The Conservative Agenda

In Kansas, the House passed a bill that would make divorce harder to obtain for some, they call it a “Covenant Marriage”. A couple could enter into a special type of marriage that will make it harder to obtain a divorce. The Kansas City Star writes that,

Kansas House OKs covenant marriage legislation

TOPEKA | Kansas would become the fourth state in the nation to allow covenant marriage under a bill progressing in the House.

Covenant marriage would be a voluntary agreement committing a couple to a higher threshold for divorce than conventional marriage.
…
Proponents say the option would strengthen marriages in Kansas. Couples choosing covenant marriage would have to receive premarital counseling and sign an affidavit stating their intentions.

The bill will also let couples enter into a “Covenant Marriage” retroactively. The problem with this is that an abusive spouse can coerce their partner to sign the agreement, one of the traits of an abusive relationship is that one partner dominates the other. This bill only give the abuser even more power to abuse the partner.

Kansas is not along in creating these draconian laws, Arkansas, Arizona and Louisiana have already passed “Covenant Marriage” laws, while there is a ballot initiative effort in California to have “Covenant Marriage” as a ballot question this year.

This is only one part of the “Conservative Agenda”, flush with their victories against marriage equality the conservatives not only want to ban abortions, they also want to criminalize miscarriages! In Utah, there is a bill that would criminalize “a woman's "intentional, knowing, or reckless act" leading to a pregnancy's illegal termination.” according to the Salt Lake Tribune. The article goes on to state that…

Some Senate Democrats attempted a last-minute amendment to remove the word "reckless" from the list of criminal acts leading to miscarriage. They argued that criminalizing reckless acts leaves open the possibility of prosecutions against domestic violence victims who return to their abusers only to be beaten and lose the child.

"It's part of the cycle of domestic violence," said Sen. Luz Robles, D-Salt Lake City.

Will all miscarriages now be subject to criminal review? Will there be a special panel set up to analysis miscarriages?

Look what happened in Florida, a woman was ordered by the court to stay in bed during her pregnancy. According to a New York Times article…

Is Refusing Bed Rest a Crime?
By LISA BELKIN

Arguments are under way today in the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee, Fla., in the case of Samantha Burton, who was confined to her bed by a judge earlier this year because she was at risk for a miscarriage.

Burton was in her 25th week of pregnancy in March 2009 when she started showing signs of miscarrying. Her doctor advised her to go on bed rest, possibly for as long as 15 weeks, but she told him that she had two toddlers to care for and a job to keep. She planned on getting a second opinion, but the doctor alerted the state, which then asked the Circuit Court of Leon County to step in.

She was ordered to stay in bed at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and to undergo “any and all medical treatments” her doctor, acting in the interests of the fetus, decided were necessary. Burton asked to switch hospitals and the request was denied by the court, which said “such a change is not in the child’s best interest at this time.” After three days of hospitalization, she had to undergo an emergency C-section and the fetus was found dead.

The “Conservative Agenda” does just stop with reproduction rights. Besides banning marriage equality, they want to criminalize homosexuality. The Michigan Messenger writes,

Family group says it wants homosexuality criminalized
By Todd A. Heywood 2/9/10 7:26 AM

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, has added his voice to a growing chorus of American leaders calling for the re-criminalization of homosexuality in the U.S.

In an e-mail to Michigan Messenger, here’s how Glenn responded when asked if he supported the criminalization move proposed by the Family Research Council’s Peter Sprigg’s comments last week on Hardball:

“The short answer to your question is yes, we believe that states should be free to regulate and prohibit behavior that’s a violation of community standards and a proven threat to public health and safety — including, as most of the United States did throughout its history, homosexual behavior.”

They are also in favor of allowing businesses to discriminate against the lesbian, gay men, bisexuals and transgender, they have labeled the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) bill, the "Transgendered Bathrooms for Business Act”.

The conservatives are always talking about a “Gay Agenda”; however, it is time that we recognize the “Conservative Agenda”. That the “Conservative Agenda” is based on repression and control while the “Gay Agenda” is based upon equality and human rights. That we realize that what they want is to go back to the time of “Father Knows Best”, where the wife was subservient to the husband and stayed home and raised the kids (which in itself is alright, but women should have a choice and not be forced into that role by law) and “gays” were in the closet.