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Mammoth Springs

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Mifepristone blues

It is sad and not terribly funny the way it has all come down. When the Supreme Court struck down Dobbs they said that reproductive choice was a state's rights issue. 

Every state could decide for itself the law of their land in regards to abortion. Could anything be so democratic?

Unfortunately, it is readily apparent that the goal has always been an outright ban on abortion in this country. The state's rights talk was a ruse.

Senator Lindsey Graham has recently proposed a national bill banning abortion after 15 weeks. 

The far right Alliance Defending Freedom judge shopped and found a true believer in Amarillo, Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has made a ruling striking down the use of mifepristone, an abortafacient  drug that has been used and approved for more than twenty years. This drug is also used to treat miscarriages.

This case is totally unprecedented: Never has a court overruled the FDA’s approval of a drug, much less a drug that has been on the market for over 20 years.

If you read his ruling you can see that it is loaded with theologically based far right verbiage and not on science or rationality. In fact it glosses over a lot of important things, like support for the drug by over 95% of the women who have used it.

So much for letting every state decide for itself.

Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales doesn't want to talk about it, says “Get off the abortion conversation. Women have a whole lot more other issues than just abortion." They might Tony, but they don't want to be told what they can or can't talk about.

He is also now threatening to shut down the funding for the FDA  if the GOP does not get their way with abortion.

Mike Pence is right there with him.

“Life won again today. When it approved chemical abortions on demand, the FDA acted carelessly and with blatant disregard for human life and the wellbeing of American women, and today’s ruling fixed a 20 year wrong,” Pence said in a statement through his PAC, Advancing American Freedom, that was referring to the day the ruling came down last week.

His intentions on the subject are long known. Republicans love freedom and liberty, unless it doesn't go their way.

“Now that Roe v. Wade has been consigned to the ash heap of history, a new arena in the cause of life has emerged, and it is incumbent on all who cherish the sanctity of life to resolve that we will take the defense of the unborn and the support for women in crisis pregnancy centers to every state in America,” Pence said in an interview with the far-right media outlet Breitbart News. “Having been given this second chance for Life, we must not rest and must not relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the land.”

Over six in ten Americans support the right to choose. It doesn't matter if it is red state or blue state, as disparate politically as Kansas, Wisconsin or Massachusetts, the people are overwhelming against the radical GOP agenda. Because of the overwhelming support for reproductive freedom amongst Americans, the GOP is trying to outlaw pro choice propositions.

I hope the Republicans keep doubling down on this issue, they will be in for a real lesson in the next election.

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HuffPo: The hidden radicalism of the abortion pill ruling, a nationwide abortion ban.

2 comments:

Linda Wilson said...

So disheartening to see what’s happening. I feel like I’m living in the 1800, What happened to this country?
At least I can say I’m on the downward spiral of this lifetime, looking forward to what’s next. The worst thing is it leaves me angry every day and I don’t wanna live the rest of my life angry every day… instead I wanna kick some white men in the balls!

Jon Harwood said...

I do believe some ball kicking is in order. I hope some of it will be done in the ballot box. Meanwhile, I ordered a cod piece with "WOKE" written on it.

I think the abortion issue is turning into Kryptonite for Republicans. Hard to know in todays political landscape but to me it looks like an albatross around the neck of a lot of (R) candidates.