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Now that she has gotten her way, she is lobbying for it to be repealed.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

 

[Optimus Prime]

So the GOP AG made a big show the other day of rejecting this entire effort because he said a list of paid canvassers had not been filed with them as required. Which prompted Sarah Sanders to say this: “Today the far left pro-abortion crowd in Arkansas showed they are both immoral and incompetent,”

So today, the group proved they had submitted the list and complied with everything. It’s not clear yet if the AG will now accept the ballot initiative or not.

Arkansas officials rejected a ballot initiative that sought to loosen the state’s strict abortion ban, after canvassers delivered more than 101,000 signatures to state offices.

In a letter, the secretary of state, John Thurston, said he would reject the canvassers’ attempt to appear on the November ballot because they failed to submit sworn statements by paid canvassers.

“You did not submit any statements meeting this requirement,” Thurston said in a letter on Wednesday. “By contrast, other sponsors of initiative petitions complied with this requirement. Therefore, I must reject your submission.”


Thurston said that even if he had not rejected the ballot measure for lack of sworn statements by paid canvassers, he would have rejected the signatures they collected.

Of the 101,525 signatures submitted, 14,143 were collected by paid canvassers. Excluding them left campaigners 3,322 signatures short of what is required to appear on the fall ballot.

Republicans in the state cheered the rejection.

“Today is a great day for life in Arkansas,” said Ben Gilmore, an Arkansas state senator. “Life is the most basic God-given human right and Arkansas will continue to protect the lives of our unborn children.”

Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG), reproductive rights canvassers in the state, called the disqualification “ridiculous”, said they worked with the secretary’s office at “multiple junctures” and called the sworn statement requirement an “unfounded legal interpretation”.

“More than 101,000 Arkansans participated in this heroic act of direct democracy and stood up to proclaim their support for access to healthcare,” said AFLG. “They deserve better than a state government that seeks to silence them.

“We will fight this ridiculous disqualification attempt with everything we have. We will not back down.”………

Arkansas rejects initiative seeking to ease abortion ban despite over 100,000 supporters

Secretary of state claims paid canvassers who delivered signatures of support failed to submit sworn statements

www.theguardian.com

 

[LA - L.A.]

So the GOP AG made a big show the other day of rejecting this entire effort because he said a list of paid canvassers had not been filed with them as required. Which prompted Sarah Sanders to say this: “Today the far left pro-abortion crowd in Arkansas showed they are both immoral and incompetent,”

So today, the group proved they had submitted the list and complied with everything. It’s not clear yet if the AG will now accept the ballot initiative or not.

That's going to motivate more people in Arkansas to go vote against Republicans. Don't know how many more, but there will be more.

 

[LA - L.A.]

Arkansas officials rejected a ballot initiative that sought to loosen the state’s strict abortion ban, after canvassers delivered more than 101,000 signatures to state offices.

In a letter, the secretary of state, John Thurston, said he would reject the canvassers’ attempt to appear on the November ballot because they failed to submit sworn statements by paid canvassers.

“You did not submit any statements meeting this requirement,” Thurston said in a letter on Wednesday. “By contrast, other sponsors of initiative petitions complied with this requirement. Therefore, I must reject your submission.”


Thurston said that even if he had not rejected the ballot measure for lack of sworn statements by paid canvassers, he would have rejected the signatures they collected.

Of the 101,525 signatures submitted, 14,143 were collected by paid canvassers. Excluding them left campaigners 3,322 signatures short of what is required to appear on the fall ballot.

Republicans in the state cheered the rejection.

“Today is a great day for life in Arkansas,” said Ben Gilmore, an Arkansas state senator. “Life is the most basic God-given human right and Arkansas will continue to protect the lives of our unborn children.”

Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG), reproductive rights canvassers in the state, called the disqualification “ridiculous”, said they worked with the secretary’s office at “multiple junctures” and called the sworn statement requirement an “unfounded legal interpretation”.

“More than 101,000 Arkansans participated in this heroic act of direct democracy and stood up to proclaim their support for access to healthcare,” said AFLG. “They deserve better than a state government that seeks to silence them.

“We will fight this ridiculous disqualification attempt with everything we have. We will not back down.”………

Arkansas rejects initiative seeking to ease abortion ban despite over 100,000 supporters

Secretary of state claims paid canvassers who delivered signatures of support failed to submit sworn statements

www.theguardian.com

Yeah, definitely going to motivate a lot more Arkansas voters to go vote against Republicans.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Arkansas official rejected valid abortion ballot signatures, lawsuit claims

Group seeking to enshrine rights in state constitution sue secretary of state over ‘refusal to count valid signatures’

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Within minutes of Donald Trump’s announcement that he had tapped Ohio senator JD Vance as his running mate in the 2024 elections, abortion rights groups vociferously condemned the pick.

“A Trump-Vance administration will be the most dangerous administration for abortion and reproductive freedom in this country’s history,” Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, said in a statement.

“By naming Vance to his ticket, Trump made clear that his administration will sign a national abortion ban and put birth control and IVF at risk,” said Jessica Mackler, president of Emily’s List, an organization that supports Democratic women who support abortion rights running for office.


Vance, the venture capitalist turned Hillbilly Elegy author turned GOP standard-bearer, has long opposed abortion.

In 2021, while running for Ohio senate, Vance told an Ohio news outlet that he did not support rape and incest exceptions in abortion bans. “It’s not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term,” he said.

“It’s whether a child should be allowed to live, even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to the society.”

But voters’ outrage over the overturning of Roe v Wade has grown, leading abortion rights supporters to a string of victories at the ballot box, and harnessing that outrage is widely considered Democrats’ best hope for winning the November elections.

As Trump and other Republicans have tried to project a moderated stance on the issue – despite the fact that Trump handpicked three of the supreme court justices who overturned Roe –Vance has also tempered his public position……

A Trump-Vance administration would be ‘the most dangerous’ for abortion rights, say advocates

Rights groups are vociferously condemning Trump’s VP pick of JD Vance, who has long opposed the procedure

www.theguardian.com

 

[MT15]

Within minutes of Donald Trump’s announcement that he had tapped Ohio senator JD Vance as his running mate in the 2024 elections, abortion rights groups vociferously condemned the pick.

“A Trump-Vance administration will be the most dangerous administration for abortion and reproductive freedom in this country’s history,” Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, said in a statement.

“By naming Vance to his ticket, Trump made clear that his administration will sign a national abortion ban and put birth control and IVF at risk,” said Jessica Mackler, president of Emily’s List, an organization that supports Democratic women who support abortion rights running for office.


Vance, the venture capitalist turned Hillbilly Elegy author turned GOP standard-bearer, has long opposed abortion.

In 2021, while running for Ohio senate, Vance told an Ohio news outlet that he did not support rape and incest exceptions in abortion bans. “It’s not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term,” he said.

“It’s whether a child should be allowed to live, even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to the society.”

But voters’ outrage over the overturning of Roe v Wade has grown, leading abortion rights supporters to a string of victories at the ballot box, and harnessing that outrage is widely considered Democrats’ best hope for winning the November elections.

As Trump and other Republicans have tried to project a moderated stance on the issue – despite the fact that Trump handpicked three of the supreme court justices who overturned Roe –Vance has also tempered his public position……

A Trump-Vance administration would be ‘the most dangerous’ for abortion rights, say advocates

Rights groups are vociferously condemning Trump’s VP pick of JD Vance, who has long opposed the procedure

www.theguardian.com

Vance will mealy-mouth his way out of it, but nobody should be fooled.

 

[Optimus Prime]

House Speaker Mike Johnson has rejected the notion that the Republican platform on abortion means that the party is happy for Democratic states to give wide access to abortion.

“I don't think that's what it means at all,” he said, when accessed about abortion access in blue states by Politico on Thursday. “I think it's a recognition of the reality of the politics of the country.”

Johnson continued: “No one who believes in the sanctity of life or calls himself a pro-lifer is comfortable with where some of these blue states are going – almost unlimited abortion access all the way to the end ... to the moment of birth.”

The Republican National Committee platform is not explicitly endorsing a federal ban on abortion, instead leaving the decision to the states.……

Mike Johnson admits he won’t be happy allowing blue states to keep abortion rights

Speaker says Republican platform is a ‘recognition of the reality of the politics of the country’

www.independent.co.uk

 

[MT15]

House Speaker Mike Johnson has rejected the notion that the Republican platform on abortion means that the party is happy for Democratic states to give wide access to abortion.

“I don't think that's what it means at all,” he said, when accessed about abortion access in blue states by Politico on Thursday. “I think it's a recognition of the reality of the politics of the country.”

Johnson continued: “No one who believes in the sanctity of life or calls himself a pro-lifer is comfortable with where some of these blue states are going – almost unlimited abortion access all the way to the end ... to the moment of birth.”

The Republican National Committee platform is not explicitly endorsing a federal ban on abortion, instead leaving the decision to the states.……

Mike Johnson admits he won’t be happy allowing blue states to keep abortion rights

Speaker says Republican platform is a ‘recognition of the reality of the politics of the country’

www.independent.co.uk

Nobody should be fooled by the platform that the felon lied about. It changes nothing, and reads like a joke.

 

[faceman]

Nobody should be fooled by the platform that the felon lied about. It changes nothing, and reads like a joke.

It was obvious from the get go the vast majority of Trump supporters wanted a national ban.

 

[Optimus Prime]

As more states move toward more restrictive gestational limits on when a person can have an abortion or not, medical “exceptions” have become the norm. While they often create more confusion than clarity, frequently missing from exceptions are those for mental health. More often than not, the exceptions are focused on physical health only.

According to KFF, 14 states have near-total abortion bans. Many more have restrictions with gestational limits in effect. While exceptions vary, only one state, Alabama, explicitly includes mental health conditions as a legal exception. However, in this case, the exception specifically requires a psychiatrist to diagnose the pregnant person with a “serious mental illness” and document that the person will engage in behavior that could result in their death or the death of the fetus due to their mental health condition.

Other states, like Georgia, Florida and Idaho, explicitly exclude mental and emotional health. Tennessee’s law states: “No abortion shall be deemed authorized … on the basis of a claim or a diagnosis that the woman will engage in conduct that would result in her death or substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function or for any reason relating to her mental health.”

Yet a recent report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzing maternal deaths between 2017 and 2019 found that pregnant and postpartum people were more likely to die from mental health-related issues than any other cause. In fact, mental health conditions accounted for 23 percent of pregnancy-related deaths with an identified cause. Hemorrhage and heart-related conditions came next, each accounting for about 13 percent. Notably, the report found that "over 80% of pregnancy-related deaths were determined to be preventable."

“Mental health is a real crisis for many people, in the same way that physical health is,” Laurie Sobel, the associate director of Women's Health Policy at KFF told Salon. “The bans, in general get in the way of people being able to access the health care they need, whether it be physical or mental health services.”

The explicit exclusion speaks to how stigmatized mental health conditions are in the United States and how especially in the abortion debate, mental health is rarely taken seriously.

“It's one stigma on top of another: abortion is stigmatized, mental health is stigmatized — and [if] you need an abortion for a mental health issue, you're just adding stigma on stigma,” Sobel told Salon. “So it's most challenging for people in that situation to access care, and as we've already said, most of the bans have no exception for mental health at all. But at some point, mental health becomes physical health, but the physical health exceptions aren’t clear either.”...............

Why do abortion "exceptions" rarely include mental health?

"It's one stigma on top of another: abortion is stigmatized, mental health is stigmatized," one expert told Salon

www.salon.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Iowa law banning most abortions after six weeks will take effect next Monday

Block on law was lifted after state supreme court said there is no fundamental right to procedure in state constitution

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

You would think that the most anti abortion people would be the most pro birth control but they never are
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Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, has sued the Biden administration over a longstanding federal program that provides teenagers access to contraception without parental consent, the state’s latest attack against the federal government’s reproductive healthcare policies.

“This suit is likely a preview of where the Texas GOP – and national Republicans – stand on attacking contraception access,” says Mary Ziegler, a professor at University of California, Davis, School of Law and reproductive health expert. “While Republicans say they don’t want to take aim at contraception, this is another sign that this is actually where we’re headed.”

Title X, created in 1970, offers comprehensive family planning and preventive health care services for low-income and uninsured residents. Texas is among a handful of states that require parental consent before a teenager can get birth control – but Title X-funded contraception was the exception. Under the program, minors can receive contraception confidentially.

Texas has the highest repeat teen birth rate and one of strictest abortion bans in the US.

In 2022, US district judge Matthew Kacsmaryk dealt a blow to Title X when he ruled that the program denied Texas father Alexander Deanda’s “fundamental right to control and direct the upbringing of his minor children”. Texas now stands as the only state that requires Title X-funded clinics to mandate parental consent before granting teens with birth control.

An appeals court largely upheld Kacsmaryk’s decision in March, finding that Title X does not supersede Texas parental rights law, but left in place a Title X rule that explicitly forbids clinics from requiring parental consent before providing services.

The new lawsuit is in part an attempt to clarify that mixed ruling. Paxton argues that a 2021 Biden administration rule emphasizing that the federal program “may not require consent of parents or guardians for the provision of services to minors” is unlawful.

“By attempting to force Texas healthcare providers to offer contraceptives to children without parental consent, the Biden administration continues to prove they will do anything to implement their extremist agenda – even undermine the constitution and violate the law,” said Paxton.

Carmen Robles Frost, a Texas mother, has joined the suit. She claims the Title X rule will “facilitate sexual promiscuity and premarital sex” and weaken her ability to raise her children “in accordance with the teachings of the Christian faith”................

Texas sues Biden administration to limit teenage access to birth control

Minors can receive contraception confidentially under Title X in the state with the highest repeat teen birth rate

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota medical providers and public officials are preparing to welcome patients traveling from Iowa, where a ban on most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy goes into effect Monday.

On Thursday, Minnesota’s Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan toured the Whole Woman’s Health of Minnesota, a nonprofit abortion clinic in the city of Bloomington. She welcomed Iowa residents who were seeking abortions after the state’s new restrictions take effect.

Previously, abortion was legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy in Iowa. Last July, the state’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a new ban on the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, which is often before women know they are pregnant. There are limited exceptions in cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormality or when the life of the mother is in danger.

Sarah Traxler, an OB-GYN based in Minnesota and the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said Iowa’s law could have ripple effects throughout the region.



“When the Dobbs decision came down, many of the patients coming to Iowa were from Missouri,” Traxler said in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio. “This is going to have resounding impacts on the region itself, especially the Midwest and the South.”

The Iowa Supreme Court reiterated in June that there is no constitutional right to an abortion in the state and ordered a hold on the law to be lifted. The district court judge’s orders last week set July 29 as the first day of enforcement.……

Minnesota prepares for influx of patients from Iowa as abortion ban takes effect

Minnesota medical providers and public officials are preparing for the arrival of new patients before an Iowa law banning most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy goes into effect.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — A woman who was denied an abortion at a Kansas hospital after suffering a pregnancy complication that her attorneys say put her at risk of sepsis and even death is suing in a case that already prompted a federal investigation.

Mylissa Farmer, of Joplin, Missouri, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in federal court against the University of Kansas Health System and the public oversight body that governs its operations.

Federal law requires emergency rooms to treat or stabilize patients who are in active labor and provide a medical transfer to another hospital if they don’t have the staff or resources to treat them. Medical facilities must comply with the law if they accept Medicare funding.

But Farmer’s suit alleges that the hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, broke that law and a state anti-discrimination act. The hospital denied the allegations in a written statement.…..

Woman denied abortion at a Kansas hospital sues, alleging her life was put at risk

A woman denied an abortion at a Kansas hospital after suffering a pregnancy complication that her attorneys say put her at risk of sepsis has filed a federal lawsuit.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Two couples behind a lawsuit that led the Alabama supreme court to rule that frozen embryos are “extrauterine children”, endangering access to in vitro fertilization in the state, dismissed their lawsuit on Wednesday.

The two couples, James and Emily LePage and William and Caroline Fonde, sued the Mobile Infirmary medical center and the Center for Reproductive Medicine after a patient accidentally destroyed frozen embryos they had created through IVF. The patient had wandered into the center, removed the embryos from storage and dropped them on to the floor.

The couples filed their lawsuit under Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, prompting questions about whether frozen embryos legally constituted as minors……

Alabama couples drop wrongful death lawsuit over destroyed IVF embryos

Last couple in lawsuit have not yet dismissed claims that led to court ruling that embryos are ‘extrauterine children’

www.theguardian.com

 

[MT15]

This is well stated.

 

[Optimus Prime]

As children in Texas, A and her sister were raped multiple times by their stepfather and his friends before she found she was pregnant earlier this year.

“We both had STDs because none of them used condoms,” A said. Their stepfather stopped having sex with them when he found out the sisters were treated at a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases. One of his friends did not.

The sisters fled to a domestic violence shelter when A found out she was pregnant, and managed from there to find abortion pills through a network of underground activists.

“If I couldn’t have an abortion, I would have killed myself,” A said. “The man who raped me was a pig, and I did not want to have his baby inside of me.”

Since Roe v Wade was overturned by the US supreme court in 2022, 14 states have passed near-total abortion bans. Ten of those states, including Texas, have no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest.

A study published earlier this year estimated that 65,000 rape-related pregnancies probably occurred in states with abortion bans since Roe fell.

While there are no studies on the numbers of rape-related pregnancies in minors since Roe was overturned, young people in states with abortionbans face unique barriers, according to doctors and advocates who spoke with the Guardian.

“States that ban abortions, both with and without rape exceptions, do not have carve-outs for minors,” Dr Samuel Dickman, one of the authors of the study on rape-related pregnancies since Roe fell, said via email. …….

When a minor child is a survivor of incest, it is often the primary caregiver – parent, step-parent or grandparent – that has raped them, Dr Peta-gay Ledbetter, a psychotherapist and former maternity nurse working with low-income populations in Texas, said. That makes it even less likely she or a relative will report the crime to law enforcement.

Dickman, co-author on post-Roe study
Ledbetter said she had seen a 10-year old become pregnant after her mother’s boyfriend sexually assaulted her, with the mother’s knowledge.

“Her little body was unable to carry the pregnancy, and she started to have a uterine rupture before the fetus was at a viable gestation.”

The complications of preterm labor and uterine rupture necessitated a C-section to save the child’s life; the fetus did not survive. “An abortion would have saved this 10-year-old child great suffering and trauma for the rest of her life,” Ledbetter said.

M, the activist who helped A get abortion pills, says that the minors she comes across seeking help have often resorted to unsafe measures to try to induce their own abortions.

In 2023, she was contacted by another 16-year-old from Texas who got pregnant after a stranger raped her. “Like other girls I have met, she tried to overdose on borrowed medications,” M said.

Forced to carry to term, she quit school and delivered a baby with a heart defect. Mary says she remains suicidal. “I’ve met at least three other girls who tried everything from drinking bottles of Nyquil and isopropyl alcohol, to taking Fentanyl,” M added. “One of my colleagues had to call the suicide hotline and poison control.”……….

Child rape survivors face extraordinary barriers in states with abortion bans

Since fall of Roe, 14 states have passed near-total abortion bans – most with no exceptions for rape or incest survivors

www.theguardian.com

 

[MT15]

Notice how oblivious the man who commented on this tweet is. A Rubio supporter, who is nevertheless convinced that all these women supporting Harris are “childless”. He is in for a very rude awakening.



This comment from further down is correct.

“Bruh I saw this shirt earlier and was dumbfounding like do you not understand that they’re critical to you winning???? If you’re gonna pundit at least know the poli/sci basics you’d learn in an intro college class”