Saturday morning saw a large group gather in front of the old Chester County courthouse to either condemn or support the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to the House health insurance bill. Joe Pitts (PA-16) co-authored sweeping new bans on women's access to abortion, a legal medical procedure. Following a summer where Republicans spread horror stories that reform would mean rationing of health care and government bureaucrats deciding your medical care decisions Joe Pitts introduced just such a measure.
In his very undistinguished career in Washington Joe Pitts has stayed under the national radar. In spite of breaking his term limit promises he continues running for re-election on the basis of far right, fringe religious ideological grounds. Joe Pitts doesn't believe in democracy and wants to replace our system of government with a theocracy where clerics tell us all what we can and cannot do with our bodies. He belongs to extreme, dangerous religious cults and lives in the C Street house with other Congressional zealots. I wonder who Pitts shares a bed with in The Family house? The John Ensign scandal obviously shows the level of hypocrisy and sexual misbehavior happening in that edifice.
Lois Herr slammed Congressman Pitts for his support for onerous new bans on women's reproductive rights. She was joined by the National Organization For Women, Planned Parenthood Advocates (disclosure: I am a member of the state Board of Directors), State Representative Barbara McIlvaine Smith and Lancaster City Council member Denise Williams. Unfortunately YouTube didn't upload all of my videos of the event(in spite of spending all weekend trying) but these managed to get online.
Rep. Smith had the best moment of the morning as protesters engaged in loud, rude, obnoxious, threatening and noxious behavior refused to remain across the street and attempted to hijack the event. One man revealed the real agenda of those screaming at the speakers when he told Ms. Smith she should "just keep her legs crossed." She replied he should "keep it in his pants."
These reactionary men don't think women should be able to have sex and cringe at the thought it can be enjoyable. To them, and Pitts, sexual activity should only be for reproduction. I wonder how many of those men masturbate? Any guesses? If they insist women should keep their legs crossed so abortion will never be necessary maybe they need to get some practice. How would they deal with a woman being raped at knifepoint, just tell her she needs to keep her legs crossed?
The rally's goal was to insure that women's rights to safe, legal abortions remains intact. Joe Pitts' amendment takes America back to the dangerous days of back alley butchers, days when women died at the hands of unsafe practitioners, children were left motherless and unwanted children grew up abused, malnourished and unloved. So much for the sanctity of life argument.
