Dear Women of Florida: Trust Rick Scott on Abortion -- He Knows Best

• OK Amy, show me where that has been documented and I will consider your point but I have never in my life found or even heard of something that suggests that. Even in spite of the fact that your statement was a sweeping generalization, you are speaking of short term side effects that are wholly different from what has been documented by the American Pregnancy Association and several independent studies. I'm not saying that everyone goes through it, but it happens and ignoring it like you are trying to do is the wrong way to do things. Rhetoric doesn't kill doctors, ignorant people kill doctors. Just like mud-slinging undermines any credible point you may have made :) Peace

• Women do NOT experience emotional trauma after an abortion, they experience relief. That has been documented over and over and over again, you are repeating totally bogus anti-choice rhetoric.  You know, the kind of rhetoric that kills doctors.

• Just because something cannot survive in a given environment does not mean that she or he is not alive... Your argument is a little bewildering to be honest. The moment an egg is fertilized, a completely unique and viable being is growing and taking shape. Even Pro-choicers have abandoned the argument that the fetus is not alive. Part of life for mammals is embryonic development. The fetus is human, he or she is genetically unique from the mother, and is a growing organism. Those facts all make him or her alive, whether she or he depends on the mother for that life or not. Maybe you could argue that he or she is parasitic because, in the strictest sense of the word I suppose that's what he or she is, but a parasite is something undesirable, unwanted, and harmful. This definition may fit with children who have or will be aborted, but if the definition can't be applied to every fetus than it's not really much of a definition at all.

• The government making mandatory any medical procedure is not ok.

• It's not that ultrasounds are a discomfort or that a woman is smart enough, no it's about getting the vote. It's all about making the religious right feel better and keeping their vote while making it harder and more expensive for a woman to choose to abort her fetus, which cannot survive on it's own outside the womb, so I disagree with you and everyone else when they say life begins at inception, I don't care how 1980s that saying is.

• Oh but his commercials were sooooo enjoyable. He seemed like such a nice man. Oh he was just so different than all the other politicians. I'm a dim wit white topped Florida moneyed senior, I know a thing er two about a thinger two. I'm legally blind and I'm trusted with a licence so if I wanna choose a representative based on a snappy commercial that's my own damn business and all you young fornicating little harlots can just suffer cause I don't give a damn about nothin except hard candies and getting my handicrapped parking space. Blarggggg.

• MV - You are an amazing person. It is so unusual to hear from someone who mindfully sifts through the information and comes to their own conclusion. And without vilifying or slamming either side or group.   But I do want to speak to the emotional and physical trauma that is sometimes referenced with relation to having an abortion. I know hundreds of women who have had abortions and feel it was the right decision. They are not proud of it, they don't encourage others to do it but they also are not emotionally scarred by it. Of the hundreds of women I've talked to I did meet one woman who was emotionally scarred - but it was more to do with the inhumane treatment she received at the center than it was guilt over the decision. Choosing abortion - or to have a child for that matter - is not an easy decision to make.  Nobody makes it lightly and the suggestion that abortion is heartlessly chosen is unfair to the women who have gone through it. 

• Too bad his mother didn't have an abortion.

• I think you misunderstood my post. I'm on your team and was responding to MV.

• I think we are all on level footing here in the sense that we acknowledge that there is a guilt involved in abortion that cannot be overlooked. Women would not experience the emotional trauma we are speaking of if they did not understand that what they are doing is wrong. I will defend a woman's right to make that choice at every opportunity, but it pains me to see them make it. However, I think you all have made a good point in saying that these ultrasounds probably just pile on more stress than the woman already is going through so maybe I will rethink this a bit. The two problems I have with this bill is the "mandatory" label and that patients are having the cost tacked on to the original costs. If you are going to make someone do something you should at least compensate them for it.

• And what everyone is forgetting is that they will have to pay for these ultrasounds out of pocket.  The cons do not want insurance to pay for it and have legislation that is either in the works or already passed.  So this effectively will price this procedure out of the means of a great majority. And dont think they are not watching what they are doing in Kansas.  Sure they are not banning abortions but making sure you cant possibly get one since no one can actually get a license.  It reminds me of when marijuana was legal if you had a stamp, ones that were never once produced. The right is making an end run around the laws of the land, pure and simple.  Just so they can say they never once banned it, just took it away.

• No, I don't believe they do need to see an ultrasound of a fetus to comprehend the existence of the potential life inside them. My point is that there is no need for this.  Women often experience regret, depression, or even more severe psychological issues later in life.  Why is there a need to scar them further.  It should be a choice to have an ultrasound done as it's a medical procedure, and the only reason pro-life activists want this done is to make a play on their conscious.  You can't sit here and pretend for one second that this isn't the case.  These women know the choice they are making, and that is their right.  As I pointed out, even if they don't have a grip of the more gruesome details, when the go in, it's explained to them.  I for one, as a woman am offended that these "conservatives" as you state demand that further harm comes to women who do choose to have an abortion.  Shame on them.

• You think women need to see the image of a fetus in order to comprehend that some form of life exists inside their womb? This has nothing to do with education and everything to do with conservative theocratic ideology. And just as some on the right are still fighting the civil war, others are still fighting another battle they've lost, Roe v. Wade. The SCOTUS ruled that viability is the primary issue. This is the supreme law of the land. The irony is that while conservatives pretend to be so concerned with life "inside" the womb, they often abandon life "outside" the womb, evidenced by their consistent opposition to social welfare programs. To sum up, conservatives insist that others bring life into this world but refuse to assist the mother and child after conception, if assistance is required. Conservatives will never have the moral high ground on this issue because of this glaring and palpable contradiction.

• The body of a woman is hers.  Forcing women to view an ultrasound will add to the emotional turmoil they already have to endure.  No one can pretend in this day and age that women are uneducated about everything involved with an abortion.  After much research for my own education on Pro-choice issues, ranging from abortions to assisted suicides I found Doctors and nurses are required to speak with each patient and explain the entire procedure to them, and explain the ramifications of their choice.  They ask them multiple times in multiple ways if this is what they choose.  This law was pushed through to make Pro-life activists happy.  They want these women to feel as low as they possibly can so that they can sleep easier at night.  It's a violation of rights.  As for the rights of a fetus.  Its a fetus, that is feeding off a host because It cannot sustain life of its own volition!  When a fetus can sustain life without a host, then we have a separate issue. 

• Let's be honest here for two seconds. Life is more sacred than a choice. I am Pro-Choice because even though I believe that life is the greater good between the two, depriving someone of choice is an evil that rests on my shoulders, whereas depriving a fetus of life rests on those of the woman. Explain to me, then, why this law is evil? And why he is solely responsible for it's alleged malignancy? Last I checked every state had at least one legislative body that voted on laws like these. I don't see the problem with educating a woman on the choice she is about to make, in fact I think that's a pretty progressive thing. The emotional hangover from abortion regret has been well documented, and even though it doesn't manifest itself in every case, maybe this law will help a few women live without the regret of knowing that one of their children died at their own choosing. It probably shouldn't be included in the bill, but it is a medical responsibility to inform the patient of what exactly they are doing to their body, not just with abortion but with any procedure. Abortion is not a black and white issue. Pro-lifers tend to ignore the rights of the woman and Pro-choicers tend to ignore the rights of the fetus. Both parties do this to an equal degree, and there is very little middle ground to be had when, in fact, abortion should be an issue built entirely on middle ground. The dark days of arguing that a fetus is not a living being are over, and if you still use that argument you are living in the past. It has be debunked, gutted and exposed and simply doesn't hold water. Talking about these ultrasounds as a discomfort to the mother is insulting to the dignity of human life in general when we are talking about the loss of another human life on the other end of that discomfort. Do what you want with your body but don't pretend that you do it without consequence.

• tinyurl.com/24n4nqb

• Government sanctioned medical assault...and insult to injury, you're handed the bill for the coerced procedure.  

• Pure Voldemort. Where is Harry Potter when we need him?

• Or in your case Chaz, a hand job. Your own.

• Another reason to be Pro Blow Job.

• Another goody from his bottomless bag of tricks. Pure evil, this man is pure evil.

• Yep, Scott is a douchebag still.

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