Letter: Special legislative session will reveal Republicans’ true allegiance
This week, lawmakers in Indiana will be crafting a new position on abortion after the reversal of Roe vs. Wade. The Republicans have super majorities in the Indiana House and Senate. Crafting a bill that bans abortion would be an easy task with a supermajority.
The Republican Party’s platform on abortion is well known.
The Fifth Amendment: Protecting Human Life. The Constitution’s guarantee that no one can “be deprived of life, liberty or property” deliberately echoes the Declaration of Independence’s proclamation that “all” are “endowed by their Creator” with the inalienable right to life. Accordingly, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth.
This session will shine a light on each representative by how they vote. It will reveal who the real Republicans are, who support the party platform. It will also reveal who the “RINO’s” are (Republican in Name Only).
Large corporations in Indiana are putting pressure on the legislators to not ban abortions. They are threatening to defund campaigns and/or move out of state.
According to Guttmacher Institute, since Roe vs Wade became law, Indiana on average has performed 7,000 – 8,000 abortion per year. That totals 336,000-384,000 babies slaughtered in the womb since 1973.
Legislators, how much money is your campaign worth to allow the continue slaughter of innocent babies? Is there any corporation in Indiana worth keeping here because they support the slaughter of innocent babies? Legislators, you’re able to make this vote because someone voted to give YOU life over abortion. You were born for this moment. VOTE LIFE!
Daryl Hensley, Jasper
Your 8 year old granddaughter gets raped by her father. Do you think she should be forced to have an unwanted baby? Do you think she should let her body go through all of the things that she should not experience for at LEAST another 10 years? Do you think it’s right to make her carry a baby for 9 months when she’s too young to even understand all the things the doctors are checking her for? Do you think an 8 year old should experience that depth of pain after she already experienced the pain of what her father did to her? Do you think she should have to birth her own father’s child? Do you think she should have to birth her own brother/sister? If so, you are sick. You are what is wrong with this world. It should not be all or nothing. Abortion needs to exist. It’s not all about just slaughtering babies. You have to think about the reasons one would make such a hard painful choice. My body, my choice.
I am Pro-Life. I was raped at 19 if I would have become pregnant I would have kept my child.
My daughter was molested by her father at 3 years old. In her 20’s she began having issues with her body and she didn’t get pregnant. Actually she has never been pregnant and she’s now in her 30’s.
I can’t say how a pregnancy would affect a young girl or woman. But I can tell you how being molested and being raped affects a child and a young woman.
It affects your whole life. But it doesn’t kill you. Your granddaughter needs to know that she did nothing wrong. When a woman is raped she feels dirty and ashamed. Abortion isn’t an option for me. But if it is for you as her grandmother, it needs to be explained to her in a way she understands. How does she feel aboutit? She has to live with the consequences of the decision you make.
I agree. It’s your body, your choice, your vote!
Abortions as a result of rape and incest are real, but infinitesimally rare. According to a widely cited 2004 study from the pro-abortion-rights Guttmacher Institute, just 1 percent of abortions are the result of rape, and less than half a percent are the result of incest. A later survey of “data from seven state health/statistics agencies that report relevant statistics” suggested that the Guttmacher Institute’s calculations were actually “inflated by roughly a factor of three,” and that the actual numbers were 0.3 percent in cases of rape, and 0.03 percent in cases of incest. In Indiana that would equate to 2-3 abortions a year due to incest and 21-24 per year due to rape. Does this mean your good with banning the remaining abortions?
And yet we just had a case last week…
Come on Gym Jordan it’s time to delete your comment.
And just like that the “My body my choice” chants go bye bye…
Any kind of limitations on abortion need to have a complete overhaul of the adoption and foster care system and a wealth of resources devoted to those who do do not have the resources to raise an unexpected child. Indiana has a budget surplus, that could help.
Without those additions, it’s overtly not about the life of the child. It’s just about inflicting suffering based upon a twisted Christian Nationalist world view that coddles the fetus but ignores the infant and the mother.
Reading the recent stories of women having to keep miscarriages for multiple weeks, the with them being pushed within an inch of their lives until they can receive any kind of medical attention is horrific and barbaric. But that doesn’t seem to bother the good honest Christians of the nation.
The biggest thing I learned while living in Jasper is that there is no greater hatred than Christian love.
Let’s be honest JK. If this were about the life of the child we wouldn’t be talking about abortions.
Well then enlighten me on what it *is* about?
It’s about being pro-choice and saying you’re concerned about the life of the child. If that life really mattered then abortion wouldn’t be an option.
If the woman chooses life and delivers her child, why put him/her in foster care if the child isn’t wanted? There are plenty of couples waiting to adopt.
JK unfortunately anyone can call themselves a Christian, that doesn’t make them one.
Are you saying that the incest/rape cases are such a small number that they shouldn’t matter? They should very much matter.
I am not good with banning the remaining abortions. This was just one example.
When the child has no chance of survival outside of the womb due to deformities or lack of life sustaining organs should the woman be forced to carry the baby to term just to birth a still born baby?
How about the woman who has life threatening complications. Is it up to you to say the baby needs saved and to end the mother’s life instead?
How about the woman who desperately wants to be a mother and goes through fertility treatments and ends up with 8 fertilized eggs inside her. For her health and safety and to ensure a healthy pregnancy, the reduction of viable embryos needs to be reduced. Are you will to risk her safety and those of a baby that could survive?
Does aborting an ectopic pregnancy not fit on your list? Do you want the mother to bleed to death even thought that baby will never survive?
How about the young child whose condom breaks and becomes pregnant at 13? Should she be forced to birth the child?
Have you read about the many reasons women get abortions? Do you think they go to the abortion clinic with murdering and slaughtering babies as their only goal?
NO. Everyone has their own reason.
My body, my choice.
One more thing…
I find it funny that two years ago the Republicans were talking about how important it is too keep the economy going during a pandemic even though it killed people. What is the difference between that and a college girl getting pregnant and choosing money over a life? Seems like the same thing to me.
Daryl is this really about lives or just politics? Cause I bet you were on the “keep the economy going” side during the pandemic.
I think it has pretty much been debunked that the lockdown and shutting down the economy did any good at all. If fact, probably harmed more people. I know we are seeing it in the schools and will be working through the consequences for years. The consequences have been mental health, academic deficits, and emotional issues like I have never seen.
Probably from bad teachers that don’t know who won the election and believe people like the pillow guy and Rudy. I know I wouldn’t listen to those people if I was in school. Might turn out as dumb as them.
Well, Wayne I can actually appreciate that…but tell me you do not listen to Biden, AOC, Harris, Pelosi, etc. My God…what a disaster this administration is.
“This session will shine a light on each representative by how they vote. It will reveal who the real Republicans are, who support the party platform. It will also reveal who the “RINO’s” are (Republican in Name Only).”
I’ll save you the time: If the person is a member of the Indiana Republican Party (with the possible exceptions of Curt Nisly and John Jacob, who were defeated in their respective primaries earlier this year by the big money of the RINO establishment), then he or she is a RINO. Period. End of story.
Let us not forget that when Dear Leader Holcomb became Governor, he worked hand in hand with the supermajority RINO establishment to raise every tax they could find to raise. Gas tax? Check. Online sales tax? Check. Increased BMV fees? Check. Holcomb has also encouraged school corporations to do end runs around the alleged property tax caps by holding tax increase referendums.
Increased taxes and record spending will be Holcomb’s legacy. (And you thought only Democrats raised taxes and increased spending.)
Personally, I fear our “extra refund” that the liar Holcomb promised us is going to get lost in the shuffle of the abortion issue. The RINO Establishment supermajority will give us a pittance in the form of the bill the Senate Repubs are now promoting, then go home and pat themselves on the back for putting one over on us – again.
But I digress. To the subject at hand.
This party loved to talk a tough game while Roe v. Wade was still in effect. Now that it has been nullified by the Supreme Court, the RINOs are wringing their hands, not knowing what to do, fearing another RFRA debacle.
These people have no scruples. If it meant keeping their supermajority status, they would gladly vote to allow any abortion, at any time, for any reason, up to and even after birth as some radicals have called for.
Don’t bother talking to your so-called “representative”. He or she will vote as Todd Huston, Rod Bray, and the RINO Establishment tell them how to vote. They always do.
very true
I agree our representatives are paid off, bought off, they are not working for the people. In Indiana the majority of the people are for abortion. So they should vote with the people. This is just the start of our rights being taken away.
Abortion is a right! We have to fix the foster system first. I was a foster parent, I know first hand how broken the foster system is. Where are you going to put approximately 7000 children every year in Indiana? Orphanages? Oh, we don’t have any yet. Foster care?
What is the plan for these children?
Adopt? 7000 in Indiana every year?
People want to stop abortion right now but no one really has a plan for these unwanted children. Do you think because the law is changed that these people will want their children?
I think we need some plans to help these unwanted children before we change abortion laws!
That is an interesting way of looking at it. Our elderly care system is broken too. Would you like to get rid of grandma and grandma because they are an inconvenience?
I do believe that if I’m at the end of my life & suffering that I wish someone will end my suffering. We have the right to end our animals life when they are at the end why not me?
How can one person have the right to an abortion while another have no right to life? How can every abortion be considered health care? Although I’m Pro-Life I realize there are circumstances where a pregnancy must be terminated when the life of the mother is at risk. In my opinion this is considered health care.
Yes, the foster care system and the welfare systems are broken. Yes, there’s also a large number of adoptions in Indiana each year.
In my opinion if you don’t want or your not ready to have children then you don’t have sex. It’s the only plan that will work.
…. So you’re pro choice then?
Or atleast you are pro-life in your personal life but feel that there should be some exceptions. That’s still pro-choice! I should let you know that what you are advocating for is NOT the GOP platform who explicitly do not think a pregnancy should be terminated even if the mother is at risk, as evidenced by new laws in Texas and elsewhere.
I’m Pro-Life! Don’t try to make me fit into someone’s political platform or a specific political party. Because that’s not who I am.
I chose life for the child and the mother always. But sometimes it doesn’t work that way. For whatever reason if the mother struggles to breathe, more than likely the child isn’t getting the oxygen he/she needs to breathe. The child could be suffering.
JK, I don’t believe an abortion is a right or a choice. I believe it’s wrong, it’s called sin. But in this case I don’t call it an abortion. I call it terminating the pregnancy, the reason being to save the life of the mother.
Years ago a terminated pregnancy due to medical complications would have never been referred to as an abortion. I wonder what changed?
Terminating a Pregnancy IS an abortion! For any reason. It is the literal dictionary definition of what an abortion is. A terminated pregnancy for a medical reason has been and will always will be called an abortion. I can’t believe I have to explain this to someone! You don’t get to change reality at will because it makes you uncomfortable.
It doesn’t matter because your mental gymnastics and presumably your voting habits will led to thousands of women suffering and dying needlessly. Pat yourself on the back.
Wrong
Do you care to explain why I might be wrong and add anything valuable to the discussion or are you not up for it at the moment?
This makes no sense, let they mother die & more likely the baby dies with the mother, what did you save? Women have the right to control their life’s. Not political people, GOP, etc…
That is a better way of looking at it…but be careful…the crazy leftists will call you out on it.
JK what I understand is a woman who doesn’t want a child for whatever reason gets the “abortion”. She chooses on her own to terminate her pregnancy.
But the woman I described earlier intended to raise her child. Her doctors made a medical decision to terminate her pregnancy and save her life.
Yes, the reality is that both procedures are abortions and nothing can change that. But nothing can change the reality that there’s a very clear difference between the two situations either.
When I was pregnant with my oldest child, a friend asked me to take her to get an abortion. She was in her 20’s, She had one child and didn’t want another one. I couldn’t do it.
That made me uncomfortable and gave me a taste of reality. Maybe the life growing inside of me at the same time understanding the horrible choice she made gave me my Pro-Life attitude today. She experienced problems after the abortion and that’s a reality nobody thinks about.
Neither my voting rights or habits have anything to do with this or with women suffering and dying for any reason. If a woman makes the choice to seek an illegal abortion, it’s her choice and her body. She’s responsible for her decision and the consequences of that decision.
Once again, you are conflating how you personally view abortion and would apply it in your personal circumstances versus how the law and hardline conservatives think the law should be applied. You don’t think abortion is a good thing? Fine! Don’t get one! Nobody is forcing you or ever has!
So you think woman should be able to terminate their pregnancy if their life is in danger? I’m sorry to report that is not what is happening in states that have approved new laws post roe:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/20/abortion-miscarriage-texas-fetus-stell/
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/07/26/1111280165/because-of-texas-abortion-law-her-wanted-pregnancy-became-a-medical-nightmare
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/20/texas-abortion-law-miscarriages-ectopic-pregnancies/amp/
https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article/z34n44/abortion-bans-force-women-to-carry-nonviable-fetuses
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/abortion-law-texas-medical-emergency-b2130937.html?amp
It’s been a little more than a month!
If the above bothers you and you prefer that women not exist in legal limbo if they need a life saving procedure. I suggest you write your local representatives and FAST. Because THIS is the end result of what you’ve been advocating for and it will only get worse and more tragic. No matter how you try to justify or wash your hands of it.
Every adamant pro-life person I have met treats this like a black & white issue. If you recognize it is not and still use the term “pro-life” like republicans do then you are simply cruel.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/07/26/1111280165/because-of-texas-abortion-law-her-wanted-pregnancy-became-a-medical-nightmare
Who would care care of these children? Who would pay for these children?
Who is going to house these children?
You only answer to God not some politicians. It’s our right to our bodies not politicians. We the people should vote on this issue!
I actually agree with you on that statement. However, the Doctor and mother should be held accountable. If they have substantial evidence that they can defend that the life of the mother or child is at risk of survival carrying the child to term then they can make the choice that represents the oath the physician took.
Really ?! The Fifth Amendment ? I don’t see the words “abortion” or “fetus” anywhere . It’s my opinion that the Constitution was written by and for living breathing humans . Beyond that someone’s decisions about their bodies should be between them and their doctors and god (if they have one or more ) . Let’s just get rid of letters to the editor and all comments because The Constitution doesn’t guarantee free speech except to the extent that “Congress” or the “Government” can not make a law restricting freedom of speech . This private news website is not required to allow any of our “free speech”. The Constitution guarantees freedom “of” religion . I believe it also guarantees freedom “from” religion . The “Christian Taliban” and their own form of “Sharia” law should not be forced on everyone . Now if this private website agrees to post my ANONYMOUS comment , let the reply comments begin ! Isn’t this fun ! America is great ! Sheesh !
Aborted children are unwanted from the being, or the parent has an issue that they can’t care for these children. It’s not that these children are an inconvenience. We don’t have enough formula for the babies now. Who is going to care for children with alcohol or drug addiction from birth? Everyone wants heathy children. Where is the extra money going to come from to house, educate, provide for approximately 7000 extra children a year in Indiana every year from here on out? We need to address issues first before you end abortion.
Formula??? Are you kidding me? I hope this is a comment from someone trolling. Just kill them off? I have dedicated my working life to children with disabilities. I have close relatives with severe disabilities that have brought more to this world than most able bodied people.
Yes, they were born into a home that wants & loves them. What if no one wants or will love & care for them then what??
Daryl.
Based on your position, I’m sure you’ve had time to ponder these well thought out questions; Should child support now begin when the fetus becomes six weeks old? Can you deport a pregnant unlawful alien when she is carrying a U.S. citizen who has due process rights in this country? Can a pregnant woman take out a life insurance policy on her unborn citizen, naming herself as the beneficiary? And are we going to have to rec-calculate all of the Medicare and Social Security benefits?
The pleasure of a reply is much antiipated.
Scott
You are usually better than this. Strange point of view.
Scott, I’m happy to answer your “gotcha” questions.
until an illegal immigrant child is born on U.S. soil it has no citizenship rights, unless the father is a U.S. citizen. (All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside. 14th Amendment) So an illegal immigrant mother to be can be deported and many have been. In fact an illegal immigrant mother can be deported even after the birth of the child. The Obama administration deported a mother of three children born in the U.S. however their father was granted citizenship years earlier. One exception to birth right citizenship is foreign diplomats who have children born in the U.S. while serving in a diplomatic position. Those children are not afforded birth right citizenship. Until a child is born, the jurisdiction of child support has not been established, of course people can file suit whether valid or not can be determined by the courts. A bill is currently working it’s way through Congress that can change the child support laws in the U.S. You can buy life insurance on unborn children in some countries I’m not aware of any company that offers coverage here in the U.S.
Answer my question Scott Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?
Daryl,
All of your responses reflect the way the law stands today. If you accept the Dobbs decision, you must realize that the laws will change to conform to the dictates of the new ruling, either by the feds or by the states. The Pro-Life crowd was for years complaining loudly (and often violently) that abortion was the taking of a human life. It was the killing of a human being. Well, now that they’ve won, they don’t know what to do with it. It’s become a pyric victory.
Your friend,
Scott, the unrepentant pro-choice guy who is not violent and is willing to listen to reason.
Scott, you are right, it is a pyric victory. The Republicans want to maintain power and not lose the moderate votes and their super majority in the Statehouse. They cannot afford to lose the Pro-life vote either. So they are crafting a bill that will not get enough votes to pass and then when their 40 days are up they will go home and kick the can down the road and keep the current abortion law in place until after the November election.
This is how power corrupts. This is how money influences and corrupts elections. Unfortunately, there are less and less who are willing to listen to reason and be friends. Both sides have their violent extremes. Both sides have their tribes.
I am always repenting, I trust that God will sort it out in the end.
I am in agreement on this one.
JK, we all have reasons why we view abortion the way we do. I think we all have brought our views into this conversation, including you. I have read every comment, including the heart wrenching ones.
I’m Pro-Life but I don’t believe in making women suffer. I can vote and write my Government officials. But ultimately the ones responsible are those making the decisions.
Women should make the decision with their partner & doctor, not the political party.
JK, are you Pro-choice? It’s just a curious question honestly.
I don’t think Senator’s are qualified to make laws regarding abortion. From what I read Doctors are afraid of being sued because the laws are not very clear. Senator’s are politicians they’re not doctor’s. Therefore, they are not qualified to make these laws.
Yes I’m pro choice. I figured it was obvious. I’m not sure if your pro life, pro choice, or, frankly, can even tell up from down.
I’m not interested in continuing this discussion because your statements are not grounded in any kind of reality and it’s just going to be fruitless going forward.
You don’t think senators should make laws on abortion? Well bad news, they have. They do. They will continue to do so. They will bring their platform to the state houses or DC because people like you and I put them there. And since you felt the need to name yourself “pro-life” on here, I don’t have to take a guess on the type of people you’ve voted for.
You are getting exactly what you wanted. Warts and all. Despite your attempts to block them out. At least the hardline conservatives are consistent and don’t try to pretend that they see women as anything more than a uterus with a head. It’s beyond frustrating to see people like you who had just as much of a part in creating this reality but completely lacking any understanding of what they’ve actually done or any of the negative consequences there of.
Women should make the decision with their partner & doctor, not the political party.I agree with you JK, political people should not be making the decision for abortion.
WOW! I’m Pro-Life I thought I made that very clear and I even explained why.
You don’t know anything about the type of people I vote for! I don’t vote for a political party, a platform, or the color of the person’s skin, I vote for the person most qualified for the position.
I don’t have time to sit in front of the television and watch the news all day. I may not be well versed in this conversation but grounded in reality I am.
JK if I was getting exactly what I wanted women wouldn’t be aborting their babies.
Those who are Pro-Life and Pro-choice have been arguing for or against Roe Vs Wade for years. When Roe was overturned that, JK, created the negative consequences.
You can’t blame anyone else for this mess.
Have you ever voted for a pro-life candidate? Then YES. I CAN blame you, yes you, for the negative consequences of Roe v Wade being overturned, something the pro-life movement has advocated for decades. I would say that surely you would have understood this basic fact about the abortion debate but since you failed to understand what an abortion even is earlier, I guess I can’t assume that.
You don’t absolve yourself of responsibility because you 1. Reside in Wonderland where it’s possible to eliminate abortions all together (except for when they can but that’s not actually abortion according to you. I suppose to color green can also be red sometimes and ducks can be chickens sometimes in your reality) and 2. Can divorce yourself from any and all consequences of your actions because you failed to be an educated voter or gain a remote understanding about how democracy works.
You sound just like a man! You think you know everything. Every comment or opinion I gave, you analyzed. You insulted me because I view terminating a pregnancy for medical reasons different than an outright premeditated abortion.
I know what an abortion is make no mistake about it. It’s murder and a sin to kill your baby. Just because my views are different from yours doesn’t mean I don’t understand what an abortion is and what it isn’t.
I chose life over an abortion always that makes me Pro-Life. BUT the life of the child isn’t viable when there’s an ectopic pregnancy, a stillborn child was born deceased, and a miscarriage the mother lost her baby. An abortion may need to be done on these women. BUT THERE NOT TAKING A LIFE DURING THIS ABORTION, THAT’S THE DIFFERENCE! It doesn’t make me Pro-choice and you have no right to say that it does. It definitely doesn’t mean my realities screwed up and I live in some kind of Wonderland.
I’ve been trying to get you to understand without being rude or disrespectful to anyone. You have refused to see anyone’s view but yours.
If you want to take responsibility for this mess go right ahead more power to you. But I’m not going to accept the responsibility you want to throw onto me and others like me.
This world is a mess and we’re all responsible for it. What caused it is sin
and no politician can fix it. Only God can.
Please never vote again. Thank you.
As a United States Citizen it’s my right and responsibility to vote. JK I went back and read a few of your comments. In one of them you mentioned a “Christian Nationalist’s
world view that coddles the fetus but ignores the infant and the mother.”
Life doesn’t stop after the child is born. The mother and the infant cannot be ignored I agree with you. In my opinion Pro-Life isn’t only about alternatives to abortion.
This is what you put in that same comment:
“Reading the recent stories of women having to keep miscarriages for multiple weeks, the with them being pushed within an inch of their lives until they can receive any kind of medical attention is horrific and barbaric. But that doesn’t seem to bother the good honest Christians of the nation.”
JK, I’m Pro-Life and a Christian and it bothers me. That was my medical abortion or termination of the pregnancy. It’s the same thing just different medical terminology.
You can’t expect a group of people to look the same, act the same or believe the same things.
I’m a College graduate JK. I completely understand what’s going on and I can tell you more than you want to know about reality. What you’re judging me for is a medical problem. Here you thought I was living in Wonderland. Some days if imagining ducks were chickens would help me escape the physical pain in my body I would try it.
JK, go back through and read every comment very carefully. I mean no disrespect to anyone who made comments on this article. I don’t think anyone who made a comment was trying to impress anyone with their words or knowledge of the subject matter. I know I wasn’t. It was about an opinion, for many it was personal. You don’t have to answer this in a comment JK, but what was it about for you?
Take care JK!
You should not end abortion before you fix the foster system, the welfare system. Where are these children going to go, who is going to support them? Where are the homes for 7000 – 8000 children every year in Indiana?
Just like always our federal
Government has punted on this issue. It really does matter what the SC ,POTUS you are I say , think or rule. We all answer in the end to only one. I would say to anyone who claims to be Pro-life. Are you really? Or are you just anti- abortion.