Roe v Wade has been overturned. How do you feel about that?

[N.E. Brigand]

Last year, Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have protected IVF.

And they're about to do it again:

Politico: "Senate GOP poised to block IVF protection bill."

Senate conservatives are signaling they’ll block Wednesday’s planned Democratic bid to enshrine protections for in-vitro fertilization into federal law – and they’re calling IVF a states-rights issue.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) is planning to seek unanimous consent to pass her proposal to federally protect IVF, which means any one senator can easily block its passage. This isn’t the first time she’s brought up her bill — Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) objected when Duckworth tried to pass it unanimously in 2022.

And they indeed did it again: Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would protect in vitro fertilization. (The Biden campaign noticed.)

And then in the House, this happened:

[N.E. Brigand]

Missouri's Attorney General, Andrew Bailey, just made the following announcement:

"Today, I am filing suit against Planned Parenthood for trafficking minors out of state to obtain abortions without parental consent. This is the beginning of the end for Planned Parenthood in the State of Missouri."

I don't think a girl's parents should be able to force her to have a baby she doesn't want.

In fact, I think a parent who does that should be jailed for torture.

If Andrew Bailey gets his way and any girl ends up giving birth against her will, I think he should be jailed for torture.

Lock him up and throw away the key.

[N.E. Brigand]

Meanwhile Donald Trump called Saturday for a ban on abortion after the 16th week of pregnancy. This is longer than some Republican-governed states permit (anywhere from zero weeks -- as noted above, Alabama would prohibit abortions even before zero weeks -- to fifteen weeks) but less than 23 states permit -- including my state of Ohio, where voters last year codified the terms of Roe vs. Wade (unrestricted abortion rights until viability, which occurs at 24-28 weeks, and after that point as needed to protect the mother's life or health) into our state's constitution.

Did he publicly "call" for a 16 week ban, or is it reported that he privately supports such a ban?

Good catch. Thanks for that correction. I misread reports that Trump's support was described on the exceedingly centrist Meet the Press television program as him acting like a mature politician by "moving to the center" and incorrectly assumed that he wouldn't be described as moving unless he'd actually said something in public. I thought it was ridiculous to say the "center" position involved taking away the abortion rights from women in 23 states. Your correction only makes it worse that Trump's ploy would be described that way!

More news on this subject: "In an interview with Sean Hannity last night, Donald Trump newly dangled the prospect of a 15-week abortion ban: 'More and more I’m hearing about 15 weeks,' he said. 'I haven’t decided yet.'" (Video at second link.)

[N.E. Brigand]

A few Republicans have suggested over the past couple years that birth control should be banned as well, so I'll note this news here:

NPR: "First over-the-counter birth control pill heads to stores."

[N.E. Brigand]

Here's a short profile of a pro-life Alabama woman who initially was thrilled by that state supreme court's decision on in vitro fertilization, thinking from the headline, which said they ruled "frozen embryos are 'children' under state law," that finally kids like her own son, conceived through IVF, were getting respect. But now she's learned that "her eight embryos, which are still in a freezer at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, would no longer be treated as her property". She says, "I think it's ridiculous that anyone would say that an embryo is a child ... I just don't see how anyone could say it's the same as my son that's sitting in my house right now."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Very powerful.

[N.E. Brigand]

This is a useful note on current bills put forward by Congressional Republican to ban IVF, ban mifepristone, end federal funding for any university that partners with an institution that provides abortions, and take other steps to restrict reproductive services.

[N.E. Brigand]

ABC: "Texas medical panel won't provide list of exceptions to abortion ban."

Twelve of the panel's sixteen members are men. Only one member of the panel is an ob-gyn.

[N.E. Brigand]

"The wife of James Ho, one of the circuit judges who banned mifepristone last year, took multiple payments from the group that brought it to court" (The Daily Beast).

Here's a picture that emerged last year showing Judge Ho and his wife as Ho took his oath of office in 2018 in Harlan Crow's house:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The lawyer arguing for the Alliance Hippocratic Medicine (the conservative organization that sued the FDA over mifepristone is Sen. Josh Hawley's wife. I only heard the end of the argument, but it doesn't sound like she got a good reception from most of the justices.

Fortunately, James Ho is not yet on the court.

ETA: Bottom line:


ETAA: Bottom line No. 2:
I doubt the court will even reach the merits of the case, as there seemed to be widespread skepticism that the organization even had standing to bring the lawsuits.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Sunsilver]

Many of the right-wing, Bible belt parents feel that it should be left up to the parents, not the schools, to teach kids about sex and birth control. I just came across this on a dog website. It demonstrates why this is such a bad idea, and will lead to unwanted pregnancies:

"I'm a vet, but this story comes from my ex-wife who is also a vet. Saw a new client that had a puppy. She talked through the usual recommendations. When she got to recommending the neuter, the owner, who was a man in his thirties, asked if that's when we remove the prostate.She said no, we remove the testicles. The owner pauses, has a confused look on his face and asks totally serious 'What… What are the testicles for?' She had to explain to a grown man what testicles are for….

Not a vet but worked for one for quite a few years. Watched the vet spend probably 20 minutes explaining to a lady that her older dog could still get pregnant by the new pup she had gotten so she needed to neuter or spay one.The lady was convinced it couldn't happen because the female dog had her nipples removed due to some cancerous tumors. I basically watched the vet explain how babies are made to a fully grown adult

[N.E. Brigand]

[Katie Phang on Twitter: "REMINDER: The Florida Supreme Court should issue its ruling TODAY on whether a proposed constitutional amendment to ensure abortion rights will be on the ballot in November."]

Big news on this one:

1. Florida's Supreme Court has ruled that the issue will be on the November ballot. It's polling at about 70% (higher than I would have guessed) and needs 60% to pass.

2. The Court also allowed Florida's six-week ban on abortions to go into effect now.

3. The Court also ruled that a marijuana legalization issue will be on the ballot.

Donald Trump got about 52% of the Florida presidential vote in 2020.

- - - - - - - - -
(On a related note, for the past two weeks, I keep seeing an ad from the conservative magazine National Review on Twitter in the form of a post that reads as follows: "Vice president Kamala Harris's visit to an abortion clinic is a sign not just of how little this administration would offer disaffected Republicans, but also of how radical the Democratic Party has become on this issue." Once upon a time, it wasn't radical for even Republicans to support abortion rights.)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Katie Phang on Twitter: "REMINDER: The Florida Supreme Court should issue its ruling TODAY on whether a proposed constitutional amendment to ensure abortion rights will be on the ballot in November."]

Big news on this one:

1. Florida's Supreme Court has ruled that the issue will be on the November ballot. It's polling at about 70% (higher than I would have guessed) and needs 60% to pass.

2. The Court also allowed Florida's six-week ban on abortions to go into effect now.

3. The Court also ruled that a marijuana legalization issue will be on the ballot.

Donald Trump got about 52% of the Florida presidential vote in 2020.

It is possible that having this issue on the November ballot could put Florida into play in both the presidential election and the race for control of the Senate. We have certainly seen how galvanizing it has been for Democrats since Dobbs.

[N.E. Brigand]

It is possible that having this issue on the November ballot could put Florida into play in both the presidential election and the race for control of the Senate. We have certainly seen how galvanizing it has been for Democrats since Dobbs.

Dave Weigel says that there "is a long record in Florida of progressive ballot measures passing as Democrats lose all the key races." I hope that's not predictive of this year's results.

Florida man Donald Trump is trying to avoid taking a position on whether people should vote for Florida's pro-choice amendment. His spokesperson says Trump "supports preserving life but has also made clear that he supports states' rights because he supports the voters' right to make decisions for themselves."

[N.E. Brigand]

Florida man Donald Trump is trying to avoid taking a position on whether people should vote for Florida's pro-choice amendment. His spokesperson says Trump "supports preserving life but has also made clear that he supports states' rights because he supports the voters' right to make decisions for themselves."

Donald Trump says that he'll address this subject "next week." People are therefore making jokes about the endlessly-delayed Trump "infrastructure week" (something that finally came to pass under President Biden), but for some reason, I'm reminded of two other incidents:

(1) Around the time in spring 2016 that Donald Trump Jr. agreed to meet with a representative of the Russian government promising dirt on Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump announced that in the following week, he would be giving a major speech about Clinton. In the event, the speech was cancelled apparently due to world events dominating the news at the time. Trump later convinced investigators that he was intending to talk about something else entirely, but it still seems suspicious to me.

(2) Later in 2016, there were reports that Melania Trump (then Melanija Knavs) had violated the terms of her visa prior to marrying Donald Trump, i.e., that she had been an illegal immigrant. The Trump campaign promised to address this in a press conference "in two weeks," but that never happened. (I've long wondered if Donald Trump holds this matter over her head as a threat that she'll be deported if she should ever publicly cross him.)

[N.E. Brigand]

Ugh. In an effort to show how extreme Republicans have become on issues of women's health, California's governor, Gavin Newsom, shared this video of a far-right activist (Charlie Kirk, I think) saying that "Birth control really screws up female brains" and "Every single one of you needs to make sure your loved ones are not on birth control." But all the top responses to Newsom's post are people who agree with that right-wing nonsense.

[N.E. Brigand]

Florida man Donald Trump is trying to avoid taking a position on whether people should vote for Florida's pro-choice amendment. His spokesperson says Trump "supports preserving life but has also made clear that he supports states' rights because he supports the voters' right to make decisions for themselves."

Donald Trump says that he'll address this subject "next week." People are therefore making jokes about the endlessly-delayed Trump "infrastructure week"...

Donald Trump did issue a statement on abortion today, and the media is largely falling for it. He has refused to answer questions about whether he would sign a national abortion ban, but the press is not only pretending to believe him when he says that abortion "will be left to the states" but they're even giving him the gift of reporting, falsely, that he said abortion "should be left to the states."

And as Mark Joseph Stern notes: "It's not even a statement of what the law is! Trump's likely appointees, like Roger Severino and Jonathan Mitchell, say they interpret Comstock as a nationwide ban on all abortions and intend to enforce it in a second term. Goes beyond mifepristone—to them the ban already exists!"

[N.E. Brigand]

And as CNN notes, parts of Trump's statement on abortion are false: