Scarlet Letters And Robes

by digby

From Barb at Dkos:

Move over, Hester Prynne:

On Nov. 1, a law in Oklahoma will go into effect that will collect personal details about every single abortion performed in the state and post them on a public website. Implementing the measure will “cost $281,285 the first year and $256,285 each subsequent year.” Here are the first eight questions that women will have to reveal:

1. Date of abortion

2. County in which abortion performed

3. Age of mother

4. Marital status of mother

5. Race of mother

6. Years of education of mother

7. State or foreign country of residence of mother

8. Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother

Oklahoma’s Department of Health argues that there is “no cause for concern or protest in regards to privacy issues” because the whore woman isn’t required to give her name, but quite obviously it wouldn’t be too hard to crack the code for those living in small communities.

This is supposedly required because they want to prevent abortion based on the gender of the fetus.

And then there’s this from George Stephanopoulos:

In a letter just released, the three Catholic bishops leading the Church’s efforts on health care warned Congress that “we will have no choice but to oppose the bill” unless current bills are amended. The letter signed by Bishop William Murphy, Cardinal Justin Rigali and Bishop John Wester outlines three main areas of concern: “that no one should be forced to pay for or participate in abortion, that health care should be affordable and available to the poor and vulnerable, and that the needs of legal immigrants should be met.” Of those, of course, abortion poses the gravest threat to the bill. The bishops simply don’t buy the argument that House Democrats found a way to block public funding for abortions with the Capps amendment, and they insist that the Hyde amendment doesn’t apply to the bills because they are not appropriations measures. A sizable bloc of House Democrats, led by Bart Stupak of Michigan, agree and are pressuring for a clear prohibition on public funding.

Why it’s the “gravest threat to the bill” I can’t imagine. The threat to immigrants under our proposed new system is just terrible. In fact, we are already seeing the corporate media begin to debate whether or not these people deserve to live or die.

But it’s quite clear that these people actually care far more for blastocysts than they do for actual living human beings, so I guess it’s logical that Stephanopoulos would see it that way.

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