The brave senator from Mississippi this week fell on the IVF sword for her colleagues — again.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1482109
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1482109
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I just want to ask, if embryos are children, where is there birth certificate? What is their social security number? What is their name?* Can they be listed as dependents on your taxes?
* Do they all need androgynous names like Blake or Taylor or Jesse?
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She looks a decade older than she is. Being on the side of darkness has serious down points.
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Perhaps. I know that every time I see a picture of Patty Murray, I magically transform her to the woman I remember from 30 years ago. She will always be the mom in tennis shoes in my eyes. The years have been kind to her, as they should be.
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Thing 1, Thing 2, Thing 3, Thing 4, Thing 5…
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Women like Hyde-Smith are swimming against the tide of women’s rights in this country. It must be exhausting.
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There is no scientific question about when a new biological entity is formed: it is at or around the time of fertilization. Fertilization is, by the way, more a process than a discrete event. But that misses what is perhaps a more basic moral question: at what point is something that warrants moral recognition or consideration come into being.
The answer to the latter question is not demonstratively clear and different societies have answered that question in many very different ways. Indeed even the Catholic Church has changed its position over time. Historically, the time of quickening - when a woman can first feel movement - was considered the beginning of a new human being. Jews have traditionally considered a baby’s first breath to be the beginning of a new human being’s life. Other cultures use a much later marker, like a first birthday.
Fertilization has been grabbed onto by some Christians because it is both intuitive and allows them claim the imprimatur of it being scientific. Okay, let’s go with that for the sake of argument, along with their great reverence of life that demands a religious ceremony to mark a life lost.
But if we adopt those views then they must know that roughly half of all fertilizations result in spontaneous abortions in the first weeks of pregnancy, which women experience simply only as late menstrual periods.
If today’s American Christians want to be true to their enthusiastically expressed convictions, and not act hypocritically, then they must give proper Christian burials to the effluent of all late periods.
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Cindy Hyde-smith and Marsha Blackburn. Are there any Senators more ignorant?
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Or “Pat” even.
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It was also a dare of sorts, an attempt to get Republicans on the record, but that was not likely to work because there is always going to be at least one Senator like Hyde-Smith from a state like Mississippi who will pay no electoral price in the process of protecting her fellow conspirators, er, colleagues…
Maybe try a normal channel for the bill and see how many Republicans are willing to fall on their swords for real.
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Nasty woman reptile.
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Cindy Hyde-Smith is so “pro-life” she wants to prevent women from becoming pregnant… or something.
On a side note, why does she look like the Junior Senator from Louisiana in drag?
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There is the wear of a good life but maybe a hard life, one layered with challenges and moments. But it still leaves elegance and light on the creases in the face.
Then there is the wear of that inner evil burning through and ravaging the face. It is built of avarice, consumption, hate, envy and dirty deeds. And likely a good dose of alcohol. Each wrinkle speaks of something mean and nasty, a crevasse leading into darkness. I tend to think Republicans fall into this category of aging.
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This right here, put in the work of legislating and make them actually put their names to the no votes.
So much of the past several decades have been Democrats acquiescing to GOP obstruction because what’s the point of doing the work if they’re just going to block it anyway. That’s how you end up with a permanent filibuster without actually ever changing a rule.
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The problem is that since everything is now subject to a cloture (filibuster) vote, it eats up hours to take one of these messaging votes which will ultimately fail. Which can obstruct a more critical, must-pass bill. So if they had infinite time to conduct Senate business, there’s no downside, but with limited time, they need justification to actually put it to a vote in this polarized era.
It’s obnoxious, but until the filibuster is excised, there’s a cost to forcing a bill like this to the floor.
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Understood, but you have to do the work. You think the GOP wants to sit around for hours to pass must pass bills anymore then Democrats do? We’ve allowed them to make the filibuster permanent because we made it easy for them to do.
McConnell probably wouldn’t be the obstinate ass he is today if he had to spend the last 20 years sitting around for hours putting “no” next his name on very popular messaging votes and then having to spend his weekends passing must pass budget bills
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‘We want BABIES!!! We want teenage babies and we want them to raise them without any HOPE or MONEY!!!’
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Tommy Tuberville and Ron Johnson come to mind.
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The Alabama state legislature has just passed a bill, which will be signed by the governor, to protect doctors involved with IVF from any liability.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see extreme right wingers challenging the law in court, arguing that this new law condones the murder of unborn children. The challenge would have strong friends on the state Supreme Court.
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