Woman-hating ghoul Mike Pence was called to the Senate today, along with ailing Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, to cast a tie-breaking vote to withhold family planning funding from Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide access to abortion, a common, safe, and legal medical procedure that Pence has been trying to legislate for years, despite apparently only knowing one woman personally. Here's Politico. But first—
ABORTION IS A COMMON MEDICAL PROCEDURE THAT IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF HEALTHCARE. SORRY. BUT IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT, YOU ARE LIVING IN THE DARK AGES AND HAVE NO BUSINESS GOVERNING IN 2017 AMERICA. PLEASE GET A BETTER HOBBY THAN BEING OBSESSED WITH WHAT PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW DO WITH THEIR OWN BODY PARTS. I RECOMMEND ADULT COLORING BOOKS.
Okay. Here's Politico:
With a rare tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence, the Senate on Thursday sent a bill to President Donald Trump’s desk giving states permission to withhold federal family planning funds from Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.Pence and Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson, who is recovering from back surgery and used a walker inside the chamber, were dramatically summoned to the Capitol to help pass the measure by a razor-thin margin.
All of the chamber's Democrats opposed the legislation, as did Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who have long opposed blocking funding for the family planning organization. The GOP holds a 52-48 majority in the Senate.
I'm proud of Collins and Murkowski for having values and spines.
Also worth noting: The Republicans are using the obscure Congressional Review Act to roll back rules set by the Obama administration—in this case a rule proposed by the Obama administration in December that prohibited states from blocking federal family planning funding from Planned Parenthood and other health care organizations that provide abortion services.
To be clear, though, this isn't about abortion at all: Federal funding has been prohibited from going to abortion services since the shitty, misogynistic Hyde Amendment was passed in 1976. The Republicans are using abortion as a scapegoat for cutting off poor women and their families from essential family planning programs that would actually drive down the abortion rate. Because this isn't about abortion. It's about controlling women and punishing the poor. VERY CHRISTIAN, Mike Pence. VERY CHRISTIAN.
Anyway, here's where you can donate to Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette. Meanwhile, I'm going to go scream in my car for a while, like David Schwimmer in The People Versus OJ Simpson, all because nincompoop Mike Pence does not understand science—or apparently Christianity.