Regarding the ballot initiative in Maryland. A committee says it “threatens to eliminate parental rights to make important medical decisions for their minor children.” This sounds like there might be a rider advancing or protecting transgender medical regimes, but there is nothing in the actual amendment that looks like it does that. Here is a link to Ballotpedia and the initiative,
"That every person, as a central component of an individual's rights to liberty and equality, has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including but not limited to the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one's own pregnancy. The state may not, directly or indirectly, deny, burden, or abridge the right unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means."
Good interview with Senator Elizabeth Warren in Glamour:
"Today should have been the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade."
"Instead, too many people can’t get the medical care they need where they need it when they need it. Students who are desperate for help get the runaround. Poor women face impossible hurdles. Children who have survived rape and become pregnant are frightened and confused. Fertility clinics are abandoning services. And families that had hoped for a baby face excruciating heartache when the pregnancy goes wrong and doctors are barred from helping."
"At every turn we see a new form of hell, brought to us by an extremist Supreme Court and a powerful band of Republican politicians determined to obliterate reproductive freedom across the country."
I saw a glimmer of hope when I heard Warren say on MSNBC’s Last Word that she wanted “a stronger Roe.” But I hear you: No government interference in pregnancy care is warranted or wanted, at any stage in the process. I think we need to fight for that and it doesn’t help to have women ready to settle for less. Tammy Baldwin is another disappointment.
Warren is my Senator, and I've learned that she is someone who is willing to expand her thinking on some issues. In 2016, the Waltons funded a ballot initiative to remove the cap on charter schools in MA. Warren had been a supporter of charters; Teach for America had embedded and paid for one of her Congressional aides on education. But presented the research that charters harm and undermine public schools, Warren changed her mind.
We’re neighbors! She’s my Senator as well, and she is capable of evolving, you’re right.
Another reason I don’t want Roe is that there was some agreement made with Catholic (and I’m guessing other religious hospitals) that allowed them to withhold life-saving care even when Roe was the law. That has to change. Anyone in an emergency must be able to count on getting the care they need no matter what ER or hospital they are in.
Absolutely 👍 When we get our rights back, we need to demand there be NO RESTRICTIONS by dates or condition.
And we must stop the chip, chip, chipping away at it. No damn ultrasounds & then wait 24°, No having to see the same provider for all visits, & all the other nonsense the anti-abortion ppl pushed & pushed.
I think you’re right. I can only speak from my experience in the 90s when a Catholic hospital turned me away when we discovered my ectopic pregnancy. It was my introduction to Catholicism and their lousy “care”. I have a bit of PTSD watching this non care becoming SOP in red states.
Do you know if Catholic hospitals can withhold care in MA? I assume they can.
Hello from Wisconsin where we are about to get new, fair voting maps and most of our Republican state legislators will have to actually earn their seats for the first time during their tenure. Many of them need to look moderate on abortion, and this bill that will be sold as a "14 week limit" will be very helpful to pull out of their bag of tricks. We are working to get the word out now and the vote out in November. Any and all help, including Jessica's excellent coverage, is greatly appreciated!
Highly recommend signing up with the Wisconsin Democratic Party. They’re the best organized and most effective state party in the country and they’ll put you to work right away!
Thank you for the podcast recommendation. I love listening to podcasts on my walks. Other podcasts that are great for pro-abortion folks are "The Nocturnist," "Amicus," "The Retrievals," and "Re Pros Fight Back."
What galls me most about forcing women to have unnecessary c sections or vaginal birth, beyond the hateful cruelty, is they then have to pay tens of thousands in medical bills. Possibly for years. It can financially cripple people & families. For years!
I also want Democrats to work for something better than “restoring Roe”. Roe allowed states to throw obstacles in the way of women any way they could. Forced waiting periods, cervical exams, etc. All ridiculous. Government needs to have exactly no role in this!
Agreed. I would really like to see proposals on what that would look like. AED keeps highlighting upcoming state ballot measures that look like almost Roe and make me a little sad.
I mean the actual language. Abortion will never have the same protection as guns *because no one is trying to take away the guns*.
I see constitutional amendments with weeks or viability language or exception language. Even in Ohio opponents are considering/trying to redefine what abortion means to minimize the Constitutional protection.
I want to see progressive post-Dobbs pro Choice language that can get a consensus of doctors, repro rights advocates, and other experts. Maybe what Connecticut has or a Michigan proposal?
I'm not sure but something like "Government shall not infringe upon the right to an abortion at any time during a pregnancy." with legal loopholes covered. A constitutional lawyer needs to write it!
I think all of us deep down believe life is unfair and often cruel.
All you have to do is convince people that that unfairness is just part of life or how God intended and they’ll focus on other real or imagined issues.
We’re in a war for attention and education in a crappy media environment.
“As I reported yesterday, the measure can’t really go anywhere since it would need to pass the Republican-controlled legislature before getting to the ballot—but it’s a smart idea to remind voters that the state GOP is trying to prevent them from having a say.”
👆 It’s essential to act to tell the story. I’m convinced even if we get national Roe++ protections current SCOTUS would block it. But until we try, we can’t make the case for changing the court.
It is essential because it’s hard for pro-choice any party affiliation to feel like there’s hope unless D legislators try to put a bill forth and their PR spokespeople advertise it. This is such an important point for D candidates to campaign on and D legislators to act on. If you are a D candidate in a red state, you will not gin up a base while trying to walk a line on the prochoice issue. You will give D voters a reason to stay home.
Any Democrat can beat any gop in any district even the ruby red ones if the Democrat hammers on Dobbs all day every day. But get all wishy washy both sides and lose lose lose.
This is vital, Waverly. I hope they’re being aggressively pro-active, but I haven’t read anything. In 2021, I told my then 19-year-old niece if Roe fell, it would eventually be impossible to buy at-home pregnancy tests because every test result would need to be tracked to a birth outcome. Such statements sound more plausible the longer this goes on, and Democrats should be ahead of it.
They will also force compliance in states that have enshrined abortion into their constitutions by withholding all federal funding to those states. ALL federal funding. For any and everything.
They'll use the CDC to do this nationally. They allude to it in Project 2025. They define life as "From conception to natural death." They say this over and over again. There is no nod to 15-week national bans or consensus. They will ban abortion from conception. Period. And they will transform an agency like the CDC into womb surveillance with like-minded employees they hire after they fire everyone who refuses to toe their political line.
What worries me is people keep failing to take the possibilities seriously, and so they keep happening. Trump will never get elected. Something like January 6th could never happen in America. They'll never overturn Roe. Trump will never get elected again after everything that's happened. Project 2025 will never be enacted. Once is once but this is a pattern. And so I really wonder whether the companies you mention understand the threat coming their way. It seems like people have too much confidence in America, that there are too many things they think they're safe from. Does anyone who isn't a subscriber here really get that yes they are coming after birth control and yes they are coming after pregnancy screening? Even when their business is on the line? If people could see what's happening, maybe they could stop it. But I'm not confident in the Democrats' messaging so far. (Btw I've refrained from comments since that rebuke I got Friday night made me think about it. Sometimes screaming into the void can be loud and self-indulgent. But thanks for the support!)
My husband and I keep having this conversation. I'm launching my Project 2025 Substack any day now. (I made myself read every word of the whole thing before launch. I didn't want to post as I read. It has overarching themes and really important stuff buried in pages of boring words. I think it's important to tie those themes together for readers.) Anyway, I word-vomited the parenthetical to say this: He and I talked about how I vacillate between "why bother because so few Americans will care about this anyway" to "I have to try so that I can live with myself."
My husband often says our city gets the buildings and design it deserves. I feel like Americans will get the government it deserves this year. I sound like such an asshole, but over 100 million eligible Americans cannot even be bothered to vote in major elections. And they're ALL major now. It's easy for them to shrug and say "This won't happen, so I'm not going to worry about it." I've spent my whole adult life dealing with this attitude in different work settings, in family situations, with friends. I'm almost always right when I assess a situation and predict something (it's both gift and curse), but it never feels good after the fact to say, "I tried to tell you."
I'm sorry I missed your comments last week. I was scarce because we were celebrating a significant birthday for my husband. But please know I never find them to be self-indulgent. I appreciate what you say here.
Andra, I am so glad you’ve taken on the task of distilling the 109 pages of Project 2025 for us into readable chunks. I look forward to reading it, probably so I can terrorize myself even more than I already am.
I vacillate between pure red anger & outrage at the insanity & feelings of depression & hopelessness. I just can’t believe what this country has come to.
I’ve been messaging my favorite msnbc hosts to please, please spend more time talking about Project 2025 & to stress upon their viewers how the policies in there will directly affect their lives. It’s so important.
And I don’t care who thinks that I’m a horrible person, I hope every day that Clarence Thomas has a huge heart attack & is unable to return to work.
I think ultimately you are correct that America will get the government it deserves this year, and while on the one hand we absolutely need to try to stop it, on the other hand we have to accept reality as it presents itself. I don't think America wants a Christian fascist government, but I don't think it understands those are the stakes, and there are so many other things America doesn't want, some of which come from the Democratic party too. We may have to find the equilibrium the hard way. My prevailing feelings tend to be mostly terror, mixed with the desire to strangle a fascist. Sometimes I try to tell myself to reimagine the future as a 'fun' WWII caper, or as underground dissent revolutionaries or such. It's not all that effective yet.
If you are at all curious, check out the post from Friday titled Republicans want women to have c-sections. It was about a Wisconsin bill, and it was one of those days when I was especially eager and chatty, replying to a lot of things. Near the very bottom (because they're sorted by likes I think?) you will see where someone held up a mirror and I didn't like what I saw, even as I don't think the reflection was fully true either. I was properly mortified, and I don't want anyone to come here and feel that way. Everyone brings a lot of pain with them here. My overactive brain often gets the better of me, and I tend to deal with it by talking, so I talk too much and always have. But that's on me. Anyhow, you are one of my favorite people to read here and I look forward to your substack and I think it's vitally important. I hope you and your husband and friends had a good weekend! :)
Haha no such thing as too long of a comment in my world! I suppose people think they're insulated. It's cruel to not care unless it happens to people like you, but I suppose some of that is a survival mechanism, in a world full of so much suffering? The thing is it can and will happen to people like them, and we need to show that. So yeah White middle/upper-middle class women are going to get extra attention. But yes I don't know to what extent people really believe it yet, because denial is so much easier when the truth is so horrific. I feel like there's still too much of that from elected or establishment Democrats, who are really running the risk of not doing everything they can to protect the country. That won't work out well for them; they will get a lot of rage directed their way if Republicans win.
Yes, everyone's communication preferences are different. I see women here who comment twice on the same thread and apologize for it. Meanwhile sometimes the monkey in the cage in the corner (that's me :) keeps blabbering! There's a happy medium to be found if I work at it. Most prudent to re: specifically to those who always like and reply to my comments. It all does kind of support what I believe about men tending to be clueless and needing adult (i.e. female) supervision, if even I fall into the trap!
Regarding Ohio: That guy has a lot of nerve talking about common sense.
Regarding the ballot initiative in Maryland. A committee says it “threatens to eliminate parental rights to make important medical decisions for their minor children.” This sounds like there might be a rider advancing or protecting transgender medical regimes, but there is nothing in the actual amendment that looks like it does that. Here is a link to Ballotpedia and the initiative,
https://ballotpedia.org/Maryland_Right_to_Reproductive_Freedom_Amendment_(2024)
"That every person, as a central component of an individual's rights to liberty and equality, has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including but not limited to the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one's own pregnancy. The state may not, directly or indirectly, deny, burden, or abridge the right unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means."
I hope the phrase “government mandated medically unnecessary surgery” is used loudly and often to describe the WI Republican proposal.
And it’s expensive, too!
Good interview with Senator Elizabeth Warren in Glamour:
"Today should have been the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade."
"Instead, too many people can’t get the medical care they need where they need it when they need it. Students who are desperate for help get the runaround. Poor women face impossible hurdles. Children who have survived rape and become pregnant are frightened and confused. Fertility clinics are abandoning services. And families that had hoped for a baby face excruciating heartache when the pregnancy goes wrong and doctors are barred from helping."
"At every turn we see a new form of hell, brought to us by an extremist Supreme Court and a powerful band of Republican politicians determined to obliterate reproductive freedom across the country."
https://www.glamour.com/story/sen-elizabeth-warren-open-letter-roe?mbid=social_twitter_glamourmain
I just wish she'd embrace the idea that restoring Roe isn't enough.
I saw a glimmer of hope when I heard Warren say on MSNBC’s Last Word that she wanted “a stronger Roe.” But I hear you: No government interference in pregnancy care is warranted or wanted, at any stage in the process. I think we need to fight for that and it doesn’t help to have women ready to settle for less. Tammy Baldwin is another disappointment.
Warren is my Senator, and I've learned that she is someone who is willing to expand her thinking on some issues. In 2016, the Waltons funded a ballot initiative to remove the cap on charter schools in MA. Warren had been a supporter of charters; Teach for America had embedded and paid for one of her Congressional aides on education. But presented the research that charters harm and undermine public schools, Warren changed her mind.
We’re neighbors! She’s my Senator as well, and she is capable of evolving, you’re right.
Another reason I don’t want Roe is that there was some agreement made with Catholic (and I’m guessing other religious hospitals) that allowed them to withhold life-saving care even when Roe was the law. That has to change. Anyone in an emergency must be able to count on getting the care they need no matter what ER or hospital they are in.
Absolutely 👍 When we get our rights back, we need to demand there be NO RESTRICTIONS by dates or condition.
And we must stop the chip, chip, chipping away at it. No damn ultrasounds & then wait 24°, No having to see the same provider for all visits, & all the other nonsense the anti-abortion ppl pushed & pushed.
We're fortunate here in MA.
I think the Catholic hospitals' withholding of care pre-dates even Roe. I know my aunt was refused care she asked for in that time period.
I think you’re right. I can only speak from my experience in the 90s when a Catholic hospital turned me away when we discovered my ectopic pregnancy. It was my introduction to Catholicism and their lousy “care”. I have a bit of PTSD watching this non care becoming SOP in red states.
Do you know if Catholic hospitals can withhold care in MA? I assume they can.
She was also on MSNBC last night & got PR for a passionate speech on the Senate floor.
Hello from Wisconsin where we are about to get new, fair voting maps and most of our Republican state legislators will have to actually earn their seats for the first time during their tenure. Many of them need to look moderate on abortion, and this bill that will be sold as a "14 week limit" will be very helpful to pull out of their bag of tricks. We are working to get the word out now and the vote out in November. Any and all help, including Jessica's excellent coverage, is greatly appreciated!
Highly recommend signing up with the Wisconsin Democratic Party. They’re the best organized and most effective state party in the country and they’ll put you to work right away!
Thank you for the podcast recommendation. I love listening to podcasts on my walks. Other podcasts that are great for pro-abortion folks are "The Nocturnist," "Amicus," "The Retrievals," and "Re Pros Fight Back."
What galls me most about forcing women to have unnecessary c sections or vaginal birth, beyond the hateful cruelty, is they then have to pay tens of thousands in medical bills. Possibly for years. It can financially cripple people & families. For years!
And those so-called "non-profit tax-free " religious hospitals have some of the most agressive debt collecting tactics.
I also want Democrats to work for something better than “restoring Roe”. Roe allowed states to throw obstacles in the way of women any way they could. Forced waiting periods, cervical exams, etc. All ridiculous. Government needs to have exactly no role in this!
Agreed. I would really like to see proposals on what that would look like. AED keeps highlighting upcoming state ballot measures that look like almost Roe and make me a little sad.
Constitutional amendments at state or federal levels giving abortion the same protection as guns?
I mean the actual language. Abortion will never have the same protection as guns *because no one is trying to take away the guns*.
I see constitutional amendments with weeks or viability language or exception language. Even in Ohio opponents are considering/trying to redefine what abortion means to minimize the Constitutional protection.
I want to see progressive post-Dobbs pro Choice language that can get a consensus of doctors, repro rights advocates, and other experts. Maybe what Connecticut has or a Michigan proposal?
I'm not sure but something like "Government shall not infringe upon the right to an abortion at any time during a pregnancy." with legal loopholes covered. A constitutional lawyer needs to write it!
That’s what I am asking for. I want to see the proposal and which medical and reprorights groups would endorse it.
👍
"Sen. Foreman is clearly out of step with the values of the vast majority of Idahoans" is he though? If so they surely don't vote that way.
I think all of us deep down believe life is unfair and often cruel.
All you have to do is convince people that that unfairness is just part of life or how God intended and they’ll focus on other real or imagined issues.
We’re in a war for attention and education in a crappy media environment.
Increases in teen birth rates, increases in maternal mortality, and increases in infant mortality - good job Texas! /s
Props to whoever created the Trump Haley video.
Just a hint of irony in Trump's assertion that he "terminated" abortion rights, ¿qué no?
I wish his mother had aborted him.
“As I reported yesterday, the measure can’t really go anywhere since it would need to pass the Republican-controlled legislature before getting to the ballot—but it’s a smart idea to remind voters that the state GOP is trying to prevent them from having a say.”
👆 It’s essential to act to tell the story. I’m convinced even if we get national Roe++ protections current SCOTUS would block it. But until we try, we can’t make the case for changing the court.
It is essential because it’s hard for pro-choice any party affiliation to feel like there’s hope unless D legislators try to put a bill forth and their PR spokespeople advertise it. This is such an important point for D candidates to campaign on and D legislators to act on. If you are a D candidate in a red state, you will not gin up a base while trying to walk a line on the prochoice issue. You will give D voters a reason to stay home.
Any Democrat can beat any gop in any district even the ruby red ones if the Democrat hammers on Dobbs all day every day. But get all wishy washy both sides and lose lose lose.
This is vital, Waverly. I hope they’re being aggressively pro-active, but I haven’t read anything. In 2021, I told my then 19-year-old niece if Roe fell, it would eventually be impossible to buy at-home pregnancy tests because every test result would need to be tracked to a birth outcome. Such statements sound more plausible the longer this goes on, and Democrats should be ahead of it.
They will also force compliance in states that have enshrined abortion into their constitutions by withholding all federal funding to those states. ALL federal funding. For any and everything.
They'll use the CDC to do this nationally. They allude to it in Project 2025. They define life as "From conception to natural death." They say this over and over again. There is no nod to 15-week national bans or consensus. They will ban abortion from conception. Period. And they will transform an agency like the CDC into womb surveillance with like-minded employees they hire after they fire everyone who refuses to toe their political line.
What worries me is people keep failing to take the possibilities seriously, and so they keep happening. Trump will never get elected. Something like January 6th could never happen in America. They'll never overturn Roe. Trump will never get elected again after everything that's happened. Project 2025 will never be enacted. Once is once but this is a pattern. And so I really wonder whether the companies you mention understand the threat coming their way. It seems like people have too much confidence in America, that there are too many things they think they're safe from. Does anyone who isn't a subscriber here really get that yes they are coming after birth control and yes they are coming after pregnancy screening? Even when their business is on the line? If people could see what's happening, maybe they could stop it. But I'm not confident in the Democrats' messaging so far. (Btw I've refrained from comments since that rebuke I got Friday night made me think about it. Sometimes screaming into the void can be loud and self-indulgent. But thanks for the support!)
I go to all the Dem campaign SM sites & tell them : Say the word
ABORTION, continuing to use euphemisms just perpetuates the shame. I’ll begin adding: Do not accept restrictions
My husband and I keep having this conversation. I'm launching my Project 2025 Substack any day now. (I made myself read every word of the whole thing before launch. I didn't want to post as I read. It has overarching themes and really important stuff buried in pages of boring words. I think it's important to tie those themes together for readers.) Anyway, I word-vomited the parenthetical to say this: He and I talked about how I vacillate between "why bother because so few Americans will care about this anyway" to "I have to try so that I can live with myself."
My husband often says our city gets the buildings and design it deserves. I feel like Americans will get the government it deserves this year. I sound like such an asshole, but over 100 million eligible Americans cannot even be bothered to vote in major elections. And they're ALL major now. It's easy for them to shrug and say "This won't happen, so I'm not going to worry about it." I've spent my whole adult life dealing with this attitude in different work settings, in family situations, with friends. I'm almost always right when I assess a situation and predict something (it's both gift and curse), but it never feels good after the fact to say, "I tried to tell you."
I'm sorry I missed your comments last week. I was scarce because we were celebrating a significant birthday for my husband. But please know I never find them to be self-indulgent. I appreciate what you say here.
Andra, I am so glad you’ve taken on the task of distilling the 109 pages of Project 2025 for us into readable chunks. I look forward to reading it, probably so I can terrorize myself even more than I already am.
I vacillate between pure red anger & outrage at the insanity & feelings of depression & hopelessness. I just can’t believe what this country has come to.
I’ve been messaging my favorite msnbc hosts to please, please spend more time talking about Project 2025 & to stress upon their viewers how the policies in there will directly affect their lives. It’s so important.
And I don’t care who thinks that I’m a horrible person, I hope every day that Clarence Thomas has a huge heart attack & is unable to return to work.
Ditto for 'Son of Sam' Alito.
I think ultimately you are correct that America will get the government it deserves this year, and while on the one hand we absolutely need to try to stop it, on the other hand we have to accept reality as it presents itself. I don't think America wants a Christian fascist government, but I don't think it understands those are the stakes, and there are so many other things America doesn't want, some of which come from the Democratic party too. We may have to find the equilibrium the hard way. My prevailing feelings tend to be mostly terror, mixed with the desire to strangle a fascist. Sometimes I try to tell myself to reimagine the future as a 'fun' WWII caper, or as underground dissent revolutionaries or such. It's not all that effective yet.
If you are at all curious, check out the post from Friday titled Republicans want women to have c-sections. It was about a Wisconsin bill, and it was one of those days when I was especially eager and chatty, replying to a lot of things. Near the very bottom (because they're sorted by likes I think?) you will see where someone held up a mirror and I didn't like what I saw, even as I don't think the reflection was fully true either. I was properly mortified, and I don't want anyone to come here and feel that way. Everyone brings a lot of pain with them here. My overactive brain often gets the better of me, and I tend to deal with it by talking, so I talk too much and always have. But that's on me. Anyhow, you are one of my favorite people to read here and I look forward to your substack and I think it's vitally important. I hope you and your husband and friends had a good weekend! :)
Haha no such thing as too long of a comment in my world! I suppose people think they're insulated. It's cruel to not care unless it happens to people like you, but I suppose some of that is a survival mechanism, in a world full of so much suffering? The thing is it can and will happen to people like them, and we need to show that. So yeah White middle/upper-middle class women are going to get extra attention. But yes I don't know to what extent people really believe it yet, because denial is so much easier when the truth is so horrific. I feel like there's still too much of that from elected or establishment Democrats, who are really running the risk of not doing everything they can to protect the country. That won't work out well for them; they will get a lot of rage directed their way if Republicans win.
Yes, everyone's communication preferences are different. I see women here who comment twice on the same thread and apologize for it. Meanwhile sometimes the monkey in the cage in the corner (that's me :) keeps blabbering! There's a happy medium to be found if I work at it. Most prudent to re: specifically to those who always like and reply to my comments. It all does kind of support what I believe about men tending to be clueless and needing adult (i.e. female) supervision, if even I fall into the trap!