I'm a bit confused by her resigning just when it seems like she would do the most "good" (coughcough) in the job. Weird timing.

Wow. If this "Family" Research Council doesn't scare Americans, I don't know what would. I commend all of you who are fighting to keep your reproductive rights in the States. I can't believe that you have to legitimately worry about this possibility. We have a relatively small group of wingnuts in Canada with this agenda as well, but almost all Canadians, I believe, know that it would never pass.

Out of curiousity, if John McCain is elected and appoints s.c. judges who overturn Roe v. Wade, would any of you consider moving to Canada? Would that seal the deal for anyone? (I do apologize for repeating this question in a previous thread, but there were only a few replies... I'm just really curious to know how many civil liberties it would take for people to feel that they had to leave?)

Gah! Horrifying. Thanks for the info, especially the "take action" link- done and done.

Catspaw, my BF and I already want to leave the country! We just don't have the money to do so.

(We're thinking rural UK somewhere.)

I'm hoping the pendulum will start to swing the other way. I love my country, and I do what I can to help that happen.

Signed the letter to Leavitt.

Gag. (pardon the pun)

Why issuing a call to "gag" anyone or group is considered "American" or "democratic" is beyond me.

A long time ago, it was written in an opinion by the Supreme Court that the correct response to speech you don't like is more speech, not less.

why is it called a gag rule? I have heard of a gag *order* and that's not being able to talk about a case. Never heard of a gag "rule".

Anyway, thanks for the Take Action link, it's signed!

The answer to shit like this is not threatening to move to Canada. The democratic party needs to get its junk together. Conservatives are in power in this country because they have the votes, so dems need to take them back. Sometimes I feel like we get caught up in our outrage and forget that this country operates on votes and that that is what needs focus. If Obama can't find a way to appeal to more working-class people who would just as soon vote Republican, we are looking at more conservative appointees on the SC and elsewhere over the next 4-8 years. Some of those judges are getting pretty old, so it's just a matter of time.

why is it called a gag rule? I have heard of a gag *order* and that's not being able to talk about a case. Never heard of a gag "rule".

Anyway, thanks for the Take Action link, it's signed!

> cheekykitten, I totally respect that perspective --- if all free-thinking progressive people left the US, that wouldn't solve anything. So, while I'm certainly not advocating for that, I'm just trying to actually envision a developed nation like the US, forcing women back into the atrocities of the pre-reproductive-rights era. I can't personally imagine staying in a nation where that happened.
> Jen... rural UK sounds beautiful.

why is it called a gag rule? I have heard of a gag *order* and that's not being able to talk about a case. Never heard of a gag "rule".

Anyway, thanks for the Take Action link, it's signed!

Attention puritans:

Against gay marriage? Don't get one.

Against premarital sex? Don't have it.

Against contraception? Don't use it.

Against abortion? Don't get one.

In the meantime, please quit driving abortion rates UP with your efforts to keep knowledge & contraception out of the hands of the terrible promiscuous heathens. Also, please quit pretending that you have a shred of evidence which objectively proves "when life begins". Anyone claiming to have this knowledge is either arrogant & deluded, or they've made one of the most significant scientific & philosophical breakthroughs in human history, with implications far more important than abortion's moral status.

Considering the knock-on effects that the gag policy has in many other countries (particularly those in the so-called Third World) this is a big deal internationally.

For me, abortion has always been a class-based issue – women with money are able to move to where the service is legal, while those without are left to face the music. Or use a coat hanger.

I was so pleased two years ago when the Constitutional Court here in Colombia ruled that abortion in the case of rape, incest and foetus deformation should be decriminalised. Sadly, it remains technically illegal in other cases.

Good luck with getting your voiced heard.

What relevance does Dr. Orr's resigning have to the domestic gag rule? Is she resigning in protest because the Bush administration won't institute the rule? If not, then any mention of her resignation seems completely irrelevant. Who cares? She'll merely be replaced by another wingnut.

Unicron - word. Hell, even women who want to be mothers can't tell THE MOMENT THAT THEY'RE PREGNANT, and those people are all waiting for a sign. The whole "life = moment of conception" thing is dangerous and impractical.

Katy - I 100% agree it's a class issue. Planned Parenthood has suffered greatly under this loss of funding, and I don't think these policymakers realize that PP also offers prenatal care, immunizations and the like.

Jill--I totally hear ya, and I'd be lying if I said the thought didn't pop into my own head every week. I just think that if pre-Roe fighters had had the same idea, we wouldn't have had the right for the past 30 years. I hate to think of leaving the next generation of women to the conservative wolves while those of us with means go somewhere that suits us better.

The fact that the global gag rule exists is terrifying enough- let alone bringing it home, while at the same time raising American girls to think that they should be grateful to be born here.

I think the same people who are so against abortion and contraception as to try to outlaw them are the same people who complain when they see poor mothers on welfare and wonder why they keep having babies. Maybe if comprehensive education, cheap contraception and safe/affordable abortions were available to women of all classes equally, then fewer families would have to struggle and women can make choices according to their own needs and wants and not someone else's religious views!

"I think the same people who are so against abortion and contraception as to try to outlaw them are the same people who complain when they see poor mothers on welfare and wonder why they keep having babies."

In my experience, they are indeed the EXACT same people. I've met a few exceptions, but they seem to be pretty rare.

Urk...I can't believe this is actually being considered in this country.

"What relevance does Dr. Orr's resigning have to the domestic gag rule?" - The best I can figure is she is leaving the office so her presence does not hinder the movement of this article. If a journalist decided to pick this story up and point out the obvious conflict of interest, maybe it would become an obstacle in their path. Though I doubt it...Cheney got his company billions with his war in a pretty obvious conflict of interest, so why not this. *sigh* November can't come soon enough...