Thanks for the heads up on James Hohmann. I had liked his work on the Daily 202 and had followed him on Facebook but just promptly unfollowed after learning his real beliefs. Perhaps zero difference in the greater scheme of things but I feel better to not give him any more attention.
These people and their religious exceptions. Providing health insurance that covers abortion care is not you being complicit in supporting abortion anymore than paying someone a salary makes you complicit and an immoral act if they say buy drugs with some of that money. It only should be an exemption if you personally are forced to commit the so called sin. So ridiculous, as if knowing the practice exists and might be used is too much for you to bear. Please.
I live in Idaho -- where it's not safe to be a woman of reproductive age. I no longer am, but that doesn't mean I'm safe. The reduction in OBGYN docs has big downstream effects on the whole healthcare system that I'm certain we've only begun to see here.
Thank you for your reporting. I have flashback moments when I was 16/17 remembering how my friends were trying to get abortions and then struggle to get birth control. Anxious times. Those dismal feelings sicken me even though I’m 64. I feel sad and send loving kindness to all who are in that situation currently 🫤
I just find it fascinating that condoms don’t really come up in this. It makes it so clear that ultimately it’s about who has control over the process.
When I wrote about Project 2025 last year, I did a deep dive into the Health and Human Services section, written by Roger Severino. He is an Opus Dei Catholic extremist, and his writings and policies reflect his radicalized religious extremism. In all branches of Christian Nationalism, people are taught that contraception causes abortions. (I wasn’t allowed to take it as a teen for severe cramps because my mom said it caused abortions, something I believed until I talked to a doctor in my 20s.)
(I sent that series to you and tagged you and even mentioned it here. I always hoped that if more people saw that work, more Americans would vote against living in a Christo-fascist theocracy.)
These bans are a group of people forcing everyone to live by their extreme religious beliefs. I don’t know why journalists refuse to call this what it is. When I spoke at Big Tent USA with David Graham, he said many journalists don’t know how to cover this aspect, and maybe that’s true.
My mom was catholic and believed the lie that all contraception causes abortions. I endured over four years of horrible cramps until I ran away to go to college. My first stop on my college campus was the student health center, where a doctor prescribed birth control pills for the cramps. That was back in 1970, when the age of majority was 21, not 18, so my parents were informed I had been prescribed birth control pills. Long story short, I was called vile names, thrown out of the house, and came close to dying on the streets of San Francisco during the coldest winter on record. My mother continued to believe that lie til she died 40 years after throwing me away. As for me, the pills worked; had they not, I would have had to drop out of college in the first month of my first term. Now everything old is new again, including the lies about birth control.
Thank you. I think that even good people can be damaged by religious indoctrination, and can take it out on those who are smaller, weaker, dependent, and (in my case) disabled. Doesn't mean I forgive her, just that I'm glad to no longer have her running my life (or trying to). I still remember that doc at the student health center, who was a life-saver for me.
Dianne, I’m sorry your mother treated you that way because of religion and most likely narcissism. I’m glad we both survived and fight for women and people who can be pregnant to not be enslaved by extreme religious beliefs.
Thank you. The good part was finding that doc who actually believed me and treated me, so that I was able to continue at college. Another good part is that none of my many siblings and nieces/nephew have anything to do with that destructive cult any more. By the time my mom died in 2009, she was the only one who was religious. Each of us got out in our own way, each of us took control of our lives and bodies, and all of us concluded that enslavement to religious belief was not for us. I like to think that, because I am the eldest, the "Nope Leonards" started with me. I'm glad you survived as well! Good fighting!
Here’s another creep I suspect is Opus Dei and who believes it’s his right to force his theology on all of us. He got a lifetime position last week as a federal judge. He believes in fetal personhood. His name is Josh Divine. (Ick)
The story in the Bangor paper says Angus King was asked by Senator Hawley to support Divine. King didn’t even bother to look Divine up, or do a simple internet search. 34 yrs old and King didn’t vet him for a life-time position!?! WTF! What an asshole! Both of them! And women will pay with their health and their lives. Unfortunately, King isn’t up for reelection until 2039. But Collin’s up in 2026. Let’s get rid of her!
WTF indeed! In short, one white guy asked another white guy, "Bro, do me a solid and vote for my inexperienced white religious zealot for a LIFETIME judicial appointment. So what if women suffer? They're replaceable."
I hope that Mainers ask King some damn hard questions about this, and that there is a goid Democratic candidate to run against Susan Collins
Using the term abortifacient contraceptive is often a political strategy to blur the line between contraception and abortion—to justify restricting access to both. We see this rhetoric used in court cases, state legislation, and misinformation campaigns.
But the science is clear:
❌ Contraception ≠ Abortion
✅ Emergency contraception and IUDs are not abortifacients
✅ Medication abortion involves FDA-approved drugs taken after pregnancy is confirmed.
Can we all agree that when a politician won’t say if they will or won’t ban abortion they are ABSOLUTELY going to try and ban abortion? This is like when I was a kid and asked my mom for something. She’d say “we’ll see” but that ABSOLUTELY meant “no”; she just didn’t want the conversation.
Meghan MCargle-bargle has never been right about anything, she's an out of touch libertarian who wrote under the name Jane Gault. Most grow out of that selfishness, she doubled-down.
We all need to stop being surprised by this. These people don’t care about the truth. They don’t care what the science says. Ask any trans person about the right’s relationship with truth or any scientist who has their funding cancelled or any person denied their due process rights.
And the big picture conclusion is that these people are eventually coming after everyone that disagrees with their ruthless power grab and the white Christian nationalist narrative they are using to justify anything.
Yes, they have invented their own warped reality, and they want to force it on the rest of us! We had better all push back on these assholes because bodily autonomy is a basic human right.
I have used different forms of birth control from a young age to manage what I now know is endometriosis. I don’t think I would have made it through school (when I was a patient at PP), life, or to get to the point where I could get/afford the excision surgery without it.
But again we shouldn’t have to justify our use of what in a normal non puritan society is just common sense family planning. My daughter takes bc for 3 months and then gets a period because they have always been super painful for her. I had debilitating cramps at their age. But I would have happily accepted her on birth control for sex if and when she was ready for that. She’s a lesbian so not really a high risk of pregnancy, but teens who use it for sex shouldn’t be shamed, they should be treated as someone taking control of their life. The reason approval of birth control is so high is because the shame of having premarital sex is only a thing for religious zealots and people who have not examined their own shame.
Also, I hope your daughter doesn’t have Endometriosis. I was able to manage mine with BC when I was younger until that was no longer possible. The pain became so debilitating every single day I couldn’t even walk half a block and plenty of ER visits.
💯 I used birth control for both and to hell with this Puritan culture deeply imbedded in our society. I had to fight to get BC at the time (it wasn’t THAT long ago) and there was plenty of red tape around it. I needed to show up to PP in person each month to pick up pills during college.
With Endometriosis BC was a lifeline to me, so I understood at a very young age just how unimportant my healthcare and life was in this patriarchal society.
Did you read the part in this last post about men quitting birth control trials bc it made them feel sick? Can you imagine if men had endo? They would invent a bubble gum stick to eradicate it within a year.
Absolutely. The gaslighting I’ve experienced is unbelievable. Endometriosis is just as common as diabetes, but most people have never heard of it. It’s grossly underfunded and under-researched. Just another example of how our healthcare is treated differently or not at all.
I published a piece on Substack yesterday about how the State Department is justifying incinerating $9.7 million in contraceptives in Brussels, paid for by U.S. tax dollars, by redefining them as "abortifacients." They are very careful to say that condoms and HIV medications will not be incinerated but hormonal birth control and IUD’s will be despite the offers from other foreign aid organizations to purchase them and distribute them through their own channels. THIS is how a nationwide restriction/ban on birth control gets its legs. https://danismart.substack.com/p/from-brussels-to-your-bedroom-how
Thanks for the heads up on James Hohmann. I had liked his work on the Daily 202 and had followed him on Facebook but just promptly unfollowed after learning his real beliefs. Perhaps zero difference in the greater scheme of things but I feel better to not give him any more attention.
These people and their religious exceptions. Providing health insurance that covers abortion care is not you being complicit in supporting abortion anymore than paying someone a salary makes you complicit and an immoral act if they say buy drugs with some of that money. It only should be an exemption if you personally are forced to commit the so called sin. So ridiculous, as if knowing the practice exists and might be used is too much for you to bear. Please.
I live in Idaho -- where it's not safe to be a woman of reproductive age. I no longer am, but that doesn't mean I'm safe. The reduction in OBGYN docs has big downstream effects on the whole healthcare system that I'm certain we've only begun to see here.
Thank you for your reporting. I have flashback moments when I was 16/17 remembering how my friends were trying to get abortions and then struggle to get birth control. Anxious times. Those dismal feelings sicken me even though I’m 64. I feel sad and send loving kindness to all who are in that situation currently 🫤
I just find it fascinating that condoms don’t really come up in this. It makes it so clear that ultimately it’s about who has control over the process.
The Not so Religious Right has always been about reserving power for white men.
When I wrote about Project 2025 last year, I did a deep dive into the Health and Human Services section, written by Roger Severino. He is an Opus Dei Catholic extremist, and his writings and policies reflect his radicalized religious extremism. In all branches of Christian Nationalism, people are taught that contraception causes abortions. (I wasn’t allowed to take it as a teen for severe cramps because my mom said it caused abortions, something I believed until I talked to a doctor in my 20s.)
(I sent that series to you and tagged you and even mentioned it here. I always hoped that if more people saw that work, more Americans would vote against living in a Christo-fascist theocracy.)
These bans are a group of people forcing everyone to live by their extreme religious beliefs. I don’t know why journalists refuse to call this what it is. When I spoke at Big Tent USA with David Graham, he said many journalists don’t know how to cover this aspect, and maybe that’s true.
Please call this what it is.
My mom was catholic and believed the lie that all contraception causes abortions. I endured over four years of horrible cramps until I ran away to go to college. My first stop on my college campus was the student health center, where a doctor prescribed birth control pills for the cramps. That was back in 1970, when the age of majority was 21, not 18, so my parents were informed I had been prescribed birth control pills. Long story short, I was called vile names, thrown out of the house, and came close to dying on the streets of San Francisco during the coldest winter on record. My mother continued to believe that lie til she died 40 years after throwing me away. As for me, the pills worked; had they not, I would have had to drop out of college in the first month of my first term. Now everything old is new again, including the lies about birth control.
I amso sorry that your mother was so cruel. Religious indoctrination is very, very damaging.
Thank you. I think that even good people can be damaged by religious indoctrination, and can take it out on those who are smaller, weaker, dependent, and (in my case) disabled. Doesn't mean I forgive her, just that I'm glad to no longer have her running my life (or trying to). I still remember that doc at the student health center, who was a life-saver for me.
Dianne, I’m sorry your mother treated you that way because of religion and most likely narcissism. I’m glad we both survived and fight for women and people who can be pregnant to not be enslaved by extreme religious beliefs.
Thank you. The good part was finding that doc who actually believed me and treated me, so that I was able to continue at college. Another good part is that none of my many siblings and nieces/nephew have anything to do with that destructive cult any more. By the time my mom died in 2009, she was the only one who was religious. Each of us got out in our own way, each of us took control of our lives and bodies, and all of us concluded that enslavement to religious belief was not for us. I like to think that, because I am the eldest, the "Nope Leonards" started with me. I'm glad you survived as well! Good fighting!
Opus Dei again. Of course.
Here’s another creep I suspect is Opus Dei and who believes it’s his right to force his theology on all of us. He got a lifetime position last week as a federal judge. He believes in fetal personhood. His name is Josh Divine. (Ick)
More here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/courtaccountability/p/american-abortion-policy-will-end?r=5l3aq&utm_medium=ios
I believe that Josh Divine has just been approved for the federal judiciary. Another theocrat with a lifetime appointment
The story in the Bangor paper says Angus King was asked by Senator Hawley to support Divine. King didn’t even bother to look Divine up, or do a simple internet search. 34 yrs old and King didn’t vet him for a life-time position!?! WTF! What an asshole! Both of them! And women will pay with their health and their lives. Unfortunately, King isn’t up for reelection until 2039. But Collin’s up in 2026. Let’s get rid of her!
WTF indeed! In short, one white guy asked another white guy, "Bro, do me a solid and vote for my inexperienced white religious zealot for a LIFETIME judicial appointment. So what if women suffer? They're replaceable."
I hope that Mainers ask King some damn hard questions about this, and that there is a goid Democratic candidate to run against Susan Collins
Yup.
Creepy, icky 34 year old guy.
The reason so many young women are choosing to remain single.
Using the term abortifacient contraceptive is often a political strategy to blur the line between contraception and abortion—to justify restricting access to both. We see this rhetoric used in court cases, state legislation, and misinformation campaigns.
But the science is clear:
❌ Contraception ≠ Abortion
✅ Emergency contraception and IUDs are not abortifacients
✅ Medication abortion involves FDA-approved drugs taken after pregnancy is confirmed.
Earle-Sears needs to be confronted every day to pin her down on abortion and her incredibly exist views on women's rights.
Can we all agree that when a politician won’t say if they will or won’t ban abortion they are ABSOLUTELY going to try and ban abortion? This is like when I was a kid and asked my mom for something. She’d say “we’ll see” but that ABSOLUTELY meant “no”; she just didn’t want the conversation.
Earle-Sears is Trumpkin, but without the down vest.
Exactly right
Meghan MCargle-bargle has never been right about anything, she's an out of touch libertarian who wrote under the name Jane Gault. Most grow out of that selfishness, she doubled-down.
https://www.mediaite.com/online/wapo-hiring-megan-mcardle-is-their-worst-move-since-supporting-the-iraq-war/
“It’s bad science …”
We all need to stop being surprised by this. These people don’t care about the truth. They don’t care what the science says. Ask any trans person about the right’s relationship with truth or any scientist who has their funding cancelled or any person denied their due process rights.
And the big picture conclusion is that these people are eventually coming after everyone that disagrees with their ruthless power grab and the white Christian nationalist narrative they are using to justify anything.
Yes, they have invented their own warped reality, and they want to force it on the rest of us! We had better all push back on these assholes because bodily autonomy is a basic human right.
I have used different forms of birth control from a young age to manage what I now know is endometriosis. I don’t think I would have made it through school (when I was a patient at PP), life, or to get to the point where I could get/afford the excision surgery without it.
But again we shouldn’t have to justify our use of what in a normal non puritan society is just common sense family planning. My daughter takes bc for 3 months and then gets a period because they have always been super painful for her. I had debilitating cramps at their age. But I would have happily accepted her on birth control for sex if and when she was ready for that. She’s a lesbian so not really a high risk of pregnancy, but teens who use it for sex shouldn’t be shamed, they should be treated as someone taking control of their life. The reason approval of birth control is so high is because the shame of having premarital sex is only a thing for religious zealots and people who have not examined their own shame.
Also, I hope your daughter doesn’t have Endometriosis. I was able to manage mine with BC when I was younger until that was no longer possible. The pain became so debilitating every single day I couldn’t even walk half a block and plenty of ER visits.
💯 I used birth control for both and to hell with this Puritan culture deeply imbedded in our society. I had to fight to get BC at the time (it wasn’t THAT long ago) and there was plenty of red tape around it. I needed to show up to PP in person each month to pick up pills during college.
With Endometriosis BC was a lifeline to me, so I understood at a very young age just how unimportant my healthcare and life was in this patriarchal society.
Did you read the part in this last post about men quitting birth control trials bc it made them feel sick? Can you imagine if men had endo? They would invent a bubble gum stick to eradicate it within a year.
Absolutely. The gaslighting I’ve experienced is unbelievable. Endometriosis is just as common as diabetes, but most people have never heard of it. It’s grossly underfunded and under-researched. Just another example of how our healthcare is treated differently or not at all.
McArdle was born on third base but thinks she hit s triple. Disgusting.
I published a piece on Substack yesterday about how the State Department is justifying incinerating $9.7 million in contraceptives in Brussels, paid for by U.S. tax dollars, by redefining them as "abortifacients." They are very careful to say that condoms and HIV medications will not be incinerated but hormonal birth control and IUD’s will be despite the offers from other foreign aid organizations to purchase them and distribute them through their own channels. THIS is how a nationwide restriction/ban on birth control gets its legs. https://danismart.substack.com/p/from-brussels-to-your-bedroom-how
This sickens me. It’s none of anyone’s business what birth control device or medication is used. Grossly mislabeling these meds is shameful.
"Abortifacient" has a precise medical meaning. They are lying about contraceptives and should be called out and shamed over it.