The “Protect Life” bill is not a debate; Can an iPhone catch you sinning?; Texas sonogram law moves forward; and Right Wing Watch brings you the men and women taking part in the Planned Parenthood smear and defunding campaign.

• Could someone tell the Washington Post that the “Protect Life” bill is not a “renewed debate” about federal funding of abortion but an attack on the rights of women to have our lives saved in hospitals free from government or religious intrusion? Federal law already prohibits taxpayer funds for abortion except in those rare cases where a woman is a victim of a horrible crime or her life is endangered by the pregnancy. This bill, HR 358, actually allows institutions to opt out of saving a woman’s life if it means providing an abortion – a very real scenario as evidenced by the mother of four whose life was thankfully saved by compassionate doctors at the Catholic hospital, St. Joseph’s (which then was stripped of its Catholic Church affiliation afterwards!). The bill also prevents women from being able to use our own funds to purchase insurance coverage.This isn’t a debate – this is a full assault against which women are trying to protect ourselves. 

• Need a quick, on-the-go reminder that contraception, abortion and masturbation are all sinful? A new Roman Catholic iPhone app has it all. 

• An update on Texas’ SB 16 (via The American Independent) which mandates sonograms be performed two hours prior to any abortion (though does not force women to view the ultrasound or listen to a detailed description of the fetus, as was originally required): physicians, unsurprisingly, testified that this is a direct intrusion on a doctor-patient relationship. As well, there is no statistical evidence to support that viewing an ultrasound changes the abortion rate, according to the testimony of one Ob-Gyn. As I wrote yesterday, peforming an ultrasound prior to an abortion is already the standard of care so legislating these requirements are intrusive and unnecessary. The article also notes that, as written, many say the bill is confusing and vaguely worded. 

• Right Wing Watch brings you the men (and women) behind the smear. From one legislator who supported a bill which would “force the state to file murder charges against a woman and her doctor” for a later term abortion to another who served as a spokesman for the virulently anti-choice organization Operation Rescue. As we are all well aware by now, the Live Action video hoax has all been part of a multi-million dollar smear campaign perpetrated against Planned Parenthood and more broadly women’s health access. WIth Rep. Mike Pence’s legislation calling to defund Planned Parenthood and the House calling to completely wipe away this country’s Title X program which provides health care for some of our most vulnerable Americans, a well-coordinated legislative attack is underway.