Bonnie pointed this out in the comments; I wanted to be sure y’all saw it —
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), one of the most die-hard anti-choice lawmakers, has jumped on the bandwagon by sneaking a radical anti-abortion amendment onto a completely unrelated piece of legislation. DeMint’s amendment would ban women and their doctors from discussing abortion over the Internet:
Anti-choice Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) just filed an anti-choice amendment to a bill related to agriculture, transportation, housing, and other programs. The DeMint amendment could bar discussion of abortion over the Internet and through videoconferencing, even if a woman’s health is at risk and if this kind of communication with her doctor is her best option to receive care.
Under this amendment, women would need a separate, segregated Internet just for talking about abortion care with their doctors.
It’s not clear to me whether this act would censor all information about abortion on the Internet or whether it only applies to doctors using video conferencing or email to consult with patients. If the latter, I don’t even know what DeMint is trying to achieve, other than inconvenience and annoy people.
Also, last week the House passed the “let women die” bill. But they can’t pass a jobs bill.
Update: Digby figured it out. The bill is supposed to stop any federal funding of the RU-486 drug, including grants for webcam consultations, in which a woman is prescribed the abortion drug after a webcam conversation with the doctor.