Fundy FAIL!

Sebelius confirmed as secretary of health and human services by a Senate vote of 65-31.

Despite fundy SHRIEEEKING, a MASSIVE phone campaign by Team Sarah (yeah, Palin), and loony conspiracy theories from fuckwits like Tony Perkins.

Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, weighed in on the latest development in the debate over Sebelius.

"What do sick pigs have to do with widespread, taxpayer-funded abortion? More than you might think," he told LifeNews.com. "As panic spreads over a potential swine flu pandemic, liberals are already scheming how they can use the health scare to win the confirmation of [the] pro-abortion extremist."

You think they're getting it yet?

Nah, me neither.

You Go, Kathleeen

Sebelius vetoes another sneaky attempt to recriminalize abortion.

Sebelius said the bill would not have reduced abortions and would likely be unconstitutional.

“The provisions in this bill that would allow for the criminal prosecution of a physician intending to comply with the law will lead to the intimidation of health care providers and reduce access to comprehensive health care for women, even when it is necessary to preserve their lives and health,” she wrote in a statement announcing the veto.

“While I agree that we should try to reduce the number of abortions, it cannot be at the increased risk to the life or health of women.”

Here’s more from Sebelius’ statement:

“As Governor of Kansas, I have worked hard to reduce abortions by supporting a range of initiatives including adoption incentives, encouraging parental involvement and individual responsibility for young men and women, expanding health services for Kansas children, promoting access to affordable contraceptives, expanded maternal and infant health services and promotional efforts, providing funds for proven successful pregnancy maintenance programs and encouraging age-appropriate sex education.

“These efforts have resulted in reducing the number of abortions by more than 10% in the last six years in Kansas. I am confident that with a more united effort to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies, combined with creating conditions that provide support and assistance for mothers and their babies, we will have even greater success reducing abortions in our state.”

And, as JJ reports, the Rethugnicans are stamping their tiny feet and delaying Sebelius's inevitable confirmation as HHS secretary.

Pro-choice WIN.

ARGGG! I've been mispledding Governor Sebelius's name! I got some editing to do.

Sebelius v. Fetus Fetishists, Round Umpty-two

Oy. Seems both JJ at Unrepentant Old Hippie and I here spoke too soon.

At the federal level, while not one fetus-fetishizing senator brought up her pro-choice credentials as an impediment to her confirmation as Health and Human Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius is still governor of Kansas and her home-grown fundies have just thrown her a doozy.

Across the Excited States, various state legislatures have been busily erecting more legal barriers to abortion. In Kansas, they recently passed a law requiring doctors to make an ultrasound available to women seeking abortions.

As a Kansas City Star editorialist puts it:

The bill was a win-win situation for abortion opponents. If Sebelius signed it, they'd get what they wanted. If she vetoed it, they'd raise a fuss in advance of her Senate confirmation hearings for the job of U.S. health and human services secretary.

She signed the bill.

They came up with a new one -- a bill

that would allow patients and their relatives to sue doctors for damages if they came to believe that a late-term abortion was illegal. Physicians would also have to give a detailed medical accounting to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment after performing a late-term abortion.

The editorialist and I agree -- she has to veto it. Imagine the shenanigans of zygote zealots trying to manipulate a woman who's had an abortion into 'coming to believe' that it was illegal. (WTF does that even mean?) And the detailed medical 'accounting' puts patient privacy at risk.

Sadly, while the grown-ups seem to be taking charge at the national level, the state houses are still full of panty-sniffers.