Imagine losing a wanted pregnancy due to PPROM and having to drive around three states to find care. That's Mylissa Farmer's story. The very worst part?
In Kansas, having fled Missouri,
"She called a local politician for help. He sent her to a false-front abortion clinic, the kind of place that exists to convince women not to have abortions after luring them in with misleading advertisements."
"She finally got the health care she needed in Illinois, at an abortion clinic. It was a two-day race across state lines to save her life."
And for people who think, well that's behind her, no:
"She had lost her pregnancy, her home, her health insurance and her fertility in this long, emotional and legal fight. She had long conversations with her husband about whether she should go public with her story. With the rally behind her, she was glad she had come to Washington."
If you are considering an abortion ban after X weeks, this isn’t good enough. Pregnancy complications can happen at any time. Some fetal development (or lack thereof, like the brain) doesn’t happen until the third trimester. Such anomalies cannot be tested for until late in pregnancy, long after the typical X week ban expires.
A woman should never be denied medical care, even an abortion, just because she is in her third trimester.
Abortion on demand and without apology. I trust women to make their own reproductive health care decisions. Women need to be respected and trusted. Placing bounties (like SB 8 in TX) on people who support pregnant women is just the opposite.
Women don’t need to be treated like infants. We don’t need medically unnecessary tests. We don’t need scripts read to us with dubious information — don’t tell me to consider adoption when my fetus is dying, no one will adopt a dead fetus! We don’t need doctors with hospital admitting privileges or clinics setup as expensive medi-surge centers. We don’t need all the other nonsense the extremists have dreamed up in the (false) claim of protecting women.
I submit woman, especially in states controlled by Republicans, never really enjoyed the freedoms of Roe and the protection of Casey (“no undue burden”). Republican law makers continuously wrote laws to chip, chip, chip away at women’s reproductive rights. They never found any burden too great to impose on a pregnant woman. They knew what they were doing and they didn’t care that their laws would be overturned (when Roe was still enforce). They did it anyway. For decades.
Justice Alito said women have the power to vote. He was right about that (and wrong about most of the rest). Alito showed callous disregard for the lives of all women.
And Republicans cheered. They are still cheering.
Republicans have had many opportunities to fix the mess they created. They refuse to fix it. (Arizona Republicans, I’m looking at you.)
Trump appointed people to the SC whose mission is was to overturn Roe V Wade. Well, mission accomplished. The consequences are lethal for women. TRUMP. DID. THIS.
We must vote out of office all the Republicans who deny women the right to control their own bodies.
In November, I will be voting for Joe Biden and Democrats, up and down the ballot, who will back him to support women’s reproductive rights.
The anti-abortion crowd claim they are speaking for the “voiceless unborn” which may sound like a laudable goal, at first.
Upon closer inspection, in practice, the same laws this group supports prohibit an abortion even for women whose fetus is dead or dying. What is the point of forcing a woman to stay pregnant when the child won’t survive and the pregnancy itself may kill her? IMO, it is cruel and inhumane.
The so-called exceptions to abortion bans are worthless when trained medical professionals are threatened with prison, loss of license, and legal troubles if they dare practice standard medicine and save the woman’s life without a prolonged delay. I don’t blame the doctors. I blame the lawmakers. What are they thinking? If the women suffer, risk permanent impairment, or die, well, too bad. Oops!
I guess for the “pro-life” crowd, women are like buses—if this one passes, there are more to come.
Which brings me to my point. As we have seen, claiming you are “pro-life” really means “Let the women die.”
Any woman who wants to end her pregnancy will do so as soon as she is able. No woman voluntarily stays pregnant for months on end unless she wants to be pregnant.
We trust women to raise children. We must trust women to decide when, and if, to have children.
Abortion on demand and without apology. Anything else is cruel and inhumane for women.
One thing I was unaware of: in hospitals, miscarriages are called abortions. However, they are spontaneous rather than elective. Sooooo....do the statistics regarding abortion in the US also include women who have spontaneous ones? Do the statistics include the women who have them for life-saving reasons and/or fatal fetal abnormalities? I tried to find some data, but had no luck. (Granted, I'm at work and not at liberty to go down a rabbit-hole search.)
The reason I want to know this is because I think many people believe abortions are purely elective. I've seen friends on FB comment that "abortion should not be used as contraception."
They say that because that is the narrative they’ve been fed by the huge wealthy anti abortion groups. That’s what those a-holes put out there, that all these women getting abortions are just irresponsible idiots that can’t be bothered to use birth control.
If you want real statistics & the truth about who gets abortions & why, get the book: The Turnaway Study it’s the most comprehensive study ever done & took 10 yrs
Has anyone even tried to imagine the number of women's lives that have been derailed since these pro-forced births laws have been in place? Men are so in fear of women having autonomy. They don't like the competition.
Republican women who are skeptical about the Republican stance on abortion are defenseless in the face of the narrative of "unborn children". The Republicans are effectively covering the whole "cruelty to women" narrative pretty well in their own minds, even though Republican women can see through it as well as anyone.
But the whole "unborn children" narrative has nobody taking it on. And the Democrats are always talking the "it's all bout the children" narrative and get all trembly in the knees against the "unborn babies" narrative. The "cruelty to women" narrative isn't going to turn Republican women to Biden when their Republican overlords remind them that Biden supports killing babies and they have nothing to retort that.
They either deny any negative effect of their laws , blame the women or the standard ' they can travel to another state' . They wont own the misery their laws have inflicted
Then you don't make it about abortion. Choice is about you making the decision and not ignorant lawmakers trying to force their rigid ideas about sex onto women.
I get the focus being on Republican women, but implicit in that is that Republican men won't care, and, more broadly, that we shouldn't expect men to care what happens to women. Again, I get it, but that doesn't really make it any less upsetting. My half of the population regularly appalls me, but I don't like us being let off the hook.
I think a way to pierce the media bubbles of women is to start bringing the message to old school television. One of the largest consistent groups that vote at high rates are people over 65. The next rung down age wise is less but still a significant number. They still watch morning talk shows. Not the late ones, those are all considered liberal media now. But not so much Kelly Ripa. They also are more likely to watch a dateline or a CBS this morning on the weekends. Those outlets usually don’t touch this issue or at least they didn’t. Get those women’s stories on a talk show tour and it could help.
I am no strategist. I just know who votes because of my job involves teaching government and civics. I also know that although my sister in law watches Fox, she also will watch the View.
I think this is a great idea. I have mentioned before that my Mom lives in a small town with no newspaper delivery. All of her local tv stations are owned by Sinclair & the cable lineup skews conservative. I think rural news deserts are more widespread than those of us who are more urban and connected realize. These stories just never get to them if they don’t seek out “liberal” media online. I’m often taken aback by just how much news she never gets except from me, even though she watches network news & cnn.
Yes. Sinclair Broadcasting being free to buy up all the local news channels should have been against the law. Another part of the rightwing, long game strategy that's been so destructive. Along with rightwing radio, a la Rush Limbaugh.
I am never sad that man is no longer able to fill the air with his vitriol. I will never get over 2 things. Him implying when airing a clip of the UN that we can’t possibly know if the people speaking Chinese were speaking a real language. Because if he didn’t understand he can’t be real. ( My husband and my in laws are Chinese. Not that it should matter. Ever should find that offensive) And when he said he shouldn’t have to pay for some slut’s birth control. As if we don’t all pay for things with our taxes that we don’t get much say in.
But at least he was saying the real truth about what this is all about and what they think of us. Every time you corner a republican about the realities the specter of the lying, scheming, promiscuous woman rises. Those who are irresponsible and need punishment. Those who would say they were suicidal to trick doctors into performing an abortion. Those who should have thought of the consequences before they opened their legs.
Jessica. Did the researcher happen to break down the data. I wonder if any of this us reaching people outside of Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston? Doubtful but .maybe this could provide a way to.approach people out here in the hinterlands.
Which shows their fanaticism, take something that can be extremely rewarding when with a skilled, loving, partner, and make it stressful because they want to strip it of all joy and make it a duty!
Levicus was one repressed asshole, or more likely, some sanctimonious monk in a cold cell, chugging wine to stay warm, was pissy when the changed the rules about celibacy, and poorly translated the passage, not to mention the King James version that is the least accurate translation (according to biblical scholars who have no religious interest, other than scholarly) of a translation, of a translation, well you get the point.
"In other words: the nightmare stories of post-Roe America are not reaching anti-abortion Republican women. Presumably, their media filter bubble is shielding them. "
The good news side of this could be that when Republican women learn what these abortion bans mean, they become pro-choice women who hopefully will vote against Republicans.
My mom is (unfortunately) a Republican woman in Florida who will literally never ever NOT vote conservative. But she's also pro-choice and I talked to her over the winter about the (then-possible, now real) ballot measure and she will definitely vote for it. Now, I also need her to talk to her (insufferable) Republican women friends and get them to vote for it as well. My father will also likely vote for it. But as long as they both exist on the earth, they will never vote blue. (Also please add black shirts. I never grew out of my punk rock/goth phase and can't wear any of the shirts offered 🤣🤣.)
Solidarity, Lauren. At least you're related to people who are open to voting for a human being's right to control their own bodies. I'm related to people who never will, who will only tell people I'm a demon-possessed insane liberal banshee. These conversations aren't easy, but when they make even a small difference, they matter.
Oh I am still very much an "anti-american man-hating feminazi" lol. I don't know what they're doing now that Tucker Carlson isn't on Fox anymore (they recorded him, every day.) But my dad is an atheist and my mom is a bad Catholic (never goes to church, was definitely on the pill) so religion was at least never a factor. (We did get mail from the John Birch Society when I was in high school 🫠.)
This is why I created a website that is just aggregating stories on the impacts of these bans on actual real people w uteruses. I'm not a professional like Jessica, but had to create it for my sanity. And I use it to share w people when I talk to them. I find it gets them out of all the hypotheticals. It's NoAbortionBans.com if anyone wants to use it. Again - just my little efforts.
I came here to comment that we need a summary of all of these stories. I have some very intelligent (white) men in my family who do not see how voting to control women's access to healthcare is harmful. I only communicate with them on FB and would like to let them know about these stories. Also, my family is from a Baltic state--our grandfather literally escaped from a firing squad and they still will vote for Trump. But that's another story (that fills me with absolute rage)!
Ugh I feel this. My brother is a police officer and thinks I'm a monster or something for this. It has majorly strained our interactions. He can't understand why I'm so mad.
Imagine losing a wanted pregnancy due to PPROM and having to drive around three states to find care. That's Mylissa Farmer's story. The very worst part?
In Kansas, having fled Missouri,
"She called a local politician for help. He sent her to a false-front abortion clinic, the kind of place that exists to convince women not to have abortions after luring them in with misleading advertisements."
"She finally got the health care she needed in Illinois, at an abortion clinic. It was a two-day race across state lines to save her life."
And for people who think, well that's behind her, no:
"She had lost her pregnancy, her home, her health insurance and her fertility in this long, emotional and legal fight. She had long conversations with her husband about whether she should go public with her story. With the rally behind her, she was glad she had come to Washington."
No paywall: https://wapo.st/3Qj8bro
If you are considering an abortion ban after X weeks, this isn’t good enough. Pregnancy complications can happen at any time. Some fetal development (or lack thereof, like the brain) doesn’t happen until the third trimester. Such anomalies cannot be tested for until late in pregnancy, long after the typical X week ban expires.
A woman should never be denied medical care, even an abortion, just because she is in her third trimester.
Abortion on demand and without apology. I trust women to make their own reproductive health care decisions. Women need to be respected and trusted. Placing bounties (like SB 8 in TX) on people who support pregnant women is just the opposite.
Women don’t need to be treated like infants. We don’t need medically unnecessary tests. We don’t need scripts read to us with dubious information — don’t tell me to consider adoption when my fetus is dying, no one will adopt a dead fetus! We don’t need doctors with hospital admitting privileges or clinics setup as expensive medi-surge centers. We don’t need all the other nonsense the extremists have dreamed up in the (false) claim of protecting women.
I submit woman, especially in states controlled by Republicans, never really enjoyed the freedoms of Roe and the protection of Casey (“no undue burden”). Republican law makers continuously wrote laws to chip, chip, chip away at women’s reproductive rights. They never found any burden too great to impose on a pregnant woman. They knew what they were doing and they didn’t care that their laws would be overturned (when Roe was still enforce). They did it anyway. For decades.
Justice Alito said women have the power to vote. He was right about that (and wrong about most of the rest). Alito showed callous disregard for the lives of all women.
And Republicans cheered. They are still cheering.
Republicans have had many opportunities to fix the mess they created. They refuse to fix it. (Arizona Republicans, I’m looking at you.)
Trump appointed people to the SC whose mission is was to overturn Roe V Wade. Well, mission accomplished. The consequences are lethal for women. TRUMP. DID. THIS.
We must vote out of office all the Republicans who deny women the right to control their own bodies.
In November, I will be voting for Joe Biden and Democrats, up and down the ballot, who will back him to support women’s reproductive rights.
Listen to Hillary at least now if you didn't before. Interview w/ Marc Elias...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UpNrRNL8Gw
The anti-abortion crowd claim they are speaking for the “voiceless unborn” which may sound like a laudable goal, at first.
Upon closer inspection, in practice, the same laws this group supports prohibit an abortion even for women whose fetus is dead or dying. What is the point of forcing a woman to stay pregnant when the child won’t survive and the pregnancy itself may kill her? IMO, it is cruel and inhumane.
The so-called exceptions to abortion bans are worthless when trained medical professionals are threatened with prison, loss of license, and legal troubles if they dare practice standard medicine and save the woman’s life without a prolonged delay. I don’t blame the doctors. I blame the lawmakers. What are they thinking? If the women suffer, risk permanent impairment, or die, well, too bad. Oops!
I guess for the “pro-life” crowd, women are like buses—if this one passes, there are more to come.
Which brings me to my point. As we have seen, claiming you are “pro-life” really means “Let the women die.”
Any woman who wants to end her pregnancy will do so as soon as she is able. No woman voluntarily stays pregnant for months on end unless she wants to be pregnant.
We trust women to raise children. We must trust women to decide when, and if, to have children.
Abortion on demand and without apology. Anything else is cruel and inhumane for women.
One thing I was unaware of: in hospitals, miscarriages are called abortions. However, they are spontaneous rather than elective. Sooooo....do the statistics regarding abortion in the US also include women who have spontaneous ones? Do the statistics include the women who have them for life-saving reasons and/or fatal fetal abnormalities? I tried to find some data, but had no luck. (Granted, I'm at work and not at liberty to go down a rabbit-hole search.)
The reason I want to know this is because I think many people believe abortions are purely elective. I've seen friends on FB comment that "abortion should not be used as contraception."
They say that because that is the narrative they’ve been fed by the huge wealthy anti abortion groups. That’s what those a-holes put out there, that all these women getting abortions are just irresponsible idiots that can’t be bothered to use birth control.
If you want real statistics & the truth about who gets abortions & why, get the book: The Turnaway Study it’s the most comprehensive study ever done & took 10 yrs
Thank you! I will look into that book.
I love my Abortion 2024 t-shirt. It’s such a pretty shade of yellow and super comfortable! I wear it all the time these days!
Has anyone even tried to imagine the number of women's lives that have been derailed since these pro-forced births laws have been in place? Men are so in fear of women having autonomy. They don't like the competition.
Republican women who are skeptical about the Republican stance on abortion are defenseless in the face of the narrative of "unborn children". The Republicans are effectively covering the whole "cruelty to women" narrative pretty well in their own minds, even though Republican women can see through it as well as anyone.
But the whole "unborn children" narrative has nobody taking it on. And the Democrats are always talking the "it's all bout the children" narrative and get all trembly in the knees against the "unborn babies" narrative. The "cruelty to women" narrative isn't going to turn Republican women to Biden when their Republican overlords remind them that Biden supports killing babies and they have nothing to retort that.
They either deny any negative effect of their laws , blame the women or the standard ' they can travel to another state' . They wont own the misery their laws have inflicted
Then you don't make it about abortion. Choice is about you making the decision and not ignorant lawmakers trying to force their rigid ideas about sex onto women.
Look at what women are going through in Texas.
I get the focus being on Republican women, but implicit in that is that Republican men won't care, and, more broadly, that we shouldn't expect men to care what happens to women. Again, I get it, but that doesn't really make it any less upsetting. My half of the population regularly appalls me, but I don't like us being let off the hook.
I think a way to pierce the media bubbles of women is to start bringing the message to old school television. One of the largest consistent groups that vote at high rates are people over 65. The next rung down age wise is less but still a significant number. They still watch morning talk shows. Not the late ones, those are all considered liberal media now. But not so much Kelly Ripa. They also are more likely to watch a dateline or a CBS this morning on the weekends. Those outlets usually don’t touch this issue or at least they didn’t. Get those women’s stories on a talk show tour and it could help.
I am no strategist. I just know who votes because of my job involves teaching government and civics. I also know that although my sister in law watches Fox, she also will watch the View.
I think this is a great idea. I have mentioned before that my Mom lives in a small town with no newspaper delivery. All of her local tv stations are owned by Sinclair & the cable lineup skews conservative. I think rural news deserts are more widespread than those of us who are more urban and connected realize. These stories just never get to them if they don’t seek out “liberal” media online. I’m often taken aback by just how much news she never gets except from me, even though she watches network news & cnn.
Yes. Sinclair Broadcasting being free to buy up all the local news channels should have been against the law. Another part of the rightwing, long game strategy that's been so destructive. Along with rightwing radio, a la Rush Limbaugh.
I am never sad that man is no longer able to fill the air with his vitriol. I will never get over 2 things. Him implying when airing a clip of the UN that we can’t possibly know if the people speaking Chinese were speaking a real language. Because if he didn’t understand he can’t be real. ( My husband and my in laws are Chinese. Not that it should matter. Ever should find that offensive) And when he said he shouldn’t have to pay for some slut’s birth control. As if we don’t all pay for things with our taxes that we don’t get much say in.
But at least he was saying the real truth about what this is all about and what they think of us. Every time you corner a republican about the realities the specter of the lying, scheming, promiscuous woman rises. Those who are irresponsible and need punishment. Those who would say they were suicidal to trick doctors into performing an abortion. Those who should have thought of the consequences before they opened their legs.
The “babies” have always been a cover.
Absolutely 💯 it is ALWAYS about blaming & shaming the woman
Reak down the data by state I meant to say.
Jessica. Did the researcher happen to break down the data. I wonder if any of this us reaching people outside of Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston? Doubtful but .maybe this could provide a way to.approach people out here in the hinterlands.
Wait until these Republican women find out they’re working on taking away contraceptives.
And recreational sex! Even between married people.
Isn’t all sex recreational?
It sure should be!
Not if it's in the interest of procreation. THAT'S the only REAL purpose of sex in some minds.
Which shows their fanaticism, take something that can be extremely rewarding when with a skilled, loving, partner, and make it stressful because they want to strip it of all joy and make it a duty!
Yes. And it's part of biblical scriptures that you must not "waste" your seed.
Levicus was one repressed asshole, or more likely, some sanctimonious monk in a cold cell, chugging wine to stay warm, was pissy when the changed the rules about celibacy, and poorly translated the passage, not to mention the King James version that is the least accurate translation (according to biblical scholars who have no religious interest, other than scholarly) of a translation, of a translation, well you get the point.
"In other words: the nightmare stories of post-Roe America are not reaching anti-abortion Republican women. Presumably, their media filter bubble is shielding them. "
The good news side of this could be that when Republican women learn what these abortion bans mean, they become pro-choice women who hopefully will vote against Republicans.
My mom is (unfortunately) a Republican woman in Florida who will literally never ever NOT vote conservative. But she's also pro-choice and I talked to her over the winter about the (then-possible, now real) ballot measure and she will definitely vote for it. Now, I also need her to talk to her (insufferable) Republican women friends and get them to vote for it as well. My father will also likely vote for it. But as long as they both exist on the earth, they will never vote blue. (Also please add black shirts. I never grew out of my punk rock/goth phase and can't wear any of the shirts offered 🤣🤣.)
Solidarity, Lauren. At least you're related to people who are open to voting for a human being's right to control their own bodies. I'm related to people who never will, who will only tell people I'm a demon-possessed insane liberal banshee. These conversations aren't easy, but when they make even a small difference, they matter.
Oh I am still very much an "anti-american man-hating feminazi" lol. I don't know what they're doing now that Tucker Carlson isn't on Fox anymore (they recorded him, every day.) But my dad is an atheist and my mom is a bad Catholic (never goes to church, was definitely on the pill) so religion was at least never a factor. (We did get mail from the John Birch Society when I was in high school 🫠.)
This is why I created a website that is just aggregating stories on the impacts of these bans on actual real people w uteruses. I'm not a professional like Jessica, but had to create it for my sanity. And I use it to share w people when I talk to them. I find it gets them out of all the hypotheticals. It's NoAbortionBans.com if anyone wants to use it. Again - just my little efforts.
Thank you for doing this.
One more:
https://wapo.st/3Qj8bro
Ooops! I see you've already included this.
Thank you for creating the website and posting the link!
Thank you!
Your website is amazing and 100% heartbreaking.
I came here to comment that we need a summary of all of these stories. I have some very intelligent (white) men in my family who do not see how voting to control women's access to healthcare is harmful. I only communicate with them on FB and would like to let them know about these stories. Also, my family is from a Baltic state--our grandfather literally escaped from a firing squad and they still will vote for Trump. But that's another story (that fills me with absolute rage)!
I have no idea how to talk to people about it. Especially men. And I am a dude.
I would like to see better K-12 education and Hollywood support. Abortion is common, not rare.
Ugh I feel this. My brother is a police officer and thinks I'm a monster or something for this. It has majorly strained our interactions. He can't understand why I'm so mad.
Thanks going to check out