Are Republicans willing to have young women die from back alley a

Eleanor Holmes Norton represents the city of Washington, D.C. in the halls of Congress. Well, kind of. She can't vote on legislation before the full House of Representatives, and she has only limited say in congressional committes. In fact, Republicans tried stripping her of any voting power in these committees.

So, she represents a group of people who have less political power (the residents of D.C.) than the people of Moscow, Russia. Yes, it's true. While Russia is a bad democracy, at least the people of that capital city have more say in their nation than the people of our own capital city.

Now, Republicans commonly try to force their will on the people of Washington D.C. This could be from overturning reforms of drug laws by the D.C. city government or extending same sex marriage rights to D.C. residents. Heck, just over 50 years ago, the people of Washington. D.C. couldn't even vote during presidential elections.

In fact, none of the states that ratified that amendment was from what became the base of the Republican party (the American South) except for Tennessee. Most of them still haven't ratified it.

So imagine my lack of surprise when Trent Franks, Republican from Arizona, refused to let Rep. Norton testify against a bill that would have prohibited abortions in D.C. after 20 weeks. The sole representative of the only place in America that would be affected by the bill, was denied an ability to testify. The gall and audicity of someone who represents a district almost 3000 miles away to do this, is breathtaking.

Whatever your thoughts on abortion, that has to be very troublesome.Well, I shouldn't be surprised, remember that no woman was allowed to testify on legislation that would have restricted access to birthcontrol? The hearing that led to Rush Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke (who testified during a Democrat hearing) a sl-t.

Oh, by the way, an Alabama state representative named Bubba Carpenter seems O.K. with the idea that kicking out the last abortion doctor in that state, will lead to back alley, coathanger abortions.

In fact, he stated, "Well, the poor pitiful women that can't afford to go out of state are just going to start doing them at home with a coat hanger.' That's what we've heard over and over and over. But hey, you have to have moral values. You have to start somewhere, and that’s what we've decided to do."

So, being fine with women dieing from coathanger abortions, is pro-life?