Don’t get mad, get even. Don’t JUST get mad, do something! Let’s tell the story that the media won’t.
On Friday we came together to suggest what the headlines about the Texas law should be in order to tell the real story.
Below is the list of all the serious and semi-serious headlines we came up with. Maybe we can start by whittling the list down to 25?
When you indicate in the comments which ones you think should be finalists, can you generally refer to them by number? But then include the actual text, too, for your #1 choice.
My #1: Texas Law Requires Women to Prove Miscarriage Was Not Intentional
Who is our audience?
I would suggest that our audience is not people who already know about this opinion, who already understand the implications, who already know that the opinion was issued in the dark of night by the shadow court of the Supreme Court. Those people can be our partners in spreading the word, but they are not our audience.
I would suggest that our audience is the people who only know what the media headlines have told them (blah blah blah abortion law… yawn)
Who do you think our audience is?
I want to share this comment from the Texas thread, with some slight edits for clarity:
This thread is dead, but I just want to chime in with the opinion that the thing to hammer is the subjection of miscarriages to vigilantism. This is an issue with a powerful emotional component, which can appeal even to the women to whom the very word “abortion” is repugnant, to people who don’t care whether anyone else gets an abortion, to people who think they or their partners would never have or need an abortion. Anyone can miscarry. You lost your baby? In the middle of your shock and grief, you’d better lawyer up!
There’s a lot of merit to that, I think. How about you?
How do we get the word out?
How do we get the word out? Someone suggested Memes, and I thought that was a good idea. Twitter? Facebook posts? Tik Tok? Other blogs? Other ideas?
Nominations
|
Headlines |
1 |
Texas Law Requires Women to Prove Miscarriage Was Not Intentional |
2 |
Despite Roe, Supreme Court allows Texas to Deputize Abortion Bounty Hunters |
3 |
Annulling Roe, Supreme Court allows Texas to Deputize Abortion Bounty Hunters |
4 |
Disregarding Roe, Supreme Court allows Texas to Deputize Abortion Bounty Hunters |
5 |
Texas Law Authorizes Vigilante Enforcement of Radical Pregnancy Law |
6 |
Texas Republicans empower Bounty Hunters to Monitor Women and Punish Miscarriages |
7 |
Texas Law Incentivizes Malicious Targeting of Young Girls and Women |
8 |
Republicans urge neighbors to spy on your family planning |
9 |
Texas law incentivizes busybodies to scrutinize every miscarriage |
10 |
Texas Republicans Authorize Vigilante Enforcement of Radical Pregnancy Law |
11 |
Miscarriage is now grounds for legal targeting and extortion by neighbors, friends and enemies in Texas |
12 |
Have a Miscarriage, Get Sued! |
13 |
Texas gop wants your creepy neighbor to second guess your teenage daughters Ob/gyn’s medical care |
14 |
Texas Abortion Law: Inform on your neighbors, coworkers, and even total strangers, for cash |
15 |
Anonymous Justices Legalize Pregnancy Spying |
16 |
Republicans Offer Monetary Incentives for Your Neighbors to Spy on you and Turn You In to the State. |
17 |
Texas Pregnancy Monitoring Law Incentivizes Malicious Targeting of Any Woman |
18 |
Your Body, My Choice |
19 |
The female inequality act |
20 |
Handmaid’s Tale, Texas style |
21 |
It isn’t just your neighbor who will report you. It’s your father or your brother or your -ex. Monstrous. |
22 |
Skipped menstrual period by any female in Texas now grounds for legal action and financial penalties |
23 |
Texas females now subject to menstrual cycle monitoring by any random asshole for legal targeting and extortion |
24 |
Have a Miscarriage (God’s Will), Get Sued (by your neighbors, enemies, out of state randos or even your own pastor). |
25 |
State of Texas Passes A Pregnancy Monitoring Law, Gets Supreme Court Blessing |
26 |
Had A Miscarriage? New GOP Law in Texas Allows Your Neighbors to Sue Anyone Involved in Your Care (Including Your Husband)! |
27 |
Bounty Hunter law is Straight Up Fascism, Texas-Style |
28 |
Supreme Court Allows Bounty On Pregnant Women in Texas |
29 |
Texas Allows Citizen Bounty Hunters to Profit From Forcing Women to Carry Their Rapist’s Babies to Term |
30 |
State of Texas Passes A Woman Monitoring Law, Gets Supreme Court Blessing |
31 |
TEXAS passes “Old Father Hubbard’s bill to keep Mother in a shoe forever |
32 |
Republicans ban abortion in Texas, promise the same for every other state |
33 |
Texas Abortion Bounty |
34 |
Supreme Court blesses socialized pregnancies |
35 |
Republican men excited to begin pregnancy monitoring and snitching |
36 |
Supreme Court On Path to Scarlet Letters and Stoning |
37 |
Texas gop enacted a law to allow creepy neighbor to view your daughter’s medical records every time she misses a period |
38 |
Texas gop enacted a law to make sure your 16 year old daughter need to prove their late period was normal and not an abortion |
39 |
Gilead for Fun and Profit. Texas Criminalizes Wimmin stuff |
40 |
Pregnant Women Now State Property |
41 |
Texas Expands Business Opportunities: Suing Incest Victims for Profit |
42 |
The Anne Frank, Rat Out Your Neighbor Law |
43 |
Texas Abortion Law: Inform on your neighbors, coworkers, and even total strangers, for cash prizes! |
44 |
The Anne Frank, Rat Out Your Neighbor And Make $10K Law |
45 |
Forced Pregnancy Posse Legalized |
46 |
Supreme Court Monetizes Forced Births |
47 |
Fertility Witchhunts Loom in TX |
48 |
Clinics Brace for Wave of Legalized Harassment |
49 |
Anonymous Decision Overrules Women’s Choice |
50 |
Texas puts bounty on pregnant incest victims |
51 |
Conservative majority on Supreme Court supports Texas law forcing women to bear rapist’s babies |
52 |
Texas Republicans Make Common Cause with the Taliban on Women’s Rights |
53 |
Texas Republicans Insist Forcing Women to Give Birth is Freedom |
54 |
Texas abortion law set to cost men money |
55 |
Republicans’ new law asks neighbors to inform on neighbors, reminiscent of East German Stasi |
56 |
Republican law sics bounty hunters on women who miscarry |
57 |
Republican Law Forces Women to Carry their Rapist’s Baby |
58 |
13-Year Olds Forced to Give Birth to Rapist’s Babies, thanks to GOP |
59 |
Karen says you’re a slut law. |
60 |
Texas updates Fugitive Slave Law for 21st century |
61 |
Bank deposits frozen in Texas due to Supreme Court Ruling |
62 |
Texas abortion law set to cost men money |
63 |
Fucked Around, Found Out |
64 |
Texas Taliban |
65 |
Texas: Bounties Paid to Womb Police |
66 |
Pecksniffian bounty hunters in Texas are coming for you and your children. |
67 |
Male rapists now free to profit from any resulting pregnancy in female victims in the state of Texas |
68 |
Bounty hunters in Texas are coming for you and your children. |
69 |
Want to fuck? You’re out of luck. Women lead nationwide sex strike in response to fascist Texas bill |
70 |
Texas “He-Man Women’s Hater Club” gets Greenlight from SCOTUS. |
71 |
Texas Deputizes Vindictive Exes to Harass Women, Pays Bounty For It |
72 |
SCOTUS Throws Out the Right to Choose; Eyes Allowing Racial Discrimination. |
73 |
Womb Raider 3: This Time, It’s Super Personal. |
74 |
SCOTUS Decision Starts Sectarian War in Texas. |
75 |
Texas Offers Riches for Snitches |
76 |
SCOTUS Decision Ushers in the Age of Assassins |
77 |
From Pantysniffy to Tampon Testing–Come to Texas |
78 |
Texas empowers vaginalante bounty hunters, Supreme Court says “Sure!” . |
79 |
If it’s got a Vagina, Nothing too Private to Poke Ourselves Into! |
80 |
Texas creates Curtain Twitcher’s Charter. |
81 |
Republicans encourage Stalinist informers to spy on their Neighbours bedrooms. |
82 |
Texas law incentivizes busybodies deputizes vigilantes to scrutinize every miscarriage |
In the comments, let us know your #1, at least your top 5, and maybe even your top 10.
Miss Bianca
This is what I put out on FB (quoting Kay, btw…she’s the “savvy lawyer friend” referred to. ; )
ETA: Because I thought that Kay’s point about this being a pregnancy law, not just an abortion law, was really the way to frame it.
topclimber
If nominations are not closed:
Supreme Court Allows Texas Womb Posses.
Kind of building off #2 and #65, but maybe a bit punchier? So says the perspicacious TopClimber.
Another Scott
Relatedly, …
Good slogans are good and important – thanks for doing this.
We need to be pushing on all levers of power at every level, also too.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jon Marcus
OT, but is anyone else having issues with the “show full post on front page” link not working?
sab
Will a letter to editor of local papers have an effect (or even get published?) My husband would have a cow if my name got published, but this was the single most important political issue to my late Repiblican mother, who was a young wife ten years before Griswold v Connecticut was decided
ETA I can easily imagine Ohio passing such a law. DeWine might think twice about the bounty hunter aspect but Renacci surely would happily sign it.
Ascap_scab
Texas Republicans (and a few Dems) pay your ex-boyfriends, creeps to spy and harrass women.
https://twitter.com/MattAWillett1/status/1434391638357409795?s=19
sab
@Jon Marcus: Yes. Just use the see comments button.
sab
@sab: Of course you know that already since you are commenting.
Betty
Does anyone know if this law has an exception for situations that threaten the woman’s life? If not, that needs to be addressed as well. I don’t think you can cover all the ramifications in one headline. You may need 4 or 5 which emphasize different aspects. I think Number 6. Is a god overall warning about the danger. I would add “with the blessing of the Supreme Court”. They can still overturn this law so pressure on them is important. My no. 1 ” Texas Republicans with the blessing of the Supreme Court enable Bounty Hunters to monitor women and punish miscarriages. “
Scout211
Texas Law Authorizes Vigilante Enforcement of Radical Pregnancy Law
My #1 choice because it will appeal to the normies out there who are not comfortable (publicly) supporting abortions but are repulsed and frightened by the methods anti-abortionists have used over the years.
Wag
I like the concept. A proposed edit to #9:
azlib
I suspect the real reason for this law is to drive clinics out of business and it is unfortunatey having that effect. This has been the real strategy of the anti-choice crowd.
One thing which could be done is to allow over the counter sales of mifepristone and misoprostol. They are apparently very safe medications with few side effects.
Kristine
@Jon Marcus: doesn’t work for me
on iPhone with Safari.
Another Scott
@Betty:
Here’s the text of the bill. It starts with some dicta (general principles that generally have no particular legal standing) that Texas didn’t repeal its pre-Roe-v-Wade abortion laws, then adds a bunch of stuff.
Like “pregnancy begins with fertilization”. Which is not true.
The law is clearly unconstitutional, in any fair reading.
There are various sections addressing “health” but whether a woman can actually use those sections to get the health care she is constitutionally entitled to isn’t clear to me (IANAL).
HTH a little.
Cheers,
Scott.
Spanish Moss
@Miss Bianca: Thanks for sharing that, I hadn’t thought through the implications for miscarriages. If you are sued, will you have to provide personal medical information to a stranger in court?
As for the headline, I like “Have a Miscarriage, Get Sued!”. Gets a significant point across in a few easily read, memorable words.
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
I think most of these are too long and too wordy. The more complicated the phrase, the easier people will fail to get your point.
Instead of giving you my top picks, I’m going to give you my two least favorite, although for these, wordiness is not the issue.
#60—this is just not appropriate. Let’s leave chattel slavery out of this, no matter how outraged we are.
#63—this is what they want. Women aren’t supposed to be able to enjoy sex without consequences.
WaterGirl
@Jon Marcus: I moved the command up a bit and now it is working. thanks for letting me know.
WaterGirl
@Wag: I added that to the open slot at #82.
WaterGirl
@Kristine: It should work now.
JB
I missed the first round, sorry to comment late, but I’m an ad writer and a lot of these still feel too complicated or value neutral. “Monitor,”for example, could be a good or bad thing depending on your opinion of what’s being monitored. We have to use words with unequivocal negative meaning. It should be called something like the “pregnancy stalker law.” We also should always put responsibility on Republicans.
Some lines:
Texas Republicans force grieving women to defend their miscarriages
Texas Republicans force grieving women to justify their miscarriages to strangers
Texas Republicans encourage suing women who miscarry
Supreme Court defies/ignores/violates Roe to allow vigilantes to stalk pregnant women
Texas Republicans encourage vigilantes to stalk and harass pregnant women
Texas Republicans encourage rapists to stalk and sue their victims
Kirk Spencer
I know it’s not there as such, but “Prove your miscarriage isn’t an abortion” says Texas government has been the line I’ve been working with. That makes it a statewide insertion because miscarriages are more common than anyone wants to think,
Not too far in the distance, if this isn’t stopped, is the “your period was late prove you didn’t have an abortion.”
On the other hand, I also foresee a heavy increase in ‘day after’ pills, whether they’re legal or safe or not.
sab
@Betty: The law does allow an abortion for medical emergencies. The physician must note it in the client records. But of course, his/her opinion is open to challenge by the bounty hunters. So the medical emergency exception is about as useful as the miscarriage description. The physician is still risking a lawsuit with unreimbursed legal defense costs even if he/she wins. That might make them err on the side of legal prudence rather than medical safety.
WaterGirl
@JB: All excellent points, thank you!
And thanks for the additional suggestions. They are very good.
West of the Rockies
I think #1 is excellent. I might add the word “Grieving” in front of Women.
WaterGirl
@Kirk Spencer: How about this edit?
Texas Law: Prove your miscarriage isn’t an abortion
Though that doesn’t address the fact that you can get sued by your neighbor, your boss, your husband’s ex-girlfriend.
The Dangerman
Too late to nominate “Texas Republicans: A Bunch Of Possies”? Sorry for the not exactly nice word implied here, but if TFG can use it and still get elected…
Might need a lot of work( caffeination level remains dangerously low.
NotMax
Abolish the period police.
Kirk Spencer
@WaterGirl: Shorter, simpler, just as accurate. That’ll work.
WaterGirl
It’s definitely not too late to nominate, but also please indicate which existing ones you think are top notch.
Kirk Spencer
@WaterGirl: To your addon about the things not addressed, true. But it’s a headline, not an informercial. Save that for the article under the headline, the one that says “and that’s just the start.”
brantl
Borrowing off of a great TBogg headline, for a t-shirt: New Texas Law, Your Womb with a view? Have a pregnant woman next to a guy in a Nazi SS uniform with him looking into a telescope pressed to her abdomen, with her looking horror-struck.
And this : Texas Law: Prove your miscarriage isn’t an abortion, to anybody who decides they want to sue.
JB
@West of the Rockies: Nice, I just inserted that into two of my new suggestions (comment #20 above)
Bex
Texas Law: Miscarriage of Justice.
sab
Texas abortion law: Out of state bounty hunters can subpoena your miscarriage medical records in order to sue your doctor, his staff and your friends and family. Your private medical records can be introduced into public court to help private bounty hunters
ETA Not pithy enough for a headline, maybe for a lne in a comment or letter to editor.
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
@a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio: But to be constructive, I think 8 &12 work, and so do 50, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 and 59.
And a lot of those that are too long for headlines would be effective ledes.
I’d also avoid references to the Taliban, because we don’t need to encourage Americans to be more Islamophobic.
One point I’ve seen made in several places is the Texas voter suppression has a lot to do with how this and other recent idiotic legislation has passed in the Lone Star State. I’m not good at short and pithy but I think this is an angle worth working.
Another Scott
Others have made the point on Twitter that referring to the Taliban or Nazis probably isn’t a good idea. These are domestic people pushing domestic ideas. We need to confront that.
Short is good, also too, as 1000 flouncing lurkers says.
#5 is pretty good. Texas Law Authorizes Vigilante Enforcement of Radical Pregnancy Law
Maybe shorter/rephrased though: Texas GOP Unleashes Vigilantes Against Women
Stress that it’s the GOP. Stress that it’s not an abortion law or even a pregnancy law – it’s a law against women having privacy for their own bodies, their own health care, and everyone’s reproductive rights.
I hope that we’re all keeping Saturday October 2 open for the next Women’s March – https://womensmarch.com/mobilize
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Kirk Spencer: Good point. The more we try to squeeze in, the less likely someone might be to read the whole headline. (possibly)
WaterGirl
@sab: Not headline material, but definitely fodder for the paragraph of explanation that will follow it.
judyinsd
Number 1 and 32. 32 is “Republicans ban abortion in Texas, promise the same for every other state.”
Betty
@sab: I wonder if discovering it is an ectopic pregnancy is considered a medical emergency. One niece had that issue. Another niece ( strong evangelical) with three children who was told that another pregnancy could kill her. Would she have to wait until she was on her deathbed to find out? I assume she has taken necessary steps to prevent another pregnancy, but it is a real issue for some women.
debbie
My favorite is Number 64: Texas Taliban
I would work “Christian” or “Evangellcal” in there somewhere, if only for accuracy. Not every Texan supports the bill. It’s a bit longer, but I think I like “Evangelical Taliban of Texas.” That way, you could substitute the name of whatever state is sure to follow TX’s lead.
Kirk Spencer
@Another Scott: Thank you for the women’s march reminder. marked on calendar.
I like your line mostly, but how about Texas GOP Rewards Vigilantes Against Women instead – rewards instead of unleashes.
Spanish Moss
@JB: I also found most too wordy, and some were even difficult to parse. I appreciate your professional perspective, and I really like this one:
Texas Republicans force grieving women to defend their miscarriages
brantl
Texas says: “Your vagina? Everybody’s opportunity to sue you!” Supreme Court agrees, in the middle of the night! “Texas monetizes your vagina! For strangers!”
Pittsburgh Mike
My favorites are the ones that aren’t vague, but concrete indications of problems to come. I really hate the cutesy ones like “Texas Taliban.”
My favorites are:
Numbers 1, 11, 12, 22, 54 (though I’d rephrase as Texas bill set to cost men $ if their partners have a miscarriage) roughly in that order
Numbers 57, 58, are also important: you have to carry your rapist’s baby, or the rapist himself can sue you for $10K.
And of course, it’s important to highlight these issues as they come up in real life, which unfortunately they will.
MomSense
@JB:
The only problem I see with the framing about miscarriage is that it sort of reinforces the miscarriage =innocent as opposed to abortion.
I just want to say mind your own goddamned business. Women and their doctors deserve privacy and respect.
Sister Golden Bear
@Wag: A further edit:
Texas Republicans deputize vigilantes and bounty hunters to make you prove your miscarriage isn’t an abortion
Leslie
I agree with fidelio that most of these don’t work well for what we want. We need to bypass people’s brains and hit them in the feels (but not deceptively). We need short, punchy slogans, and probably a few in rotation is good, as suggested.
The angles I would push on are the miscarriage fallout and the neighbors spying on each other. Most people will be uncomfortable with those notions regardless of their ideas about abortion.
I am rewording and combining various items from the list, but will try to peg them to numbers.
1. Would you sue your neighbor for their miscarriage? (12)
2. Texas Republicans turn your neighbors into the womb police (47)
3. Texas Republicans: get sued for your miscarriage (12)
4. Texas Republicans want
fertilitypregnancy witchhunts (65)5. Texas Republicans authorize vigilante fertility spies (65, 16)
6. Texas Republicans: your body, our choice (40)
Edit: JB’s are good, as is Prove your miscarriage wasn’t an abortion.
Edit 2: Replaced “law” with “Republicans.”
scav
Texas Cash Givaway to Snitches, Nosy Neighbors and Abusers.
Texas Subsidizes Stazi Snitches.
or, phrase it as one of those ads.
Make Cash Money! Turn in random women for fun and profit!
or a poster
Ride em Stazi! (over a drawing of a classic cowboy roping a possibly pregnant woman, and then some dollar amount in a classic Wanted Dear or Alive font)
ETA, clearly trying to go beyond the headline format to catch the attention of the news resistant. Plus, stomp on a few fiscal conservative, freedom, we’re the good guys, buttons.
Ascap_scab
Texas Republicans use your tax dollars to sexually harrass your wife and daughters.
Gotta get the men involved and that is with taxes.
Kirk Spencer
@MomSense: The problem (since I agree with your opinion I will call it a problem) is that “abortion” is a word that carries a lot of semantic baggage against it for a lot of people.
The advantage of focusing on miscarriage is how common it is.
If I could keep it short enough I’d actually focus on the missed or late period – “Texas
lawGOP: miss a period, prove you didn’t have an abortion.” Though true, it’s too far a stretch for the casual reader.(edited because Leslie makes a good point)
Leslie
@MomSense: I agree, but there’s a reason the GOP often hammers the Democrats on messaging. We need to do what works, and what works is emotional appeals.
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
@scav: It’s Stasi; I know it can be challenging to keep the spelling of foreign words (especially German nicknames odeargods) but it can confuse people, when we want to communicate clearly.
Leslie
I think — and I say this as a not-young person — that Stasi will not have much resonance with the younger crowd. I would stick to simple terms that are accessible to everyone. And on that note, since it’s too late for me to edit my 48, I would replace “fertility” there with “pregnancy.”
WaterGirl
@Leslie: I edited #48 for you to indicate your word change.
Citizen Alan
@a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio:
I respectfully disagree about the Taliban part. I think it’s important to point out that, in the end, the “Christians” pushing these laws don’t really disagree with any of the Taliban’s policies. Merely that they are enacted in Afghanistan in service of fundamentalist Islam rather than fundamentalist Christianity. We need to start cleaving moderate Christians away from the fundies.
Wolvesvalley
@Bex: This is my favorite:
Or, to adapt from my comment at the end of WaterGirl’s first post on this, and quoted by her in this post:
Lost your baby? Lawyer up!
It could be superimposed on an outline map of Texas.
Sloane Ranger
@Another Scott:
I like this. Headlines need to be short and eye catching and this fills the bill.
Failing this, I would go with one of the shorter options.
Felanius Kootea
WaterGirl @top – I don’t know whether to be happy or sad that one of my suggestions was your top pick. I’m leaning towards sad because it’s just sickening/frightening that Texas Republicans want such a dystopian future for women.
WaterGirl
@Felanius Kootea: Why not both?
WaterGirl
Spreadsheet updated with suggestions up to here.
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
@Citizen Alan: we might be taking on too many causes at once. “Keep it simple” does just apply to wording. If we have to explain what we’re trying to say instead of what we’re mad about, we lose people’s attention.
sab
@Betty: An Ohio legislator actually did introduce a bill to require reimplantimg an ectopic pregnancy into the uterus “to save the baby” although medical experts were screamimg that this was impossible and would only cause sepsis and probably kill the mother.
I would hope ectopic pregnancy would be a clearcut emergency, but one never knows.
scav
@a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio: Thanks. I thought I looked it up to confirm it was officially snitch central, but I missed my usual weak spot!
wmd
#1: Texas Law Requires Women to Prove Miscarriage Was Not Intentional
It cuts through any feelings on abortion and makes the law clearly harmful. A woman that had a miscarriage DOES NOT NEED THE ADDED BURDEN of hiring a lawyer because some asshole decides to harass her, and it’s clear that will be happening. We’re intruding on her grief and healing and causing a financial burden.
scav
@Leslie: But then, a) older people are reliable voters and b) no single approach is going to reach all possible voters. The olds will be baffled by youthspeak, and messages that co-opt evangelical codes will fly-by fiscal Republicans.
sab
I think emphasis on miscarrige is the best approach. I also think that focussing on abortion is a bad idea, since that is what the press has already done. I want our arguments to reach my pro-life Catholic nieces who are now old and experienced enough to know that in real life medical events are more complicated than they thought in high school. But they are still basically pro-life, although otherwise quite progressive.
Bringing up religion ( Taliban and Christianist) is simply a toxic argument to them and seems utterly irrelevant besides.
Salt Water Cleanse
75 – Texas Republicans Offers Riches for Snitches
65 – Texas Republicans: Bounties Paid to Womb Police
from Leslie: Texas Republicans: get sued for your miscarriage (12)
And my favorite (though I’m not suggesting to use it cuz it’s too in-jokey):
59 – Karen says you’re a slut law.
Salt Water Cleanse
@sab: Amen! everything sab wrote. yup.
EmDeeBee
I think the refinements on #1 are getting there. I’m starting with:
Texas Republicans force grieving women to defend their miscarriages
But if we’re truly aiming for an MSM-style headline to convey the horror of the law, the emotional languish pulls it out of that zone. If that’s the aim, that’s fine. If it’s not, I suggest making it more about the triggering event, like a standard headline:
SCOTUS ruling sends Texas women to court to defend miscarriages
This removes the “Republican” blame, which can be explained in the article and may cause conservatives to skip the rest. It adds “SCOTUS” to emphasize why something has changed over the status quo ante of “Republicans pass unconstitutional abortion law, SCOTUS strikes it down.”
Lastly, I think “court” and “sends to court” are key emotional phrases that make people think of a huge time sink, extensive legal fees, and harrowing cross-examination. Other versions focus on random assholes who are suing, but I think it’s more effective to point out that the law requires these women to go to court. Who sent them there? Anyone. That detail is for the second paragraph of the story.
Describe the horror of the law in non-emotional terms so people have fewer reasons to skip the story, but still depict the legal consequences for women who miscarry. I think that gets the engagement we want.
scav
There are some other memes etc to pull on. All the screams about requiring vaccination and carrying proof of vaccinations — There are situations to pull making analogies there. Certain companies are incentivized to not serve possibly pregnant women for fear of lawsuits. Cab companies requiring proof of non-pregnancy if your ride ends within a five-minute walk of a medical establishment (or proof of an appointment with an evangelically-approved doctor). Bars, or even high end dining establishments, requiring you pee into a pregnancy test before you’re served alcohol — and this after they’ve required proof of vaccination (lull the watcher into thinking it’s one direction only it isn’t). Financial planners suggesting hysterectomies as protection against litigation before moving to TX. OTT yes, but mock them hard.
Felanius Kootea
My top choice is #12: “Have a Miscarriage, Get Sued!”
but I would modify it to include the state for the truly clueless – “Texas: Have a Miscarriage, Get Sued!”
stinger
@JB: I agree that we need to think in terms of headlines and bumper stickers. Fewer words and fewer characters. Look at the average meme — it probably has 5 or fewer words. Also, although this initial law was passed in Texas, you KNOW that ALEC is pushing similar draft bills everywhere. So I’d drop the “Texas” part and use GOP instead of Republicans. Stay ahead of their efforts.
GOP: “Your rapist gets $10K if you miscarry”
greenergood
I wrote this (v. late) in an earlier diary and maybe was misunderstood: I think the whole Texas abortion ban exposes a schism between the white supremacist ‘They will not replace us’, and the Xtian evangelical ‘Every foetus is sacred until birth, when it can just eff off, cause I’m not paying taxes for welfare babies’. The abortion rate for POC women is much higher than that for white women. I would be interested to find out, post-Texas abortion ruling, if the rate for POC women’s abortions stays as high as it is, while the rate for Texas white women’s abortions goes down, due to vigilante observation and enforcement. I can see many ‘they will not replace us’ Texans being pretty okay with POC women obtaining terminations, either in family planning facilities in-state (probably not), or ‘letting’ them go over the border, but cracking down on white women doing the same, in order to keep the white population increasing, which wuld be necessary for preventing ‘replacement’. Obviously this wouldn’t apply to rich Texans who can do what the hell they like re: abortion, but could easily be enforced on not-rich white Texan women, who are simply cannon-fodder in the war on both POC and women, in order to fulfil which Texan agenda: ‘We will not be replaced’, or ‘Every sperm [whether white or POC] is sacred’?
Scout211
@EmDeeBee:
I agree that using “Republican” in the headline just makes it a “partisan” issue in many peoples’ minds and some will then ignore the rest. My choice at #10 used “Texas law” because it is a LAW right now and not just a Republican “issue.” But I like your suggestion of using SCOTUS. That is even bigger than “Republicans” or “Texas law.”
In my opinion, this headline or meme needs to be a punch in the gut to every member of every family. Men especially need to feel that this law affects them and their family’s health and reproductive choices. It doesn’t just affect women, it affects whole families.
stinger
@WaterGirl: Not sure we can fit all the atrocities of this law into one meme/bumper sticker/headline. We need multiple winners here!
GOP: “Prove your miscarriage wasn’t an abortion”
GOP: “Miscarry? Get sued for $10K”
stinger
@greenergood: I’ve been thinking this too (but also too late for most on-topic threads), that the GOP is going to give itself whiplash trying to ban abortions while also suppressing POC births.
RedDirtGirl
I haven’t been making any buttons in a while, but it’s time to dust off my machine and get to work!
Califlander
My personal favorite would be “Republicans want to investigate your miscarriage.”
Whatever your favorite, though, I’d encourage you to phrase it to make clear this was a Republican idea. Blaming “Texas” or “the Supreme Court” isn’t exactly wrong, but it doesn’t inflict the political pain the jackasses who wrote this law need to suffer.
Lulymay
@Miss Bianca:
I heard a term the other day that seems appropriate:
“talibangelicals”
If you think about it, this latest initiative out of Texas is getting pretty close to the changes being implemented in Afghanistan. Next will be women/girls’ access to higher education. It all fits so neatly into their belief system. Voting rights will be a larger issue as well, given their latest foray into the recent disenfranchisement of many Texas citizens.
The march is on, and who or what is going to stop them? So far, the Supreme Court doesn’t look too anxious to stand in the batter’s box.
RedDirtGirl
There is an amazing political cartoon you a woman at the WaPo from when Roy Moore was running for office. The silhouette of the GOP elephant with its trunk going up the skirt of a young girl. I’d love to see something like that!
Inspectrix
I vote for #5. Texas Law Authorizes Vigilante Enforcement of Radical Pregnancy Law
This law is monetizing uterine monitoring by strangers. Miscarriages are normal, abortions are normal, and keeping those private is a right. I should have access to contraception and abortion for whatever reason. That reason need not be rape, incest, or medical emergency. It just has to be the best decision for me in that moment.
I like calling it a “pregnancy” law for messaging since abortion is just part of this.
I am so fucking angry that we have to resurrect Get Your Laws Off My Body messages for our reproductive rights, while the same bad actors are freaking out about mask mandates during a public health emergency.
JB
@Califlander:
“Republicans want to investigate your miscarriage” is very good.
Regarding some other people’s comments about whether to mention Texas or Republicans, I agree that you may or may not want to include them, depending on who you’re talking to, where, and when.
WaterGirl
I have whittled the list down from 117 to 25. Please everyone pick your top 5.
1 Texas Law Requires Women to Prove Miscarriage Was not Intentional
2 Texas Law Forces Women to Defend Their Miscarriages
3 SCOTUS ruling sends Texas women to court to defend miscarriages
4 Texas Law Authorizes Vigilante Enforcement of Radical Pregnancy Law
5 Texas law incentivizes busybodies to scrutinize every miscarriage
6 Texas Republicans Authorize Vigilante Enforcement of Radical Pregnancy Law
7 Texas Pregnancy Monitoring Law Incentivizes Malicious Targeting of Any Woman
8 It isn’t just your neighbor who will report you. It’s your father or your brother or your -ex. Monstrous.
9 Skipped menstrual period by any female in Texas now grounds for legal action and financial penalties
10 Have a Miscarriage (God’s Will), Get Sued (by your neighbors, enemies, out of state randos or even your own pastor).
11 Texas Pregnancy Monitoring Law Gets Supreme Court Blessing
12 Texas Republicans force grieving women to defend their miscarriages
13 Texas Republicans force grieving women to justify their miscarriages to strangers
14 Supreme Court defies/ignores/violates Roe to allow vigilantes to stalk pregnant women
15 Prove your miscarriage isn’t an abortion” says Texas government
16 Texas Law Requires Grieving Women to Prove Miscarriage Was not Intentional
17 Texas Law: Prove your miscarriage isn’t an abortion
18 Texas Law: Prove your miscarriage isn’t an abortion, to anybody who decides they want to sue.
19 New Texas Law: Miscarriage of Justice.
20 Texas Republicans deputize vigilantes and bounty hunters to make you prove your miscarriage isn’t an abortion
21 Would you sue your neighbor for their miscarriage? (12)
22 Prove your miscarriage wasn’t an abortion
23 Texas Law: Miss a period, prove you didn’t have an abortion
24 Texas Law force grieving women to justify their miscarriages to strangers
25 Republicans want to investigate your miscarriage
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: We can worry later about details like whether to say “Texas Law” or “Republicans” or “GOP”.
For now maybe let’s think about more about the content than the identifies?
WaterGirl
I also think these 5 could make good memes, but they would be geared more toward spreading the word and getting media to pay attention to how pissed and appalled we are.
1 Handmaid’s Tale, Texas style
2 Texas: Have a Miscarriage, Get Sued
3 Texas: Miss a Period, Get Sued
4 Texas Taliban
5 Texas Female Inequality Act
That will be gratifying, but I would still argue that our primary goal should informing the people who are not already appalled. NPR tote bag people, low information voters, “normies”.
Leslie
3, 12, 15, 21, 25
Leslie
Also, I don’t know who Don Winslow is, but I just saw this ad on Twitter.
WaterGirl
@Leslie: Wow. I will front page this ad if no one else does.
WaterGirl
It looks like this thread may be dead, so I will put up a separate post for voting tomorrow.
Ruckus
I don’t think most of them catch the overall intent of the law. Yes it is insidious by any of the headlines, but the overall intent is to all women over what 9 or 10 and under 60, not just those obviously pregnant.
How does anyone know a woman is pregnant in the first 6 weeks? Often including the woman. I’m not a female but I’ve lived with them and can say unequivocally that many females bodies can not tell time all that well, if based upon their periods. So this law effectively boils down to an extremely invasive conquest to tell if a woman is on her period on schedule. And as menstruation starts when it starts, often well in advance of the age of consent, this law will affect female children as well a adults.
This is law that is in absolute opposition to what this country is supposed to stand for, that which so many countries have avoided at all costs, the freedom of being human, having a choice over our bodies. It lends massive credence to the bullshit concept that the female half of our population does not have full citizenship. To discuss it only in terms of pregnancy is to lend it more credence than it deserves, which is none.
Glidwrith
Wag at #11 and JB at comment #20 has my vote
Glidwrith
@WaterGirl: Angry Black Lady Imani takes great exception to calling these folks Taliban or Y’all Queda-says it perpetuates racist memes. Not being a minority myself, I’m not sure I understand, but if she is seriously against it, I’m not going to use those descriptions anymore. As she says, call them what they are: Christian Fascists.
KSinMA
TX to Women: Drop Dead
Nancy
Texas Forced Pregnancy Law