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Sorry, god mandates a needless death for you, have a nice day...
The story is almost always the same. Worship the christian-sky daddy and women become second class citizens who get to die because ‘abortion is a sin’. In the video the dude from the ‘health department’ mentions the moral and ethical nature of there society. Letting women die because of lack of access to reproductive services is hardly fraking ethical behaviour. I suggest to him that he untwist his head out of Jebus’s asshole and start putting together a health program that respects women and their bodily autonomy as opposed to the heavenly ooga-booga in the sky.
Although abortions are strictly illegal in the Philippines, the medical procedure to terminate pregnancy flourishes in underground clinics.
Given their illegal and unregulated nature, risky procedures are often followed at the clinics, endangering lives.
According to the US-based Centre for Reproductive Rights, more than half a million women risk their lives annually by undergoing backstreet abortions. Out of them, about 1,000 die each year.
Seven-year-old Ferlin Iahtal lies in his home-made bunk bed in his home in Attawapiskat on Dec. 17. Twenty-one people live in the house that has plastic on the ceilings to stop water leaks.
Canada’s active neglect of the First Nations continues. Under the heavy mantle of the oppressive Harper regime minority groups and those concerned with justice should be prepared to take a pass until the current regime of plutocratic conservative troglodytes have been put out to pasture. Harper intends to meet with First Nations leaders again, to discuss land use, resource revenue and living conditions for Canada’s first peoples.
“More than 400 aboriginal chiefs will meet Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister, and government ministers at a summit known as the Crown-First Nations Gathering in Ottawa. It is the first official meeting of its kind since he took office in 2006. The aim is to improve the relationship between the Canadian government and what is known as Canada’s First Nations communities. That relationship stalled six years ago when the current Conservative government abandoned a five-year, $5bn plan known as the Kelowna Accord.”
Stalled is quite the understatement as First Nations concerns were unceremoniously kicked to the curb by the Conservative government.
“Resolving outstanding land claims is among the top priorities. Aboriginal leaders feel the current process of settling the claims unjustly favours the federal government.
Also high on the list of priorities is economic development. First Nation leaders want to secure a fair share of revenues from the exploitation of natural resources on aboriginal lands. And on health and education, most First Nation leaders will be pressing for a commitment to levels of funding and services comparable with those for non-aboriginal communities.”
Nothing unreasonable here, just people wanting to take part in the prosperous 1st world nation Canada is. A world that has, for the most part, been denied to First Nations people.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government is increasingly coming into conflict with the needs of First Nations communities as it promotes the extraction of oil and other natural resources. A diamond mine projected to become one of the richest in the world is just upstream from the poverty-stricken town of Attawapiskat on James Bay. The mine is on traditional lands, but the royalties flow to the province.
A puppy sits on the porch of a home in Attawapiskat. Inside, the home has no plumbing or sanitation facilities.
That town also made headlines recently over living conditions when it was found that people were living in tents, shacks and trailers in temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius. Charles Angus, a member of parliament representing James Bay, describes the conditions within several of the First Nation communities as an “international disgrace for our nation”. He[Charles Angus] tells Inside Story: “The Attawapiskat crisis certainly shook Canada. In a way it has been our Katrina moment because Canadians were shocked that people were living in such dire conditions but then also shocked that the government had no plan, no seeming interest to respond.”
Racism is alive and well in Canada as we continue to neglect our First Nations and keep them impoverished and on the margins of society.
“Canada not only created these reserves, they displaced First Nation’s laws with provincial child welfare, education and health laws that should apply to all Canadians. The result is most horribly experienced by children. One-in-six First Nations communities don’t even have the basics like water; some of them are using buckets for sewers. The list goes on and it is unacceptable in a wealthy country like ours, and completely preventable.”
-Cindy Blackstock from the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada
We still have far to go on improving our own imperialist record, mending decades of neglect is going to be a huge project, one that is unlikely to be undertaken by the current Conservative Government of Canada.
Confirmation bias might be the end of us all. For the zealots who think that the US was founded on anything but secular principles, watch and learn.
So, is this how it must be?
I’m thinking that we get Anonymous when the structures of your democratic institutions are corrupted and ineffective. When the voice of the people is lost in the swirl of corporate dollars and lobbying, we get Anonymous. When the elites believe that they are truly untouchable and are a gift to the rest of us, we get Anonymous.
Do I agree with their all of their methods? No, but the message they broadcast has a certain resonance that I’m sure the power-brokers of the world detest and fear, and that, friends, is a good thing.
What! Socialism in America? Say it isn’t so.
Better start the protests now.
Wading through politics in North America one can get the idea that we have a lot of choice when it comes to running our countries and determining our social policies. It takes the brilliant thoughts of a late comedian to crystallize what our societies have become. Agree or disagree, Carlin’s commentary makes you think.
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
-Albert Einstein
The pace is accelerating at which a woman’s right to choose is being taken away from her. The US is going crazy, one state at a time, the Guttmacher Institute documents the slide into insanity.
“January 5, 2012
By almost any measure, issues related to reproductive health and rights at the state level received unprecedented attention in 2011. In the 50 states combined, legislators introduced more than 1,100 reproductive health and rights-related provisions, a sharp increase from the 950 introduced in 2010. By year’s end, 135 of these provisions had been enacted in 36 states, an increase from the 89 enacted in 2010 and the 77 enacted in 2009. (Note: This analysis refers to reproductive health and rights-related “provisions,” rather than bills or laws, since bills introduced and eventually enacted in the states contain multiple relevant provisions.)
Fully 68% of these new provisions—92 in 24 states—-restrict access to abortion services, a striking increase from last year, when 26% of new provisions restricted abortion. The 92 new abortion restrictions enacted in 2011 shattered the previous record of 34 adopted in 2005.
- For the complete review of state level actions in 2011 click here.
- For summaries of major state-level actions in 2011, click here.
- For a table showing reproductive health and rights-related provisions enacted in 2011, click here.
- For the status of state law and policy on key reproductive health and rights issues, click here.
Abortion Restrictions Took Many Forms
Bans. The most high-profile state-level abortion debate of 2011 took place in Mississippi, where voters rejected the ballot initiative that would have legally defined a human embryo as a person “from the moment of fertilization,” setting the stage to ban all abortions and, potentially, most hormonal contraceptive methods in the state. Meanwhile, five states (AL, ID, IN, KS and OK) enacted provisions to ban abortion at or beyond 20 weeks’ gestation, based on the spurious assertion that a fetus can feel pain at that point. These five states join Nebraska, which adopted a ban on abortions after 20 weeks in 2010 (see State Policies on Later Abortions). A similar limitation was vetoed by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton (D).
Waiting Periods. Three states adopted waiting period requirements for a woman seeking an abortion. In the most egregious of the waiting-period provisions, a new South Dakota law would have required a woman to obtain pre-abortion counseling in person at the abortion facility at least 72 hours prior to the procedure; it would also have required her to visit a state-approved crisis pregnancy center during that 72-hour interval. The law was quickly enjoined in federal district court and is not in effect. A new provision in Texas requires that women who live less than 100 miles from an abortion provider obtain counseling in person at the facility at least 24 hours in advance. Finally, new provisions in North Carolina require counseling at least 24 hours prior to the procedure. With the addition of new requirements in Texas and North Carolina, 26 states mandate that a woman seeking an abortion must wait a prescribed period of time between the counseling and the procedure (see Counseling and Waiting Periods for Abortion).
Ultrasound. Five states adopted provisions mandating that a woman obtain an ultrasound prior to having an abortion. The two most stringent provisions were adopted in North Carolina and Texas and were immediately enjoined by federal district courts. Both of these restrictions would have required the provider to show and describe the image to the woman. The other three new provisions (in AZ, FL and KS), all of which are in effect, require the abortion provider to offer the woman the opportunity to view the image or listen to a verbal description of it. These new restrictions bring to six the number of states that mandate the performance of an ultrasound prior to an abortion (see Requirements for Ultrasound).
Insurance Coverage. Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Utah adopted provisions prohibiting all insurance policies in the state from covering abortion except in cases of life endangerment; they all permit individuals to purchase additional coverage at their own expense. These new restrictions bring to eight the number of states limiting abortion coverage in all private insurance plans (see Restricting Insurance Coverage of Abortion).
These four provisions also apply to coverage purchased through the insurance exchanges that will be established as part of the implementation of health care reform. Five additional states (FL, ID, IN, OH and VA) adopted requirements that apply only to coverage purchased on the exchange. The addition of these nine states brings to 16 the number of states restricting abortion coverage available through state insurance exchanges.
Clinic Regulations. Four states enacted provisions directing the state department of health to issue regulations governing facilities and physicians’ offices that provide abortion services. A new provision in Virginia requires a facility providing at least five abortions per month to meet the requirements for a hospital in the state. New requirements in Kansas, Pennsylvania and Utah direct the health agency to develop standards for abortion providers, including requirements for staffing, physical plant, equipment and emergency supplies; supporters of the measures made it clear that the goal was to set standards that would be difficult, if not impossible, for abortion providers to meet. Enforcement of the proposed Kansas regulations has been enjoined by a state court.
Medication Abortion. In 2011, states for the first time moved to limit provision of medication abortion by prohibiting the use of telemedicine. Seven states (AZ, KS, NE, ND, OK, SD and TN) adopted provisions requiring that the physician prescribing the medication be in the same room as the patient (see Medication Abortion).
Family Planning Under Pressure
Family planning services and providers were especially hard-pressed in 2011, facing significant cuts to funding levels, as well as attempts to disqualify some providers for funding because of their association with abortion. Considering the historic fiscal crises facing many states, it is significant that family planning escaped major reductions in nine (CO, CT, DE, IL, KS, MA, ME, NY and PA)of the 18 states where the budget has a specific line-item for family planning. The story, however, was different in the remaining nine states. In six (FL, GA, MI, MN, WA and WI), family planning programs sustained deep cuts, although generally in line with decreases adopted for other health programs. In the other three states, however, the cuts to family planning funding were disproportionate to those to other health programs: Montana eliminated the family planning line item, and New Hampshire and Texas cut funding by 57% and 66%, respectively.
Indiana, Colorado, Ohio, North Carolina Texas and Wisconsin, meanwhile, moved to disqualify or otherwise bar certain types of providers from the receipt of family planning funds. New Hampshire decided not to renew its contract through which the Planned Parenthood affiliate in the state received Title X funds.
Given the difficult fiscal and political climate in states in 2011, it is especially noteworthy that Maryland, Washington and Ohio took steps to expand Medicaid eligibility for family planning. With the approval of these two programs, 24 states have expanded eligibility for family planning under Medicaid based solely on income; seven have utilized the new authority under health care reform (see Medicaid Family Planning Eligibility Expansions).
Abstinence-Only Education Is Back
Unlike in recent years when states had moved to expand access to comprehensive, medically accurate sex education, the only relevant measures enacted in 2011 expanded abstinence education. Mississippi, which had long mandated abstinence education, adopted provisions that make it more difficult for a school district to include other subjects, such as contraception, in order to offer a more comprehensive curriculum. A district will now need to get specific permission to do so from the state department of education. A new requirement enacted in North Dakota mandates that the health education provided in the state include information on the benefits of abstinence “until and within marriage.” Including North Dakota, 37 states now mandate abstinence education (see Sex and HIV Education).
Sexually Transmitted Infections
Over the course of 2011, three states adopted provisions permitting a health care provider to prescribe STI treatment to the partner of a patient, even if he or she has not been seen by the provider. (see Partner Treatment for STIs).”
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