This is for the benefit of those poor unfortunate souls who haven't seen it. Every bit of actual politics right now is too depressing to bring up.
Talk amongst yourselves.
...okay, if you want to be a little depressed, this Daily Kos diary addresses an issue that has concerned me for some time.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Mighty Mouse
Posted by Bell Curve at 2:12 PM
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This is the sort of thing that I know I'm supposed to appreciate as part of the born in early-70s generation, but it's a bit too cool for me, I guess.
// posted by LTG
You need to see the whole movie about Andy Kaufman, "The Man in the Moon." Jim Carrey does this bit flawlessly, and puts it in perspective. It certainly helped me appreciate the humor.
Guys, the really important part of this post was the Daily Kos link. Things like that make my very blood boil.
LTG may be able to explain this better than I, but I thought the US Supreme Court made it illegal to test pregnant women for drugs without her consent. This is what a Georgia Hospital was doing. It was testing all women who came into its emergency room. Those that tested positive were arrested and depending on the stage of their pregnancy, were charged with child endangerment, abuse, or distributing drugs to a minor. These women were not told what their blood tests would be used for.
If I recall, the Court skirted the whole issue by saying that it constituted an illegal search and that it was discriminatory since that particular EU was used by minorities.
Anyway, maybe when you cross a state border, they will dunk you in a tank of water and if you float, you are pregnant. Back to the witch hunting days.
This is actually one of the things that turns me cold to the idea of pregnancy. I don't loose my rights when I get pregnant; I don't become fragile or incapable of judgment just because I am pregnant, although that is how the law and the medical establishment make you feel. It turns women back into children and treats them as such. Pregnancy should empower, not dehumanize a women.
They convince you to get every genetic test, that every thing you do will put the child in danger, etc. It is again using fear to control. Then once the child is born, you are shirking your duty if you had the kid a bottle rather than a breast, if you don't sacrifice your career to be a mom, etc. If you spank, your child will be taken away by protective services. The judgments just pile on from then on.
We really have to change our attitudes in this country, I swear. Canada here I come!
// posted by USWest
No kidding, guys, the Mighty Mouse bit was just a little teaser.
The real point was abuse of pregnant women by our prison/judicial system. I think we can all agree on this that it is insane to arrest women for pre-natal abuse and then put them in a prison system where they are denied appropriate medical care. I have to say that I'm not surprised that the story came out of Texas - the land of the bollwevil, where the laws are Medeival...
The real point of the origional post was disguised so well I think Andy Kaufman would have been proud! Well Done Bell Curve!
// posted by Raised By Republicans
Yeah ... brilliance ... not just dumb luck ...
// posted by Bell Curve
Nah, I just didn't feel like taking up Bell Curve's offer to get, "a little depressed." :-)
But seriously, I've now read the Daily Kos stuff. Color me "appalled."
I don't think I, or Dr. S., missed the point of the post. It was not hidden either. I saw it, followed the link, and was just too weary of contemplating the Southern mentality to respond.
There's nothing illegitimate about commenting on the Andy Kaufman bit, though. Nor should I be lectured for doing so.
// posted by LTG
The Pregnancy Gestapo drives me mad, too.
The FDA recently issued some nonsense about how all women of childbearing age should consider themselves "pre-pregnant." Excuse me while I have two glasses of wine, sushi, and some soft unpasteurized cheese. I suppose in a few years I'll get a ticket for being such an alleged menace to my own alleged fertility.
Am I a woman or a uterus?
There has to be a better way to deal with drug addiction and with prenatal health. I don't know the numbers on drug treatment, but I do remember reading that offering free and low-cost prenatal care is actually cheaper (way cheaper) than dealing with really sick infants.
There's also room for a lot of debate on some of the current laws of pregnancy. Take bed rest. There was a recent study which seriously questioned its usefulness, but hey, it's cheap, it's easy to prescribe, and it's hard to get sued for malpractice over making someone sit in bed all day, even if it's not necessary. Or telling not to eat a particular kind of fish.
Where does it end?
-Seventh Sister
// posted by Anonymous
Like we should believe anything the FDA says. The FDA, that wonderful organization that approves drugs for sale that have actually killed people in trials.
Now the are recommending that everyone between the ages of 13-64 get AIDS tests regardless of their sexual history because 1-4 people has AIDS and don't know it.
God, I hate them all these days. Must be my pre-pregnant hormones.
// posted by USWest
I saw an article on the whole pre-pregnant thing over here a few weeks back, in g2 in fact (one of the little lite-news supplements that comes with the Guardian newspaper). I couldn't believe it, really couldn't.
(here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1864180,00.html)
The idea that I or any other woman should give up sushi, wine (and all other alcohol for that matter), cheese (mmmm, lovely cheese!), and so on, simply because we are *capable* of bearing children just provoked my "WTF?!" response all over.
When I decide I want to get pregnant, I will almost certainly give up the things that are apparently bad for unborns (I'll struggle with the cheese and wine though!). Until then, my body is entirely mine, and I shall do with it as I please. Even once pregnant, it shall still be my choice what to do with my body (albeit that choice will be tempered by my love for my unborn baby and my respect for its fathers wishes also).
The Guardian article actually raised another interesting point though - it claimed that there have been studies that linked alcoholism in fathers with birth defects in babies, yet there are no suggestions that 'pre-fertilisers' take steps to ensure healthy sperm.
Laws been drawn up by misogynists who want to dehumanise and control women? I think so, and I really hope for all your sakes that they don't get what they want.
// posted by Pombat
Here's my summary of the foregoing: A woman's life should not be organized around the idea that she will likely become pregnant at some point(I say "likely" because the majority of women do become pregnant at least once during their lives). Nor should it be defined that idea. While a woman is pregnant, it makes sense to organize her life around that pregnancy. The pregnancy itself will demand a central position in so many things.
Pregnancy is not, however, a disease or illness. It is not a disability, whatever the State of California may think. Pregnant women should not be terrified or guilted into thinking that every small enjoyment in life might hurt the baby. Trust the Placenta. A pregnant woman's main additional health related goal is to eat and drink sufficient food to keep herself healthy, and avoid self-destructive behaviors (excessive exercise, anorexia, narcotics, reading Vogue). Of course, that is good advice whether or not you are pregnant.
// posted by LTG
The double standard astounds me. An administration whose only response to STDs is to teach "abstinence" nevetheless wants to consider all women "pre-pregnant." Which carries more risk for a potential child: her mother eating cheese, or her mother contracting AIDS? And what nonsense is it to consider all women "pre-pregnant" if you won't even admit they have sex?
They had better watch it. Women will stop havign babies all together out of fear of being punished. We will have "Anti Pregnancy protests" that will rivcal the bra burning of the 1970s. We will all run to get our tubes tied or refuse to have sex. Then they will be in a serious mess.
When I was teaching college, I had the discussion with my class over the case I previously described in Georgia. A fair number or men and women in the class felt that women should be punished. (it was a ag community, so conservative.) Then I asked if men who use crack and then have babies with genetic defects should be punished, their tone changed. "Well, the problem is you can't really track the men as easily as the women." So I asked them what they thought of making fathers have all the same blood testing as mothers when a pregnancy is suspected? Or, better yet, forcing all men to give DNA samples so that they could be matched with the babies. Your baby turns up with a defect, you get punished right along with the women. They froze. Hey, it's about equality, right? It takes two to make 'em, I told them, it takes two to bake 'em.
People never consider what happens with you mess around with the other half of the human race. What do I keep saying? What you do unto others will be done unto you.
// posted by USWest
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