Today, we’ll ask it specifically of Rep. Tony Shipley (R-Kingsport), who, as Jeff Woods reports, believes that it’s a good idea to jeopardize the millions of dollars Tennessee receives from the federal government for family planning services:

A House subcommittee has adopted a bill by our right-wing hero Tony “Wrath of God” Shipley to make it illegal for health-care providers to deny parents immediate access to the medical records of their children. An incestuous father could demand and receive his pregnant daughter’s records. Not surprisingly, this imperils the $6.5 million in federal family planning money that Tennessee receives.

So, Rep. Shipley, if your goal is to eliminate abortion, wouldn’t it be better if you sponsored legislation that would help do that by encouraging organizations such as Planned Parenthood to provide more family planning services and education to individuals who don’t normally have access to them?

And if Rep. Shipley doesn’t have the imagination to think of all the scenarios in which a child’s doctor might need – for the child’s safety – to keep medical records private, then I suggest he go and start talking to the women and doctors of his district.