139 Comments

These laws are just flat out crazy. I never thought I'd see this, but here we are. I'll do anything I can to help any uterus owner who needs it. This state of affairs is ridiculous. I want to ask these fools,"Do you want this for yourself? No? THEN LEAVE UTERUS OWNERS ALONE! You're not Christians, you're sick freaks that weaponize religion to increase the birthrate of babies because you're threatened at the shrinking demographics. Grow up. Uterus owners have the right to have, or not have, children. Yes, you traffickers of 'Personhood' laws-a potential parent has rights, too. They don't magically lose them by being born a certain gender. You don't get the right to make decisions for them. Period, full stop.

Thanks for reading. I really get fired up about this.

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I saw a link to this story in Jamelle Bouie’s recent NYT piece. I’m happy to see your massive amount of work and reporting is being recognized nationally, yet again. It sometimes feels like you’re the only one doing the work so it’s vital that msm sources are discussing and linking to your research. Thank you again for everything you do to help women and girls and thanks to all your subscribers!

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This isn’t about Jessica’ s reporting which is always stellar and alarming. But I just read an article in the NYT and I can’t even with these supposedly liberal columnists. Just today in Jessica Grose’s news letter she writes an article about people with different views abortion dating. She does what Jessica Valenti is always mentioning which is to present as a 50/50 split in her reporting when that’s not factually accurate. In all the quotes from the young people she interviewed showed that just about none of them, whether they are pro choice or not, have any idea what they are talking about.

The headline is something to the effect of are positions on abortion a deal breaker when dating? Let me help your article, “Yes it’s a deal breaker, how could I be with someone that believes a fetus should be saved over me or that I should have to be seriously close to death before receiving healthcare.” Because guess what that’s a deal breaker for everyone.

When they realize that to identify as “pro-life” right now is to say what is happening to women like Kate Cox or Dr. Dennard is acceptable. One guy said well he was a preemie so he’s against abortion up til birth. NO ONE IS MURDERING BABIES WITH A CHANCE TO SURVIVE! Why do we allow this to continue. I’m so disgusted with the media.

They are so afraid of being called bias that they are actually skewing the reporting. They are going to usher in a win for Donald Trump by not calling him a fascist all day every day.

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Yes they are not journalists, because journalists publish factual information, with the intention to inform. The NYT writers (with a few exceptions) are stenographers for the far-right nutters repeating their propaganda, and medical disinformation without ever correcting the lies.

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Well then your not watching the right shows/channel. MSNBC calls him a fascist every day, & Jen Psaki was the 1st person on tv I ever heard take her monologue intro time to address that very lie, the abortion up til the moment of birth, or the insane post-birth abortion lie. She called it out for the lies they are. I was so grateful that someone finally did

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All these laws, especially for minors, are intended to punish for the "sin" of being sexually active. The same rationale holds for promoting abstinent only sex education and making birth control and Plan B unavailable.

During the AIDS crisis of the 80's I was teaching high school. Our school district had an excellent RN who ran the Health education curriculum, and she developed a fact based curriculum that leaned heavily on proactive, protected sexual activity. Before AIDS, kids could get a sexually transmitted disease or girls might get pregnant, but in the late 80's-90's it could kill them. We surveyed kids to see why they had unprotected sex. A recurrent theme was taking precautions meant you were "planning" on having sex, as opposed to "it just happened." The first circumstance was sinful; the second was excusable - you got carried away in the moment.

Kids have sex. They do. They should be safe whenever they are not abstinent.

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This is absolutely another way to punish girls for having sex, especially outside of marriage. It boggles my mind that of all the people they’re stopping from having wanted abortions, they’re targeting teenagers most heavily. Of all your citizens, why are the youngest and most vulnerable the ones you want to force the most to carry a fetus they don’t want to term? Do we want teenage pregnancy rates to increase? Do these states want their state scores to somehow drop even lower for metrics on public health (including teen pregnancy which is generally considered undesirable as a teen is still a “child” mentally for purposes of making a life decision as large as having and raising a child. I think there are also a lot of Amy Comey Barrett’s who want the offspring of these young, fertile girls). I’m packing abortion medication at home and a fully gassed vehicle. Call me if you need a ride or the money for your health care. Can’t jail us all (tho they’ve tried. See the war on drugs).

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Yes, they absolutely want these young girls to produce babies for them. The proof for me is that wherever they can, they have taken over the adoption agencies. You hear about them getting sued, because they only sell babies to white, fundamentalist christians. And then there is all the young children that got stolen at the border, under tangeranus, that I believe got sold through Betsy DeVos's connected adoption agency. And a further point is ...remember the rhetoric "A domestic pipeline of infants?" Those are words that should never be combined.

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This is what boggles my mind. Are they seriously expecting this generation to be the first to choose abstinence and piety over sex, drugs, and rock and roll? To somehow ignore the biological impulses that nobody else has ever been able to? I know my generation wasn't celibate, and neither was any generation before or since. These fools know what they got up to in their youth and have the inexplicable confidence that if they just say no loudly enough, kids won't have sex. K, Gramps.

My high school nurse was like the one you mention. We always knew we could go to her with anything and that she would help us, no questions asked. She was a pragmatist, fiercely committed to her students, and she didn't give a damn what the principal or the pastor or the parents said. She's still a legend in our little tiny town, beloved by generations of students, and rightfully so. Thank goodness for nurses (and women in general) who see what needs to be done and do it, regardless of what the pearl-clutchers think.

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But now they’ll put you in jail. And take your teaching ceritifcate.

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You were lucky, a lot of pearl-clutchers go into nursing because it is one of two careers the fundies find acceptible for women. And they are horrible to work with. (I'm a retired Surgical Assistant and worked with more than I ever wanted to.)

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As Strict Scrutiny noted in their latest podcast, it seems SCOTUS will go out of their way to ensure you can sue the state for certain potential financial hardships like property rights -- even when state law already addresses it -- but not for SB8 when people need abortions.

So many new laws just trying to enable mob rule. It’s gross. 🤮

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Exactly! The onus should be on men! Abortion starts with men. Few women want an abortion with a pregnancy where in which they are loved.

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How about we do a better job of finding missing girls who are actually being trafficked.

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This right here. We got 99 problems, and "abortion trafficking" is exactly zero of them. They're standing in a burning house, arguing over furniture placement.

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Where is the proposed legislation that charges the damned man who impregnated her in the first place?! This is not human behavior. Come on, November!

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Yup. Zero mention of men anywhere in this. Just prosecute women and keep prosecuting them until they're all back in the kitchen or the grave. Raped your tween daughter? That's cool with these monsters (remember "legitimate rape" and "the body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down" and how insane it seemed? we were so innocent), as long as she doesn't have any options, can't leave the state, and doesn't need her mom, who will be busy in jail or court. Just risk death, infertility, and trauma so you can have a baby in middle school bc rapist daddy would rather have that than a daughter with the impression that she can be raped and "get away with it." I have absolutely no idea what is wrong with Republican women. Do they not get that these insane laws apply to them and their daughters, too? Total lack of empathy. It doesn't exist until it's MY daughter, who cares about everyone ELSE's daughters?

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Thank you for keeping us up to date.

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This grandma is volunteering to help anyone who needs it. F the assholes!

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Sorry to post again but had another thought. We definitely need Federal protection.

I moved to Idaho because I could afford a house here but was aware of how wacko the republican controlled legislature is (yep, one of the reps thought a woman could swallow a camera so fetal status could be monitored). Luckily I am way beyond worrying about pregnancy but I have granddaughters. So here is my thought: I live in the state of Idaho but I am a CITIZEN of the United States of freaking America. I want Federal protection otherwise I wish I knew how to program 'cuz I would create an app that shows you the safest routes to travel through the United States and which are woman-friendly states and where you should spend your travel/vacation money. It would also gives tips on how to avoid spending a dime in an unfriendly state you have to drive though.

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Canadian here. I have lots of family & friends in the States who keep inviting me to come visit. Also Canadian relatives with winter homes/condos in Florida who keep inviting us to come for a visit there. I'm past the stage in my life when pregnancy & abortion would be a concern, but I have absolutely no desire to cross the border right now. (Think about it for a moment: a Canadian is turning down invitations to come spend a few weeks in Florida in the middle of WINTER....! lol And I know I'm not the only one...!)

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Don't worry, we have the "desire to cross the border right now" thing covered. ;) I spent fifteen years in Oklahoma, one of the states trying to pass one of these BS bans, escaped five years ago, haven't been back since, and never will. Lots of my favorite people are there, but there are too many other people consistently voting to make it a horrible place for anyone to live. I will not travel to red states, because I'm not safe there. Full boycott, no exceptions, until women are treated like people. No justice, no tourist revenue! Not that a ton of people are beating down the doors of the OK/TN depts of tourism..... I know leaving the country isn't a solution for those who aren't fortunate enough to be able to, but until we can agree to divorce terms with the Misogynist States of Gilead, I want out SO badly.

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I’m with you. All of the family I have left in my older yrs are in TX & OK; but one has to take a stand, so I will not be visiting them until this craziness gets reversed. I’m not even sure I want them to come see me bc I may have to go off on a tirade bc they voted for this shit show.

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Here’s the thing, event though some of us are past child bearing age these laws move our gender to second class status across the board. We can’t let these Republicans do this. Resist.

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Absolutely, I’m 73 & had my tubes tied at 25 bc I knew then I was fine with the 1 child I had; but I came of age during Women’s Liv, burn bras & girdles, Roe, & the ERA. I am angry as hell about all this & will be using my money to support pro-abortion candidates all over the country & to support small abortion clinics.

And if the need arises I will volunteer to transport someone who needs help

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Yup. Our daughters and nieces and granddaughters and all their friends are still in mortal danger.

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Thankfully I visited Idaho years ago. Beautiful but ass backwards (no offense). We absolutely need federal protection for women in all 50 states. I literally will not book a flight that requires a layover at an airport in a red state. I have also told anyone who will listen not to allow their children to look at/apply to colleges in red states.

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None taken. There scenery is gorgeous but they truly are ass backwards. My sister and I are very active in the Democrat party here in our county. Believe it or not, we have made some differences. Unfortunately I don't see Idaho even going purple in the foreseeable future, but I can dream...

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For the record, we progressives in Oregon are totally cool with the "Greater Idaho" plan (pls take these ppl), and invite you and your sane friends to join us over here on the blue side of the state. It's lovely and we treat women like people.

I cannot believe how much the Overton window has shifted, and in so short a time. And how much damage one giant sack of human garbage can do, after decades of Repubs' deprioritizing education. Thanks, GWB.

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So we are going to need the equivalent of a Green Guide. Make America Sane Again.

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Remember the movie “The Green Book?” Was listings of restaurants, hotels, stores that were safe or welcoming to black ppl when they traveled. We’ll need something like that

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That isn’t a bad idea now. For lots of marginalized groups.

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Right-but I sure hope we don’t.

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From your lips to a programmer’s initiative.

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I regret moving to this fuckin state of Tennessee, I should have stayed in Chicago. I moved here before Rowe was overturned, or I never would have moved here. Tennessee is a very red state, supermajority Republicans. The Bounty was mentioned in legislature roughly 18 months ago and quickly dismissed...... and of course it's back and of course it's another male politician doing this.

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Like Jessica has said, the men really hate us.

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Yes they do. I realized that June of 2022 when Roe was overturned. They hate our independence. They hate we can divorce them when they abuse us or cheat on us or are shitty husbands & fathers.

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..They hate that we outnumber them in college, and that a woman does not have to tie herself to their loser asses when they reveal their true colors.

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You put your finger right on it. In their world, we are supposed to be dependent upon them, subservient to them, and totally at their mercy, no matter how they abuse us (or our children). They have been taught that domination is their birthright, and they're pissed that we had the audacity to challenge the system...and that we have not yet been punished.

Which has got to be a bummer. These guys used to have a premium subscription to life just because they happened to be born white dudes, now they've been downgraded to the same tier everyone else has, and they truly think they have been monstrously wronged. Did you see that delusional WaPo op ed, where the editorial board opined that progressive women are just going to have to take one for the team and start compromising and marrying conservative men, or marriage and our whole society will fall apart? I say let it fall. I would sooner die than marry a man who doesn't respect me, doesn't respect women in general, thinks he's the boss of everything, and is straight up physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive. I have already been married to one of those, and there ain't nothin' anyone could threaten to make me do it again. The scales have fallen from our eyes, there is no going back, and they think somehow that they can put the genie back in the bottle.

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Yes the moral panic of educated women not wanting to conservative working class men. Nothing against the working class as a group. My father put up fences and my brother is a plumber. But I’m more of an intellectual who likes to talk about complex ideas. I did not meet men that fit that bill who did not attend college. I know they exist because I’ve met them here and there but it just wasn’t my experience.

I also needed a feminist to marry because all the things. The truth is women didn’t have as many options when they were willing to marry across the ideological spectrum and frankly Roe was safe then. Our mothers(I’m 53) were trapped in their marriages and often didn’t have the financial power to leave. It’s said now that gen Z men are much less likely to be feminists than millennial men due to right wing misogynists recruiting high school boys on line with a promise to return their status. Gen Z women are saying hell no and therefore there’s a gap. Maybe instead of saying it’s women’s faults for having standards that treat us like autonomous beings we could ask men to step up. I see a great deal of male grievance and entitlement in the maga crowd. Even the women because they have hitched their fortune on the men.

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Do you have the link for the WaPo article? I did not see it. Yeah he's probably an Incel. But then again he could be a successful arrogant businessman. Rhetoric from Republican men and Trump have emboldened these pricks. I waited until I was 35 to get married... For reasons you mentioned.... I waited for a good man that loves women and supports our successes.

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Yup!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/22/marriage-polarization-dating-trump/

It's wild. They also claim that marrieds, even politically mismatched, are happier than singles, and cite an organization, the Institute for Family Studies, which has a just-married bride and groom on its front page and the stated mission "to strengthen marriage and family life." So no bias there, plenty of intellectual honesty and good faith. When we know that unmarried/never married single women are the happiest of all groups. Full-on sales pitch, with progressive women the sacrificial lambs, as usual. Said editorial board headed by three men, naturally, because who DOESN'T want to be the beneficiary of indefinite indentured servitude? Loving the Bezos regime. Guy can't just roll around on his billions (while hassling his employees over PEE BREAKS), he has to try to make everyone else's life trash.

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They have been drifting right ever since Bezos started hiring employees to run the WaPo. The wonderful Marty Baron retired, and it has gone downhill ever since. The current executives are Murdoch tabloid men who are right-wingers. The top guy, Will Lewis is in court in the UK, for destroying messages in the phone hacking scandal, where they hacked a dead child's phone and Prince Harry and a multitude of other celebrities.

"A separate NPR report published on Thursday accused Lewis of trying to kill a similar story in December which included the accusation that he helped cover up the hacking scandal. The NPR reporter David Folkenflik said Lewis had offered him an exclusive interview about the Post’s future if he dropped the story."

https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/jun/07/washington-post-new-ceo-leadership?

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I'm afraid to read it. I will get more pissed off.... I already can't fall asleep at night. I will readit Friday during work, then answer work emails with a snappy attitude. Lol

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Exactly. And don't forget about all the preaching from the pulpit about Book of Genesis....that is a huge reason why these men want the bible & prayer back in school... to brainwash more young boys & girls on gender roles.

Original sin comes from Eve in garden of eden ( yes they belive perfectly formed white people just arrived on earth a mere 8000 years ago in supposed Iraq garden of eden location they claim, never mind modern man bones & DNA from 200,000 years ago and other pre humans from our family tree)

Original sin comes from Eve, which is why we feel pain during childbirth ( we deserve to suffer)

Eve was created from Adam's rib to be his servant companion ( we are not real people, we need to thank Adam for being here)

Adam is the patriarch of family to lead and guide Eve ( because we are too stupid, not real people anyway.. And can't be trusted because of original sin).

It's about Masculine Christianity... men are head of the home, community, church and business.

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I always make a point to mention we have the same exact number of ribs, because they beleve that nonsense too.

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I like to say: you always make a rough draft before the final masterpiece.

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Right? I say this all the time. Do you want proof the Bible was written by men and not God? Because only a man would co-opt a birth story and make himself the creator(God supposedly did it but Eve was born of Adam) instead of the way women and other female animals create life. So if God created the people and the animals, why on earth would he make a nonsensical edit to creation that doesn’t take place very often in nature and is a one off?

In Ani Difranco’s song Blood in the Boardroom there’s a familiar scene of her(most of her work is autobiographical) getting her period unexpectedly in an office building full of men and finding the secretary to ask for a tampon.

This line changed how I viewed everything. It’s what made me realized that even our framing changes how we view a particular circumstance and that most of the framing even from our own minds is riddled with patriarchy. The secretary discreetly gives her the tampon and says what a hassle for you.

“it ain’t no hassle no, it ain’t no mess, right now its the only power that, that I possess, businessmen got the money that got the instruments of death. You know I can make life, you know I can make breath.”

This was the 90s so quite out of the mainstream but so needed. If men could give birth it would be exalted as a fucking super power.

Play God by her is also amazing. She has written at least 4 songs about her abortion experience before we were allowed to say that out loud without being shamed.

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fucking goddamn Republicans, mostly men.

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Exactly, mostly men....many of them don't even know the difference between a vagina and a uterus!! There are certainly some women in this movement, they've been brainwashed and indoctrinated over the years mainly by church and bible and grannies.. Or for some republican women the rules don't apply to them just the rest of us peasants...... seriously now you got to wonder about Marjorie Greene Taylor.... Just saying... Lol

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Truly. These clowns think pregnancy and childbirth are risk-free, have absolutely no idea how the menstrual cycle works, esp. re: dating a pregnancy, that the horrible stories we are hearing are the rarest of exceptions, and in at least one case, think that in the very, very unlikely case that one of these lying sluts is actually raped, her body can somehow magically decide to miscarry. But they should definitely be the ones making the decisions, no matter how ignorant they are, because women clearly can't be trusted to do it. We're allowed to serve and/or die. Can't imagine why we wouldn't want to marry and/or vote for them.

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It's worse than that, they hate us ,and once they get a few children, they don't care if the birther dies, because they have been cheating on her all along, and then they'll just marry the girlfriend, and get more kids to abuse.

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Please don’t disparage grannies. This granny supports women and their right to body autonomy.

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Agreed. I know many. 😁. I don't mean it that way. I was referring to the extremists bible christians. Generations and generations of indoctrinating young women into guilt and shame.

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William Burroughs in "A Thanksgiving Prayer" refers to them as "For decent church-goin' women, with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces."

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#notallgrannies

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I feel for you. I was born there. A few years ago, I spoke at a couple of events in more rural mid-state counties, and I felt more like a foreigner there than I do in foreign countries. It’s a really hard dynamic.

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Let’s propose, sending to jail for 15 years, the men who get these women pregnant.

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Absolutely, if the girl/woman is forced to carry the pregnancy to term then we will be able to force DNA testing on the inseminators.

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Cold stop. No judge. No jury. Men are going jail, too.

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There is no rule of law, as if there is no constitution at all. Taking away the ability of women and their health care providers to decide the best course of treatment, even when it concerns a pregnancy, is totally against the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. How can it be lawful to give supreme rights to a fetus, a clump of cells, or even if you want to call it a baby, and the living, breathing woman be delegated to secondary status. Same thing as others have mentioned--how can restricting travel be legal. How can endangering the lives of women be legal.

What I don't hear in messaging is there should be no "middle ground" or "consensus of reasonable restrictions"----it should be, no government, whether federal or state, should interfere in the treatment of anyone and their doctor to determine the best course of treatment. There are so many variables in pregnancy that it is impossible to legislate so-called exemptions. President Biden and the Democrat party better start messaging the brutal truth of what life will be like for women going forward.

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How can laws restricting travel be legal! How can this be brought to "Supreme Court "?

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Oh, it will be, for sure

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Someone on Etsy is selling stickers that say "I've had crunchwraps more supreme than this court." Might be one on my fridge. SCOTUS has been stacked with enough craven partisans that now Thomas and Alito have the majority and there really is nothing to stop them, short of mass action and/or revolution. (The legislative branch isn't gonna check 'em -- hijacked by grandstanding morons, who slept through social studies and apparently their other classes, building their "brands," and they and their peers have decided that if their BS doesn't get passed, nothing will. They consider a dead-in-the-water Congress a good thing bc "small" government lolololol forever.) The guardrails have been dismantled in front of our eyes and over our screams. So yeah, their "demoralize and exhaust them with a deluge of misogynist laws" plan isn't going to work, but they really think it will. To quote one of the most quotable shows (Gilmore Girls!), they're in for a major bikini wax. It's just unfortunate that there is going to be so. much. collateral damage. They are willing to go scorched earth to impose their worldview on us.

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excellent comment! TRUTH!!!

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this is how feel. how is this even happening?

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Misogyny, apathy, defunding education and no longer teaching civics, and end-stage capitalism.

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It’s probably not kosher to comment twice on the same topic, but I had a thought. You know those videos we’ve seen where girls/women demonstrate the “help me!” hand gesture? and if enough people know what it is, they can call for help?

We need “safe words” that people in non-abortion states can use. Jessica’s teen in Idaho calls her aunt in WA and says “Aunt Bess, if I come visit, can you take me on a shopping spree? I’m so sick of my clothes”….and then Aunt Bess knows immediately that they aren’t actually talking about shopping.

What do you think? what should the code words be?

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love your thought but look what is happening. we are already willing to go underground and find workarounds. 😔

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I was going to suggest the same thing!! Teens— set your code words up in advance!! And leave your phone at where you’re staying — your aunt’s phone as well. Just have her pick you up at a set time. I’m not sure, but it’s think your phone can be tracked even if it’s off. At least disable location services

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That was how they tracked the teenager in Idaho.

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It's not about the one individual. It's about making everyone too afraid to try.

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