Things will only get worse: Idaho Woman Charged For "Unlawful Abortion," Turned In By

[one_voice]

Anti-Choice Advocate

We cannot let this happen. We've got to stop their assault on women's rights.


Unable to afford the doctors visits and medical bills associated with an actual medical abortion, Jennie L. McCormack of Idaho instead had her sister purchase drugs online to ingest in order to cause a miscarriage. McCormack, who is the mother of three, is now being charged with "unlawful abortion" according to the Associated Press.

If McCormack is found guilty, she could be subject to a $5000 penalty as well as up to five years in prison.

McCormack's case is a sign of the true desperation of women in this country. She said she believed she was only 14 weeks along, although the examination of the remains concluded it was more likely 20-25. She is already a mother of more than one child, one still a toddler. But financially she was cut off from any choice she wanted to make about how many people she wanted in her family, unable to procure an abortion she couldn't afford, and now facing criminal penalties for taking the only option left to her.

According to the report, McCormack was turned into the police by the sister of on of her friends, a woman who stated "There's other things she could have done. She could have asked for some type of help."

But it's obvious that the only "help" that was acceptable in this situation, according to the tipster, was to have the baby, and that the woman who contacted the police did it solely to punish McCormack. "I'm a grandmother myself. And the love and the compassion I have for my grandkids? They're my life. And I felt that if somebody didn't speak up for this baby, who would? It doesn't have a voice anymore," Carnahan said.

http://www.care2.com/causes/womens-rights/blog/idaho-woman-charged-with/

[Justitia]

1. this is the bullshit we have to look forward to - ALL OVER AGAIN

My aunt nearly died due to an illegal abortion - she was in the hospital for almost a year & ended up w/a colostomy bag.

Fuck that woman that did this to another woman (calling the police).

Desperate women will do all kinds of things to themselves, now we are going back to the dark ages of locking them up for it.

[RKP5637]

3. Exactly! This country is failing in so many ways and now this crap too. We will be

back to black market abortions, the sickness and deaths, all the same crap over again. Will this F'en place ever grow up.

[xmas74]

25. It's almost time to begin investing in wire hangers

until they outlaw them.

The day is coming.

[trueblue2007]

44. WE NEED TO IMPEACH THE GOVERNORS, ELECTED OFFICIALS & SUPREMES

we need to get rid of these people who will not let citizens keep their constitutional freedoms. This is a legal procedure!!

[appal_jack]

45. Gardeners, grow Pennyroyal

I'm not enough of an herbalist to discuss how it can be safely employed (so talk to a real herbalist before considering its use!), but there's no harm in having some growing in a moist and partly-shaded area of your land. Even an urban backyard can produce useful quantities, and it's easy to grow (mint family). The oil is no longer generally available for sale, but plants and seeds can still be ordered:

http://www.horizonherbs.com/product.asp?specific=627

or

http://www.horizonherbs.com/product.asp?specific=1636

Just one way that we can all support women's choice, and civil liberties in general!

-app

[roody]

55. Pennyroyal is good for menstrual cramps.

It grows wild in Arkansas.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Desperate people do desperate things...

I wonder if there was a Planned Parenthood facility in her town? Probably not...

How awful. My heart goes out to her.

Recommended.

[virgogal]

7. The sweet old grammy who turned this lady in should be

tied to a chair and forced to watch "Vera Drake" for about 24 hours straight.

[KittyWampus]

10. she should be forced to taste her own medicine.

[mntleo2]

67. She should have her mouth sewn shut ...

...with a BIG rusty needle. If people like her would MAKE BILLIONAIRES PAY TAXES AND NOT BE DEADBEATS, and not be so unchristian as to vote for legislators so elitist that they refuse to help the poor as well as provide birth control access, this situation would not happen.

GGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cat in Seattle

[defendandprotect]

68. Think her grandchildren will -- she's pretty much working to end their CHOICE ...

[n2doc]

46. She should have her assets confiscated and given to foster care agencies

After all, if it is really the 'babies' she is co concerned with, she won't have any problem sacrificing for their good?

[IDemo]

15. They don't say which town

Several years ago I worked directly across the parking lot from a local Planned Parenthood clinic in Boise. It was located only a few doors away from the police academy. One day, a large number of fire trucks and cop cars swept into the parking lot and sealed it off with yellow tape. A fake Anthrax attack had occurred at the clinic, and a poor unfortunate woman had to disrobe inside of a tarp-curtain and be hosed off by a fireman. I don't believe they ever caught the perp, but I'm sure he got a few thumbs up from the anti-abortion crowd watching it on the news that night.

[REP]

16. Pocatello

[Fumesucker]

4. K&R

[Mojeoux]

5. K and R

[MinneapolisMatt]

6. Fuck this shit.

Women, I stand with you 100% for your right to choice.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Justitia]

12. oh, she's loud & proud that this mother of 3 is now facing prison -eom

[The Doctor.]

29. Didn't for one second think of the LIVING children, did she?

I can't stand 'ANAODU' like her.

[defendandprotect]

69. Sooooo true .... !!!

[REP]

13. Great minds...

She lives in Shelley, Idaho.

[oldhippydude]

36. in that part of Idaho..

you have a big Mormon influence also... that big family every mans a god thing.. I remember in Shelly in the 70's.. a local getting booted from Ricks collage because his bishop saw him smoking in Shelly..

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Doctor.]

28. wrong post.

[avebury]

32. I would love to see local woman hold a protest outside of Carnahan's home.

Imagine holding a series of protests outside of her home. They could use signs referencing Hitler or Stalin.

[femrap]

33. I see the address....

no phone # or am I blind?

[femrap]

35. sorry dupe....nt

[ejpoeta]

9. this is ridiculous. why is it that women have no rights in this country to their own damned bodies!

everyone seems to have a say when it comes to women. what we can do is public information. i am so sick and tired of it. i have three kids. and the third time i found out i was mad. i had abby and wouldn't change a thing, but had an incident which led to having to go get the plan b pill. I want to be able to make that choice for myself. I don't want someone else making that choice for me. The only other person who even has a say would be my husband and that is only because we are married... ultimately it has to be my decision though since it is my body. I have told him i am done having kids. Period. He does not have to go get snipped. But I am done.

Now imagine being in a position where you don't have insurance to cover getting that taken care of? I do. I have state insurance. Imagine if state insurance wouldn't even cover birth control!! They do thank god! That would be stupid not to, but it seems there are some who don't want even that... but the doctor said getting my tubes tied would be surgery requiring recuperation. I have a toddler. I don't get vacation or sick time as a stay at home mom. I can't even go to the bathroom without an audience. So I got Mirena. Imagine if my state insurance wouldn't provide that!

Now, you are a state that doesn't want to have to cover more kids and families with insurance and food stamps. Don't you think you should be covering this stuff. But I digress. That isn't what this lady was doing. Abortion. We should be preventing this. By providing women with contraception. And then this woman wouldn't have needed an abortion. But she should have had access to it.

[awoke_in_2003]

72. well, even if state insurance will cover birth control....

it is not 100% effective. Not allowing a woman options just proves what a backwards, 3rd world country we are becoming.

[REP]

11. I hope there is a hell so Brenda Carnahan can burn in it

"Compassion" my ass. Judging from her comments, she's a barely literate troublemaker, and lower than snake shit.

Is there a legal fund for McCormack?

[Zoeisright]

14. That "baby" is a fetus. And it never had a voice.

That's the point. It doesn't have a voice, or any rights, until it's born. Those rights gradually increase with gestational age, but the mother's rights come first.

Sorry, nosy anti-choicers. That's the way of the world.

[perdita9]

43. Get pregnant, lose all your civil liberties

That's the GOP mindset.

This fetus worship they engage in is getting downright freaky.

[harmonicon]

48. It isn't fetus worship.

They don't care about kids at all. It's just a convenient way to "put women in their place", which is as second class citizens, or, ideally, not citizens at all, but simply the property of men.

[pink-o]

52. exactly! Crying crocodile tears over the "helpless unborn" is just an excuse!

This shit is the same shit I heard as a teenager--and I'm 56 now--and it didn't take much of my bullshit-o-meter to figure out the agenda behind it. Even when Roe V Wade became law, and I listened to the sanctimonious freak-outs about baby killers and age 18, I wondered why so many anti-abortionists were pro-death penalty (probably screaming to put the same fetus to death who grew up unwanted and abused cuz Mom didn't have access to birth control) and why, if they professed to love babies so bloody much, why a heinous institution like Foster Care was allowed to stand in this country. Even as a teenager, the hypocrisy was blatant.

And here we are, almost 40 years later, still dealing with the troglydites--in fact, devolving at an alarming pace. Yeah, so I'm past the age of worrying about pregnancy, but I don't for a second believe I'm personally unaffected by this war against women. Neither should men who have wives, sisters, daughters and mothers.

If you look at developing nations, it's been statistically proven that once women are educated, the region improves immensely. Once women have control of their own bodies--and consequently, their own destinies--everyone's life gets better. But Corporate America can't allow that to happen, therefore use the knee-jerk emotional reaction and scream about "murdered babies", while keeping women away from those who could help them with birth control.

These evil hypocrites are just a small section of the evil hypocrites who want to keep us ALL unable to control our own destinies. The power base wants us to be sick, dependent and ignorant--and that goes for men as well as women.

[EC]

17. How the hell did this woman find out about another

woman's praganancy? I'm guessing the sister said something and should learn to keep her mouth shut and Carnahan should mind her own business.

Jennie L. McCormack should have ordered her own pills and not told her sister.

[Zoeisright]

53. Some serious breaching of privacy laws had to occur.

And this requires an investigation and criminal charges under HIPAA.

[liberalhistorian]

62. HIPAA only applies to medical

professionals, not to ordinary citizens. Too bad, too. Maybe this grandmother should have offered to raise the baby if she felt so strongly about it. And if the woman had been able to afford the abortion, what would this busybody have done about it, kept her chained up so she couldn't get to the doctor or clinic?

[Zarah210]

82. You're wrong

"I'm guessing the sister said something and should learn to keep her mouth shut"

Carnahan's brother is a (so-called) friend of McCormack's and he is the one who told her. Good job assuming and bashing the sister, though.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Doctor.]

27. No. Death teaches very little to its victims.

In this case, she deserves enlightenment. For that is the only way she could truly suffer.

[JNelson6563]

31. You are correct.

On all counts.

[Maru Kitteh]

19. K & R

[madinmaryland]

20. Carnahan never would have given one fucking cent to support the child

of Ms. McCormack.

Fucking ****.

:mad:

[ismnotwasm]

21. God that's messed up

And you are absoulutely right. It will get worse.
Can you imagine going to jail for an abortion? Prison? Charged with 'murder'? When it's your body, your life, your health. Frightening times we've come to.

[shimmergal]

22. Is there a legal defense fund for Jennie McCormack?

Maybe we here at DU should see what we can do to help her.

I've no idea how to get one started, but I'd gladly eke out a few dollars to help this poor woman who was just trying to take care of her existing children.

[KittyWampus]

23. sounds like the perfect case for the ACLU.

[kestrel91316]

24. How about a general strike by the women of the US??

I have had QUITE ENOUGH, thank you.

[KittyWampus]

30. Good suggestion.

[femrap]

40. Contact NOW

National Organization for Women....they'll know how to get the word out on this. Also the National Women's Law Center....I believe that's it...they do great work as well.

[Taverner]

34. Goddammit

:grr:

[ceile]

37. OMFG!!!!

Who the fuck does that lady think she is?! Bet she wouldn't have raised one fucking finger to that woman had she carried to term...

[ProfessionalLeftist]

38. Grandma needs to keep her nose out of other people's vaginas

and out of their lives.

[avebury]

39. They don't want to just rid of the woman to opt to have an

abortion. They also want to make birth control illegal. If there is any law to take away the rights of the masses they are all for it. But consider what would happen if all the woman not wanting to be parents and forced to have children just said after the delivery, where are the papers, I am signing him/her over to the state. You want the baby, you got it. The far right wing nut jobs only care about a fetus when it is the womb, they could care less what happens after it is born. Their heads would explode if the government had to pay to raise all of these kids. They may force woman to have children but they can't force them to raise those children.

One way to make the Conservatives' heads explodes would be to look for adoptive parents who ARE NOT US citizens and offer them a chance to adopt a child who is ALREADY a US citizen. Maybe there might be a way to pave the way to citizenship for the adopting parents.

[Rozlee]

58. Hell, yeah, they want to make birth control illegal.

If Roe v. Wade ever came to a vote again, the Justices would actually be in a bind. Because the anti-choicers would want them to make a determination: WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN? Over 90% of women, including Catholic women, have used artificial birth control and only 2% have used the natural method as proscribed by the Church. Many, if not most, of birth control methods rely on the uterine lining becoming unable to keep a fertilized egg from implanting if ovulation isn't suppressed. And actual life, these idiots say, begins at conception. If the Justices made that determination, they'd be forced to rule against most forms of birth control medications. I think this wouldn't endear them to the female population and they know it. If they ever overturned Roe v. Wade, I think it would be a short-lived victory. I believe it would cause a backlash among women that would make them vote in liberal congresspersons that would pass a 2/3 majority vote to overturn the justices' ruling and kick it out for good. I have my moments when I even wonder if it might not be the best scenario. All these anti-choice laws these different states are passing are deaths by a thousand cuts. A big smack down over abortion in the Supreme Court, with women finally realizing the stakes, might be the big wake up call they need to finally realize what they have to lose. Because you know that the anti-choicers wouldn't want to set a limit of making abortion illegal after 6 or 12 weeks. They'd go for right after conception. Make no mistake.

[Dan]

77. Actually, the GOP

has had opportunities to overturn ROE V WADE, and via Congressional tools outlaw abortion or the right to choice. The GOP has no desire to overturn a woman's right to choose, because it would eliminate the most effective wedge issue that they have to motivate their base.

[aquart]

41. Fight the Republican War Against Women and Children.

They want to put a MOTHER in jail because she couldn't handle more children than she had.

The children who were born are being destroyed because their mother tried to care for them.

The mother is being destroyed for trying to be responsible.

WOULD CHRIST WANT THIS?

This is a Republican War Against Women and Children.

[blackspade]

42. So no thought

of the other children?
Classic anti-choice response.
I guess after the kids are out of the womb it is time to get a job at the sweat shop.
McCormack's poor kids now have to suffer for this woman's self-righteous bullshit.

[Brickbat]

47. That's one sick grandma who thinks it's OK to make a single mom serve five years in jail.

It's not pro-life, it's not pro-child, it's not love and it's not compassion. That grandma is a meddling busybody who I hope has to reap the whirlwind if that mom goes to jail.

[Thornleylv]

49. Good thing the GOP is for small Government

[ecstatic]

50. "turned into the police by the sister of on of her friends"

She also needs better friends. It was a private matter and should have been kept that way!

I don't think this woman should be punished, but I'm wondering why she didn't force the father of the baby to pay for the abortion at a much earlier point in the pregnancy. Fetuses can survive (if admitted in time to a top level NICU) outside the womb at about 23-24 weeks.

[OwnedByFerrets]

51. Fucked up, just absolutely fucked up

[hifiguy]

54. This is sickening

I was just starting to calm down from the story about the kitten rescued from its tormentor and then I read this BULLSHIT??!! I hope someone sets up a legal defense fund for Ms. McCormack.

That twisted "tipster" deserves to be sued at the very least. I really cannot say on this forum what I believe she really deserves.

There really aren't words for how much I hate these sanctimonious tealiban f*ckwits. :grr: :nuke:

[fascisthunter]

56. did the idiot right wingers really think they could stop abortion?

[defendandprotect]

70. Probably not ... but until then, they want to make sure that women suffer for it -- !!!

[DreamSmoker]

57. Have not learned a Damned thing

I have lived long enough to see for myself what happens when we go back wards..
To make abortions legal was a hell of a fight for years and years..
So much senseless death in back rooms... Unqualified people acting as Doctors and desperate expected Mothers willing to risk everything die..
So now you have the Righteous ones pushing us back into those times once again....
So its live like they do or hit the highway...
No freedom for all in their world... Just them....
In my world there is no room for these people as I live in the America of the free and true justice for all...

[juajen]

73. How true! The rich, however, could always get abortions, even when

it was illegal. I once worked for an attorney who kept a list of good doctors in case any of his clients had daughters who needed "help".

[Scottybeamer70]

59. Pointing fingers at your neighbors or family........

is what it's coming down to these days. Haven't I read somewhere that people are supposed to report their
neighbors, friends, or families if they suspect something? I'm afraid this is only the tip of the iceberg
that is about to sink us. I think the men in this country should be marching right along with the women!
This is insane!

[annabanana]

60. Growing up in the 50's, THIS is what we were told things were

like in the horrible horrible Communist countries.. People told to spy on their families and neighbors and weren't we glad we lived in a free country??

[ieoeja]

61. Roadblocks. No-knock warrants. Warrantless searches. Proof of Citizenship when travelling.

God Bless the "Homeland"**.


We were expanding the social net and going to the moon while fighting a hot war in Vietnam and a Cold War against a super power. A dozen tax cuts latter, our economy plunges and we "can't afford" a safety net, they say.


**Note: the hand goes over your heart, not sticking straight at a forty-five degree angle.

[southernyankeebelle]

63. Welcome to the new world order just like the nazi did. Report on your family members, friends, or

neighbors. This is the cause ladies. She is our sister. You better stand up and be counted.

[Lionessa]

64. And this is exactly why I'm sitting here refusing to do much

while still in the f'ing state. I hate Idaho, it's just gone from bad to worse. As soon as I see the judges sig on my bankruptcy, I'm out of here. If I've got to be unemployed and essentially homeless, I sure don't want to do it in Idaho. I should've left years ago, but my daughter is finishing her masters and I've been hanging and waiting so as to not leave her here alone.

Idaho is just so backwards, for the most part, I've met a few individuals who are intelligent and sensible but not enough.

[TxVietVet]

65. Remind your conservanazi friends who believe in abortions

when election time comes around. Also, remind the nitwits, who believe in abortion, yet are too lazy to get up and vote. Ladies, it will only get worse. Since conservanazi republikans can't control your sexual urges (since they can't get any at home and screw their mistresses), they can control what you do with your bodies if we continue to elect them to do so.

Vote against the conservanazis in 2012.

[TheDebbieDee]

66. I was 10 years-old when Roe v Wade became law..............

And I don't recall any of the hub-bub in the run-up to and the aftermath from the decision.

But I gotta believe that one of the reasons these justices made this law was because people were sick and tired of finding their daughters, their sisters, their nieces and grand-daughters dead after getting dangerous back-alley abortions or trying to give themselves abortions at home!

Okay, so the drug war is failing..........what else can we send people to prison for?

[sunwyn]

71. They'll be burning us as witches next

[Justitia]

78. Amen, sister - I had the same thought! -eom

[McCamy Taylor]

74. Um...isnt this the kind of thing they promised would not happen with this law?

Wasn't it designed to go after providers and not women?

[Zookeeper]

75. "Grandma" is a self-righteous, evil, jerk! Three children....

may be left motherless for years, just so "Grandma" could feel important.

[McCamy Taylor]

76. Real point of this prosecution is women with complications of abortion will not be able to seek help

from doctors, for fear that some "Grandma" on the hospital staff will turn her in to the police. So, if she starts bleeding to death or gets peritonitis, she will stay at home and die---or lie to the doctors which will complicate her treatment.

I guess "Grandma" wants to see more of this....

[Justitia]

79. which is what happened w/my aunt. Her colon was perforated & she almost died of infection.

This was immediately before Roe vs. Wade

Not only was she hospitalized for the better part of a yr (given last rites 3 times), she ended up w/a colostomy.

I have very vivid memories of helping her empty her colostomy bag as a teenager.

I will ALWAYS fervently support the rights of women to safe, hygienic abortion.

[Zookeeper]

81. Thank you for sharing that, Justitia. I will show your post to....

my teen daughter, as it's her generation that has no memory of that time and has the most to lose.

[Cerridwen]

80. At the risk of committing suicide by Godwin...

"over there, over there, those are the Jews you're looking for"

or

"those ARE the droids you're looking for" (Star Wars on its head) for the SciFi "challenged"