Posted on 06/25/2013 8:08:01 AM PDT by autumnraine
A Republican state representative has sparked outrage by suggesting rape kits can be used to terminate pregnancies. Jodie Laudenberg, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, made the comments during a debate about a new anti-abortion bill. Miss Laudenberg said: 'In the emergency room they have what’s called rape kits, where a woman can get cleaned out. 'The woman had five months to make that decision, at this point we are looking at a baby that is very far along in its development.' Her apparent confusion about 'rape kits' - the equipment used by medical personnel during forensic examinations to gather physical evidence following allegations of rape or sexual assault - sparked widespread ridicule on social media sites. The bill, which was passed by the House on Monday, would ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, require doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and limit abortions to surgical centers. Miss Laudenberg, the bill's sponsor, made the comments in response to a proposal by another Republican member for an exemption for women who were victims of rape and incest. The bill is due to be heard by the state Senate today. Hundreds of protesters have crowded into the state capitol building over the past few days to oppose the measure. According to the National Council of State Legislatures, eight state legislatures have banned abortions after 20 weeks. Arizona did so at 18 weeks and Arkansas passed a ban after 12 weeks. Federal judges have thrown out the laws in Arizona and Iowa, and judges have blocked similar measures in the other states.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
By email and telephone, we asked Laubenberg how she reached her conclusion. She didn’t immediately respond. After this article posted, however, Laubenberg said by telephone that she knows a rape kit does not include the D and C procedure and that a kit does not cause abortions. In the floor debate, Laubenberg said, she also was trying to say that a rape survivor who goes to a hospital might be offered the morning-after pill to ward off pregnancy, though she said that she is aware that the pill is not part of a rape kit.So if she was ignorant during the debate, she isn't now.
Good. Glad she got educated.
Wish she would have before opening her mouth.
Now it’s international news the “Republicans” views on rape kits.
As I said, Todd Akins all over again.
How on earth did you jump to that conclusion. I did not say anything even remotely close to that.
Agreed
I specifically said “morning after” instead of RU-486 to broadly cover any and ALL drugs used to terminate the pregnancy after sex. The intent was not to get caught up in any debate over one medication and not another.
“if they put the morning after pill IN THERE”
But if you meant the kit they pull off the shelf, my apologies.
However, I don’t believe they do. Might offer it, but not in the “kit” itself. That is strictly for forensic collection.
Dear GOP: will for for criminy sakes put out a memo? Seriously. WTF?
I was referring to putting in the kit as part of the standard “treatment” or response to a rape victim coming into the hospital.
I realize that now. I apologize.
I’m not trying to be critical, but I’m not sure that’s a logically consistent prolife position. It is similar to saying that you would shoot at the wall of a building, not knowing for certain whether anyone was on the other side. That would constitute a reckless disregard for human life. Any time lethal force is used, there must be certainty that the target is a legitimate target. If conception has occurred, there is a living human being present, with rights of their own to consider.
I recognize you most certainly do have a right to try and get back to square one, but not at the expense of an innocent human life. I can tell you from personal experience with people that I love, any person might feel justified at the time of the event, but a person of conscience will keep coming back to such a decision like a wound that will not heal, and will always wonder what it might have been like, if they had withheld the fatal blow.
I agree there needs to be a consistent, planned response to questions about rape vs abortion. The left is clearly trying to use this as a wedge issue to weaken Republican support among women. And it is not at all surprising this should happen in TX, where O’s permanent campaign machine has set up camp with the explicit intent to strangle Texas with liberal bilge until it turns blue.
However, I don’t think the proposed talking points are adequate for the subject of rape vs abortion. Every abortion, from whatever cause, ends a legitimate human life. When you shift the argument away from that, you lose the moral high ground. (Conservative) Republicans have no interest in compelling people to do things they don’t want to do. We are for freedom, and as a party always have been. We just want to ensure that freedom extends to everyone with an interest in the outcome of life and death decisions, and that certainly includes the unborn child, as well as the woman who carries the child.
Talking points that do not account for the rights of the child are a surrender to the premise of the left, that it is OK to end innocent human life for utilitarian purposes. Theoretically at least, we are not moral relativists. Every human life has intrinsic worth, and corresponding rights as an expression of that worth.
So on the one hand we cannot left the left beat us back into the corner on this. But do I agree we need to do a better job training our candidates in the art of keeping the focus on the principles, and not letting the clever misdirections of the left get them off message.
I would take the pill, eliminating that raper from my life, and think no more about it. It is highly unlikely that one time would cause a pregnancy but I wouldn’t take that chance.
Taking a birth control pill prevents many babies from being born, just like the morning after pill if one took that pill every time. A man wearing a condum prevents many babies from being born. That’s just the way it is.
The morning after pill is not RU-486. It prevents or delays ovulation, just like the birth control pill does and does not kill an existing pregnancy. This is why it’s not very effective. (Only 80-90% effective depending on the study and the time of the cycle when it’s taken.)
What’s more, it seems to be less and less effective the more a woman uses it.
That is why I’m horrified that this pill is going to be available to teens without counseling or education. Girls who ‘go through with the moment’ thinking that they can just take this pill the next day are going to be in for a rude awakening when they turn up pregnant a couple of weeks later.
It is my prediction that we’re going to have an ‘unwanted pregnancy’ baby-boom within the next couple of years because of an over-reliance on this pill.
see post #45
We have to deal with and adapt to the reality that there are two sets of rules.
One for the left and one for the right.
We are better off stepping up our game when articulating our values and positions than trying to get the media to be fair.
That much is true. Plus we can’t afford to play by their rules while they promptly ignore the same.
The right has got to fight hard and get dirty.
The fight over our nation reminds me of the American revolution in a way. Except this time the patriots are trying to fight a gentleman’s war while the left is picking our guys off from behind the bushes guerrilla warfare style.
We need more people like Ted Cruz. I can’t think of anyone better than him in the senate right now.
It would be nice to get him on SCOTUS next time (if there is a next time) a GOP president gets to fill a vacancy.
I can dream right?
I have likened the gentlemans vs guerilla war too.
I don’t disagree with what you are saying. I am a very committed pro-life individual. I will go down swinging maintaining abortion is the murder of the unborn child and I will oppose abortion at every turn.
I think our politicians need better media training. They need to learn to pivot on these issues. You pivot away from pregnancies resulting from rape. You have to treat rape by itself and make sure you convey the message that the scum who rape should be put to death. The death penalty is the wedge issue to use against the left. They hate it.
Imagine if the press conference had gone something like this: I am opposed to allowing those perps who rape women any chance at rehab as my dimocrat friends do. Unlike my dimocrat friends, I believe they should receive the death penalty for their actions.
See the difference in where the conversation has now turned? No one is thinking about abortion. Now we’re agreeing rape is terrible, and it is, and we are highlighting the death penalty which the left hates. We’ve now painted the dims as being opposed to protecting women from rapists.
The American public is not going to accept our arguement that a rape that results in pregnancy should be carried to term....at least not now.
The leftist baby murderers took about 75 years to get Roe V Wade and they’ve had 40+ years to continue to hammer home the false message of “reproductive rights”. There has been a lot of on-going mis-education and desensitizing of the public on this issue.
We are going to have to undo all of that damage and it is going to take time and effort. So we are not going to be able to readily expect the public to understand our position on rape and abortion.
That said, we need to understand we are in a culture war on this issue and others. We are not going to win the war for this topic in a blitzkrieg style.
I would envision our strategy to that of US strategy in the Pacific in WWII. We had to bypass and isolate some enemy strongholds to advance the drive across the Pacific. We didn’t just invade Japan proper right of the bat.
It’s going to take prayer, time and effort.
I don't think most pro-life people believe what you've inferred from this woman's statement. That you wonder whether they do tells me you don't know many pro-life people.
I can only assume logically that you don't know and haven't discussed abortion with many pro-life people for you to have such a question.You can hate the messenger of this woman’s statements all day long, but I want rational people representing RATIONAL POINTS AND VIEWS of myself and many others (including Freepers). However, it seems that hating on me for calling her out for her ridiculous comments and how IT DOES NOT HELP OUR CAUSE makes me fodder for Freepers.
LOL, yeah whatever.
If you have the governmental power to regulate the murder of little boys and girls, you have the power to ban all such murders, in accordance with the Constitution’s explicit, imperative demand that each innocent person’ right to life be protected, in every State in the Union. And the “pro-life” Texas Republicans have a SUPER-MAJORITY, I seem to recall.
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