uterus. There are some barriers between the mother’s circulation system and the baby’s circulation system, but ’separate’ is hardly how I would describe the placenta-uterine attachment. If that attachment is damaged, the baby dies. Separate, technically, yes. Distinct, certainly so. In any way, shape, or form independent from the mother? No.
I don’t like abortion; I understand what’s going on. By the time a human-induced abortion takes place, the fetus has a brain, a spine, a basic nervous system, and a functioning circulation system. Most women who have abortions understand this, too. If you think such a decision is usually made out of ignorance, well, “arrogant” and “condescending” right back atcha.
And you still can’t stop it (without mass prepubescent sterilization), or force a positive outcome.
h4x354x0r
February 22nd, 2012
2:03 am
Good night, and goodbye. Y’all can have your own discussion board back now.
Olga
February 22nd, 2012
2:11 am
Google for pictures of babies at 20 and 24 weeks and then think if this is woman-body only issue or if rights of another human body – the baby – are involved. 20 weeks is five months. 24 weeks – six, that’s half year! If it takes some female that much to concider abortion after some irresponsible sex then the next thing she should do after – is a vasectomy on herself, because people with that kind of mind-set, or absence of any mind, should never reproduce. If you’ve been raped you go to the doctor promptly and do something about it, not wait half year to do this. How stupid, how irresponsible. I’m neither republican or democratic, I’m not religious, I’m not even American. And reading this makes me just sick of your screwed society where personal comfort is above humanism and morality.
drdreiberg
February 22nd, 2012
2:37 am
@h4×354x0r: I didn’t mean to go after anyone specifically, and I’m sorry if I came off a little harsh. I was irritated by all of the posters condescendingly dismissing pro-lifers, when there were problems with their own arguments, so I wondered how they’d like to get a taste of their own medicine. It’s one thing to be condescending while being ignorant, but another to respond in kind with a correction. But if I came off harsh, I’m sorry.
It seems the distinctness of the newly formed life is more than a mere technicality, given that it possesses a life and future of its own. That future may be fraught with uncertainty, including a high risk of miscarriage early on, but it’s a future nonetheless. But I wouldn’t deprive someone from consideration of personhood status because there was a 40% risk that a natural event would cause them to die in the coming days.
I’d also be concerned about depriving personhood status because of dependency, which has troubling implications. For example, right after my daughter was born, she and I were still connected through the umbilical cord before the doctor snipped it. But I couldn’t imagine that she was any less of a person before it was snipped, or that she was any less of a person just because of her physical location in my womb, or that she was any less of a person b/w conception and birth for any of the contrived reasons pro-choicers seem to make up. Pro-choicers try to come up with all kinds of reasons why an unborn child is not a person but a neonate is, and I respectfully think those are just “distinctions without a difference.”
Mountain Man
February 22nd, 2012
2:39 am
Guys, read Genesis 38:9 and learn what happened to Onan after he spilled his seed. Poor guy was struck down for his dishonorable discharge!
Syna
February 22nd, 2012
2:47 am
I hope the witnesses are all jaded women. =)
When Petard Hoisting Goes Horribly Wrong
February 22nd, 2012
5:18 am
[...] seldom ends well when stupid people try to be clever. The latest case in point involves some Democrats in the Georgia legislature: This afternoon, the House Judiciary (Non-Civil) Committee will take up HB 954, a measure that [...]
BLITZ – 2/22/12: Nutcracker | JAYFORCE
February 22nd, 2012
6:02 am
[...] Democrat Seeks State Ban On Male Vasectomies [...]
tony laz
February 22nd, 2012
6:39 am
Rep. Yasmin Neal’s stupidity must be as genetic as those who voted her into office.
starrygirl
February 22nd, 2012
6:47 am
why in the world would we try to regulate that?! Bc women get pregnant thats not fair? really!? Um this is men taking a step towards preventing unwanted pregnancies. women have options too. So we are going to YET AGAIN intrude on private matters. While I do stand up for life, I believe it is wrong to hurt someone that is not at any fault, I do not understand how this law could pass. Why dont the women be smart enough to get on the pill or something to prevent pregnancy if they dont want kids! Stop sleeping around and not being smart about it. Who cares if men get the snip, let them do their part to prevent unwanted pregnancies
Tricia
February 22nd, 2012
7:35 am
Holy Waste of Taxpayers Dollars, Batman!
John
February 22nd, 2012
8:46 am
Women have the right to have their tubes tied, which is the equivalent of a male vasectomy. Both are reversible if you change your mind. Don’t confuse this with the effort to eliminate pain to a fetus. They are different issues.
John
February 22nd, 2012
8:57 am
I agree with Grits. To compare the two procedures is just wrong!
MarkD
February 22nd, 2012
9:02 am
Why must we endure these stupid arguments every 4 years? If guys gave birth, abortions would be free. Birth control pills would be as accessible as candy and our coffee would come spiked with RU486. Stop trying to convince the less educated that these are first world problems. Please? The republican brand is like the beta machine in your basement. It’s old and worthless but you can’t bring yourself to throw it away…
Alex
February 22nd, 2012
9:09 am
Stupidest democrats ever or best trolls ever?
Becky L
February 22nd, 2012
9:10 am
Really?!?! Really?!?! This is what they’re spending…and I mean wasting …our money on?
Sharon
February 22nd, 2012
9:26 am
Is it just me or does this woman miss the point? Abortion takes care of a situation that has already taken place where as a vasectomy avoids the situation all together!
How is that the same??????
So does this mean that tubal ligations should also be banned!
Trust me when I say that there are people in this world that have NO business breeding!!!! You can’t stop them from having sex but when they KNOW they shouldn’t reproduce and choose to avoid it, GOOD CALL!!
I call that taking responsibility!!!
Sharon
February 22nd, 2012
9:32 am
@FacePalm…..exactly what I am trying to scream here! Come on people!
@drdreiberg ….The argument shouldn’t be about destroying a life. No life is created from a man that has had this procedure done. A Vasectomy does not kill anything! This entire ban is ludicrous. We are comparing apples to cows!
julie
February 22nd, 2012
10:40 am
abortion, getting your tubes tied, or a vasectomy should be up to the individual. my opinion, any abortion or preventative measure is good for the world. the world is too overpopulated anyways. besides, what will happen in the future when we use up all our natural resources and there is no more room for any more people?
Anti-feminist
February 22nd, 2012
10:41 am
OK we get it Lauren, you are another manhating feminist that is angry that abortion (a disgusting practice) is being, somewhat banned. Like the typical female you think that banning vasectomies is justified because baby murdering is…it isnt the same but I am sure you know that.
See when an “anti female” measure is in place women cry victim and want revenge. But when the dozen or so anti male policies/laws are enacted women dont bat an eyelash.
-Title IX proportionality requirement causing mens sports teams to be eliminated simply because too many men want to participate in sports and too few women.
-VAWA (violence against womens act) making DV crime against a female a “hate crime” and completely ignoring male victims of domestic violence
-The April 4th “Dear Colleague” letter issued by the DOE to all colleges that receive federal funding, reduces the standard of proof required to convict a male student of rape all the way down to “preponderance of evidence” (anything above 50%). The directive also requires all universities to allow alleged victims of rape to appeal the results of college disciplinary hearings, subjecting the accused to “double jeopardy” (which isn’t allowed in US courts).
Yea you women surely have it soo bad tho compared to men.
Republican questioning sanity of Democrats
February 22nd, 2012
10:52 am
This is just further proof to me of the insanity of Democrats. No wonder our country’s in the shape it is in. I say give vasectomies and sterilization to all democrats and maybe we can stop the insanity.
Brian
February 22nd, 2012
10:53 am
@This is Mrs. Norman Maine: If you don’t approve of masturbation- don’t do it. It’s that incredibly simple. Keep your religion out of my life and off my body though. I respect you enough to keep mine out of yours.
GA Tax payer mildly amused by events
February 22nd, 2012
11:14 am
LOL’ing @ all the broke loser wimp dead-baby lovers crying about a waste of tax dollars.
Like you contribute enough to the GA tax base to make a difference anyway.
I feel sorry for all you losers whose god is such a pansy that he runs around obsessing over unborn babies.
My god is a wolf that turns into a dragon and then back into a wolf and he laughs at your pathetic god. My god doesn’t give a f^ck about abortion or any of you inbred idiots.
Today’s Links: February 22, 2012
February 22nd, 2012
11:38 am
[...] courtesy of a grant from the Department of Homeland Security.”FACETIOUS LEGISLATORS – Democratic Women Seek a State Ban on Vasectomies For Men “This afternoon, the House Judiciary (Non-Civil) Committee will take up HB 954, a measure [...]
Thoughtful
February 22nd, 2012
12:43 pm
In response to e-roll and this blog: very well put.
southside teacher
February 22nd, 2012
1:46 pm
AMEN, SISTERS!
Eric
February 22nd, 2012
3:02 pm
What am I missing? How does a man getting a vasectomy/woman getting tubes tied (choosing not to make a baby) have to do with abortion (the murder of unborn children) which in most cases is due to bad social judgement??