Just watching the Velshi show - 3/23. He and Michele Goodwin, Professor at Georgetown Law School, and
the co-faculty director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law.
They were discussing the terrifying parallels between what’s happening right now, and The Handmaid’s Tale. I was taken by a phrase Dr. Goodwin used, “people with the capacity for pregnancy.” I know some of us sometimes struggle with what words to use to include the entire range of humans directly impacted by this insanity. Dr. Goodwin’s phrase seems a simple way to do so.
These are two terms that need to die together for the same reasons. They were coined for the specific purpose of confronting abortion as a political issue rather than medical.
In either of the terms, we are really talking about a well developed fetus. An abortion is a very complicated process at this stage and perhaps has medical consequences for the woman if it is strictly elective. If she has decided that at this late stage, she just does not want to go through with raising a child, perhaps giving birth and giving it up for adoption might be medically preferable. I don't know. For myself, until you are born, you are not a person and your life is strictly the life of your host. She is not a mother until you take your first breath.
But more typically, something has gone very wrong and to protect the woman, a surgical abortion must occur. This has got to be an elective abortion, the law must not be standing there, stroking its beard and considering what course of action to take. A doctor must be free to make this decision.
You make a good point and it is indeed deplorable that the practice of medicine in this country is tainted by a profit motive, especially on the part of insurance companies. But when a patient signs up for insurance, they mostly know that there are exceptions, for instance experimental treatments, to what the company will cover. But doctors are not threatened with suspension or removal of licensure, fines, imprisonment or death for prescribing drugs that are not on an insurance company’s formulary. If ever there was a bright line beyond which state medical boards MUST stand up for the medical judgment of the doctors they licensed, this would be it. Best practices must be dictated by science and medical ethics—the “first, do no harm” principle—and not by theocratic dictates (which, as in Alabama, are often laid out as explicitly theocratic in laws and court opinions). If state medical boards do not stand for that, what do they stand for?
I just watched Jessica's 'violent and graphic content' tic-toc. 😳 I watched twice to be absolutely certain. I would give it a mild pg at best. Plus, I think she's aging in reverse.
It should be noted that the girl in Mississippi was 12 when she became pregnant, and 13 when she gave birth. It didn’t say HOW she delivered. It didn’t say who paid. I would love to see the rapist sued and legally barred from any parental rights.
My favorite part of the Texas Medical Board rules: there's no economic impact on women who are forced to bear children! ("Mr. Freshour has also determined that for the first five-year period these proposed new sections are in effect there will be no probable economic cost to individuals required to
I hate bans and all these bans are dumb but… bans defined by weeks pregnant are *especially* stupid. If we are ever talking about which week we should cut access we are in stupid bizzaro land. That cannot be the frame for any kind of reasonable discussion.
Texas is just horrific, everyday it gets worse there; I was thinking about the new parental consent for birth control law - does anyone know if it covers all forms of brith control, like even condoms? I keep thinking about those people who moved from CA to Texas during the pandemic - are they staying now? And that moron Musk who moved Tesla to TX - are those employees protected? Of course not.
The raped child forced to give to birth is beyond horrific - a true tragedy - this should be a major news story. Kamala should visit them.
I agree Kamala should definitely try to meet the victim in Mississippi. Condoms are easy to buy even in gas stations front desk and bathrooms, unless Texas got rid of all of those machines. Condoms are everywhere because MEN use them. MEN's sexual health must be protected, including Viagra. Hail to the cock. There is an over the counter birth control pill from Opill coming this month. But you have to be 18.
“First, do no harm” means that your patient is the person who walked into your facility and is talking to you. Their interests come first. Until and unless there is a fetal personhood law that passes legal muster in Texas courts and probably the federal courts all the way up to the Supreme Court, all rights belong to the pregnant person in front of you.
“First, do no harm” means standing up for your patient’s right to the procedure that has the LEAST negative health (mental and/or physical) impact on the patient, using your best medical judgement for which you were licensed by the Texas Board of Medical Examiners, which in turn has been delegated the right to set the standards for licensure by the State of Texas. ( I know someone who went through the hoops to get licensed as a physician in Texas, and what they want is extremely comprehensive—having graduated college and medical school and completed residency, she still had to submit her high school transcript). No irrelevant testing, contacting lawyers, unneeded second opinions, unnecessary transfer to another facility, and especially no C-sections in order to deliver an intact fetus.
I can’t understand why every physician in Texas isn’t in open revolt against their Board. The Board has just hung out a big sign saying to all the doctors they have licensed in Texas “WE DON’T TRUST YOUR MEDICAL JUDGMENT.” Also, we don’t have your back. If the State of Texas chooses to question your medical judgment and attack you, you’re on your own.
The Board should be standing up for doctors and also for patients who have the right to care that does the least possible harm. Their position here only emboldens the State of Texas to put further restrictions on the practice of medicine.
Doctors everywhere in the US are subject to constant attacks on their medical judgment, not just in the interest of ideology but of profit. For example, doctors frequently prescribe drugs or procedures that are rejected by insurers, not because they are medically unsound but because they would cost the insurer a lot of money.
Kudos to the Arizona AG for issuing the consumer alert on fake pregnancy centers. She spoke the truth. It's funny how the Republicans and anti-choicers deliberately LIE all the time about abortion. When confronted with facts, they ignore them and LIE MORE. The AG speaks the truth and they get mad. Ha
There is nothing I loathe more than legislators with a high school degree telling doctors with 8-12 years of higher education how they should practice medicine.
Talking about the "perinatal palliative care"- does this woman know the suffering some of these babies go through before they die while their parents are forced to watch and are helpless to do anything?
This is what happens when we as a society refuse to accept that it is possible to discern truth. We instead designate whole topics as out of bounds. We're not allowed to stop them from disseminating their propaganda unless we ourselves also stop our own educational campaigns. That is not a win. Anti-abortion advertising should be banned not because it is 'graphic' but because it is lies. Businesses, institutions, and media all want to bury their heads in the sand. That only helps the liars. They need to be called out for it, and fiercely.
Talk about an Orwellian name. That about takes the cake.
I took down my post about the Alliance of Hipporatic Medicine. They are the ones who engage in judge shopping.
This is an article showing the attempt to curb judge shopping: Federal courts move against 'judge-shopping' - POLITICO
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/12/federal-courts-move-against-judge-shopping-00146594
Just watching the Velshi show - 3/23. He and Michele Goodwin, Professor at Georgetown Law School, and
the co-faculty director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law.
They were discussing the terrifying parallels between what’s happening right now, and The Handmaid’s Tale. I was taken by a phrase Dr. Goodwin used, “people with the capacity for pregnancy.” I know some of us sometimes struggle with what words to use to include the entire range of humans directly impacted by this insanity. Dr. Goodwin’s phrase seems a simple way to do so.
Regarding your language watch.
The idea of late term abortions has a lot to do with the idea of fetal viability, something you have addressed on TikTok,
https://www.tiktok.com/@auntiekilljoy/video/7348651002490326318
These are two terms that need to die together for the same reasons. They were coined for the specific purpose of confronting abortion as a political issue rather than medical.
In either of the terms, we are really talking about a well developed fetus. An abortion is a very complicated process at this stage and perhaps has medical consequences for the woman if it is strictly elective. If she has decided that at this late stage, she just does not want to go through with raising a child, perhaps giving birth and giving it up for adoption might be medically preferable. I don't know. For myself, until you are born, you are not a person and your life is strictly the life of your host. She is not a mother until you take your first breath.
But more typically, something has gone very wrong and to protect the woman, a surgical abortion must occur. This has got to be an elective abortion, the law must not be standing there, stroking its beard and considering what course of action to take. A doctor must be free to make this decision.
You make a good point and it is indeed deplorable that the practice of medicine in this country is tainted by a profit motive, especially on the part of insurance companies. But when a patient signs up for insurance, they mostly know that there are exceptions, for instance experimental treatments, to what the company will cover. But doctors are not threatened with suspension or removal of licensure, fines, imprisonment or death for prescribing drugs that are not on an insurance company’s formulary. If ever there was a bright line beyond which state medical boards MUST stand up for the medical judgment of the doctors they licensed, this would be it. Best practices must be dictated by science and medical ethics—the “first, do no harm” principle—and not by theocratic dictates (which, as in Alabama, are often laid out as explicitly theocratic in laws and court opinions). If state medical boards do not stand for that, what do they stand for?
I just watched Jessica's 'violent and graphic content' tic-toc. 😳 I watched twice to be absolutely certain. I would give it a mild pg at best. Plus, I think she's aging in reverse.
That's just filters.
It should be noted that the girl in Mississippi was 12 when she became pregnant, and 13 when she gave birth. It didn’t say HOW she delivered. It didn’t say who paid. I would love to see the rapist sued and legally barred from any parental rights.
My favorite part of the Texas Medical Board rules: there's no economic impact on women who are forced to bear children! ("Mr. Freshour has also determined that for the first five-year period these proposed new sections are in effect there will be no probable economic cost to individuals required to
comply with these proposed sections."). /s
I hate bans and all these bans are dumb but… bans defined by weeks pregnant are *especially* stupid. If we are ever talking about which week we should cut access we are in stupid bizzaro land. That cannot be the frame for any kind of reasonable discussion.
Texas is just horrific, everyday it gets worse there; I was thinking about the new parental consent for birth control law - does anyone know if it covers all forms of brith control, like even condoms? I keep thinking about those people who moved from CA to Texas during the pandemic - are they staying now? And that moron Musk who moved Tesla to TX - are those employees protected? Of course not.
The raped child forced to give to birth is beyond horrific - a true tragedy - this should be a major news story. Kamala should visit them.
I agree Kamala should definitely try to meet the victim in Mississippi. Condoms are easy to buy even in gas stations front desk and bathrooms, unless Texas got rid of all of those machines. Condoms are everywhere because MEN use them. MEN's sexual health must be protected, including Viagra. Hail to the cock. There is an over the counter birth control pill from Opill coming this month. But you have to be 18.
Re: The Texas Medical Association Guidelines:
What a pile of horse hockey!
Whatever happened to “First, do no harm?”
“First, do no harm” means that your patient is the person who walked into your facility and is talking to you. Their interests come first. Until and unless there is a fetal personhood law that passes legal muster in Texas courts and probably the federal courts all the way up to the Supreme Court, all rights belong to the pregnant person in front of you.
“First, do no harm” means standing up for your patient’s right to the procedure that has the LEAST negative health (mental and/or physical) impact on the patient, using your best medical judgement for which you were licensed by the Texas Board of Medical Examiners, which in turn has been delegated the right to set the standards for licensure by the State of Texas. ( I know someone who went through the hoops to get licensed as a physician in Texas, and what they want is extremely comprehensive—having graduated college and medical school and completed residency, she still had to submit her high school transcript). No irrelevant testing, contacting lawyers, unneeded second opinions, unnecessary transfer to another facility, and especially no C-sections in order to deliver an intact fetus.
I can’t understand why every physician in Texas isn’t in open revolt against their Board. The Board has just hung out a big sign saying to all the doctors they have licensed in Texas “WE DON’T TRUST YOUR MEDICAL JUDGMENT.” Also, we don’t have your back. If the State of Texas chooses to question your medical judgment and attack you, you’re on your own.
The Board should be standing up for doctors and also for patients who have the right to care that does the least possible harm. Their position here only emboldens the State of Texas to put further restrictions on the practice of medicine.
Shame, shame, shame, shame, shame!!
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 standing ovation.
Doctors everywhere in the US are subject to constant attacks on their medical judgment, not just in the interest of ideology but of profit. For example, doctors frequently prescribe drugs or procedures that are rejected by insurers, not because they are medically unsound but because they would cost the insurer a lot of money.
Kudos to the Arizona AG for issuing the consumer alert on fake pregnancy centers. She spoke the truth. It's funny how the Republicans and anti-choicers deliberately LIE all the time about abortion. When confronted with facts, they ignore them and LIE MORE. The AG speaks the truth and they get mad. Ha
Why is the Texas Medical Board not suing the state??? Why are they complying without a fight?
They’re all Abbott appointees. They’re not going to buck the system.
There is nothing I loathe more than legislators with a high school degree telling doctors with 8-12 years of higher education how they should practice medicine.
Talking about the "perinatal palliative care"- does this woman know the suffering some of these babies go through before they die while their parents are forced to watch and are helpless to do anything?
I can't imagine forcing that on anyone.
This is what happens when we as a society refuse to accept that it is possible to discern truth. We instead designate whole topics as out of bounds. We're not allowed to stop them from disseminating their propaganda unless we ourselves also stop our own educational campaigns. That is not a win. Anti-abortion advertising should be banned not because it is 'graphic' but because it is lies. Businesses, institutions, and media all want to bury their heads in the sand. That only helps the liars. They need to be called out for it, and fiercely.