33 Comments

It amazes me how you inform me about things happening in my own State in such a timely way. ACLU lawsuit on behalf of abortion providers versus North Carolina State yesterday. Thank you!

On another related topic, what is with these blatantly non-healthcare based "Abortion Reversal (Second Chance)" Bills? A requirement for healthcare providers to give their patients false medical information and undermine a critical relationship of trust between patient and healthcare provider.

North Carolina HB788

Expand full comment

Biden gave one fiery speech about reproductive rights. He should absolutely give another. He should cite all the harms that have come to women since Dobbs, and he should give us his plan. He has promised to "codify Roe" numerous times. Well, come out and tell the country what you need in order to do that. And I'd like to see a shot across the bough at the Court. It's not immutable. It's not untouchable. C'mon ! Let's have a plan to expand it.

Expand full comment
founding

Yeah, we need to see the Biden who's a street fighter, not the bumbling old man. I don't pay much attention to what he says and does (as opposed to what's actually happening on policy), but polls seem to suggest the public is seeing the latter, but I know the former is in there too and he needs to show it. It's one of his big strengths and if he doesn't have it he needs to step aside and let someone else campaign for the presidency. I have absolutely no doubt he can do the job of president; it's the campaign I'm worried about.

Expand full comment

I found the mention of doctors’ ability to determine care v. medical ethics to be perplexing. (Lawyers‘ decision making is regularly suspect since they’re too often guided by risk management.) I served on a research ethics board and those making determinations on medical ethics WERE physicians. During the worst of the pandemic, the governor of TX said he was guided by doctors but state mandates and policies were inconsistent crap. I suspect most of those doctors kept a tube of horse paste in their pockets for Covid prevention even after the vaccine.

Expand full comment

Joe Biden is not pro-choice. He's a pretty doctrinaire Catholic who pretends to be pro-choice for political advantage.

Who was in charge when Roe was overturned?

Expand full comment
founding

Brett Kavanaugh

Expand full comment

I was shocked but delighted by the news here in Iowa today. I really thought our planned rally was going to be one of mourning. I am encouraged by just how much local public outcry I've experienced at pro-abortion rallies and protests. I'm a full spectrum birth doula, and the clinics who provide abortion here are already few and far between, so there's still lots of work to be done, but I have a bit more hope today.

Expand full comment
founding

There's an interesting dynamic going on on the enemy side. Republicans who care about winning elections (not all of them do) are VERY worried about the abortion issue; they know how toxic it is and they probably wish the court hadn't issued Dobbs. They're desperately trying to make it go away, the latest effort being this "consensus" talk. I would put most prominent Republicans in this group; I'd say all the presidential candidates except Pence. They really only care about gaining power, and they're not quite as untethered from reality as the base.

But the anti-abortion groups, and Republicans who drink their sewage, are on top of the world. They think things are going amazingly well, that their revolution is succeeding and that it can only get better for them. They're changing the world! These dumb fucks, the people who are demanding lawyers for every embryo, are completely clueless, and their overconfidence is bound to be their undoing.

The question is how long these two groups can hold hands peacefully. Republicans haven't figured out how to win without these people, but they haven't figured out how to win with them, either, not outside deep red areas. If Democrats were more politically savvy it would probably be even worse for Republicans (it may yet be). Something has to give.

Expand full comment

Yeah anti-abortion has them by the balls. It's hilarious.

Expand full comment
founding

The closest comparison I can think of on our side was the 'defund the police' movement (not talking about the merits, just the politics of it). There were people riding high on the protests in the summer of 2020; meanwhile Republicans were preparing to clobber us over it, and I do think it cost us votes in that election cycle, obscured by the fact that we ultimately got the trifecta.

Expand full comment
founding

"The idea is that voters don’t need to have a direct say because they already made their voices heard when they elected their representatives. (Never mind gerrymandering, voter suppression, etc.)" That's the way the system works though. In red states, the majority of voters voted for Republicans. And there is currently no red state (for this purpose I would define as the 25 states Trump carried in 2020, plus Georgia) for which you can make a credible argument that gerrymandering or voter suppression is responsible for Republican control. This is important because if we're in denial about the problem, we can't address it. Our side focuses on voters being pro-choice. They are! Solid majorities in most (perhaps not all but it's probably close) states support reproductive rights. Their side focuses on voters electing Republicans. They do! Both facts are correct. The question we need to be asking is why do so many pro-choice voters continue to vote for Republicans? If we don't face that it's hard to get anywhere.

Expand full comment

Propaganda is pretty effective. Gotta give em props for that at least.

Expand full comment

And NO media organization should EVER call the forced birth people "pro-life."

Expand full comment
founding

Forced birth is a human rights violation. That needs to be shouted from the rooftops!

Expand full comment

You know why women hold the power over their fetuses? BECAUSE THAT FETUS IS INSIDE HER BODY!!!! I couldn't read the IndyStar article, but Jessica's right: screw him.

Expand full comment
founding

I'd go farther and say the fetus is A PART of her body. I remember when Jessica did 'stupid shit Republicans say' and there was some state rep talking about 'floating', as if the fetus was a goldfish in a bowl or something. It needs the placenta and the placenta needs the uterus, so I don't see how it can be considered separable. That seems obvious to us but apparently many Americans know almost nothing about biology so it probably doesn't hurt for us to repeat it over and over.

Expand full comment

It's VERY clear that most people know next to nothing about pregnancy and reproductive anatomy, including people who have actually gone through it! It's all these abstinence-only classes, instead of actual anatomy and physiology based sex ed. Yes, we definitely still need to keep educating people.

Expand full comment
founding

Exactly, and that's why Republicans' other favorite target is schools.

Expand full comment

There'd be abortion pill dispensers in every men's bathroom if cis men could get pregnant.

Expand full comment

What's that quote? "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament."

Expand full comment
founding

And every abortion begins with SPERM

Expand full comment

Flo Kennedy used to say that. She added that there would be abortion clinics on every corner, with beer and pretzels. Men would brag about it (they'll brag about anything): "Can't play basketball today; gotta go get an abortion." If men had periods they'd brag about how much, for how long, how bad the cramps were, and on and on.

Expand full comment
founding

Omg yes. Back when South Park used to be interesting they did an episode with men bragging about their bowel movements, with a whole public agency set up to judge it.

Expand full comment

Oh, and free menstrual products, in every school, college, workplace. Promotionals at every store: "Buy a six-pack of beer, get two boxes of tampons free." Coupons for free abortions handed out at bus stops. Guys would brag about how many they'd had. I just said this to my nephew and he could barely drive for laughing. (Flo Kennedy is so missed!)

Expand full comment

The tampons would be "extreme" and would start at size large and go up to extra extra large. :-)

Expand full comment
founding

Has this ever been a comedy sketch somewhere? Because if it hasn't it really should be!

Expand full comment
founding

Meh, the pills would be too painful. There'd be drive-thru abortion clinics where you could get everything taken care of with some anaesthetics. Also idk if all men would be able to figure out how to use the pills correctly.

Expand full comment

It boggles my mind when men argue that abortion pills should be banned because they give women painful cramps and bleeding - as if the alternative of giving birth is a walk in the park. And if men needed abortion pills, a special formulation of beer would probably be approved and marketed for that (looking at you, Brett Kavanaugh).

Expand full comment
founding

Yah! And they can't really mean that when they argue that about the pills; they're just being deeply deeply cynical (and hoping someone listening is stupid).

Expand full comment

We desperately need more good news like the story out of Iowa.

Expand full comment