On the Friday before Easter, just after the end of the workweek in Texas, a federal judge in Amarillo decided that Mifepristone, one of two key drugs used for medicated abortion, should be banned. This despite 20 years of data showing it’s safe and effective. Mifepristone has a lower rate of complications than Tylenol.
“Restricting abortion today does not seem to be about good faith conservative values and protecting the sanctity of life. It’s hard to believe that a party that denies access to basic medical care and education, and that lets school kids die at the hands of mass shooters in the name of the Second Amendment is deeply committed to unborn children, unless it’s become somehow morally righteous to protect them only until they leave the womb.”
With respect, every time I read something like this, my head explodes. It was NEVER about the sanctity of life. It was NEVER about moral or religious righteousness. It has ALWAYS been about men controlling and subjugating women. Period.
s to protect them only until they leave the womb.” And that's the way it is Kids! Once you're born you're entirely on your own if you're hungry, homeless, abused - or in the way of a gun. Remember: it's not people - it's guns that kill. So, "Be careful out there!" L&B&L
Yes, it's wrong to liberals who want democratic representation and no theocratic rule. It's right in every way to those who follow the American Taliban and would like to see this country become an illiberal democracy, where only the properly religious get a say.
They don't accept the idea that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution define this as a pluralistic democracy. We are not a Theocracy or a Christian Nation. Leonard Leo and his hand picked judiciary want something else, as do the MAGAts.
A single brush is sufficient to paint the activists in religion and, politics, and courts doing the most damage. With all due respect, I include anyone frequenting the worst offender, the American Catholic Church, Home of the Unborn Human, and spawner of many an sanctimonious activist judge, such as those on the Supreme Court. Until the Church and its politicized Council of Bishops are humbled by a thorough mass exodus of "the faithful," it will continue to instigate the worst of the opponents of a woman's right to her own life. A Second Reformation is long overdue.
It wouldn't be a problem if the Catholics on the court could keep their religion out of their decisions. Joe Biden and Tim Kaine are both apparently devout Catholic, but they don't try to force the church's view on others.
I think Sonia Sotomayor is also a Catholic, though I don't know how devout she is. It doesn't get in her way either. Thing is, I don't expect people to keep their religious, political, or other beliefs out of their decisions. I sure as hell don't keep my (non-religious) beliefs out of my decisions. But if you take an oath to uphold the Constitution, then your obligation is to uphold the Constitution, and that includes the First Amendment. These people seem to have had their fingers crossed when they swore whatever oath they were supposed to swear.
The right wing Catholics on the SCOTUS are all members of extremist Catholic cults. Opus Dei and others. Leonard Leo is one as well. They really care nothing for the constitution. It's all about religion.
Fine. But why. Why some Catholics and not others. Why some Protestsnts and not others? A broad brush will give us no answers and not help us get reproductive rights back.
They are members of a right wing sect of Catholicism, and it is unfair to paint the entire Catholic church with one brush, as you claim, just as it is not appropriate to decide all Christians are as right wing as those who are advocating for a total abortion ban. I have plenty of Catholic friends who are working for human rights in many arenas, and quite a few who vote for and speak out for abortion rights. This is just like I have many friends who join me as a group of Christians working for human rights, including abortion rights and bodily autonomy.
well if the Catholic church supported abortion where would the altar boyz needed for their priests' sacrificial jism going to coming from?
(bad, Ken, very bad, but I wonder sometimes what catholic "theology" might be minus the piety that comes from the sacrifices celibate priests' need to adorn their altar.)
Ah yes, but evangelical extremist women don’t get a pass just because they’re women....they too are part of this move towards authoritarianism and government control of reproductive freedom.
It's not news. You're tone implies I support them. I don't. I am only putting forward the idea that we don't understand the opposition, and so we are on an apparent losing streak.
Voting the f***ers out is only the 1st step. Protecting the next victory, which may come after I'm long gone, should be part of our strategy now.
I didn't mean to imply that you support the anti-choice people, but you sounded surprised that some (many!) women want to restrict (or, I should add, outright prohibit) access to abortion. Maybe if you'd come of political age in the heyday of Phyllis Schlafly the nuances would be more obvious -- hell, I see a fair amount of resonance with the women who opposed women's suffrage in the early decades of the 20th century.
Yes, MAGA isn't well understood by the left and it hampers their ability to be effective. Your point was sound that abortion is not just about control. The control view ignores the political history of the abortion fight.
It’s also about performative politics. Most radical right-wing politicians do not have a personal commitment to the polarizing issues that they whip. Only a personal interest in flogging their base to get more votes and install a fascist autocracy.
We all need to be careful about not reifying the Christo-fascists' language of "unborn children," as now elevated by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, and instead stick to the biologically correct terms of embryo and fetus.
This decision terrifies me on so many levels. It makes no sense on the law, and it is so clearly violative of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state (although that has gone by the wayside, given this SCOTUS, with its majority of christian nationalists. How has this country imploded so quickly? I fear for my 23-year-old daughter’s health and safety. If the guns don’t get her, the religious crazies will. Vote, vote, vote!
I'd argue that the country has not imploded quickly but rather is at an accelerating rate nearing a crescendo that extremist far-righters have been working toward for the last fifty years or more. The far right has for a very long time recognized that its views are very unpopular across the full breadth of the increasingly diverse American electorate, therefore it would have to impose those views because the voting public would never choose them in free and fair elections.
Now, after decades of careful building backstopped by many hundreds of millions of dollars spent by ultra-conservative billionaires including the Kochs, Scaifes, Olins, Mercers, and others, the far-righters have made major inroads into or gained control of higher education, government from municipal to federal levels, the court system, the media, and non-governmental policy influencers (think: "institutes," "societies," "think tanks," etc.). The extreme right wing has been long been working to undo the social safety net and other New Deal-type programs; eliminate individual rights and choices and control non-white, non-male, non-traditional, non-Christian population groups; and reimpose white, Christian, oligarchic, corporatist rule such as what antebellum slave holders and plantation owners practiced. There's a straight ideological line running from John Calhoun in South Carolina in the 1840s and 1850s to today.
Now, well into the 21st century, since the extremists have successfully gained more influence than ever over how laws get made and how elections get run (i.e., government), how laws get interpreted (i.e., the courts), and who receives the great majority of the wealth that the country produces (i.e., the extremely rich ruling class), they intend not only to reimpose the rule they want but also to make it permanent. Democracy is anathema to them. Said differently, they've succeeded in tilting the playing field, they're busily rewriting the rules as fast as they can to ensure they'll always win the game, and they own the referees.
This didn't just happen. The country's been heading in this direction for a long time. Now, the racism and fascism and misogyny isn't cloaked or hidden any more -- it's all right out there in the open, shamelessly being preached and practiced, accompanied by overt threats of violence against any dissent or non-compliance. Every day's headlines bring new and ever more horrifying examples.
Recommended reading (forgive the lack of proper typography): Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America, by Nancy MacLean; and Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, by Jane Mayer.
Oh, you are so right on! Thank you. "Now the racism, (authoritarianism) and misogyny isn't cloaked or hidden any more..) I would add those three are the tenets of conservative Christianity in our country. While never spoken as such, but indeed they are justified and practiced. They have been used to justify the inquisition, fascism, Hitler, slavery, child abuse, and now a resurrection of "a woman's place." If we include the Taliban and right wing Israelis, the world is on fire with self-appointed, self-righteous religious extremism and fascism. Include Putin in that, too.
I second the recommendation of Dark Money by Jane Mayer. Brilliant (and scary) summation of how the ultra-rich are fashioning a world that just benefits them.
Please consider starting a Giving Circle for your friends and family. GOP has spent 50 years building ultra right wing state governments. We need desperately to catch up!
I agree with you and the previous commenter, Jeri Boyd. This is about CONTROL. Too many want to move women backward in time. Their fear is palpable. This must stop but it will take us all to do it. Many people, both women and men (including all people of other than the Christian religion) are on our side as it affects us all. As you say, we are in this together. But we must act, not just complain or bemoan. We can do this! It has been done before and can be done again. There is much to do and no time to waste!
Maybe THIS is the forum where collective action begins? So far, as our collective rights are stripped, there has been none. Which day of the week do all those who believe women are people strike? Which states in addition to TX to boycott? How to mobilize to care for women and others in need? #timeisrunningout, #Gileadishappeningnow
Florida should be on that list, too. I’m already trying to screen out Florida produce. I no longer spend any of my vacation dollars in Florida. Tennessee is another prime candidate, too. At least, TN is narrow north to south so I can plan my gas stops to avoid purchasing gas in TN.
I agree with you wholeheartedly, with one slight exception. Screening out Florida produce. I’m not sure if you, or anyone else is aware, but the price you pay at the grocery stores is not the price the farmer gets. If you buy a steak for $18, and it’s a 1.5 pound steak (example only folks, don’t shoot the messenger, please), the farmer that produced that cow the steak came from is getting paid $0.70 per pound, on the hoof. Same goes for produce. A head of lettuce at $2.75. The farmer is getting approximately $0.08 on the dollar you spend for that produce. Out if this he pays labor, fuel, equipment payments and repair, fertilizer, pesticides, insecticides, etc, all having to stay within federal guidelines on everything.
I can tell you that the farmer makes very little to put into his pocket, at least gif his family expenses. Most farmers have wives that work to support the family while the farmer supports America, and the world. Up until the 45th president took office, the United States was the biggest exporter of farm goods grown/raised in the United States. After he took office, he stopped all exporting, which out a lot if farmers out of business. That was his goal. As in Florida, a lot if farms were auctioned off because of bankruptcy l/foreclosure, and turned into concrete jungles.
When TFG stopped the exporting of all goods from the United States, the ships that had already left port were not accepted in ports around the world, because they were not allowed to offload their ships. Hundred of thousands of tons of produce had to be dumped into the oceans. Thousands of cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, and other farm animals that had been shipped had to be dumped into the oceans after they died from starvation. These ships only had so much feed in the ships to carry their load across to the new port, and maybe a week spare supply. After that, it was dump the dead into the ocean. TFG costs the American farmer their livelihoods, their farms, in some cases their families.
My point is this. What DeStupid is doing in Florida isn’t the farmers fault. DeStupid is exactly like TFG. He sold a bill of goods to get elected, then he changed everything to keep him in office. He changed the voting districts to all be strong republican districts. That’s the only way he was re-elected.
Remember. “No Farmers. No Food!”
I was raised in a farm. My dad farmed his entire life, in Florida. My granddad farmed his entire life in north Georgia, on the side of Lookout Mountain, just outside Summerville. My great-great grandfather was a farmer. Now, I do web posting and radio programming for my sister-in-law who has an agricultural media company. All we do is farm broadcasting programs for the radio stations In Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and California. The company also owns several agriculture magazines they print monthly. So, I’m just not telling you this lightly. I pretty well keep up with what the agriculture world is experiencing.
Brian, I hope I have respectfully helped you in your decision making. If I can answer any questions you may have, please feel free to ask.
Well, I appreciate the effort and I’m sorry for the position in which the farmers find themselves.
However, I am assuming they had some substantial contributions to these 2022 voting returns reported by NPR, 28 Nov 2022: “DeSantis won his reelection by almost 20 percentage points. Up and down the ballot, other Republicans did almost just as well.”
And Foley & Lardner,LLP, 11Nov22: “With a nearly 20 point lead, Governor Ron DeSantis overwhelming defeated Congressman Charlie Crist, marking the largest margin of victory in Florida for a Republican Governor. This landslide success trumped his narrow win in 2018 against Democratic challenger, Andrew Gillum, where DeSantis won by a 32,463 vote margin.
Call me crazy but the inference I draw is that the more rural areas are pretty content with the present, poisonous atmosphere. Jus’ sayin’ there’s data. Go ahead and Google it; that’s all I did
I fully agree with you, but, with the realignment DeStupid and his fully Trumpublican legislative body did the past 4 years, he was a shoe in to win. The handwriting was in the wall. Crist didn’t stand a chance in hell of winning that race. If you check, you’ll probably learn that a lot of farmers have sold out, or moved out of Florida altogether. DeStupid has run them out of business. He wants concrete in Florida, and like minded people that don’t want to teach children anything.
The point I was actually making was not to cut the farmers throats just because of an ignorant politician. DeStupid sold them a bill of goods to get their vote, and so far he’s cut their throats. If that sounds familiar, it’s the same thing TFG did to get the farming community’s support in 2016. They all backed him big time in the Midwest, and they were killed with his crap over the shipping. Put over 60% out of business completely.
I have a friend who’s lived in Florida for a couple of years. Her husband transferred there for a job. She’s currently planning her escape. She is unwilling to contribute her tax dollars or productivity to such a fascist state.
There are sensible people who identify as Christians. I hope they can overcome their ingrained fear of Democrats to vote blue in 2024 and in every election, up and down the ballot, that it takes to enact legislation that will protect reproductive freedom, among other civil rights that are being compromised, including the right to a representative government.
Turnout. Get out the vote. Register young voters. Educate people. Raise awareness.
Voting. Implement ranked choice/IRV, STAR or proportional voting; more choice & voice for voters + incentives politicians to behave differently.
Districts. Establish independent election commissions; end gerrymandering
Money. Campaign finance reforms: end dark money, hidden donors; overturn Citizens United; public campaign funds
Media. Enact laws that regulate the media ecosystem in ways that curtail misinformation/disinformation campaigns from going viral
I just wish the whole separation of church and state was actually adhered to. I'm so f*cking sick of people shoving their beliefs down my throat and up my vagina.
Yes, it's a legal ruling called a nationwide injunction. I'll write a piece first chance I get this week explaining what they are and how they are used. You might recall AG Jeff Sessions once complained about a single District Judge in the middle of an ocean entering a ruling that invalidated one of Trump's executive orders (I'm paraphrasing), so there has been criticism from both sides. But typically, progressives have sought these orders to prevent rights from being taken away while here, it's used to take one away. We will go through the law on this later this week.
True, but the question is valid. What gives this one judge the right to issue a ruling that affects everyone in the USA, not just his state? And why can said judge reverse an FDA decision from 20 years ago?
If the Gerrymandered precincts / districts still hold and worse, more are allowed stand, how does voting help make the change needed?
Our county, Sandoval County NM gerrymandered the county disenfranchising the Native American and Hispanic vote. The gerrymandered precincts started in 2010 and then in 2020. Democrats constantly lose by 100 - 400 votes at least. The matter is in front of Republican judge after every democratic judge recused themselves. The GOP is slow walking depositions.
Recently the legislature passed the Native American voting rights act but it is not clear how this will impact the judges decision in the matter.
Voter suppression is alive and well not only here but at least in 13 other states. These cases are slower than a turtles pace with a prejudiced SCOTUS,
I vote. I voted in every election, saying we’re a purple county and if we just get out the vote things change, has not happened. Now what? We also have over 30 evangelical churches that act more like political PACs than Christian houses of faith.
The level of voter suppression is real.
I don’t see enough action from the DOJ that could change anything soon enough.
I ask the same question, Elaine. I vote, too, and I help get out the vote. I also advocate for ranked choice voting here in NC. The goal is to elect better quality candidates who put country over party and who are then willing to enact the meaningful reforms that we need to ensure a more representative government.
End the gerrymandering and the dark money and the party picking the politicians, instead of the people picking those they believe will best represent them. Hold open primaries and instant runoffs with RCV.
End minority rule by 1) reforming/abolishing the Electoral College (doable?) and 2) overturning Citizens United (hard? How could it be done?) and 3) implementing ranked choice voting (RCV), so no candidate is elected until they appeal to at least 50%+1 of those voting.
The problem we have is that we cannot the candidate of our choice over the finish line.
I agree that all these points should be implemented, however, we cannot do this without our representatives in office.
Some counties and races have these. We saw Alaska ‘s RCV example this past year.
The Dark Money has captured legislators across the country all the way down to the municipal levels. Then there is the problem of SCOTUS -- Robert’s Kangaroo Court, too
There is no superhero coming to save us.
What we are talking about is a broken system that is being dismantled so the autocrats can rule, deliberately and openly.
Although Wisconsin’s win was encouraging. There are some bright lights.
We are in a crisis, with more coming our way.
The one thing I learned is that in a crisis look for the helpers. The helpers are always there.
Elaine, they can gerrymander the voting districts all they want. We have to get people to the polls. We have to talk to these young people and show them exactly what the Republicans are doing, and why. We need to get out and build our Democratic base so their gerrymandering doesn’t work. It happened in Georgia in 2016. We ejected two Democratic Senators to Washington that are making a difference gif our state. Again in 2020 we re-elected Rev. Warnock to his Senate seat. So it can be done. But it takes a lot of work to get it done.
Actually, gerrymandering, redlining is illegal, so, no they cannot do that all they want. We either have the rule of law or we don’t.
But I get what you are saying, mass numbers will produce the results needed.
Sometimes, if you’re lucky and you have someone overseeing and doing their jobs correctly that works and every stone must be turned.
We cannot leave these cheaters and autocrats in office when they broke the law to be there.
Or if they break the law being there.
We have to have accountability to build the public trust.
The Dobb’s decision and this pill decision must be challenged. I hope, and so far it is holding true. Women are enraged by these decisions in every party
Beware of the wrath of a woman scorned
Millions of women are coming for those who think they own the right to govern their choice.
Elaine, you have said a mouthful! I had a wife and 2 daughters. I have 2 daughter-in-laws, 6 granddaughters, and about 9 great-granddaughters. So I’ve extremely adapt to the likes of a woman scorn! Believe me!!!
One if me sergeants back when I was in the sheriffs department was a woman, Pat Reckinger. You did NOT want to get in her bad side. Not one bit!
We are truly doomed as a country. There is no reasoning with these people and I also blame feckless and weak Democrats for not doing anything about this for years. Like you said they could have gotten rid of the Comstock act in the 1990s yet here we are. I'm so sick of this crap.
Respectfully, we aren’t doomed. There are many more thoughtful and considerate people than zealots. We just need to work and vote for progress. Everywhere--not just in blue states and bubbles.
People did that in places like Houston, Atlanta and Nashville and then the GOP controlled state legislatures stripped them of some of their powers. This is why we need to do more than just vote. I'm sick of being thoughtful and considerate when my rights as a lesbian are on the line. I really need people who aren't members of marginalized communities to understand this.
Just wanted to say that I am reading along here and sharing the insight and the frustration. Voting is a long-term strategy, and we know what we have to do there. I think you raise the important question of what our short & mid-range term strategies are, and particularly, how do we make sure that we work as a group to protect People who are being marginalized. For me, one of the important starting places is to always make sure people have the opportunity to tell you what they need, so I hope you will continue to speak up. One of the important things I learned while working at DOJ is that when you're trying to solve an important problem, you can go fast alone or far together. I think we need solutions to focus on the together part.
We need prominent non-elected people to start speaking out. Where are our allies in Hollywood? What about the music industry? Why hasn't any celeb in Tennessee for example spoken out against these fascist dictator moves? Why are studio heads all of a sudden canceling shows that feature queer women as leads? I feel erased in society right now. They are taking Pride events away from us in so many places. I'm only lucky because I live in Chicago and our voters didn't choose that fake Dem candidate Paul Vallas, otherwise we would be (excuse my language Joyce) fucked here too because he was set on destroying my city. Jill Wine-Banks will echo my sentiments here about Chicago. I really wish you and the rest of the #SistersInLaw hosts would do a show here in Chicago so I could meet all of you. It would be a great mental health thing too for us to have a place to gather and strategize with like-minded people.
For sure. The situation is now way over the top in Idaho. I’ve relatives who are involved in the struggles there, and have been personally involved in border help so to speak. You are spot on in pointing out that state has a group of zealots who are as far out as anyone in the country.
Congress has grown more partisan over because the Republicans have rigged elections through gerrymandering. Wisconsin, North Carolina, Texas, etc. are all gerrymandered to a fare thee well. They have lied their way into power. Republicans are like kudzu and Chinese wisteria, the vines that ate the South. Those vines are HORRIBLY invasive growing over everything in their path. They will choke the life out of every plant in its way. These vines take YEARS to remove, and even the tiniest tendril left in the ground will grow to overtake the space again if not removed. The Republicans are trying to take us back to the Gilded Age when robber barons ruled much of the country. They don't want ordinary people to have an opportunities.
Great analogy. Up north it's Japanese Knotweed and it's a nightmare. It takes incredible vigilance and one must dig a whole far greater than the root just in case there is a tendril in the soil. To Joyce's point, we need each other!
This is horrifying. Fortunately, I live in Colorado, where we are overwhelmingly voting Blue. And, although I'm not in her district, I'm trying to help with the effort to get Lauren Boebert out of office.
I feel a heavy weight on my chest. The banning of Mifepristone, and our seeming lack of power to do anything about it, is an overwhelming defeat for women by a minority of religious zealots. While the decision will be appealed it doesn’t appear we have a path to victory.
I debated pro choice as a senior in high school in 1973-Roe was written into law months later. My personal belief was that if you were against abortion then you shouldn’t get one.
At the age of 68 (this month) this is not an issue that will affect me personally but for the women of the US I stand with you and the bodily autonomy we should all have.
I cannot say more than has been said. But I have a question. Judge K. gives the FDa 7 days, the Washington district judge says the FDA cannot remove Mifepristone. If scotus does not stay one or the order taking effect until they hear the case (which they certainly must due to two contrary rulings, can Judge K's order actually take effect, or at least take effect beyond his own district? I've heard what steps can be taken against (or for the ban) but I've heard no one address with clarity two same day decisions in direct contradiction of each other. I am not a lawyer but I do read a lot of judicial decisions but I have never encountered in my own readings any similar, nearly simultaneous decisions. Nor am I aware of any precedent that any district judge has the authority to ban a drug nationwide. Joyce, or someone, can you please explain this seeming contradiction in law.
These two dueling orders will be resolved by a higher court. DOJ probably doesn't want to appeal the Washington order, so they will wait on the other side. But I suspect the two cases get consolidated or at least heard together in front of the supreme court rather quickly.
I am kind of at a loss on this as are you.It seems incomprehensible that any court could actually have jurisdiction. Perhaps they could have jurisdiction if someone's health was in someone harmed from a drug and they might be called upon to make a decision on whether an FDA approved drug had caused harm.. They might be called upon prior to approval if the approval or the procedure for approval might have been tainted. But I cannot understand how a judge, especially a district judge could have any meritorious jurisdiction to even hear such a case.I have been querying google for any precedents that might have given him jurisdiction but google is giving be a blank stare.
If each of us in a united front don’t push back, the autocrats will take every right and freedom away, as has been happening piecemeal for years. Don’t be fooled, this is a disturbing reality.
We do. I keep thinking of the sex strike like the one in ancient Greece organized by Lysistrata (just a play, not an historic event). The women refused to have sex with the men until they stopped warring. Great story. But if we tried something like that here the GOP would probably legalize rape. Not that they don't condone it already.
Vote, encourage others to vote and inundate with messaging the elected officials who have been purchased by autocratic institutions. Use your purchasing power wisely. Teach history to others who don’t read…every action counts, so do the things that resonate for you.
The left has to take back the narrative and that is best done by one to one persuasion. Learning to identify the fears that motivate the right and supplying right leaning voters with better options from Democrats to reduce those fears is effective.
Voting is not enough with huge swaths of the country cheating to get their way. SCOTUS needs to be expanded yesterday and we should be taking to the streets.
You’re exactly right, Erica. Decency, ethical responsibility and such are the realm of fools like us. I’d like to hear more anecdotes and conversations about that, too. It’s “everyone for himself.” Nobody is perfect but we must try!
Enough is enough! It’s as if we are living in a surreal parallel universe where the evil, self-serving minority have claimed the right to puppeteer the rest of us. Do these zealots have any idea how many women have miscarriages every day who need medical assistance???? Do they have any idea how many women may die as a result of their ignorance, misogyny and overreach. If the courts don’t shut this down, all women and men who love women, must shut it down through protests, civil action and voting. Enough is enough!
I had a miscarriage but needed a doctor's care as it was not complete. It was heartbreaking enough, but now are women just supposed to wait to become septic before they can get the care they need?
Per my recollection, spontaneous miscarriages are still not discussed publicly. The statistics I recall are that the lifetime risk of miscarriages among all persons attempting to bear a child is around 1/3; that is, a third of women who have tried to bear a child have sustained one spontaneous miscarriage. This is rarely mentioned.
We should ask Margaret Atwood to chime in from her Substack on the characters in the Handmaid’s Tale. The simmering rage of the Steriles, who despise other women, might resemble a current maladaptive sentiment of a rare few who have been frustrated in their wish for fecundity? This topic of miscarriage is clearly rich with human importance and dark fears, for all of us.
My mother, in the early 1940s, had two spontaneous miscarriages (abortions) before she even knew she was pregnant. Both required Dilation and Curetage to remove remnant tissues from her uterus. She then had to have surgery to resolve a tilted uterus, enabling her to carry her pregnancy with my sister to full term. Today, in some states, she could be prosecuted for the spontaneous miscarriages and would likely be barred in those states from having a D&C.
Maybe it’s because I’ve had too many chocolate Easter eggs, but I’m hoping that there will be such a BLUE tidal wave at the next election that we will overcome. Every move by these people further invigorates us towards a tsunami of beautiful blue! Any vote for the GOP is a vote against allowing us to breathe! We cannot waste one vote! I don’t know about all of you, but my inner circle has been reduced to just a few. A red vote to me shows what that person is really made of -there are no excuses. Life is way too short to debate why they feel the way they do. I truly don’t care anymore about that. What I do know, is that we have to protect our children, ourselves, and our family! Thank you,Joyce for bringing us the truth! Now I’m heading over to the peanut butter eggs …..
Yes. The tidal wave slightly began in 2022. Now we need to do a full tidal wave and landslide across the board in all state as well as federal elections in 2024, 2026, and all in between and beyond. We need to show the GOP Trumpublican Party we will not stand for this nonsense and we are not taking it anymore!
in addition to exhorting people to vote, the slogan needs to be NEVER VOTE GOP FOR A FRIGGING THING. They need to be defeated soundly for each and every office.
It’s so amazing that you say that, Marnie! Any vote for the GOP is a vote against women, LGBTQ, gun rights, and keeping kids safe-and a whole myriad of all that is
Right for the greater good!!! We cannot waste one vote!
A good evening to you Joyce. I am a bit confused on how all this is going to be handled. I too cannot understand how one judge in this entire country can make a ruling that affects all of the states. And as a side note, where are we on adding more judges to the Supreme Court. We’re on fire here? Thanks for your diligent and timely responses to a heavy week of issues. I am as always most grateful for hearing from someone who really understands the law 🇺🇸
So enraged that a bunch of judges like the perennial sleaze-bag Thomas and his right wing politically driven partners on the SC and crazies throughout the land can destroy the values of these once United States. Save the unborn so they can be massacred in school! Pro-lifers are not pro life once fetus becomes a baby outside the womb. (I am rambling and pissed off)
“Restricting abortion today does not seem to be about good faith conservative values and protecting the sanctity of life. It’s hard to believe that a party that denies access to basic medical care and education, and that lets school kids die at the hands of mass shooters in the name of the Second Amendment is deeply committed to unborn children, unless it’s become somehow morally righteous to protect them only until they leave the womb.”
With respect, every time I read something like this, my head explodes. It was NEVER about the sanctity of life. It was NEVER about moral or religious righteousness. It has ALWAYS been about men controlling and subjugating women. Period.
I think it’s more than that. Bringing America to its knees on so many levels is a strategy to pave a clear and dangerous path to autocracy.
Theocratic autocracy
It is about using "morality" to control women in a very immoral way.
s to protect them only until they leave the womb.” And that's the way it is Kids! Once you're born you're entirely on your own if you're hungry, homeless, abused - or in the way of a gun. Remember: it's not people - it's guns that kill. So, "Be careful out there!" L&B&L
It's not just control of women. I've met women who believe abortion should be restricted due to
A) their genuine religious beliefs
B) their personal experiences with pregnancy & giving birth, or desire to do so
C) their own logic.
To paint the anti-abortion side with a single brush is to be blind to the complex array of risks looming against abortion rights. And so, here we are.
That doesn't change the fact that what that judge did is wrong on every level imaginable.
Yes, it's wrong to liberals who want democratic representation and no theocratic rule. It's right in every way to those who follow the American Taliban and would like to see this country become an illiberal democracy, where only the properly religious get a say.
They don't accept the idea that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution define this as a pluralistic democracy. We are not a Theocracy or a Christian Nation. Leonard Leo and his hand picked judiciary want something else, as do the MAGAts.
In my view, the imposition of a minority religious view on the whole nation is at least theocracy-lite. If not theocracy, then what?
I think of it as a theocratic plutocracy.
It does blend well with the authoritarian hierarchy built in to many Christian churches.
“Properly religious” - did God(s) just cringe?
Likely the God(s) don't care about what we think or do unless we threaten the fabric of our specific universe.
pray tell, what is "properly religious"? No need to answer, my question is rhetorical, you already answered quite well.
A single brush is sufficient to paint the activists in religion and, politics, and courts doing the most damage. With all due respect, I include anyone frequenting the worst offender, the American Catholic Church, Home of the Unborn Human, and spawner of many an sanctimonious activist judge, such as those on the Supreme Court. Until the Church and its politicized Council of Bishops are humbled by a thorough mass exodus of "the faithful," it will continue to instigate the worst of the opponents of a woman's right to her own life. A Second Reformation is long overdue.
Conservative Catholics are *way* overrepresented on the Supreme Court.
It wouldn't be a problem if the Catholics on the court could keep their religion out of their decisions. Joe Biden and Tim Kaine are both apparently devout Catholic, but they don't try to force the church's view on others.
I think Sonia Sotomayor is also a Catholic, though I don't know how devout she is. It doesn't get in her way either. Thing is, I don't expect people to keep their religious, political, or other beliefs out of their decisions. I sure as hell don't keep my (non-religious) beliefs out of my decisions. But if you take an oath to uphold the Constitution, then your obligation is to uphold the Constitution, and that includes the First Amendment. These people seem to have had their fingers crossed when they swore whatever oath they were supposed to swear.
Devotion is what you DO, hubris is what you PRETEND.
The right wing Catholics on the SCOTUS are all members of extremist Catholic cults. Opus Dei and others. Leonard Leo is one as well. They really care nothing for the constitution. It's all about religion.
Fine. But why. Why some Catholics and not others. Why some Protestsnts and not others? A broad brush will give us no answers and not help us get reproductive rights back.
They are members of a right wing sect of Catholicism, and it is unfair to paint the entire Catholic church with one brush, as you claim, just as it is not appropriate to decide all Christians are as right wing as those who are advocating for a total abortion ban. I have plenty of Catholic friends who are working for human rights in many arenas, and quite a few who vote for and speak out for abortion rights. This is just like I have many friends who join me as a group of Christians working for human rights, including abortion rights and bodily autonomy.
Devotion is what you DO, hubris is what you PRETEND. That little Rabbi in the Bible kept running his mouth all the time about it.
well if the Catholic church supported abortion where would the altar boyz needed for their priests' sacrificial jism going to coming from?
(bad, Ken, very bad, but I wonder sometimes what catholic "theology" might be minus the piety that comes from the sacrifices celibate priests' need to adorn their altar.)
Ah yes, but evangelical extremist women don’t get a pass just because they’re women....they too are part of this move towards authoritarianism and government control of reproductive freedom.
Which is the reason to keep the separation of church and state that is in out constitution!
Something like 52% of white women voted for Trump -- twice. This is not news to me, but it may be news to Mr. Helfand.
It's not news. You're tone implies I support them. I don't. I am only putting forward the idea that we don't understand the opposition, and so we are on an apparent losing streak.
Voting the f***ers out is only the 1st step. Protecting the next victory, which may come after I'm long gone, should be part of our strategy now.
I didn't mean to imply that you support the anti-choice people, but you sounded surprised that some (many!) women want to restrict (or, I should add, outright prohibit) access to abortion. Maybe if you'd come of political age in the heyday of Phyllis Schlafly the nuances would be more obvious -- hell, I see a fair amount of resonance with the women who opposed women's suffrage in the early decades of the 20th century.
Yes, MAGA isn't well understood by the left and it hampers their ability to be effective. Your point was sound that abortion is not just about control. The control view ignores the political history of the abortion fight.
They also voted for Walker in Georgia
It’s also about performative politics. Most radical right-wing politicians do not have a personal commitment to the polarizing issues that they whip. Only a personal interest in flogging their base to get more votes and install a fascist autocracy.
We all need to be careful about not reifying the Christo-fascists' language of "unborn children," as now elevated by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, and instead stick to the biologically correct terms of embryo and fetus.
https://twitter.com/Oren_Jacobson/status/1644517847605952516?s=20
Ah yes, the other “C” word!
This decision terrifies me on so many levels. It makes no sense on the law, and it is so clearly violative of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state (although that has gone by the wayside, given this SCOTUS, with its majority of christian nationalists. How has this country imploded so quickly? I fear for my 23-year-old daughter’s health and safety. If the guns don’t get her, the religious crazies will. Vote, vote, vote!
I'd argue that the country has not imploded quickly but rather is at an accelerating rate nearing a crescendo that extremist far-righters have been working toward for the last fifty years or more. The far right has for a very long time recognized that its views are very unpopular across the full breadth of the increasingly diverse American electorate, therefore it would have to impose those views because the voting public would never choose them in free and fair elections.
Now, after decades of careful building backstopped by many hundreds of millions of dollars spent by ultra-conservative billionaires including the Kochs, Scaifes, Olins, Mercers, and others, the far-righters have made major inroads into or gained control of higher education, government from municipal to federal levels, the court system, the media, and non-governmental policy influencers (think: "institutes," "societies," "think tanks," etc.). The extreme right wing has been long been working to undo the social safety net and other New Deal-type programs; eliminate individual rights and choices and control non-white, non-male, non-traditional, non-Christian population groups; and reimpose white, Christian, oligarchic, corporatist rule such as what antebellum slave holders and plantation owners practiced. There's a straight ideological line running from John Calhoun in South Carolina in the 1840s and 1850s to today.
Now, well into the 21st century, since the extremists have successfully gained more influence than ever over how laws get made and how elections get run (i.e., government), how laws get interpreted (i.e., the courts), and who receives the great majority of the wealth that the country produces (i.e., the extremely rich ruling class), they intend not only to reimpose the rule they want but also to make it permanent. Democracy is anathema to them. Said differently, they've succeeded in tilting the playing field, they're busily rewriting the rules as fast as they can to ensure they'll always win the game, and they own the referees.
This didn't just happen. The country's been heading in this direction for a long time. Now, the racism and fascism and misogyny isn't cloaked or hidden any more -- it's all right out there in the open, shamelessly being preached and practiced, accompanied by overt threats of violence against any dissent or non-compliance. Every day's headlines bring new and ever more horrifying examples.
Recommended reading (forgive the lack of proper typography): Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America, by Nancy MacLean; and Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, by Jane Mayer.
Oh, you are so right on! Thank you. "Now the racism, (authoritarianism) and misogyny isn't cloaked or hidden any more..) I would add those three are the tenets of conservative Christianity in our country. While never spoken as such, but indeed they are justified and practiced. They have been used to justify the inquisition, fascism, Hitler, slavery, child abuse, and now a resurrection of "a woman's place." If we include the Taliban and right wing Israelis, the world is on fire with self-appointed, self-righteous religious extremism and fascism. Include Putin in that, too.
I second the recommendation of Dark Money by Jane Mayer. Brilliant (and scary) summation of how the ultra-rich are fashioning a world that just benefits them.
Very well said!
Ironically, their victories against women's rights appear to be assuring their increasing election losses and loss of political power.
WOW!!! Took the words right away from me! Excellent post, pts!
Please consider starting a Giving Circle for your friends and family. GOP has spent 50 years building ultra right wing state governments. We need desperately to catch up!
https://statesproject.org/
This is really interesting. I'd like to learn more about it.
Colleen, thanks loads for this link. I just signed up! I highly recommend everyone to sign up and make a difference!
I’m homebound, and disabled, but I’ll do my level best from here. This gives this old retired cop/firefighter something more to do!
With you. Ol' retired forestry worker.
Thanks for this link, Colleen. I had never heard of The State Project before, but I love its mission and approach.
I agree with you and the previous commenter, Jeri Boyd. This is about CONTROL. Too many want to move women backward in time. Their fear is palpable. This must stop but it will take us all to do it. Many people, both women and men (including all people of other than the Christian religion) are on our side as it affects us all. As you say, we are in this together. But we must act, not just complain or bemoan. We can do this! It has been done before and can be done again. There is much to do and no time to waste!
Maybe THIS is the forum where collective action begins? So far, as our collective rights are stripped, there has been none. Which day of the week do all those who believe women are people strike? Which states in addition to TX to boycott? How to mobilize to care for women and others in need? #timeisrunningout, #Gileadishappeningnow
Florida should be on that list, too. I’m already trying to screen out Florida produce. I no longer spend any of my vacation dollars in Florida. Tennessee is another prime candidate, too. At least, TN is narrow north to south so I can plan my gas stops to avoid purchasing gas in TN.
Brian,
I agree with you wholeheartedly, with one slight exception. Screening out Florida produce. I’m not sure if you, or anyone else is aware, but the price you pay at the grocery stores is not the price the farmer gets. If you buy a steak for $18, and it’s a 1.5 pound steak (example only folks, don’t shoot the messenger, please), the farmer that produced that cow the steak came from is getting paid $0.70 per pound, on the hoof. Same goes for produce. A head of lettuce at $2.75. The farmer is getting approximately $0.08 on the dollar you spend for that produce. Out if this he pays labor, fuel, equipment payments and repair, fertilizer, pesticides, insecticides, etc, all having to stay within federal guidelines on everything.
I can tell you that the farmer makes very little to put into his pocket, at least gif his family expenses. Most farmers have wives that work to support the family while the farmer supports America, and the world. Up until the 45th president took office, the United States was the biggest exporter of farm goods grown/raised in the United States. After he took office, he stopped all exporting, which out a lot if farmers out of business. That was his goal. As in Florida, a lot if farms were auctioned off because of bankruptcy l/foreclosure, and turned into concrete jungles.
When TFG stopped the exporting of all goods from the United States, the ships that had already left port were not accepted in ports around the world, because they were not allowed to offload their ships. Hundred of thousands of tons of produce had to be dumped into the oceans. Thousands of cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, and other farm animals that had been shipped had to be dumped into the oceans after they died from starvation. These ships only had so much feed in the ships to carry their load across to the new port, and maybe a week spare supply. After that, it was dump the dead into the ocean. TFG costs the American farmer their livelihoods, their farms, in some cases their families.
My point is this. What DeStupid is doing in Florida isn’t the farmers fault. DeStupid is exactly like TFG. He sold a bill of goods to get elected, then he changed everything to keep him in office. He changed the voting districts to all be strong republican districts. That’s the only way he was re-elected.
Remember. “No Farmers. No Food!”
I was raised in a farm. My dad farmed his entire life, in Florida. My granddad farmed his entire life in north Georgia, on the side of Lookout Mountain, just outside Summerville. My great-great grandfather was a farmer. Now, I do web posting and radio programming for my sister-in-law who has an agricultural media company. All we do is farm broadcasting programs for the radio stations In Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and California. The company also owns several agriculture magazines they print monthly. So, I’m just not telling you this lightly. I pretty well keep up with what the agriculture world is experiencing.
Brian, I hope I have respectfully helped you in your decision making. If I can answer any questions you may have, please feel free to ask.
Well, I appreciate the effort and I’m sorry for the position in which the farmers find themselves.
However, I am assuming they had some substantial contributions to these 2022 voting returns reported by NPR, 28 Nov 2022: “DeSantis won his reelection by almost 20 percentage points. Up and down the ballot, other Republicans did almost just as well.”
And Foley & Lardner,LLP, 11Nov22: “With a nearly 20 point lead, Governor Ron DeSantis overwhelming defeated Congressman Charlie Crist, marking the largest margin of victory in Florida for a Republican Governor. This landslide success trumped his narrow win in 2018 against Democratic challenger, Andrew Gillum, where DeSantis won by a 32,463 vote margin.
And https://www.zipdatamaps.com/counties/state/politics/map-of-partisan-voting-index-for-counties-in-florida time stamped April 2023, shows the only democratic-leaning counties are parts of the 6 major urban areas of the state.
Call me crazy but the inference I draw is that the more rural areas are pretty content with the present, poisonous atmosphere. Jus’ sayin’ there’s data. Go ahead and Google it; that’s all I did
I fully agree with you, but, with the realignment DeStupid and his fully Trumpublican legislative body did the past 4 years, he was a shoe in to win. The handwriting was in the wall. Crist didn’t stand a chance in hell of winning that race. If you check, you’ll probably learn that a lot of farmers have sold out, or moved out of Florida altogether. DeStupid has run them out of business. He wants concrete in Florida, and like minded people that don’t want to teach children anything.
The point I was actually making was not to cut the farmers throats just because of an ignorant politician. DeStupid sold them a bill of goods to get their vote, and so far he’s cut their throats. If that sounds familiar, it’s the same thing TFG did to get the farming community’s support in 2016. They all backed him big time in the Midwest, and they were killed with his crap over the shipping. Put over 60% out of business completely.
Help me out here, please: Who’s growing the produce in place of the farmers’ exodus?
I have a friend who’s lived in Florida for a couple of years. Her husband transferred there for a job. She’s currently planning her escape. She is unwilling to contribute her tax dollars or productivity to such a fascist state.
Yes. I left Florida, and my home, 5 years ago. Never setting foot back in it.
And so says my son with regard to Alabama!
This is a great place to begin.....https://statesproject.org/
You bet it is!
Oy!
There are sensible people who identify as Christians. I hope they can overcome their ingrained fear of Democrats to vote blue in 2024 and in every election, up and down the ballot, that it takes to enact legislation that will protect reproductive freedom, among other civil rights that are being compromised, including the right to a representative government.
Turnout. Get out the vote. Register young voters. Educate people. Raise awareness.
Voting. Implement ranked choice/IRV, STAR or proportional voting; more choice & voice for voters + incentives politicians to behave differently.
Districts. Establish independent election commissions; end gerrymandering
Money. Campaign finance reforms: end dark money, hidden donors; overturn Citizens United; public campaign funds
Media. Enact laws that regulate the media ecosystem in ways that curtail misinformation/disinformation campaigns from going viral
I just wish the whole separation of church and state was actually adhered to. I'm so f*cking sick of people shoving their beliefs down my throat and up my vagina.
Can you explain how it is that one Judge in Texas can make a ruling that affects everyone in the US, and that overrules a Federal agency?
Yes, it's a legal ruling called a nationwide injunction. I'll write a piece first chance I get this week explaining what they are and how they are used. You might recall AG Jeff Sessions once complained about a single District Judge in the middle of an ocean entering a ruling that invalidated one of Trump's executive orders (I'm paraphrasing), so there has been criticism from both sides. But typically, progressives have sought these orders to prevent rights from being taken away while here, it's used to take one away. We will go through the law on this later this week.
Thanks.
(I posted the same question before seeing Sharon’s post.)
Thank you. A primer would be much appreciated 💕
Thank you Joyce!
I can’t wait to read this article!
Thank you, Joyce.
It’s not over yet.
True, but the question is valid. What gives this one judge the right to issue a ruling that affects everyone in the USA, not just his state? And why can said judge reverse an FDA decision from 20 years ago?
Hubris. It’s the catch-all sin.
If the Gerrymandered precincts / districts still hold and worse, more are allowed stand, how does voting help make the change needed?
Our county, Sandoval County NM gerrymandered the county disenfranchising the Native American and Hispanic vote. The gerrymandered precincts started in 2010 and then in 2020. Democrats constantly lose by 100 - 400 votes at least. The matter is in front of Republican judge after every democratic judge recused themselves. The GOP is slow walking depositions.
Recently the legislature passed the Native American voting rights act but it is not clear how this will impact the judges decision in the matter.
Voter suppression is alive and well not only here but at least in 13 other states. These cases are slower than a turtles pace with a prejudiced SCOTUS,
I vote. I voted in every election, saying we’re a purple county and if we just get out the vote things change, has not happened. Now what? We also have over 30 evangelical churches that act more like political PACs than Christian houses of faith.
The level of voter suppression is real.
I don’t see enough action from the DOJ that could change anything soon enough.
What is the solution here?
I ask the same question, Elaine. I vote, too, and I help get out the vote. I also advocate for ranked choice voting here in NC. The goal is to elect better quality candidates who put country over party and who are then willing to enact the meaningful reforms that we need to ensure a more representative government.
End the gerrymandering and the dark money and the party picking the politicians, instead of the people picking those they believe will best represent them. Hold open primaries and instant runoffs with RCV.
End minority rule by 1) reforming/abolishing the Electoral College (doable?) and 2) overturning Citizens United (hard? How could it be done?) and 3) implementing ranked choice voting (RCV), so no candidate is elected until they appeal to at least 50%+1 of those voting.
The problem we have is that we cannot the candidate of our choice over the finish line.
I agree that all these points should be implemented, however, we cannot do this without our representatives in office.
Some counties and races have these. We saw Alaska ‘s RCV example this past year.
The Dark Money has captured legislators across the country all the way down to the municipal levels. Then there is the problem of SCOTUS -- Robert’s Kangaroo Court, too
There is no superhero coming to save us.
What we are talking about is a broken system that is being dismantled so the autocrats can rule, deliberately and openly.
Although Wisconsin’s win was encouraging. There are some bright lights.
We are in a crisis, with more coming our way.
The one thing I learned is that in a crisis look for the helpers. The helpers are always there.
Our better selves, I hope, will prevail.
Well said........
Elaine, they can gerrymander the voting districts all they want. We have to get people to the polls. We have to talk to these young people and show them exactly what the Republicans are doing, and why. We need to get out and build our Democratic base so their gerrymandering doesn’t work. It happened in Georgia in 2016. We ejected two Democratic Senators to Washington that are making a difference gif our state. Again in 2020 we re-elected Rev. Warnock to his Senate seat. So it can be done. But it takes a lot of work to get it done.
Actually, gerrymandering, redlining is illegal, so, no they cannot do that all they want. We either have the rule of law or we don’t.
But I get what you are saying, mass numbers will produce the results needed.
Sometimes, if you’re lucky and you have someone overseeing and doing their jobs correctly that works and every stone must be turned.
We cannot leave these cheaters and autocrats in office when they broke the law to be there.
Or if they break the law being there.
We have to have accountability to build the public trust.
The Dobb’s decision and this pill decision must be challenged. I hope, and so far it is holding true. Women are enraged by these decisions in every party
Beware of the wrath of a woman scorned
Millions of women are coming for those who think they own the right to govern their choice.
Elaine, you have said a mouthful! I had a wife and 2 daughters. I have 2 daughter-in-laws, 6 granddaughters, and about 9 great-granddaughters. So I’ve extremely adapt to the likes of a woman scorn! Believe me!!!
One if me sergeants back when I was in the sheriffs department was a woman, Pat Reckinger. You did NOT want to get in her bad side. Not one bit!
https://sandovaldemocrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Sandoval-County-Complaint.pdf
We are truly doomed as a country. There is no reasoning with these people and I also blame feckless and weak Democrats for not doing anything about this for years. Like you said they could have gotten rid of the Comstock act in the 1990s yet here we are. I'm so sick of this crap.
Respectfully, we aren’t doomed. There are many more thoughtful and considerate people than zealots. We just need to work and vote for progress. Everywhere--not just in blue states and bubbles.
People did that in places like Houston, Atlanta and Nashville and then the GOP controlled state legislatures stripped them of some of their powers. This is why we need to do more than just vote. I'm sick of being thoughtful and considerate when my rights as a lesbian are on the line. I really need people who aren't members of marginalized communities to understand this.
Just wanted to say that I am reading along here and sharing the insight and the frustration. Voting is a long-term strategy, and we know what we have to do there. I think you raise the important question of what our short & mid-range term strategies are, and particularly, how do we make sure that we work as a group to protect People who are being marginalized. For me, one of the important starting places is to always make sure people have the opportunity to tell you what they need, so I hope you will continue to speak up. One of the important things I learned while working at DOJ is that when you're trying to solve an important problem, you can go fast alone or far together. I think we need solutions to focus on the together part.
We need prominent non-elected people to start speaking out. Where are our allies in Hollywood? What about the music industry? Why hasn't any celeb in Tennessee for example spoken out against these fascist dictator moves? Why are studio heads all of a sudden canceling shows that feature queer women as leads? I feel erased in society right now. They are taking Pride events away from us in so many places. I'm only lucky because I live in Chicago and our voters didn't choose that fake Dem candidate Paul Vallas, otherwise we would be (excuse my language Joyce) fucked here too because he was set on destroying my city. Jill Wine-Banks will echo my sentiments here about Chicago. I really wish you and the rest of the #SistersInLaw hosts would do a show here in Chicago so I could meet all of you. It would be a great mental health thing too for us to have a place to gather and strategize with like-minded people.
I agree! I keep seeing big acts playing in these states and I just don’t get it.
We gotcha!
Try telling that to the women and other pregnant people in Idaho
For sure. The situation is now way over the top in Idaho. I’ve relatives who are involved in the struggles there, and have been personally involved in border help so to speak. You are spot on in pointing out that state has a group of zealots who are as far out as anyone in the country.
Congress has grown more partisan over a few decades disallowing a lot of important legislation to get through.
Congress has grown more partisan over because the Republicans have rigged elections through gerrymandering. Wisconsin, North Carolina, Texas, etc. are all gerrymandered to a fare thee well. They have lied their way into power. Republicans are like kudzu and Chinese wisteria, the vines that ate the South. Those vines are HORRIBLY invasive growing over everything in their path. They will choke the life out of every plant in its way. These vines take YEARS to remove, and even the tiniest tendril left in the ground will grow to overtake the space again if not removed. The Republicans are trying to take us back to the Gilded Age when robber barons ruled much of the country. They don't want ordinary people to have an opportunities.
Great analogy. Up north it's Japanese Knotweed and it's a nightmare. It takes incredible vigilance and one must dig a whole far greater than the root just in case there is a tendril in the soil. To Joyce's point, we need each other!
Love your weeds analogy. Thanks.
This is horrifying. Fortunately, I live in Colorado, where we are overwhelmingly voting Blue. And, although I'm not in her district, I'm trying to help with the effort to get Lauren Boebert out of office.
I feel a heavy weight on my chest. The banning of Mifepristone, and our seeming lack of power to do anything about it, is an overwhelming defeat for women by a minority of religious zealots. While the decision will be appealed it doesn’t appear we have a path to victory.
I debated pro choice as a senior in high school in 1973-Roe was written into law months later. My personal belief was that if you were against abortion then you shouldn’t get one.
At the age of 68 (this month) this is not an issue that will affect me personally but for the women of the US I stand with you and the bodily autonomy we should all have.
Here’s a big cheer from an 82 year old RN!
Don’t despair, Pamela. The arc of justice is long, and we have a long fight ahead of us, but we will prevail!
I cannot say more than has been said. But I have a question. Judge K. gives the FDa 7 days, the Washington district judge says the FDA cannot remove Mifepristone. If scotus does not stay one or the order taking effect until they hear the case (which they certainly must due to two contrary rulings, can Judge K's order actually take effect, or at least take effect beyond his own district? I've heard what steps can be taken against (or for the ban) but I've heard no one address with clarity two same day decisions in direct contradiction of each other. I am not a lawyer but I do read a lot of judicial decisions but I have never encountered in my own readings any similar, nearly simultaneous decisions. Nor am I aware of any precedent that any district judge has the authority to ban a drug nationwide. Joyce, or someone, can you please explain this seeming contradiction in law.
These two dueling orders will be resolved by a higher court. DOJ probably doesn't want to appeal the Washington order, so they will wait on the other side. But I suspect the two cases get consolidated or at least heard together in front of the supreme court rather quickly.
Okay, Joyce. I have a question. What do you feel the outcome will be with this stacked, incompetent, corrupt, Supreme Court will be?
Particularly, how does this TX judge have the right to ban an approved drug that is safer than penicillin & viagra?
Can we find a judge to ban Viagra across the nation? That might get some attention
Maybe we could just find a judge to ban judges from making medical decisions.
Even better!!
But, the Supreme Court judges are to d**n old so they don’t care.
Hahahaha 🤣! EOW! You said it!
I am kind of at a loss on this as are you.It seems incomprehensible that any court could actually have jurisdiction. Perhaps they could have jurisdiction if someone's health was in someone harmed from a drug and they might be called upon to make a decision on whether an FDA approved drug had caused harm.. They might be called upon prior to approval if the approval or the procedure for approval might have been tainted. But I cannot understand how a judge, especially a district judge could have any meritorious jurisdiction to even hear such a case.I have been querying google for any precedents that might have given him jurisdiction but google is giving be a blank stare.
If each of us in a united front don’t push back, the autocrats will take every right and freedom away, as has been happening piecemeal for years. Don’t be fooled, this is a disturbing reality.
It absolutely is and we need some serious strategies here.
We do. I keep thinking of the sex strike like the one in ancient Greece organized by Lysistrata (just a play, not an historic event). The women refused to have sex with the men until they stopped warring. Great story. But if we tried something like that here the GOP would probably legalize rape. Not that they don't condone it already.
We need radical action steps, though.
Exactly
Vote, encourage others to vote and inundate with messaging the elected officials who have been purchased by autocratic institutions. Use your purchasing power wisely. Teach history to others who don’t read…every action counts, so do the things that resonate for you.
Voting is insufficient. Given the extreme gerrymandering and voter suppression that these same autocrats have configured. Collective action or doom.
What kind of collective action, beyond voting and getting out the vote, would you suggest?
The left has to take back the narrative and that is best done by one to one persuasion. Learning to identify the fears that motivate the right and supplying right leaning voters with better options from Democrats to reduce those fears is effective.
Voting is not enough with huge swaths of the country cheating to get their way. SCOTUS needs to be expanded yesterday and we should be taking to the streets.
You’re exactly right, Erica. Decency, ethical responsibility and such are the realm of fools like us. I’d like to hear more anecdotes and conversations about that, too. It’s “everyone for himself.” Nobody is perfect but we must try!
Enough is enough! It’s as if we are living in a surreal parallel universe where the evil, self-serving minority have claimed the right to puppeteer the rest of us. Do these zealots have any idea how many women have miscarriages every day who need medical assistance???? Do they have any idea how many women may die as a result of their ignorance, misogyny and overreach. If the courts don’t shut this down, all women and men who love women, must shut it down through protests, civil action and voting. Enough is enough!
YES! YES! YES! Miscarriages happen on their own & women need proper health care! Enough IS Enough!!
I had a miscarriage but needed a doctor's care as it was not complete. It was heartbreaking enough, but now are women just supposed to wait to become septic before they can get the care they need?
So sorry you went through this
Nope. The way it’s being set up now by the GOP, they are just supposed to die! That’s their plan. Bunch of ignorant immature idiots!
Same for me Colleen. I am beyond horrified by what is happening to women's healthcare.
prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Per my recollection, spontaneous miscarriages are still not discussed publicly. The statistics I recall are that the lifetime risk of miscarriages among all persons attempting to bear a child is around 1/3; that is, a third of women who have tried to bear a child have sustained one spontaneous miscarriage. This is rarely mentioned.
We should ask Margaret Atwood to chime in from her Substack on the characters in the Handmaid’s Tale. The simmering rage of the Steriles, who despise other women, might resemble a current maladaptive sentiment of a rare few who have been frustrated in their wish for fecundity? This topic of miscarriage is clearly rich with human importance and dark fears, for all of us.
My mother, in the early 1940s, had two spontaneous miscarriages (abortions) before she even knew she was pregnant. Both required Dilation and Curetage to remove remnant tissues from her uterus. She then had to have surgery to resolve a tilted uterus, enabling her to carry her pregnancy with my sister to full term. Today, in some states, she could be prosecuted for the spontaneous miscarriages and would likely be barred in those states from having a D&C.
Maybe it’s because I’ve had too many chocolate Easter eggs, but I’m hoping that there will be such a BLUE tidal wave at the next election that we will overcome. Every move by these people further invigorates us towards a tsunami of beautiful blue! Any vote for the GOP is a vote against allowing us to breathe! We cannot waste one vote! I don’t know about all of you, but my inner circle has been reduced to just a few. A red vote to me shows what that person is really made of -there are no excuses. Life is way too short to debate why they feel the way they do. I truly don’t care anymore about that. What I do know, is that we have to protect our children, ourselves, and our family! Thank you,Joyce for bringing us the truth! Now I’m heading over to the peanut butter eggs …..
I'm hopeful, too -- and nervous. The alternative is too painful to contemplate.
Yes. The tidal wave slightly began in 2022. Now we need to do a full tidal wave and landslide across the board in all state as well as federal elections in 2024, 2026, and all in between and beyond. We need to show the GOP Trumpublican Party we will not stand for this nonsense and we are not taking it anymore!
GOP no longer viable. The new QTrumplican is vicious and dangerous.
🙏AMEN! All of them need to be sent packing!
I love the peanut butter chocolate eggs - protein to balance the sugar.
in addition to exhorting people to vote, the slogan needs to be NEVER VOTE GOP FOR A FRIGGING THING. They need to be defeated soundly for each and every office.
It’s so amazing that you say that, Marnie! Any vote for the GOP is a vote against women, LGBTQ, gun rights, and keeping kids safe-and a whole myriad of all that is
Right for the greater good!!! We cannot waste one vote!
Likely the most impassioned post of yours that I’ve read, but also incisive and right on point.
A good evening to you Joyce. I am a bit confused on how all this is going to be handled. I too cannot understand how one judge in this entire country can make a ruling that affects all of the states. And as a side note, where are we on adding more judges to the Supreme Court. We’re on fire here? Thanks for your diligent and timely responses to a heavy week of issues. I am as always most grateful for hearing from someone who really understands the law 🇺🇸
So enraged that a bunch of judges like the perennial sleaze-bag Thomas and his right wing politically driven partners on the SC and crazies throughout the land can destroy the values of these once United States. Save the unborn so they can be massacred in school! Pro-lifers are not pro life once fetus becomes a baby outside the womb. (I am rambling and pissed off)
Rambling, Hale? I think not!
Hale, if this is rambling, ramble on! You’re right on point!