# Conservatives hate being forced to buy health insurance, but they're OK with mandating ultrasounds? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 13, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672 "2012-03-13T18:30:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/21 "2012-03-13T20:33:01Z")
> [@davekhps](#): > > Most abortions performed require a transvaginal ultrasound to locate the fetus. Since we’re in the Pit, I guess I can ask if you have a fucking cite for this piece of bullshit misinformation, or if you checked your brain at the door and believe every piece of nonsense non-doctor politicians chuck your way in their attempts to drag women’s rights into the 12th century. On the other hand, doubleplus bonus points for non-ironic use of the word “hysteria” in an abortion thread. Well done. > [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I think before any prescription for Viagra is filled, the patient should have to look at pictures of diseased cocks with big dripping sores on them, so they know what they may be getting themselves into. Now we’re talking. I’d also like them to mandate stress tests and transrectal probes, since we have to make sure their cardiovascular health is okay and that there’s nothing wrong with the prostate that might be aggravated by sexual activity. Oh, what’s that you say? That doctors have other, cheaper, less invasive ways of checking that stuff? You don’t say… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/22 "2012-03-13T20:37:04Z")
A government mandate for people to spend their own private money on a procedure that someone else wants done? Or will the gov’t be footing the bill? In which case it is more spending. And doesn’t this bill discriminate against blind pregnant women who will not benefit from the womb with a view? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/23 "2012-03-13T20:46:20Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Since we’re in the Pit, I guess I can ask if you have a fucking cite for this piece of bullshit misinformation, or if you checked your brain at the door and believe every piece of nonsense non-doctor politicians chuck your way in their attempts to drag women’s rights into the 12th century. > > On the other hand, doubleplus bonus points for non-ironic use of the word “hysteria” in an abortion thread. Well done. > > Now we’re talking. I’d also like them to mandate stress tests and transrectal probes, since we have to make sure their cardiovascular health is okay and that there’s nothing wrong with the prostate that might be aggravated by sexual activity. Oh, what’s that you say? That doctors have other, cheaper, less invasive ways of checking that stuff? You don’t say… And, since all of us women know that impotence is often a psychological problem (its all in their pretty little heads), before we prescribe unnecessarily a medication with potential side effects, they should need a psychological screening to make sure we address the real root cause. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/24 "2012-03-13T20:55:33Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > And, since all of us women know that impotence is often a psychological problem (its all in their pretty little heads), before we prescribe unnecessarily a medication with potential side effects, they should need a psychological screening to make sure we address the real root cause. Screenings are so time consuming, though. Perhaps we should just prescribe them all Seroquel, just to be sure.\* \*House Bill 3453.642562.345 brought to you by AstraZeneca. Got politicians in your crotch? See if AstraZeneca can help.[sup]TM[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/25 "2012-03-13T21:34:51Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > Utterly pointless nitpicking moment: It was Allan Arbus who played Dr. Sidney Freedman in MASH. (Unless you want the legislators to also demand that they first re-shoot the scene with Arkin.) But Freedman wasn’t the one screaming. That was Hawkeye. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/26 "2012-03-13T21:45:48Z")
To me is it simply the reasonable way to respect and honor the life of the unborn child who will soon be dead. I’m not talking about transvaginal ultrasounds, women’s right to abortion IMHO includes her right to refuse such invasive procedures for the fetus, nor does it require she views the ultrasound. But a external ultrasound is just a way to acknowledge that the fetus is one of us, a human just in bad circumstances. Not that I consider myself a conservative. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/27 "2012-03-13T21:52:56Z")
Since most abortions are done early in pregnancy, I wonder if this won’t backfire. Early embryos _don’t_ look very much like babies. I say this as someone who is 18 weeks into a wanted pregnancy, who has been looking at those “your pregnancy week by week” sites since I missed that first period. [Embryo at 6 weeks](http://www.babyzone.com/pregnancy-week-by-week/6-weeks-pregnant_70619). [7 weeks.](http://www.babyzone.com/pregnancy-week-by-week/7-weeks-pregnant_70628) If you saw those on an ultrasound, you wouldn’t say they looked like babies. Embryos start to look vaguely humanoid around 8 weeks, but not really that much like a baby. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/28 "2012-03-13T22:04:57Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > To me is it simply the reasonable way to respect and honor the life of the unborn child who will soon be dead. I’m not talking about transvaginal ultrasounds, women’s right to abortion IMHO includes her right to refuse such invasive procedures for the fetus, nor does it require she views the ultrasound. But a external ultrasound is just a way to acknowledge that the fetus is one of us, a human just in bad circumstances. Not that I consider myself a conservative. And to me, I think a woman should be the one to choose how she wants to respect and honor the life of the unborn child who will soon be dead. I don’t find a medical test particularly honoring. I’d rather plant a tree in my aborted child’s honor, or donate some money to The March Of Dimes. I’ll hold my own ceremony to thank the spirit of the child for making me face some hard truths about what I want out of life, and let it know I appreciate its brief time spent on this plane. I’ll light a candle in prayer that the procedure be done with a minimum of complications - physical, mental, spiritual, emotional and political - and thank God that I’ve been born into a country where abortion is legal. I have plenty of honor and respect. I have lots of ideas for how to show that honor and respect. I don’t need you, a state governor a Pope or any other person on this planet telling me how to honor and respect my own child, whether I chose to bring it into this world alive or dead. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/29 "2012-03-13T22:29:51Z")
I think we need to honor and respect the children who are already on the ground, so to speak. I’m not talking about helicopter parenting as done by those who really wanted kids and think they can do no wrong, I’m talking about those babies who go hungry, who get little or no attention or education, who are the victims of abuse, who are born with alcohol and drug related problems, who were born because their mother was pressured into it, one way or another. Let’s focus on them, rather than on a clump of cells with minimal, if any, consciousness that might not make it to term anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/30 "2012-03-13T22:52:05Z")
Doonesbury is on it: Monday - [Andrews McMeel Syndication - Home](http://www.uclick.com/client/sea/db/2012/03/12/index.html) Tuesday - [Andrews McMeel Syndication - Home](http://www.uclick.com/client/sea/db/2012/03/13/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/31 "2012-03-13T23:10:26Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Have you guys seen this? [Nina Turner, Ohio State Senator, Introduces Viagra Bill To Counter Anti-Contraception Legislation | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/nina-turner-viagra-contraception-bills_n_1341642.html?ref=mostpopular) > > Another link, same topic, [Nina Turner, Ohio State Senator, Introduces Viagra Bill To Counter Anti-Contraception Legislation | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/nina-turner-viagra-contraception-bills_n_1341642.html?ref=mostpopular). [http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-07/viagra-would-need-sex-therapist-s-ok-in-ohio-bill](http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-07/viagra-would-need-sex-therapist-s-ok-in-ohio-bill) Brilliant! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/32 "2012-03-13T23:18:55Z")
Two different topics really - one is a ham-fisted way to be more pro-life and is driven by the social conservatives. The other is anti-government bit and is driven by the libertarian conservatives. That said, I think that before you get Viagra you have to watch 70s porn for an hour, while being observed, to see if you really need it. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/33 "2012-03-13T23:18:56Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > To me is it simply the reasonable way to respect and honor the life of the unborn child who will soon be dead. I’m not talking about transvaginal ultrasounds, women’s right to abortion IMHO includes her right to refuse such invasive procedures for the fetus, nor does it require she views the ultrasound. But a external ultrasound is just a way to acknowledge that the fetus is one of us, a human just in bad circumstances. Not that I consider myself a conservative. I don’t give a fucking shit what your views are. Don’t fucking force others to undergo needless medical procedures in order to adhere to them. I am so fucking sick of conservative santimonious shitheadery on their fucking supposed love of life. One of my neighbors and friends has advanced breast cancer. She temporarily lost her medical insurance because of a fuck up by the medical insurance company. It took her over a month to get it cleared up. No local Reps would help her. No a single fucking Republican. They all shrugged at a woman probably dying of breast cancer. At one point she was in my house and one of them called her back solely to be unhelpful and add to her stress. I routinely get asshole mailings by supposed pro-lifers demanding that I vote for Republican assholes who attack teachers, rail against national health care and demand hand outs to our society’s greediest pigs. So STFU. How many children do you have, anyway? Because I have two. I love them both beyond words but you have no goddamned idea how hard it is to watch them. My ten month old baby cried for over an hour today. Nothing soothed her. Not a walk. Not nursing, not the cat, not a teething ring. An entire hour of screaming. You should be all be down on your hands and knees we even think of going through with childbearing at all instead of whining that we occasionally choose not to. ---
**Author:** ![humanafterall](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/humanafterall/32/19654_2.png) [@humanafterall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humanafterall)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/34 "2012-03-13T23:29:55Z")
You be right about this. For them, “Pro-Life” means, “Pro-War, Pro-Death Penalty, Pro We Choose For You”. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/35 "2012-03-14T00:44:06Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > I’m waiting for some Republican legislature to write a law requiring the doctor to point at the ultrasound screen and scream, _ **“Look at the wittle heart! It’s so fucking cute. How can you stop the wittle heart, you fucking slut?”** _ At the rate they’re crankin’ 'em out (92 anti-women bills passed by state legislatures in 2011 alone), it won’t be long until you see that exact bill. We’re actually pretty close to that already: [New, unneeded obstacles to abortion](http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/22/opinion/la-oe-rhoad-informed-consent-20120122) _“A federal appeals court this month upheld a Texas law that requires a woman seeking an abortion to undergo a sonogram, **forces doctors to describe that sonogram in detail to her** and then requires that she wait 24 hours before she can undergo the procedure.”_ > [@davekhps](#): > > Most abortions performed require a transvaginal ultrasound to locate the fetus. And once again we have an ignorant _man_ telling falsehoods about a women’s reproductive procedure that he knows jack shit about. Why don’t you just STHU you idiotic twit. > [@davekhps](#): > > IMHO everyone is entitled to disagree with them, but there was nothing unreasonable with these laws, certainly nothing warranting the hysteria in which they were condemned. Leave it to a _man_ to find nothing unreasonable about forced penetration of women. Pig. > [@Dangerosa](#): > > Have you guys seen this? [Nina Turner, Ohio State Senator, Introduces Viagra Bill To Counter Anti-Contraception Legislation | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/nina-turner-viagra-contraception-bills_n_1341642.html?ref=mostpopular) > > Another link, same topic, [Nina Turner, Ohio State Senator, Introduces Viagra Bill To Counter Anti-Contraception Legislation | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/nina-turner-viagra-contraception-bills_n_1341642.html?ref=mostpopular). [http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-07/viagra-would-need-sex-therapist-s-ok-in-ohio-bill](http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-07/viagra-would-need-sex-therapist-s-ok-in-ohio-bill) Yes, and I stood and applauded her. You have no idea how much I want every blue state in this country to pass a law just like this. > [@WhyNot](#): > > On the other hand, doubleplus bonus points for non-ironic use of the word “hysteria” in an abortion thread. Well done. Great catch! > [@kanicbird](#): > > To me is it simply the reasonable way to respect and honor the life of the unborn child who will soon be dead. I’m not talking about transvaginal ultrasounds, women’s right to abortion IMHO includes her right to refuse such invasive procedures for the fetus, nor does it require she views the ultrasound. But a external ultrasound is just a way to acknowledge that the fetus is one of us, a human just in bad circumstances. Not that I consider myself a conservative. Bwaaahahahaha! “A human, just in bad circumstances.” OMG that’s a riot! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/36 "2012-03-14T01:20:17Z")
> [@2ManyTacos](#): > > I’m just really trying to understand the GOP mindset on this one; conservatives, generally, hate the idea of being forced to buy health insurance in the HC reform bill (even though, well, the GOP came up with that idea in the first place :smack:), but they’re perfectly fine with forcing women to undergo invasive medical procedures against their will? I really, really don’t understand it, and trying to get in their minds here just makes me realize how fucking backwards this country is in the first place. > > Ugh. I think the fact that the GOP came up with the mandate in the first place is telling. Many GOP pols, despite the rhetoric of the last few years, actually _love_ mandates for private-sector purchases. Or love them so long as they are imposed on someone else. And women seeking abortions are very very much “someone else.” ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/37 "2012-03-14T01:57:16Z")
Given the sheer number of “boner” pill commercials I’ve seen, there’s either a massive epidemic of erectile dysfunction or doctors are prescribing them for purely recreational purposes. With, apparently, no questions asked by the bodies that regulate prescription drugs. If you get caught prescribing benzodiazepines or opiates for purely recreational purposes on the other hand. Sounds like there really is a need to look at exactly what medical testing should be required to get a 'script for 'em, don’t it? CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/38 "2012-03-14T02:05:30Z")
> [@2ManyTacos](#): > > I’m just really trying to understand the GOP mindset on this one It’s not the GOP mindset in toto; it’s the mindset of the religious whackjobs that infest the GOP. The rational ones among us think it’s a totally asshole maneuver. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/39 "2012-03-14T02:31:32Z")
I’m a conservative but not a Republican, and I resemble this remark! Tip your waitress, I’ll be hier all ze veek… Anyway… I don’t know what the fuck exactly is going on in this story. But I do know that abortion makes me gag, mostly because I fully support \*Roe v Wade \*despite my conservative leanings because I don’t believe government can or should legislate what you can do with your body (harming others aside) and also because I’ve been “privy” to THREE abortions in my life, and I am not happy about any of them. Perhaps that’s a separate issue but I feel its OK for me to experience simultaneous emotional responses of both support and revulsion regarding the issue…and still morally falling on the side of pro-choice… ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672/40 "2012-03-14T03:41:28Z")
A drinking buddy was the treasurer of the state Republican Party. A quote from him: > [@](#): > > I’d just like to apologize for my party. We were supposed to be for small government, until we got the power. > We were for personal liberty until a Republican decided we should wiretap innocent civilians. > We were fiscally responsible til we realized WE could get some of YOUR money. > > And now the Republicans of today probably wouldn’t run Reagan or Goldwater WHO HAD MORE INTEGRITY THAN ALL THESE CANDIDATES PUT TOGETHER. They’d say Ronnie or Barry or even George the First “just isn’t ‘conservative’ enough”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-hate-being-forced-to-buy-health-insurance-but-theyre-ok-with-mandating-ultrasounds/615672.md?page=3)