I've been thinking a lot about the words we use to describe the people who call themselves "pro-life." I see the term "forced birth" being used, and it's not wrong, but it doesn't encompass their complete lack of compassion toward women who miscarry or toward fetuses who will be born to a brief "life" of suffering. I think they're actually "pro-suffering." Those who are "sincere" and not gleefully cruel make a fetish of suffering, especially female suffering. There's this underlying religious narrative that suffering is somehow ennobling and that to alleviate it is to rob the sufferer of something profound. They aren't just indifferent to the suffering (of others) but actually embrace it. They aren't pro-life, because they don't value what makes life worth living, they are pro-suffering.
The whole "pro-life" vs "pro-choice" is carefully crafted to avoid shedding light on the whole fraud of posing a woman's pregnancy as a person, an "unborn child" or "unborn baby". When a woman is pregnant, she is the only person anyone should ever worry about. Her health and welfare are the only things that matter, the health of her pregnancy and the consequent health of a baby extend only from that. Her ability to decide about whether or not she should allow a pregnancy to begin, or continue at any point is fundamental to her role as woman capable of bearing children. To support a woman's right to have an abortion is "pro-woman". To oppose this is to be "anti-life" since all life depends on the ability of females everywhere to bear offspring and be safe and secure in doing so.
It confirms how unintelligent they believe we are about our own bodies because that’s how many US Reps justify votes they make (often morally, but at times with much more knowledge than their constituents) when they know it goes against what many in their district think they want. Which leads me to think of “trust.” The Rs are dismantling institutions by instituting distrust.
Using their playbook, let’s make it more real for the average voter. Let’s list and show pictures of horrendous fetal anomalies that pregnant women face (& as one OBGYN on either Stephanie Ruhle’s or Alex Wagner’s show said last night) that are much more common than most realize and then show headlines of lawmakers expressing these are not “worthy” of abortion healthcare. End with, do you TRUST x,y,z to make your healthcare decisions? Educate the voters using the same tactics the pro-birthers have used. Really bring it home by making the example a pregnant woman with 2-3 adorable young children at home. Make it a family situation by adding a loving, hardworking father. And be sure to add “This is the 6% of abortions that happen after 15 weeks.”
In the big picture, abortion has been such a taboo subject and claimed by pro-birthers to be used as birth control, when in fact that’s not the whole story. Fill in the rest of the story for all sides.
Yes, yes, yes. They might win the election anyway, but if we don't do everything possible to show the truth then our side is going to share in the blame. Abstractions don't work nearly as well as real case stories. Anyone on a campaign who is too cowardly to do it needs to find a different job. This is an emergency; the stakes are too high.
Some years ago I visited the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, which is a medical museum. There was a section dedicated to fetal anomalies that comprised preserved specimens, and I’m here to tell you some of it was quite horrific. Ever since I saw that I have believed that every person who is anti-abortion needs to be made to see it and then asked to explain why anyone should be forced to carry such a pregnancy to term.
I didn’t know that existed. Thank you for sharing. My recent comments seem cruel or harsh on the surface, but I’m just done with the ignorance of so many in our country, especially men/women who are voting their religious views with so little knowledge of reality and science. They aren’t stupid, but they are willfully ignorant. Anti-choice groups have used so many tactics that “appeal to the heart.” Blowing up pictures of fetuses, adding color, at times flat out lying. It’s so so hard for women who have dealt with these unfortunate fetal anomalies because no one can relate. Not enough have seen it to understand. Some will try to imagine & empathize, but the hard core religious group will rely on the falsehoods they have been told and continue to believe “it’s God’s will” until... until they are forced to visually see what women are actually dealing with. Remove the stigma of miscarriage by visually showing reality. I feel they opened that door. It’s fair to expand it and honestly it will educate all.
I don't detect the least bit of cruelty or harshness. Sometimes the truth is very heavy, and we all want to save lives here, the lives of grown women and girls and their families in the entire context. The other side discounts all of that in favor of an obsession with fertilized eggs and fetuses, which their interest in 'life' does not go beyond.
Yes, but the repugnants purposefully kept the laws vague for just such a confusion. The AMA are asking in some states for clarification, but they so far have not got any answers, they are suing but I haven't heard the outcome yet.
The nation's 'top journalists' are 💩. There are a lot of culprits for how this country got to be in the sorry ass state it's in, but the abdication of any civic responsibility whatsoever by almost all media sources in favor of the pursuit of profits is right near the top. If the country burns in 2025 I hope at least that these people take the ass kicking they truly deserve for selling out their fellow Americans. There will be pitchforks out aplenty.
Honestly I wouldn't even count on that. Our side does better than theirs but trends aren't great and I wouldn't want to be overconfident. Information isn't information if you're not telling people things they don't want to hear, and if they don't want to buy that product then you need another model.
When a politician, or really any government official, says something, journalism's job is to find out whether it's true, and if not, what the real facts are. It's not to relay what they say. A monkey could do that. And that doesn't even have to always benefit the right-wing, although it often does because of the economic interests of the wealthy. When you change the playing field from search for truth to winning a disinformation campaign, bad guys are going to come out on top.
Yeah non-profit is really the only way to go. Honest economics openly admits that you can't just leave everything to a free and especially unregulated marketplace because you get serious incentive problems, as our current situation demonstrates. May the mighty hand of Zach smite them :)
Mary Ziegler. Kate Cox (if she isn’t too traumatized to sit with you.) Someone with the Florida ballot initiative. The other brave women suing the state of TX. Someone who flies medical refugees for abortions in other states.
I would be interested in having you interviewing hospital administrators in states that have abortion bans. It would be interesting to hear what they have to say. Curious if anyone would talk to you. 🧐. Appreciate all you do Jessica. Take care of yourself. Be well ❤️
For interviews I think Geena Davis would be a great choice. In the context of her Foundation re women representation in the media. I think it's called "See Jane".
Also Stacey Abrams, and Gretchen Whitmer, and a spokesperson from The Center For Reproductive Rights....Cecile Richards...former head of Planned Parenthood and daughter of the late, great Gov. Ann Richards....the outspoken feminist and comedian Amy Schumer ...maybe lesser known names but important - different people from counties states that play a role in women's reproductive healthcare , an expert in maternal mortality, a university head of women's studies, women's research and rights organization, someone from the ERA movement, (Gloria?) progressive women in religion ( that can explain how the evangelical movement works and how they are funded)... maybe one of these brave women suing Texas or another state
The Entity “the hospital “ is also a big player in this. I don’t see much reporting on this. In addition to the doctors who consult their attorneys, the hospitals have their attorneys AND bureaucratic issues. Many are for profit. I feel they have deeper pockets and need to stand up to the violence being done to patients who are suffering. That’s all I got. I pray that she gets the abortion healthcare she needs. 🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️
What about the entity 'AMA'. They are well aware that doctors don't know what they are allowed, much less obligated to do. The government has not exactly been all that much help either.
I used to think greatly about hospitals. From what I've heard the last few years, I'm heading and accelerating in the opposite direction.
As a retired medical person I can tell you, most workers are fine, compassionate, dedicated, people, but the business model executives at the top, are all about the bean counting, and gouging those who can pay, to get as much as possible out of them. The worst are the Baptist owned facilities. I would not work at a Catholic hospital because much of my specialty was in assisting in Gyn surgery. They are absolute shite on women's health issues.
Yes, lots of economic problems in health care. Whether for-profit or not, you need revenue to afford whatever it costs to hire quality professionals and enough of them to be adequately staffed. Efficiency, to make it affordable for patients (or insurers or the govt.) can be really hard to come by and a lot of the incentives don't work. I think it needs a lot more creativity and a lot more competition. And yes it's a complete failure when a patient's only options are religious hospital or no hospital.
My mom was a nurse in geriatrics. She always worked in a nursing home (back when there used to be more of them; she passed away in 2016 at the age of 63 and a lot has changed since then). She always worked part-time, night shift, and she was a night supervisor for several years at the end, which meant she was ultimately responsible for the whole campus at night (different classifications of facilities). So I was exposed to a lot of this up close. It looked like a nightmare to me! :)
👍. Absolutely 💯
News about the Texas Cox case.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/08/texas-abortion-lawsuit-ken-paxton/?utm_campaign=trib-social-buttons&utm_source=native-share&utm_medium=social
I've been thinking a lot about the words we use to describe the people who call themselves "pro-life." I see the term "forced birth" being used, and it's not wrong, but it doesn't encompass their complete lack of compassion toward women who miscarry or toward fetuses who will be born to a brief "life" of suffering. I think they're actually "pro-suffering." Those who are "sincere" and not gleefully cruel make a fetish of suffering, especially female suffering. There's this underlying religious narrative that suffering is somehow ennobling and that to alleviate it is to rob the sufferer of something profound. They aren't just indifferent to the suffering (of others) but actually embrace it. They aren't pro-life, because they don't value what makes life worth living, they are pro-suffering.
I call it the "church of glorification of Martyrdom." For women of course, never for the Patriarchs who screw them over in so many ways.
The whole "pro-life" vs "pro-choice" is carefully crafted to avoid shedding light on the whole fraud of posing a woman's pregnancy as a person, an "unborn child" or "unborn baby". When a woman is pregnant, she is the only person anyone should ever worry about. Her health and welfare are the only things that matter, the health of her pregnancy and the consequent health of a baby extend only from that. Her ability to decide about whether or not she should allow a pregnancy to begin, or continue at any point is fundamental to her role as woman capable of bearing children. To support a woman's right to have an abortion is "pro-woman". To oppose this is to be "anti-life" since all life depends on the ability of females everywhere to bear offspring and be safe and secure in doing so.
People willing to “compromise” on the degree to which they’re allowed to interfere in my personal affairs are cordially invited to bite me.
“Mob rule” a.k.a. Democracy. Their contempt for it is palpable. They much prefer the alternative.
They have even said it out loud!
It confirms how unintelligent they believe we are about our own bodies because that’s how many US Reps justify votes they make (often morally, but at times with much more knowledge than their constituents) when they know it goes against what many in their district think they want. Which leads me to think of “trust.” The Rs are dismantling institutions by instituting distrust.
Using their playbook, let’s make it more real for the average voter. Let’s list and show pictures of horrendous fetal anomalies that pregnant women face (& as one OBGYN on either Stephanie Ruhle’s or Alex Wagner’s show said last night) that are much more common than most realize and then show headlines of lawmakers expressing these are not “worthy” of abortion healthcare. End with, do you TRUST x,y,z to make your healthcare decisions? Educate the voters using the same tactics the pro-birthers have used. Really bring it home by making the example a pregnant woman with 2-3 adorable young children at home. Make it a family situation by adding a loving, hardworking father. And be sure to add “This is the 6% of abortions that happen after 15 weeks.”
In the big picture, abortion has been such a taboo subject and claimed by pro-birthers to be used as birth control, when in fact that’s not the whole story. Fill in the rest of the story for all sides.
Yes, yes, yes. They might win the election anyway, but if we don't do everything possible to show the truth then our side is going to share in the blame. Abstractions don't work nearly as well as real case stories. Anyone on a campaign who is too cowardly to do it needs to find a different job. This is an emergency; the stakes are too high.
Some years ago I visited the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, which is a medical museum. There was a section dedicated to fetal anomalies that comprised preserved specimens, and I’m here to tell you some of it was quite horrific. Ever since I saw that I have believed that every person who is anti-abortion needs to be made to see it and then asked to explain why anyone should be forced to carry such a pregnancy to term.
I didn’t know that existed. Thank you for sharing. My recent comments seem cruel or harsh on the surface, but I’m just done with the ignorance of so many in our country, especially men/women who are voting their religious views with so little knowledge of reality and science. They aren’t stupid, but they are willfully ignorant. Anti-choice groups have used so many tactics that “appeal to the heart.” Blowing up pictures of fetuses, adding color, at times flat out lying. It’s so so hard for women who have dealt with these unfortunate fetal anomalies because no one can relate. Not enough have seen it to understand. Some will try to imagine & empathize, but the hard core religious group will rely on the falsehoods they have been told and continue to believe “it’s God’s will” until... until they are forced to visually see what women are actually dealing with. Remove the stigma of miscarriage by visually showing reality. I feel they opened that door. It’s fair to expand it and honestly it will educate all.
Not cruel or harsh at all. It’s all the truth!
I don't detect the least bit of cruelty or harshness. Sometimes the truth is very heavy, and we all want to save lives here, the lives of grown women and girls and their families in the entire context. The other side discounts all of that in favor of an obsession with fertilized eggs and fetuses, which their interest in 'life' does not go beyond.
The “mob rule” comment made me throw something.
Hmm bite me. I have heard good things about long meat.🦿💪, but I think 🤔 I'll stick with the standard fare.
Yes, but the repugnants purposefully kept the laws vague for just such a confusion. The AMA are asking in some states for clarification, but they so far have not got any answers, they are suing but I haven't heard the outcome yet.
The Dems have an excellent messenger in VP Harris. Also, more broadly, Time’s Person of the Year.
"they may need a different messenger" Ahem. ⏳
The nation's 'top journalists' are 💩. There are a lot of culprits for how this country got to be in the sorry ass state it's in, but the abdication of any civic responsibility whatsoever by almost all media sources in favor of the pursuit of profits is right near the top. If the country burns in 2025 I hope at least that these people take the ass kicking they truly deserve for selling out their fellow Americans. There will be pitchforks out aplenty.
They want to sell their product to both sides. Only one side will buy the truth. You do the math.
Honestly I wouldn't even count on that. Our side does better than theirs but trends aren't great and I wouldn't want to be overconfident. Information isn't information if you're not telling people things they don't want to hear, and if they don't want to buy that product then you need another model.
🎯Yes. Spineless cowards, dutifully repeating the far-right's disinformation like so many stenographers.
When a politician, or really any government official, says something, journalism's job is to find out whether it's true, and if not, what the real facts are. It's not to relay what they say. A monkey could do that. And that doesn't even have to always benefit the right-wing, although it often does because of the economic interests of the wealthy. When you change the playing field from search for truth to winning a disinformation campaign, bad guys are going to come out on top.
U r 100 percent right about the pursuit of the mighty dollar 💵. May the mighty hand of Zuck smite me.
Yeah non-profit is really the only way to go. Honest economics openly admits that you can't just leave everything to a free and especially unregulated marketplace because you get serious incentive problems, as our current situation demonstrates. May the mighty hand of Zach smite them :)
Mary Ziegler. Kate Cox (if she isn’t too traumatized to sit with you.) Someone with the Florida ballot initiative. The other brave women suing the state of TX. Someone who flies medical refugees for abortions in other states.
I would be interested in having you interviewing hospital administrators in states that have abortion bans. It would be interesting to hear what they have to say. Curious if anyone would talk to you. 🧐. Appreciate all you do Jessica. Take care of yourself. Be well ❤️
Agree, but will add Only from institutions that are not tied to religion though.
Jessica - Please don't apologize for being sick! Take the time you need to feel better. The asshats like Ken Paxton will still be here.
For interviews I think Geena Davis would be a great choice. In the context of her Foundation re women representation in the media. I think it's called "See Jane".
Also Stacey Abrams, and Gretchen Whitmer, and a spokesperson from The Center For Reproductive Rights....Cecile Richards...former head of Planned Parenthood and daughter of the late, great Gov. Ann Richards....the outspoken feminist and comedian Amy Schumer ...maybe lesser known names but important - different people from counties states that play a role in women's reproductive healthcare , an expert in maternal mortality, a university head of women's studies, women's research and rights organization, someone from the ERA movement, (Gloria?) progressive women in religion ( that can explain how the evangelical movement works and how they are funded)... maybe one of these brave women suing Texas or another state
I googled. See Jane Is a winner 🏆
To repeat my previous point, Ken Paxton is one seriously malevolent, vindictive, cruel a--hole.
I'd love for Kamala Harris to step up for your interview...
The Entity “the hospital “ is also a big player in this. I don’t see much reporting on this. In addition to the doctors who consult their attorneys, the hospitals have their attorneys AND bureaucratic issues. Many are for profit. I feel they have deeper pockets and need to stand up to the violence being done to patients who are suffering. That’s all I got. I pray that she gets the abortion healthcare she needs. 🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️
What about the entity 'AMA'. They are well aware that doctors don't know what they are allowed, much less obligated to do. The government has not exactly been all that much help either.
I used to think greatly about hospitals. From what I've heard the last few years, I'm heading and accelerating in the opposite direction.
As a retired medical person I can tell you, most workers are fine, compassionate, dedicated, people, but the business model executives at the top, are all about the bean counting, and gouging those who can pay, to get as much as possible out of them. The worst are the Baptist owned facilities. I would not work at a Catholic hospital because much of my specialty was in assisting in Gyn surgery. They are absolute shite on women's health issues.
Yes, lots of economic problems in health care. Whether for-profit or not, you need revenue to afford whatever it costs to hire quality professionals and enough of them to be adequately staffed. Efficiency, to make it affordable for patients (or insurers or the govt.) can be really hard to come by and a lot of the incentives don't work. I think it needs a lot more creativity and a lot more competition. And yes it's a complete failure when a patient's only options are religious hospital or no hospital.
You sum it up well.
My mom was a nurse in geriatrics. She always worked in a nursing home (back when there used to be more of them; she passed away in 2016 at the age of 63 and a lot has changed since then). She always worked part-time, night shift, and she was a night supervisor for several years at the end, which meant she was ultimately responsible for the whole campus at night (different classifications of facilities). So I was exposed to a lot of this up close. It looked like a nightmare to me! :)
I agree entirely. I just mean that the AMA needs to provide guidelines.
Ken Paxton/Texas should be sued for practicing medicine without a license.
Ever so much this^^^ and those creepy, fake Crisis pregnancy centers, dispensing harmful lies to vulnerable patients.