Congressional Republicans care about violence against women now, and they think we're all stupid.

RH Reality Check has an excellent post by Robin Marty on Congressional Republicans dash to show how concerned they are about violence against women. Which is obvious by their multiple attempts to prevent the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). I don’t know about you, but I totally believe them now.

A handful of Republican Congressmen and one Congresswoman are still convinced that the media is doing some sort of blackout on Gosnell and they took to the floor to give one-minute speeches on the trial. They used this time to also discuss the horrors of abortion and the need to “speak for the unborn” and protect women from harm. Bachman said this, “Thank God for the men who stood up today to speak for women and against violence against women.”

Take a minute and try to unpack that. Thanks menfolk, I don’t know what women would do without you. Who, who I ask would protect us from violence against women? Additionally, who would commit violence against women? Personally, I love the infantilization of women. I mean who wants all that responsibility of making health decisions for one’s self? Not I.

So the battle cry went out on the right after they realized the Gosnell trial was about to start. Time to mobilize and attack women. The most ridiculous aspect of all of this is the complete lack of “women’s news” by the right. Gosnell is old news to the ladies of the left. Sure the trial is a big deal, but this idea that there was some kind of blackout is just a demonstration of the right’s ignorance.

Rep Marlin Stutzman (R-Indiana) announced he and fellow Representatives were going to make the floor speeches in hopes of garnering new coverage for the Gosnell trial. Stutzman is a two-term Congressman who has been quoted saying, “one day, we will reverse Roe v. Wade and reform a culture that has cheapened human life.”

This isn’t Stutzman’s first time; he and several other Republican Congress members spoke about Gosnell back on April 11. Gosnell’s clinic was compared to “Auschwitz’s ovens” and “Cambodia’s killing fields.” After Stutzman said, “We ought to take a look at our culture’s careless disregard for this story in particular, and for innocent life in general…Has our national conscience been irreversible seared by the deaths of over 1.2 million unborn children every year in this country? Mr. Speaker, I am confident that one day the era of abortion on demand will close and we will restore a lasting respect for life.”

Idiot. How about we start with the mass murder of black men in prison? Or by the police? Or war? Nope, we need to start with the unborn. Additionally, this is not the same as an attempt to exterminate an entire group of people. Idiot. However, they travel in packs. Stutzman was joined by several Congressman; New Jersey Republican Chris Smith and Pennsylvania Rep Scott Perry made speeches with Stutzman in the past. Some of the newbies were excited to use Gosnell’s trial to explain efforts to defund the Planned Parenthood or pass a 20 week abortion ban.

At least they knew that what Gosnell was doing was criminal, but I think they are confused on which part. You see Gosnell wasn’t supposed to be doing abortions nor third trimester abortions nor committing murder. But performing abortions when licensed isn’t a crime. The speeches began in the realm of normalcy, Gosnell is bad, murder bad, but then morphed into a tirade against abortion and how we have to defend women.

Bachman said, “The mainstream media has all but gone silent, and failed to cover this horrific violence against women. No one, Democrat or Republican, believes in violence against women. We abhor it. But there’s nothing that has come close to what has happened in this abortion clinic in Pennsylvania…and it appears that it has been ignored across the nation. Well we won’t. And I think God for the men who have stood up here today to stand for women, and against violence and against violence against women.”

As Marty points out, only two (Indiana Rep. Tood Roika and Florida Rep. Ilene Ros-Lehtinen) of the 18 members who spoke out on the floor voted in favor of the VAWA re-authorization. So in case there was any doubt, they are not on the side of women, they are pushing a conservative anti-women, anti-choice agenda. This is dangerous and well, really offensive because they think we’re all so stupid by claiming violence against women we’ll fall for it.