Marco Rubio loves to tout his so-called "pro-life" badge of honor. When it comes to women making decisions about their own bodies and health care, Rubio inserts himself between them and their doctors to inform them that while they may think they know what's best for themselves, he prefers to "err on the side of life" and make that decision for them.
Rape, incest, a life of pain and suffering, none of this matters to Rubio. When it comes to abortion, he prefers to err on the side of life no matter what the cost to the mother and the child. Rubio thinks that the decisions of a pregnant woman are best left up to him.
Now, in light of the Zika outbreak that's hit his home state, he's taken it a step further. You see, Marco Rubio has now decided that even if a pregnant woman is infected with the Zika virus, which in turn causes her child to be born with microcephaly, he who would be the boy king of gynoticians believes that these woman shouldn't be allowed to get an abortion.
Because he says so.
This is the same guy who would force a 15-year-old to give birth because, while it may well be a "hard situation" for that pregnant teenager, he personally prefers to err on the side of life with said forced birth.
Because he says so.
The same guy who says even if a woman's pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, HE will err on the side of life and force that woman to give birth anyway.
Because he says so.
President Obama asked Congress to pass a Zika funding bill months ago, yet Republicans have blocked it by trying to use it to defund Planned Parenthood, because their absurdities and hypocrisy know no bounds.
In spite of that, Rubio has joined a chorus of Republicans who are trying to snow the public and blame the President and Democrats for the GOP's obstruction. Rather than passing the funding which is needed more every day as Zika cases mount, Republicans decided a seven week vacation for them was more important than Zika funding.
Rubio isn't just a pro-life hypocrite when it comes to abortion. He's also a pro-life hypocrite when it comes to health care. He's a proud member of the Let's Kill Obamacare Club, and he hails from a Republican controlled state that not only tried to make Obamacare harder to get, but which also said no to Medicaid. (The same Governor Rick Scott, who had a hand in all of the above, also tried to kill Planned Parenthood in Florida. He also cut funding to mosquito control when he first got into office, because it was one of the evils of "Big Government." Those mosquitos are now spreading the Zika virus to pregnant women in Florida, because freedom!)
While Rubio is busy proclaiming to anyone who will listen that he's "erring on the side of life," he conveniently leaves out the fact that those women infected with Zika he's demanding give birth to babies who will be born with microcephaly will be in dire need of health care. So much health care in fact, that the CDC can't even begin to calculate the potentially staggering costs yet.
Yet the cost of caring for that child for the the rest of its life is only part of it.
This is the kind of life Rubio would be sentencing a child born with microcephaly to, according to the CDC:
Microcephaly is a condition where a baby’s head is much smaller than expected. During pregnancy, a baby’s head grows because the baby’s brain grows. Microcephaly can occur because a baby’s brain has not developed properly during pregnancy or has stopped growing after birth, which results in a smaller head size. Microcephaly can be an isolated condition, meaning that it can occur with no other major birth defects, or it can occur in combination with other major birth defects.
Severe microcephaly is a more serious, extreme form of this condition where a baby’s head is much smaller than expected. Severe microcephaly can result because a baby’s brain has not developed properly during pregnancy, or the brain started to develop correctly and then was damaged at some point during pregnancy.
Babies with microcephaly can have a range of other problems, depending on how severe their microcephaly is. Microcephaly has been linked with the following problems:
- Seizures
- Developmental delay, such as problems with speech or other developmental milestones (like sitting, standing, and walking)
- Intellectual disability (decreased ability to learn and function in daily life)
- Problems with movement and balance
- Feeding problems, such as difficulty swallowing
- Hearing loss
- Vision problems
These problems can range from mild to severe and are often lifelong. Because the baby’s brain is small and underdeveloped, babies with severe microcephaly can have more of these problems, or have more difficulty with them, than babies with milder microcephaly. Severe microcephaly also can be life-threatening. Because it is difficult to predict at birth what problems a baby will have from microcephaly, babies with microcephaly often need close follow-up through regular check-ups with a healthcare provider to monitor their growth and development.
And Zika doesn't just pose risks for babies. There's also a possible link between Zika and Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS).
So while Rubio would "prefer to err on the side of life" merely to score a few votes and political points among the anti-abortion types, the anti-Obamacare and the say no to Medicaid types, he'll never have to face the real life consequences those lives he wants to play God with will.
Nope. Rubio wants to score votes and political points and play with people's lives just so he can go back to the Senate job he admits he hates.
The job he still gets paid for even though he rarely shows up for work.
The "big government" job that provides him and his family with his own sweet federal health care subsidy courtesy of the same taxpayer he wants to deny those same benefits.
"Pro-life?"
No, Marco Rubio is pro-Marco Rubio, and he deserves to lose this election just as badly as Donald Trump does. The man who also sees Zika as an "insignificant issue," the man Rubio once said was unfit to hold office, but who he's now endorsing and going to bat for.
Marco Rubio and the Republicans who ignored the Zika outbreak and blocked funding for it are anything but "pro-life," and every baby born with microcephaly will now become a visual symbol of that fact.
