I’m not trusting myself to come up with words here, so here’s a quick hit on what the forced-birthers in Australia are up to right now. Put sharp objects down before reading. Emphasis is mine. Discuss.
“Loophole allows baby bonus for abortions”
Fixing a loophole that allows the $5,000 baby bonus to be claimed for late-term abortions is too costly to do this year, a parliamentary hearing has been told.
Parents are eligible for the payment on compassionate grounds if a baby is stillborn beyond 20 weeks’ gestation. This creates a loophole for women having late-term abortions to claim the payment.
Liberal senator Cory Bernardi brought the issue to the government’s attention in August.
A Senate estimates hearing was told that the government had agreed to fix the loophole but not until January next year. […]
Senator Bernardi said he was concerned women would continue to abuse the loophole before the changes were made.
“Women can have abortions and that satisfies the criteria for a stillbirth,” Senator Bernardi told the hearing.
“There is horrific evidence given on radio by one lady who rang in and said she knows someone who has done this three times to claim the baby bonus.
For background on Bernardi, see his webpage here. “* Supporting Judeo Christian values as the framework on which our nation has been established.” Yes. He’s one of those.
Categories: gender & feminism, Politics
QOTD for IWD: Aung San Suu Kyi 
Grabbing somebody is Assault, and sexual touch makes it Sexual Assault. Stop minimising this. #rapeculture101 
BFTP Friday Hoyden: Emma Goldman 
96th Down Under Feminists Carnival 
Hoyden About Town 
I’m still stuck at “Ye gods!”, no other words come to mind, merely incoherent rage.
mimbless last blog post..To do list
I’m stuck at “WTF?”
When my brain regains itself I’m sure I’ll have something to say about citing a woman who rang in a radio station as evidence. Among other things.
Credulous, isn’t he?
Clearly, what one person says about one other person should shape the way senators think about different issues, since it is obviously just as good as well-thought out research and statistical analysis.
Why didn’t I see that sooner?
Wow, anyone would think the world wasn’t in financial meltdown and half the country wasn’t about to run out of water. To say nothing of the children born every minute who are being routinely neglected and abused and I don’t mean by photographers.
Is this demented obsession with late-term abortions some kind of rearguard action because they know they’ve lost the war?
That’s exactly how commenter BBB described it on another blog, Pav.
I have no words…
So this “horrific evidence” amounts to a woman on the radio, whose brother’s girlfriend’s cousin’s uncle’s knows this boy who knows this kid who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavours last night knows someone who apparently is getting pregnant just to have late term abortions and claim the baby bonus.
I wonder if he’s looked at any, you know, statistics.
Ok…say hypothetically someone *did* decide this was an way to make a ‘quick and easy’ $5000. Hard to imagine given the actually hard work of being pregnant and the strain it can put on your body. It takes around nine months right? To concieve, to fall pregnant to carry til late term, to recover physically afterwards if the termination is so late as to involve delivery? Let’s say each of those nine months was only 30 days (impossible yes but humour me). This means that the per day benifit of this exercise is: $2.31. That’s without factoring in say loss of productivity due to morning sickness, costs of any medicines to counteract that, any costs such as taxie fares etc incurred along the way heaving a pregnant belly around, costs of the routine tests you’re subjected to when pregnant, and any costs associated with the termination or medicine before or after as WELL as the obvious questions that would arise from everyone you knew…if, if *IF* you can find *a* single woman who honestly thinks all that is worth it for $5000, then MAY I SUGGEST THAT HER POVERTY AND LACK OF RESOURCES/ACCESS MUST BE SUCH THAT *THAT* IS THE REAL ISSUE AT HAND???? And that this complete dick of a liberal might want to account for the dire poverty that his government has left so many Australians in instead of distract with hysteria inducing stories of the anectdotal variety?
I think they have a picture of him in the dictionary under ‘naive’.
‘horrific evidence given on radio by one lady who rang in’ is my new favourite phrase. Every time I suspect I’m wrong about something, I propose using this.
Honey, are you sure I should have turned left there?
Yes! I heard horrific evidence given on radio by one lady who rang in, and she said she knew three people who turned right and GOT LOST.
I jest because otherwise I will weep. Seriously.
❤
I was going to say “wait, no way that would be a net benefit” but then I remembered “Oh yes, Australia. They pay people for babies and provide free health care there.”
I’ve had a look at his website and he is a genuine tooly McTool. His speech on gay marriage is a standard example of the “Politically correct society wants to silence the truth!” pabulum.
Yeah… my cousin’s boyfriend’s flatmate’s dog’s mother said the same thing, and she’s in Sydney, so she knows what’s what.
And of course, none of these late-term abortions were the sad ending to a wanted pregnancy, where parents had spent time and money preparing for the arrival of their baby. No, it’s all money-grabbing evil women wanting flat-screen TVs.
Fantastic fisking FP.
Senator, I’m very concerned about the horrible evidence that children are being drugged with LSD on cute temporary tattoos of cartoon characters.
And <a href=”http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/pinprick.asp
“>people can’t go to the movies these days without catching HIV. I hope you’re going to do something about this.
And once you’ve addressed these pressing social concerns, I have a bridge going cheap.
This is even more infuriating to me, since a workmate of mine told me last week that her obstetrician’s fees tracked suspiciously closely with the size of the baby bonus. And when I say ‘suspiciously closely’, I mean, ‘exact match’.
I’m sure it all makes perfect sense to someone who has not the first fucking clue about experiencing pregnancy.
Word, QoT.
Five months down the track and I’m STILL recovering from/dealing with greater issues left over from mine.
I’ve actually laughed in the face of folk talking about Teh Wimmins getting pregnant as “an easy way to make money”.
@fuckpoliteness: you rock.