Today is the one year anniversary of the Dobbs decision. It seems longer than that, and I'm sad to say that it's been just as bad as we thought it was going to be. Abortion is now illegal in 15 states and heavily restricted in five others. Those who live in these states need abortion for the usual reasons have been screwed and unable to get the care they need, but so were those who have had miscarriages or complications with their wanted pregnancies. Soon it won't just be those who need abortion or miscarriage care suffering. Ob-gyns and fetal care specialists are fleeing these states, maternity wards are shutting down due to an inability to staff them properly and ob-gyn residencies are decreasing. It's hard to blame them for not wanting to end up in prison for taking proper care of their patients.
Predictably, anti-abortion conservatives in these states have not been pushing for better maternity care, for free healthcare for pregnant people or children, for better social services or anything else that might accommodate an influx of unwanted births and babies.
Everyone Loves Abortion Now
One side-effect of Dobbs has been that more Americans support abortion rights than ever before, a near perfect example of the Joni Mitchell Rule in action. According to a recent Pew Research poll, 62 percent of us now believe that abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances. The increase has been the most dramatic in states that prohibit abortion.
This is only likely to increase as more and more people see people they know being actively harmed by these laws. Part of the reason it was always so easy for some to oppose abortion is because abortion and related health care has always been a very personal, private decision. They may not know that they know people who have had abortions due to an unwanted pregnancy or a wanted pregnancy that has gone wrong, and like it or not, that's the kind of thing that changes people's minds. Being able to see the actual harm these laws do to people they care about makes it harder to support them.
Arizona Bans Abortion After 15 Weeks, But Gov. Katie Hobbs Has An Executive Order For That
This week, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed an executive order that will make it nigh impossible to actually prosecute anyone for violating the state's no-good, very bad abortion law. Under the new rule, all attempted county-level prosecutions related to abortion will be handled by state Attorney General Kris Mayes, who we assume will promptly toss them in the trash. State agencies will also be barred from helping states with more restrictive laws investigate people they suspect of having had abortions in Arizona. The state will also not comply with any attempted extraditions of those accused of violating the bad abortion laws of other states.
The executive order also called for the creation of an advisory council to assist with efforts to expand access to reproductive care and freedom in the state.
"I made a promise to Arizonans that I would do everything in my power to protect reproductive freedom, and this Executive Order reflects that promise,” Hobbs, a Democrat, said in a statement. “I will not allow extreme and out of touch politicians to get in the way of the fundamental right Arizonans have to make decisions about their own bodies and futures. I will continue to fight to expand access to safe and legal abortion in any way that I can.”
And Speaking Of Executive Orders ...
On Friday, President Biden signed an executive order that will expand access to contraceptives across the country, a measure meant to mitigate the number of people who will suffer as a result of abortion bans in their state.
According to a press release from the White House, the order will direct the secretaries Treasury, Labor Department, and the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that private insurance companies are covering contraceptives, as required under the Affordable Care Act and also to consider new actions directed at increasing the availability and affordability of over-the-counter contraception, including Plan B.
The order also includes directives to:
Support Family Planning Services and Supplies through the Medicaid Program.
Improve the Coverage of Contraception through the Medicare Program.
Support Access to Contraception for Service Members, Veterans, and Federal Employees.
Bolster Contraception Access Across Federally-Supported Health Care Programs.
Support Access to Affordable Contraception for Employees and College Students.
Promote Research and Data Analysis on Contraception Access
This is especially important in light of the 61 family planning clinics that have closed since Roe was overturned. Many of these clinics didn't just offer abortions, but affordable contraceptives, STD screenings, well-woman visits and prenatal care. It's not everything, but it's something.
Abortion Bans Are Killing Republicans At The Polls, But Pence Pushes For National Ban
On Friday, at Faith and Freedom Coalition event, former Vice President Mike Pence declared that, at minimum, he and everyone else hoping to be the Republican nominee for President should support, at minimum, a national 15 week ban on abortion. “We must not rest and must not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state,” he told an audience full of people who were more than happy to make it clear that they had no intention of voting for anyone but Trump, regardless of either of their positions on abortion.
It's certainly an interesting thing to double down on, given the fact that voters clearly do not want abortion bans, have been voting against them at every opportunity and voting against the politicians who support them — and even some Republicans are suggesting it might be better to back off.
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Gee, now why would these guys rally 'round such unpopular ideas? Maybe on accounta they're not really concerned about your so-called "popular opinion??" Maybe cuz they have a Bigger Agenda?? Maybe because these people want to establish an American Theocracy, and fuck all y'all?? Could be. We gotta stop it.
Yes, they enraged me for doing that, and I was a Bernie supporter at the time