Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights per draft opinion (Update: Dobbs opinion official) (1 Viewer)

[LovesMusic7360]

Not long ago Kari Lake proclaimed Arizona's abortion law was a great law and wanted it the law of the state.

Now that she has gotten her way, she is lobbying for it to be repealed.

As I have been saying since 2022, the overwhelming vast majority of women aren't going to vote for the man who proudly boasts that he got rid of Roe V. Wade. Nor are those women going to vote for a forced birther politician.

Turns out, republican belief in "pro life" was all just lies to get votes. Who is surprised? I sure am not.

How many forced birthers will do the same about face?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/ka ... r-BB1ltx3I.

Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake is actively lobbying state lawmakers to overturn a 160-year-old law she once supported that bans abortion in almost all cases, a source with knowledge of her efforts told CNN.

 

[coldseat]

An Idaho hospital has planned to stop delivering babies, with the medical center’s managers citing increasing criminalization of physicians and the inability to retain pediatricians as major reasons.

Bonner General Health, the only hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, announced on Friday that it would no longer provide labor, delivery and a host of other obstetrical services.

The more than 9,000 residents of Sandpoint are now forced to drive 46 miles for the nearest labor and delivery care, the Idaho Statesman reported.

In a statement, the hospital’s leadership said that the decision to eliminate the obstetrics unit stemmed from the “political climate” in Idaho.

“Highly respected, talented physicians are leaving. Recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult,” hospital officials said in a press release……

Idaho hospital to stop delivering babies as doctors flee over abortion ban

Near-total ban on abortions is driving doctors away, hospital says, leading to lack of nearby labor and delivery care for thousands

www.theguardian.com

That's what hospitals in those backwards states are going to have to start doing. Good for them for making the smart decision and stating the reason clearly. That's what he people of that state deserve for electing the government that they have.

 

[Taurus]

An Idaho hospital has planned to stop delivering babies, with the medical center’s managers citing increasing criminalization of physicians and the inability to retain pediatricians as major reasons.

Bonner General Health, the only hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, announced on Friday that it would no longer provide labor, delivery and a host of other obstetrical services.

The more than 9,000 residents of Sandpoint are now forced to drive 46 miles for the nearest labor and delivery care, the Idaho Statesman reported.

In a statement, the hospital’s leadership said that the decision to eliminate the obstetrics unit stemmed from the “political climate” in Idaho.

“Highly respected, talented physicians are leaving. Recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult,” hospital officials said in a press release……

Idaho hospital to stop delivering babies as doctors flee over abortion ban

Near-total ban on abortions is driving doctors away, hospital says, leading to lack of nearby labor and delivery care for thousands

www.theguardian.com

Newport, Washington is only 30 miles. They must mean the nearest hospital in Idaho.

I imagine places like Newport, Liberty Lake/Spokane and Clarkston are going to start seeing a surge in medical refugees seeking the kinds of care they can't get at home.

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

Newport, Washington is only 30 miles. They must mean the nearest hospital in Idaho.

I imagine places like Newport, Liberty Lake/Spokane and Clarkston are going to start seeing a surge in medical refugees seeking the kinds of care they can't get at home.

Couldn't that cause an issue with insurance? Does using your insurance out of state for non emergencies cause a higher out of network decuctible? I am no expert on health insurance, but i thought i heard that somewhere.

 

[Taurus]

Couldn't that cause an issue with insurance? Does using your insurance out of state for non emergencies cause a higher out of network decuctible? I am no expert on health insurance, but i thought i heard that somewhere.

It depends on the carrier. Some don't recognize state lines vis-a-vis coverage, some do. With some it's more related to a region like the PNW where Oregon, Washington and Idaho would all be considered one location, whereas if you went to Utah, it'd be out-of-network.

Idaho is a beautiful state. The fishing, hunting and scenery are second to none. It's just too bad the state legislature represents the culmination of Ronald Reagan's philosphy where cold indifference is the best you can hope for from your government.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Good but sad article
================

Dr Leah Torres doesn’t tell people what she does when she meets them, which makes it hard to make friends. She removes her name from every piece of trash before she puts it out for recycling, in case people walking past see her name and find out where she lives. If a package addressed to her arrives on her porch, she calls everyone she knows to identify who sent it before she opens it – it could be a bomb.

Once, coming back from work in the piercing August Alabama sun, she noticed a gray sedan parked in her driveway. Instinctively, she fled to a neighbor’s house – she barely knew him – but asked if he could walk her home anyway. The car turned out to be a stranger’s; the driver had just pulled over to send a text message. “Still, you never know,” says Torres, her big, almond-shaped eyes conveying concern.

She’s not paranoid. Torres is an abortion doctor in the state of Alabama, where abortion is now illegal except in life-threatening situations. She’s one of the many doctors increasingly targeted by lawmakers, protesters, conservative news outlets and social media, even more so now that abortion is no longer legal in much of the US……

It was 11am on a Thursday when two men presented themselves in the lounge of the West Alabama Women’s Center, asking to see the clinic’s doctor. Torres led the two men down the hall to one of the center’s offices. Inside, the air was stuffy, the windows carpeted by heavy 1940s drapes that deny all sun – a helpful privacy feature.

The men revealed themselves to be investigators sent by the state. One solemnly informed Torres of her predicament: she was being stripped of her license to practice medicine, pending an investigation by the Alabama board of medical examiners.

Torres was being accused of fraud. Scott Sides, one of the investigators, informed her she had made errors in her application for a medical license. The hearing was set for 21 December 2020, four months in the future, when she would be able to argue her case. Until then, she couldn’t practice as a doctor.

“That’s too far out,” she said, the first note of panic registering in her otherwise calm demeanor. “For my livelihood,” she clarified, more deep-set in tone.

Investigator Sides’ voice sounded gentle, even apologetic, as he informed her that she would have to complain through an attorney if she wanted her hearing moved closer.

Torres noticed Sides’ hands – soft-skinned, supple, a bureaucrat’s hands – were shaking as he handed her the papers to sign. The whole process struck Torres as strange; she had read about doctors accused of sex offenses in her state who had not been suspended before an investigation confirmed their guilt.

“I think he knew what he was doing was wrong,” Torres says now.

The officers left, but not before taking Torres’ physical license with them………

She was one of Alabama’s last abortion doctors. Then they came for everything she had

Dr Leah Torres has endured the ire of the anti-abortion movement without backing down – but now she faces her most daunting challenge

www.theguardian.com

 

[Booker]

Good but sad article
================

Dr Leah Torres doesn’t tell people what she does when she meets them, which makes it hard to make friends. She removes her name from every piece of trash before she puts it out for recycling, in case people walking past see her name and find out where she lives. If a package addressed to her arrives on her porch, she calls everyone she knows to identify who sent it before she opens it – it could be a bomb.

Once, coming back from work in the piercing August Alabama sun, she noticed a gray sedan parked in her driveway. Instinctively, she fled to a neighbor’s house – she barely knew him – but asked if he could walk her home anyway. The car turned out to be a stranger’s; the driver had just pulled over to send a text message. “Still, you never know,” says Torres, her big, almond-shaped eyes conveying concern.

She’s not paranoid. Torres is an abortion doctor in the state of Alabama, where abortion is now illegal except in life-threatening situations. She’s one of the many doctors increasingly targeted by lawmakers, protesters, conservative news outlets and social media, even more so now that abortion is no longer legal in much of the US……

It was 11am on a Thursday when two men presented themselves in the lounge of the West Alabama Women’s Center, asking to see the clinic’s doctor. Torres led the two men down the hall to one of the center’s offices. Inside, the air was stuffy, the windows carpeted by heavy 1940s drapes that deny all sun – a helpful privacy feature.

The men revealed themselves to be investigators sent by the state. One solemnly informed Torres of her predicament: she was being stripped of her license to practice medicine, pending an investigation by the Alabama board of medical examiners.

Torres was being accused of fraud. Scott Sides, one of the investigators, informed her she had made errors in her application for a medical license. The hearing was set for 21 December 2020, four months in the future, when she would be able to argue her case. Until then, she couldn’t practice as a doctor.

“That’s too far out,” she said, the first note of panic registering in her otherwise calm demeanor. “For my livelihood,” she clarified, more deep-set in tone.

Investigator Sides’ voice sounded gentle, even apologetic, as he informed her that she would have to complain through an attorney if she wanted her hearing moved closer.

Torres noticed Sides’ hands – soft-skinned, supple, a bureaucrat’s hands – were shaking as he handed her the papers to sign. The whole process struck Torres as strange; she had read about doctors accused of sex offenses in her state who had not been suspended before an investigation confirmed their guilt.

“I think he knew what he was doing was wrong,” Torres says now.

The officers left, but not before taking Torres’ physical license with them………

She was one of Alabama’s last abortion doctors. Then they came for everything she had

Dr Leah Torres has endured the ire of the anti-abortion movement without backing down – but now she faces her most daunting challenge

www.theguardian.com

fork Alabama. What a complete forking shirthole.

 

[Optimus Prime]

This could have gone in a number of threads
===============================

In the December 2022 print edition of The New Republic, I explored the possible futures the United States could face under the anti-democratic pressures it is now experiencing. One of the more likely outcomes was a “Two Americas” scenario, where the Supreme Court broadly upheld states’ rights, and red states were unable (or unwilling) to press the issue of turning California into a legal clone of Alabama or Florida.

Only three months later, both red and blue states are vigorously pursuing a path that makes such an outcome less possible and makes one of the nastier options (some form of secession or Hungarian-style autocracy) seem far more likely.

States are passing laws that will force numerous Supreme Court conflicts, in which the court will have to pick one side or another. There is no Chief Justice Roberts–friendly middle way out. Examples of this include the upcoming decision on the abortion pill mifepristone, states trying to force insurers to drop abortion coverage and transgender health coverage nationally, and laws facilitating the kidnapping of transgender youth.

Blue states have been passing abortion sanctuary laws in response to abortion bans across the U.S. New Mexico Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order blocking investigations into people seeking abortions in that state, and the New Mexico legislature is on the verge of passing a law guaranteeing access to abortion and gender-affirming care.

At the same time, states like Texas are already telegraphing that they intend to make it a crime to travel to other states for an abortion, and the Heritage Foundation is making it clear that opposition to sanctuary laws is a top priority.

So: What happens when Texas makes it a felony to travel to New Mexico to access these services? Or invokes the Comstock Act to prevent internet service providers and phone companies from allowing people in Texas to look up or call abortion organizations?

Texas could use Senate Bill 7–style laws, laws that cannot effectively be challenged in court, to allow people in Texas to sue women leaving the state to get an abortion. This effectively criminalizes the act of leaving the state to seek an abortion, and it leads inevitably to a situation where a woman leaves Texas, gets an abortion, and cannot or does not return.

The resulting extradition fight will inevitably go straight to the Supreme Court, which will not be pulling a King Solomon. The court will have to decide for one side or the other, and it is going to infuriate the losing side. If the court sides with New Mexico, it will empower voices like Marjorie Taylor Greene’s, calling for secession.

If it sides with Texas, it will set off a panic in blue states, which will realize that they no longer have control over their own state laws and are at the mercy of unaccountable Christian nationalists thousands of miles away. Framed as a battle between the rights of red states and blue states, it seems obvious which one this conservative-leaning Supreme Court will side with.............

Again: Blue states are either going to be forced to accept the control and hegemony of hyperpartisan judges in other states dictating their local law and policy, or they will decide to bypass or ignore the federal courts. Given Governor Gavin Newsom’s nuclear response to Walgreens’s refusal to fill mifepristone prescriptions in California, it seems highly unlikely that he will quietly accept the termination of California’s access to most abortions.

When—not if—this happens, we’re already into the “soft secession” scenario. Similarly, given how hard red states are pushing laws that hamstring women’s health and transgender health, it seems unlikely that red states will tolerate a status quo. They will almost certainly force the matter further..........

Why We’re Barreling Toward a Legal War Between the States

Red states are passing laws to advance their culture war. Blue states are passing laws to stop it. The Supreme Court is going to have to decide, and there is no compromise position.

newrepublic.com

 

[coldseat]

This could have gone in a number of threads
===============================

In the December 2022 print edition of The New Republic, I explored the possible futures the United States could face under the anti-democratic pressures it is now experiencing. One of the more likely outcomes was a “Two Americas” scenario, where the Supreme Court broadly upheld states’ rights, and red states were unable (or unwilling) to press the issue of turning California into a legal clone of Alabama or Florida.

Only three months later, both red and blue states are vigorously pursuing a path that makes such an outcome less possible and makes one of the nastier options (some form of secession or Hungarian-style autocracy) seem far more likely.

States are passing laws that will force numerous Supreme Court conflicts, in which the court will have to pick one side or another. There is no Chief Justice Roberts–friendly middle way out. Examples of this include the upcoming decision on the abortion pill mifepristone, states trying to force insurers to drop abortion coverage and transgender health coverage nationally, and laws facilitating the kidnapping of transgender youth.

Blue states have been passing abortion sanctuary laws in response to abortion bans across the U.S. New Mexico Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order blocking investigations into people seeking abortions in that state, and the New Mexico legislature is on the verge of passing a law guaranteeing access to abortion and gender-affirming care.

At the same time, states like Texas are already telegraphing that they intend to make it a crime to travel to other states for an abortion, and the Heritage Foundation is making it clear that opposition to sanctuary laws is a top priority.

So: What happens when Texas makes it a felony to travel to New Mexico to access these services? Or invokes the Comstock Act to prevent internet service providers and phone companies from allowing people in Texas to look up or call abortion organizations?

Texas could use Senate Bill 7–style laws, laws that cannot effectively be challenged in court, to allow people in Texas to sue women leaving the state to get an abortion. This effectively criminalizes the act of leaving the state to seek an abortion, and it leads inevitably to a situation where a woman leaves Texas, gets an abortion, and cannot or does not return.

The resulting extradition fight will inevitably go straight to the Supreme Court, which will not be pulling a King Solomon. The court will have to decide for one side or the other, and it is going to infuriate the losing side. If the court sides with New Mexico, it will empower voices like Marjorie Taylor Greene’s, calling for secession.

If it sides with Texas, it will set off a panic in blue states, which will realize that they no longer have control over their own state laws and are at the mercy of unaccountable Christian nationalists thousands of miles away. Framed as a battle between the rights of red states and blue states, it seems obvious which one this conservative-leaning Supreme Court will side with.............

Again: Blue states are either going to be forced to accept the control and hegemony of hyperpartisan judges in other states dictating their local law and policy, or they will decide to bypass or ignore the federal courts. Given Governor Gavin Newsom’s nuclear response to Walgreens’s refusal to fill mifepristone prescriptions in California, it seems highly unlikely that he will quietly accept the termination of California’s access to most abortions.

When—not if—this happens, we’re already into the “soft secession” scenario. Similarly, given how hard red states are pushing laws that hamstring women’s health and transgender health, it seems unlikely that red states will tolerate a status quo. They will almost certainly force the matter further..........

Why We’re Barreling Toward a Legal War Between the States

Red states are passing laws to advance their culture war. Blue states are passing laws to stop it. The Supreme Court is going to have to decide, and there is no compromise position.

newrepublic.com

We can thank the Christian Fascist Supreme Court for all of this upheaval. I'm all down with blue states pushing back as hard as possible and disregarding SC decisions that are unconstitutional and serve to restrict the rights of individuals to placate Christian extremists. When it gets to the point that it is untenable here in Texas, I will pick up and move to a place that is more welcoming and excepting of me and my family.

 

[Optimus Prime]

We can thank the Christian Fascist Supreme Court for all of this upheaval. I'm all down with blue states pushing back as hard as possible and disregarding SC decisions that are unconstitutional and serve to restrict the rights of individuals to placate Christian extremists. When it gets to the point that it is untenable here in Texas, I will pick up and move to a place that is more welcoming and excepting of me and my family.

scary stuff to be sure

and I thought that a bedrock principle of the Republican party was states rights

 

[coldseat]

scary stuff to be sure

and I thought that a bedrock principle of the Republican party was states rights

Psst ..... the bedrock principle of the Republican party is follow our christian/nationalist extremism or we'll force you to. There are no redeeming qualities or stances left in that party.

 

[Booker]

Just further evidence of how damaging the 2016 election of Trump and it's facilitation of McConnell's hijacking of the Supreme Court was to this country.

 

[Booker]

Psst ..... the bedrock principle of the Republican party is follow our christian/nationalist extremism or we'll force you to. There are no redeeming qualities or stances left in that party.

And it was always that way -- they only argued for "States Rights" because they couldn't control the federal government. Now they've gamed the system enough through gerrymandering and court packing that they can do what they want, states rights really aren't that important anymore.

 

[zztop]

In order to spite President Obama, Wyoming GOP wrote into their state Constitution "each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.”

aka when "owning the libs" backfires:

Thanks, Obama! The hilarious reason why a judge just blocked Wyoming’s abortion ban.

Republicans just got a painful reminder that political stunts can backfire.

www.vox.com

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

In order to spite President Obama, Wyoming GOP wrote into their state Constitution "each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.”

aka when "owning the libs" backfires:

Thanks, Obama! The hilarious reason why a judge just blocked Wyoming’s abortion ban.

Republicans just got a painful reminder that political stunts can backfire.

www.vox.com

Thats par for the course for idiots like that.. they mad at their own legislation.

 

[Optimus Prime]

............This is all happening as Texans can’t afford to lose more access to medical care. In 2022, 15 percent of the state’s 254 counties had no doctor, according to data from the state health department, and about two-thirds had no OB-GYN. Texas has one of the most significant physician shortages in the country, with a shortfall that is expected to increase by more than 50 percent over the next decade, according to the state’s projections. The shortage of registered nurses, around 30,000, is expected to nearly double over the same period. Already, Texans in large swaths of the state must drive hours for medical care, including to give birth. According to recent research from the nonprofit March of Dimes, it is among the worst states for maternity care access, which has decreased in a dozen Texas counties in the past two years, mostly due to a loss of obstetrics providers.

This doesn’t yet take into account the effects of increased criminalization of abortion care, which is further compounded by dramatic pandemic-induced burnout among clinicians. As physicians retire, hospitals are struggling to replace them; as nurses burn out or leave for more lucrative travel nursing roles, their positions are sitting open. There have been a string of policies and factors that have stretched providers in Texas for many years, from having the highest uninsured rate in the country to low Medicaid reimbursement rates to the demonization of science to attacks on transgender health care, and now the abortion bans, according to Tom Banning, the CEO of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. “The first rule of holes, when you’re trying to get out of the hole, is to stop digging,” he said. “We just continue to dig the hole that we’re in deeper.”

This is an issue for both urban and rural areas, but it’s felt most acutely outside major metros, where one retirement or move can be the difference between having access to medical care near home or having to drive an extra several hours. The state has experienced the most rural hospital closures in the country in recent years. Less than half of rural hospitals nationwide still have labor and delivery services, according to recent research from the Chartis Center for Rural Health; in Texas, that number is just 40 percent. John Henderson, the president and CEO of the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals, said he gave a presentation this fall for a group of representatives from about 100 rural Texas hospitals where he asked them to raise their hand if they don’t currently have openings for registered nurses.

“There were three out of 100 that were fully staffed, and I was actually surprised that there were three,” he said. “It’s crisis-level staffing for the majority of rural Texas hospitals.” Maternity wards have long been the sacrificial lamb for cash-strapped rural hospitals trying to save money and keep their doors open, but more recently, it’s short staffing that has forced closures and cuts to services in Texas and across the country...........

There’s a Quiet New Crisis in Texas After the Abortion Ban. It Could Get Much Worse.

 

[zztop]

happy easter everyone

 

[DaveXA]

happy easter everyone

I was Catholic growing up and can't recall eggs during Lent. We'd get fish on Fridays but no meat, including eggs. Maybe it varied from family to family or something.

 

[superchuck500]