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Why do they lie? The nervous system has only begun to develop at six weeks.

Facts Are Important: Gestational Development and Capacity for Pain

"Facts are important, especially when it comes to policies and discussions that impact patients. Here are the scientific facts concerning gestational development and capacity for pain.

The science conclusively establishes that a human fetus does not have the capacity to experience pain until after at least 24–25 weeks. Every major medical organization that has examined this issue and peer-reviewed studies on the matter have consistently reached the conclusion that abortion before this point does not result in the perception of pain in a fetus.

Rigorous scientific studies have found that the connections necessary to transmit signals from peripheral sensory nerves to the brain, as well as the brain structures necessary to process those signals, do not develop until at or after 24 weeks of gestation. Because it lacks these connections and structures, a fetus or embryo does not have the physiological capacity to perceive pain until at least this gestational age.

https://www.acog.org/advocacy/facts-are-important/gestational-development-capacity-for-pain

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Thanks so much for posting the link for the interview with Allie Phillips. I had prior plans that day and could not get down to the city. She is my niece and I am so proud of her. When she asked me what I thought about her running, I told her to make that MF-er work for it. I said, just because he was born on 3rd base doesn't mean you should let him walk. Also proves that just because someone may be successful in business, it doesn't make them smart. Also, for your readers: her Tiktok channel: https://www.tiktok.com/@.allie.phillips?lang=en

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Looking forward to "Long Pork". I was always pissed in Steel Magnolias that Shelby (Julia Roberts) didn't have an abortion given the health risks of her pregnancy. I didn't see anything noble in dying and leaving your family bereft and with a new baby to care for.

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Thank you! I hated that movie because of that nonsense!

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Re: the women’s health initiative. If the Dems run Biden again - and it looks like we will - I will absolutely vote for him, because not doing so would put the Christo-fascists back in power. (And it is important to make sure our young progressive friends understand that staying home or voting 3rd party is just not an option this time. The danger is just too high.) But. Biden is personally conflicted about abortion; he can barely say the word. His attitude toward women is still very paternalistic and a bit condescending. He doesn’t want to talk about sexual & reproductive health. I haven’t looked at the language of the initiative, but I can imagine much of the money ending up going to “uncontroversial” study subjects like breast cancer & heart disease (not that those aren’t important) His admin is not going to fight for us unless we make a lot of noise and force them to.

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So agree. Just talking to young progressives in the context of climate change. They are so angry that "nothing" has been done and blame Biden and Biden supporters for "gaslighting" them. In fact, a lot is being done. Is it enough? No, but the best we've done so far. Bottom line, I'm sympathetic to their anger, but we can't afford to not vote strategically.

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Republicans are counting on the fact that the voters each side needs in order to win the election are people who haven't voted since 2020. They expect these voters to care more about inflation/economy or a general sense of insecurity (refugees at the border? foreign wars? crime??) and to vote against the incumbent and his party. If that happens, and polling suggests it very well could, especially given voter concerns more specific to Biden, then we will be facing our darkest hour. I don't know how to prepare for that, other than repeating the warning over and over, as if that could make it not happen. To all, do whatever you need to do to take care of yourself, and let no evil catch you by surprise.

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#2 is a 58 minute CSPAN video about a Heritage Foundation discussion. Warning, it’s a lot.

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#2 - I wrote a post about this in yesterday’s thread late this afternoon. Rep. Bob Good (VA - R) trying to come up with new language and reason VA Rs lost, plus much more. 58 min long.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?531812-1/heritage-foundation-discussion-abortion-pills

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Jessica, I’m in a mood and need to ask all here to help reclaim the American flag. WE are the freedom fighters. The American flag is ours and can proudly be adorned along with our trans flags, our BLM flags and a big bold pink Planned Parenthood flag. Let the GOP have their white Christian nationalism bullshit flag that hangs at the speaker of the house of representative’s office?!? Let them have that one. The American flag is far better represented by what we seek. Ranting.

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The feel good at the end just made my night. :)

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Speaking of things you love to see . . . it appears our plan to give local “sidewalk counselors” who harass patients at Planned Parenthood a dose of their own medicine has borne fruit. Both Kevan Myers, who was renting space from a local congregation and Clifton Boje, who was serving as musical director for a mainstream congregation, were forced to leave their places of worship due to our protests. They’ve taken refuge at an AIM-affiliated church in Bonner Springs, where it’s probably useless to protest because they know what Kevan and Cliffy do and support them.

Still, it feels like a win that we were able to expose them to the more mainstream churchgoers they were hiding amongst, and drive them back into the arms of their supporters. Baby steps.

Both of them were REALLY pissed about getting the same treatment they give patients at Planned Parenthood. Last time I was there, Kevan practically snarled at me: “Satan LIES and so do you!” Usually, he’s one of those more-in-sorrow-than-anger types, or at least pretends to be.

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❤️👍👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

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Thank you so much for doing this. Clinic escorts and counter protestors like you are angles among us. People like you made my abortion experience a little easier. Thank you.

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I really like 👍 how you guys always kick ass with those jerks. I can still picture the whistling tactics from one of your last videos. Keep up the excellent work.

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I generally support women in leadership since they usually see things in a better way with more compassion and understanding - but not those republican women in Ohio!

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We have some of those women in VA too. I believe all candidates must be vetted these days. After what happened in NC and the fact that women run all the anti-choice groups, abortion=healthcare is the message.

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It’s amazing how quickly the forced birthers come out with a new talking point, phrase or “word of the week” and how quickly it’s regurgitated in the news by politicians. Biden, the Dems and the media have to call out and question this BS every single time.

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Yes, consensus does not mean what they think it means.

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Agree, I’m waiting to see how long it takes for them to say “94% of abortions happen prior to 15 weeks, we are only trying to ban 6%” The response should be, go talk to the women suing TX.

I hope those women give other women the courage to share, although I hate for them to relive such tragedy. Their stories have woken a lot of women up and made them realize they do not want the chance of that happening to their children.

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And they wonder, WONDER, why he polls so low.

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I watched the Ronna clip "Can't we come to a consensus on 15 weeks when a baby feels pain? Make Democrats have to defend that." I was just like, sure love to- Republicans want to force women to give birth to babies only to watch them asphyxiate in their arms. All the while calling it a "healing" experience. I hear asphyxiation is pretty damn painful.

I've been thinking about what I want to hear from Biden. I think if he came out and said "Look, I'm a Catholic, the issue of abortion makes me really uncomfortable, but you know what? It shouldn't be up to me to tell women what to do with their bodies. There's lots of things that make me uncomfortable, but that doesn't mean those things should be illegal." And then pivot into some horror stories on the ground, listening to actual women, and talk about his evolution on the issue. I think that could be both believable and effective given that a ton of people (especially those 25% born again evangelicals) are looking around and starting to see that reality isn't measuring up to fantasy with these bans.

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I agree - I think some honestly around abortion being an uncomfortable topic would go a long ways. It’s complicated. It’s grey. That’s OK! So much of life is that way.

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I would prefer he say what JFK said: I’ll answer to the Constitution, not the Vatican. But he won’t.

There’s no reason for him not to point out that our country believes in the separation of Church and State. He should have made that clear long ago.

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“Today, the Biden administration announced the first-ever White House initiative on women’s health research, yet didn’t even mention abortion. In fairness, the press release doesn’t cite any specific issues that the initiative will focus on—but during a press call, administration officials pivoted when asked directly about abortion.”

This fucking pisses me off. We’re more than half of this fucking country’s population and Biden just can’t bring himself to show us the compassion and fierceness he saves for EVERYONE ELSE under the sun. I swear he is the last Catholic I vote for. How the fuck do Democrats think they’re winning ANYTHING these days?! It’s women and it’s fucking time they showed us some respect. God, I’m angry.

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I have heard VP Harris talk about it multiple times now though.

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I know, that really pissed me off, too. It’s so cowardly. And so tactically stupid.

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