Mike Braun has also gone on record that he thinks states should determine if interracial marriages are legal. Once upon a time he was a Democrat. He is an Indiana Oligarchy. He is not about human or civil rights.
I get very frustrated with the response here is Aus. They treat Trump as a joke and a punch line. It is not a joke for those of you in the US. They are as much on the wrong side of history as the weak morally bankrupt supporters on the wrong side of history. "Good Germans" all of them.
Just read last year’s post about Tennessee lawmakers saying they wanted to “make it easier, cheaper and faster to adopt.” So I guess that would apply only to married, white “Christian” couples. Wasn’t it in Tn where the Jewish couple was not allowed to adopt from a state-sponsored “Christian” adoption agency…
“What I want to know is, doesn’t this new governor have anything better to do?”
No. He sure does not. This is lodged in his brain. Why aren’t they making public the names of the men who impregnated the women?
The mind thinks it can protect itself by projecting out its worst fears onto others then attacking them. The goal always is to find fault and attack out there. Someday these folks won’t have any societal power over others. Their weaknesses will be voted out. We have to get there.
"... fertilize an embryo." But, but, but ... if you got an embryo, fertilization occured long ago already. Why do you gotta fertilize it again?
This whole thing about the Terminated Pregnancy Report might have a place of leverage against the anti-abortion legal narrative. If abortion is murder, then what about the legal status of live births? Live births are noted with a birth certificate. Birth certificated are public documents, but only available to authorized individuals. This TPS sounds something like a birth certificate.
Just learned that Friday night in addition to firing— illegally —17 IGs, Trump restricted abortion rights:
From the Washington Post:
“President Donald Trump took actions Friday night aimed at reversing former president Joe Biden’s efforts to protect and expand reproductive-care access in the United States and globally.”
“One executive order issued by Trump on Friday revokes two of Biden’s previous actions issued in the months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion.”
“That set of Biden-era orders had aimed to clarify domestic reproductive-care protections for women with private health insurance and insurance under the Affordable Care Act, safeguard access to medication abortion and emergency contraception, and advance reproductive-care access for Medicaid patients traveling across state lines.”
“Trump also issued a memo reinstating the Mexico City policy, a U.S. directive known by critics as the “global gag rule,” which blocks U.S. aid to foreign organizations that use any funds, including from other sources, to perform or discuss abortions.“
I was closing tabs and, hat-tip for Lawyers for Good Government Reproductive Health Digest for alerting me to Bingham v. Wilson, No. 2:25-cv-00163-ARMG (South Carolina) filed Jan. 8, 2025. It's a suit brought by doctors who say that the exceptions allowed under the state ban on abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable are too vague--and, like my earlier comments today, infringe on their religious freedom. It's sort of like a reverse discrimination suit. Instead of saying they have a religious objection to providing treatment, they say that their religious beliefs obligate them to PROVIDE treatment. The heartbeat bill says abortion is allowed to save the life or health of the mother, or if the fetus' condition is non-survivable. The law allows doctors to perform abortions in "medical emergencies". The plaintiffs say this is so vague that doctors are afraid to offer life-saving care.
Four of the plaintiffs are Christians (one Presbyterian, one Lutheran, one with Methodist and Catholic background) and one with a conscientious objection to denying care.
Among the NY Times’s photos of the March Against Women’s Lives was one of uniformed men of the white supremacist Patriot Front marching in support. I tried to post a comment pointing out who they were and saying that told you what you needed to know about the event. The comment was not posted and the photo disappeared. But other news sites showed photos of them saying they were “near the march.” I used to work near the Supreme Court building and would be stuck there during the march and I don’t think I ever saw a person of color. I mostly saw poorly supervised teenagers who had been bussed in by churches and religious schools and were enjoying their field trip away from school.
Often forgotten in the discussion is that, apart from the millions of people who are atheists or agnostics, there are people of faith who aren't Christians. Jews for Abortion Access, https://www.jewsforabortionaccess.org/repro-shabbat-2025 has resources for Repro Shabbat, February 21-22: "Repro Shabbat is an annual Shabbat celebration that honors the Jewish value of reproductive freedom. " "Judaism offers a critical perspective on reproductive freedom that is too often unheard in our public discourse. Repro Shabbat is a time for communities and individuals to connect, educate, and activate towards a more just future."
A number of religious groups are trying to coopt religion itself, by claiming that there is a single thing called Religion, and it is Good. (Sometimes if they think for two seconds they say, but Islam is Bad so it is not Religion.) However, there is not just one thing called Religion, or even one thing called Christianity. See the Faith for Repro Training Center, https://www.faithchoiceohio.org/trainings?, including self-managed abortion training, moral messaging training, religion & repro training, and restorative & transformative justice training. The site includes an image of a church window labeled "because of our faith, we support safe abortion access for all."
"They’re talking about making it easier for violent extremists to harass and hurt patients, doctors and staff. " The implication is that we should not be counting any more on Federal law to protect abortion clinic access. There is a fix for this. By definition, most abortion clinics are in Blue States. State law can make abortion clinics (can be extended to health centers generally, as Maryland does) safe spaces. I would encourage getting more creative with State law rules. For example, in the case of a polling place, it is prohibited to do any electioneering within a certain distance from the entrance to the polling place. It doesn't matter that this is "speech": State law prohibits it. Likewise, State law should be able to create harassment-free spaces outside health centers so as not to discourage patients from entering without harassment. This is an opportunity to BROADEN protections outside abortion clinics.
Just supplementing this. Federal non-enforcement of FACE has already happened: "President Donald Trump’s new Justice Department leadership issued an order Friday to curtail prosecutions against people accused of blocking access to abortion clinics and reproductive health centers, calling the cases an example of the “weaponization” of law enforcement.
Prosecutions and civil actions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Actor “FACE Act” will now be permitted only in “extraordinary circumstances” or in cases presenting “significant aggravating factors,” attorney general chief of staff Chad Mizelle said in a memo sent to the head of the department’s Civil Rights Division." (quote from today's Philadelphia Inquirer)
If Jessica is reading this, I would encourage her to do a whole newsletter on it. This could review both how the FACE Act has been working at the Federal level, and what protections are in place under State law. I think that the Trump Administration has made a strategic error here, which opens up for States to enact even better protection for clinics. It shouldn't need a lot a enforcement resources, since if the rules are tough and anti-abortion folks see that they will get arrested and face a long jail sentence, they will be deterred and so it shouldn't be necessary to dedicate a lot of law enforcement personnel to this task.
Isn't it time to publish the names and addresses of all people who have prescriptions for Erectile Dysfunction medications? For patient safety reasons, of course, so we can make sure they can get the right medical care if/when something goes wrong.
And the mailing of those chemicals should be illegal, under The Comstock Act, of course.
Doctors are fleeing red states. Fewer medical school graduates are choosing OB/gyn. Soon in addition to obstetrical care, women in these states will not be able to get gynecological care. And then it will spread to all states, due to federal legislation. The result will be increased death rates for women of all ages. It is clear that this is coming. We will see it in our lifetimes if the hateful christofascists continue on this course.
Mike Braun has also gone on record that he thinks states should determine if interracial marriages are legal. Once upon a time he was a Democrat. He is an Indiana Oligarchy. He is not about human or civil rights.
What ever happened to HIPA?????
I get very frustrated with the response here is Aus. They treat Trump as a joke and a punch line. It is not a joke for those of you in the US. They are as much on the wrong side of history as the weak morally bankrupt supporters on the wrong side of history. "Good Germans" all of them.
Just read last year’s post about Tennessee lawmakers saying they wanted to “make it easier, cheaper and faster to adopt.” So I guess that would apply only to married, white “Christian” couples. Wasn’t it in Tn where the Jewish couple was not allowed to adopt from a state-sponsored “Christian” adoption agency…
I cannot comment on Tn but you just know that there is a White Christian agenda. Land of the free?? what a joke.
“What I want to know is, doesn’t this new governor have anything better to do?”
No. He sure does not. This is lodged in his brain. Why aren’t they making public the names of the men who impregnated the women?
The mind thinks it can protect itself by projecting out its worst fears onto others then attacking them. The goal always is to find fault and attack out there. Someday these folks won’t have any societal power over others. Their weaknesses will be voted out. We have to get there.
Wow. This anti-masturbation bill is real. Check it out:
https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1795563
https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2025/pdf/history/SB/SB2319.xml
"... fertilize an embryo." But, but, but ... if you got an embryo, fertilization occured long ago already. Why do you gotta fertilize it again?
This whole thing about the Terminated Pregnancy Report might have a place of leverage against the anti-abortion legal narrative. If abortion is murder, then what about the legal status of live births? Live births are noted with a birth certificate. Birth certificated are public documents, but only available to authorized individuals. This TPS sounds something like a birth certificate.
Just learned that Friday night in addition to firing— illegally —17 IGs, Trump restricted abortion rights:
From the Washington Post:
“President Donald Trump took actions Friday night aimed at reversing former president Joe Biden’s efforts to protect and expand reproductive-care access in the United States and globally.”
“One executive order issued by Trump on Friday revokes two of Biden’s previous actions issued in the months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion.”
“That set of Biden-era orders had aimed to clarify domestic reproductive-care protections for women with private health insurance and insurance under the Affordable Care Act, safeguard access to medication abortion and emergency contraception, and advance reproductive-care access for Medicaid patients traveling across state lines.”
“Trump also issued a memo reinstating the Mexico City policy, a U.S. directive known by critics as the “global gag rule,” which blocks U.S. aid to foreign organizations that use any funds, including from other sources, to perform or discuss abortions.“
I was closing tabs and, hat-tip for Lawyers for Good Government Reproductive Health Digest for alerting me to Bingham v. Wilson, No. 2:25-cv-00163-ARMG (South Carolina) filed Jan. 8, 2025. It's a suit brought by doctors who say that the exceptions allowed under the state ban on abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable are too vague--and, like my earlier comments today, infringe on their religious freedom. It's sort of like a reverse discrimination suit. Instead of saying they have a religious objection to providing treatment, they say that their religious beliefs obligate them to PROVIDE treatment. The heartbeat bill says abortion is allowed to save the life or health of the mother, or if the fetus' condition is non-survivable. The law allows doctors to perform abortions in "medical emergencies". The plaintiffs say this is so vague that doctors are afraid to offer life-saving care.
Four of the plaintiffs are Christians (one Presbyterian, one Lutheran, one with Methodist and Catholic background) and one with a conscientious objection to denying care.
There's lots of coverage of this case; two non-pay-walled articles are Skylar Laird, "Doctors Challenge SC Abortion Court in Federal Court, Claiming It's Religious Discrimination," SCDaily Gazette Jan. 10, 2025, https://scdailygazette.com/2025/01/10/doctors-challenge-sc-abortion-ban-in-federal-court-saying-it-infringes-on-their-religious-beliefs, and Catie Busmann, "Doctors Sue Over South Carolina's Abortion Law," foxcarolina.com (Jan. 13, 2025), https://www.foxcarolina.com/2025/01/14/doctors-sue-over-south-carolinas-abortion-law/.
Sinister is the perfect word.
Among the NY Times’s photos of the March Against Women’s Lives was one of uniformed men of the white supremacist Patriot Front marching in support. I tried to post a comment pointing out who they were and saying that told you what you needed to know about the event. The comment was not posted and the photo disappeared. But other news sites showed photos of them saying they were “near the march.” I used to work near the Supreme Court building and would be stuck there during the march and I don’t think I ever saw a person of color. I mostly saw poorly supervised teenagers who had been bussed in by churches and religious schools and were enjoying their field trip away from school.
Often forgotten in the discussion is that, apart from the millions of people who are atheists or agnostics, there are people of faith who aren't Christians. Jews for Abortion Access, https://www.jewsforabortionaccess.org/repro-shabbat-2025 has resources for Repro Shabbat, February 21-22: "Repro Shabbat is an annual Shabbat celebration that honors the Jewish value of reproductive freedom. " "Judaism offers a critical perspective on reproductive freedom that is too often unheard in our public discourse. Repro Shabbat is a time for communities and individuals to connect, educate, and activate towards a more just future."
A number of religious groups are trying to coopt religion itself, by claiming that there is a single thing called Religion, and it is Good. (Sometimes if they think for two seconds they say, but Islam is Bad so it is not Religion.) However, there is not just one thing called Religion, or even one thing called Christianity. See the Faith for Repro Training Center, https://www.faithchoiceohio.org/trainings?, including self-managed abortion training, moral messaging training, religion & repro training, and restorative & transformative justice training. The site includes an image of a church window labeled "because of our faith, we support safe abortion access for all."
"They’re talking about making it easier for violent extremists to harass and hurt patients, doctors and staff. " The implication is that we should not be counting any more on Federal law to protect abortion clinic access. There is a fix for this. By definition, most abortion clinics are in Blue States. State law can make abortion clinics (can be extended to health centers generally, as Maryland does) safe spaces. I would encourage getting more creative with State law rules. For example, in the case of a polling place, it is prohibited to do any electioneering within a certain distance from the entrance to the polling place. It doesn't matter that this is "speech": State law prohibits it. Likewise, State law should be able to create harassment-free spaces outside health centers so as not to discourage patients from entering without harassment. This is an opportunity to BROADEN protections outside abortion clinics.
Just supplementing this. Federal non-enforcement of FACE has already happened: "President Donald Trump’s new Justice Department leadership issued an order Friday to curtail prosecutions against people accused of blocking access to abortion clinics and reproductive health centers, calling the cases an example of the “weaponization” of law enforcement.
Prosecutions and civil actions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Actor “FACE Act” will now be permitted only in “extraordinary circumstances” or in cases presenting “significant aggravating factors,” attorney general chief of staff Chad Mizelle said in a memo sent to the head of the department’s Civil Rights Division." (quote from today's Philadelphia Inquirer)
If Jessica is reading this, I would encourage her to do a whole newsletter on it. This could review both how the FACE Act has been working at the Federal level, and what protections are in place under State law. I think that the Trump Administration has made a strategic error here, which opens up for States to enact even better protection for clinics. It shouldn't need a lot a enforcement resources, since if the rules are tough and anti-abortion folks see that they will get arrested and face a long jail sentence, they will be deterred and so it shouldn't be necessary to dedicate a lot of law enforcement personnel to this task.
Thanks for taking the time to explain this. I live in a blue state and I can use this info to press my state to do more to protect clinics.
Isn't it time to publish the names and addresses of all people who have prescriptions for Erectile Dysfunction medications? For patient safety reasons, of course, so we can make sure they can get the right medical care if/when something goes wrong.
And the mailing of those chemicals should be illegal, under The Comstock Act, of course.
Doctors are fleeing red states. Fewer medical school graduates are choosing OB/gyn. Soon in addition to obstetrical care, women in these states will not be able to get gynecological care. And then it will spread to all states, due to federal legislation. The result will be increased death rates for women of all ages. It is clear that this is coming. We will see it in our lifetimes if the hateful christofascists continue on this course.
Yes, I noticed that in the New York Times they did not credit you. Shame!! I may write a letter to the editor.