Gilead Is Real: The War On Abortion And Women's Rights 2

[GreyhoundFan]

Powerful words from Lucy McBath.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Chip Roy is such an asshole:

 

[Cartmann99]

Fox's Jesse Watters attacks “women who are past their prime, who can't even get pregnant” and advocate for reproductive rights

Quote

JESSE WATTERS (CO-HOST): So, it looks like if you are running a Supreme Court justice into hiding, that's a return to normalcy. That is restoring the institutions of this country. Because that's what they said they were going to do. But, you're going to see that, because I think it's in a very emotional issue, abortion. And a lot of people don't understand it. 

There are women who are past their prime, who can't even get pregnant, but you will see them out there, screaming at the top of their lungs, almost resorting to violence because that's just -- it's a religious tenet to these people and we have to understand that. I would stay away from these people all summer. If you hear about a protest in your city, I wouldn't engage. I'd go to the beach. Even on a social level, if it's not your friend or your family, don't involve yourself with that very, you know, turbulent conversation about it. It's really not worth it. 

I would give advice to these protesters, if this does drop the way we think it is. There is a democratic process. You can go, you can petition, you can run for office if you want to. And you know what? If that doesn't work out in your state, you can move states. That's the great part about this republic. You can move states, live a totally different lifestyle if it doesn't work out for you in the state you're living right now. 

 

[Audrey2]

3 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

Fox's Jesse Watters attacks “women who are past their prime, who can't even get pregnant” and advocate for reproductive rights

 

Guess what? Those of us who you describe still care about younger women. They are our sisters, our daughters, our former students, our neighbors, and our coworkers. We want them to be able to have the same body autonomy that we did, growing up in the 70s and '80s. Also, those older than me remember the horrible days of back alley abortions. Too many know someone or know of someone who was seriously injured or even killed in an illegal, pre- 1973 abortion.

By Watters's same "logic", why should men be worried about any uterus that they are not married to and that is still producing children?

[Alisamer]

10 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

By Watters's same "logic", why should men be worried about any uterus that they are not married to and that is still producing children?

By his logic, ONLY women of childbearing age should have any say whatsoever on what laws effect their reproductive rights.

I'm OK with that, frankly. Old men are setting the laws for young women, and that's creepy. 

[NotQuiteMotY]

14 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

Guess what? Those of us who you describe still care about younger women. They are our sisters, our daughters, our former students, our neighbors, and our coworkers. We want them to be able to have the same body autonomy that we did, growing up in the 70s and '80s. Also, those older than me remember the horrible days of back alley abortions. Too many know someone or know of someone who was seriously injured or even killed in an illegal, pre- 1973 abortion.

By Watters's same "logic", why should men be worried about any uterus that they are not married to and that is still producing children?

One of the  most vocal pro-choice women I know is post-menopausal. You know why she's so outspoken? Because she never met a grandmother who died in a botched back-alley abortion. She also has a daughter of childbearing age. People don't live in a vacuum.

[thoughtful]

I think that the very idea of caring about others, including people who are not related to us or from any group we consider ourselves a part of, is foreign to people like Watters and all of the other anti-choice types.

I care because all of humanity is "my group," and I want harm decreased and safety  increased, for everyone.

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

Every month when I get close to the date of my period, I do my "No Aunt Flo" silent chant and every month, she visits anyway.  But you can bet your sweet biscuits that even when I can no longer get pregnant (please be soon please be soon please be soon) I will be just as vocal and active as I am now.  I am not gay but I will stand for gay rights.  I am not a person of color but I will speak out against racism.  I am not living in poverty but I will advocate for better services and help for people struggling.  I am American but I will speak up for immigrants.  We are humans.  It's what we all should do for one another.  If Jesse Watters was drowning, I doubt he would care whether I can still get pregnant or not if I jumped in with my good swimming skills and saved his stupid mansplaining ass.  If he was in a car crash and I was the one coming to his aid, I doubt he would ask whether I still get the monthly bill or not.  If he needed CPR, I think it's safe to say he wouldn't conjure up enough breath to inquire whether I'm still dropping eggs like I did when I was in my younger years.  And despite his fucking Fox News idiocracy, I would actually do what I could in all those scenarios to save his life because he is a human being and I believe in humans helping humans.  (But after he was safe I would tell him to fuck all the way off.) 

[Stephanie66]

On 5/5/2022 at 5:22 PM, WiseGirl said:

Safe haven state(s)

Connecticut safe haven legislation passed late Friday night.  I think they are the first state to do so.

New York is preparing to be a safe haven state also.

Massachusetts and New England abortion remains legal (for now).

Then there is Wisconsin.  Wisconsin has a 173-year old abortion law that makes it illegal.  It could go into play again.

And I fear that LBGTQ, birth control, interracial marriages may be next.  USA Today article here.  I live in an area where there are a lot of interracial marriages but than what would Moscow Mitch and asshatThomas do? Divorce their wives who are just as evil as they are?

 

I live in MN. We will still be able to provide abortions here, but will likely be overwhelmed when ND, SD, IA and WI all ban it. 

[Cartmann99]

Fetus-powered street lamps? Republicans ramp up outrageous anti-abortion lies ahead of Roe's demise

Quote

It was only one half-hour into Wednesday's congressional hearing on abortion access when it became clear that the Republican contributions to the day would be loonier than a QAnon message board.

"In places like Washington D.C.," fetuses are "burned to power the light's of the city's homes and streets," claimed Catherine Glenn Foster, who had, just minutes before, sworn not to lie under oath. The GOP-summoned witness let loose the wild and utterly false accusation that municipal electrical companies are powered by incinerated fetuses. 

"The next time you turn on the light, think of the incinerators," she said, apparently repeating a misleading talking point from the same anti-choice activists caught stashing fetuses at home. Everything on the right is psychological projection. 

So that's where Republicans are these days: Arguing that we live in a janky version of the Matrix, except powered by fetuses instead of actual people. 

Foster is not some random nut that Republicans pulled off a soapbox at a subway station minutes before the hearing started. She is a Georgetown law school graduate who is paid $190,000 a year to be the president of Americans United for Life, one of the largest anti-abortion non-profits in the country. So it's not surprising that Foster believed she would get away with this absurd nonsense. Hers was merely one of a truly overwhelming number of lies that poured out of Republican lawmakers and witnesses alike throughout the course of Wednesday's hearing. When lies are coming out like chocolates on a conveyor belt aimed at Lucille Ball, the liars can be assured they've overwhelmed the fact-checkers beyond any hope of accountability.

The GOP contributions to the hearing were a blizzard of bullshit, meant to totally white out the efforts by Democrats and reproductive rights activists to remind the public of the great human cost that results from banning abortion.

As their actual political views become harder to defend on the merits, Republicans increasingly embrace conspiracy theories and urban legends to justify the unjustifiable.

Republicans pretended progressives don't know what a "woman" is. They insisted that the mere existence of abortion shows that birth control efforts are useless. (On the contrary, the abortion rate has gone down as birth control access has improved.) They pretended, over and over, that the issue at hand was only late-term abortions. In reality, the abortion bans being passed start at two weeks after a missed period, if not sooner. And then there was the repulsive contributions of Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who pretended that women wait until they go into labor and then abort the pregnancy right before the baby is born. Having made this lie up, he then berated Alabama-based OB-GYN Dr. Yashica Robinson for the existence of a procedure that, quite literally, only happens in his bizarre fantasies. (Thanks to Charles Pierce at Esquire for the transcript.) 

Johnson: Do you support the right of a woman who is just seconds away from birthing a healthy child to have an abortion?

Robinson: I think that the question you're asking does not realistically reflect abortion care —

Johnson: In that scenario, would you support her right to abort that child?

Robinson: I won't entertain theoretical —

Johnson: It's not a theoretical, ma'am. You are a medical doctor.

Indeed it is not theoretical — it is entirely fantastical. Johnson's showboating was the equivalent of berating a doctor over unicorn horn removal surgery. But Johnson, eager to talk about anything but the realities of abortion care, continued to play this game. He went on to insist that Robinson answer for killing a baby "halfway out of the birth canal," forcing her to pointedly remind him that actual murder is already illegal. 

When lies are coming out like chocolates on a conveyor belt aimed at Lucille Ball, the liars can be assured they've overwhelmed the fact-checkers beyond any hope of accountability. 

Anti-choicers love this hypothetical of a woman who aborts during labor. In reality, it makes about as much sense as banning men from touching their penises out of fear one might one day he might cut his off. But of course, Republicans would rather talk about their lurid fantasy lives than the realities of abortion.

In the aftermath of the leaked draft opinion that indicates that the Supreme Court will be overturning Roe v. Wade in a few short weeks, the grim reality of what banning abortion means is just starting to dawn on the larger public. Poverty, child abuse, derailed lives, women trapped in abusive relationships, people mutilated or killed in attempted self-abortions, people being imprisoned for trying to get abortions, and even just the looming anxiety hovering over every sexual encounter: That's what the GOP wants to inflict on Americans, and it is not exactly the most popular politics.

Sadly, there's nothing surprising about this turn towards wild tales about fetus-powered street lamps and women demanding abortions during labor.

As their actual political views become harder to defend on the merits, Republicans increasingly embrace conspiracy theories and urban legends to justify the unjustifiable. Want to ban schoolchildren from reading about Martin Luther King Jr.? Just falsely claim that something called "critical race theory" is being taught to school kids and use that as cover. Want to deny trans kids the right to be treated with dignity in public schools? Roll out some wild story about how kids are now "identifying" as cats and using litter boxes in school. Want to rile up the GOP going into the midterms? Screw making any substantive arguments! Just claim that Democrats are conspiring to "replace" white Christians with people of different races and ethnicities, a conspiracy theory lifted directly from neo-Nazis, with the details barely tweaked before being repeated hundreds of times on Fox News. 

Of course, in the latter case, the cost is paid in blood. We've seen repeated mass murders as a result of this "great replacement" conspiracy theory, with the latest in Buffalo, New York. This points to another, even darker purpose of the Republican reliance on urban legends instead of evidence: Dehumanizing the targets of their sadistic political views.

Lately, Republicans have accused their political opponents of "grooming" children, which is basically just a way of saying all Democrats are pedophiles. It's an idea directly borrowed from QAnon, just like "great replacement" is borrowed from white supremacist groups. The purpose of this kind of rhetoric is to paint your opponents — or in many cases, your actual targets— as subhuman and therefore deserving of any abuse you dish out, including violence.

Indeed, it's arguable that the abortion debate is how conservatives honed the art of spooling out monstrous false accusations in order to dehumanize their opponents. Falsely accusing doctors and abortion patients of "murder" has been standard conservative rhetoric for decades, and the human cost has been staggering: Assassinations of doctors, the bombing of clinics, and mass shootings of patients. Yet Republicans never let up, because despite claiming to be "pro-life," they can always be counted on to prioritize political point-scoring over actual human life. 

So yes, laugh at the weird anti-choice lady raving during a congressional hearing about fetus-powered street lamps. But remember the almost unfathomably deep cynicism that fuels such lies. Republicans are determined to set back women's rights by decades, punish people for having sex, and prop up racial inequities. They frankly do not care how many lives are ruined — or lost — in the process. And they don't care how stupid they sound when they roll out urban legends, so long as they finish the sadistic task of making unwanted childbirth mandatory across much, if not all, of the United States. 

 

[Ozlsn]

On 5/19/2022 at 11:01 AM, Cartmann99 said:

And you know what? If that doesn't work out in your state, you can move states. That's the great part about this republic. You can move states, live a totally different lifestyle if it doesn't work out for you in the state you're living right now. 

Apparently he doesn't understand the meaning of "federal" either.

13 hours ago, Alisamer said:

By his logic, ONLY women of childbearing age should have any say whatsoever on what laws effect their reproductive rights.

I'm OK with that, frankly. Old men are setting the laws for young women, and that's creepy. 

Interesting point. Also I can just imagine the outrage if it happened.

3 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

Just claim that Democrats are conspiring to "replace" white Christians with people of different races and ethnicities, a conspiracy theory lifted directly from neo-Nazis, with the details barely tweaked before being repeated hundreds of times on Fox News. 

They really need to start prosecuting people for incitement and linking the rhetoric back forcefully to the actions. If these guys were up there promoting joining ISIS I doubt they would be as untouchable as they seem to be.

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

I am not even going to include a link or say the asshole’s name because it is too ridiculous to consider, but an idiotic R Rep tried come up with asking Dr. Robinson if she supported a woman’s right to abort a healthy baby seconds from birth and a baby half out of the birth canal. She tried to answer by pretty much saying in a polite way, “Bitch, please!” combined with Marisa Tomei’s “My Cousin Vinny”’s “It’s a bullshit question!” but he cut her off and played for the media, including a sideswiping “it’s happened.” Oh really? Bring the receipts, you lying asshole. Produce one woman who has gone through labor and, seconds away from birth of a HEALTHY baby, says, “Yanno, changed my mind, kill the little shit.” Produce one woman who has a child halfway through the birth canal- which means the head has emerged and for legal purposes in all 50 states and territories the child is considered a legal human subject to protection under the murder statutes- who said, “Sheesh, second thoughts, abort the kid.” Her doctor would very likely refuse and if not, would be facing serious charges. I think we would have heard about it should such a case have actually happened. I really wish these witnesses would push back HARD and tell the members of Congress who insist it happens to produce the proof. When the members of Congress revert to a claim that the woman don’t want to be publicly available identified the witnesses have their golden chance to retort- “So let’s recap. These women aborted healthy babies seconds from birth or worse, already half out of the birth canal but you are insisting on THEIR right to reproductive privacy as a foundation for denying the right to reproductive privacy to women in far less women who objectionable and far more humane circumstances. Please reconcile your position. I’ll wait as I knit a toilet paper cozy of Betty White smiting you. 

[Alisamer]

19 hours ago, thoughtful said:

I think that the very idea of caring about others, including people who are not related to us or from any group we consider ourselves a part of, is foreign to people like Watters and all of the other anti-choice types.

I care because all of humanity is "my group," and I want harm decreased and safety  increased, for everyone.

I think this is a big thing. I know generalities are not a great thing, but what I see for the most part is that Republicans in power are all about "what does it matter to me", while democrats tend toward "what is best for society as a whole". Republicans are for the good of the few, Democrats are for the good of the many, for the most part. And that "few" the Republicans support are themselves and their billionaire donors.

Like how most of the people opposing abortion access are old white conservative men. They can't get pregnant, so why do they care? They don't. It won't be them dying from lack of access to healthcare. If, despite their money and good insurance and such, one of their daughters or granddaughters gets pregnant and doesn't want to be, you can bet that woman will get an abortion, no question. Legal or not. They can just go somewhere it IS legal. They can just pay a private doctor to take care of it. These laws literally do NOT affect them and their families in any way and never will. 

It's like that with many things, including just regular everyday healthcare. They have the fancy congress insurance and make plenty of money, and many of them were wealthy before even being elected. They don't care. They don't have to care. If they need healthcare they can get it. They can afford it. 

A former friend of mine was like that, but without the wealth and good insurance for himself. He could come up with any excuse why people shouldn't get help from the government for anything. "They should have planned ahead. They should have thought of that. They should just get a job. They should have gotten a better job. They should have..." all the shoulds. He could think of a million ways to say "well, it's their fault for being poor". (While his mom was on medicare, naturally.)

If the Republicans actually CARE about anyone else, ever, they are sure doing a shitty job of showing it.

[GreyhoundFan]

1 hour ago, Alisamer said:

I think this is a big thing. I know generalities are not a great thing, but what I see for the most part is that Republicans in power are all about "what does it matter to me", while democrats tend toward "what is best for society as a whole". Republicans are for the good of the few, Democrats are for the good of the many, for the most part. And that "few" the Republicans support are themselves and their billionaire donors.

Like how most of the people opposing abortion access are old white conservative men. They can't get pregnant, so why do they care? They don't. It won't be them dying from lack of access to healthcare. If, despite their money and good insurance and such, one of their daughters or granddaughters gets pregnant and doesn't want to be, you can bet that woman will get an abortion, no question. Legal or not. They can just go somewhere it IS legal. They can just pay a private doctor to take care of it. These laws literally do NOT affect them and their families in any way and never will. 

It's like that with many things, including just regular everyday healthcare. They have the fancy congress insurance and make plenty of money, and many of them were wealthy before even being elected. They don't care. They don't have to care. If they need healthcare they can get it. They can afford it. 

A former friend of mine was like that, but without the wealth and good insurance for himself. He could come up with any excuse why people shouldn't get help from the government for anything. "They should have planned ahead. They should have thought of that. They should just get a job. They should have gotten a better job. They should have..." all the shoulds. He could think of a million ways to say "well, it's their fault for being poor". (While his mom was on medicare, naturally.)

If the Republicans actually CARE about anyone else, ever, they are sure doing a shitty job of showing it.

I agree with your post. I’ve struggled with weight most of my life. I know what I “should” eat and how much to consume. Unfortunately, I am hungry every minute of every day. I can eat a huge meal to the point where I feel like I’m going to throw up, but I’m still hungry and feel like I want more. There is only one time in my life where I didn’t feel hungry. It was when Fen-Phen was a thing in the 1990s. I’m not exaggerating to say it was a miracle for me. Literally 30 minutes after the first dose, I stopped feeling hungry. Most days, I had to set an alarm to remember to eat. I lost 115 pounds in four months and was smaller than I had been in junior high. I felt wonderful, even though I had side effects (dry mouth, diarrhea, and insane dreams). Well, just like so many things, unscrupulous doctors started prescribing it for people who only had a few pounds to lose, instead of the morbidity obese, like it was meant for. So some people started having heart valve issues. The drug company quickly yanked the Fenfluramine component off the market. 

At the same time, Viagara came on the market. It caused lots of men to have heart attacks. 
 

Guess which one is still on the market? Hint: the one used by old white men who run drug companies.  Fen-Phen was used by more women than men. The decision makers didn’t care about the women, after all, if their wife got fat, he could ditch her for a thinner version, but heaven forbid he couldn’t get a boner. 
 

My doctor actually testified before a congressional committee to try and pressure the drug maker, to no avail. With my permission, I was one of the cases she presented. The hunger returned with a vengeance about two days after my last dose. My doctor has tried many combinations of meds over the years, but they’ve been of limited help. I put all the weight back on, plus lots more. And, yes, I had a gastric bypass in 2001, but the day after the surgery, when most people don’t feel hungry, I wanted to order a large pizza. 

Sorry for the wall of text, but I really hate the abortion/birth control fight going on now, fueled by a bunch of men  

It sucks that men can have so much say over healthcare for women. 

[47of74]

Shit like this is why I left the Roman church and is why the only reason I'll step foot in one again is for funerals of close family members.

Quote

The conservative archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may no longer receive the holy sacrament of Communion in the archdiocese, because she supports abortion rights.

In a letter to Pelosi released Friday afternoon, the archbishop wrote that he had informed the California Democrat that "should you not publically repudiate your advocacy for abortion 'rights' or else refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion, I would have no choice but to make a declaration, in keeping with canon 915, that you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion."

"As you have not publically repudiated your position on abortion, and continue to refer to your Catholic faith in justifying your position and to receive Holy Communion, that time has now come," he continued. "Therefore, in light of my responsibility as the Archbishop of San Francisco to be 'concerned for all the Christian faithful entrusted to [my] care' (Code of Canon Law, can. 383, §1), by means of this communication I am hereby notifying you that you are not to present yourself for Holy Communion and, should you do so, you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion, until such time as you publically repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance."

It just angers me that guys like Salvatore use communion as a weapon in order to oppress women even after the Pope asked Bishops not to do shit like this.  I would counsel Pelosi that the Episcopal Church would be more than happy to receive her and would never deny her communion because of her support of women's rights.

[Coconut Flan]

Cordileone is an outlier from San Diego.  I think he got pushed to San Francisco in hopes it would enlighten his views.  It doesn't seem to have worked.  He taught all kinds of outdated practices when he was assigned in east county.  He also supported an extremely conservative east county group that has gone national.  His parents aren't quite as bad, but they used to go to abortion protests so perhaps that's where he got that bee in his bonnet.  

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I agree with your post. I’ve struggled with weight most of my life. I know what I “should” eat and how much to consume. Unfortunately, I am hungry every minute of every day. I can eat a huge meal to the point where I feel like I’m going to throw up, but I’m still hungry and feel like I want more. There is only one time in my life where I didn’t feel hungry. It was when Fen-Phen was a thing in the 1990s. I’m not exaggerating to say it was a miracle for me. Literally 30 minutes after the first dose, I stopped feeling hungry. Most days, I had to set an alarm to remember to eat. I lost 115 pounds in four months and was smaller than I had been in junior high. I felt wonderful, even though I had side effects (dry mouth, diarrhea, and insane dreams). Well, just like so many things, unscrupulous doctors started prescribing it for people who only had a few pounds to lose, instead of the morbidity obese, like it was meant for. So some people started having heart valve issues. The drug company quickly yanked the Fenfluramine component off the market. 

At the same time, Viagara came on the market. It caused lots of men to have heart attacks. 
 

Guess which one is still on the market? Hint: the one used by old white men who run drug companies.  Fen-Phen was used by more women than men. The decision makers didn’t care about the women, after all, if their wife got fat, he could ditch her for a thinner version, but heaven forbid he couldn’t get a boner. 
 

My doctor actually testified before a congressional committee to try and pressure the drug maker, to no avail. With my permission, I was one of the cases she presented. The hunger returned with a vengeance about two days after my last dose. My doctor has tried many combinations of meds over the years, but they’ve been of limited help. I put all the weight back on, plus lots more. And, yes, I had a gastric bypass in 2001, but the day after the surgery, when most people don’t feel hungry, I wanted to order a large pizza. 

Sorry for the wall of text, but I really hate the abortion/birth control fight going on now, fueled by a bunch of men  

It sucks that men can have so much say over healthcare for women. 

I was prescribed birth control pills as a teenager due to severe endometriosis that  caused such bad issues that I would sometimes pass out and/or vomit from pain. (It’s one reason I was told over and over I would probably never conceive. Guess what wasn’t covered by insurance even though I was taking it for medical reasons? I fought every insurance company for coverage, providing proof including the pictures taken during my multiple laparoscopic procedures and letters from my doctors. But guess what was covered? Yep- Viagra. A woman suffers horribly due to endometriosis and it’s 🤷‍♀️ but a dude can’t get a stiffy and it’s a national crises. Oh and could we discuss how even though testicular cancer is far easier to self detect than cervical cancer, many insurance companies won’t cover pelvic exams and Pap smears until age 30 when the AMA recommends starting them at 18 but despite the AMA recommendation of testicular cancer checks starting at 50, insurance companies start covering the exams at 40. 

[Ozlsn]

39 minutes ago, AlmostSavedAtTacoBell said:

many insurance companies won’t cover pelvic exams and Pap smears until age 30 when the AMA recommends starting them at 18 but despite the AMA recommendation of testicular cancer checks starting at 50, insurance companies start covering the exams at 40. 

What the absolute hell? Pap smears are one of the few potential early warning signs of cervical cancer, why would you not include them from 18?? Or younger if sexually active?

The sooner the healthcare system gets replaced with universal or not-for-profit insurance only the better.

6 hours ago, Alisamer said:

These laws literally do NOT affect them and their families in any way and never will

The rich are not affected, the upper-middle class are but manage to scrape it together mostly, and the rest... should have power but are too busy holding it together to step back and go "... hang on". And those at the top won't acknowledge their own hypocrisy, because theirs is the only "justifiable" abortion. 

I am reading responses in twitter mentioning Oklahoma and to be honest I'm kind of afraid to look.

[Cartmann99]

29 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

I am reading responses in twitter mentioning Oklahoma and to be honest I'm kind of afraid to look.

Oklahoma passes strictest abortion ban; services to stop

Quote

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma lawmakers on Thursday approved a bill prohibiting all abortions with few exceptions, and providers said they would stop performing the procedure as soon as the governor signs it in the latest example of the GOP’s national push to restrict access to what has been a constitutional right for nearly a half century.

Oklahoma lawmakers this year already passed a half-dozen anti-abortion measures, and while abortion providers across the country have been bracing for the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court’s new conservative majority might further restrict the practice, that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

Two of Oklahoma’s four abortion clinics already stopped providing abortions after the governor signed a six-week ban earlier this month, and an attorney for the two other independent clinics said Thursday they will no longer offer services once the bill is signed. The bill is likely to reach Gov. Kevin Stitt’s desk early next week, and the first-term Republican running for reelection has already said he would sign any anti-abortion bill the Legislature sends to him. It would take effect immediately after he signs it.

“This bill could go into effect at any time, and once it does, any person can sue the clinic, the doctors, anyone else who is involved in providing an abortion in Oklahoma,” said Rabia Muqaddam, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma clinics in legal challenges against several proposed new anti-abortion laws.

The bills are part of an aggressive push in Republican-led states across the country to scale back abortion rights. It comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s high court that suggests justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The bill by Collinsville Republican Rep. Wendi Stearman would prohibit all abortions, except to save the life of a pregnant woman or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.

“Is our goal to defend the right to life or isn’t it?” Stearman asked her colleagues before the bill passed on a 73-16 vote, mostly along party lines.

The bill specifically authorizes doctors to remove a “dead unborn child caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic pregnancy, a potentially life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, often in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.

With all of the state’s abortion clinics expected to stop offering services, it’s not clear where a woman who qualified under one of these exemptions would go to get an abortion because providers say many doctors would be afraid of running afoul of the law.

The bill also does not apply to the use of Plan B, other morning-after pills or any type of contraception.

Because the bill defines an “unborn child” as a human fetus or embryo in any stage of gestation from fertilization until birth, it is not expected to apply to in vitro fertilization, which is when eggs are fertilized in a lab before being transferred into a woman’s uterus, said Dr. Eli Reshef, an Oklahoma City fertility specialist.

“(The bill) does not criminalize what we do,” Reshef said. “No matter one’s position on abortion, we are not concerned about the bill harming our particular profession.”

The bill is one of at least three anti-abortion bills sent this year to Stitt. Another abortion bill similar to a Texas bill passed last year that prohibits the procedure after cardiac activity can be detected in the embryo, which experts say is about six weeks, already has taken effect and has already dramatically curtailed the practice in Oklahoma. Another bill set to take effect this summer would make it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. That bill contains no exceptions for rape or incest.

“At this point, we are preparing for the most restrictive environment politicians can create: a complete ban on abortion with likely no exceptions,” said Emily Wales, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which stopped providing abortions at two of its Oklahoma clinics after the six-week ban took effect earlier this month. “It’s the worst-case scenario for abortion care in the state of Oklahoma.”

Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would allow private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

After Texas passed its bill last year, there was a dramatic reduction in the number of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

There are legal challenges pending in Oklahoma to both the bill to criminalize abortion and the six-week Texas ban, both of which could still be halted, but the courts have so far failed to do so.

The number of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma has declined steadily over the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, according to data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, before the Texas law was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma were women from Texas.

In the first four months after Texas’ law took effect last September, abortions at clinics in the state dropped an average of 46% compared to the same span the year prior. But studies also found a sharp increase in the number of Texas women who were ordering abortion pills by mail and traveling out of state for abortions.

 

[Ozlsn]

 

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

But @Ozlsn, everyone knows that cervical cancer is God’s punishment for girls being dirty little sluts for having sex before marriage and if a girl keeps pure she will never get cervical cancer whereas boys’ dicks and balls are high holy temples to be worshipped and given all the best medical intervention and research because the girls are just the earthen vessels but the boys are the headships and do I even need to add the sarcasm notation? I posted it as yet another example of medical treatment for women being underfunded and underprioritized but medical care for men being overemphasized. 

[Ozlsn]

@AlmostSavedAtTacoBell oh I know but it still just hits me with a "in what reality is this a good idea??" force. I mean it's preventative medicine and cheaper in the long run ffs.

Then again I just finished reading "Dopesick" and seriously why are harm minimisation strategies still controversial? Not just in the US, we're still having arguments about safe injecting rooms but at least needle exchanges are now non-controversial. (Also that was a seriously depressing book and there needs to be some major overhauls of regulation of pharmaceutical advertising.)

[Audrey2]

19 hours ago, 47of74 said:

Shit like this is why I left the Roman church and is why the only reason I'll step foot in one again is for funerals of close family members.

It just angers me that guys like Salvatore use communion as a weapon in order to oppress women even after the Pope asked Bishops not to do shit like this.  I would counsel Pelosi that the Episcopal Church would be more than happy to receive her and would never deny her communion because of her support of women's rights.

I think Nancy is a better person than I am. I think if I got a notification like this I would send a very sweetly worded note that would look something like this: "Thank you for informing me that I will no longer be eligible to take communion because of my beliefs. Consequently I no longer feel comfortable with giving you any money in the offering plate."

[47of74]

1 hour ago, Audrey2 said:

I think Nancy is a better person than I am. I think if I got a notification like this I would send a very sweetly worded note that would look something like this: "Thank you for informing me that I will no longer be eligible to take communion because of my beliefs. Consequently I no longer feel comfortable with giving you any money in the offering plate."

Yes she is a better person than I am as well.  A lot of Democratic politicians are much better people than I am.  Many of them have much thicker skins than what I do.  I probably would struggle with even keeping the word fornicate out of my response to the Archbishop.

I think cutting the amount given to the church down to zero would be a good response.  If lots of Catholics did this we'd see how long the far right ideological purity would last among the Bishops.      

[NotQuiteMotY]

On 5/20/2022 at 7:29 PM, Ozlsn said:

 

PA is not safe. We have a Republican legislature which has sent several bills to ban or severely limit abortion to the governor. If the Republican nominee for governor wins in November (please God no) then he's said he'll ban abortion including ones performed to save the life of the mother.