46 Comments

“Even if Americans wanted to ignore the consequences of abortion bans, it’s unlikely that they’d be able to. Every day that goes by, someone else is harmed by this legislation—not an imaginary scenario dreamed up by political strategists, but a real person who has friends and family who care about her. People who vote.”

Correct. They thought they knew who would be affected. Callous promiscuous women or Misguided poor souls who just don’t understand what they are doing. Not their sister, daughter, wife.

Unfortunately, more women will be sacrificed before it spreads enough to end this tyranny once and for all. Every day we need to shove these consequences in their faces. I think we can all see how being timid to equivocate on abortion did nothing. We need to be bold and secure in our defense that bodily autonomy is a fundamental human right. We will accept nothing less.

I work with teenagers and I will tell you the one thing they are having none of, is shame. They grew up in an era of stop the stigma campaigns and went to preschool using multicultural markers. They are chronically online and although there is plenty of bad on the internet, my students are pretty well informed compared to my generation who btw are their parents. I have a lot of hope despite this dark time we are enduring.

Expand full comment
May 8, 2023·edited May 8, 2023

VA legislative seat campaigns are held in an “off year,” which is in 2023. If VA Democrats lose the state legislature this year, VA will be on par with NC, TX, ID, AR, FL, etc.

Expand full comment

It's really quite amazing in all of this how their hipocrisy and hatred for women just comes to the surface. There is much to fixate on in this bill, but I keep thinking about those three appointments before taking the abortion pill(s). And then I think about the BS lawsuit in Texas, where the doctors were professing their supposed concern that mifepristone leads to complications that doctors have to manage after the woman has taken the pill. And then I think again about the fact that these three BS appointments are to be scheduled *before* taking the pill, not *after*. Seems a bit like they might know that the pill actually doesn't lead to complications, and/or they really don't give a shit if it does. Any way you look at it or try to follow their logic, it invariably leads to the policing and hatred of women. Always.

Expand full comment

What a great point. Right. Why not *after* taking the pills....

Expand full comment

Right, because the whole point is to delay and dissuade. I never understood how a requirement vaginal ultrasound did not constitute an undue burden under Casey. And that was before Dobbs. Let’s propose something equally as invasive for men and see what happens.

Expand full comment
founding

There is nothing 'common sense' about a politician taking over your health care decisions.

Expand full comment

What’s been done in NC is sickening and vile beyond belief. The law concerning abortion was already not that simple or easy for a woman who needed an abortion, and this one is vile, egregious, despicable and immoral in it’s cruelty and it’s punishing nature is beyond believing. I feel trapped by these immoral so called “Christian” saviors of the right, and Phil Berger & his ilk are top of the list when it comes to misguided, ignorant, ill informed and malicious busy body out of control interfering miscreants. Something is rotten in Raleigh, and it’s infecting the entire state. I feel like I can’t breathe. How do we save ourselves. And do ‘t say “just vote”! I’ve been voting for years and years, and these Republican Liars have been gaining ground at an untenable pace, and now they wrapped us up tight with their gerrymandering and other misbehaviors to the point that I’m not sure even getting out more voters will ever free us of this Christian Taliban” monstrosity called the Republican Party. And believe me, I know what it is, I watched it happening from my early childhood right in front of my eyes with my insane father leading the way and saying how proud he was, how good he felt, how HONEST of him it was to change over to the Republican Party BECAUSE they represented EXACTLY what he BELIEVED and WANTED in life, in law, for his children. It was disgusting then, and it is only more so now. I feel physically ill from living in this warped insane zealotry, this unconscionable Old Testament fanaticism, or even worse than that - the immensity of the anti life, anti equality, anti-everything, i.e, homophobic, trans phobic, misogynistic hatred of anything joyful, happy, beautiful, educated, intelligent, factual, scientific or life giving. It’s just too much to have this steamroller of hatred rolling over everything of value in this beautiful world we live in, smothering any impulse of decency...and do you know why? Because these perpetrators of hatred only believe in money and domination, power. That’s what they want, and what they are hell bent on having, more and more indiscriminate power. I fear the system has been rigged to the point that we cannot possibly vote our way out of this hellish life, BECAUSE of the lues that led us here. In the same way that Thomas, Allito, Kavenaugh, Gorsuch, and Coney-Barrett LIED their way onto the Supreme Court, our NC legislators have LIED their way onto ballots and won elections into the Legislature - claiming in their case to be loyal Democratic candidates who will protect the right of women to choose their reproductive health care free of unfair and egregious laws curtailing their freedom of choice but switching once seated. And then, they claim that Democrats are “mean” to them? “Mean” to them meaning taking them to task for missing vital voting in the legislature, or even outright voting straight Republican or, for switching party affiliation AFTER being sworn in? How do we deal with the lies? These people LIED in order to get into seats of power, and NOW they’re in place to turn OUR lives upside down??? Because people were “mean” to them? What kind of idiocy is this? Smells like corruption to me. Immorality. Straight out LYING for personal gain. Pure & simple, LYING FOR PERSONAL GAIN. That’s what we’re dealing with here - people who are living in a mind set where anything goes as long as me me me gets what me wants - no morals, no honor, no justice, no reproductive health care for women, no healthcare for trans people, no healthcare from scientifically trained men and women, just a plunge back into 1300s witchcraft and ignorant barbarism. These people are sick and crafty, and clever, and the fact that they are “winning” has NOTHING to do with voting or not voting at this point. It’s been clear since Pat McCrory refused to accept his gubernatorial loss that the fix was in. We the people, were just too stupid or too naive to see it, and honestly, still can’t seem to believe it. And we are drowning in a sea of insanity foisted upon us by fascistic demagogues who are in love and enraptured with themselves. Who never quit. Their hatred for anyone “not like them” is a powerful motivator. I know that Jesus and Martin Luther King, Jr. reportedly told us that only love would win over hate, but some days it’s difficult to believe that we can survive the flooding wall of HATE washing over the land, over the world in fact. May Peace be with us.

Expand full comment

The only thing that's comforting is that I really do believe the younger generations are much less hateful than the older ones. Things WILL change, eventually, just not fast enough for the rest of us.

Expand full comment

Zach, unfortunately I’ve been hoping for that for 50 years, without seeing any change, generation to generation. I’m 64, and I started worrying about what they were doing back when the Hyde Amendment was first passed. I spent all those years from then to now trying to raise the alarm - and no one listened to my “hysteria” until the Dobbs decision leaked. All along the way, younger women were convinced that Roe would never be overturned, because Republicans just liked fundraising on the issue.

Most “average Americans” don’t give a crap until something impacts them directly. Legislators did nothing to protect Roe, and sat by as our rights were chipped away by TRAP laws, Casey, etc. “Women’s issues” were always at the back of the line. We had Roe, so we should just sit down and shut up, while they dealt with “important” issues. And too many voters went along with this, generation after generation, from Boomer and Gen Jones to Gen X and Millennials. I have a millennial son, and over the years all of his girlfriends were strongly prochoice - and except for one, completely blasé about the abortion issue.

Expand full comment

I am a high school teacher and a mother of a 17 and a 15 year old. Don’t count the kids out this time. Spend time with enough of these kids and you really start to see. They are pissed off and they are as a demographic pretty liberal and thanks to social media(I actually can’t believe I just wrote that) they know there is power in organized messaging. It can be the upside of certain things going viral.

I know I live in a liberal state but I hear this from people who live in conservative states. Because guess what, conservatives? There are gay kids everywhere and they are growing up out and proud. And you know what else? Most of their school mates are no longer homophobic. And where I work that includes children of very patriarchal immigrant parents. Even in places that still experience more intolerance than where I live, there are online communities and these kids are finding their people despite all the efforts to stop them. They will not be pushed back into the closet or the kitchen.

There is still plenty of work for the adults to do. We need to fight using whatever power we have and help mobilize these young people. It’s time we open the doors of power or I’m telling you they are going to knock them down. Look at what’s happening in France. Hardly something I wish upon us but I don’t think we should underestimate these kids.

Expand full comment

Well I guess my reply to the other comment was more about the overall political situation than reproductive rights specifically. But yes, for fifty years we saw very little movement on the abortion issue, and I do think it was because we had Roe. They chipped away and chipped away, and it was insidious, and there was very little pushback, but it's only been since Texas passed its law (pre-Dobbs, and when it wasn't blocked that was the moment imo) that states have been able to do what they're doing now. Supposedly Generation Z is significantly more pro-choice than previous generations, and it's a very live issue for them (and millennials too) because they're the ones being personally affected. So we'll have to see. For me the problem is that the generational change is too gradual for it to be the solution by itself for the peril this country is in. If a Republican wins the White House anytime soon it will be a disaster like this country has never seen.

Expand full comment
May 8, 2023·edited May 8, 2023

TFG came down the elevator and declared his candidacy by saying Mexicans were criminals and rapists, and 70 million people voted for him. They. Don't. Care.

I feel everything you wrote -- and I live in one of the bluest states in the country, NJ. The only way out of this mess is to add at least 4 justices to the supreme court somehow. I agree that "vote" isn't enough when the majority can't win because of the electoral college, gerrymandering, or yeah -- candidates who switch parties! That should be ILLEGAL ! It's defrauding and disenfranchising the voters. I see Cotham's Twitter. She's no democrat at heart. No way.

Expand full comment

This constitution will always be a problem, mostly because of the Senate. The issue in North Carolina is that Republicans still win most statewide elections, and it was last year's state supreme court elections that unfortunately sealed the deal.

Expand full comment

Jessica -- Have you thought of going on Victor Shi's podcast? He does a ton around the college vote and it seems as though the past 2 elections have finally brought out the "younger" generations to the ballot box.

Expand full comment

Jessica, once again, and always, thank you for this terrific work you're doing. xo

Expand full comment

Fuck Republicans and their compromises. I'm not giving those bastards shit - it's my way or the highway.

Seriously, at this point, if someone in a MAGA hat collapsed on the sidewalk in front of me, I'd step around them and keep walking.

Expand full comment

"Common Sense" is to kick those that create and those that support such laws. Remove the laws. If the law makers really care for children they would stop the proliferation of military stile weapons, increase the age of ownership to 21, red flag laws. Insure those that have children get a good education in a safe school.

Expand full comment

I would not be surprised if part of the problem is that we've prioritized making sure everyone is heard, over the search for objective truth. That's sensible because those in power push their version of events as 'objective truth', and we don't want that, but we can't have the alternative be that one person's ignorance is as good as another's knowledge.

Because somehow we have a political movement afflicting around half the country (depending on the metric you use) that is based almost exclusively on lies and delusion. Take away the lies and delusions and there's almost nothing left to conservatism or especially to the Republican party.

This is the overarching problem, and it just happens that reproductive health care is the issue where the situation is most acute and most nefarious.

What we have are lies, and people who 'honestly' believe them. It's impossible to make progress without shining the light of truth. And it's the same on every other 'political' issue too; it's just that here is where it's most dire.

How many lives will have to be destroyed to make truths evident and prevail over the lies?

Expand full comment

This reminds me of case Y in Ireland, they force fed a women suicidal because of her pregnancy and being denied travel for an abortion. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/timeline-of-ms-y-case-1.1951699. I expect to see similar stories from the USA.

Expand full comment

That reads like a horror story. Absolute torture.

Expand full comment

Republicans "Let's write a bill so bad that it'll turn people green with nausea if they read it." At least their messaging attempts mean they are still trying to persuade voters in NC. They kind of aren't in more red places like Texas and Florida because the goals there are to just restrict or throw out Democratic votes instead.

Expand full comment

Excellent article. Should be required reading for everyone in NC.

Expand full comment

do people anywhere believe the lies? the fake data etc?

Expand full comment

Yes. Most people have very little science education. They don't understand the basics of embryology and developmental biology. They believe that a 12 week old fetus is a fully-formed "baby". People don't know enough about how clinical research is done to understand that the "studies" cited by the anti-abortion movement are terribly flawed at best, fabricated at worst. People have very little understanding of how complex and nuanced medical care is, how much education doctors need to have to do what they do, how they have to make judgement calls every day. People think abortion is black and white and that doctors are "killing babies." Our culture has devolved to where people pride themselves on their ignorance and the fact that they operate on the basis of beliefs rather than facts. Anyone with an education is regarded as an "elite". I am not one bit surprised we find ourselves in this mess.

Expand full comment

Let’s not forget that “they think that” because they were specifically told to think those things in a coordinated, well planned, decades long propaganda campaign. But that gets back to what you were saying. The ability to detect bias and see through propaganda requires education that those in power on the Republican side have labeled all experts suspect and untrustworthy. And then you end up in a feedback loop. How convenient.

As a teacher of both American and world history have learned that time after time, those orchestrating the propaganda know exactly what they are doing. They are peddling a message that is to be repeated over and over again. They used charged language that targets our fears. Rational arguments backed by facts are a threat and could, if believed break the spell. So they must be themselves discredited.

It’s like a playbook from a variety of genocides. You can literally find patterns.

Expand full comment

Yes. The only answer I know is education. We neglected it for fifty years because we had Roe. (To be fair, Republicans do fight against all of our efforts to educate the public, starting in the schools.)

Expand full comment

Right! The "right" always fights any education in the schools that deals with reproductive health. However, we live in a time where there is such easy access to information, there really is no excuse for ignorance. However, people have to want to seek that information out, and it is so much easier to let our time be taken up with the garbage that our screens shove in our faces every day. It's also hard to recognize and be open to facts when you have been indoctrinated with fairy tales and superstition your whole life, but that is a whole other topic.

Expand full comment

Yeah. Hate to say it but the horror stories are doing us a favor by getting people's attention. We need to get more women to tell their stories and provide them with the support (and sadly, the protection) they will need when they do so. Of course then the enemy will say we're orchestrating the stories, but we need to do it anyway. Gut wrenching personal stories have to resonate with the public.

Expand full comment

Sad but true, those kind of stories are probably what it will take to get people to pay attention and perhaps question their assumptions. Shocking stories often grab attention when biology class does not. People need something they can personalize and relate to, I guess.

Expand full comment

Everywhere. It all sounds so reasonable and is said calmly. It is insidious and there has been so little pushback.

Expand full comment

This.

Expand full comment

I said this the last article but what makes it even more outrageous is that more pregnancies are lost to miscarriage and stillbirth (25% of pregnancies) than abortion (20% of pregnancies). 50% when chemical pregnancies are included. They require the same procedures. Are they going to make these same claims for women who miscarry or have stillbirths?

Expand full comment

ProPublica is doing some stories on stillbirths. Many are preventable, but we are doing little to nothing about the issue. Just one more data point showing that abortion bans are not about babies.

https://www.propublica.org/article/stillbirths-prevention-infant-mortality

Expand full comment

It is so beyond enraging.

Expand full comment

Maybe some legislators would like to go after a woman who miscarriages for murder.

Expand full comment

They already have been even before Dobbs. Read Policing the Womb by Michelle Goodwin. Terrifying stuff.

Expand full comment

I don’t know where the countervailing messaging (opposing restrictions) should come from but it needs to be disseminated through channels other than this one. TikTok?

Expand full comment

Jessica should have had the open opinion spot in The NY Times instead of David French. The mainstream media is woefully slow and inadequate in reporting on this stuff. WV’s “bring us the medical waste “ bill must be outed. The national Dems need to be much more vocal and specific too.

Expand full comment

Yes. Is it a taboo over reproductive health issues, is it that the origin of human life is too sensitive a topic with too many deeply held beliefs, or wtf is the problem? There are scientific, biological, medical FACTS that need to be known, because they clearly aren't.

Expand full comment

Or I should rephrase “ I’d have liked to have seen Jessica with an opinion column rather than French” The way I wrote it sounded like they competed for it,as if I had inside knowledge.

Expand full comment

Although 'opinion' columns are the problem. I lost count of how many lies the NC law mandates to be spread by doctors. No one's opinion changes the fact that lies are lies.

Expand full comment

Yeah she's got a TikTok so hopefully word will spread.

Expand full comment

That’s good but these things have to be curated and managed. Not “hopefully.” Someone’s gotta make it happen.

This “issue” aside from being a moral and political imperative is the best hope of beating back the fascists. It potentially impacts everyone.

Expand full comment

Reproductive justice seems to be "trending" so it should get picked up. You never know with how finicky the algorithm gods are.

Expand full comment

Ok one more and I’ll shut up (for this post). Fuck the algorithm gods. There must be ways to play the algorithms--I’m no expert.

Expand full comment

Yeah just fill it up with key words of what's trending I guess. But it really depends more on the ambivalence and attention of people which seems to be more akin to a goldfish.

Expand full comment