52 Comments

Great reporting. Thanks Grace!!

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If SCOTUS decides to uphold this ruling, the pro-choice folks need to bring cases targeting every drug for men. Viagra needs to go. Is there a medication for prostate complications? Get rid of it. The bodies of men need to start being targeted until they feel a fraction of the harm caused to women. Then maybe they will vote blue in droves.

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Of course, it would be Daniel Ho, author or the torture memo under Bush who would write a dissenting opinion like this,...

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Tried to get here earlier but want to reiterate something Zach said: We must treat the entire Republican Party like they are James Ho. I know so many men who share his views. They were rampant in the church of my youth. These people are real. They are radicalized. They are fascists. There is nothing too extreme when it comes to making the whole world live however they dictate.

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It might be in vain but we can hope that there are still some people voting Republican who aren't as radical as this, and that the more we put the views of someone like James Ho on public display, some of them will reconsider who the Republican party really is. Hopefully the multitudes of Trump indictments will have some of that effect too. It's hard to believe or understand anyone voting Republican after everything that's happened, but some people may still not be that tuned in to what's going on. I'm just not convinced that the hardcore fascists are 40some percent of the population; I think there is a significant minority of Republicans who, somehow, are not.

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Fascists approach 40 percent of Republicans right now, I’d wager. I don’t think that many understand how they are being manipulated; many just want to “own the libs” and “beat the woke” and whatnot. But more and more seem to be fine with destroying our country to have it their way.

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Yeah, what I was thinking is that probably 40-45% of the population (maybe higher) will probably vote Republican no matter what, and I was saying I'm not convinced that (almost) all of those people are fascists. Yet, anyway. (And that right there might be the key). But 40% of Republicans is for me too low of an estimate. It really depends on what the criteria for being a fascist is. I think a majority of Republicans reject democracy. I think a majority are reactionary. We'd have to look into data to estimate exact percentages. The question I was raising is how many Republicans are not willing to go that far, and whether they can be peeled off as things get more dire.

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In the paragraph before the one Grace quotes above, Judge Ho literally compares women to habitat in his rationale for aesthetic injury: "It’s well established that, if a plaintiff has “concrete plans” to visit an animal’s habitat and view that animal, that plaintiff suffers aesthetic injury when an agency has approved a project that threatens the animal." (It's on p. 68 of the decision)

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I read that. It's so gross. Brings to mind this excellent article about the history of comparing women to land.

Abortion and authoritarianism: Why women's freedom threatens male supremacy

The notion that men are superior to women is the root of all human inequality. That's why we must fight it

https://www.salon.com/2022/10/23/abortion-and-authoritarianism-why-womens-freedom-threatens-male-supremacy/

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Did anyone catch this story last night Judge Ho's wife receiving payments from the pro birth group that brought the case? Never heard of this news site so don't know how accurate the reporting is.

https://www.levernews.com/trump-judges-anti-abortion-ruling-followed-payments-from-group-leading-case/

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Here's the media bias report on The Lever newsletter: left leaning, very factual (zero failed fact checks): https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-daily-poster/

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Thanks!

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Clueless about the site, but she is a partner at a large law firm and has connections with the Federalist society.

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Kyrsten Synema brokering a compromise between Tuberville and the Biden administration? Oh, please. She’s a freaking mercenary. What’$ in it for her?

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Will she be giving the fabulist Santos a cut?

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The root causes of the housing crisis are the cost of housing. Supply and demand matter whether we like it or not. And if we're admitting people would rather live in blue areas, then blue areas need to build more housing. Lots more. Blue areas tend not to be good at that; they tend to try to pretend there are other solutions. There are not. And we can screw up all our other good work if it's too expensive for anyone to live there. It drives me nuts because it's one of the worst things we can do to help the fascists.

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i agree with all of this. Im in a red state and looking to move to a blue one. The house is fine but taxes are so much more. Its still worth it for me, but what about people that cant afford that extra expense?

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I hope the Democrats understand that it does not matter what Republicans say their 2024 position on abortion is. For our campaign purposes, all Republicans are Matthew Kacsmaryk and James Ho. We'd better get that right. Unless I'm missing something and for some reason that strategy only works when their side does it and backfires when we do it? I don't think so but if someone has a good reason for Democrats not being ruthless I'll listen.

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These people are beyond ridiculous and shameless.

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I completely do not and have never regretted my abortion. I only wish there had been an option for mifepristone - it was not a treatment in 1988. My only point of sadness - which is new - is that I had to have a dnc. Most women opted for general anesthetic but I chose to have a gas and air pain relief. I was so pleased for all of us when abortions became so safe and pain-free.

Ho and his ilk are monsters. I hope his cock get caught in his zipper. And there’s no lidocaine for his pain relief when they have to stitch him up (a girl can dream)

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I'm just gonna get quickly back on my soapbox to remind everyone that people who identify and specify and harp on the "choice" aspect of "pro-choice" (a label I will never use for myself, and I really encourage y'all to examine if you use it for yourself) are anti abortion, just the same as the conservatives. I have genuinely honestly in a feminist subreddit had a "pro-choice" person tell me that abortion is one of the most traumatic things a woman can go through in her life, second only to a miscarriage. Loss of a loved one, being the victim of a crime, poverty, war, those are all things that impact men and men only, I guess. Nothing is more traumatic to a woman than not gestating. Something someone said to me not only with sincerity, I was actually driven out of the community by the violence this woman and her ilk inflicted on me when I disagreed and pointed out that this just is anti-abortion rhetoric, not even repackaged or relabeled. Her and everyone else I got death threats from insisted they were "pro-choice", just like a lot of Democrats do. Abortions are nasty, icky things for bad people (or in justifiable emergencies, and as a rape victim who needed an abortion and then had the gall to talk about it, trust me when I say there's a lot of hoops you gotta jump through for these people to consider things justifiable), but you can get one if you think that's best for you. I couldn't personally murder my sweet, innocent baby, but if that's the type of mother you want to be, that's your choice. As long as you aren't: using it as birth control, getting it too often, celebrating the decision that you made, not having children at all, etc. That's the messaging they push, that's the messaging they believe.

These people aren't your friends, these people aren't your allies. The people who regard abortions as a "necessary evil" aren't supporting expanded access for abortions, they want abortions eradicated., whatever that means for people going forward. They just want to be nicer about it than conservatives.

They agree with conservatives, they just don't want you to be mad at them about it. Say the right string of words, ask the right questions, they'll tell you, just like the governor did. Just like Planned Parenthood always does. The term "pro-choice" always gets my hackles raised for this reason.

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Em,

It really does depend on the person. I have a friend who is pro choice - she’d never have an abortion, but she doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with women choosing to terminate a pregnancy. She has daughters living in red states, and believe me if either called her and said they were pregnant and didn’t want to be, my friend would be booking them plane tickets home to MA so fast her girls wouldn’t have time to ask her to help.

Personally, I use the term pro choice because it emphasizes that I don’t think it’s any of my damned business what a woman does about any pregnancy. I want every woman to have reproductive justice. IF, how, when, or how often she chooses to reproduce or abort isn’t anyone else’s business. Twelve abortions are no different than one. I don’t care if she ever has children or not - what she does with her uterus is no more my business than what she does with her hair.

I don’t believe all prochoice people are opposed to abortion. I think there’s a slice of people who, as used to be said, think abortion should be safe, legal and rare, but I’m not sure they think it should be rare because it’s inherently bad. (It’s expensive, and it’s not generally a fun way to spend an afternoon, so preventing an unwanted pregnancy in the first place is logical, though clearly not always possible.) I think there should be exactly as many abortions as there are people who want to terminate their pregnancies.

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It doesn't, really. It's inherently adding an ideological slant on what is routine medical care. She'd "never" have an abortion because she feels some type of way about it, which is already how the culture war has been lost. No one is "pro choice" for wisdom teeth removal. No one says, "I'd never get my wisdom teeth removed, but I support your ability to do so, if that's what you want." No one has opinions about whether or not they would get the "fraught" and "horrific" and expensive medical procedure of kidney stone removal.

Nothing medical is a fun way to spend an afternoon, and nothing medical is ever cheap, but there's not think pieces on all of the work we should be doing to make sure that no one ever needs their tonsils removed.

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My friend does feel some kind of way about it *for herself,”” and that has to do with her personal history, not a condemnation of abortion.

I agree with you about think pieces. Personally, I don’t think abortion should be any more in the public domain for discussion than an appendectomy. There shouldn’t be any laws about it at all. It’s just no one’s business.

But I’ll take votes from anyone willing to vote in favor of more freedom and autonomy for women at this point. I’d rather have Roe back in place than Dobbs. Those in favor of second trimester abortions, for instance, have grown. Yes, I want to remove all restrictions, but I’ll take any progress I can get, and keep explaining why any restrictions are bad until the lukewarm Allie’s finally get it.

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Damnit! I wish I could edit this…I wanted to add that data reveals that after abortion, and five years post abortion, the overwhelming number of women say their most prominent feeling about their termination is relief.

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Agreed. I'm just not sure what it means for how to move forward. If we think it's hopeless it will be. I would rather have people who support all reproductive health choices and options as a good thing. But if the choice put in front of me is between someone who is against abortion but will allow it, and someone who is against abortion and will try to stop it, I think it's still very important to go with the first one. We have to move the window so that we have better options in the future. Maybe someone wants to argue that letting the conservatives run amok is the only way to move the window, and maybe it is, and that's why we're here now, but can you blame someone for trying to stop them when they're causing so much suffering? What else are we supposed to do?

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It isn't hopeless, and I've never said that anywhere. Please stop assigning that to me.

There's a lot of talk about voting, and I'm very worried that y'all are doing that and only that when it comes to your local politics. Someone who is against abortion and "will allow it" is waiting until you aren't looking to institute those beliefs. Don't stop looking. That just is letting a conservative run amok.

Actually do the work! It sucks, and I'm not denying that, but an uninformed constituency is exactly what is desired, because then it means they can do anything they want. Most states and quite a few countries are required to have these things be public. What are the laws that are being floated where you live? Who voted for them? What's happening in community meetings? What items are being added to the budget? Who is running for office and where is their money coming from? News like what Jessica's doing is very important, but sometimes you just have to seek it out for yourself.

I mean, you don't have to, but you certainly then can't sit back and say, "what else is there to do other than to vote for a horrible person and hope they refrain from acting horrible?" and then call everyone else a naysayer and think that's fine.

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These are all very good points. I do think because people have limited time and energy, we do use party labels as shortcuts. And that can be very efficient - really, it's necessary the larger the electorate is - but you are absolutely right that for that to work someone has to be minding the party. I think we probably disagree about just how disappointing the Democrats have been, and to what extent that's intentional on their part. Regardless, we have to keep up the pressure on our elected officials and candidates for office, always. Not to mention on other people in positions of power in our society too. I would only call someone a naysayer if when election day comes they don't choose between the two options in front of them. So I think we're mostly talking about different things.

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Hear hear! I have no regrets about my abortion. Barely even thought about it until all this anti-abortion stuff the last couple years. It's only made me more sure about my decision. I do agree that the less abortions the better because less abortions means less unintended pregnancies which means lower maternal and infant mortality and child poverty. That's the only reason I can agree with the sentiment. But shaming people for abortion is certainly not effective.

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i hear what you are saying, but what is the alternative label? I support a woman ending a pregnancy for any reason. I also support a woman wanted to carry a pregnancy even with challenges in her life. I think we are all different and thats okay, which is why we have choice.

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Sometimes I wish that curses on the unethical actually worked--or that I was a bit less ethical myself. I'd call up my old goddess coven from when I was in college...

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I'd love to be in a coven. That sounds awesome.

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I didn't belong for long--a bit over a year. Running sky-clad thru the southern California chaparral, scaring the dickens out of the local rattlesnakes. OMG it was a blast! The things we do when we're young, eh?

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Thanks for the newsletter today, Grace - I especially appreciated the rundown on the mifepristone case because I didn’t have the heart to read much about it in the mainstream press today. Judge Ho’s writing is disgusting.

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I keep repeating this but fetal personhood is literally slavery. If fetuses are people then the state is literally saying women are their chattel. This is what Caren Myers Morrison calls fetal coverture in her article State Abortion Bans: Pregnancy as a New Form of Coverture. Conservatives are trying to bring back coverture which makes women legally invisible. They can't do it through their husbands anymore so they're trying to do it through their uteruses.

State Abortion Bans: Pregnancy as a New Form of Coverture

https://virginialawreview.org/articles/state-abortion-bans-pregnancy-as-a-new-form-of-coverture/

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Absolutely

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I find it so sad that donations are down when the need is so high. Particularly after reading that heartbreaking story of the 13 year old rape victim who was forced to give birth. I already give to abortionfunds.org which the Brigid alliance is part of. Are there other organizations in need or should I just increase my giving to abortionfunds.org?

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Thank you for pointing out this resource. I think I'm going to start donating. I didn't know where to donate that would have the most impact.

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I think I'll start doing that regularly as well. So far, I've sent a few irregular donations, but it would be a good idea to donate monthly. I'm really poor, but I'll probably be able to swing $20-$25 a month. Not a lot, but every little bit helps, and small amounts build up more quickly than most people think. Thanks for the resource and the kick in the rear...

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Monthly giving is so powerful! That is wonderful.

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I'm pretty poor too but I plan to do the same. Every little bit counts.

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Indeed. I just went over to abortionfunds and made my first monthly donation of $20. They let people who make donations do it in honor of or in memory of someone. I decided to donate in memory of the doc I worked for in 1972-3, who did abortions. He died in 2000.

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I just did the same. Been putting it off for a year. Glad you helped me finally get around to it.

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Awesome. Yes I remember you discussing him. That's great you're doing it in honor of him.

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Man would be spinning in his mountaintop grave like an axle if he knew what had happened after all his hard work! The very least I could do was honor his life.

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I think in this situation I honestly can't think of an area where it wouldn't have impact. We need money flowing to all parts of the system and response. Hard to write a bad check here!

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Yeah but I'd rather donate to somewhere that can determine where best to allocate the money.

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It sounds like a pooled fund would work for you. National Network of Abortion Funds or the ABC Fund at Women Donors Network are two that will take your gift, combine it with others, and move it to an urgent need in a smart way. Both are being managed by brilliant women of color with deep movement expertise. I'm sure there are others also but those are national in scope.

However, I want to keep pushing on this idea of not giving until you know what is "best". What I am trying to say is all is best right now, and the only low impact gift is the one not made. Thank you for giving!

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I finally set up a monthly donation of $20 after putting it off a year. Thanks.

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Amazing! That is so generous!

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