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Tag Archives: reproductive rights

Abortion care is healthcare.

08 Saturday Apr 2023

Posted by Michael Bersin in Healthcare

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

abortion, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, president, reproductive rights, Vice President, White House

“…basic healthcare”

Yesterday:

The White House
Washington

April 7, 2023

Statement from President Joe Biden on Decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA

Today a single federal district judge in Texas ruled that a prescription medication that has been available for more than 22 years, approved by the FDA and used safely and effectively by millions of women here and around the world, should no longer be approved in the United States. The Court in this case has substituted its judgment for FDA, the expert agency that approves drugs. If this ruling were to stand, then there will be virtually no prescription, approved by the FDA, that would be safe from these kinds of political, ideological attacks.

The prescription medication in question in this case is used for medication abortion, and medication abortion accounts for over half the abortions in America. The lawsuit, and this ruling, is another unprecedented step in taking away basic freedoms from women and putting their health at risk. This does not just affect women in Texas – if it stands, it would prevent women in every state from accessing the medication, regardless of whether abortion is legal in a state. It is the next big step toward the national ban on abortion that Republican elected officials have vowed to make law in America.

My Administration will fight this ruling. The Department of Justice has already filed an appeal and will seek an immediate stay of the decision. But let’s be clear – the only way to stop those who are committed to taking away women’s rights and freedoms in every state is to elect a Congress who will pass a law restoring Roe versus Wade. Vice President Harris and I will continue to lead the fight to protect a woman’s right to an abortion, and to make her own decisions about her own health. That is our commitment.

###

Joe Biden (D) [2014 file photo].

Office of
The Vice President

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2023

Statement from Vice President Harris on Decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA

Today’s unprecedented decision threatens the rights of women nationwide to make decisions about their health care and the ability to access medication prescribed to them by their doctors. Simply put: this decision undermines the FDA’s ability to approve safe and effective medications—from chemotherapy drugs, to asthma medicine, to blood pressure pills, to insulin—based on science, not politics. This decision threatens the rights of Americans across the country, who can look in their medicine cabinets and find medication prescribed by a doctor because the FDA engaged in a process to determine the efficacy and safety of that medication.

At the same time as the court in Texas issued the decision to try to restrict access to FDA-approved medication, a court in Washington state reached a different conclusion.

Each person in our nation should have the right to access safe and effective medication which has been approved by the FDA. In the face of attacks on a woman’s right to access an abortion, our Administration will continue to fight to protect reproductive freedom and the ability of all Americans to make health care decisions with their doctors free from political interference.

###

Kamala Harris (D) [2019 file photo].

Previously:

Rep. Cori Bush (D): Abortion care is healthcare (April 8, 2023)

Schmitt the Birther

05 Saturday Nov 2022

Posted by penroseonpolitics in US Senate

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2022 Missouri Senate Race, Abortion ban, abortion restrictions, anti-choice laws, Eric Schmitt, Missouri Attorney General, Missouri Political Cartoons, reproductive freedom, reproductive rights, Republican War on Women, Roe v Wade, Roe Your Vote, women's reproductive health

Forced birth

24 Friday Jun 2022

Posted by Michael Bersin in Claire McCaskill, Resist, social media

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#resist, abortion, Claire McCaskill, missouri, reproductive rights, Roe v Wade, social media, Supreme Court, Twitter

Today:

Claire McCaskill @clairecmc
Missouri is now the first home of government mandated pregnancy.
11:15 AM · Jun 24, 2022

Previously:

But, her emails… (June 24, 2022)

In Missouri Mike Parson (r) now makes your health care decisions for you (June 24, 2022)

It’s the GOP’s world, now you just get to live in it

03 Tuesday May 2022

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

abortion, PAC, privacy, reproductive rights, Roe v Wade, Supreme Court

Late last night an extensive U.S. Supreme Court draft majority opinion by Samuel Alito was leaked indicating the court will reverse Roe v Wade (1973).

Pre 1973 2022 medical instruments.

From MeidasTouch:

But, her emails.

Previously:

Stare decisis don’t mean shit (May 2, 2022)

Into the streets (May 2, 2022)

Gleeful handwringing (May 3, 2022)

Where we’re going

02 Thursday Sep 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

abortion, filibuster, reproductive rights, Texas, U.S. Supreme Court

Pre 1973 2021 medical instruments.

Late yesterday, at the U.S. Supreme Court:

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 21A24
WHOLE WOMAN’S HEALTH ET AL. v. AUSTIN REEVE
JACKSON, JUDGE, ET AL.
ON APPLICATION FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF
[September 1, 2021]

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, with whom JUSTICE BREYER and JUSTICE KAGAN join, dissenting.

The Court’s order is stunning. Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of Justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand. Last night, the Court silently acquiesced in a State’s enactment of a law that flouts nearly 50 years of federal precedents.

Today, the Court belatedly explains that it declined to grant relief because of procedural complexities of the State’s own invention. [….] Because the Court’s failure to act rewards tactics designed to avoid judicial review and inflicts significant harm on the applicants and on women seeking abortions in Texas, I dissent. [….]

KAGAN, J., dissenting
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 21A24
WHOLE WOMAN’S HEALTH ET AL. v. AUSTIN REEVE
JACKSON, JUDGE, ET AL.
ON APPLICATION FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF
[September 1, 2021]

JUSTICE KAGAN, with whom JUSTICE BREYER and JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR join, dissenting.

Without full briefing or argument, and after less than 72 hours’ thought, this Court greenlights the operation of Texas’s patently unconstitutional law banning most abortions. The Court thus rewards Texas’s scheme to insulate its law from judicial review by deputizing private parties to carry out unconstitutional restrictions on the State’s behalf. As of last night, and because of this Court’s ruling, Texas law prohibits abortions for the vast majority of women who seek them—in clear, and indeed undisputed, conflict with Roe and Casey.

Today’s ruling illustrates just how far the Court’s “shadow-docket” decisions may depart from the usual principles of appellate process. That ruling, as everyone must agree, is of great consequence. Yet the majority has acted without any guidance from the Court of Appeals—which is right now considering the same issues. It has reviewed only the most cursory party submissions, and then only hastily. And it barely bothers to explain its conclusion—that a challenge to an obviously unconstitutional abortion regulation backed by a wholly unprecedented enforcement scheme is unlikely to prevail. In all these ways, the majority’s decision is emblematic of too much of this Court’s shadow docket decisionmaking—which every day becomes more un-reasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend. I respectfully dissent.

End the filibuster. Now.

Previously:

Susan Collins (r) weighs in (September 1, 2021)

Always there (September 1, 2021)

Here we are (September 2, 2021)

Always there

01 Wednesday Sep 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

abortion, Kamala Harris, reproductive rights, Texas, U.S. Supreme Court, Vice President, White House

Kamala Harris (D) [2019 file photo].

Statement by Vice President Harris on Texas Law SB8
SEPTEMBER 01, 2021

Today, a new law takes effect in Texas that directly violates the precedent established in the landmark case of Roe v. Wade. This all-out assault on reproductive health effectively bans abortion for the nearly 7 million Texans of reproductive age. Patients in Texas will now be forced to travel out-of-state or carry their pregnancy to term against their will. This law will dramatically reduce access to reproductive care for women in Texas, particularly for women with low incomes and women of color. It also includes a disturbing provision that incentivizes private citizens to sue anyone who assists another person in receiving an abortion.

The Biden-Harris Administration will always fight to protect access to healthcare and defend a woman’s right to make decisions about her body and determine her future.

###

Previously:

Susan Collins (r) weighs in (September 1, 2021)

Susan Collins (r) weighs in

01 Wednesday Sep 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in US Senate

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

abortion, Planned Parenthood, reproductive rights, Susan Collins, Texas, There is no such thing as a moderate republican, U.S. Supreme Court

[crickets]

She helped build this.

From Planned Parenthood [St. Louis, Missouri]:

“We are ready to help patients from Texas access the care they need and deserve. When politicians in other states have failed people in need of abortion, we have answered the call. RHS will do it again because abortion is health care and health care is a human right. However, despite our best efforts, the injustice here is that for far too many patients, traveling out of state will push access out of reach altogether. This is the reality we’ve long been warning about.” – Yamelsie Rodríguez, President and CEO, Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region

“I stand with Planned Parenthood.” [2017 file photo]

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) – Reproductive Rights Town Hall – St. Louis – August 18, 2019

18 Sunday Aug 2019

Posted by Michael Bersin in Town Hall

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

abortion, Kirsten Gillibrand, missouri, reproductive rights, St Louis, town hall

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D).

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) brought her 2020 presidential campaign to St. Louis this afternoon for a town hall on reproductive rights. Around 330 individuals (that number comes from the campaign) attended the event moderated by St. Louis City Treasurer Tishuara Jones. Senator Gillibrand spoke at the beginning of the town hall then took questions from the audience for a majority of the hour and a half long event.

Waiting in line:

Signing in:

A majority in the audience were reproductive rights activists – as indicated by their t-shirts and signs.

St. Louis City Treasurer Tishuara Jones (D) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D).

Selfies and photos:

Post apocalyptic novels aren’t supposed to be a blueprint for society

03 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in Missouri General Assembly, social media

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

abortion, General Assembly, Jefferson City, Margaret Atwood, missouri, NARAL, reproductive rights, social media, The Handmaid's Tale, Twitter

Today in Jefferson City:

NARAL Missouri @NARALMissouri
#PraiseBe for women who can control their own destinies. Oh wait. #HandmaidsTale #moleg
[….]
12:14 PM – 3 May 2017

Good luck explaining that to the right wingnut republican majority in the Missouri General Assembly.

Previously:

SB 41, HB 174, HB 236: abortion facts (December 24, 2016)

Ann Wagner hearts Hobby-Lobby

03 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ann Wagner, contraception, Hobby-Lobby, missouri, Religious liberty, reproductive rights

A few months ago an acquaintance drew my attention to the fact that a local rightwing blogger was a bit agitated by the way I pointed out that Republicans were attempting to exploit their sparse crop of female legislators in order to mute the furore caused by anti-woman rhetoric used by male GOPers to justify anti-woman policies. I had observed that the GOP House leadership had “trotted” Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) out to manage another of their endless anti-abortion bills, this one initially sponsored and nearly sunk by Todd Akin clone, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ). The use of the word “trotted” seemed to strike a deep chord:

“A woman…was ‘trotted out?'”

Trotted out?  Like a horse or a piece of livestock?

Like an animal that doesn’t have the ability to think for itself?

WillyK shows a contempt here that needs highlighting.

In WillyK’s opinion, Blackburn was told by her superiors to go out and use her lady parts to save the bill, and she just nodded along and did what she was told, presumably because she was “a woman.”

It’s not that Blackburn is stridently pro-life and volunteered for the job.  It’s not that Blackburn is an intelligent and capable legislator who felt passionately about the bill.

Nope.  She was “trotted out.”

That’s sexist, my friends. …  

High dudgeon indeed! Unfortunately, I wasn’t the one doing the trotting out nor did I condone it. It was the leaders of the Republican Party in the House who seemed hellbent on displaying their female colleagues like show ponies. Disgraceful, I absolutely agree, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed it. There was at the time a general consensus that Blackburn’s gender (or her lady parts, as the blogger would have it) was intended to help ameliorate the damage done by Frank, who, like Akin, is apt to express the uncensored GOP id.

The fact that the GOP “trots” out their female “show ponies” – and it is they who treat them that way, not those of us who call them out for it – does not mean that the women in question aren’t competent and capable at what they do – although, I have to admit, Blackburn, specifically, has never struck me as more than a fairly adroit ideologue. Missouri’s Rep. Ann Wagner (R-2), the actual focus of the post that so incensed this blogger, though, is another issue. She strikes me as a very competent corporatist Republican and I am sure that her rapid rise in the House GOP leadership reflects not only her gender, but her ability to play ball very effectively.

Evidence of Wagner’s skills abound in her regular email newsletters. She frequently references her motherhood and implies that her wealthy family shares the travails of a middle class beset by what she represents as governmental incompetence. Her schtick is “caring.” She wants us to know that mama’s gonna fix the booboo the naughty black man made. She asks in one of her recent newsletters, “do you trust government?” – and then reassures us that, “I hear your shouts, I read your letters and I will not stop fighting until you have a government that you can trust in again.” A bit over-the-top (shouts? really?), but clever. What do Republicans want more than to undermine our faith in our government as an agent that serves average people? Isn’t that at the heart of the made-up scandals and misrepresentations about which Wagner agonizes so eagerly in most of her newsletters? You gotta hand it to her – she’s good.

The feminine touch. Invaluable. Except when you put it into context and yesterday we got some real context. The Supreme Court dealt a blow to women’s reproductive rights and at the same time effectively undercut the rights of men and women to be free from the other guy’s religion. I’m talking about the infamous Hobby Lobby decision. Wagner, that oh so feminine, caring and motherly woman, was one of the 71 representatives who signed an amicus curie brief on behalf of Hobby Lobby.

And let us be clear. This decision, delivered under the rubric of religious freedom, is about anything but the exercise of liberty. Ed Kilgore accurately observes that:

… the whole “religious liberty” movement of which Hobby Lobby is so conspicuous represents a new strategy of “aggressive separatism” in which supposedly persecuted conservative Christians claim the right to create their own segregated world of laws and institutions that its proprietors ultimately intend to impose on us all.

And it gets even worse, uniting oppressive religion with the conservative devotion to maintaining and increasing corporate power. As Paul Waldman writes:

In Hobby Lobby, the court ruled that corporations have religious rights that trump the rights of their employees and allow the corporation to pick which laws it would like to follow and which it would like to ignore. The decision extends the corporation’s control over its employees’ lives beyond what happens when they’re working, beyond even things they do that could affect their work, to a purely private arena that touches on their employment only because that’s where they’re getting their health insurance.

And Ann Wagner, clearly part the GOP’s strategy to put a feminine face on their destructive policies, is just fine with that, women’s rights, women’s lives, be damned. Yesterday, she proudly celebrated the decision to make it harder for women to use any form of contraception, proclaiming on her Facebook place that “I stand with Hobby Lobby.” I would suggest that women who are concerned about the ability to exercise control over their own bodies carefully avoid standing anywhere near the vicinity of Ann Wagner when it comes time to vote.

Second sentence in fourth paragraph replaced with text inadvertently omitted.

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