Depends on your definition of “represent”, I suppose…

This post is a cross-post of a terrific piece by Emily Magner from her blog Musings of a Lady. The original post can be found HERE.

In her piece, Magner talks about her treatment by two Republican legislators who “represent” her. She and a group of students did their civic duty by traveling to Lansing to meet with their State Senator and Representative to discuss House Bill 5711, a sweeping anti-abortion bill that will severely limit access to women’s reproductive health services, including abortions, across Michigan. The bill has a particularly acute impact on rural women — like the women in Magner’s area.

The treatment they encountered, while not surprising given the recent behavior of Michigan Republican lawmakers, is a story that needs to be heard.

Her essay after the jump.

It IS impressive…

If you thought the speed with which Michigan Republicans went to chit chatting about making Michigan a Right to Work for Less state and actually accomplishing that was impressive, you should keep watching because they aren’t done yet, not by a long shot. The frantic pace continued yesterday, just one day after they kicked unions to the curb and brought a record number of people to the Capitol to protest.

Read about the four major pieces of legislation that passed in the House after the jump.

While you were looking over THERE…

While the spotlight and media attention was focused on the outrageous anti-worker legislation that Republicans jammed through the legislature last Thursday, they also made sure to throw in some equally outrageous attacks in their War on Women. Bills were passed as part of their overhaul of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan that include prohibitions on access to abortion for Michigan women. Additionally, they passed a bill that will force ALL women covered by health insurance in Michigan to purchase separate riders covering abortion services.

Details after the jump.

This guest post is the epilogue to a three-part series by Lynn Miller (aka VeloVixen from Daily Kos.) The first part is HERE, the second is HERE, and the third part is HERE.

The story that Lynn shares in today’s final segment puts the claim of being “pro life” in sharp perspective. You’ll find it after the jump.

Fundamentalist doctors vs. science-based medicine

This guest post is the third in a three-part series by Lynn Miller (aka VeloVixen from Daily Kos.) The first part is HERE and the second is HERE. She’ll be posting an epilogue here at Eclectablog tomorrow.

In this final part of Lynn’s series, she talks about the role of fundamentalist doctors, what should be but is not an oxymoron, and their role in the death of Savita as well as who knows how many other women around the world.

Part III after the jump.

They love you until you’re born

It’s getting pretty tough for Michigan Republicans to surprise me anymore but, dammit, they went ahead and did it anyway. This week, they introduced legislation that establishes a tax credit for unborn fetuses.

I’m not kidding.

Government policy set by anti-Choice ideologues — it could happen HERE

< i>This guest post is the second in a three-part series by Lynn Miller (aka VeloVixen from Daily Kos.) The first part is HERE. She’ll be posting the final part here at Eclectablog tomorrow.

The heartbreaking story of Savita Halappanavar has serious connections to the U.S. government, our federal policies on women’s reproductive freedom and health care and who gets to determine those policies. As Lynn shows in her piece, the same type of 18th Century thinking that resulted in the death of Savita is in public display here in our own country by U.S. lawmakers and doctors today.

Part 2 of this important series after the jump.

Lethal ideology

This guest post is the first in a three-part series by Lynn Miller (aka VeloVixen from Daily Kos.) She’ll be posting all three parts here at Eclectablog over the next few days.

The story of Savita Halappanavar is both heartbreaking and, sadly, preventable. It was literally the triumph of small-minded Catholic ideology, misapplied in this particular instance, over the life of a healthy woman.

Part 1 of this story after the jump.

UPDATE: Volume III of the GOP Rape Advisory Chart can be found HERE Wow. Yesterday, in light of the latest misogynistic idiocy by the Republican moron of the moment, Richard Mourdock, I decided to whip up a compilation of some of the more revolting statements on the subject of rape (often tied in with reproductive rights, but not always). The […]

There’s someone on the ticket who is more anti-women than Mitt Romney. It’s Paul Ryan.

Mitt Romney’s insulting, anti-woman positions are enough to disqualify him from the presidency for most thinking people. The fact that he can’t even be arsed to tell us whether or not he would have supported the Lily Ledbetter Act had he been president in 2009 tells you absolutely everything you need to know.

But there’s another person on the 2012 ticket who is even worse on women’s issues than Mitt Romney. That’s Paul Ryan.

Information about the hard conversation you will need to have with your daughters if Romney & Ryan are elected after the jump.

It took some doing but Mitt’s just the man for the job!

Mitt Romney has been accused of flip-flopping on pretty much every single major policy position and issue that has been discussed in the presidential election. Abortion. Taxing the rich. Budget policy. Health insurance reform. Raising taxes on the middle class. You name a major issue and Mitt Romney has taken both sides at some point in the past decade.

What’s lost in this discussion is the fact that, by doing so, Mitt Romney hasn’t just appeased everyone. He’s also pissed off everyone. For every issue that is important to any particular group, he hasn’t just sided WITH you; he’s sided AGAINST you.

Much more after the jump.