Tell me why 54 of our congressional Dems voted for this?

[saracat]

This is a complete stab in the back to prochoice and the continued nibbling around the edges of reproductive rights.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/28/AR2005042801943.html

The bill creates two federal crimes, each of which can carry a $100,000 fine, one year in jail or both. The bill's first section covers the transportation of a minor for an abortion. The second section requires the abortion provider to notify a minor's parent or legal guardian if she lives in a state with a parental-involvement law.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) said during the floor debate that the bill is "vital to parental rights."

Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council and father of three daughters, said in an interview that the bill was one of his group's top priorities for the year and called it "a recognition of parental authority."

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, countered that the bill is "a bureaucratic nightmare" and is part of a multi-track strategy by conservatives that includes packing the judiciary with judges sympathetic to their views.

The bill, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, passed the House on Wednesday night by 270 to 157, with 216 Republicans in favor and 145 Democrats against. Crossing party lines were 54 Democrats who supported the bill and 11 Republicans who opposed it. The bill makes an exception if the abortion is necessary to save the life of the minor. The House passed similar bills in 1998, 1999 and 2002, but none passed the Senate.

[mcctatas]

1. Because alot of them are simply "republican lite"...

Also, many of them fit the definition of insane (doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome). They don't seem to get the fact that there is a certain segment of our population (red state fundies specifically) who will never vote for a democrat unless God personally tells them to (preferably on a mountain top in the form of a burning bush). I wish they'd just give it up...they've tried and tried but that dog just won't hunt!!

[Jamastiene]

2. Because they are morons with

no sense of duty to their constituents. Why don't they just come on out and say that they think a woman should be a baby making punching bag, barefoot in the kitchen with a ball and chain around her neck and ankle and should not be allowed to get an education or live her life? Well, in a round about way, they are saying that, if you think about it. They better hope I don't get raped again. If I do, not only will I perform a Lorena Bobbittectomy on the s.o.b., but I will wrap the baby in a nice warm cloth and ring the nearest doorbell of a dem who voted for that bullshit. I got news for them. The women hating/oppressing Taliban techniques they have learned recently and decided to implement on Americans aren't boding well with many of us out here in America including this one in a red state. I say they should stop that bullshit right now. I'm pushing my sleeves up and using some of Mick Jagger's lip movements to warm my mouth up for the million word cussing spree it is about to start uttering. I've had it with them.

[Nikki Stone 1]

3. We can expect more of this with Democrats like Casey in PA

This is just awful, and a sign that the Democrats are abandoning reproductive rights.

[Robert Oak]

4. so sad

I don't know the statistics but seems to me the number one
group that would want abortions are teenagers...
and w/ parents the way they are and what not...seems to me
the group that needs most protection against invasion of privacy
are teenagers.

I remember in my youth girls getting beaten, shamed and some were
plain abused by family members, there was date rape and no one
believed anyone back then...but families were usually the worst
if a girl got pregnant, immediate "you're a whore" and just
deciminated their self-esteem.

But, hey what the hell, back to the days where girls are shamed,
beaten, made to carry babies and drop out of high school,
be sent away to "homes for pregnant girls" and basically be set up
for a disasterous life straight out of the gate.

Never mind how many are going to try a "self medication technique"
and die from having their friends read some article on the Internet
and they try in so noone will know.

[thethinker]

5. I have given this issue a lot of thought

A parent has parental rights. But a woman has rights to make the decision regarding her own body. She is not chattel. I think any woman old enough to get pregnant is the only person who has a right to make a decision regarding that pregnancy. If she is old enough to make a baby, she is old enough to make her own decisions about it. If she is 12, so be it. A young woman that is pregnant at 12 or 13 has already done a lot fast growing up, unfortunately.

I have thought a lot about the pros and cons of this issue. And what keeps coming back to me is how often parents have made bad decisions regarding their children. There is this whole issue of sexually abused children - often abused by a family member.

The congressmen that are passing these laws aren't thinking about the children involved. They are control freaks that view woman of any age as chattel. There is a lot under the surface when it comes to the abortion issue.

[googly]

6. Any woman should have the right to kill the fetus anytime she wants

its her body, not any congressman's.

[Orangepeel]

7. because they think that's what their constituents would want?

:shrug: