17 Comments

Clearly, in operation, self-described “pro-lifers” are willing to lie to themselves and everyone else to deny women access to medical care to end a pregnancy. And make no mistake, an abortion IS medical care. Saying it’s NOT healthcare, doesn’t make it so. Saying abortion is murder, doesn’t make it so.

We’ve seen what “pro-life” anti-abortion laws, in operation, really mean:

LET WOMEN SUFFER AND DIE,

because that’s what anti-abortion laws are causing to happen. It will continue to happen until women are in charge of our own bodies and the law and prosecutors stop threatening medical providers with criminal punishment.

Forced birth is a form of slavery, even if the woman is not raped, but especially so in the case of rape. The slave owner could rape his slave women — slaves were property after all — and make the women give birth. Some Republicans even want to deny the morning after pill to all woman, including victims of rape, making the slavery analogy even more apt. Anti-abortion laws make pregnant women slaves of the government and forced to give birth (even if it’s to a dead fetus). The SC said “let the states decide” — similar to the argument made by pro-slavery supporters. (Why should the state decide if a pregnant woman can live? Are there state laws that control men’s bodies? But I digress.)

The nonsense the forced birthers tell themselves (and anyone who’ll listen) about “protecting the voiceless unborn” when it’s clear the fetus cannot survive is disgusting. One forced birther was on TV recently and claimed in a “botched” abortion the fetus survives and everyone present lets it die. Really? This sounds like a total fiction. She has no case, no names. Just a horrific story. I presume she is describing when a fetus is born with fatal anomalies and has no chance of surviving and will only suffer needlessly if heroic measures are taken to prolong its misery. This isn’t a new born with an imperfection or a disability. This is a new born with defects that are incompatible with life. However, if what she is describing is a healthy baby, then that’s murder, we have laws against it, and no one is supporting that. If anyone knows of this horror happening, in the moment, they should call the police and report it. But, if it was happening, I believe someone would be reporting it. Women who miscarry in a toilet (which is not a crime and happens more often than you may know) are being reported to police, so I’d think murdering a healthy newborn would be reported.

If you doubt human beings can be horrid, you haven’t been watching the news - so in the unlikely event someone has murdered a newborn, that is no reason to deny women reproductive rights to make decisions about their own bodies. Access to abortion and killing a newborn aren’t the same issue.

Kamala Harris has said she trusts women and supports reproductive rights. (In contrast, Trump’s statements are all over the board and he’s a known liar so nothing he says can be trusted — I do believe him when he says he’s proud to have overturned Roe)

Republicans have proven they cannot be trusted to support the U.S. Constitution or the rule of law — they can’t even be trusted to tell the truth about Jan 6 or Joe Biden’s accomplishments while POTUS or anything else — so Republicans need to be voted out of office until they understand we don’t believe their lies and we won’t go back. (See Brian Tyler Cohen’s recent book, Shameless.”)

How do we get out of this mess. For one thing, we need to vote for Harris-Walz and Democrats, up and down the ballot, who support reproductive rights and freedom.

Expand full comment

I can just see Amy Coney Barret watching this video and saying "ok good that's what I thought. thank you" GROSS. I was in the UK for a couple of weeks and so many people asked me about the election, primarily two things. Did I support Drumph and second, who will win. And my answer to the second question was always "whoever gets off their ass and votes". So I hope people turn out.

Expand full comment

I think my blood actually boiled. I could only get through about 10 seconds of the video. It's just evil.

Expand full comment

The fact that the wrote a law to make a 6 min educational video to solve the confusion is just more proof they don’t give a shit about what happens to “pregnant females.” Just noticing that they have to say females because they could be pregnant girls. So horrifically dystopian.

Expand full comment

As a MO resident, thank you for all your coverage. My friends memorial service is this sat so I can't make the trip to Jefferson city! If you want to join to show we're never going to stop fighting check out MO action abortion. Meeting in Jeff city at 10 am at the court house (cole county circuit court) . Sending love and light to all of you across the miles

Expand full comment

OMFG. I watched the South Dakota video and just about couldn't focus on any more of the very important words you'd written after that. It's like a secret ops experiment in gaslighting: for about the first 30 seconds, I thought, well, at least this is more guidance that OBGYNs in Idaho currently have. But then it just got weirder and weirder and more and more self-contradictory as it went on. The whole thing is like what I imagine a bad acid trip would be.

Expand full comment

In the video, the woman says this list means an abortion "could be" legal. "Could be" legal means most doctors aren't going to risk it - and women are going to die. I hate this.

Expand full comment

That video is nuts! At the end there's even a disclaimer that it is not intended as legal advice. So scary.

Expand full comment

Two things we learned about Mark Robinson and his wife this week: Mark Robinson used to spend 5 days a week at a porn shop and Yolanda tried to rip off Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts sued her for a $3,000 bounced check, went to court and won. Is this real life?

Expand full comment

A well matched pair, I think. Despicable

Expand full comment

Sounds like a typical republican con artist couple.

Expand full comment

They're cartoon villains!

Expand full comment

Reminds me of the picture of Steve Mnuchin, and his trophy-wife bride, visiting Ft. Knox, clutching a sheet of printed bills, the caption was :You can't even parody these people!

Expand full comment

Brandon Williams is unfortunately my rep, so I was reading his op-Ed. I don’t think his wife had an abortion - the way he framed it makes it sound like she got troubling news about the pregnancy, but decided to continue with it and they ended up having a girl. He seems to use this as evidence for why everyone should keep going with pregnancy in his supposedly “personal” stance? The whole thing was definitely icky. I’m also really fucking tired of people assuming their pregnancy experiences apply to everyone else. Sounds like his wife got very very lucky.

Expand full comment

Republicans don’t seem to understand statistics.

Expand full comment

Especially since most (I suspect) are lies.

Expand full comment