You know how people who claim the death of Savita Halappanavar was just a sad accident also like to claim that Ireland has a very low maternal death rate? I always wonder, when I see that, if Ireland massages the numbers. Well guess what.

Savita recorded as only maternal death despite five further fatalities

THE death of Savita Halappanavar is the only maternal death recorded by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) last year – although at least five more fatalities were reported by maternity units.

Hmm. The dog ate their homework? The check is in the mail? They had a spot of amnesia?

It has already been reported by the Coombe Maternity Hospital in Dublin that two women died there last year, including a mother of twins.

There were three maternal deaths in Cork University Hospital last year, including two women who died in pregnancy and after giving birth. A new report last year indicated for the first time that some deaths are being missed and the rate of maternal death in Ireland is double the official figure.

And given what we know about why Savita Halappanavar died, it seems likely the figure is even higher than that.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

So Ireland needs to change its abortion laws. They’re working on it. And they’re getting harassed by the anti-abortion crowd as a result.

The Taoiseach responded to concerns over the legislation, published overnight, after an Independent TD warned about a pro-life mob ambushing politicians in a widespread campaign of intimidation.

John Halligan, from Waterford, claimed he was confronted by a gang of seven campaigners on the promenade in Tramore in May and told to change his views on abortion, or they would be changed for him. One of the group called to his house late that day and stuffed leaflets through his letterbox.

Mr Halligan also recalled the experience of Fine Gael TD Regina Doherty who was threatened via email with having her throat cut to her naval. She was also told her house would be burned down.

Because pro-life.

Mr Halligan made his claims in the Dail as he called on Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore to condemn the Catholic Church for not criticising anti-abortion campaigners who attack politicians. The Tanaiste refused to condemn the church for lobbying over the abortion issue but went on to describe some statements from the bishops as exaggerated. Ireland’s Catholic bishops reiterated their opposition to the abortion reform this week and warned that it was a defining moment for the country.

Ireland’s Catholic bishops are happy to see women die of miscarriages because hospitals refuse to do abortions, are they? They think that’s a good outcome? They’re glad Savita Halappanavar is dead?

Yes, apparently. They have big plans for tomorrow.

The Catholic Church will chastise the Irish state  from the pulpit this weekend when, at the request of the bishops, priests across  the country will read out their latest response to the Irish government’s  proposed legislation on abortion at Masses this weekend.

According to the Irish Independent, the bishops will also invite the priests  and mass goers to pray the specially designated ‘Choose Life’ prayer in the hope  that ‘the dignity and value of all human life will continue to be upheld in Ireland.’

No, not all human life. Not the human life of a woman having a miscarriage at 17 weeks. Her life doesn’t count.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

A report on the death of Savita Halappanavar was published on Thursday.

The report, described by Minister for Health James Reilly as a “hard-hitting report which spares nobody and doesn’t pull any punches”, identifies three main factors which led to Ms Halappanavar’s death.

They include:

- A failure to adhere to clinical guidelines for prompt and effective management of sepsis when it was diagnosed

- Not offering all management options to the patient as she experienced inevitable miscarriage, even though the risk she faced increased from the time her membranes ruptured

- Inadequate assessment and monitoring that would have allowed the clinical team to recognise and respond to the signs that her condition was deteriorating.

That seems like a less than “hard-hitting” and no punch pulling way of putting it. It’s not just that the hospital didn’t offer the patient all management options, it’s that the hospital refused the Halappanavars’ urgent requests for the most obvious and effective management option. Refused them. Repeatedly.

The report, which does not mention any names, also makes significant recommendations aimed at improving legal clarity and medical handling of complicated obstetric emergencies, including sepsis which led to Mrs Halappanavar’s death.

It found an apparent over-emphasis on the need not to intervene until the foetal heartbeat stopped and not enough emphasis on the need to focus on monitoring and managing the risk of infection. “The interpretation of the law related to lawful termination in Ireland, and particularly the lack of clear clinical guidelines and training, is considered to have been a material contributory factor in this regard,” the report added.

Deranged focus on the heartbeat of a fetus that is not going to survive, at the expense of focus on the condition of the adult woman who wants to live and get pregnant again and be happy. It’s a sick, morbid, hateful system.

Among the report’s main recommendations are:

- The Oireachtas should urgently consider amending the law – including any necessary Constitutional change – to help provide clinicians with a clear legal context for the management of “inevitable miscarriage”

If the bishops will let them, or fail to prevent them.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

From Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s first novel, Amrita, published in 1955.

Amrita, a young woman, goes with her boyfriend and a friend of his to a café. It’s crowded, and they’re seated at a table in the middle of the room.

Amrita felt very much embarrassed. She did not dare to look up, for she knew she was being scrutinized from all sides; as was every woman tolerably young and pretty. Hari did not notice the offensive stares that afflicted her; he had been born into a society unused to disguising its interest for the sake of  politeness, and considered staring at young women a perfectly natural reflex action. He did it himself without the slightest reticence.

“Reticence” is the wrong word, but never mind – you know what she means.

A few pages later, she is talking to someone else about the café.

“And I feel so embarrassed,” she went on; she rather liked confiding to him. “When everybody stares so, all the men, it is terrible. Krishna…will men always stare at us like that?”

“Until we are used to seeing you move freely among us.”

Yeah. Not there yet.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

There were sculptures of horses on a roundabout (a traffic circle) in Abu Arish in Saudi Arabia. That sounds pretty and decorative and pleasant. But then along came a Grand Mufti to say it was sinful.

 Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Shaikh sent a letter to the governor of Jazan demanding that “the sculptures be removed because they are a great sin and are prohibited under sharia (Islamic law),” said another news webitse, sabq.org.

Statues of people and animals are prohibited under Islam as they represent a form of idolatry. However, the religion does allow artworks depicting plants and landscapes.

That’s nice of it. It’s so kind and generous of it to allow some things. But if you want more than plants and landscapes – well that’s too god damn bad.

The sculptures were smashed by the municipality.

photo by Larry Jacobsen

Update: the photo isn’t of the sculptures in question, I should add. This one is in a town in Montana, and it is (I assume) intact and there for everyone’s innocent enjoyment. I just wanted a creative commons picture of a sculpture, so I browsed. There’s a lot of kitsch but also a lot of nice stuff like this one.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

In the UK, a report by MPs says FGM is being ignored.

They warn that 20,000 girls in the UK are at risk of being subjected to the highly painful procedure, and 66,000 women are living with its after-effects, and yet not a single prosecution has been brought since it was outlawed.

The failure to act seriously undermines Britain’s claim to be a world leader in tackling violence against women in developing nations, the Commons international development select committee said.

Yes it does. Making it illegal but never prosecuting makes the law look like a mere gesture – quite an insulting gesture under the circumstances.

Female genital mutilation has been illegal in the UK since 1985 and punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment.

But there has not been a single prosecution, even after the law was tightened in 2003 to criminalise the procedure taking place on British citizens overseas.

The committee said: “The UK’s international leadership is weakened by its failure to address violence against women and girls within its own borders, particularly female genital mutilation from which 20,000 girls within the UK are at risk.

”Robust action should be taken to counter political correctness and address culturally sensitive practices such as female genital mutilation within the UK.“

I don’t think “political correctness” is the right phrase there. More like “stupidly one-sided hypersensitivity to ‘culture’” I think.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Speaking of “blasphemy,” Jane Donnelly and Michael Nugent have been working on the Atheist Ireland submission to the Constitutional Convention on blasphemy, with David Nash from Oxford Brookes University.

We will be meeting the secretary of the Convention tomorrow for feedback on how best to formalise the submission, and we will then finish the final report.

The Irish blasphemy law has two components – Article 40.6.1 of the Constitution, which makes blasphemy an offence that is punishable in accordance with law, and Section 36 of the Defamation Act 2009, which defines the offence and makes it punishable.

We are recommending (a) removing the offence of blasphemy from Article 40.6.1 of the Constitution, which would enable the Oireachtas to remove the offence from the Defamation Act, and (b) including a clause in the Constitution prohibiting blasphemy laws, which would oblige the Oireachtas to remove the offence from the Defamation Act, and would also protect the Irish people from future blasphemy laws.

It’s interesting how circumspect their reasons are.

1. Blasphemy laws generally are bad for the following reasons:

1.1 They endanger freedom of speech and deny equality

1.2 They have been condemned by reputable bodies

1.3 They are used to infringe on human rights around the world

I think there’s an even more basic reason (and perhaps so do they, perhaps there are tactical reasons to cite the items they did and not others). It’s that blasphemy is about a subject and about putative agents that are supernatural, and thus not open to inquiry or falsification or confirmation or testing or anything that would make them capable of being universalized. Shorter version: they are imaginary and arbitrary, and there is more than one. People disagree about them. They sometimes agree in order to pick fights with secularists and atheists, but apart from that, they support their own team and reject all the others. All this together makes imposition of laws about “blasphemy” a really terrible thing for a state to do.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

An Egyptian writer and human rights activist, Karem Saber, has been sentenced to five years in prison for writing a book of stories titled Where is God?

The complaint against Saber and his book Ayn Allah (Where Is God?) was initially filed in 2011, months after the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Saber’s was reportedly the first blasphemy case of its kind after Egypt’s revolution.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information condemned the charges against Saber when they were made, citing “deep concern of the return of religious and political Hesba cases.”

Hesba cases (also written as hisbah) stem from Islamic Sharia law, allowing “all Muslims the right to file lawsuits in cases where an exalted right of God has been violated, even if this does not directly harm them,” as ahramonline reports.

Welcome to hell.

Welcome to a hell where all followers of the nationally coerced religion have the right to file lawsuits in cases where “an exalted right of God has been violated” – even though as far as anyone really knows there is no such “God,” and there is no reason to think anyone knows what its “exalted rights” might be or how they might be violated, and there is no reason to think anyone knows that such “rights” should be respected by human beings.

Welcome to hell, where real human beings are persecuted for the sake of an imagined brute-deity and its imagined “rights” and its imagined hypersensitivity and vindictiveness.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Rebecca has a blistering post on cowardice in the atheist/skeptic “movement.” She starts with an Australian military guy, Chief of Army Lieutenant General David Morrison, addressing a major harassment problem with the kind of emphasis and restrained but real ferocity that we can only dream of coming from the “generals” of the movement.

Rebecca transcribed much of it.

I have stated categorically many times that the army has to be an inclusive organization where every soldier, man and woman is able to reach their full potential and is encouraged to do so. Those who think that it is okay to behave in a way that demeans or exploits their colleagues have no place in this army.

Our service has been engaged in continuous operation since 1999 and in its longest war ever in Afghanistan. On all operations, female soldiers and officers have proven themselves worthy of the best traditions of the Australian army. They are vital to us maintaining our capability now and into the future. If that does not suit you, then get out.

The bolding is there in his voice. He says it with contempt as well as emphasis.

We don’t get that kind of support. As Rebecca points out.

It is my firm belief that we are, as a “movement,” cowardly, and that is why we ultimately will fail. There are too many of us, and especially too many people in positions of power, who are unwilling or unable to take any real action that might help stop the incessant harassment of women in our ranks, or to take any other real moral stand. I’ve seen people who think of themselves as allies actively covering up sexual harassment at an event and then going on to invite the harasser back to speak. I’ve seen “skeptics” write blog posts defending Brian Dunning as a hero instead of an embarrassment. I’ve seen organization employees privately rage about the nonsense their boss is spewing but then refuse to even try to hold him accountable. If we’re going to get anywhere, we have to demand better. We need leaders who are more like Lt. Gen. Morrison. Hell, I’ll take leaders who are just a little less like this and this and this.

That would be good.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Amanda Marcotte points out that sexual harassment is a grassroots political movement. That’s right, it is.

A guy harassed a woman, she told him to stop, he didn’t stop, she told his mother what he was doing. Oh noes! Violation of the rules!

This interaction doesn’t demonstrate that the man sending the unsolicited cock shot is profoundly stupid or socially inept, but the opposite: He’s extremely well-versed in the unspoken “rules” of social interaction. He’s particularly aware of the profound pressure that women are under to play along and pretend that harassment is “flirting” for fear of being accused of hypersensitivity. Indeed, he demonstrates this awareness by promptly reminding her of her “obligation” to play along to “prove” she’s not hypersensitive. He also knows that women are supposed to be ashamed of being harassed and to try not to draw attention to it, and when she rejects that “rule” by sharing his tests with his mother, he is genuinely freaked out because she’s not playing by the script that his probably countless other targets have. He doesn’t ask her to stop for his mother’s sake. He says, “That’s not right.” He knows that the unspoken rules state that women are to turn inward with shame when sexually harassed, and when someone said to hell with those rules, he—a guy who sends unsolicited cock shots!—becomes All About The Rules.

That’s because the rules are for his benefit, not hers. Obviously.

What’s interesting to me is that sexual harassers subconsciously (or hell, consciously, I don’t know) understand themselves as a grassroots political movement to put bitches in their place. I know this, because they show the kind of unity and determination for their ideological goals that liberal organizers wish we could get for ours. Tracy Clark-Flory wrote about this story at Salon, and she notes the reaction the woman who fought back got:

She has, however, received responses of a different sort. Yes, there are lots of women pumping their fists in the air and cheering her on, but her blog has also reportedly been inundated with messages like the following, “If you had/get some good dick (which you obviously haven’t/don’t) you wouldn’t be such a grammar nazi and prude.” He really showed her! Once again, Internet jerks respond to a woman calling out jerks by being even bigger jerks.

That is what the Internet is for.

That’s because they are a political movement, and when one of their own—a sexual harasser—gets shut down, they rush forward to his defense. A political movement can be defined as a group of people, organized formally or not, who have a belief, some goals to establish that belief in the world, and a set of tactics they use to achieve those goals. For instance, feminists believe in women’s equality and the dismantling of gender roles. They want to establish that belief by fighting for reproductive rights, an end to sexual and domestic violence, and a more equitable share of the workload in both the public and private sphere. They use tactics like lobbying, lawsuits, awareness campaigns, and running for office.

If I were to chart out what pro-harassment as a political movement looks like, therefore, it’s this:

• Belief: Bitches ain’t shit.
• Goals: To feel free to put any random woman in her place both for the immediate pleasure of doing so and for the long-term gain of women feeling stuck in second class status.
• Tactics: Inundate any woman who pushes back against harassment with even more harassment, hoping to make the  price of speaking out so high that women give up.

Thus, like clockwork, every time a woman or even a man speaks up against sexual harassment, the bat signal goes up and they get absolutely flooded with harassment. What makes it so frightening as a political tactic is that for the pro-harassment forces, harassment is fun and an end in and of itself. So they have endless bounds of energy for it, which is why they’re so damn confident that they can harass women into silence. Clearly, the only thing that can be done is for anti-harassment people to hang in there and  remind themselves that while our opponents may have tons of energy, we have the numbers. The positive response this woman got is heartening. If we keep it up, we can get a handle on this thing.

That’s something I find myself explaining a lot. People ask me why they do it; I explain that it’s fun for them. It is. It’s fun and it costs them absolutely nothing, because they do it pseudonymously. So why would they stop?

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Another thought suggested by Mistakes Were Made is the absurdity of the We are Skeptics™ and we are therefore permanently reason&logic trope. The conceit of it, the smugness of it, the damn fool silliness of it. No they’re not. No one is. Humans aren’t, and the people who cite that trope certainly aren’t such conspicuous examples of better-than-average logicalness that we should think they are Moar Reason than the rest of us. If they really were good skeptics they would know better than to boast of their own highly polished reason&logic.

I’m never convinced by people who boast of their own superior reason&logic. Never. It always sounds like protesting too much – like something people who really are superior at it don’t need to say. It’s like people who brag about feeling “comfortable in their own skin.” Argh; really? You thought you needed to tell me that?

There’s a difference between thinking that rationality is a good thing, and that people should try to be rational some of the time, and thinking one is oneself Rational. A big difference. If you tell me how rational you are I laugh an inward laugh, because I can see you’re not.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

People hide their real names when calling people “niggers” and “cunts” because they don’t want to find themselves in the situation Taylor Chapman is, with millions of people knowing what a vile abusive racist sexist person she is, or at least allowed herself to be for nine minutes one evening.

“This shit’s about to go live, bitch!” Chapman screams at a female employee. “Right on Facebook, ’cause I already posted what your dumb ass did last night, so I hope you’re happy with your little fucking sand n—er self… I’m about to nuke your whole fucking planet from Mars. You think ya’ll are tough, big fat Arabs bombin’ the trade center? I’ll show you tough.”

She also called the employee “a complete cunt sand n—er whore,” and shouted: “I just want my bacon crispy and my people to be nice.” Chapman is even heard on the video wishing the footage gets “a million fucking hits,” which is likely a low estimate of the views it will get thanks to all the media attention since Monday.

Interesting that they don’t spell out ”nigger” in full but do spell out “cunt” in full.

Also interesting that Chapman wants “her” people to be nice. Interesting that she puts crispy bacon and nice people on a level; that she talks of “her” people as if they were just as much “hers” as the bacon that she was demanding to get for free; that her idea of “nice” apparently means doing whatever she demands; that she has so little conception of what it is to be “nice” herself.

The Huffington Post reports (via her Twitter account) that she has professional ambitions.

Chapman, the angry customer who according to her Twitter account has her “bachelor’s degree in Business & Marketing and [is] working towards my JD in Law”…

Hmmmyeah, she’s probably thoroughly sabotaged that plan.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

I’m late in pointing out (and rejoicing) that Nirmukta is here. Hooray! Meera Nanda pointed me in their direction when they first started up – what a thrill to have them at FTB.

Make them welcome.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

A social studies teacher gave the commencement address at Eastern High School in Greentown, Indiana, on June 2, and told the girls to go to the back of the line.

I challenge you to devote yourself to your families and your children. If you choose to have a career, God’s blessings upon you. But I challenge you to recognize what the world scoffs at, that your greatest role in your life will be that of wife and mother. The greatest impact you could ever contribute to our world is a loving investment in the lives of your precious children. To solve the problems plaguing our society, we don’t need more women CEOs. We need more women as invested mothers.

We need the division of labor that God intended and that pesky liberals have been messing around with. Women do CHILDREN and men do WORKING and that’s how it’s always been supposed to be so shut up.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Check out Yemi’s interview on Nigeria’s “Kill the Gays” bill on Sahara TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNvoAGzUz1c

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Russia has unanimously passed a law against “gay propaganda” (as the Independent translates it).

The Indy reported yesterday, before the law passed:

A number of regions have already adopted a similar law, and now MPs from President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party want to implement a nationwide ban on “gay propaganda”.

The law defines the rather nebulous concept as “spreading information aimed at forming non-traditional sexual behaviour among children, suggesting this behaviour is attractive, and making a false statement about the socially equal nature of traditional and non-traditional relationships”.

Fines for breaking the law will be up to £100 for individuals, £1,000 for officials, and £20,000 for organisations. Already there have been doubts about how to define propaganda, with a group of Communists in southern Russia complaining that Elton John’s stage outfits should be considered “homosexual propaganda”.

That’s right. Make sure everyone continues to be taught that it’s dirty and disgusting and wrong, so that no one will be able to step far back enough to realize that it’s just an arbitrary taboo that messes up people’s lives. Let’s make a conscious decision to hang on to pointless prejudices, and punish all attempts to undo them. Amen.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

There’s a ferocious Jesus and Mo today.

The original?

The Arabic reads: There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet.

The picture reads: And if you don’t agree we’ll cut your fucking head off.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)