I don't know if this is the right place to add this comment, but this is my vote for continuing the podcast as often as possible. I like to listen at work to keep up with the news.
I'm a middle-aged woman with ADHD and chronic pain and my brain doesn't want to focus on the printed word anymore. Audio is perfect! It's much more accessible for me. The podcast is the main reason I subscribe.
But, if it's too much extra work for you, I do understand.
I wonder if she could get someone else to read it out as a podcast? I prefer reading myself so I have to imagine how difficult it must be when your health issues make that very challenging. I want her to reach as many people as she can but I don't want her to burn out because the work is too valuable!
Agreed but I'm happy to see something being done about him. Maybe it will at least inspire fear in the next person who feels like they can use taxpayer dollars to make a theological point or to attack women.
Blabbing is good. I do it all the time, always hoping I'm not 'that' guy but I figure posting comments doesn't keep others from posting and people can just read what they want. This is a very good community here.
Yes, that's where I'm at. What will we have to go through before people see that the lies only lead to misery. Do we have to try fascism and autocracy to understand that we don't want it.
Alas, the learning curve for those who don't know our history, would seem to indicate that is so. My father nearly died in WW11, so I have always ben interested in how such an atrocity came to pass, I no longer wonder.
Yes, I suppose that's what we're all worried about, that it's just been too long since then. And if that's so, worried that there may then be nothing that can be done to stop it.
We seem to run in 80 year cycles, just long enough for those who fought to have died off. My father was one of the youngest, drafted at 18, in the last two years of the war, he died in 2000 at 75. He helped liberate the camps and (eventually in later years) he told us of the horrors he saw there. His words to us were "we can never let that happen again."
What did you learn this weekend? I learned that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) is apparently fluent in Braille, because she sure was using it to communicate with her date a few days ago at a performance of “Beetlejuice” where the two were kicked out after Boebert sang and continued vaping even after a woman nearby asked her to stop. Oh, and fondling. Her date had his hands all over Bobo’s boobs, and she was returning the favor with a handy. Yep. Hand to gland combat. Right there in front of everyone. They were not being subtle about it. At least people usually cover that shit up with a blanket on the plane. And here I thought Republicans were against government handouts.
I know Boebert is controversial. (I personally think she's a trash human.) And I get why the media talk about this incident. She's in the US Congress. We should expect better behavior from our elected officials. But I've not read one piece about the boob-grabbing man's lack of morals. He participated every bit as much as she did, but we shame the woman. If a male elected official carried on this way, I doubt it would be news, other than to find out the identity of the "slutty" woman who was with him.
Don't get me wrong. I can't stand her. But this is an example of the media paying attention to the wrong things simply to get clicks and eyeballs. It feels satisfying to read articles like this as a person on the left, but it's a waste of time. If we would stop giving these stupid stories air and eyeballs, they would stop churning them out. And maybe we'd have more success getting them to cover things that really matter.
It’s not what she did that is so much the problem with me, although I think it was highly crass with children present. She can people her bed with sheep for all I care. It’s the hypocrisy that pisses me off.
She’s spends a lot of time and energy judging the moral behavior of everyone who doesn’t follow her espoused religious “family values.” She regularly rants and raves against drag performers as “groomers.” She hates on the LGBT+ community. When her teenage son got his younger girlfriend pregnant, she used that as an excuse to be snotty and condescending to those who don’t “welcome life,” and lectured on the joys of teenage parenthood and being a grandmother in her thirties. Sex is, in her views, for married cis heterosexual couples - but apparently those rules are just for the rest of us and don’t apply to her personal behavior or that of her children.
And for family values! There were children present. So much for the problem being drag queens.
But it gets better. Or worse. I read a piece that linked to a TMZ piece on this. They interviewed Boebert when she got back to D.C. Boebert has broken things off with this guy after she found out that he is a Democrat. He also owns a bar frequented by LGBT folk, and has hosted drag shows there.
And to add the sprinkles to this bullshit cupcake - according to TMZ, it was a first date.
And here I thought it was we liberal ladies who were supposed to be “loose women with bad morals.” I don’t recall ever letting a first date grope my boobs in public, or giving a first date a handy in front of kids.
***Gianna & Pietro Molla Maternity Home requires residents to “attend Sunday Mass, take part in a nightly prayer and participate in grace before meals.” What makes this even worse is that most of the women this organization serves are Native American.***
And maybe the reason Republicans don't expect us to believe what they say, is that most of the time THEY don't believe what they say. To a Republican, the expectation is that everything everywhere is a lie. Was Cameron lying on the questionnaire, or lying now? Yes.
We have to understand why they're trying to get away with the 15 weeks stuff. A lot of people don't understand it. The chief justice of the supreme court, who is many things but I don't think stupid is one of them, asked why 15 weeks wouldn't be long enough. People think 15 weeks can still be 'pro-choice'. Remember Roberts wasn't ready to overturn Roe but he did want to rule in favor of Mississippi's law.
That's why we NEED the stories, to explain why the availability of abortion care throughout pregnancy is necessary.
15 weeks is a smokescreen. If they win in 2024, ALL abortion will be banned nationwide. 15 weeks is a number they think they can make sound reasonable. They have no intention of passing a 15-week national ban except as a speed bump to a total nationwide ban.
Yes, it's valuable to educate our woefully uneducated country about a woman's body and the mechanics of reproduction. But every time one of us utters the words "15 weeks," we're helping them cement that number. We need to refuse to speak in weeks. A woman's life is bigger than a number of weeks.
We need the horror stories to help people understand the horror.
Yes, don't use the number. But I do think the public might conceptually break abortion care down into 'elective' abortions and 'medical' abortions, and we need to talk about both.
Yes, EVERYTHING is a smokescreen for 2024. Too many people think certain things could never happen in America because they never have before. But if Republicans win in 2024, people on the street are the ONLY check on their power left. There's absolutely no reason to think they would stop themselves. I do think the American people would eventually win that one. But it would be very very ugly.
I always heard that all abortions were "elective." The anti-abortion movement doesn't believe in medical abortions. It is always, 100% the woman trying to avoid the consequences of her actions. They say this openly amongst themselves. I can't tell you how many times I heard it growing up. That's why I'm firmly in Jessica's camp: We don't need to try to meet them anywhere, because their lines are always lies. We need to state what we want without fear, and explain why it is the only humane choice.
But for independents or people who might be swayed, it is useful education. More people need to understand the reproductive process, because loads of Americans clearly don't.
The thing that makes me crazy, is the medical disinformation, as a retired surgical assistant I had to go to school for years to learn the correct medical information, and they just lie about what is an Abortifacient, or make up a heartbeat long before there is a heart, and the press ignorantly spreads the lies. Some doctors are finally calling them out, though, but of course the media mostly ignore it or report it on a small article, while trumpeting the lies.
Yes, the education. I just don't want people following John Roberts' logic. It's not really meeting them, it's just being able to answer their questions, to your point, "explain why it is the only humane choice." Because no, people do not understand the reproductive process.
For real. The anatomy scan where you really see how things are developing doesn’t even happen until ~20 week. And brain anomalies sometimes don’t even show until 30 - it’s rare, but it happens.
Why can’t they trust women and doctors to make ethical decisions? I really feel like these assholes are trying to babysit me because I’m so incapable of acting morally in regards to a pregnancy. Sometimes letting go is the merciful thing to do - isn’t mercy supposed to be a virtue?
That is exactly what they are doing. Depending on the argument, women are either immoral or incapable, so they need someone to mind them. How does anyone not see how offensive and hateful that is?
This exactly! My college-educated and very feminist sister thinks 15 weeks is "reasonable." People WILL absolutely fall for the Rs' "moderate" BS on this issue.
15 weeks -is- usually reasonable, for -elective- abortions. (And even then you have to know you're pregnant, find the money, find the time off work and/or get childcare, and get an appointment time. You can also have domestic abuse situations, something else could go horribly wrong in the woman's life, etc. etc. So I'm definitely not saying that should be policy, just that the vast majority of elective abortions will get in before that date.) But with bodily autonomy, you either have it or you don't. Idk who wants to be the one to tell your sister she's not a feminist? :)
That’s the thing. The zealots want to ban the elective abortions especially i.e. pretty much everything before 15 weeks. In some sense, they want the opposite.
Exactly. And those bans are even less popular than the 15 week bans. We have to hit them with both. When they go after 15, bring out the medical stories. When they go earlier, because they want to stop elective abortions, we hit them for not giving women any choice. We win both arguments; they don't have an answer for either one that persuades the public. We just need to stop acting like we're afraid to talk about this or we don't want to talk about it. The dynamic is the same as if they're telling kids the stork brings the babies and we think it's improper to burst the bubble with the real story.
They're replicating theocratic punishment in other areas of American life, too. In Idaho, they have halfway houses for drug addicts that have similar religious requirements. They get taxpayer funding, and I've seen a total of ONE article on these places. In the story, the women were forced to get food stamps and then hand them over to the halfway house, which is illegal, but they also had curfews and Bible studies and no dating. One woman was kicked out because she relapsed and was told it was because she couldn't control her sin.
Don't even get me started on the TX program that had female police officers pose as prostitutes to pick up men, only to arrest them for soliciting. And rather than go to jail, the men can elect to pay to attend a "lust eradication program." As far as I could tell from the article, it was modeled on the "pray the gay away" programs, only for male lust for women. This program also had taxpayer funding.
Every one of these programs should be sued for violation of separation of church and state. They should NOT be non-profits. They should pay taxes.
Maybe Email Propublica, they are always looking for tips to expose corruption, I just sent them a donation for their excellent work on Alito and Thomas.
Yes. Of course right now the courts think the first amendment means government can't 'discriminate' against religion, rather than that government can't force religion on its citizens. But we absolutely should keep bringing this to public attention, because it will make enough people uneasy.
I'm afraid this is another one of those things people won't pay attention to until it happens to them. It sounds like hyperbole, but their whole plan is to force all of us into programs like this. They eventually want to replace our government and justice system and educational system with this.
And this is their goal, steal the babies for their xtian adoption agencies, and sell them to fundies, who will indoctrinate the poor little things, warping their psyche to be hateful like them.
It just hit me that the scenario below is probably what a lot of the anti's actually believes happens. Hell, since at least one of them believes that the mouth is connected to the vagina.... ehh.
That's what we're all waiting for. I think it's worth noting that there are barely any cracks. These people really do think the end of civilization is nigh, and that this is their last chance to stop it. That conviction and determination makes them very dangerous. We've seen things I never thought I would see, and unfortunately there may be more before we find the way to effectively fight back.
They don’t want to stop it. My mother actually said, “America isn’t mentioned in the Bible during the last days, so if America falls, oh well. Jesus is coming.” They are actively pursuing their own country’s destruction to “make the Bible come true.” And when I said, “I know you don’t care what happens to me, but you have grandchildren. You have a great-grandchild. How can you vote for them to suffer?” Her response: “The Bible says the end times will be terrible, but I’m going to be in glory. Everybody else will just have to pray.”
THIS is the mentality we’re dealing with on the right. My mother is typical. She is not an exception. They will burn this whole country down and wonder why they weren’t raptured out of the mess they made.
Yes. The only nuance I would add, to the point of my original comment, is that I do think the Republican party is a coalition of the very religious and the not so religious. You know the first group inside and out and that makes your perspective so valuable. But I think there are a lot of Republicans not thinking in religious terms, who just think White people are going away, nobody's going to have a gender anymore, the government is going to become communist, etc. etc. Their calculations and thinking might be different from the theocrats, but so far they've been able to stay closely aligned. If we could cause dissent between the two groups that would really help. So far it's been very hard to do.
The Atlantic had a really good article about this very topic a week or so ago. According to their research, more of the far-right IS NOT religious today. But they all exist in an ecosystem that is shaped by what the Moral Majority et al learned early on. They prey on fear to control their bloc, and it works, religion or no.
I don't think they will fracture unless they gain power. The far-right religious theocrats WILL NOT COMPROMISE their vision. They are warriors of God. The others will quickly feel like their freedoms are being violated. If it happens, it will be ugly.
"I don't think they will fracture unless they gain power." That. Or maybe if they were utterly destroyed at the ballot box, but we should be so lucky. As you say it's the way they think that's so similar, even if their goals are not perfectly aligned. I hope we can avoid it, but it just might have to get ugly :(
It seems wrong to “like” your comment, but I couldn’t let it go unremarked on.
I’m sorry that your mother is so closed off and selfish. The egotism involved in “I’ve got mine, everyone else can pray/go to hell” is toxic. I’ve never understood people who not only buy into the end times nonsense, but seem happy, or at least content, to let everyone else, especially family & friends suffer for eternity. There’s absolutely no empathy for others. I can’t help but feel they’ve failed as human beings.
I’m really sorry that you were raised in that environment. It must have been incredibly difficult.
I share stories like this here because I hope it helps readers grasp what we're up against. My own husband was a lefty who accused people of exaggeration and hyperbole when they said such people existed. Then he met my parents and went to the church where I grew up, and he was like, "Wow. These people really DO exist."
My mother is a narcissist, but so many women in that environment become covert narcissists. It's one of the only ways they can have any power in a male-dominated, misogynist system. That's why I sometimes speak to that. Liberals don't give nearly enough credit to the helplessness and rage so many of these women feel. My own mother seethes with resentment toward me because I rejected her submissive, oppressive trajectory and have a bigger, fuller life. Those are big emotions, and I sometimes think our response pours gasoline on them. It is absolutely what drives so many women to be anti-abortion. "I had babies I didn't want, and so will you. Nobody should get to make a choice I didn't have."
I appreciate your empathy. I've had lots of therapy. I'm married to my soul mate. I'm *mostly* functional. I don't share these things to draw attention to myself or my story. My story is a useful lens to interpret what's happening. Sometimes, it gives me a perspective that may help others. If I survived that upbringing to be useful in this moment, so be it.
I have a friend (that became a friend because of shared interests), her upbringing is similar to yours except, as it turned out she still has the toxic mindset. I was shocked at her vitriol about abortion. I said "well you hate me then." and told her my story.
Her parents sent her to religious college and she, knowing nothing about sex, had to have the resulting child, because abortion was not an option.
So she has the mindset that women should pay for having sex, as she did.
Did telling her your story change her point of view? Did she show any empathy or willingness to see this from a different perspective? I'm curious because she's embodies the resentment and rage I described in an earlier comment. Not that she'd parse it that way.
I’m so sorry for the trauma that you’ve had to go through. ❤️
Your story is so similar to what I have experienced.
My narcissistic mother will never stop manipulating and pressuring me to “come home to Jesus”.
Just last night, she (faux) tearfully told me that if I don’t accept Jesus back into my heart, I will (of course) burn in hell for all eternity and she will never see me again. The trauma and anxiety that she continues to inflict has destroyed our relationship.
And - despite her telling me when I was a teenager that she (an RN) accompanied a friend to a horrific back alley abortion doc in the 1950’s which should make her see the need for abortions to be safe and legal- she is aggressively anti-abortion.
Much support to you. Don't let her emotionally blackmail you, you deserve better. It's funny, that attitudes like hers are why so many of us don't buy into their version of religion. Or in my case, any version of organized religion.
Beth, I'm so sorry you can relate. I finally cut my mother off completely, but I know how fraught that decision can be. The anti-abortion movement preys upon the guilt some women feel over abortion experiences early in life, and they use that trauma to radicalize. Solidarity as you navigate this situation. I feel for you.
I don't know if this is the right place to add this comment, but this is my vote for continuing the podcast as often as possible. I like to listen at work to keep up with the news.
I'm a middle-aged woman with ADHD and chronic pain and my brain doesn't want to focus on the printed word anymore. Audio is perfect! It's much more accessible for me. The podcast is the main reason I subscribe.
But, if it's too much extra work for you, I do understand.
I wonder if she could get someone else to read it out as a podcast? I prefer reading myself so I have to imagine how difficult it must be when your health issues make that very challenging. I want her to reach as many people as she can but I don't want her to burn out because the work is too valuable!
Yes, that would be just fine! It'd be great if someone else wanted to read things out.
I don't want her to burn out either! Keep her on the research, writing, interviews, etc.
If someone else could read it, that would be great.
I tried text-to-speech but with all the photos and links, it's not quite an ideal transfer.
Yes idk if she or Grace will see this but I just wanted to put the idea out there :)
Jessica and Grace, if you do see this, I'd be willing to do some recordings for you.
https://www.axios.com/local/indianapolis/2023/09/19/indiana-attorney-general-rokita-abortion-disciplinary-charges
Anyone see this!!! 🙌🙌🙌
Agreed but I'm happy to see something being done about him. Maybe it will at least inspire fear in the next person who feels like they can use taxpayer dollars to make a theological point or to attack women.
Well, I've blabbed a bunch on some of your comments, but I want to thank every one of you for being here. You people give me life and hope.
Blabbing is good. I do it all the time, always hoping I'm not 'that' guy but I figure posting comments doesn't keep others from posting and people can just read what they want. This is a very good community here.
Yes, that's where I'm at. What will we have to go through before people see that the lies only lead to misery. Do we have to try fascism and autocracy to understand that we don't want it.
Alas, the learning curve for those who don't know our history, would seem to indicate that is so. My father nearly died in WW11, so I have always ben interested in how such an atrocity came to pass, I no longer wonder.
Yes, I suppose that's what we're all worried about, that it's just been too long since then. And if that's so, worried that there may then be nothing that can be done to stop it.
We seem to run in 80 year cycles, just long enough for those who fought to have died off. My father was one of the youngest, drafted at 18, in the last two years of the war, he died in 2000 at 75. He helped liberate the camps and (eventually in later years) he told us of the horrors he saw there. His words to us were "we can never let that happen again."
This needs to be spread out
September 18, 2023
NANCY WOODS
SEP 18
∙
What did you learn this weekend? I learned that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) is apparently fluent in Braille, because she sure was using it to communicate with her date a few days ago at a performance of “Beetlejuice” where the two were kicked out after Boebert sang and continued vaping even after a woman nearby asked her to stop. Oh, and fondling. Her date had his hands all over Bobo’s boobs, and she was returning the favor with a handy. Yep. Hand to gland combat. Right there in front of everyone. They were not being subtle about it. At least people usually cover that shit up with a blanket on the plane. And here I thought Republicans were against government handouts.
I know Boebert is controversial. (I personally think she's a trash human.) And I get why the media talk about this incident. She's in the US Congress. We should expect better behavior from our elected officials. But I've not read one piece about the boob-grabbing man's lack of morals. He participated every bit as much as she did, but we shame the woman. If a male elected official carried on this way, I doubt it would be news, other than to find out the identity of the "slutty" woman who was with him.
Don't get me wrong. I can't stand her. But this is an example of the media paying attention to the wrong things simply to get clicks and eyeballs. It feels satisfying to read articles like this as a person on the left, but it's a waste of time. If we would stop giving these stupid stories air and eyeballs, they would stop churning them out. And maybe we'd have more success getting them to cover things that really matter.
Andra,
It’s not what she did that is so much the problem with me, although I think it was highly crass with children present. She can people her bed with sheep for all I care. It’s the hypocrisy that pisses me off.
She’s spends a lot of time and energy judging the moral behavior of everyone who doesn’t follow her espoused religious “family values.” She regularly rants and raves against drag performers as “groomers.” She hates on the LGBT+ community. When her teenage son got his younger girlfriend pregnant, she used that as an excuse to be snotty and condescending to those who don’t “welcome life,” and lectured on the joys of teenage parenthood and being a grandmother in her thirties. Sex is, in her views, for married cis heterosexual couples - but apparently those rules are just for the rest of us and don’t apply to her personal behavior or that of her children.
It’s not the sex, it’s the hypocrisy.
Everything the Republican Party hustles is 100% hypocrisy. It’s maddening. That’s what we must keep calling out.
This.
And for family values! There were children present. So much for the problem being drag queens.
But it gets better. Or worse. I read a piece that linked to a TMZ piece on this. They interviewed Boebert when she got back to D.C. Boebert has broken things off with this guy after she found out that he is a Democrat. He also owns a bar frequented by LGBT folk, and has hosted drag shows there.
And to add the sprinkles to this bullshit cupcake - according to TMZ, it was a first date.
And here I thought it was we liberal ladies who were supposed to be “loose women with bad morals.” I don’t recall ever letting a first date grope my boobs in public, or giving a first date a handy in front of kids.
Hey guys, lighten up. That was a piece of satire. You should binge on some Saturday night live and chill out ☺
***Gianna & Pietro Molla Maternity Home requires residents to “attend Sunday Mass, take part in a nightly prayer and participate in grace before meals.” What makes this even worse is that most of the women this organization serves are Native American.***
What the ever-living-fuck? Is this 1830?
The cultist zombies that push this type of agenda, are trying very hard to make it so.
Great newsletter again today, thank you Jessica!
Jessica, you're not bitter; you're right.
And maybe the reason Republicans don't expect us to believe what they say, is that most of the time THEY don't believe what they say. To a Republican, the expectation is that everything everywhere is a lie. Was Cameron lying on the questionnaire, or lying now? Yes.
We have to understand why they're trying to get away with the 15 weeks stuff. A lot of people don't understand it. The chief justice of the supreme court, who is many things but I don't think stupid is one of them, asked why 15 weeks wouldn't be long enough. People think 15 weeks can still be 'pro-choice'. Remember Roberts wasn't ready to overturn Roe but he did want to rule in favor of Mississippi's law.
That's why we NEED the stories, to explain why the availability of abortion care throughout pregnancy is necessary.
15 weeks is a smokescreen. If they win in 2024, ALL abortion will be banned nationwide. 15 weeks is a number they think they can make sound reasonable. They have no intention of passing a 15-week national ban except as a speed bump to a total nationwide ban.
Yes, it's valuable to educate our woefully uneducated country about a woman's body and the mechanics of reproduction. But every time one of us utters the words "15 weeks," we're helping them cement that number. We need to refuse to speak in weeks. A woman's life is bigger than a number of weeks.
We need the horror stories to help people understand the horror.
Yes, don't use the number. But I do think the public might conceptually break abortion care down into 'elective' abortions and 'medical' abortions, and we need to talk about both.
Yes, EVERYTHING is a smokescreen for 2024. Too many people think certain things could never happen in America because they never have before. But if Republicans win in 2024, people on the street are the ONLY check on their power left. There's absolutely no reason to think they would stop themselves. I do think the American people would eventually win that one. But it would be very very ugly.
I always heard that all abortions were "elective." The anti-abortion movement doesn't believe in medical abortions. It is always, 100% the woman trying to avoid the consequences of her actions. They say this openly amongst themselves. I can't tell you how many times I heard it growing up. That's why I'm firmly in Jessica's camp: We don't need to try to meet them anywhere, because their lines are always lies. We need to state what we want without fear, and explain why it is the only humane choice.
But for independents or people who might be swayed, it is useful education. More people need to understand the reproductive process, because loads of Americans clearly don't.
The thing that makes me crazy, is the medical disinformation, as a retired surgical assistant I had to go to school for years to learn the correct medical information, and they just lie about what is an Abortifacient, or make up a heartbeat long before there is a heart, and the press ignorantly spreads the lies. Some doctors are finally calling them out, though, but of course the media mostly ignore it or report it on a small article, while trumpeting the lies.
Exactly. The media treats their ignorance as just as valid as our knowledge. Except they seem to have an easier time repeating the ignorance.
Yes, the education. I just don't want people following John Roberts' logic. It's not really meeting them, it's just being able to answer their questions, to your point, "explain why it is the only humane choice." Because no, people do not understand the reproductive process.
For real. The anatomy scan where you really see how things are developing doesn’t even happen until ~20 week. And brain anomalies sometimes don’t even show until 30 - it’s rare, but it happens.
Why can’t they trust women and doctors to make ethical decisions? I really feel like these assholes are trying to babysit me because I’m so incapable of acting morally in regards to a pregnancy. Sometimes letting go is the merciful thing to do - isn’t mercy supposed to be a virtue?
That is exactly what they are doing. Depending on the argument, women are either immoral or incapable, so they need someone to mind them. How does anyone not see how offensive and hateful that is?
This exactly! My college-educated and very feminist sister thinks 15 weeks is "reasonable." People WILL absolutely fall for the Rs' "moderate" BS on this issue.
15 weeks -is- usually reasonable, for -elective- abortions. (And even then you have to know you're pregnant, find the money, find the time off work and/or get childcare, and get an appointment time. You can also have domestic abuse situations, something else could go horribly wrong in the woman's life, etc. etc. So I'm definitely not saying that should be policy, just that the vast majority of elective abortions will get in before that date.) But with bodily autonomy, you either have it or you don't. Idk who wants to be the one to tell your sister she's not a feminist? :)
I think it’s purely “optics”--the Goldilocks formula.
Bullseye! Well labeled!
That’s the thing. The zealots want to ban the elective abortions especially i.e. pretty much everything before 15 weeks. In some sense, they want the opposite.
Exactly. And those bans are even less popular than the 15 week bans. We have to hit them with both. When they go after 15, bring out the medical stories. When they go earlier, because they want to stop elective abortions, we hit them for not giving women any choice. We win both arguments; they don't have an answer for either one that persuades the public. We just need to stop acting like we're afraid to talk about this or we don't want to talk about it. The dynamic is the same as if they're telling kids the stork brings the babies and we think it's improper to burst the bubble with the real story.
Zach, that’s why I wrote my piece on third trimester abortions last week. We need the Democrats to have, and use, actual data.
Physicians in Congress and state legislatures should know these laws will kill women. I want to know why they aren’t screaming. They took an oath.
I knew it wouldn't take them long to replicate the Magdalene Laundries. "Maternity Ranches", my foot! More like human puppy mills.
https://www.history.com/news/magdalene-laundry-ireland-asylum-abuse
They're replicating theocratic punishment in other areas of American life, too. In Idaho, they have halfway houses for drug addicts that have similar religious requirements. They get taxpayer funding, and I've seen a total of ONE article on these places. In the story, the women were forced to get food stamps and then hand them over to the halfway house, which is illegal, but they also had curfews and Bible studies and no dating. One woman was kicked out because she relapsed and was told it was because she couldn't control her sin.
Don't even get me started on the TX program that had female police officers pose as prostitutes to pick up men, only to arrest them for soliciting. And rather than go to jail, the men can elect to pay to attend a "lust eradication program." As far as I could tell from the article, it was modeled on the "pray the gay away" programs, only for male lust for women. This program also had taxpayer funding.
Every one of these programs should be sued for violation of separation of church and state. They should NOT be non-profits. They should pay taxes.
That is obscene!
Maybe Email Propublica, they are always looking for tips to expose corruption, I just sent them a donation for their excellent work on Alito and Thomas.
Yes. Of course right now the courts think the first amendment means government can't 'discriminate' against religion, rather than that government can't force religion on its citizens. But we absolutely should keep bringing this to public attention, because it will make enough people uneasy.
I'm afraid this is another one of those things people won't pay attention to until it happens to them. It sounds like hyperbole, but their whole plan is to force all of us into programs like this. They eventually want to replace our government and justice system and educational system with this.
Yes they do. And those who don't care about religion go along because they want social services to be cheap.
I just read the article. Equally as horrible as the abortion personal stories. Friday's one good thing can't arrive soon enough.
And this is their goal, steal the babies for their xtian adoption agencies, and sell them to fundies, who will indoctrinate the poor little things, warping their psyche to be hateful like them.
Luckily, we still have fairies to protect the babies 👶 😁
❤️
It just hit me that the scenario below is probably what a lot of the anti's actually believes happens. Hell, since at least one of them believes that the mouth is connected to the vagina.... ehh.
Whoa, what a newsletter. Hard to pick what pissed me off the most, but if I had to, it would be abortion tourism. I can just picture it.
Hi Susie. I need an abortion. I think I'll go to Hawaii so I can get a tan afterwards. Sheesh
May their karma bite them in the posterior, and get them ousted soon!
That's what we're all waiting for. I think it's worth noting that there are barely any cracks. These people really do think the end of civilization is nigh, and that this is their last chance to stop it. That conviction and determination makes them very dangerous. We've seen things I never thought I would see, and unfortunately there may be more before we find the way to effectively fight back.
They don’t want to stop it. My mother actually said, “America isn’t mentioned in the Bible during the last days, so if America falls, oh well. Jesus is coming.” They are actively pursuing their own country’s destruction to “make the Bible come true.” And when I said, “I know you don’t care what happens to me, but you have grandchildren. You have a great-grandchild. How can you vote for them to suffer?” Her response: “The Bible says the end times will be terrible, but I’m going to be in glory. Everybody else will just have to pray.”
THIS is the mentality we’re dealing with on the right. My mother is typical. She is not an exception. They will burn this whole country down and wonder why they weren’t raptured out of the mess they made.
You are one brave person, to think for yourself, and escape that kind of toxic upbringing, much admiration and respect to you.
Thank you. I'm still a work-in-progress. It took a long time. But I'm proud of my strength.
Yes. The only nuance I would add, to the point of my original comment, is that I do think the Republican party is a coalition of the very religious and the not so religious. You know the first group inside and out and that makes your perspective so valuable. But I think there are a lot of Republicans not thinking in religious terms, who just think White people are going away, nobody's going to have a gender anymore, the government is going to become communist, etc. etc. Their calculations and thinking might be different from the theocrats, but so far they've been able to stay closely aligned. If we could cause dissent between the two groups that would really help. So far it's been very hard to do.
The Atlantic had a really good article about this very topic a week or so ago. According to their research, more of the far-right IS NOT religious today. But they all exist in an ecosystem that is shaped by what the Moral Majority et al learned early on. They prey on fear to control their bloc, and it works, religion or no.
I don't think they will fracture unless they gain power. The far-right religious theocrats WILL NOT COMPROMISE their vision. They are warriors of God. The others will quickly feel like their freedoms are being violated. If it happens, it will be ugly.
"I don't think they will fracture unless they gain power." That. Or maybe if they were utterly destroyed at the ballot box, but we should be so lucky. As you say it's the way they think that's so similar, even if their goals are not perfectly aligned. I hope we can avoid it, but it just might have to get ugly :(
Andra,
It seems wrong to “like” your comment, but I couldn’t let it go unremarked on.
I’m sorry that your mother is so closed off and selfish. The egotism involved in “I’ve got mine, everyone else can pray/go to hell” is toxic. I’ve never understood people who not only buy into the end times nonsense, but seem happy, or at least content, to let everyone else, especially family & friends suffer for eternity. There’s absolutely no empathy for others. I can’t help but feel they’ve failed as human beings.
I’m really sorry that you were raised in that environment. It must have been incredibly difficult.
"they've failed as human beings" - yes, exactly
I share stories like this here because I hope it helps readers grasp what we're up against. My own husband was a lefty who accused people of exaggeration and hyperbole when they said such people existed. Then he met my parents and went to the church where I grew up, and he was like, "Wow. These people really DO exist."
My mother is a narcissist, but so many women in that environment become covert narcissists. It's one of the only ways they can have any power in a male-dominated, misogynist system. That's why I sometimes speak to that. Liberals don't give nearly enough credit to the helplessness and rage so many of these women feel. My own mother seethes with resentment toward me because I rejected her submissive, oppressive trajectory and have a bigger, fuller life. Those are big emotions, and I sometimes think our response pours gasoline on them. It is absolutely what drives so many women to be anti-abortion. "I had babies I didn't want, and so will you. Nobody should get to make a choice I didn't have."
I appreciate your empathy. I've had lots of therapy. I'm married to my soul mate. I'm *mostly* functional. I don't share these things to draw attention to myself or my story. My story is a useful lens to interpret what's happening. Sometimes, it gives me a perspective that may help others. If I survived that upbringing to be useful in this moment, so be it.
I have a friend (that became a friend because of shared interests), her upbringing is similar to yours except, as it turned out she still has the toxic mindset. I was shocked at her vitriol about abortion. I said "well you hate me then." and told her my story.
Her parents sent her to religious college and she, knowing nothing about sex, had to have the resulting child, because abortion was not an option.
So she has the mindset that women should pay for having sex, as she did.
Did telling her your story change her point of view? Did she show any empathy or willingness to see this from a different perspective? I'm curious because she's embodies the resentment and rage I described in an earlier comment. Not that she'd parse it that way.
I know I've said this before, but your perspective and insight are VERY valuable. Thank you!
Andra,
I’m so sorry for the trauma that you’ve had to go through. ❤️
Your story is so similar to what I have experienced.
My narcissistic mother will never stop manipulating and pressuring me to “come home to Jesus”.
Just last night, she (faux) tearfully told me that if I don’t accept Jesus back into my heart, I will (of course) burn in hell for all eternity and she will never see me again. The trauma and anxiety that she continues to inflict has destroyed our relationship.
And - despite her telling me when I was a teenager that she (an RN) accompanied a friend to a horrific back alley abortion doc in the 1950’s which should make her see the need for abortions to be safe and legal- she is aggressively anti-abortion.
Much support to you. Don't let her emotionally blackmail you, you deserve better. It's funny, that attitudes like hers are why so many of us don't buy into their version of religion. Or in my case, any version of organized religion.
Beth, I'm so sorry you can relate. I finally cut my mother off completely, but I know how fraught that decision can be. The anti-abortion movement preys upon the guilt some women feel over abortion experiences early in life, and they use that trauma to radicalize. Solidarity as you navigate this situation. I feel for you.
Andrew,
I know you’re sharing for our benefit, and not to draw attention. Your story is an important one.
I just recognized how painful it was for you to know the story so well.