183 Comments

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose arbitrarily changed the language in the ballot description from fetus to unborn baby.

Tactically, it was a huge success. We only approved the amendment by 57%.

Expand full comment

Ta, Robyn. Legs, I mean FINGERS crossed.

Expand full comment

Watched the first minute and will continue later. I don't think my blood pressure has been raised enough today, lol!

Expand full comment

Is it OK to switch Arizona from neutral beige to pale blue at 270toWin.com then?

Expand full comment

Yay! I signed that petition.

* struts around ... dog looks up from nap and goes back to sleep *

Expand full comment

Me too!! *High five*

Expand full comment

"It also does not include an exception for rape or incest." This is abhorrent. And they wonder why we're fighting so hard. Glimmers of hope dazzle on the horizon.

Expand full comment

I have always wondered why "Mind your own damn business" is so hard for so many people in this country. I grew up with the Boomers all having to keep up with the neighbors, in post WW II

materialistic culture. Didn't get it then. Uh guys, we won the war. Now we gotta fight each other?

I look out my front window and see a lady that is not happy with me cause I won't tell her my last name, age, or "nationality." I told her "American" but that wasn't enough.

But she will give you the latest low, down, dirty, dog shit gossip on everyone on our street, including the UPS driver. (Did you know they only hire Messicans?)

I don't wanna know what she tells them about me.

Oh, I almost forgot my point. (You have a point?) Yes.

We will never be a first class country, a true leader of the world, until women have all the rights.

And by leader I don't mean we got more and bigger guns.

Expand full comment

Jumping up, and cheering!

Expand full comment

"the Republican-controlled Legislature is still pushing to have the word “fetus” replaced with “unborn human being” and Arizona Right to Life has appealed a judge’s decision to reject their challenge to the petition"

(insert "bitch, please" with the Arizona state flag image here)

Expand full comment

That takes a pair. YOU come up with a successful (so far) petition drive, and THEY demand the right to change the wording? Piss off.

Expand full comment
Aug 13·edited Aug 13

The legislature can't change the wording of the initiative itself (and it is really hard to amend them if they pass) - Arizona's initiative process is clear on that. Both of these suits are about literature around the initiative. When you sign a petition, there's a little blurb at the top that is supposed to summarize what can be a much longer proposed law, and that was what Right to Life claimed was misleading. It is standard (but utter bs typically) to make a claim like this, the standard of proof is really high and the burden is on the challenger since the Secretary of State had to review and sign off on the language as an accurate summary before letting signatures be gathered. There are typically also a lot of challenges over everything from whether you sign the right petition (has to be for your county of residence) to if your signature is fully in the box and "legible" enough (leads to collectors having plastic templates with cut outs that are really annoying to sign in) and similar ticky tack claims. That's why they collected more than double they needed - because over 100k were invalidated for reasons like this.

The State Leg fuckery was with the voter information booklet, which is mainly supposed to summarize the terms of the law and provide a financial analysis. The State Leg is supposed to play this down the middle, but for this one they are flexing their bare majority to both try and add bullshit descriptions of abortion and misleading financial impact statements. Probably wouldn't impact anyone's vote who has a clue what this is all about - and most casual voters don't read the booklet in the first place/ads will be their primary source of info- but it does show just how desperate they are to try and tilt this vote. They also recently tried to raise the threshold for all initiatives to 60%, want to force all petitions to have significant support in all counties, even though Dems live mainly in 3 of them, and have put a referenda to make it effectively impossible to recall/reject state Supreme Court justices to try and ensure their artificially created GOP majority on the state bench can't be undone by the people or the Governor. And just for kicks, they threw the "make being undocumented and breathing a state crime" referendum on the ballot to try and drive up the nutty Trumper vote.

Expand full comment

What is the split in the AZ lege, and is it possible for the good guys to flip it?

Expand full comment

GOP has a one vote majority in both houses (16-14 Senate, 31-29 House) but because of the goofy districting (every Senate district is also two House seats, but all voters can vote two times rather than having one or a ranked choice, so the districts almost all are 2 Ds or 2 Rs) and gerrymandering by the not truly independent redistricting commission (the deciding vote was a fundraiser for the GOP but not technically a registered member of the GOP) there are only 4 competitive districts, and 3 tip GOP pretty hard. Similar shenanigans have happened with Congressional districts, sliding the state from a 5-4 Dem majority to 4-5 with a better chance of 3-6 GOP than going back the other way. It is frustrating but it would likely take a wave election to get to a deadlock much less a Dem flip.

Expand full comment

Yeah! Get yer own damn petition!

Expand full comment

If only, just once, in the MSM, a journo would ask some R nutjob who opposes all instances of abortion (say, Trump's beard, J.V. Vance) how it is that Ds are child abusers when he's happy to send a F*ing 10 year old rape victim out of state to get medical care.

Expand full comment

It's just God's will. If men got pregnant, there would be vending machines with Mifepristone.

Expand full comment

If men got pregnant they'd be women.

It's our vulnerability to pregnancy, and our responsibility for the resulting babies, that made the patriarchy possible. And why, since in the relatively recent past we have gotten some control over our reproductive choices, it's crumbling.

Expand full comment

It must be a real pisser to believe in a god that only favors <50% of the population. Seems like there's a flaw or two in that system.

Expand full comment

"If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament" -- attr. Florynce Kennedy

Expand full comment

He's happy to give that victim a single option; go to an overseas physician as long as they can afford it.

Expand full comment

Though menopause has left my innards a rocky place, where (Nick Cage's) seed can find no purchase, I think I'll run out and get an abortion in solidarity.

Expand full comment

My punchcard’s almost full, I’ll join you, and 10th one is free!

Expand full comment

The punchcard seems susceptible to tampering. And do you really want some rando to get the credit for your abortion? Maybe you should consider a move from Jane's Old Timey Abortion Emporium and Arsenic Dispensary.

Expand full comment

They’re so nice, though.

Expand full comment

I'm sure they value your loyalty. "We recognize you have a choice of abortion providers*, and we appreciate choosing Jane's."

*applicable to blue states only.

Expand full comment

I drove past my local abortionplex the other day, and there was a line out the door and around the corner of the building.

Oh wait. That was a dispensary the second day recreational weed was legal.

Expand full comment

My provider's more up to date. They use a QR code system.

Expand full comment

Ups for the Raising Arizona reference.

Expand full comment

Ha - I wasn't even making the obvs Raising Arizona tie in to the story - I just really like that quote.

Expand full comment
deletedAug 13
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Aug 13·edited Aug 13

I heard Tim Walz will wait for you at your abortion appointment, then take you out for ice cream.

Expand full comment

Spanky's implosion and defeat will at last be good news for John McCain.

Expand full comment

Will no one think from Kyrsten of the Sinema Party?

Expand full comment

I for one will be glad not to have to think about her ever again.

Expand full comment

'This is a huge win for Arizona voters who will now get to vote YES on restoring and protecting the right to access abortion care, free from political interference, once and for all.'

I wouldn't necessarily count on it. Up Here those rights are protected 𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰 in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, so the forced-birthers are trying to CHANGE THE CHARTER.

Expand full comment

I'm kinda surprised that the unctious Premiere of Alberta Danielle Smith and her right-wing minions haven't tried to pass a bill outlawing abortion, then using the Notwithstanding Clause of the Charter to force it upon the populace. I mean, if the Conservative scumbags (but I repeat myself) in Saskatchewan can use it to ban trans care for minors (so far) and force schools to deadname them for three years, the Wildrose fascists are just being lazy.

Expand full comment

I wish them good luck, and here's a windmill to tilt upon.

Expand full comment

Good news! But I'm still worried that the Forces Of Darkness will find some way to keep this off the ballot, or invalidate it when it passes.

Expand full comment

The better news in Arizona ( in this case, it is kind of fucked up because of what it has done to our tax base and school spending) is the state has a law preventing the legislature from amending a citizen passed initiative in most cases. Any such change requires a supermajority in both houses and must further the intent of the initiative. Plus Gov. Hobbs would veto anything they tried. It is a constitutional amendment, so if it passes the state Supreme Court (and the Federal Courts if Dobbs means what it says at all) have to sit out and shut up about it.

The bad news will be if/when the GOP has a trifecta again, they may try to work around it/pass laws that make exercising the right to abortion more difficult through things like even more funding restrictions or health "regulations" that don't mention abortion but somehow have that impact. They pulled an end around like that on citizen approved funding increases for public schools multiple times. The answer to that of course is to have a wave election that overcomes the present gerrymander and/or the continuing blue trend (plus GOP picking the worst possible candidates) leading to continual gridlock between the governor and the legislature until the maps get redrawn.

Expand full comment

Very good info. Thanks!

Expand full comment

They’ll back down after 500,000 people show up at the Capitol wanting an explanation.

Expand full comment

I frequently cycle pass a home with a sign in front, "Pray to end abortion". Every time I see it I think "that's the approach to addressing the moral concerns of those opposed to women making their own healthcare decisions that I fully support."

Expand full comment

Ugh I scoff every time I pass by that stupid sign. And I see lots of cars with bumper stickers that say that. 🙄

Expand full comment

Let them pray for it. It'll work as well as prayer does for everything else.

You just have to beware that, now and again, one of these deluded eejits decides they've heard God's voice telling them to break out the AR-15.

Expand full comment

P̵r̵a̵y̵ act for legions of disappointed busybodies in November.

Expand full comment