I am so deeply concerned with the reality that people don’t know what is happening out there. They are falling right into the right’s rhetorical framing. Today Michelle Goldberg, who seems to be following Jessica based upon her reporting, wrote about the dangers of the Comstock act. In the comments several allies seem to be under the impression there’s a big between a D&C and an abortion. One calling her own procedure from a miscarriage a non-abortive D&C. Blood and tissue are removed the exact same way. The only difference in some people’s mind is intent. But intent and purpose don’t matter unless you are applying a moral judgement. A pregnancy ends just the same. Sometimes you have to end the pregnancy to preserve the life and health of the woman. It’s heart wrenching but it’s still an abortion. They have bought the line that some abortions are bad and some are good not even real that they are participating in keeping the shame attached.
An initiated measure to change the state constitution to allow for an open primary system has majority support. More importantly women support the measure (62% to 28%), compared to the approval by men (47% to 38%). I believe that suggests women are disproportionately dissatisfied with the choices offered by the dysfunctional Republican Party. Film at 11:00. Meantime, a very popular proposal to eliminate the state sales tax on food has the notoriously income tax averse legislature at sixes and sevens. https://www.sdnewswatch.org/poll-shows-south-dakotans-support-open-primary-voting-system/
I am a signature collector to put abortion access on the AZ November ballot. I can’t tell you how many 20 and 30 year old women told me they couldn’t sign because they were not registered to vote. And they seemed unconcerned that they are the targets. If you know any women 18-50, ask to help them check their registration and encourage them them to vote.
What’s a ‘reasonable’ burden on travel? Well......just recall that Guttmacher tallied **over 1200** restrictions on abortion under Roe, permitted by SCOTUS that didn't see an "undue burden" for any of those targeted restrictions on abortion providers (TRAP laws). So basically, nothing is unreasonable for forced birthers. And Jessica I appreciate you telling us about the special challenges of people on parole or probation. I also hadn't thought about the particular impact on them.
How much does it cost to travel out of state for an abortion (including travel, lodging, childcare, lost wages)? What is the poverty level in your county and the number of women and girls who are likely to suffer from MAGA forced birth policies? Who are the MAGA reps (Senators, Congressional reps, Governors, State House reps and state senators) behind these abortion bans?
I will guess that the legal counsel for Bon Secours "No" Mercy Health advised the CEO that their facilities could be sued should they continue to deny medically necessary abortions to pregnant women who either die or suffer permanent injury to their health.
Their competition in Virginia is Sentara, which is a wonderful hospital group who serves all. Let’s just take the wins where we can. They made a good decision. They could lead other religiously affiliated hospitals to do the same. Sometimes someone just needs to step up, and they did. That’s good.
Thank you for sharing that article about people on parole and probation. I am ashamed to admit I never considered that group of people, but of course some of them will need abortions. And you are totally right, that Republicans will fine tune their restrictive policies on the most vulnerable people, before they become mainstream.
Jessica- Thank you for writing about what someone who is on parole or probation has to go through in order to be approved to leave their state. I think it is safe to assume a few things- 1. All Anti-abortion states will find a way to deny pregnant parolees and probationers requests to leave to the state in order to receive an abortion and 2. Every anti-abortion state will use the process of restricting travel for parolees and probationers as a blue print for restricting abortion travel for all women in their states. They won’t even have to put much effort into the restrictions. They can just copy and paste the policies for probationers and parolees.
If you're reading this and you skipped the Jon Stewart interview, I'm going to encourage you to go back and watch it when you can. Jessica does a fantastic job of putting this in very human terms (once you are pregnant your life no longer matters" and we need to win politically because if we wait to win because of how this plays out, those victories will be a achieved on the corpses of scores of dead women).
Melissa is also a fantastic resource with one of the best one-liners about the Supreme Court members and how some get through their days - sorry, I'm going to make you go listen.
I am constantly struck by the strange contradiction in the banning of abortion travel. Here we have the Democrats who have completely trashed our borders to allow illegal immigrants complete rein to go anywhere they want in the country, but they seem completely defenseless to make sure citizens can go where they want to get an abortion. And also we have Republicans who are well armed to prevent citizens from traveling state to state to get an abortion, but can't seem to apply the same weaponry to curtail the mobility of illegal immigrants.
Paul, most immigrants entering the southern border are legally present in the US. Border Patrol has their biometrics, identification, and their contact information. They are waiting for their cases to be adjudicated because there is a very long backlog.
Y'know the primary focus of the Comstock Act is pornography. If they start enforcing it against online porn, then we'll only have thousands of kinds of bullshit to worry about, this one will be GONE.
Porn being accessible via a VPN does not mean that it won’t be outlawed. Or that that you won’t hate or be disturbed by what they define as pornography (hint it will include trans people).
Concerning the Stop Comstock Act, the companion bill in the House was introduced by Becca Balint of Vt. Cosponsors include Bush, Escobar, Scanlon, Coleman, Blumenauer, DeLauro, Deluzio, DeSaulnier, Cohen, Connolly, Gottheimer, Huffman, Lieu, McCollum, Moulton, Pressley, Ramirez, Raskin, Smith, Stansbury, Sherrill, Ryan, R. Torres, Tlaib, Velázquez. If you see your member of congress on this list, thank them. If not, and they are a Democrat, urge them to cosponsor the Stop Comstock Act. Bill number and text not yet available but should be available shortly.
This is a masterclass in dealing with Arkansas anti-abortion people trying to stop adults from signing a ballot initiative.
https://x.com/grant4arkansas/status/1802414842709471350?s=46
I am so deeply concerned with the reality that people don’t know what is happening out there. They are falling right into the right’s rhetorical framing. Today Michelle Goldberg, who seems to be following Jessica based upon her reporting, wrote about the dangers of the Comstock act. In the comments several allies seem to be under the impression there’s a big between a D&C and an abortion. One calling her own procedure from a miscarriage a non-abortive D&C. Blood and tissue are removed the exact same way. The only difference in some people’s mind is intent. But intent and purpose don’t matter unless you are applying a moral judgement. A pregnancy ends just the same. Sometimes you have to end the pregnancy to preserve the life and health of the woman. It’s heart wrenching but it’s still an abortion. They have bought the line that some abortions are bad and some are good not even real that they are participating in keeping the shame attached.
JFC as a surgical assistant for twenty years, (now retired) their ignorance is sickening!
100% 🎯
An initiated measure to change the state constitution to allow for an open primary system has majority support. More importantly women support the measure (62% to 28%), compared to the approval by men (47% to 38%). I believe that suggests women are disproportionately dissatisfied with the choices offered by the dysfunctional Republican Party. Film at 11:00. Meantime, a very popular proposal to eliminate the state sales tax on food has the notoriously income tax averse legislature at sixes and sevens. https://www.sdnewswatch.org/poll-shows-south-dakotans-support-open-primary-voting-system/
I am a signature collector to put abortion access on the AZ November ballot. I can’t tell you how many 20 and 30 year old women told me they couldn’t sign because they were not registered to vote. And they seemed unconcerned that they are the targets. If you know any women 18-50, ask to help them check their registration and encourage them them to vote.
Through out the south, so many do not vote. Great post. Thanks.
What’s a ‘reasonable’ burden on travel? Well......just recall that Guttmacher tallied **over 1200** restrictions on abortion under Roe, permitted by SCOTUS that didn't see an "undue burden" for any of those targeted restrictions on abortion providers (TRAP laws). So basically, nothing is unreasonable for forced birthers. And Jessica I appreciate you telling us about the special challenges of people on parole or probation. I also hadn't thought about the particular impact on them.
How much does it cost to travel out of state for an abortion (including travel, lodging, childcare, lost wages)? What is the poverty level in your county and the number of women and girls who are likely to suffer from MAGA forced birth policies? Who are the MAGA reps (Senators, Congressional reps, Governors, State House reps and state senators) behind these abortion bans?
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/04/06/cost-of-traveling-out-of-state-for-an-abortion-calculator/
I will guess that the legal counsel for Bon Secours "No" Mercy Health advised the CEO that their facilities could be sued should they continue to deny medically necessary abortions to pregnant women who either die or suffer permanent injury to their health.
Their competition in Virginia is Sentara, which is a wonderful hospital group who serves all. Let’s just take the wins where we can. They made a good decision. They could lead other religiously affiliated hospitals to do the same. Sometimes someone just needs to step up, and they did. That’s good.
If it's not just a PR statement, like the unobtainable "exceptions" that somehow no one is ever able to meet their criterion.
Thank you for sharing that article about people on parole and probation. I am ashamed to admit I never considered that group of people, but of course some of them will need abortions. And you are totally right, that Republicans will fine tune their restrictive policies on the most vulnerable people, before they become mainstream.
Jessica- Thank you for writing about what someone who is on parole or probation has to go through in order to be approved to leave their state. I think it is safe to assume a few things- 1. All Anti-abortion states will find a way to deny pregnant parolees and probationers requests to leave to the state in order to receive an abortion and 2. Every anti-abortion state will use the process of restricting travel for parolees and probationers as a blue print for restricting abortion travel for all women in their states. They won’t even have to put much effort into the restrictions. They can just copy and paste the policies for probationers and parolees.
If you're reading this and you skipped the Jon Stewart interview, I'm going to encourage you to go back and watch it when you can. Jessica does a fantastic job of putting this in very human terms (once you are pregnant your life no longer matters" and we need to win politically because if we wait to win because of how this plays out, those victories will be a achieved on the corpses of scores of dead women).
Melissa is also a fantastic resource with one of the best one-liners about the Supreme Court members and how some get through their days - sorry, I'm going to make you go listen.
About Comstock,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Comstock
Comstock was a Congregationalist,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregationalism
Sanger was prosecuted under the Comstock act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger
I am constantly struck by the strange contradiction in the banning of abortion travel. Here we have the Democrats who have completely trashed our borders to allow illegal immigrants complete rein to go anywhere they want in the country, but they seem completely defenseless to make sure citizens can go where they want to get an abortion. And also we have Republicans who are well armed to prevent citizens from traveling state to state to get an abortion, but can't seem to apply the same weaponry to curtail the mobility of illegal immigrants.
What?
Paul, most immigrants entering the southern border are legally present in the US. Border Patrol has their biometrics, identification, and their contact information. They are waiting for their cases to be adjudicated because there is a very long backlog.
Good for you for taking on that heedless comment
Thanks.
Long time admirer of your work here, especially gardening.
Every day this gets harder to read. Too many Americans are still sleepwalking. I'm afraid of what it will take to wake them up.
Y'know the primary focus of the Comstock Act is pornography. If they start enforcing it against online porn, then we'll only have thousands of kinds of bullshit to worry about, this one will be GONE.
They’ll edit the Comstock Act to eliminate abortifacients, but porn will always be available.
Porn being accessible via a VPN does not mean that it won’t be outlawed. Or that that you won’t hate or be disturbed by what they define as pornography (hint it will include trans people).
Concerning the Stop Comstock Act, the companion bill in the House was introduced by Becca Balint of Vt. Cosponsors include Bush, Escobar, Scanlon, Coleman, Blumenauer, DeLauro, Deluzio, DeSaulnier, Cohen, Connolly, Gottheimer, Huffman, Lieu, McCollum, Moulton, Pressley, Ramirez, Raskin, Smith, Stansbury, Sherrill, Ryan, R. Torres, Tlaib, Velázquez. If you see your member of congress on this list, thank them. If not, and they are a Democrat, urge them to cosponsor the Stop Comstock Act. Bill number and text not yet available but should be available shortly.
Thanks. Will do!