Brownback: The next Kansas governor?

Sam Brownback holds up a 7-year-old's drawing of an embyro to argue against stem-cell research.

This is pretty big news that has stayed under the radar: Uber-conservative Sam Brownback is looking more and more likely to be the next governor of Kansas -- which means really bad things for reproductive rights in that state. Dana Goldstein breaks it down:

If elected, Brownback will have an enthusiastic, Republican state legislature to work with on rolling back reproductive rights. It's worth remembering that Sebelius' HHS secretary nomination was almost derailed by that body, which forced her to deal with a series of divisive abortion-related bills during her Senate confirmation hearings. Brownback would certainly unleash those forces, moving forward on legislation that would require doctors performing late-term abortions to submit, in writing, exactly what medical risks "justify" the procedure.

In April, in one of her last acts as governor, Sebelius vetoed that bill, which also would have allowed the husbands and parents of patients to sue abortion providers if they suspected the pregnant woman's health wasn't really at risk. The bill was intended to intimidate Dr. Tiller and his brethren out of business, and would stymie the work of Dr. Leroy Carhart, the physician who has promised to begin offering late-term abortions in Kansas in Tiller's stead.

While there's still time for Democrats to field a strong candidate and rally behind him/her, Brownback has name-recognition on his side after years of serving as a U.S. senator. (Interim Gov. Mark Parkinson, who filled Sebelius's shoes after she was confirmed as HHS secretary, has announced he won't run in 2010.)

As a reminder... Brownback equates reproductive rights with slavery, says rape and incest survivors shouldn't have access to abortion, has opposed contraception access for low-income women, supported the global gag rule, and has backed a whole host of abortion restrictions. So yeah, he'd be bad news for the women of Kansas.

http://www.feministing.com/archives/016166.html

Would he be willing to provide health care and hope of economic security to people in lower economic class so they will have less fear about bringing their child to term?

Maybe some program that expands health care, or education or jobs to people in lower income brackets, so those women, if they find themselves pregnant, have more hope of being able to raise a child. Or even education on ways to be responsible and avoid unwanted pregnancies.

Or does his belief in protecting the unborn stop if it might cost him a little bit of his pocket money.

Let me guess, "make it illegal", then he thinks all the suffering is solved.

Then again, if I could not deal with some of my own failings, if I had to face my own imperfections and knowledge of my struggles with sin, I might just want to be able to find a cause where it cost me no money, and no hardship, and I can say I am trying to save the lives of unborn babies. Just think, if every time I realized my failings of selfishness, if I could just say to myself, "yea but I am fighting to save unborn lives."

I think my life would be easier with such an inexpensive way to say to myself I am fighting for a morale cause.

We've got to get progressive candidates from out of the Stone Age to run against him.