Someone help me out. Haley is a wolf in sheep's clothing. She tried to come across as telling the "truth" about the realities of passing a national ban, but .. When she took Pence to task for his remarks that I don't even want to repeat, she said there would never be 60 votes to pass a federal ban. But there will be if the GOP gets a simple majority of 51 to ditch the filibuster. Right? And I don't doubt for one minute that they would ditch the filibuster to subjugate us.
Great piece,thanks. Hearing politicians debate “number of weeks” is enraging. I once knew a woman who miscarried at 5 weeks and mourned it as the loss of a child - name, ceremony, memorial brick, etc. And I knew another woman who miscarried a wanted pregnancy at 13 weeks, described it casually as “like passing a chicken egg,” and moved on (and had a healthy live birth the next year).
I would never judge *either* of these women. They each had their own way of interpreting a very personal experience. It’s so grossly offensive to see politicians declare by fiat that “a pregnancy counts as a person at 6 weeks” or whatever, congratulating themselves on feeling moved by their kid’s first sonogram, and completely erasing the huge variation in other people’s deepest beliefs and lived experiences.
At a March event in Des Moines, Iowa, Harris listened to a shy nursing student recount the harrowing story of a pregnant patient seeking an abortion. The patient’s sudden health complications required the early end of their pregnancy in a state where Republican legislators once tried to prevent doctors from performing an abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Harris, visibly moved by the nurse’s story, left the meeting telling aides it was just another example of why no one – including Republicans racing to pass restrictive abortion bans across the country – knows what leads someone to get an abortion. Harris left the event railing at the stigma women face for doing so, a staffer told CNN.
The moment, following an event that echoed many she’s had around the country over the last year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, served as a window into an effort that has been defined by a defiant message on an issue Democrats plan to put at the center of the 2024 election cycle.
The months that followed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade saw Harris become the Biden administration’s foremost voice on reproductive rights, both in public events and behind the scenes in hours of policy discussions and internal White House deliberations. She led intense efforts to marshal outside allies, many of whom were staggered by the ruling itself – and pressing the Biden administration to do more in response. For Harris, it was a process that paired an intense exasperation with an equally strong level of determination.
But it was that intense level of passion that finally gave Harris something she’d been searching for during a turbulent and often roller-coaster-like start to her time as vice president: A clear and unambiguous issue on which she could lead.
That passionate and defiant message is one the vice president and her aides hope to project over the summer months, as they seek to keep reproductive rights prominent in the conscious of American voters.
“I do believe when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. We stand for the freedom of every American, including the freedom of every person everywhere to make decisions – about their own body, their own health care and their own doctor,” Harris said at an abortion rally in Washington, DC, Friday. “So we fight for reproductive rights and legislation that restores the protections of Roe v. Wade. And here’s the thing. The majority of Americans are with us, they agree.”
Oh Jessica, I wish this was on every social media platform and billboard in the country! A long with a picture of a 6 and 10 week fetus and what conservatives like to call a ‘heartbeat’. Your work is so important!! I just wish more people were forced to read and see the truth. My deepest gratitude for your fortitude!
Polls show American overwhelmingly support safe and legal access to abortions.
The Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs was wrong -- It should not be put to a vote state-by-state.
No person should have to justify their vested interest in staying alive. Why should people vote on when (or if) I become pregnant or end my pregnancy? It is my life, not theirs.
A pregnant person’s right to live should not depend upon which state she lives in.
No man would accept any law that denied him life-saving healthcare. Do legislators really expect woman to accept laws which men would not accept for themselves?
We should not accept limits on abortion access. We don’t need waiting periods or medically unnecessary tests. We don’t need in-person visits when a medical abortion via tele-health is a safe option. We don’t need the permission of a man to have an abortion or any other healthcare. We don’t need medical providers to have hospital admitting privileges. We don’t need a clinic setup like an expensive super surgery center. We don’t need to be lied to about abortion outcomes. We don’t need to be told to wait and become sicker to warrant medical care. We don’t need to travel hundreds of miles to another state for medical care, making the whole thing more expensive and stressful and even risk losing our jobs because of the additional time off needed. We don’t need laws which intimidate medical providers so they refuse to provide care to pregnant women. We don’t need restrictions on late term abortions -- no women waits until late in her pregnancy to have an abortion unless she needs one. No woman should be forced to remain pregnant when a live birth cannot result or the baby cannot long survive. We don’t need the approval of a panel of doctors before receiving an abortion. We don’t need laws so complicated that doctors must consult a lawyer to determine if an abortion can be done legally. Most of all, we don’t need legislators preventing trained medical professionals from providing life-saving medical care.
What we need is to lower the maternal mortality rate in this country and to trust women to make their own healthcare decisions based upon sound medical advice from trained professionals. What we need is to respect the professional judgment of trained medical professionals and stop the government from interfering with diagnosing and treating patients.
The anti-abortion laws as written and implemented are harmful to pregnant people. The Republicans don’t care and are doubling down. In my opinion, their cruelty and complete disregard of human life disqualifies them from putting any limits on women’s reproductive healthcare choices.
Republicans have shown they cannot be trusted to protect pregnant people. We must only vote for candidates who support a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions and make sure that contraception and abortion are safe and accessible, nationwide. Abortion must be safe, legal, and accessible. I trust women to do what is best for themselves and their families. Clearly Republicans do not.
Well said! I’ll add, we trust women serving in the military to fly aircraft, help with high level national security intelligence, operate on & care for war wounded service members, etc. but Rs don’t trust them to understand their own body and want to deny them sometimes needed maternal healthcare.
We also need to trust mothers to know whether or not adding to a family will threaten the ability of her existing kids to thrive, and whether the person who impregnated her is a threat to her and a potential child.
Jessica, thank you so much for continuing to break the situation down in powerful and impactful ways. I appreciate your words tremendously. This OB/Gyn who fled Idaho is grateful. Keep up the phenomenal work.
Thank you for this stark summary of the important numbers Jessica! This list is what canvassers for voters and petitioners for ballot measures can use!
This is why we love your work Jessica! I hope Kamala Harris and Joe Biden read this one!
https://wvpublic.org/w-va-can-restrict-sale-of-mifepristone-federal-judge-rules/?amp=1
Uhg
How about 51 versus 60?
Someone help me out. Haley is a wolf in sheep's clothing. She tried to come across as telling the "truth" about the realities of passing a national ban, but .. When she took Pence to task for his remarks that I don't even want to repeat, she said there would never be 60 votes to pass a federal ban. But there will be if the GOP gets a simple majority of 51 to ditch the filibuster. Right? And I don't doubt for one minute that they would ditch the filibuster to subjugate us.
This is great info, thank you so much for all you do!
Great piece,thanks. Hearing politicians debate “number of weeks” is enraging. I once knew a woman who miscarried at 5 weeks and mourned it as the loss of a child - name, ceremony, memorial brick, etc. And I knew another woman who miscarried a wanted pregnancy at 13 weeks, described it casually as “like passing a chicken egg,” and moved on (and had a healthy live birth the next year).
I would never judge *either* of these women. They each had their own way of interpreting a very personal experience. It’s so grossly offensive to see politicians declare by fiat that “a pregnancy counts as a person at 6 weeks” or whatever, congratulating themselves on feeling moved by their kid’s first sonogram, and completely erasing the huge variation in other people’s deepest beliefs and lived experiences.
Elie Mystal says more on this under “#1: Forced Birth Violates My Religious Liberty” here: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/after-roe-lawsuit/
Thanks so much excellent piece.
This is fantastic. Thank you so much for this.
Incredibly powerful writing Jessica. Well done!
If only Democrats in power would actually talk about this!
At a March event in Des Moines, Iowa, Harris listened to a shy nursing student recount the harrowing story of a pregnant patient seeking an abortion. The patient’s sudden health complications required the early end of their pregnancy in a state where Republican legislators once tried to prevent doctors from performing an abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Harris, visibly moved by the nurse’s story, left the meeting telling aides it was just another example of why no one – including Republicans racing to pass restrictive abortion bans across the country – knows what leads someone to get an abortion. Harris left the event railing at the stigma women face for doing so, a staffer told CNN.
The moment, following an event that echoed many she’s had around the country over the last year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, served as a window into an effort that has been defined by a defiant message on an issue Democrats plan to put at the center of the 2024 election cycle.
The months that followed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade saw Harris become the Biden administration’s foremost voice on reproductive rights, both in public events and behind the scenes in hours of policy discussions and internal White House deliberations. She led intense efforts to marshal outside allies, many of whom were staggered by the ruling itself – and pressing the Biden administration to do more in response. For Harris, it was a process that paired an intense exasperation with an equally strong level of determination.
But it was that intense level of passion that finally gave Harris something she’d been searching for during a turbulent and often roller-coaster-like start to her time as vice president: A clear and unambiguous issue on which she could lead.
That passionate and defiant message is one the vice president and her aides hope to project over the summer months, as they seek to keep reproductive rights prominent in the conscious of American voters.
“I do believe when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. We stand for the freedom of every American, including the freedom of every person everywhere to make decisions – about their own body, their own health care and their own doctor,” Harris said at an abortion rally in Washington, DC, Friday. “So we fight for reproductive rights and legislation that restores the protections of Roe v. Wade. And here’s the thing. The majority of Americans are with us, they agree.”
MORE... https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/24/politics/kamala-harris-abortion-rights/index.html
Yesssssss!
Jessica, thank you for compiling these upsetting and eye-opening statistics. I will share them.
Oh Jessica, I wish this was on every social media platform and billboard in the country! A long with a picture of a 6 and 10 week fetus and what conservatives like to call a ‘heartbeat’. Your work is so important!! I just wish more people were forced to read and see the truth. My deepest gratitude for your fortitude!
Well said Jessica! Thank you! ❤️
Polls show American overwhelmingly support safe and legal access to abortions.
The Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs was wrong -- It should not be put to a vote state-by-state.
No person should have to justify their vested interest in staying alive. Why should people vote on when (or if) I become pregnant or end my pregnancy? It is my life, not theirs.
A pregnant person’s right to live should not depend upon which state she lives in.
No man would accept any law that denied him life-saving healthcare. Do legislators really expect woman to accept laws which men would not accept for themselves?
We should not accept limits on abortion access. We don’t need waiting periods or medically unnecessary tests. We don’t need in-person visits when a medical abortion via tele-health is a safe option. We don’t need the permission of a man to have an abortion or any other healthcare. We don’t need medical providers to have hospital admitting privileges. We don’t need a clinic setup like an expensive super surgery center. We don’t need to be lied to about abortion outcomes. We don’t need to be told to wait and become sicker to warrant medical care. We don’t need to travel hundreds of miles to another state for medical care, making the whole thing more expensive and stressful and even risk losing our jobs because of the additional time off needed. We don’t need laws which intimidate medical providers so they refuse to provide care to pregnant women. We don’t need restrictions on late term abortions -- no women waits until late in her pregnancy to have an abortion unless she needs one. No woman should be forced to remain pregnant when a live birth cannot result or the baby cannot long survive. We don’t need the approval of a panel of doctors before receiving an abortion. We don’t need laws so complicated that doctors must consult a lawyer to determine if an abortion can be done legally. Most of all, we don’t need legislators preventing trained medical professionals from providing life-saving medical care.
What we need is to lower the maternal mortality rate in this country and to trust women to make their own healthcare decisions based upon sound medical advice from trained professionals. What we need is to respect the professional judgment of trained medical professionals and stop the government from interfering with diagnosing and treating patients.
The anti-abortion laws as written and implemented are harmful to pregnant people. The Republicans don’t care and are doubling down. In my opinion, their cruelty and complete disregard of human life disqualifies them from putting any limits on women’s reproductive healthcare choices.
Republicans have shown they cannot be trusted to protect pregnant people. We must only vote for candidates who support a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions and make sure that contraception and abortion are safe and accessible, nationwide. Abortion must be safe, legal, and accessible. I trust women to do what is best for themselves and their families. Clearly Republicans do not.
Well said! I’ll add, we trust women serving in the military to fly aircraft, help with high level national security intelligence, operate on & care for war wounded service members, etc. but Rs don’t trust them to understand their own body and want to deny them sometimes needed maternal healthcare.
We also need to trust mothers to know whether or not adding to a family will threaten the ability of her existing kids to thrive, and whether the person who impregnated her is a threat to her and a potential child.
Republicans are only interested in protecting their billionaire donors.
Waverly: Yes, I would. I haven’t done that before. Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you, Waverly.
thanks, jessica!
I'm tucking these figures in a very safe and accessible place.
Jessica, thank you so much for continuing to break the situation down in powerful and impactful ways. I appreciate your words tremendously. This OB/Gyn who fled Idaho is grateful. Keep up the phenomenal work.
Thank you for this stark summary of the important numbers Jessica! This list is what canvassers for voters and petitioners for ballot measures can use!