Radical Republican House of Representatives member Glenn Thompson voted last week to prevent same-sex couples from having the right to marriage, then just a few days later, attends his own son’s same sex marriage. Meidas Contributor Texas Paul reacts and shows us a secret recording from the wedding.
Comedian Jon Stewart slammed Republican senators Thursday after they blocked the passage of a bill that would expand health care coverage for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins during their service. Francis Maxwell reports.
A brilliant ad released by the Mothers Against Greg Abbott clearly shows the emotional and traumatizing experience women go through while trying to access reproductive care in states with abortion bans and trigger laws. The doctor in the ad says only one man can make the decision for a woman to have a medically induced abortion, and that man just happens to be Gregg Abbott, the governor of Texas. Ana Kasparian and Farron Cousins discuss on The Young Turks.
Today we’re going to talk about the Gender Critical movement, why their views on science and social issues are wrong, and what the real problems are that we should all be concerned about. Spoiler alert, violent hate crimes and discrimination are more important than guessing people’s chromosomes.
A group of Texas Republican legislators sent a letter to one of the biggest law firms in the U.S. threatening the company and its lawyers with disbarment and prosecution if they facilitate abortions, even outside of Texas, according to a report. The letter says the 11 members of the Texas Freedom Caucus have become aware of Sidley Austin “reimbursing travel costs of employees who leave Texas to murder their unborn children.”
Rep. Mayes Middleton, the Chair of the Caucus who signed the letter, warns Sidley Austin abortion is a felony in Texas unless the mother’s life is in danger. Middleton notes the law covers “drug-induced abortions if any part of the drug regimen is ingested in Texas, even if the drugs were dispensed by an out-of-state abortionist.” Middleton threatens, if Sidley Austin violates the law, the firm and all of the partners will be subject to criminal prosecution and disbarment.
A group of Texas Republican legislators sent a letter to one of the biggest law firms in the U.S. threatening the company and its lawyers with disbarment and prosecution if they facilitate abortions, even outside of Texas.https://t.co/KCKJnwULNj
Given that the vast majority of Americans are in favor of abortion rights, abortion rights need to be a “front and center” issue in Democratic campaign ads leading up to the November elections.
Are you a woman? Are you going to vote for a political party that doesn’t trust you with regard to your personal decisions? A party that doesn’t want you to have freedom to control what you do with your body?
And the anti-Semitic/fascist fringe has gone all in for Mastriano. One of his major consultants is Gab CEO Andrew Torba, who stated that non-Christians are not welcome in their campaign, and even stated that right-wing Jewish commentators like Ben Shapiro and Dave Rubin are not welcome “unless you repent and renounce your Jewish faith”. Gab is a neo-Nazi site which helped inspire the Tree of Life mass shooting in Pittsburgh.
I appreciate your optimism, Ross. Wish I could share in it but I’m not quite there. Perhaps the Roe decision will in fact help the Democrats in November. Perhaps.
I’m pinning my hopes on some sort of mega-bombshell coming out of the 1/6 Committee. Something really really big that totally occupies the airwaves and sends the Rethugs running.
Imo something like that is our best hope of preventing the seditionists from winning back control of the House.
But it may not matter. SCOTUS looks likely to allow states to throw out election results they don’t like without having to prove fraud or whatever BS excuse they are using. Just a vote in the legislature would be enough. That on top of voter suppression efforts (we ain’t seen nothin’ yet!) will mean that the majority’s opinion doesn’t matter.
Its all about creative semantics. Oh, that money is not for an abortion, its for the excellent work that she does for the firm. She has the best penmanship that we have ever seen. In fact, we are sending her to our Chicago office for 3 months to show them how pretty she can write.
They can say “Due to HIPPA laws, we are not allowed to ask why our employees had medication or medial procedures. Also, due to HIPPA laws, you can’t ask a woman or her out-of-state doctor what medical procedures were done [legally] out of state.
I heard someone comment that women at these type of white-collar companies won’t really use this benefit, because they don’t really want to let their employer know they had an abortion. It’s really lower-income people who need the benefit. But is a nice benefit to offer to signal employees that they support their rights.
“We decided she could really use a nice long weekend retreat” – hell, the gop has tons of vague phrases they’ve used for decades to get abortions for mistresses without admitting to it, I’m sure there’s a cheat sheet that can be copied…
Remember this was for older kids, and the parents could have just withdrawn from the classes. At the school board hearing there was 38 parents / students who wanted the books used and the classes given. Four parents were against it and only three of them spoke. Yet the maga minority got their way. Because of the way the law is written any parent can sue and get big money from the school district and the school personal personally. Same as the abortion laws, designed to cast fear of ruin for doing what the maga minority disapproves of. Hugs
CNN’s Alisyn Camerota talks to Miami-Dade School Board member Luisa Santos, who says there will be no sex education in Miami-Dade County schools because of controversy against the use of new textbooks.
The ad, released Monday by Mothers Against Greg Abbott PAC, shows a doctor explaining to an expectant couple that their new child will be born with a “catastrophic brain abnormality” and will only be able to survive a few hours after birth.
The crying mother then starts to consider the available options only to have the doctor tell her that “here is only one person who can make this choice, and that person is Greg.” The father wonders, understandably, “Who the fuck is Greg?”
The doctor then opens a locker with the face of the Republican governor and grabs a red phone and places a call. After a brief conversation, the doctor hangs up the phone and tells the parents, “Yeah, that’s gonna be a no. Best of luck to you.”
Read the full article. Watch both ads below. The second one went viral on Twitter last week.
A better one might be: “your fetus is going to die and you will probably die too.” “What can we do?” “It’s up to Greg… he says ‘sorry, best of luck but it’s in God’s hands now. Doctors are prohibited from helping you.’”
A horse dewormer and treatment for some human parasites, ivermectin was initially promoted, despite the lack of research, as a way to treat or prevent Covid infections. Now it is increasingly being marketed for long Covid, pushed by physicians with ties to political groups spreading anti-vaccine and anti-science messaging.
There’s no credible evidence that supports ivermectin’s use for this purpose, and doctors at long-hauler clinics say they frequently see patients who’ve tried the drug without relief. But anecdotes of ivermectin working as a miracle cure swirl around social media, repeatedly referenced on Facebook groups for people suffering from long Covid.
Two physician-led groups, America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) and Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), have been particularly active in promoting the drug, charging a minimum of $90 — and up to $1,650 to meet with the founder of the alliance — for online appointments to get an ivermectin prescription.
The leaders of groups promoting ivermectin for long Covid have achieved large followings on social media through ties to right-wing political organizations and Trump administration officials. https://t.co/erjXbsJqJE
While YouTube has started deleting videos promoting false information on abortion, the South Carolina Senate introduced a new bill that strives to block Internet users from talking about abortion truthfully online.
Known as the “Equal Protection at Conception—No Exceptions—Act,” the bill would ban any website from hosting or publishing any information about accessing or self-inducing abortion “knowing that the information will be used, or is reasonably likely to be used, for an abortion.”
Specifically, the bill restricts “providing information to a pregnant woman, or someone seeking information on behalf of a pregnant woman, by telephone, Internet, or any other mode of communication.” That includes restrictions against providing abortion referral services, including to doulas performing abortions, as well as hosting or maintaining a website that’s “purposefully directed to a pregnant woman” living in South Carolina. Less specifically, the bill notes that further restrictions will apply once the law becomes enforced.
The law is not designed to prosecute pregnant people—the one linked here does that—but instead expands the web of punishment by targeting the people who attempt to “aid and abet” an abortion. If it’s passed, felony charges could be brought against anyone who violates, attempts to violate, or threatens to violate the law by a range of stakeholders, including the state attorney general, solicitors, the father or grandparents of the unborn child, or the parents or legal guardians of pregnant minors. The punishment for the crime is the same for anyone who performs or induces abortion “knowingly or intentionally”: imprisonment “for not more than 25 years if the unborn child dies as a result of the violation” or “not more than 20 years if the unborn child is born alive despite the violation.”
In addition to these restrictions, the bill paints abortion providers as an organized crime syndicate that must be regulated as such and abortion pills as a street drug that senators predict will be trafficked like fentanyl.
No one’s sure yet if the bill will stand, even if it manages to get through the state legislature and to South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster’s desk to sign. Wired reported that any states restricting access to abortion pills would face challenges from the Food and Drug Administration, which has defended the legality of mail-ordering pills. And President Joe Biden says that pharmacies not filling abortion pill prescriptions violate civil rights laws. There are also First Amendment concerns. The Washington Post reported that “there’s broad uncertainty about how courts would interpret such bills,” but legal scholars say that regardless, the South Carolina bill will likely be “a harbinger of other state measures, which may restrict communication and speech as they seek to curtail abortion.” The bill notes that if any section is deemed unconstitutional, the rest of the sections will remain valid unless also successfully challenged in court.
McMaster and state senators sponsoring the bill did not immediately respond to Ars’ requests for comment. Because the legislation is not yet active, a spokesperson for online civil rights nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation tells Ars that they do not yet have an official position on the bill.
Proposed abortion laws broaden political divide
SC’s proposed “No Exceptions” Act is the most recent in a dizzying array of proposed laws seeking to regulate abortion more stringently since the Dobbs decision. Some states, like Louisiana, tried and failed to make abortion punishable by death, while Republicans in Idaho announced their party platform wouldn’t make abortion exceptions for pregnant people whose lives become endangered. The Washington Post reported that more Republicans are ready to do away with rape or incest exceptions, too.
A recent viral tweet also caused a stir by calling attention to a stalled North Carolina bill introduced last year that declared abortion would be treated like first-degree murder, punishable by death, and made provisions so that lethal force could be used to prevent someone from seeking an abortion. That’s seemingly not a looming reality right now, but it does show how extreme proposed laws can go to disregard the life of the pregnant person when restricting abortion.
Meanwhile, Congress is currently debating the “My Body, My Data Act” introduced last month, which attempts to restrict companies from sharing reproductive health data that could serve as evidence in states enforcing stricter regulations. Last month, President Biden said he would also support making an exception to the filibuster so that Democrats could more easily pass legislation protecting abortion access nationwide.
Wow they are not even allowed to tell you where to find the information or what shelf the books are on. Talk about paranoia from the party of small government. This is the party that claims cancel culture and censorship. What a police state where you cannot even talk publicly about some subjects to your own family without risk of losing a lot of money. I am reminded of the old USSR and East Berlin. Hugs
Oklahoma City-area library employees were told Thursday to steer clear of offering any advice about abortion to patrons seeking information about the procedure in the wake of multiple abortion bans in the state.
It’s unclear if library employees would face lawsuits under Oklahoma’s House Bill 4327 or Senate Bill 1503, which allow private citizens to bring lawsuits against someone who performs an abortion or “aids or abets” someone in getting an abortion.
But the new Metropolitan Library System policy is an example of the confusion and fear surrounding Oklahoma’s multiple laws and how they may be interpreted.
A report by Vice cited an email and meeting notes that told employees they couldn’t discuss abortion or help with any abortion-related searches. This guidance was a placeholder until legal counsel had formed official guidelines, Metropolitan Library System Director Larry White said.
White emailed library employees Thursday morning and said they can provide factual information about abortion — what the procedure is, for example, or what Oklahoma laws say about abortion. But employees should not offer opinions, medical or legal advice, or “actively assist anyone in breaking the laws of Oklahoma,” according to White’s email.
White said the library is balancing protecting staff and complying with state law with its responsibility to provide information without censorship. White said employees raised concerns about their civil liability and said he doesn’t know if helping a guest find out where to receive an abortion would be considered aiding or abetting.
“That’s a question we do not know the answer to being that this is a new law,” White said. “There are no cases, there’s (nothing) … about how it’s going to be applied. … Being that we would be providing factual information, I don’t know that there would potentially be a problem, but … there is that possibility.”
The library is also “tightening” its technology security and record keeping to ensure anonymity to anyone using its computers.
“Legal advice suggests that if a guest uses our public technology in our locations to access information on this topic on their own, we shouldn’t bear civil liability for those actions,” the email from White said.
The Metropolitan Library System consists of 19 libraries throughout Oklahoma County, with branches in Oklahoma City and neighboring towns like Bethany, Edmond, Midwest City, Del City and Choctaw.
‘An example of the tremendous fear’
Oklahoma is operating under several overlapping, and in some cases contradictory, abortion bans.
The state’s multiple laws include exceptions that allow doctors to provide an abortion in the event of a medical emergency, but different laws have different definitions of a medical emergency. That can mean confusion for health care workers and devastating consequences for patients, said Rabia Muqaddam, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights.
The laws also create confusion among people who work outside of health care, she said.
“What can they do in their communities? What can they tell people who are their family and friends? What can they tell people they come across in their professional life?” she said. “I think the library policy is an example of the tremendous fear and lack of certainty there is about sharing information related to abortion care.”
Some of that uncertainty comes from language in two of Oklahoma’s abortion laws, House Bill 4327 and Senate Bill 1503, which allow private citizens to bring lawsuits against anyone who performs an abortion or “aids and abets” someone in accessing an abortion.
The laws don’t define what counts as aiding or abetting.
“The problem really is, no one really knows what you have to aid and abet to come within the ambit of the law,” Muqaddam said.
New Oklahoma City library guidelines meant to reflect employees ‘neutrality’
Since Oklahoma’s law halting abortions went into effect, White said he’s not aware of library staff fielding any questions about abortions or abortion services.
But the possibility of that — including any persons or groups asking for information just to report library employees — prompted White to create guidelines employees could follow.
The library is a “neutral source of information,” White said, and the new guidelines regarding abortion information reflect that. But he’s not certain whether that would shield the library and its employees from lawsuits.
“We don’t know for sure that even if we just give answers to factual questions that we would be beyond reach of something,” White said.
Bill Young, the public information manager for the state Department of Libraries, said the department isn’t aware of other state library systems that have established guidelines on the issue. The state department may provide its own guidance in the future, but Young encouraged local library systems to consult their library boards and legal counsel for official guidance.
“(Oklahoma City’s) advice is a reflection of how librarians, as information professionals, approach reference questions every day,” Young said in an email. “We do not provide legal or medical advice.”
Vice also reported that an email was sent to some Metropolitan Library System employees that said those who disregarded the guidance and were sued would lose their job. White said he doesn’t know who sent that email and that he never said employees were in danger of being fired.
“The purpose of these laws is to generate fear in addition to banning abortion, and to chill people in supporting even the people that they love and care about in accessing health care,” said Muqaddam, with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is among the groups challenging Oklahoma abortion laws. “It’s unfortunately, I think, going to be an increasing problem in Oklahoma if we’re not able to get these laws blocked.”
The groups are challenging both HB 4327 and SB 1503, as well as a century-old law revived by Oklahoma’s “trigger” ban.
The day Roe v. Wade was overturned, Oklahoma leaders quickly set into effect the trigger ban, which allowed the state to reinstate a 1910 law that made performing an abortion a felony, except to save the life of the mother.
In August, another state law is set to go into effect that would also classify performing an abortion as a felony, but with harsher penalties: up to 10 years in prison or fines of up to $100,000.
That one, Senate Bill 612, is also being challenged by reproductive rights organizations.
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