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trumps comms person tried to clean up that mife answer. Whatever... he said what he said because of who he is and he is not right. Just watched AZ rally on CSPAN. OMG! I think Americans have found a way to express their angst/relief/hope; remember I was wondering a few days ago what expression it will take, the pent up feeling everybody had? this is it! I guess we are not the protesting type like Europeans are but we are this, whatever this phenomenon is.

She also thanks Joe Biden in her stump speeches now which I like - she started doing it again in Detroit and WI.

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Even a person who can obtain a legal abortion without an extensive pilgrimage still has to be able to pay for the procedure. See Ushma Upadhyay, Rosalyn Schroeder, Shelly Kaller, Clara Stewart, and Nancy F. Berglas, "Pricing of Medication Abortion in the United States, 2021-2023", Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health (July 2, 2024), https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/psrh.12280. The median price for a medication abortion in the US was quite similar in 2021 ($568) and 2023 ($563). However, the researchers found that getting the medication via telehealth was much cheaper than an in-person appointment, and the difference got larger over time. The median cost of in-person medication abortion care was $580 in 2021, and $600 in 2023. The median price of a telehealth abortion actually fell, from $239 (2021) to $150 (2023). However, costs were higher in states where Medicaid covers abortion* and only 7% of telehealth clinics accept Medicaid, which is bad news for low-income people who need to save money.

The article points out that in December 2023, 19% of all abortions involved telehealth. Seven states have shield laws protecting doctors who prescribe to people in ban states: Massachusetts, Colorado, Washington, New York, Vermont, California, and Maine.

In the 36 states where abortion is legal under some circumstances, only 10 states require private health insurance plans to cover abortions. In 2021, 60% of patients throughout the United States paid out of pocket for their abortions.

Another JAMA Open article (i.e., you can download it for free and without subscribing to the Journal of the American Medical Association): Lauren Ralph et.al., "Self-Managed Abortion Attempts Before vs After Changes in Federal Abortion Protections in the US," (July 30, 2024), https://www.jamanetworkopen.com/ralph_2024_oi_240764. The article studied the prevalence of self-managed abortion throughout the US pre- and post-Dobbs. The participants were asked if they had ever done anything to induce an abortion without involving formal health care. About 2.4% said they tried to self-manage an abortion in 2021-2022 (ie, pre-Dobbs) and 3.4% said they did in 2023, reflecting greater difficulty in obtaining abortion care in the health care system. In both time periods, about 40% of people self-managing an abortion were teenagers. In the earlier period, 29.8% used herbs to self-manage an abortion; 25.9% used herbs in the later period. "Physical methods" were used in about 29% of cases in both time periods. "Alcohol or other substances" were used in about 18% of cases in both time periods. In the pre-Dobbs era, 7.1% of survey respondents sought emergency care for complications, dropping to 4.7% in 2023. The researchers concluded that throughout their reproductive lifetimes (and bearing in mind that people are likely not to accurately report all self-managed abortion attempts), 10.1% of women in the US will have a self-managed abortion experience.

Also see Taylor Riley et.a.,, "Abortion Provision and Delays to Care in a Clinic Network in Washington State After Dobbs," JAMA Network Open (May 29, 2024). I think the URL is https://www.jamanetwork.com/riley_2024_oi)24573, but it's always a hassle getting URLs for a PDF file. The researchers found that post- as compared to pre-Dobbs abortions: 72% of abortions at the clinic were procedural, 62% funded by Medicaid. After Dobbs, there was an increase in the proportion of procedural abortions, but the percentage moved back closer to pre-Dobbs levels. The number of out of state patients increased. After Dobbs, there were more later abortions, especially among in-state (rather than patients traveling to Washington).

*It is a common error to believe that the Hyde Amendment forbids Medicaid programs to cover abortion. Actually, the Hyde Amendment forbids states to get federal matching funds for this purpose. States can--and 17 states do--use non-federal funds to cover Medicaid abortions.

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Thanks for this excellent report. There is not enough discussion of costs to women for abortion.

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There's so much happening, in so many areas--political, legal, medical, sociological--that it's hard to get our arms around it! I think as a reproductive justice movement, we have to operate on many fronts at once, not only providing ACCURATE information on topics where ignorance and just flat-out lying are common, but getting people where they need to be, medications where they need to be--and money where it needs to be.

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Unbecoming...such an unkind statement when the reality was that Biden and his political operation won loosening the trump stranglehold on America. I saw this statement and her in another interview being lukewarm about Harris with effusive praise for Walz and his wife. What is wrong with her?

Tweet seen:

ndweiss (ND). Jezebel. Brokedown palace.

@11tulips

Low blow. Graceless.

Pelosi knives Biden on her book promo tour:

Pelosi says she was long dissatisfied with Pres. Joe Biden’s campaign before he dropped out...

‘I’ve never been that impressed with his political operation… They won the White House. Bravo.”

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Why is not there a wall to wall media coverage of his answer to mife question? They went after Biden with such viciousness and why don't we see that with this fucker? Lawrence had a segment comparing how the media treats Biden, screaming and shouting at him like neanderthals and how they behave cowed by this fucker. Media will kill our democracy.

@Lawrence: '2016 all over again' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD-oTJ49nls

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Because they want him back, he is a goldmine for them, with all of us doom-scrolling every day.

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In the 2+ yr after The SC overturned womens' Fundamental Right to control their own bodies, I don't think I heard Pres. Biden utter the word "abortion" more than 2-3 X's. Thus, it pleased me greatly when VP Harris began using the phrase: "The Trump Abortion Ban." That was <2 wks ago - the day Iowa's six-week abortion went into effect, which as we well know - is effectively a total abortion ban.

Before saying that, VP Harris connected the dots, from Trump campaigning in 2016 on a platform to only appoint SC Justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, then following that promise through with his 3 SCOTUS picks (who all lied about their alleged respect for stare decisis....they have none.) Harris laid the blame exactly where it belongs: "The Trump Abortion Ban!" I long ago stopped using the phrase pro-lifer, favoring antichoicers instead, but I've now settled on "The Trump Abortion Ban" proponent. I'm saying it plainly & often.

I've now heard VP Harris use that phrase 3-4 more times on the campaign trail. Add the wide appeal of Tim Walz' speaking of his own family's infertility problems & the emotional toll the IVF treatments they needed. I love his, "Mind your own damn business." theme too. He's the cherry on top!

I'm so proud of Harris & thrilled with The Harris/Walz ticket. We can do this folks - just gotta work hard to get the vote out over the next 88 days. That's what my current energy & focus is on, so I won't be posting much here for a bit. Stay strong & patient, illegitimi non carborundum, and always remember: "We are NOT going back!"

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I'm with former republican Jenifer Rubin on "Forced Birthers." They'll force children to birth when they've been raped.

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Thank you for pointing out that Trump doesn't understand mifepristone. It has been driving me crazy listening to reporters interpret his nonsense as having meaning or a plan. He says nonsense to get through the moment, and when elected will do whatever the person who is closest to him tells him to do.

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He's like Bart Simpson doing a book report on a book he hasn't actually read. Just babbling nonsense.

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Reporters did this a lot in 2016 -- cleaning up his gibberish (Katy Tur was one of them) which sounded so much better than whatever he said or meant.

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That’s just it. Instead of quoting his gibberish word for word, they interpret it into something coherent.

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Right? Why are they providing that service for him after years of him proving his words are meaningless?

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NBC NEWS: "Would you direct the FDA to revoke access to mifepristone?"

TRUMP: "Let me give you an answer that contains the word VOTE four times."

I'll bet he knows what the nuclear codes are used for.

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Let's call a spade a spade, Trump is just deranged.

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What the heck? Where is the WaPo response that he is not functioning on even one cylinder?

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They have been taken over by a Murdoch Tabloid man, one Will Lewis. He is there to take them further rightr and turn them into a tabloid.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/jun/07/washington-post-new-ceo-leadership?

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Great reporting. I am not happy to hear about how the Skop was appointed. “ Kirk Cole, deputy commissioner for the Texas health department, put her there.” Makes me angry. These FN Texas anti men. I’ll read the article and anticipate the doctors in attendance didn’t challenge her. We shall see.

I’m going to do all I can to turn my red state purple. I and other people in Texas are fed up with this crap. That’s all I have for now. Fellow Texans remember NOVEMBER 2026 and vote Abbott out!!!

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Jim Hightower has been saying for years that Texas isn't a red state. It's a *non-voting* state. My guess is that, given voting suppression in this country, that would apply to most states red and blue alike.

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Thank you for mentioning this. I read his most recent substack! Excellent 👏

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Yes, I've been reading his writing for years now. He's definitely got a way with words. My favorite JH comment (made, I think, when he was Agriculture Commissioner in Texas) is, "There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow lines and dead armadillos." He hasn't lost any of his fire!

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trump is deranged. He is a madman, a psychopath. But the horror is not him; it's the "trump 2024" signs blooming again on lawns across my state (Wisconsin). What has happened to all these people?

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They are in a cult. And they are just plain awful people.

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Wanna see madmen, wait'll you see what MAGA does to the homes of folks with Harris/Walz yard signs and bumper stickers.

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Does he also think asylum seekers are from the “insane asylums” he says are being emptied from all over the world into our country. Seriously. That’s how it sounded.

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Yes other substack authors agree that's what he is doing.

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Trump asked why “millions of people are allowed to come into our country from prisons, from jails, from mental institutions, insane asylums — even from insane asylums.”

Comparing the nation’s southern border to “a mental institution on steroids,” Trump said those “institutions” were “being emptied out … all over the world,”

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I gotta wonder how many casual Republican voters he has lost due to that very hyperbolic statement.

"Ya know, I'm beginning to think this candidate doesn't always tell the truth."

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So he sure as hell didn’t understand mifepristone.

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He's lost it entirely, he never was very intelligent, but he had a feral cunning to know who was a gullible mark.

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How every "reporter" present didn't throw up their hands and leave after that gibberish I swear to pete WTAF is going on? What he said makes no sense in any way shape or form.

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Sadly I think that some reporters enjoy or tolerateTrump because they treat a dangerously incoherent man who might truly be suffering cognitive decline as if he's an entertainer....or the major networks have let it br known that they are too afraid of angering Trump...

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