Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) took to the House floor last night to warn against a provision of the House health care bill, which would authorize non-profit entities to operate health clinics in schools -- which she said would lead to Planned Parenthood "sex clinics" giving abortions to 13-year old girls without the parents knowing about it.
Bachmann said that the bill required the protection of privacy for patient and student records, and asked: "Does that mean that someone's 13 year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night? Mom and dad are never the wiser, they don't know any different."
It probably does not mean that. As The Hill points out, the bill specifically states that any medical services provided by a school-based health clinic must be in accordance with federal, state and local laws regarding parental consent, along with the privacy protections that Bachmann cited.

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toxophilite
October 1, 2009 11:05 AM
I've heard that specific argument here in CA for years and years over various issues. The only people who believe it are those who sit outside elementary schools in their abortion-mobiles with the graphic art of aborted fetuses guaranteed to traumatize child viewers.
I wonder if Bachmann has any idea that neither Planned Parenthood nor any other provider provides abortions on the same day a pregnancy test comes back positive? Her paranoia and ignorance is overwhelming.
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Xantar
October 1, 2009 11:31 AM in reply to toxophilite
I've never heard this particular argument before, but I'm wondering just how many pregnant 13-year olds Michelle Bachmann thinks there are running around. I know teen pregnancy is a problem in this country, but it usually happens a little older.
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Dorn76
October 1, 2009 11:36 AM in reply to Xantar
True. About 16,000 in 2004 between the ages of 10-14. Far more (750,000) between ages of 15-19.
Highest rate in the developed World, too. What a country!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/20/bush-teen-pregnancy-cdc-report
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The Old Grouch
October 1, 2009 12:04 PM in reply to Dorn76
Hey, we're first in something!
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matyra
October 1, 2009 1:06 PM in reply to The Old Grouch
lol. eek.
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Chris
October 1, 2009 12:51 PM in reply to toxophilite
I guess it beats taking a math test j/k.
Don't Members get free abortions too?
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
October 1, 2009 11:24 AM
Some people don't like the Bachmann-Turner Diary Overdrive chronicles, but I'm all for 'em. "Make the Republicans Own the Crazy!" That's my 2010 midterm battle cry.
I hope it catches on with the DNC and the congressional campaign committees. Don't talk about Limbaugh or Beck or Savage. Make Bachmann, Broun, Foxx, Inhofe, DeMint, Joe Wilson, Steve King and the other crazies who are in Congress right now saying crazy shit on a daily basis the face of the Republican Party in Congress. Make every single Republican candidate in every state and every district either own the crazy or walk away from it.
Ohhh, I feel a new user blog post coming on . . .
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CT Voter
October 1, 2009 11:40 AM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
I hope it catches on with the DNC and the congressional campaign committees
Seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it? The Republicans have been shoveling barrelfulls of crazy for some time now. Make them eat it, or disown it.
I predict, though, that Democrats won't make use of it. That wouldn't be civilized, you know?
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ru4862
October 1, 2009 11:25 AM
Michelle Bachmann is a dumb *expletive*
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JohnAH
October 1, 2009 11:29 AM
She doesn't bother me in the slightest; however the fact that some Americans have elected this lunatic twice, I find horribly depressing.
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whitenoise100
October 1, 2009 11:31 AM
Yes Michelle, you're absolutely right. The school sex clinic can also send someone's 13 year old daughter to the ACLU, where she will be forced to participate in the census. Will you please take your meds now?
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Dorn76
October 1, 2009 11:32 AM
Don't let the facts get in the way, crazy lady!
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rbeats
October 1, 2009 11:35 AM
Yes, comparing you to a knuckle dragging Neanderthal is insulting to our ancestors.
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hunter
October 1, 2009 11:36 AM
Not that this has any bearing on reality, but I for one think it would be a wonderful idea for pregnant 13-year-olds to be able to get abortions during school hours without their parents ever finding out. After all, most pregnant 13-year-olds get that way through incestuous abuse.
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Kuyleh
October 1, 2009 5:15 PM in reply to hunter
Not to mention the parents who will force their children to have the baby to "teach them a lesson." That's a just awesome way to guarantee a full functional, healthy adult.
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CT Voter
October 1, 2009 11:36 AM
I'm reminded of Bob Herbert's column from Tuesday, I believe:
Michele? Hear that?
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matyra
October 1, 2009 1:09 PM in reply to CT Voter
Agreed. But is it cool to be a deranged United States Representative? I think in her case that there's more than stupidity involved.
"The crazy representative from Minnesota has the floor."
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chimpale
October 1, 2009 11:39 AM
Bachmann keeps providing material for her opponents' campaign commercials. I hope nobody's going to shy away from using it. They could have ten different Bachmann 'looniest bits' montage commercials already in the can and she just keeps on giving them more material.
Seriously, if the Dems don't use Bachmann against Bachmann, they deserve to lose the 6th CD race again.
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
October 1, 2009 2:27 PM in reply to chimpale
Bachmann's district is gerrymandered such that it likes her crazy.
Gerrymandering 101: every vote the winner gets over 52% is "wasted." You want to "waste" as few of your own party's votes as possible and cause the other guys to "waste" as many of theirs as possible. There are two techniques for doing this: "packing" and "cracking."
"Cracking" means redrawing lines so that the opposing party has as close a minority in as seems safe in as many districts as possible. If the other party is managing to win narrowly in a given district, you try to "crack" it by redrawing the lines to sweep in more voters of your own party and move some voters of his party into a neighboring district where they won't affect the outcome.
"Packing" means that if you can't crack someone from the other side out of the district without grossly violating the Supreme Court standards on "compactness," you want to pack as many voters of her party into it as possible.
The upside is that you increase your party's share of the delegation. The down-side is that you frequently end up creating districts for your own party where the winning candidates are milquetoasty "moderates" while drawing districts for the opposing party where the most rabidly partisan candidate wins.
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LuxVeritas
October 1, 2009 11:48 AM
I love that the daughters will "be taken away", i.e. by force, to an Planned Parenthood to get abortions.
I rreeaaallllyyy hope she gets defeated next year..
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jbhelfrich
October 1, 2009 11:50 AM
I am increasingly convinced that this woman is a plant. No one can seriously be this over the top, right?
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The Old Grouch
October 1, 2009 12:06 PM in reply to jbhelfrich
I doubt the vegetable kingdom would want much to do with her.
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ejg3
October 1, 2009 12:07 PM
Once again Minnesota's Bachamnn surges ahead of Iowa's Steve King as the numero uno guano loco GOP house member. The faux Spanish is in honor of King's English as Official Language immirgant bashing crusade.
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kenga
October 1, 2009 1:53 PM in reply to ejg3
"guano loco"
I like that.
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Mike7Woodson
October 1, 2009 12:14 PM
LuxVerita, she never said "by force," but likely force would never be needed where the power imbalance is so great. Persuasion via assumptive, leading conduct would be sufficient to channel a minor into doing something the implications of which she can't begin to appreciate without input and discussion with her parents. The concern to is with a state assumption of division between children and parents because of the division between SOME children and parents. And then there is the abortion issue itself, something we've debated here quite a lot and we could just refer to the old threads to save time.
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mcc
October 1, 2009 12:17 PM
It's like the group of Republicans Bachmann represents are not capable of interpreting any sentence, on any subject, except through the frame of either abortion of illegal immigrants.
Everything that happens in the world helps abortion and helps illegal immigrants. Everything.
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CT Voter
October 1, 2009 12:54 PM in reply to mcc
And ACORN ACORN ACORN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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mlicari1a
October 1, 2009 1:09 PM in reply to mcc
You're exactly correct. I spend a lot of time in that district during the summer. It's dominated by right-wing "culture warriors". You should see the billboards along the highway...
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Matt Jones
October 1, 2009 2:04 PM in reply to mcc
What about when illegal immigrants get abortions? Does her head asplode?
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LeaningLeft
October 1, 2009 1:02 PM
Minnesota is starting to fascinate me, politically speaking. I can't get a handle on a state that would elect Al Franken (very Progressive), Jesse Ventura (very Libertarian and somewhat nuts), Keith Ellison (Muslim), and Michelle Bachmann (crazy). I know a lot of it has to do with Congressional districts, but that's another part that fascinates me. I'm from Indiana where our rural areas are very Republican, for the most part. And I figured most places in the country were the same way. I've been to the North Eastern part of Minnesota which, besides maybe Duluth, is very rural, but that district (the 8th) has elected a Democrat since 1947.
Oh well. No real comment about Bachmann... except, of course, that she's crazy.
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mlicari1a
October 1, 2009 1:08 PM in reply to LeaningLeft
NE MN is "rural" but not agricultural. Its politics are still dominated by blue-collar union members, so the consistent Democratic vote isn't surprising.
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LeaningLeft
October 1, 2009 2:19 PM in reply to mlicari1a
Good point. I never thought of the agricultural/non-agricultural aspect. That's probably an important difference between NE MN rural areas and IN rural areas.
Still an interesting place. I think I'd find a lot of kindred spirits there... well, except in Bachmann's district. That's probably where you'd go for entertainment, freak-show style.
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lousgirl84
October 1, 2009 2:35 PM in reply to LeaningLeft
From what I understand St. Paul is very conservative - it not particularly a Minnesota problem. California is pretty damned progressive but we have our right wing conservative pocklets too
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BaileyWu
October 1, 2009 1:04 PM
The press just loves these people who can get their blood pressure stokin' right after their morning coffee. The more outrageous the better the sound bite.
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George C
October 1, 2009 1:07 PM
I think Michelle is missing the point: it's clear that having health clinics in schools is merely a way to perform abortions on 13-year old girls WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE! That's how evil clinics can be.
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johnmccsf
October 1, 2009 1:08 PM
I hear Kleefeld's a patient at Michelle's sex clinic
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kiboston
October 1, 2009 1:10 PM
Okay, yes, Michele Bachmann is cringe-loony. That said, how far different are the consequences she projects from those fantasical projections that once you loosen gun control, e.g., you will have sketchy gun-toters marauding outside Presidential events and Secret Service agents saying, Oh, yeah, they are outside the security zone so what can you do.
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lousgirl84
October 1, 2009 2:44 PM
I am really angry that I have to share the planet with this lunatic.
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mikedrevguy
October 1, 2009 2:59 PM
again the affirmation that there is NO plan coming from the 'right' in how to bring adequate health care/coverage to our nation.
At every turn there's the attempt/attack to tear down ANYTHING that might help our young people (any people) gain a better understanding of what it means to be healthy.
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ohyeathatsright
October 1, 2009 3:20 PM
I wish my middle school had sex clinics. Those sound awesome!
In all seriousness, they made sex ed a part of our science curriculum starting at the end of 5th grade and we didn't have any knocked up teens at our school. Period.
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therightscoop
October 1, 2009 3:39 PM
Actually she is quite wise to ask that question, given the cultural context.
And it wouldn't surprise me if that's what ended up happening.
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SOS ICEBERG
October 1, 2009 3:56 PM
Every time this nitwit resurfaces it reinforces my conviction that I'm only safe on the island of Manhattan, and I'm not budging!
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afisher
October 1, 2009 4:05 PM
Making the news yesterday in Texas (of all places)! Abstence education is not working and they are going to start...yes start , talking about Condoms and Birth Control....oh my, what will George think (okay that is rhetorical). His education, well, dis-information plan isn't working.
Note to Michelle: you should lose you gov't funded job, if only because of your apparent inability to be in touch with reality!
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Metzengerstein
October 1, 2009 4:44 PM
Junior high fall schedule: 5th period, study hall or optional drop-in abortion clinic.
This stuff would be funny ... if it weren't.
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