by Pa Rock
Missouri Citizen Journalist
I always dread seeing my state - Missouri - on the national news because when that happens it is seldom due to anything good. Missouri has been in the news quite a bit over the past few days, and, true to form, the reason is an embarrassment and an outrage.
Both houses of our state legislature are overwhelmingly Republican, and the GOP currently holds every statewide office except for that of auditor, so most of the sausage that gets made in Jefferson City has a peculiar odor and generally is geared toward benefiting conservative white business owners and the landed gentry. Our legislature is also very keen to pass any measure that would sell more guns or interfere with women's rights to control their own bodies.
This week the extremely Republican government of Missouri has been busy trying to explain and justify why the Republican-appointed Director of Health and Human Services for the state, Dr Randall Williams (an OBGYN), has created and been using a spreadsheet that tracks the menstrual cycles of women who have used medical services provided by Planned Parenthood.
Yup, you read that right. A bureaucrat on the state's payroll has been sitting at his desk poring over spreadsheets and studying the menstrual cycles of citizens of the state! So much for patient confidentiality! It almost sounds like that Big Brother government that conservatives have been hoarding guns and preparing to fight for generations has finally arrived!
Dr. Williams, who describes himself as "pro-life" and brags about having never performed an abortion, was appointed to his post in early 2017 by the state's new governor at the time, Eric Greitens. Unfortunately for Greitens, a moral crusader who planned on one day becoming President, his political career was cut short when news stories broke revealing that he had once had an extra-marital affair with his hairdresser and then bound her naked to a piece of gym equipment in his basement and took photos of his captive - photos which he used to blackmail the poor woman into keeping quiet about their affair. But I digress . . .
Dr. Williams was lured to Missouri from a similar position with the Republican state government of North Carolina, and the primary purpose for bringing him to Missouri (by our elected moral compass, Eric Greitens) was to screw with Planned Parenthood. This past June the state was almost successful in closing down the state's one remaining clinic where abortions could be performed, but a court action forestalled that effort. Now a court battle is underway in St.Louis regarding the fate of that clinic, and Dr. Williams and his spreadsheet are figuring into that case.
Our current governor, Mike Parson, a former rural county sheriff, signed a piece of legislation in June that outlawed abortion after eight weeks. It also stipulated that any abortion had to be for medical emergencies, and did not offer exceptions for rape, incest, or human trafficking. The law would have made it impossible for the state's one remaining clinic that performed abortions to stay in business - and thus would have made Missouri the first state since the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade to lose all of its clinics that provide abortions.
Dr. Williams, with the backing of our Republican state legislature and Governor Parson, was relentless in his quest to totally stop abortions in Missouri, and one tool that he was using was his now famous menstrual cycle spreadsheet.
According to Dr. Williams, his spreadsheet identified one woman who possibly had an unsuccessful abortion procedure and had to return to the clinic for a second attempt. However, once this story got rolling, the doctor now says that four women may have had to return to the clinic for a second procedure.
What the doctor fails to admit, is that all of those women have a right those medical procedures - as affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Rome v. Wade - and, even more importantly, all of those women have a Constitutional right to privacy - as do we all. Dr. Williams' menstrual cycle spreadsheet contravenes both of those rights - and for that he should be fired!
But, unless Governor Parson has something surprising in his basement, that probably won't happen.
Hey, Dr. Williams, do you have a spreadsheet that tracks Viagara sales?
Missouri Citizen Journalist
I always dread seeing my state - Missouri - on the national news because when that happens it is seldom due to anything good. Missouri has been in the news quite a bit over the past few days, and, true to form, the reason is an embarrassment and an outrage.
Both houses of our state legislature are overwhelmingly Republican, and the GOP currently holds every statewide office except for that of auditor, so most of the sausage that gets made in Jefferson City has a peculiar odor and generally is geared toward benefiting conservative white business owners and the landed gentry. Our legislature is also very keen to pass any measure that would sell more guns or interfere with women's rights to control their own bodies.
This week the extremely Republican government of Missouri has been busy trying to explain and justify why the Republican-appointed Director of Health and Human Services for the state, Dr Randall Williams (an OBGYN), has created and been using a spreadsheet that tracks the menstrual cycles of women who have used medical services provided by Planned Parenthood.
Yup, you read that right. A bureaucrat on the state's payroll has been sitting at his desk poring over spreadsheets and studying the menstrual cycles of citizens of the state! So much for patient confidentiality! It almost sounds like that Big Brother government that conservatives have been hoarding guns and preparing to fight for generations has finally arrived!
Dr. Williams, who describes himself as "pro-life" and brags about having never performed an abortion, was appointed to his post in early 2017 by the state's new governor at the time, Eric Greitens. Unfortunately for Greitens, a moral crusader who planned on one day becoming President, his political career was cut short when news stories broke revealing that he had once had an extra-marital affair with his hairdresser and then bound her naked to a piece of gym equipment in his basement and took photos of his captive - photos which he used to blackmail the poor woman into keeping quiet about their affair. But I digress . . .
Dr. Williams was lured to Missouri from a similar position with the Republican state government of North Carolina, and the primary purpose for bringing him to Missouri (by our elected moral compass, Eric Greitens) was to screw with Planned Parenthood. This past June the state was almost successful in closing down the state's one remaining clinic where abortions could be performed, but a court action forestalled that effort. Now a court battle is underway in St.Louis regarding the fate of that clinic, and Dr. Williams and his spreadsheet are figuring into that case.
Our current governor, Mike Parson, a former rural county sheriff, signed a piece of legislation in June that outlawed abortion after eight weeks. It also stipulated that any abortion had to be for medical emergencies, and did not offer exceptions for rape, incest, or human trafficking. The law would have made it impossible for the state's one remaining clinic that performed abortions to stay in business - and thus would have made Missouri the first state since the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade to lose all of its clinics that provide abortions.
Dr. Williams, with the backing of our Republican state legislature and Governor Parson, was relentless in his quest to totally stop abortions in Missouri, and one tool that he was using was his now famous menstrual cycle spreadsheet.
According to Dr. Williams, his spreadsheet identified one woman who possibly had an unsuccessful abortion procedure and had to return to the clinic for a second attempt. However, once this story got rolling, the doctor now says that four women may have had to return to the clinic for a second procedure.
What the doctor fails to admit, is that all of those women have a right those medical procedures - as affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Rome v. Wade - and, even more importantly, all of those women have a Constitutional right to privacy - as do we all. Dr. Williams' menstrual cycle spreadsheet contravenes both of those rights - and for that he should be fired!
But, unless Governor Parson has something surprising in his basement, that probably won't happen.
Hey, Dr. Williams, do you have a spreadsheet that tracks Viagara sales?
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