A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

Masson's Blog

SB 203 – Abandoned embryo adoption

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Senate Bill 0203 – Sen. Miller:

Allows an abandoned embryo to be adopted for implantation by another individual under specified circumstances. States that a person that knowingly or intentionally destroys or discards an abandoned human embryo commits unlawful destruction of an embryo, a Class A misdemeanor.

The bill provides that an embryo is an “abandoned embryo” if it is created by in vitro or artificial reproduction, and is stored by a health care provider for at least 5 years without communication from the biological parents and the healthcare provider is unable after diligent effort to contact the biological parents.

Once an embryo becomes an “abandoned embryo” it can be adopted by another individual who is then deemed to be the parent for all purposes. Apparently the health care provider can’t dispose of embryos created in this fashion other than through adoption, otherwise the provider will be committing a Class A misdemeanor.

(So, I guess the big question is whether Sen. Miller would sanction adoption of these embryos by gays.)

[tags]SB203-2007, abortion[/tags]

SB 119 – Mandating fetal development curriculum in schools

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SB 119 – Fetal development curriculum – Sen. Drozda:

Requires each school corporation to include instruction regarding human fetal development in the school corporation’s high school health education curriculum. [Specifically]:
(1) the result of human sperm and egg convergence;
(2) the resulting development of human conception;
(3) the health consequences of early termination of pregnancy;
(4) photographic images portraying each state of uterine fetal development; and
(5) descriptions of human fetal development.

Well, let’s just add to that the risks of not terminating a pregnancy and photographic (perhaps audio and video would be better) portraying labor and delivery.

[tags]SB119-2007, abortion[/tags]

SB 117 – No obligation to dispense birth control

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SB 117 – Dispensing birth control – Sen. Drozda:

Provides that a person may not be required, as a condition of training, employment, pay, promotion, or privileges, to dispense: (1) a medical device or drug that may result in, or that is intended to result in, an abortion; or (2) a birth control device or medication.

I think this bill should be amended so that potential employers and customers where such an employee works have clear warning when they’re about to encounter such a person. A pharmacy ought to be aware that it will have to hire a second person if it wants to remain in the business of selling birth control and, obviously, a customer shouldn’t find themselves in the position of having to run from pharmacy to pharmacy hoping they find an employee without moral hangups about doing his or her job.

[tags]SB117-2007, abortion[/tags]

SB 172 – Abortion: Mandating Physician Statements to Patients

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SB 172 – Abortion information – Sens. Delph, Young, Walker, Steele

Information to a pregnant woman before an abortion. Provides that informed consent to an abortion includes the requirement that a physician inform a pregnant woman that a fetus might feel pain. Provides that notice must be given in writing at least 18 hours before an abortion concerning the availability of adoptions, concerning physical risks to the woman in having an abortion, and stating that human physical life begins when a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm.

The Indiana legislature sure does love legislating science.

[tags]SB172-2007, abortion[/tags]

Andrew Kaduk on wingnuttery

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Andrew Kaduk at Just for the Record has an inspired rant on the subject of religious wingnuttery, its collision with science, and our government’s inane reaction thereto. Specifically, what has ignited his ire is a decision that the National Park Service had to offer a book for sale that states, as non-fiction, that the Grand Canyon was created on a “Biblical time scale,” as opposed to the millions of years it actually took for water to carve it out. The book Grand Canyon: A Different View asserts that the the Grand Canyon was created by Noah’s flood.

Says Mr. Kaduk:

I am sick, and I am tired, and I am sick and tired. I’m tired of this elephant sitting in each and every room as we try to discuss the problems of the day. Yes, you friggin’ goofballs, you have the right in this country to believe anything that you want. You want to believe that the Earth is a big floating ball of magical putty that “God” bends and shapes at his will? OK. I, however, have the right to expect that my government has the right to be objective and scientifically honest with respect to matters such as the formation of the Grand Canyon or the formation of this planet.

He has better bits in there, but this is a family friendly blog, so I won’t reproduce some of his more colorful passages.

HB 1020 – Tax credit for Stillborn Births

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Reps Torr and Welch have introduced HB 1020 which grants a family a $2,500 tax credit for a stillborn birth. A stillbirth is defined elsewhere as gestation of 20 weeks or more that does not result in a live birth.

Taken on its own merits, I don’t really have a problem with this bill. Certainly 20 weeks of pregnancy involves significant costs and the stillbirth itself has to be very traumatic. I am concerned that this is less motivated by an interest in helping families with those costs and more motivated as part of an overall effort to add legislative support to the idea that embryos, fetuses, blastocysts, and zygotes are morally equivalent to a fully developed human being. Former Representative John Hostettler introduced a similar bill on the federal level a while back.

[tags]HB1020-2007, abortion[/tags]

American Family Association: Christian Oaths of Office Only

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In reaction to Islamic Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison’s decision to use the Koran in taking his oath of office, the “American Family Association” has proclaimed that only the Bible is acceptable for taking such oaths.

Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress.

The most visible proponent of this view seems to be conservative Town Hall columnist and radio show host, Dennis Prager.

I don’t particularly care for religion getting mixed into oaths of office in the first place, but I’m not unduly riled up about it. The point of an oath of office is to imprint upon the office holder’s mind the seriousness of the undertaking and the office holder’s duty to perform to the best of his or her abilities. Associating the undertaking with something the office holder regards with solemnity serves that end. For a devout Christian — associating it with the Bible or Christianity; for a devout Muslim — associating it with the Koran or Islam. If I were taking an oath of office, I think associating it with the U.S. Constitution would serve the same purpose. In other words, the oath of office has to do with the personal relationship between the office holder and the office and not very much to do with the public’s relationship to the office.

So, besides being evidence of intolerant bigotry, this nonsense about a “Christian Nation” and the Bible being the only acceptable text for oaths of office is actually counterproductive to what an oath is supposed to accomplish. How on earth could an oath taken on the Bible enhance a Muslim’s sense of duty to the office? I only hope that this kind of garbage spewing from Prager and the American Family Association reveals their true nature to the public at large and serves to marginalize them in the public dialogue.

Haggard Hypocrisy

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Probably most of you have by now heard of the hypocrisy of Ted Haggard, a social conservative leader based in Denver and pastor of a Denver megachurch. Allegations have surfaced that he retained the services of a male prostitute with whom he had sex and used methamphetamines. He has admitted “some” of the allegations. Apparently he is copping to having gotten a “massage” from the male prostitute and having purchased methamphetamines, but he didn’t keep or use them.

Foley a few weeks ago, and now this. So, is there a correlation between the volume with which one condemns homosexuality and the likelihood that one is secretly gay? That would explain a few things about our current political climate. Certainly Abu Ghraib makes a lot more sense in terms of deviance inspired by repressed sexuality than it does as an integral part of the national security apparatus.

But lessons will not be learned, the hypocrisy will continue. Consequently, repression will continue to pollute our society:

At the same time, [Albert] Mohler, [president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary] says Haggard was, as a pastor, “absolutely right to preach against same-sex marriage,” an issue on the ballot in Colorado and seven other states in Tuesday’s election. “But the problem was not in his preaching. The problem was in his life.”

I might agree if the preaching were against a behavior with a tangible harm. Say a shoplifting minister who preached against stealing. But with homosexuality, the only harm comes from the guilt felt by those taught to loathe themselves and the hatred felt by those taught to fear something different than what they are. There is nothing intrinsically evil about homosexuality; its negative effects are entirely the results of social constructs. We change the social construction, we limit or eliminate the negative effects. But so long as guys like Mohler and Haggard are preaching that homosexuality is malum in se instead of merely malum prohibitum, we are unlikely to be able to accomplish this.

RIP Verna

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Richmond Indiana’s most prolific letter to the editor writer has passed away. Let me be clear. I agreed with pretty much nothing she ever wrote. However, she was a fundamental, albeit minor, thread in the fabric of my childhood. I grew up in Richmond where I read the Palladium-Item every day. Every month you could expect something from Ms. Cohee to appear. Usually something that made me argue aloud to the paper. Eventually, I went away to college and didn’t read the Pal-Item any more. But, along came the Internet. And, after awhile, even the Palladium-Item became available online. Lo and behold, Verna was still writing. And I still found myself arguing aloud at her letters. I even went so far as to keep a “Cohee file” when I ran across her various letters.

The Palladium-Item article linked above mentions that her last regular letter arrived in August 2005 and that she passed away last Saturday at the age of 91. Like I said, I didn’t agree with much of anything she ever wrote. In fact, I was horrified by a lot of it. But, I have no doubt she was sincere. And, whenever a part of my childhood fades away, I can’t help but be a little sad. Rest in peace, Verna.

Below the fold, some of the entries from my “Cohee file.”
[Read more…]

What a week for Congress

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What a wild week it’s been in D.C. You have the Congress taking a firm stand in favor of torture and against the Great Writ. Mostly along party lines, Congress passed legislation that:

  • Bars bar terrorism suspects from challenging their detention or treatment through habeas corpus petitions.
  • Allows prosecutors to use evidence collected through hearsay or coercion to seek criminal convictions.
  • Empowers the executive branch to detain indefinitely anyone the executive branch determines to have “purposefully and materially” supported anti-U.S. hostilities. (While non-citizens are the only ones who can be tried by military tribunals, apparently U.S. citizens can be detained indefinitely under the legislation.)

The way the legislation is written, coupled with the relevant Geneva Conventions, the President is empowered to determine what forms of sexual assault, short of actual penetration, are permissible as interrogation techniques.

Which brings us to Friday of this week when Florida Republican Mark Foley’s hasty resignation from Congress after the “icky e-mails” began to surface. Apparently the e-mails were sexually explicit and directed to a 16 year old male Congressional page. This is particularly egregious since Foley was, among other things, a former co-chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children and one of the most vocal opponents of child pornography. Even more problematic in some ways is the fact that House leaders, including Dennis Hastert and John Boehner, knew of Foley’s e-mails to the House page since at least Spring of this year and did nothing about it.

And, finally, just to add to the mix, Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) said that what is wrong with the Republican Congress these days is that they bow to the “thugs and bullies” who lead the Christian Right.

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey has launched an attack on Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, saying Dobson and his “band of thugs” are “nasty bullies” and accusing the Republicans of pandering to the Christian right.

He said that the GOP was adrift and rudderless in its commitment to small government. He went on to say:

“The criteria of choice in just about every behavior you see in Congress today is politics. Where in the hell did this Terri Schiavo thing come from? There’s not a conservative, Constitution-loving, separation-of-powers guy alive in the world that could have wanted that bill on the floor.

“That was pure, blatant pandering to James Dobson. That’s all it was. It was silly, stupid, and irresponsible. Nobody serious about the Constitution would do that. But the question was will this energize our Christian conservative base for the next election.”

Sager asked why it seems that Christian conservatives are more powerful now than in the 1990s. Armey replied: “To a large extent because Dobson and his gang of thugs are real nasty bullies. I pray devoutly every day, but being a Christian is no excuse for being stupid. There’s a high demagoguery coefficient to issues like prayer in schools. Demagoguery doesn’t work unless it’s dumb . . . These issues are easy for the intellectually lazy and can appeal to a large demographic.”

Amen, brother. Which is probably why we’re starting to see groups like the First Republicans try to steer the party back to its small government, fiscally conservative, socially tolerant roots.