The last two nights of MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show featured segments on how abortion rights are under attack in 4 states (Arkansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, and South Dakota), both by anti-choice zealots and GOP Governors (Bryant [MS], Dalrymple [ND], Daugaard [SD]) and their legislatures, as part of the War On Women playbook to drastically curtail and/or end abortion rights and to defund Planned Parenthood, to name a few.
From the 01.17.2013 edition of MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show:
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From the 01.18.2013 edition of MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show:
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Mississippi's last women's health clinic,
Jackson Women's Health Organization, could be closed down due to anti-choice extremist Governor Phil Bryant (R)'s wishes that
"Mississippi should be an abortion-free state." If his plan successfully goes through, it would be the 1st state since the highly controversial 1973
Roe v. Wade ruling by SCOTUS to effectively ban abortion.
Biloxi Sun Hearld:
JACKSON, MISS. — The state Health Department this week conducted an unannounced inspection of Mississippi's only abortion clinic to see if it's complying with a 2012 state law that eventually could put it out of business.
Admitting privileges can be difficult to obtain, either because hospitals won't grant them to out-of-state physicians or because religious-affiliated hospitals might not want to be associated with physicians who do elective abortions.
If the clinic is found out of compliance, it has 10 days after it receives the letter to ask the health department for an administrative hearing. A hearing could be scheduled within a few weeks, Sharlot said.
Supporters of the law say it's designed to protect women's health, while critics say it's simply a guise to shut down the clinic where most abortions in the state take place.
Blast From The Past: South Dakota
previously tried to ban abortion rights in 2006, and the person running the state at the time was former Governor Mike Rounds (R), who is now running for Senator against incumbent Tim Johnson (D) in 2014. The bill to essentially ban abortion there was thankfully
rejected by the voters in that state.
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Of the four states with only one women's health service clinic (or abortion provider) left in their respective states, all except Arkansas currently has a GOP Governor running the state. All four of the states listed have both their state Houses and Senates under GOP control.
Thursday night's (01.17.2013) episode discussed the re-opening of the women's health care clinic that was once home to the slain Dr. George Tiller.
The Raw Story:
Thursday night on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” host Rachel Maddow discussed the re-opening of Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita, Kansas, the former clinic of slain physician Dr. George Tiller. Tiller was shot and killed by an anti-abortion extremist on May 31, 2009 in the foyer of his family church. Prior to his death, Women’s Health Care Services was one of three clinics in the entire U.S. that offered late-term abortions.
Julie Burkhart, founder of the Trust Women PAC and former colleague of Dr. Tiller welcomed “Maddow Show” producer Rebecca Dryden to the clinic for an interview and a tour of the soon-to-be re-opened facility. Using funds raised by the Trust Women PAC, Burkhart bought the clinic in the wake of Tiller’s murder.
“The plan is to open up a full-service women’s health center,” Maddow explained, “with everything from checkups and cancer screenings to abortion and everything in between.”
The doctor is not from Wichita, nor does she live in Wichita. She will be flying in twice a month to perform abortions, then flying out again.
Currently anti-choice activists are circulating fliers with Burkhart’s photo and contact information including her home address. The flier calls her an “abortion homicide promoter” and urges recipients to go to Burkhart’s home and harass her.
My hometown in Granite City, Illinois is home to
Hope Clinic For Women. It is notorious for anti-abortion protestors (primarily aided by anti-choice loonytune Angela Michaels's group
Small Victories USA, who ran for Congress as a "fake Democrat") harassing potential visitors to the clinic. Former Congressman and 2012 Missouri Senate loser Todd Akin (R)
was arrested at Hope Clinic one time back in the late 1980s.