MAGA Republicans block access to IVF: We mapped the number of women and IVF clinics that will be devastated. And we overlaid with how to contact the MAGA Republicans in that state and call them with one click. (Senators, Governors, State Attorney Generals). Give 'em a call to let them know how you feel about their restrictions.
There’s an entirely “logical” reason to force teens to give birth. They can then be reported to child protective services as “unfit”. The babies can be removed, parental rights terminated, and those babies can then be trafficked for adoption to ideologically acceptable couples.
Jessica, great newsletter as always! Perhaps its inclusion was intentional, but the story about the Florida teen being denied an abortion because she was not “mature” enough is from 2022 (I was trying to research more on if there was any follow up on the ruling and next steps for the teen). Since you usually include current events in your newsletter, I wondered why you chose to include it. Thank you for all your hard work!
Speaking of fetal personhood efforts: An Alaska Republican has proposed a bill that would change the definition of ‘life’ and ‘person’ in the state’s criminal law to include fetuses and embryos. Rep. Kevin McCabe says the bill is meant to “ensure fair treatment and protection for all individuals including those yet to be born.” (Remember, ‘equal protection’ has become standard anti-abortion messaging.)
Why don’t they say what they really mean, change the definition of ‘person’ to include fetuses and embryos, but not women?
We’re starting to wonder if there’s a mole on the clinic escort team at Planned Parenthood Great Plains, particularly given the news about the Missouri AG filing suit against them for supposedly smuggling minors across the state line for abortions. The escort is question has been curiously cozy with the anti-abortion people, and gave one of the defenders a hard time for being “mean” to them. Hopefully the powers-that-be at PPGP aren’t letting their guard down.
They’ve been getting awfully bold lately about flagging down cars at the entrance to the parking lot, something that previously led to threats of prosecution for violation of the FACE Act, but recently Overland Park PD refused to do anything to stop them. We’ve always known the cops were on their side despite all the protestations of neutrality, but it’s become more obvious recently.
I just wanted to write those words again. Senator Kennedy of Louisiana - he gets some chatter for being folksily honest or honestly folksy, but don't be fooled. AED has his number. Enormous POS.
The Donegan piece is THE question on all of this - if fetal personhood is established, we are toast. Great piece.
tRump was on Hannity on Fox tonight (I did not watch this...) going on about how he's going to find a solution to IVF and the abortion bans HE USHERED IN!!! Incredible!
This newsletter needs to be a show, on MSNBC. An hour devoted to the state of the abortion bans. Big map in the background. A Steve Kornacki type (but a woman) clicking on each state and explaining the status and issues. Do 10 states a day, five days a week. This is THE issue for democrats -- it's the vote-getter and the media is not giving it its due. Half the population is subjugated or potentially subjugated and instead of that being the news, it's "pro-choice versus pro-life" coverage. I can't take it.
It is really comical watching Republicans tying themselves in knots insisting embryos are people for some purposes (abortion) but not for others (IVF).
Yeah - rich, white lady embryos are NOT babies - freeze ‘em, destroy ‘em, keep a bunch extra lying around, no prob!! But poor, life-threatening, unwanted, or rapist embryos ARE babies. (Force that woman - who doesn’t want a child - to SUFFER, goddamnit!!) Got it. A quick google search came across this article. https://www.parents.com/parenting/money/family-finances/starting-out/ivf-cost-prohibitive-black-brown-families/ It states that most IVF recipients are white and affluent. The average cost of just one IVF cycle is $10-15,000 - which insurance often doesn’t cover. I have a cousin who suffers from infertility, and she is vehemently anti-abortion because of it. Almost out of anger and spite. In a way, I ‘get it’ - but her resentment should not force other women to endure unwanted pregnancies or motherhood!
Yes, insurance should pay for reproductive health care…all of it. I guess Tommy Tuberville’s claim to “want more babies..we need more children” only applies to white children. And if the state of Alabama wants to keep embryos alive indefinitely, then it should be the taxpayers of Alabama, not the couple or individual, who pays for it. But reproductive health care is reproductive health care, whether it’s IVF, abortion, or something else. Ask your cousin if she wants the government to have the final say in what she decides to do with her body, or if she wants to be able to make those decisions with her health care providers. Does she want the state to be able to prosecute women for miscarriages, like Brittany Watts? Or to jail women who aren't’ even pregnant for “fetal endangerment?” She is entitled to her opinion, of course, but I have had any number of productive conversations with people who are maybe not anti-abortion, like your cousin, but see a role for government regulation of reproductive health care before they talk to me, and then change their minds, at least a little.
It is total bullshit that these states are requiring parental consent or notification, unfortunately even some of the Democratic states like Michigan put that in there. Technically I think Michigan requires parental consent.... it has completely left off the notification portion.
We need to stop pandering to the far right under their false flag of Parental rights, these are all just deliberate barriers and restrictions to force children to give birth.
Based on the article of the 16-year-old as she presented her case to the judges, it certainly seemed coherent to me. Exactly correct they claim she isn't old enough to make the decision but apparently she's old enough to gestate give birth and be a mother, completely fucking backwards. She also has no parents, has lived a lifetime of trauma, and not one of these goddamn judges had compassion for her.
Ok this is a bad and stupid idea, but — reacting to killing IVF embryos is not abortion — I kinda want Democrats to propose legislation that carves out everything as *not* an abortion.
Eliminating blastocysts? Not an abortion!
Eliminating fetal tissue? Not an abortion!
Taking mifepristone? Not an abortion!
If nothing is abortion than none of the laws stopping abortion stop anything! Lalalalala
Ok, that was a dumb take. Back to chores and reality…
How can it be, that in the year 2024, there are only 7 states that explicitly allow a divorce to be finalized while the woman is pregnant? How did this happen? It is absolutely unbelievable. What is the thinking behind such law? I live in one of the 7 states where a divorce can be finalized during pregnancy and I never knew such pregnancy restrictions existed. I am now wondering what other draconian restrictions are placed on pregnant women that I am unaware of!
I know you're asking rhetorically, but I think we're all learning that there are a LOT of laws on the books that were never changed even as our culture advanced to believing in more rights. Comstock is one glaring example. And these conservatives absolutely intend to use all of these laws to their advantage to turn back the clock for everybody else. We need an ERA but unfortunately that's only as good as the courts interpreting it and the executive branch enforcing it.
I am blown away by this law also. I had no idea! Since the law seems to be from 1973, it kind of makes sense to me; that was around the time women began looking for an Equal Rights Amendment (which we need now, more than ever).
So grateful for this comprehensive newsletter. I’m so stressed out about abortion rights that I can’t even think straight. I was 12 weeks pregnant when Roe fell - and while I was lucky and went on to have a healthy baby, there were women in my online group who, mid pregnancy, now lived in states with no protections and were left scrambling. Its inhumane. One woman got ambiguous results on her genetic test in Texas and had to book lodging out of state should she have to terminate her dearly wanted pregnancy. I’m just so sad it’s gotten to this point and will likely get worse. Not even sure I can ever give my 14 month old a sibling in this environment - that’s one LESS baby for these ghouls.
They are the absolute worst kind of people: Republicans. Lol.
But seriously... yes, they aren't any different than the Republicans in any other red state, Iowa is a red state led by a fascist Governor Kim Reynolds.
I tried to look up the Alabama bill to find the expiration date... From what I can tell, the House version, HB 237, originally had an automatic repeal date of June 1, 2025... but I'm not sure if the final version has. It looks like the bill got "substituted" by one that just says it applies retroactively and goes into effect immediately. I'm looking at the PDF you get under "engrossed bill" from the Alabama legislative portal, at https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2024RS/HB237-eng.pdf
It would appear that they introduced it with the automatic expiration date, but then removed that date. Could you double-check that to make sure I have the right talking point?
MAGA Republicans block access to IVF: We mapped the number of women and IVF clinics that will be devastated. And we overlaid with how to contact the MAGA Republicans in that state and call them with one click. (Senators, Governors, State Attorney Generals). Give 'em a call to let them know how you feel about their restrictions.
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/03/02/maga-republicans-block-ivf-access-map-of-devastated-women-and-clinics/
There’s an entirely “logical” reason to force teens to give birth. They can then be reported to child protective services as “unfit”. The babies can be removed, parental rights terminated, and those babies can then be trafficked for adoption to ideologically acceptable couples.
Jessica, great newsletter as always! Perhaps its inclusion was intentional, but the story about the Florida teen being denied an abortion because she was not “mature” enough is from 2022 (I was trying to research more on if there was any follow up on the ruling and next steps for the teen). Since you usually include current events in your newsletter, I wondered why you chose to include it. Thank you for all your hard work!
Speaking of fetal personhood efforts: An Alaska Republican has proposed a bill that would change the definition of ‘life’ and ‘person’ in the state’s criminal law to include fetuses and embryos. Rep. Kevin McCabe says the bill is meant to “ensure fair treatment and protection for all individuals including those yet to be born.” (Remember, ‘equal protection’ has become standard anti-abortion messaging.)
Why don’t they say what they really mean, change the definition of ‘person’ to include fetuses and embryos, but not women?
We’re starting to wonder if there’s a mole on the clinic escort team at Planned Parenthood Great Plains, particularly given the news about the Missouri AG filing suit against them for supposedly smuggling minors across the state line for abortions. The escort is question has been curiously cozy with the anti-abortion people, and gave one of the defenders a hard time for being “mean” to them. Hopefully the powers-that-be at PPGP aren’t letting their guard down.
They’ve been getting awfully bold lately about flagging down cars at the entrance to the parking lot, something that previously led to threats of prosecution for violation of the FACE Act, but recently Overland Park PD refused to do anything to stop them. We’ve always known the cops were on their side despite all the protestations of neutrality, but it’s become more obvious recently.
Fuck. Keep us posted.
"Truly, what a piece of shit he is."
I just wanted to write those words again. Senator Kennedy of Louisiana - he gets some chatter for being folksily honest or honestly folksy, but don't be fooled. AED has his number. Enormous POS.
Yes, and he's a prissy POS.
He plays a mealy-mouthed, folksy, simple country lawyer, but in reality, he is a Rhodes scholar (as is Bill Clinton) and as a result attended Oxford.
The Donegan piece is THE question on all of this - if fetal personhood is established, we are toast. Great piece.
tRump was on Hannity on Fox tonight (I did not watch this...) going on about how he's going to find a solution to IVF and the abortion bans HE USHERED IN!!! Incredible!
This newsletter needs to be a show, on MSNBC. An hour devoted to the state of the abortion bans. Big map in the background. A Steve Kornacki type (but a woman) clicking on each state and explaining the status and issues. Do 10 states a day, five days a week. This is THE issue for democrats -- it's the vote-getter and the media is not giving it its due. Half the population is subjugated or potentially subjugated and instead of that being the news, it's "pro-choice versus pro-life" coverage. I can't take it.
These laws are just so effing ridiculous. They're so devoid of fact and reality. I cannot believe this is where we are in 2024.
It is really comical watching Republicans tying themselves in knots insisting embryos are people for some purposes (abortion) but not for others (IVF).
Yeah - rich, white lady embryos are NOT babies - freeze ‘em, destroy ‘em, keep a bunch extra lying around, no prob!! But poor, life-threatening, unwanted, or rapist embryos ARE babies. (Force that woman - who doesn’t want a child - to SUFFER, goddamnit!!) Got it. A quick google search came across this article. https://www.parents.com/parenting/money/family-finances/starting-out/ivf-cost-prohibitive-black-brown-families/ It states that most IVF recipients are white and affluent. The average cost of just one IVF cycle is $10-15,000 - which insurance often doesn’t cover. I have a cousin who suffers from infertility, and she is vehemently anti-abortion because of it. Almost out of anger and spite. In a way, I ‘get it’ - but her resentment should not force other women to endure unwanted pregnancies or motherhood!
Yes, insurance should pay for reproductive health care…all of it. I guess Tommy Tuberville’s claim to “want more babies..we need more children” only applies to white children. And if the state of Alabama wants to keep embryos alive indefinitely, then it should be the taxpayers of Alabama, not the couple or individual, who pays for it. But reproductive health care is reproductive health care, whether it’s IVF, abortion, or something else. Ask your cousin if she wants the government to have the final say in what she decides to do with her body, or if she wants to be able to make those decisions with her health care providers. Does she want the state to be able to prosecute women for miscarriages, like Brittany Watts? Or to jail women who aren't’ even pregnant for “fetal endangerment?” She is entitled to her opinion, of course, but I have had any number of productive conversations with people who are maybe not anti-abortion, like your cousin, but see a role for government regulation of reproductive health care before they talk to me, and then change their minds, at least a little.
Yeah exactly. And they will look worse when they pursue a law to define the *difference *
"it's a person when inside a womb"
"it's inanimate when frozen"
It is total bullshit that these states are requiring parental consent or notification, unfortunately even some of the Democratic states like Michigan put that in there. Technically I think Michigan requires parental consent.... it has completely left off the notification portion.
We need to stop pandering to the far right under their false flag of Parental rights, these are all just deliberate barriers and restrictions to force children to give birth.
Based on the article of the 16-year-old as she presented her case to the judges, it certainly seemed coherent to me. Exactly correct they claim she isn't old enough to make the decision but apparently she's old enough to gestate give birth and be a mother, completely fucking backwards. She also has no parents, has lived a lifetime of trauma, and not one of these goddamn judges had compassion for her.
Can we sponsor her to move to another state where she can get care?
Good idea. Except we don't know who she is, no name was released that I could find.
Maybe we could all "adopt" her.
So glad you took up the Wash. P. article. It enraged me.
That is Sally Buzbee's touch, she took over as executive editor and suddenly they were praising forced birthers efforts.
Wow. Disgusting.
Ok this is a bad and stupid idea, but — reacting to killing IVF embryos is not abortion — I kinda want Democrats to propose legislation that carves out everything as *not* an abortion.
Eliminating blastocysts? Not an abortion!
Eliminating fetal tissue? Not an abortion!
Taking mifepristone? Not an abortion!
If nothing is abortion than none of the laws stopping abortion stop anything! Lalalalala
Ok, that was a dumb take. Back to chores and reality…
How can it be, that in the year 2024, there are only 7 states that explicitly allow a divorce to be finalized while the woman is pregnant? How did this happen? It is absolutely unbelievable. What is the thinking behind such law? I live in one of the 7 states where a divorce can be finalized during pregnancy and I never knew such pregnancy restrictions existed. I am now wondering what other draconian restrictions are placed on pregnant women that I am unaware of!
I know you're asking rhetorically, but I think we're all learning that there are a LOT of laws on the books that were never changed even as our culture advanced to believing in more rights. Comstock is one glaring example. And these conservatives absolutely intend to use all of these laws to their advantage to turn back the clock for everybody else. We need an ERA but unfortunately that's only as good as the courts interpreting it and the executive branch enforcing it.
I am blown away by this law also. I had no idea! Since the law seems to be from 1973, it kind of makes sense to me; that was around the time women began looking for an Equal Rights Amendment (which we need now, more than ever).
So grateful for this comprehensive newsletter. I’m so stressed out about abortion rights that I can’t even think straight. I was 12 weeks pregnant when Roe fell - and while I was lucky and went on to have a healthy baby, there were women in my online group who, mid pregnancy, now lived in states with no protections and were left scrambling. Its inhumane. One woman got ambiguous results on her genetic test in Texas and had to book lodging out of state should she have to terminate her dearly wanted pregnancy. I’m just so sad it’s gotten to this point and will likely get worse. Not even sure I can ever give my 14 month old a sibling in this environment - that’s one LESS baby for these ghouls.
Is there supposed to be a link for the Iowa story about tying birth control to abortion?
Great roundup as always.
I googled it to read it. More asshole Republicans.
https://iowastartingline.com/2024/02/27/a-handful-of-iowa-house-republicans-trying-to-tie-birth-control-to-abortion/#:~:text=Rep.%20Zach%20Dieken%20
Looking at the pix of the lawmakers who are trying restrict BC in that article makes me want to scream. Who ARE THESE PEOPLE??
I forget who it was, maybe Robin Williams, observed that the 'anti-abortion people are always creepy people you would never want to fuck.'
They are the absolute worst kind of people: Republicans. Lol.
But seriously... yes, they aren't any different than the Republicans in any other red state, Iowa is a red state led by a fascist Governor Kim Reynolds.
My gov Deathsantis, promised her she could be his VP, so she must be truely awful.
George Carlin...
Why is it that most of the people who are against abortion are people you wouldn't want to fuck in the first place?
I tried to look up the Alabama bill to find the expiration date... From what I can tell, the House version, HB 237, originally had an automatic repeal date of June 1, 2025... but I'm not sure if the final version has. It looks like the bill got "substituted" by one that just says it applies retroactively and goes into effect immediately. I'm looking at the PDF you get under "engrossed bill" from the Alabama legislative portal, at https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2024RS/HB237-eng.pdf
The senate bill, SB 159, also does not appear to have an expiration date. https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2024RS/SB159-eng.pdf
It would appear that they introduced it with the automatic expiration date, but then removed that date. Could you double-check that to make sure I have the right talking point?