(no subject)
Last night I discovered that HR 358, the aptly-nicknamed "Let Women Die" act, passed the House, 251 to 172. All of the Republicans - minus two women, and seven who were probably out campaigning - voted for it.
I cried for about an hour.
For my Canadian friends - our healthcare system is a total mess, and in the mid 80s we enacted a law that says you have the right to emergency treatment, even if you can't pay. If you come into an emergency room on the brink of death, they are legally obligated to stabilize you, even if they are gonna lose thousands of dollars doing so. Unless, now, you are a pregnant woman and that saving you would make some shitty anti-choice doctor or nurse or tech feel bad. Then they can let you bleed to death without lifting a finger. Legally.
I have known for a long time that I am not represented by, or even valued by the House. But I guess this was the final slap in the face. To have the House overwhelmingly declare that it is right and just and moral to let women die, to let me die -- and let's be clear folks, this is about women who try to terminate their pregnancies alone and then require medical attention, because doing so is extremely fucking dangerous, and to hell with "innocent" women with ectopic pregnancies caught up in this -- just broke my heart. And I realized, this is not going to get better. I have been waiting for it to get better for ten years now and it just keeps getting worse, and it broke my heart.
So I cried for an hour.
Dave was here, and he held me, which was good of him, because the thing that scares him most in life is crying women. He told me that as a direct result of our relationship, he now considers pro-life anti-choice policies to be a dealbreaker in a candidate, and that he considers voting for Romney to be an enormous mistake that he will not repeat in the future.
Then my dad texted me out of the blue at midnight: "Damn fine daughter" and also that I am a good kid/employee and I should feel good.
So it got better.
I still fucking hate Republicans though.
I cried for about an hour.
For my Canadian friends - our healthcare system is a total mess, and in the mid 80s we enacted a law that says you have the right to emergency treatment, even if you can't pay. If you come into an emergency room on the brink of death, they are legally obligated to stabilize you, even if they are gonna lose thousands of dollars doing so. Unless, now, you are a pregnant woman and that saving you would make some shitty anti-choice doctor or nurse or tech feel bad. Then they can let you bleed to death without lifting a finger. Legally.
I have known for a long time that I am not represented by, or even valued by the House. But I guess this was the final slap in the face. To have the House overwhelmingly declare that it is right and just and moral to let women die, to let me die -- and let's be clear folks, this is about women who try to terminate their pregnancies alone and then require medical attention, because doing so is extremely fucking dangerous, and to hell with "innocent" women with ectopic pregnancies caught up in this -- just broke my heart. And I realized, this is not going to get better. I have been waiting for it to get better for ten years now and it just keeps getting worse, and it broke my heart.
So I cried for an hour.
Dave was here, and he held me, which was good of him, because the thing that scares him most in life is crying women. He told me that as a direct result of our relationship, he now considers pro-life anti-choice policies to be a dealbreaker in a candidate, and that he considers voting for Romney to be an enormous mistake that he will not repeat in the future.
Then my dad texted me out of the blue at midnight: "Damn fine daughter" and also that I am a good kid/employee and I should feel good.
So it got better.
I still fucking hate Republicans though.