Morning Roundup: Chris Smith Redefines Rape

Beth Saunders

Women who use IVF at a higher risk for maternal mortality, Rand Paul can't decide who's a person, and Rep. Chris Smith's anti-abortion bill tries to redefine rape.

Women who use IVF at a higher risk for maternal mortality, Rand Paul can’t decide who’s a person, and Rep. Chris Smith’s anti-abortion bill tries to redefine rape.

  • A study published in the British Medical Journal shows that in vitro fertilization pregnancies link to a higher maternal mortality. The causal link appears to be that women who undergo IVF are typically older, the increased risk of carrying multiples (which happens with IVF), pre-eclampsia and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. One study done in the Netherlands “found the overall death rate in IVF pregnancies was 42 per 100,000 women compared with six deaths per 100,000 in all pregnancies.”
  • The Daily Beast points out Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) hypocrisy when it comes to the 14th amendment. Paul has signed on to cosponsor the “Life at Conception” Act, which makes all embryos and blastocysts “people.” Yet, he also cosponsors a resolution that would prevent the children of illegal immigrants from becoming American citizens. Author Ben Adler points out, “It’s not clear where the fetus in an illegal immigrant’s uterus would fit into this equation.”
  • Another very scary legal ramification of Chris Smith’s “No Taxpayer Coverage for Abortion” bill – a redefinition of rape. Mother Jones reports that the bill states that funding would only be provided for “forcible rape.” Not statutory, not if a woman is drugged, not if she says no but doesn’t have the bruises to prove it? Shame on you, Chris Smith. This is beyond the pale, even for you.

Jan 28

Jan 27