Jim DeMint: Women want to be forced to have ultrasounds

[freshwest]

71. Excellent question! Interview with the presidents of the AMA and the TMA:

Peter Carmel and Bruce Malone: The TT Interview

by Emily Ramshaw and Thanh Tan
January 31, 2012



FYI: Peter Carmel is one the left, and the president of the AMA (American Medical Association) and Bruce Malone is on the right and the president of the TMA (Texas Medical Association). They both answer the TT (Texas Tribune) interviewer's questions regarding the sonogram law in Texas and the attack on Planned Parenthood:

Carmel: It is a needless, dangerous interference with the practice of medicine by politicians. And as physicians, we have to oppose all interference that we possibly can by politicians in the practice of medicine. There are all sorts of rules all over the country, with state legislatures trying to dictate what doctors do. In the state of Florida, it is illegal for a doctor to ask the family of a child whether there are guns in the home. You can ask about storage of chemicals, about fire alarms, fire escapes, open windows, how the windows are sealed. You’re allowed to ask all those questions, but you cannot ask whether there are firearms in the home. Firearms are a major cause of childhood mortality and injury. It’s so extreme as to be ludicrous. The important principle is, the government shouldn’t interfere with the doctor-patient relationship. The government shouldn’t practice medicine.

TT: And what about Texas lawmakers’ efforts to slash spending on family planning? Now they’re threatening not to participate in the Medicaid Women’s Health Program if they can’t exclude Planned Parenthood.

Malone: That would be a really stupid thing to do. Planned Parenthood does not do abortions in the state of Texas with state funds. So this is a very stupid political thing. It’s not like the state of Texas has another safety net for these women for medical care. The Texas Medical Association doesn’t want to get into the issue of whether a patient wants an elective abortion. That’s not what we’re dealing with. We’re talking about well woman services, pap smears and breast exams, things that make public health sense. And we don’t want to see those women who are vulnerable denied essential medical services because someone wants to debate an ethics issue. That’s their right to debate that. That’s fine, but these are essential medical services.

Carmel: What it sets up is two classes of patients. If you’ve got rocks, you’ve got the ability, you’ve got access to contraception, to women’s health, to all of these things. If you’re poor, we’re going to deny you access to that kind of health. That’s first of all not tolerable for medicine, and it can’t be tolerable for Americans. No American would say, "Yes, the poor should get inferior treatment."

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-special-interest-groups/texas-medical-association/dr-peter-carmel-and-dr-bruce-malone-tt-interview/

They covered every point that a progressive would make. Whether they've been run out of town since the interview, I don't know. But they were well-informed and acting like rational human beings.

Texas has always had a strong progressive streak and citizens there have just been overwhelmed by an all out attack on sanity, IMO. I found that article by going through what I thought was for women's rights, but realized it was a pro-life apologists story, the first that showed up under my search terms:

https://liveaction.org/blog/ultrasound-law-is-dangerous-according-to-the-american-medical-association/

The home page shows it's a radical blog:

http://www.liveaction.org/

The contention in the articles show that it smears women chastising them for being callous, or acting like someone telling them what to do that rich people don't have to ask permission for, like DeMint's bull.

I don't know if TRMS went into the real issue, that this is for oppressing and creating chaos in the lives of poor and middle class women, as rich women have never had any problem getting a pregnancy terminated. If nothing else, they would fly to another area or country in the past.

These lawmakers know that the target group can't do that. The last paragraph in the TT article shows that the doctors know what is going on with this, and dispute it in some of the strongest terms I've heard yet.

Naturally, the Live Action Blog wants to paint the doctors as wanting to make money off the procedure and protecting a lucrative business, which is a myth. Much more money is made in prenatal, birthing and pediatric care.

What it would be good to know is who is funding Live Action Blog? We can see that she is right wing darling and is no doubt paid for here appearances and interviews, and enjoying non-profit status as group, most likely has filed to not pay taxes as well.

I smell Koch/ALEC money. I'm not buying the cover story. This is an organizing tool of the religious rights and political all the way.

Thanks for leading me to research that.