Here's my stance on abortion: carrying a pregnancy to term is essentially a woman giving bodily tissue, for almost a year, at the risk of her life and health, with the certainty of pain and bodily damage, to preserve the existence of what some people believe is a person.
Until men are required to give bodily tissue, for a brief period of time, with equal or no risk to their life and health, with equal or no risk of bodily damage, to preserve the existence of what everyone agrees is a person -- then anti-abortion laws are discriminatory on the basis of sex.
People who need blood transfusions or kidneys or bone marrow from potentially living donors are in pain, and no one is forced to give them any bodily tissue. So I don't think fetal pain -- if it could ever be established -- is a fair determiner of when women lose bodily autonomy. Certainly not when dead men have more bodily autonomy than live women do.
This is not to say that I think abortion should ever be first-line birth control. This isn't to say that I favor late term abortion -- which almost never happens except in extraordinary, heart-wrenching medical crises. This isn't to say that I personally would or wouldn't have had an abortion. It is to say that we women deserve just as much bodily autonomy as men do, and that the consequences for our refusal to share bodily tissue should not weigh any more heavily into the calculation of the degree of our rights than the consequences of men refusing to donate blood or bone marrow count against their right to refuse.
No matter how loud the abortion banning public and politicians are, they're in the minority on this point. Put it to a direct vote and I'm sure keeping it available would pass in all 50 states. There are people who would support it in a direct vote but will not vote for a Democrat to make it happen.
Red states won’t allow it on the ballot anymore, they are actively making ballot initiatives impossible to pass. And in the case of Florida, where we voted for class size reduction and ex-felons to be able to vote, the legislature did end arounds and effectively cancelled them.
The beauty of that law, though, is that if Trump is convicted of a felony, he won't be allowed to vote, ever, unless he moves out of Mar-a-lago with the endless narcissistic supply it provides him.
Today’s Republican Party has fallen under the sway of MAGA Republicans who advocate Christian nationalism despite its general unpopularity; on April 3, Hungarian president Viktor Orbán, who has destroyed true democracy in favor of “Christian democracy” in his own country, cheered Trump on and told him to “keep on fighting.” Like Orbán, today's Republicans reject the principles that underpin democracy, including the ideas of equality before the law and separation of church and state, and instead want to impose Christian rule on the American majority.
Would someone here who knows more about the law than I do please tell me if these laws banning women from traveling to other states to get abortions is even constitutional?
“… restrict women from traveling outside the state to get an abortion”
Cool. Armed guards at the state border, checking menstrual cycles and forcing women to pee on test strips?
Sounds like freedom to me.
Sounds like Florida to me.
That made me scratch my head also. I’m sure this law is headed for court
Here's my stance on abortion: carrying a pregnancy to term is essentially a woman giving bodily tissue, for almost a year, at the risk of her life and health, with the certainty of pain and bodily damage, to preserve the existence of what some people believe is a person.
Until men are required to give bodily tissue, for a brief period of time, with equal or no risk to their life and health, with equal or no risk of bodily damage, to preserve the existence of what everyone agrees is a person -- then anti-abortion laws are discriminatory on the basis of sex.
People who need blood transfusions or kidneys or bone marrow from potentially living donors are in pain, and no one is forced to give them any bodily tissue. So I don't think fetal pain -- if it could ever be established -- is a fair determiner of when women lose bodily autonomy. Certainly not when dead men have more bodily autonomy than live women do.
This is not to say that I think abortion should ever be first-line birth control. This isn't to say that I favor late term abortion -- which almost never happens except in extraordinary, heart-wrenching medical crises. This isn't to say that I personally would or wouldn't have had an abortion. It is to say that we women deserve just as much bodily autonomy as men do, and that the consequences for our refusal to share bodily tissue should not weigh any more heavily into the calculation of the degree of our rights than the consequences of men refusing to donate blood or bone marrow count against their right to refuse.
Gov. Brad Little (R) signed an abortion 'trafficking' law, which would restrict women from traveling outside the state to get an abortion.
???!!!
No matter where you come down on abortion this is nuts. R's will end up self-distructing over the next 4 years.
Enjoy your family this weekend Jamie.
No matter how loud the abortion banning public and politicians are, they're in the minority on this point. Put it to a direct vote and I'm sure keeping it available would pass in all 50 states. There are people who would support it in a direct vote but will not vote for a Democrat to make it happen.
Red states won’t allow it on the ballot anymore, they are actively making ballot initiatives impossible to pass. And in the case of Florida, where we voted for class size reduction and ex-felons to be able to vote, the legislature did end arounds and effectively cancelled them.
The beauty of that law, though, is that if Trump is convicted of a felony, he won't be allowed to vote, ever, unless he moves out of Mar-a-lago with the endless narcissistic supply it provides him.
Ha!
Enjoy the time off...well deserved!
Today’s Republican Party has fallen under the sway of MAGA Republicans who advocate Christian nationalism despite its general unpopularity; on April 3, Hungarian president Viktor Orbán, who has destroyed true democracy in favor of “Christian democracy” in his own country, cheered Trump on and told him to “keep on fighting.” Like Orbán, today's Republicans reject the principles that underpin democracy, including the ideas of equality before the law and separation of church and state, and instead want to impose Christian rule on the American majority.
~ Heather Cox Richardson
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/april-5-2023?r=ergp9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Great reporting as always Jamie. Enjoy your Easter break!
Would someone here who knows more about the law than I do please tell me if these laws banning women from traveling to other states to get abortions is even constitutional?