To Hell in a Hand(maid's) basket

Yesterday was International Women's Day. Yes, South Dakota noticed too.




A few super-special things to celebrate on Women's Day:

1. Samuel Alito and his polite thank-you notes
   
2. South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds and his compassion for the "most helpless persons in our society"
   
3. Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi and his taxpayer-dollar saving frugality. A penny saved is a penny earned!
   
4. South Dakota Senator Mike Napoli and his vivid imagination

As far as effective posts go, this would be more effective if I left it at that. Snappy, sarcastic, succinct. Except then I'd run the risk that you might not click through to the links. So I'll just say it straight out: women's rights are under real, tangible, scary threat in this country. South Dakota governor Mike Rounds has signed anti-abortion legislation that prohibits abortion with no exception for rape or incest. Mississippi is set to follow suit. Senator Enzi (R-WY) has proposed legislation that would allow insurance companies to opt-out of providing contraception. Meanwhile, the South Dakota ban will not go into effect unless it is upheld by the Supreme Court; good thing, then, that Alito is so chummy with James Dobson (yes, that James Dobson).

I've saved the scary best for last. Read this, from PBS's "NewsHour" report on abortion rights in South Dakota, in an interview with Senator Bill Napoli:

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Napoli says most abortions are performed for what he calls "convenience." He insists that exceptions can be made for rape or incest under the provision that protects the mother's life. I asked him for a scenario in which an exception may be invoked.

BILL NAPOLI: A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.

Who thinks it's scary that a Senator has a graphic, fully-formed rape fantasy off the top of his head? There are so many things disturbingly wrong with this, I don't know where to begin. But I think this woman says it best. Kudos to her for her bravery. I read that yesterday, on International Women's Day. So at least I found one thing to celebrate.

NB: By the way, a Google search for "sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it" yields a number of blog hits, but nothing so far in the mainstream media that I've seen. Let's get on this guy, people. Please.

UPDATE: Newspapers are picking up Molly Ivin's syndicated column on this. Good. Now, more.