Fat Old White Men on Abortion and Blackmailing GIs

Jesse at Pandagon brings up two items today very much worth noting.

The first is about a new law passed by the House and barely mentioned anywhere else:

The Well-Timed Period leads us to a little-noticed House action discussed in a CNN.com article. Namely, that the House passed a provision which would not allow any local, state or federal authority to require that any institution or health care professionals perform abortions.

What worries me isn't so much conscience as it relates to the particular act, although if you're a pharmacist who may have to dispense birth control or a doctor who might have to perform an abortion and you're opposed to it, maybe you should find a different line of work, or a different specialty. What worries me is doctors and a medical industry who are increasingly allowed to provide only the medical care they want, regardless of the larger legal and medical principles to which they are bound.

The other involves blackmailing soldiers to join up for 3 more years OR get shipped to Iraq post haste (or as Jesse entitled it, "Fuck You, Serve Me"):

A generally recognized "good thing" about the aftermath of the Vietnam War was the move from a draftee military to an all-volunteer military. The soldiers are motivated to be there, and are serving because they want to, not because they have to.

Well, perhaps not so much anymore.

Soldiers from a Fort Carson combat unit say they have been issued an ultimatum - re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units expected to deploy to Iraq.

Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies last Thursday, said two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity.