I agree that it’s rather unprofessional for a state Senator to look at pictures of topless women while his colleagues are debating a bill, but I just can’t bring myself to get excited over Florida state Senator Mike Bennet doing that. So he’s looking at dirty pictures on his computer at work? Meh.
What I find more interesting is Bennet’s commentary on the anti-abortion measure they were debating. The usually anti-choice senator voted against the bill, which requires women to undergo ultrasounds and pay for them out of pocket before procuring abortions.
“You want them to feel more miserable on this tough choice,” said Bennett, a Republican.
Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
His fellow Rethuglicans in the state Senate, meanwhile, apparently think unhappily pregnant women have peanut shells for brains.
“Maybe it will have an impact on your decision. Maybe,” said Sen. Andy Gardiner, the Orlando Republican who sponsored the ultrasound requirement. “You realize that what you’re dealing with is by far the most important decision in your whole life.”
By “most important decision in your whole life,” I suppose Sen. Gardiner means that terminating a pregnancy in the early stages will leave you fucked up for life, but becoming a mother to a child you’re not prepared to raise will all work itself out.
What is it that pro-lifers find so fascinating about ultrasounds, anyway? It seems that the woman is supposed to look at the sonogram and say, “Oh, wow, that sort of looks like a baby! Here I thought it would look like a squid! This changes everything!” I mean, she’s not ready for a(nother) baby, doesn’t want to be pregnant, there are risks of injury and death in even the healthiest pregnancy, and no other class of human beings are widely considered to have the inalienable entitlement to live off another person’s bloodstream, but what really matters here is that it looks like a baby.
Sen. Bennet is having none of that bullshit. He knows what the bill is really supposed to accomplish: it won’t stop very many women from having abortions, but it’ll make a lot of them feel like shit. When that fails, it’ll filter out the ones who can’t afford to pay for the ultrasound. And we all know that a woman who can’t afford an ultrasound can totally provide for a baby! In the event that the mother does not have the economic resources to meet the child’s needs, the good state of Florida will be there for the struggling family, right? After all, we know how the GOP feels about devoting government resources to helping poor families.
The Monster's Ink 