Whoopee, it's time for a Friday night zygote hoedown at Jill Stanek's Fetus Farm! No sweet'n sour fetus on the menu tonight, though -- just a glowing example of the dishonesty and distortion that's so typical of fetus fetishist culture.The setup: In the US earlier this week, the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act became law:
"President Bush yesterday signed legislation into law that will bar health insurance companies or employers from denying or canceling coverage, hiking premiums or making decisions on hiring, firing and compensation based on genetic test results."Basically the law prevents discrimination (by employers or health insurance companies) on the basis of information gleaned from genetic testing. The law includes kids and unborn fetuses, as well it should since an employer might refuse medical coverage if a pregnant employee gets an amniocentesis and the fetus is found to be predisposed to some kind of condition. Anyway, the law sailed through Congress with virtually no opposition, voted in 420 - 3 in the House and unanimously in the Senate.
Stanek posts about it, and frames it as some kind of major "pro-life" sneak attack and victory:
"To avoid a counterattack, pro-life groups were asked to go mum on the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act until the President signed it into law, which he did yesterday."Ooh, "counterattack"... uh, what "counterattack"? As one commenter said:
What counterattack? I'll tell you what counterattack -- there is none, and you know why, don't you? Because it's bullshit, pure, unadulterated, concentrated, high-octane, turbo-charged bullshit. The story is a non-story, but! it mentions "Teh Unborn", so that makes it potential grist for the fetus fetishizing propaganda mill. Positioned the right way, a routine story about the routine passage of a routine bill becomes A Pro-Life Victory! Something they can point to and say "Yay, we won!"
It's amazing how eagerly and unquestioningly the anti-choicers ate it up. Of course some of Stanek's more astute (pro-choice) commenters immediately took baseball bats to the "story", laid a beating on it and gave it a couple of kicks in the head as they walked away... but that didn't stop the cheering section. We won! We won!
And I'm lovin' every minute of it!! Because if this is the best they can come up with for "pro-life victories", we are in very good shape indeed. Not that complacency is ever an option, but it's heartening to see them so desperate.
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