49 Comments

I'm 79 y/o now, so way past child-bearing age. But in 1971, living in Mobile AL, I had an emergency spontaneous miscarriage of an inadequately developing pregnancy and would quickly have bled to death if my doc hadn't gotten me to ER, shots in both hips, D&C. I cringe and weep to think of what young women are living with today. Medical decisions are for doc and patient! VOTE!

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I absolutely agree, Holly. VOTE! ALWAYS VOTE!

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Yes, and, we have to vote in large enough numbers to overcome gerrymandering nonsense by repubs.

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Things are turning for us throughout the country in numbers too large to ignore but we need to reclaim a larger majority in the house and senate in November in order to deny the travesty of power hungry politicians who ironically care nothing for human life. We will win this fight.

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I am the father of two daughters, and they have each produced a daughter. Any man with daughters, or granddaughters, who doesn’t oppose birth slavery will surely twist and turn in the perpetual fires of Hell.

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I am loving Claire getting fired up. And I sincerely hope that the Republican strategists don’t see abortion as a top 4 issue. Let’s give them a shovel and let them keep digging!

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Pam, I think they're whistling past the graveyard. "So scared, but maybe if we ignore it it'll go away."

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Women aren't going to vote for Democratic candidates because they aren't angry about abortion? What color is the sky in Gorman's world? And you are so right, Joyce- complacency is not an option. Vote, and make sure everyone you know votes too.

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I am 73, past needing abortion rights for myself. I am mad as hell for women/children who need it NOW. I am really tired of white Republican men wading into the complicated physical and emotional decisions of women’s health issues. They are also going after birth control methods as well as abortion rights we had for 50 years.

Their motives are very complicated, but best explained by Robert Jerman in this thread. Republican men do not respect women!!

It is time to get out the knitting needles and pink yarn to knit another “pussy hat”.

Need proper attire to PROTEST and VOTE.

I would say I will never vote Republican but I made that commitment in 1992. Remember when Pat Buchanan was ranting? I think we should have paid more attention then.

We are all in this together.

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Yes, and, we have to vote in large enough numbers to overcome gerrymandering nonsense by repubs.

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It's nothing less than remarkable to see R "strategist" get in front of a camera, denying the Kansas vote happened...? It's why Republicans are fighting so hard to keep the issue off the ballot.

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I am generalizing a bit, but this is a broader pattern with republicans... they tend to tell people what they think, what they should think, how to think, what opinions to hold. saves everyone a whole lot of time reading, listening, evaluating, thinking... it is so sad how many people go along with it. with it comes their embedded views on middle and lower class, non-whites, and women. Stunning that even after the blowback and events like the voting in Kansas that they stay with this line. very much like the party line on the classified documents down in Mar a Lago... say it often enough, with enough conviction and lots of people will believe you. what is different about the Dobbs decision is now they appear to be trying to convince themselves rather than anyone else... they do not want to see how wrong they are. some are backpedaling on the rape/incest/health of the mother, but the issue is far broader than that. it represents codification of how that group feels about women in general. I hope every state starts to push this issue onto their ballots so these very basic protections can be written into law across the country. i have always wondered how many of these conservatives have had wives, girlfriends, mistresses, daughters that have snuck off to terminate a pregnancy...

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I also remember that Trumps committee on Women's Health headed by Mike Pence had no women on it, just GOP males. That’s an all star team in the NOT making!

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I'd forgotten about that. And should never forget about that! Thanks for bringing it up.

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My gut reaction is that he's saying this to calm down Republican men. They've started to panic. What will happen to them if Democrats more than keep the House and Senate, but expand their margins and begin to remove Republican governors and state legislatures? Their way of life will be over because that's the dramatic story they have been telling themselves for years. While I would like to think many Republic women will reflect on what's been happening, I'm putting my bet on all the women who haven't registered to vote in prior elections because they thought they didn't need to. That elections didn't matter. Yes, I've met a fair number of them and they now see the writing on the wall if Republicans continue to make headway. The important thing here is that they don't listen to Republican men. They are engaged in how to prevent more erosion. So they are registering to vote. That is what Republican men find so frightening and they are trying to deny it to keep their women in place (my hot take). So reach out to a friend and find out are they registered to vote; is their daughter or niece. Help them register and get them involved. We are all in this together.

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No we definitely know how to vote....I may not need an abortion care but that doesn't mean that other women should be denied their access to reproductive health.

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Yes, and, we have to vote in large enough numbers to overcome gerrymandering nonsense by repubs.

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Mansplaining!!! That’s a new and on point word...at least for me!! I think the republicans have their collective heads buried so deep in the sand that it’s funny! If they really do think that women and men of this country aren’t angry about the decision that SCOTUS made on abortion rights they truly have some rough times coming at them and rightfully so!! I hope that there’s a Blue Wave like this country has never seen before. As to Senator Clair and Yamich Alcindor those are two tough, honest and tell you straight women! We all need to make sure to get out and vote!!

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founding

Joyce! You nailed it!

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AGAIN!

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I am total sync with your comments and those of the folks below.

I'm almost 70 - i was in college in Maine in 1973 when the Roe V. Wade decision was made and birth control was finally available in the student health center. It made a huge positive difference to everyone on campus (after all, many of the women who were sexually active were having sex with men who also would be impacted by any resulting pregnancies).

I was able to complete my graduate education because abortion services were readily available in Texas in the late 70s. I got good medical care after having two miscarriages in between our two planned children. My husband and I were able to make our own family plan with help from our doctors after our second child.

My daughter, now in her mid-30s, and her soon to be husband are very worried about how much government interference will insert itself (if Lindsay G and his buddies have their way re: national ban) into their family planning and health care in the event of miscarriage. She grew up assuming that abortion and family planning access would ALWAYS be available, because her generation didn't experience the battles for these rights.

Which emphasizes the big lesson my generation has learned: as the tee shirt says, "I can't believe we still have to protest this sh*t".

Freedoms and hard-won rights don't last in perpetuity. If we had to fight so hard, that means there were others trying to deny those rights...... and they are still out there.

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He also said it wasn't an issue for 2020. Doh! What year are we in, doofus? That's how out of touch with women that party is.

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I missed that! Hilarious! TY!!!

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Justice’s Architecture

One lone woman sits on a plinth

The bottom of a massive column.

She is the pith in this setting

Sun of honey-colored shadows.

Above her a triangle pediment

The shape of a wire coat hanger

Is supported by sixteen

Marble Greek columns.

Written on the hanger’s cross wire

Between the pediment

And the column’s higher capital

"Equal Justice Under Law."

She’d climbed the long steps, flanked

By enlightening candelabras

Justice holding sword and scales

And the Three Fates weaving

Threads of life. With so many

Female symbols of justice

What impediment now forces

This woman to crawl through

The bronze doors begging

To be allowed

To take care of herself?

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Actually... JUST KIDDING. As the father of daughters and grandfather of daughters, I absolutely support women's health and support all women in their choices. What a different story it would be if we were talking about men's issues like ED.

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Sep 14, 2022·edited Sep 14, 2022

Or men’s access to Viagra. I remember several years ago in Kentucky, the Republican legislature was trying to limit abortion rights, as per usual. I don’t remember her name but a very impassioned female state legislator introduced a bill stating that men can’t get a prescription for Viagra unless their wife signs off on it, and if they aren’t married they can’t get it at all because that means they are engaging in “carnal sins”. Of course she knew it was going nowhere - it didn’t - but she made her point. They (the men) get too sit in judgment and play God with women’s bodies, but women will not get a stay for me. Typical. Anyway, I watched her speech and it was priceless. The men were outraged and called it a publicity stunt because who would propose such a stupid idea!

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