CALM DOWN. LET'S TRY TO TALK THIS OUT.

Here is a letter that I received from one Sandra Fluke on behalf of President Barack Obama's relection campaign.  Following it I also submit my response and following that, I will also include the entire wording of the Sanctity & Dignity of Human Life plank of the Republican Platform.

From: Sandra Fluke <info@barackobama.com>

Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 18:37:40 -0400

To: <samschaos@att.net>

ReplyTo: info@barackobama.com

Subject: "Legitimate rape"

Friend -- In a recent statement that was both factually inaccurate and horribly offensive, Republican Missouri Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin said that victims of "legitimate rape" don't get pregnant because "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan tried to distance themselves from the remark -- but the fact is they're in lockstep with Akin on the major women's health issues of our time. Just this morning, the Republican Party voted to include the "Human Life Amendment" in their platform, calling for a constitutional ban on abortions nationwide, even for rape victims. Several Romney supporters and advisers stood silently by while this vote took place, and the Los Angeles Times reports that the platform "was written at the direction of Romney's campaign." President Obama spoke out in response to Akin's comments: "What I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women." This controversy is not an accident, or a mistake, or an isolated incident. It's a reflection of a Republican Party whose policies are dangerous for women. There is a clear choice for women in this election: Stand with President Obama. I entered this national debate on women's rights in February, when, as a Georgetown Law student, I testified before members of Congress on the issue of contraception. Without knowing me or my story, Rush Limbaugh called me a "slut" and a "prostitute" on his radio show. Many Americans stepped forward to tell me they agreed with me, and supported my right to speak out without being verbally attacked. President Obama stood with us. Mitt Romney, on the other hand? He didn't even condemn the remark, instead saying only: "It's not the language I would have used." Since that moment, I'm even more resolved to continue the fight to make sure every single woman -- and every man who cares about the women in his life -- knows exactly what's at stake in this election. The Republicans are frighteningly clear on these issues. The party platform itself includes a "salute" to states that have pushed "informed consent" laws, such as those that force women seeking an abortion to first undergo an invasive and medically unnecessary ultrasound. Just last year, Paul Ryan joined Todd Akin and more than 200 other Republicans in co-sponsoring legislation that would have narrowed the definition of rape, limiting which victims of rape were "legitimate" enough to receive financial assistance for access to abortion care. Mitt Romney famously says he would "get rid of" Planned Parenthood if he had the chance. And both Romney and Ryan pledge to go back to a system where insurance companies can discriminate against women and charge us more than men for the same health insurance. Akin's comments shouldn't be surprising. But this isn't about him -- just like it was never about me. President Obama has told us what he's fighting for: "I want women to control their own health choices, just like I want my daughters to have the same opportunities as your sons." Republicans, led by Romney and Ryan, have made it clear that they want to make our decisions for us. President Obama trusts us to make our own. It's as simple as that. Join me and stand with him today: http://my.barackobama.com/A-Clear-Choice Thanks, Sandra Fluke ----- Election Day is closer than you think -- make a donation to fund this campaign in the time we have left.

Contributions or gifts to Obama for America are not tax deductible

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Here was my response.

From: "Sam Ritter" <samschaos@att.net>

Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:25:49 +0000

To: <info@barackobama.com>

ReplyTo: samschaos@att.net

Subject: Re: "Legitimate rape"

Miss Fluke,

Doesn't the President's Health Care Law put more & more of our health care decisions in the hands of such men? Wouldn't it be more prudent to achieve health care reform that seeks more outright liberty & freedom rather than mandates & requirements if you seek to avoid governmental interference?

Does sex-selective abortion to achieve a greater certainty of having a male child qualify as part of the "War on Women"? Were you aware that banning such an act that is highly offensive to women is part of the Republican Platform as well as greater protections for all babies or infants once they have been born?

Are our quarrels over the unborn worth such derogatory & inflammatory words for a group that has always sought to act out of a deep & abiding love for innocent life in all its forms?

I hold no ill will for you & I hope that you will thoughtfully reconsider your words of hate.

Thank you & God bless,

Sam Ritter
Sam's Taste of Chaos
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

 

Here is the GOP Platform section.  Its always better to form an opinion from actually reading something, than just reading about it.

 

The Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life

Faithful to the self-evident truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion or fund organizations which perform or advocate it and will not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage. We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life. We oppose the non-consensual withholding or withdrawal of care or treatment, including food and water, from people with disabilities, including newborns, as well as the elderly and infirm, just as we oppose active and passive euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Republican leadership has led the effort to prohibit the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion, permitted States to extend health care coverage to children before birth. We urge Congress to strengthen the Born Alive Infant Protection Act by enacting appropriate civil and criminal penalties to health care providers who fail to provide treatment and care to an infant who survives an abortion, including early induction delivery where the death is intended. We call for legislation to ban sex-selective abortions – gender discrimination in its most lethal form – and to protect from abortion unborn children who are capable of feeling pain; and we applaud the U.S. House of Representatives for leading the effort to protect the lives of pain-capable unborn children in the District of Columbia. We call for a revision of federal law 42 USC 289.92 to bar the use of body parts from aborted fetuses for research. We support and applaud adult stem cell research to develop lifesaving therapies, and we oppose the killing of embryos for their stem cells. We oppose Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

We also salute the many States that have passed laws for informed consent, mandatory waiting periods prior to an abortion, and health-protective clinic regulation. We seek to protect young girls from exploitation through a parental consent requirement; and we affirm our moral obligation to assist, rather than penalize, women challenged by an unplanned pregnancy. We salute those who provide them with counseling and adoption alternatives and empower them to choose life, and we take conform in the tremendous increases in adoptions that has followed Republican legislative initiatives.

This is just my opinion, but I'm not sure where I see any extremism in these words. If everything we disagree about must be thought extreme, how can we ever continue our conversation?  This isn't about Todd Akin.  It's about Americans living side by side in harmony. 

So, calm down.  Let's try to talk this out.