Taking away people’s right to make their own bodily decisions isn’t very smart.
Rage away…
Another Afternoon Open Thread: RoeVember Is ComingPost + Comments (250)
by TaMara| 250 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Stupidity, The War On Women, Women's Rights Are Human Rights
Taking away people’s right to make their own bodily decisions isn’t very smart.
Rage away…
Another Afternoon Open Thread: RoeVember Is ComingPost + Comments (250)
by TaMara| 40 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, The War On Women
No totality here, but it was lunchtime so I grabbed a colander to have some fun.
In unrelated to anything news, I just started listening to Leslie Fucking Jones which she reads (?) – honestly, it sounds like she’s having tea with you and telling you her story. Her energy and story have been balm for my soul, and I’m only 2 hours in. But I’d still recommend if you like her.
This is an open thread
This post is in: 2024 Elections, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, The War On Women, Women's Rights
The leering degenerate pictured above (the one who is unfortunately still breathing) plans to issue a statement this morning on reproductive rights and women’s bodily autonomy. Here’s the heads up on the Defendant’s wildly overvalued crappy knock-off Twitter site:
Notice anything weird about that message, apart from the mindboggling presumptuousness that would inspire an amoral dullard like that to weigh in on the medical decisions of tens of millions of American women and their doctors? I think maybe it finally dawned on the halfwit that he can’t actually “negotiate” a ban at a gestational cutoff that will “make both sides happy” and bring the country “together,” as he has preposterously suggested in the recent past.
Nope, it sounds like Lumpy is starting to understand that the plurality of anti-abortion fanatics in his party won’t be content with the demise of Roe. They want abortion banned in the U.S., and that deeply unpopular mandate is a threat to their party’s electoral fortunes. Hence the bullshit about “an obligation to the salvation of our Nation” blah blah blah.
It’s fundamentally a defensive message, IMO, a plea to the fanatics not to flip the fuck out and refuse to turnout for the Defendant when he declines to commit political suicide by endorsing an unpopular federal ban or signal approval of the 6-week abortion ban that will go into effect in the Defendant’s adopted home state in a few weeks. Well, good luck with that, Lumpy. Fanatics are by definition irrational.
Open thread.
This post is in: Guest Posts, Healthcare, The War On Women
Today we have an important guest post from Argiope.
The post stands on its own, but this is the fight we’re in, and this tweet is a good example of what we’re up against.
When we say they’re coming for birth control this is what we mean https://t.co/leUiBq7RYe
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) April 3, 2024
by Argiope
Access to mifepristone is about compassion. Combined with misoprostol, it’s the safest and most effective medication for women experiencing miscarriage or who no longer want to be pregnant. In terms of the science, mifepristone is currently over-regulated in the US. It has a 20-year track record of global safety. Currently, though, mifepristone can only be accessed through a special, cumbersome process requiring physicians to maintain clinic-based access to the drug and dispense it from specially ordered supplies. The current case before SCOTUS merely preserves the status quo.
Imagine an alternative world where you could obtain a safe abortion, in the privacy of your own home, from your local primary care physician or midwife. Or, one in which you could get pills administered by your pharmacist.(Hello, Ontario!) In both scenarios, only the people you choose to tell know you had an abortion. No screaming protesters at the doors of the clinic. No doctors worrying about which bullet-proof vest to wear, or which route to take to work, to avoid murderous fanatics.
It’s high time we recognize the power of the US Postal Service. Justices Alito and Thomas certainly have: it’s why they want to bring back the Comstock Act to prohibit mail distribution of these meds. Shaming and punishing people for having abortions—or, let’s face it, sex for pleasure—is impossible, if it’s impossible to know who’s having them or which physical locations to target with stochastic violence.
Now let’s tease out this thread a bit further, in accordance with science, safety, andWorld Health Organization (WHO) guidelines: imagine pregnant people managing their own abortions, without a physician, midwife, nurse, or even local pharmacist being involved. The world where individuals can decide to end their undesired early pregnancy with safe medications, obtained through the mail, is here now. But too few people know about it.
That’s where this near top-10,000 blog comes in: we know people. We know people who live in deep red states that have banned abortion—or, to be more precise, have banned their state’s clinicians from providing abortions. In these states, abortion is still available, but people who want it must either travel for care or do it themselves.
Self-managed abortion using a combination of oral mifepristone and vaginal misoprostol tablets is safe up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. Based on studies from low-medical resource areas around the world, the WHO recommends that pregnant people can:
No ultrasounds. No examinations. Just safe pills and sound information are required.
Most abortions in the US happen by nine weeks.
In regions where people learn about—and have access to— medication abortion by mail, gestational duration is decreasing. In regions where people must travel to a distant clinic for procedural or medication abortions, gestational duration is on the rise. There are reputable web-based services to help people obtain medication abortions by mail, and more are being developed every day: to begin, see see planCpills.org, Aid Access, and I need an A.
Aid Access provides telehealth options where clinicians get involved. PlanCPills.org offers both telehealth options and direct mailing of mifepristone and misoprostol dose packs from vetted overseas pharmacies. Shipment from overseas, though, is slow and cheap. Telehealth is more expensive and fast. In fact, telehealth is typically faster than making an appointment at a nearby clinic.
Access to follow-up care remains important for self-managed and telehealth medication abortion. It’s important to know that no clinician in an emergency or OB department can tell how a miscarriage in progress got started, unless they see pills in the vagina or the patient tells them they were used.
So if someone DIYs their abortion and feels they need help due to uncommon complications, doctors and nurses don’t need to know the issue is associated with medication use because it doesn’t change the course of treatment. In Texas and other ban states, don’t-ask-don’t-tell is sadly back for clinicians.
The rare ones who voluntarily narc on patients to the police or child protective services put patients at risk and betray their ethical obligations. But patients who don’t report pill use are unlikely to be identified during follow-up care, and clinicians can protect their patients when it’s legally possible to do so, through careful documentation.
Safe abortion saves lives and life trajectories, and self-managed abortion with appropriate medications is safe for most people.
So how can you help improve access?
Let’s keep this horse from returning to the barn, no matter what happens in November.
This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, The War On Women, Women's Rights Are Human Rights
Breaking news from the Tampa Bay Times:
TALLAHASSEE — Florida voters will get the chance to vote on protecting abortion access after the Florida Supreme Court on Monday allowed the amendment onto 2024 ballots. But the court on Monday also released an opinion upholding the state’s current 15-week abortion ban.
Upholding the current law triggers a six-week abortion ban that lawmakers approved last year to go into effect. That law offers limited exceptions for rape and incest, and will go into effect 30 days after Monday’s ruling.
The change will disrupt abortion access not only in Florida, but for women across the southeastern U.S., giving them fewer places to turn to for legal abortions in a part of the country where many states ban abortion almost entirely.
Though the court was expected to rule on the abortion amendment because of an April 1 deadline, its decision to release an opinion on the state’s current 15-week ban came as a surprise.
This is a developing story. Check back at tampabay.com for updates.
Every one of the justices is a Republican appointee, and the majority were elevated to the state supreme court by DeSantis. The wingnut wife of one of the judges introduced the 6-week ban bill that DeSantis signed while running for president. (No, the judge didn’t recuse because Republican.)
Consider the contradictions heightened. Will the voters of this state turn out to reject this theocratic bullshit by a margin of 60% or more? I wish I were more confident they would. But at least everything is on the table and the stakes in November are perfectly clear.
Open thread.
by TaMara| 38 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Right to Vote, The War On Women, Vote Like Your Life Depends On It, Women's Rights, Women's Rights Are Human Rights
“Suffs” (short for suffragists) is a new Broadway musical about women’s fight more than a century ago for a “radical” idea: the right to vote. Correspondent Martha Teichner talks with two of the show’s producers, Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, about the importance of art to spread a political message. She also talks with cast members, including the show’s writer and star Shaina Taub, who says “Suffs” has a timely message: “Every generation has to fight to protect these rights and freedoms again and again and again.” @suffsmusical
I honestly had no idea this musical was brewing, but I went looking for a few videos after watching the one above.
Check out the full company in this preview presentation, which includes two songs new to the upcoming Broadway production, featuring a book, music, and lyrics by Shaina Taub.
Shaina Taub, Kim Blanck, Ally Bonino, Hannah Cruz, and Nadia Dandashi perform “Great American Bitch” from Broadway’s new musical Suffs at the historic Cooper Union Great Hall on February 28, 2024. A “remarkable, epic new musical” (Variety) that explores the suffragists’ relentless pursuit of the right to vote. Book, music, and lyrics by Shaina Taub. Directed by Leigh Silverman. Now on Broadway.
Here’s a link to the official YouTube page
This is an open thread
Suffs: The Musical (Bonus Hillary & Malala)Post + Comments (38)
This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift, LGBTQ Rights Are Human Rights, Religion, Republican Venality, Trumpery
You are seen and you are loved. 🏳️🌈
Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility! pic.twitter.com/xrSUbEjC3B
— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) March 31, 2024
The original International Transgender Day of Visibility was organized (in Michigan) in 2009, but President Biden’s White House was the first to issue an official proclamation noting it. This year, because the Christian liturgical calendar is lunar-based and therefore shifts every year, TDOV and Easter fall on the same day. Cue the manufactured outrage from the Wingnut Wurlitzer…
Growing up a religious Catholic, who went to church twice weekly I understand that Easter changes every year and transgender visibility day always occurs on the same date.
This is just making stuff up to be outraged about . https://t.co/4VVeLcBlVY
— Andy Kaczynski (@KFILE) March 30, 2024
Trump, of course, thinks of Easter as a(nother) way to celebrate his favorite form of personal redemption, affinity fraud…
“So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf- which can be yours for the low, low price of five easy installments of $19.99” https://t.co/t68a6p7qZE
— Russell Moore (@drmoore) March 26, 2024
I’m not saying he’s the antichrist, but if God was real and sending someone to test Christians… well, he couldn’t be more obvious about it. https://t.co/piVg5tkULP
— Jean-Michel Connard ??? (@torriangray) March 27, 2024
.@SykesCharlie: It’s Holy Week and Trump decides to grift off the sale of his own Bible. He’s raising money off of it to help pay legal bills related to his troubles with a porn star. You can’t be serious pic.twitter.com/qMj4LtUt66
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) March 27, 2024
In case you forgot, and now that Trump is stooping to selling bibles, here’s Sarah Cooper and her amazing rendition of Trump bibling.?? pic.twitter.com/tjgFuESieP
— ??Laurie (@Laurieluvsmolly) March 30, 2024
Late Night Open Thread: March 31 Is Transgender Day of VisibilityPost + Comments (163)