38 Comments

That story about the pilot in Georgia, and the entire Elevated Access org, made my heart burst. Holy feathers indeed.

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I’m trying to picture the Grand Oppressive Party’s first presidential candidate debate that is set for August. What a spectacle it will be, with them debating at what point, what week, what moment should be the moment that the State owns our bodies.

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My mom always very clearly remembered watching an entire room full of ONLY men discussing contraception. It made her furious.

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Jun 2, 2023·edited Jun 2, 2023

Shoutout to my governor! Wish Murphy had said that at the outset, but I'll take it.

Regarding the anti-choice monsters who are running unopposed... That's so frustrating. One of the biggest lessons I've taken away from the fall of Roe is how local elections and involvement mean so much now. Even on school boards. Town councils. It all matters. Nothing can be taken for granted.

Even if someone ran against them and lost, it's still a win of sorts because they get outed for the horrible policy positions they hold. In my little NJ town, we have a real rightwing bully on the Town Council. He's responsible for trotting an out-of-town "recovered gay minister" into our BOE meetings who declared homosexuality is a mental illness that can be cured. (Yes. Ugly.) Hurt a lot of people's feelings, to say the least. Well he has opposition now and even if he still wins the election that's coming up, the crazy is being aired.

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founding

A lot of things Trump says could get people killed, among other fates. He's the living embodiment of all of the best arguments against free speech.

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Early in the pandemic, I debated a total free speech person about covid conspiracies and misinformation. I told her some of it was akin to yelling “Fire!” In a crowded room when there is no fire. Such words aren’t protected because they put people in danger and cause them to die.

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My issue with free speech is it including the right to lie, about others. Difficult to prove or stop, but pretty clearly harmful as Trump shows.

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It is so infuriating that Dr Caitlin Bernard who prevented a 10 year old from having her rapists baby was fined by the Indiana state medical board. Unfortunately most people and the media move past a story once it is out of the headlines but the individual keeps paying.

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It seems like one of those situations in which you have to consider whether the cost of proving yourself right is worth it. And often it's not, to you, but it would be for others or to society at large. It seems like the same dynamic that discourages reporting of sexual assault or harassment. I don't know if it might be different if someone else were taking up the fight, rather than the individual who has been wronged.

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I believe it will take a collective response to move the needle on the extremists being able to harass abortion providers. Individuals are not enough.

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That feels like the bigger problem with this crisis in a nutshell. If Americans will only stand up for themselves, not for others, that's what allows the situation to keep getting worse.

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When Republicans say they want to protect their constitutions from out of state special interests, what they're saying is the voters are stupid and easily fooled. Which we know is true in these states..... because they voted for Republicans.

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It's pretty fucked that the good news always ends up being that the most outrageous, worst possible thing, didn't happen. So yeah it would have taken at least one Republican justice to rule against that crazy lawsuit in Ohio. It's like anytime a Republican doesn't do what the guy in Amarillo would do (I don't remember how to spell his name and it's not worth the effort) it's some kind of victory. It's fucked up.

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Horror dread and fear! That’s my essay. It was born here.

https://www.newsweek.com/children-motherhood-parenting-church-religion-1803783

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Jun 3, 2023·edited Jun 3, 2023

I relate to this. I did not have the strict religious upbringing, but came of age in upstate NY during operation rescue. It really messed with your mind and emotions. Needless suffering.

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Needless suffering inflicted upon so many.

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Fantastic article. The fear of pregnancy is called tokophobia and I can totally relate but for medical reasons. If there's any silver linings in all this religious extremism, it's that people are leaving the churches in droves. At the rate they're going, they won't be around for much longer. Especially with the lack of children that won't be born into them ironically because of this punitive view of pregnancy and birth. I'm glad that you are finding the healing you seek.

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But the goal of theocratic extremism (abortion bans are part of those) is to rejuvenate the faith. By force if necessary. Hence homes for unwed moms and pregnancy centers and gay conversion therapy and blah blah blah ick ick ick.

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Seems like any mother or gay person who experiences these places will run as far from Christianity as they can. The more they double down on it, the more people will leave.

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Unless they can’t. That’s the ugly truth. You have no one else, so you go to a Christian home for unwed mothers. You are arrested in a prostitution sting, and your state allows you to pay for Christian therapy to curb your lust in lieu of jail. Etc etc etc. They fully intend to replace federal welfare assistance with theocratic oppression in exchange for help.

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I'm sure it's every intention of theirs. But what power do they have if no one goes to the churches anymore because of this toxicity. Especially as the US becomes less white and those white people become less Christian. There's no stopping the demographic tide that's coming. And this is their last gasp.

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It is their last gasp to try to consolidate power before they lose it. And they could succeed. Which is why I talk and write and post about this, as insane as it sounds in theory. Yes, demographics will win in the end. But decades of theocratic oppression? A generation or more lost to this? I say no. Which is why I contribute whatever I can to oppose it.

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That was a powerful essay - I am so sorry you experienced such a nightmare.

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Thank you for reading. If sharing it helps someone, it’s worth it.

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“People who think the public schools are indoctrinating don’t know what indoctrination is. We were indoctrinated,” Aaron says. “It’s not even comparable.”

This especially spoke to me. Because TRUTH.

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Do you have any good talking points for people who use the “late term abortion” argument? That’s the one I get the most. I know it’s not a real thing, but I would love to have some facts and statistics to point to.

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I think it's less than 2% of abortions occur after twenty weeks and it's only for incompatibility with life which is usually don't before twenty four weeks. If the fetus is at viability but it's threatening the mother's life, they'll just induce or give her a C-section. So almost no abortion occurs after twenty four weeks except in extremely rare cases like children who've been raped and didn't know they were pregnant.

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From my own experience, they don’t care about talking points. I basically say “democrats want to murder babies until the moment they are born” is a lie and cite numbers on late-term abortion. Which is rare.

These people are literally being told an execution squad is sitting at the birth canal, murdering the baby at birth. It’s visceral and effective imagery. But untrue.

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I wish these people would get called on their rhetoric all the time, not just the "killing babies after birth" kind. Whenever they say they are "protecting life," they should be called on their BS. I defy anyone to explain how forcing a woman to bear her rapist's baby or to carry a doomed fetus just to watch their baby die in agony or any of the other horrors being inflicted on women in these abortion ban states "protects life." What a cruel, sick joke.

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Especially given anti-abortion states have the highest maternal AND infant mortality rates in the country. For Black people, it's the level of third world countries because of these anti-abortion laws, systemic racism/sexism, poverty and lack of health insurance.

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Exactly, Laura! They go on and on about saving babies (I mean literally I saw the woman AG sobbing about how many babies they were going to save, as she signed Arkansas's abortion ban into law the dark day Roe was stolen)...and yet as you say, these states' infant mortality rates are the highest in the country! It's such a disconnect.

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They're so delusional. Seems like this has been nothing but an advertising campaign for the abortion pill. I haven't heard any news about hospitals being inundated with babies. Have you? In fact they're shutting down labor and delivery wards because of terrified doctors and mothers fleeing these states!

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I hope that this is having an effect on people. It will be large for some, small for many others, but I hope it's permeating the public in a way that it's setting events into motion, which may be small and on an individual scale, but that cumulatively produce change that may be slow but also that cannot be stopped or reversed. We can't undo the damage, but nor can they undo our response to the damage. Butterflies flap their wings and no one notices, but eventually it's an earthquake. Because the alternative would be that it's all a nothingburger, that they can do this and get away with it.

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Poland would be the nearest example we can look to. Polish women are leaving in droves to other eu countries. People will probably do the same here with those of reproductive age fleeing to pro-choice states to have families. That could leave these states stuck in a conservative wasteland unfortunately but it could also cause them to change their politics to attract people back.

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Some of the red states already are in that trap. But Texas, the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida have all been growing strongly, so those would be the places to watch for the effects, economic and otherwise, since there's no quick fix to liberate their citizens.

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Agreed Ive always hated how they were able to get away with being called “pro life” not just by the media but by the abortion rights side. I am prolife and for abortion rights. They do not have a right to that word and for so long it has been ceded to them.

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Oh my god that pilot. Made me cry. I needed that this week. Thank you!!

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