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Abortion Ultrasound Bill: Anti-Choice Activist Twists Facts On Hardball

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Last night, Chris Matthews hosted a “Hardball” debate about Virginia’s new bill that would require a woman considering an abortion to have a transvaginal ultrasound. During the debate, Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the ultra-conservative Susan B. Anthony List, twisted and turned various facts by suggesting that the majority of women support being legally required to have this highly-invasive and expensive procedure, and caught falsely claiming that women only had to have an ultrasound “offered” to her — when the Virginia law would force her to undergo the procedure.

But first, a quick note about who Susan B. Anthony was, via Wikipedia:

Susan Brownell Anthony (February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women’s rights movement to introduce women’s suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women’s Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President. She also co-founded the women’s rights journal, The Revolution. She traveled the United States and Europe, and averaged 75 to 100 speeches per year. She was one of the important advocates in leading the way for women’s rights to be acknowledged and instituted in the American government.

The Susan B. Anthony List, “dedicated to electing candidates and pursuing policies that will reduce and ultimately end abortion,” co-opted Susan B. Anthony’s name, with no clear indiction of what her views on abortion are. Disgusting.

Back to “Hardball.”

First, Dannenfelser was caught in falsifying facts by Matthews when she stated, “all that is involved here is saying that 24 hours ahead of time, that that ultrasound be available and offered to the woman,” according to the MSNBC-provided transcript, below.

Matthews interrupted her, as any quality journalist would have, to clarify that the law requires that ultrasound be performed, not be made available to her, as in, “Would you like a mint?”

Then Dannenfelser told Matthews that “the reason the majority of women in Virginia and across the country support this is that they believe in that vulnerable spot in a difficult place, that more information is better,” also according to the MSNBC-provided transcript, below.

Apparently, Dannenfelser has polling that no one else is privy to, because we have poll after poll after poll that states that a majority of women — and in some polls, men too — do not want the law to be involved in her decision to have an abortion, and certainly do not want the government foxing her to have a medically-unnecessary and invasive procedure, like a transvaginal ultrasound.

Dannenfelser also falsely claimed that having an ultrasound was “vital” for the health of the woman — certainly not true. Were it true, doctors would demand a the procedure and there would be no need for a law.

Even Matthews slams Dannenfelser, asking, “Why are you pushing a bill you don’t understand the ramifications of?”

Of course, Dannenfelser does not support the Obama administration’s mandate to have all employers offer contraception services free of charge. Because as the head of a women’s organization dedicated to eliminating abortions altogether, having contraception — which would reduce the number of abortions desired — is not acceptable. She’s against it.

It’s a woman’s right to choose — not the Republican Party’s right to tell.

Majorie, if you have to twist facts to make your point, you don’t have one. Shame on you. Lord knows Susan B. Anthony is rolling in her grave knowing you represent her good name.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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>;>;>; next door to here in virginia, nearly 1,200 protesters descended on the state capital to protest legislation working its way to the governor that would require a woman to get an ultrasound before having an abortion. legally requiring an ultrasound violates the doctor/patient relationship. the ultrasound is a tool for informed consent before having an abortion. virginia is now the focus of this fight and could join seven other states at least where women are already legally required to have an ultrasound before an abortion. texas, law there states the provider must describe the image. in virginia, the bill as written now would require the ultrasound be done, but not that the woman view it. coming on the heels on access to contraception, is the virginia fight another example of the placing undue burden on women’s care. margeny denifeld joins us. cynthia, you go first. what’s wrong with this legislation requiring an ultrasound before an abortion?

>;>; everything, chris. republicans have been bludgeoning the administration with government intrusiveness. the affordable care act is supposed to be so intrusive. what is more intrusive than man mandating a medical procedure for a woman? one that is not medically e necessary? what is more intrusive of government than getting in the relationship between a woman and her doctor? i can’t imagine an episode of greater government overreach than that.

>;>; margery, your thoughts about why it would be important for the legislature to require this ultrasound before an abortion?

>;>; this is a matter of giving a woman more information that she needs to make a decision that’s fully informed. listen. these ultrasounds are standard procedure. planned parenthood’s hotline in virginia says that as well. all that is involved here is saying that 24 hours ahead of time, that that ultrasound be available and offered to the woman.

>;>; i thought the law said they have to have it.

>;>; the information. you have to have the ultrasound, yes. it’s not true that there’s no medical value in it.

>;>; just so the person watching the show understands the issue here. is the issue whether this is required by law or not?

>;>; this is required by law.

>;>; if you win.

>;>; that is right. if we win. and the actual image is offered to the woman. she doesn’t have to look at it. it’s not true there’s no medical necessity. that’s why it’s a standard procedure.

>;>; what’s the medical advantage of having an ultrasound?

>;>; women have died and had all sorts of complications from abortions when the jes talgs age was not determined.

>;>; hang on a minute. if in fact planned parenthood already does this, why is the law necessary? if a doctor believes that the procedure is medically necessary, a doctor will do it.

>;>; because a woman deserves to see it.

>;>; but if it is not medically necessary, the government has no business telling a doctor he or she must perform this intrusive procedure when it’s not medically necessary.

>;>; the information is vital. there are other standard procedures required by government. this one is certainly vital for her health and her fully-informed decision.

>;>; i’m not going to take cynthia’s side, although i agree this should be a concern that people should have. there ought to be an ownous on the ones that want the law. a woman decides to have an abortion. she makes the decision. it’s legal. under the law in the first trimester. why should you get in the way of that decision once she’s made that decision? why should she be required to jump through hoops to do it?

>;>; the reason the majority of women in virginia and across the country support this is that they believe in that vulnerable spot in a difficult place, that more information is better. and making — one decision is a medical decision. one is about the contentious difficult decision about what’s happening in an abortion. an ultrasound speaks to that. it’s science. it’s a scientific opinion backing up a medical reality.

>;>; what percentage of women decide not to have an abortion after seeing an ultrasound?

>;>; why are you pushing the bill then?

>;>; i understand that women– i know that women think they should have that information. if they want the information, they should have it.

>;>; if women thought —

>;>; they are in a difficult spot. listen. they get all kinds of other information about every other aspect of everything that’s going to happen in a procedure. this is arguably another human being.

>;>; do you think abortion should be outlawed?

>;>; of course, i do. it’s another human being. but that’s not what we’re talking about here.

>;>; is this another way of beginning the process of outlawing it?

>;>; this truly is about giving a woman a fully-informed decision about what’s actually going on.

>;>; cynthia, last thought here. i want to move on to a larger question on women’s health. what do you think this means, cynthia? that this is being pushed.

>;>; it’s harassment. it’s harassment because the groups who are pushing this don’t want women to have the right to decide. it’s extremely condescending to suggest that women have not thought deeply about this. prayed about it, talked to family. if they wanted more information, they could certainly ask the doctor for it.

>;>; why should an abortionist in the first place do it? why should information that he’s going to get not be offered to the woman? that’s all that’s happening in virginia.

>;>; let me ask you a question. the insurance companies are required to carry without co-pay coverage for birth control. isn’t that going to radically reduce the number of abortions in this country? birth control? the fact that poor women, working women will get it free. they will be inclined to provide themselves with birth control and avoid abortions?

>;>; regardless of the answer to that question, the ends don’t justify the means. this is actually what this presidential debate, this is what this freedom of information is about. it’s about freedom. and for —

>;>; so radically reducing the number of abortions in this country is not a good end?

>;>; of course, it’s a good end.

>;>; it could be achieved by birth control.

>;>; but a mandate to require abortions?

>;>; the availability at no cost will encourage women to use it. it would seem to me because it’s free and made available in their insurance programs. won’t that radically reduce the number of abortions?

>;>; no. look. 100% access is what women have now. requiring — mandating that on individuals that don’t believe in abortion causing drugs is a restriction of religious liberty and should not be about it. that’s what we’re talking about. .

>;>; cynthia, thank you for your knowledge and passion as always.

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News

‘Blood on Your Hands’: Tennessee Republicans OK Arming Teachers After Deadly School Shooting

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13 hours ago

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April 23, 2024

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Republicans in the Tennessee House passed legislation Tuesday afternoon allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons in classrooms across the state, thirteen months after a 28-year old shooter slaughtered three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville.

The measure is reportedly not popular statewide, with Democrats, teachers, and parents from the school, Covenant Elementary, largely opposed. The Republican Speaker of the House, Cameron Sexton, at one point literally shut down debate on the bill by shutting off a Democratic lawmaker’s microphone and then smiling.

Ultimately, Republican Rep. Ryan Williams’s legislation passed the GOP majority House as protestors in the gallery shouted their objections: “Blood on your hands.”

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The legislation bars parents from being informed if their child’s teacher has a gun in the classroom.

State Troopers were called to “prevent people from getting close to the House chambers,” WSMV’s Marissa Sulek reports.

“You’re going to kill kids,” one woman had yelled at Rep. Williams from the gallery on Monday, The Tennessean reports. “You’re going to be responsible for the death of children. Shame on you.”

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Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones said on social media, “This is what fascism looks like.”

“In recent weeks,” the paper also reports, “parents of school shooting survivors, students and gun-reform advocates have heavily lobbied against the bill, with one Covenant School mom delivering a letter to the House on Monday with more than 5,300 signatures asking lawmakers to kill the bill.”

The bill, which already passed the state Senate, now heads to Republican Governor Bill Lee’s desk. He is expected to sign it into law.

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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OPINION

Trump Complains He’s ‘Not Allowed to Talk’ as He Gripes Live on Camera

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15 hours ago

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April 23, 2024

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At the end of another short courtroom day that required barely three hours of Donald Trump’s time, the ex-president spoke to reporters inside Manhattan’s Criminal Courts Building to complain about a wide variety of perceived and alleged wrongs he is suffering, including, not being “allowed to talk.”

The ex-president’s presence was required only from 11 AM until just 2 PM. Judge Juan Merchan is overseeing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of the ex-president in a case that has already drawn a straight line through the “hush money” headlines to correct them to alleged criminal conspiracy and election interference.

Judge Merchan, for nearly two hours Tuesday morning, heard prosecutors’ allegations that Trump has violated his gag order ten times, and heard defense counsel’s claims that he had not.

It did not go well for the Trump legal team, with Judge Merchan toward the end of the hearing, during which no jurors were allowed, telling Trump lead attorney Todd Blanche, “You’re losing all credibility.”

READ MORE: Biden Campaign Hammers Trump Over Infamous COVID Comment

During the day’s hearing, jurors heard prosecutors’ lead witness, the former head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer tabloid, David Pecker, explain how he was working to help the Trump campaign.

“David Pecker testifies that, following his 2015 meeting with Trump and [Michael] Cohen, he met with former National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard,” MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin reports. “Pecker outlined the arrangement and described it as ‘highly private and confidential.’ Pecker asked Howard to notify the tabloid’s West Coast and East Coast bureau chiefs that any stories that came in about Trump or the 2016 election must be vetted and brought straight to Pecker — and ‘they’ll have to be brought to Cohen.’ Pecker told Howard the arrangement needed to stay a secret because it was being carried out to help Trump’s campaign.”

Trump did not discuss any evidence against him with reporters, but he did complain about the gag order. And President Joe Biden. And the temperature in the courtroom. And his apparent attempt to stay awake, which has been a problem for him almost every day in court.

“We have a gag order, which to me is totally unconstitutional, I’m not allowed to talk but people are allowed to talk about me,” Trump told reporters, emphasizing the last word in that sentence.

“So they can talk about me, they can say whatever they want, they can lie. But I’m not allowed to say anything, I just have to sit back and look at why a conflicted judge has ordered me to have a gag order.”

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“I don’t think anybody’s ever seen anything like this,” Trump claimed, falsely implying no criminal defendant has ever had a gag order imposed on them previously. “I’d love to talk to you people, I’d love to say everything that’s on my mind, but I’m restricted because I have a gag order, and I’m not sure that anybody’s ever seen anything like this before.”

Trump then started to discuss the “articles” in his hand, what appeared to be dozens of articles he said had “all good headlines,” while implying they claimed “the case is a sham.”

Trump oversimplified the legal arguments attached to his gag order, as discussed with Judge Merchan Tuesday morning. The judge has yet to rule on prosecutors’ request to hold Trump in contempt.

“So I put an article in and then somebody’s name is mentioned somewhere deep in the article and I end up in violation of a gag order,” he told reporters, apparently referring to his posts on Truth Social with persecutes say violated his gag order. “I think it’s a disgrace. It’s totally unconstitutional. I don’t believe it’s ever – not to this extent – ever happened before. I’m not allowed to defend myself and yet other people are allowed to say whatever they want about me. Very, very unfair.”

“Having to do with the schools and the closings – that’s Biden’s fault,” Trump said, strangely, as if the COVID pandemic were still officially in process. “And by the way, this trial is all Biden, this is all Biden just in case anybody has any question. And they’re keeping me, in a courtroom that’s freezing by the way, all day long while he’s out campaigning, that’s probably an advantage because he can’t campaign.”

“Nobody knows what he’s doing. he can’t put two sentences together. But he’s out campaigning. He’s campaigning and I’m here and I’m sitting here sitting up as straight as I can all day long because you know, it’s a very unfair situation,” Trump lamented. “So we’re locked up in a courtroom and this guy’s out there campaigning, if you call it a campaign, every time he opens his mouth he gets himself into trouble.”

Watch below or at this link.

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News

Biden Campaign Hammers Trump Over Infamous COVID Comment

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18 hours ago

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April 23, 2024

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Four years ago today then-President Donald Trump, on live national television during what would be known as merely the early days and weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggested an injection of a household “disinfectant” could cure the deadly coronavirus.

The Biden campaign on Tuesday has already posted five times on social media about Trump’s 2020 remarks, including by saying, “Four years ago today, Dr. Birx reacted in horror as Trump told Americans to inject bleach on national television.”

Less than 24 hours after Trump’s remarks calls to the New York City Poison Control Center more than doubled, including people complaining of Lysol and bleach exposure. Across the country, the CDC reported, calls to state and local poison control centers jumped 20 percent.

“It was a watershed moment, soon to become iconic in the annals of presidential briefings. It arguably changed the course of political history,” Politico reported on the one-year anniversary of Trump’s beach debacle. “It quickly came to symbolize the chaotic essence of his presidency and his handling of the pandemic.”

How did it happen?

“The Covid task force had met earlier that day — as usual, without Trump — to discuss the most recent findings, including the effects of light and humidity on how the virus spreads. Trump was briefed by a small group of aides. But it was clear to some aides that he hadn’t processed all the details before he left to speak to the press,” Politico added.

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“’A few of us actually tried to stop it in the West Wing hallway,’ said one former senior Trump White House official. ‘I actually argued that President Trump wouldn’t have the time to absorb it and understand it. But I lost, and it went how it did.'”

The manufacturer of Lysol issued a strong statement saying, “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route),” with “under no circumstance” in bold type.

Trump’s “disinfectant” remarks were part of a much larger crisis during the pandemic: misinformation and disinformation. In 2021, a Cornell University study found the President was the “single largest driver” of COVID misinformation.

What did Trump actually say?

“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out, in a minute,” Trump said from the podium at the White House press briefing room, as Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx looked on without speaking up. “Is there a way we can do something like that? By injection, inside, or almost a cleaning, ’cause you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. You’re going to have to use medical doctors, right? But it sounds interesting to me.”

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Within hours comedian Sarah Cooper, who had a good run mocking Donald Trump, released a video based on his remarks that went viral:

The Biden campaign at least 12 times on the social media platform X has mentioned Trump’s infamous and dangerous remarks about injecting “disinfectant,” although, like many, they have substituted the word “bleach” for “disinfectant.”

Hours after Trump’s remarks, from his personal account, Joe Biden posted this tweet:

Tuesday morning the Biden campaign released this video marking the four-year anniversary of Trump’s “disinfectant” remarks.

See the social media posts and videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Election Interference’ and ‘Corruption’: Experts Explain Trump Prosecution Opening Argument

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