Utah: The Misogynist State

Here's how one Utah Republican lawmaker thinks his state should save a few bucks:

Under the theory that perhaps thousands of Utah college students are having babies paid for by Medicaid that they could pay for themselves, one lawmaker has a plan: cut all elective epidurals and elective C-sections.

Sen. Dan Liljenquist, R-Bountiful, has vowed massive Medicaid reform in next year's legislative session, and first on the list is people who may be freeloading. Medicaid pays for 15,000 births a year in Utah, a third of the total, Liljenquist says.

"Do we save some kid or make birth easier?" he said, noting that the waiting list for Medicaid in Utah just for the disabled has reached 4,400 people.

Liljenquist says the state could save millions. Epidurals, a shot given in the spine, are a common method of relieving pain during labor. At Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, 86 to 87 percent of women who deliver babies at the hospital get an epidural; studies show about 65 percent of births nationwide happen with an epidural.

Cesarean births have risen to nearly a third of all births nationwide and cost nearly double a vaginal birth. The average charge for a Cesarean delivery in Utah County in 2008 was $8,989, according to the Utah Department of Health. In 2008, the average cost of a vaginal birth in the county was $5,079, but that does not include an epidural.

On Wednesday, a group of senators including Liljenquist had an animated discussion about the matter after meeting informally on the Senate floor.

"These are 90 percent out-of-state students having babies on our dime," Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, told Liljenquist, referring to BYU students. Conservative lawmakers have been upset about anecdotal evidence of students with a Lexus and trust fund having a baby under Medicaid. They qualify because there may technically be no income.

Yeah. Let the dirty sluts writhe in pain. That'll teach them.

What kind of sick fucks is the Republican Pafrty putting into office these days, anyway? Between Louie Gomert standing on the floor of the House with his litany of sexual practices that most of us never even think about, or Man-on-Dog Santorum, or Lindsey Graham talking about illegal immigrant women coming her to "drop a child", the fear and loathing that Republican men have for women is indisputable. Given the private lives of all too many Republican legislators, what goes on in their heads about women is something I don't think any of us really want to know.