If you're worried the democratic process in Kansas might produce a result you don't like, I'd strongly suggest you stop bitching about it and spend your time and energy promoting federal legislation protecting whatever abortion rights you want.

Mike

Senator Brownback is a shameless busybody, and is surely no friend of the fundamental rights of privacy and personal autonomy, but rolling back reproductive rights? Really?

Paging Mr. Orwell; paging Mr. Orwell.

Since the Shakers died out, has anyone seriously advocated curtailing the right to reproduce? Can anyone provide a quote or a link there?

Roe v. Wade is an abortion rights case. For a reproductive rights case, we have to hark back as far as the World War II erea case of Skinner v. State of Oklahoma ex rel. Williamson, 316 U.S. 535 (1942), which invalidated a state criminal sentencing scheme known as the Oklahoma Habitual Criminal Sterilization Act, which mandated vasectomies in some cases.

To my knowledge, no court has upheld a statute curtailing the right to reproduce since Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927), which enabled Virginia's Superintendent of the State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble Minded to order forced sterilization of a third generation feeble minded woman.

For those of us on the side of freedom/personal autonomy regarding abortion rights, let's say what we mean and leave the euphemisms and stilted language to the fetus fetishists.

At least Brownback is a real Catholic who will stand up for real Catholic values, which are in essence human values, in the face of the baby killing industry and its bloodthristy supporters and that means you, Dana-accessory-to-baby-murder. Sebelius by contrast was and is worthless as Catholic, just about as Catholic as bin Laden or Tojo or Stalin.

You are incorrect that, under the bill Sebelius vetoed, an abortionist could be sued by someone with a half-baked suspicion or malevolent intent. You may have been lead to this mistake by Sebelius' self-serving veto claim that the bill would unfairly intimidate good faith abortionists.

The current Kansas late-term law allows the practitioner plenty of "medical elbow room" to assess health and perform abortions past 21 weeks 1)if the fetus cannot live outside the mother with or without medical assistance, or 2) if the fetus CAN live, but the mother would suffer death or irreversible and substantial physical or mental harm. The late-term law also requires an independent medical referral and proper reporting to the health department (without personal information that identifies the aborted female).

The proposed vetoed bill [http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2010/218.pdf] included a provision [pg7, section 4 G]granting standing to sue to parents of a minor, or the spouse who is also the fetus' father, after discovering a post-21 week abortion did not follow the late-term requirements.

The bill's provision for suing compares to the civil suit against OJ. It would have given standing to bring forth a suit to limited parties with an interest in the aborted woman--but certainly not for frivolous opinions about health.

When did the TAPPED comments get taken over by ultra-conservatives and pedants? In order, and patiently:

MBunge, writing is Dana's job, see, and the way she tries to affect policy. Probably she, unlike you, can imagine trying to protect abortion rights at the state and federal levels SIMULTANEOUSLY.

John in Nashville, I'm a real grammar and usage snob, and even I can tell that reproductive rights encompass both the right to reproduce and the right NOT to reproduce. That second one is what's at issue in abortion rights cases, if you hadn't noticed.

Anonymous: seriously?

kathy ostrowski: your usage gives you away. Abortionists? Aborted woman? Sigh.

Democrats in Kansas have an uphill battle, and Brownback's only "moderate" opponent dropped out of the race this week, so he's basically guaranteed the Governor's mansion. It's too bad, because there are plenty of good moderate republicans in Kansas, but the religious right-wingers have driven them from the party. Some have joined the Democratic party, but most just drop out of politics. There are literally dozens of more important issues facing our state, but these zealots can only focus on a medical procedure that has absolutely nothing to do with them.

Let's work to get the Democratic candidate elected. When given the choice between a rightwing Republican, like Brownback, and a talented, moderate Democrat, like Sebelius, Kansans often choose the Democrat. We just need the right candidate, a great campaign and lots of hard work.

I think it would be good if a whole-life candidate were elected. But, I was under the impression that Sen. Brownback supported Ms. Sebelius as HHS Secretary during her confirmation. A lot of people felt betrayed by that and this article doesn't seem to mention that particular mitigating factor, it just paints him as a Catholic champion of life, which is who I'd like to see in office. I just hope he'll be that guy.

Keep religion far, far away from political rule. Religious fetishists are an unstable, myopic lot.

I realize the American Taliban is salivating at the idea of enslaving women and girls once and for all with forced pregnancy and childbirth, but anyone who seriously believes blastocysts and fetuses have more rights than their host bodies is deranged, to put it mildly. And they promise to act against the public interest.

It's a sick strategy to use blastocysts to demonize women, but that's religion for ya. Full of men who hate women's autonomy and brainwash women into believing they are not full human beings equal to men or children. That's all this is and it's pretty transparent.

To compare abortion with slavery is indeed mistaken in a fundamental aspect. While it is true that the same language rejecting the rights of personhood appears pervasively in both, just a few slaves were killed, and they could resist violence. Badies are abjectly helpless, and every abortion kills one. No, Aboriton is far the greatest evil ever visited upon mankind.

Here's a new abortion blog, unlike any you've ever read before, guaranteed!

AICH TEE TEE PEA://operationcounterstrike.blogspot.com