Supreme MistakeRoe v. Wade Overturned
June 24,
2022 This morning the U.S. Supreme Court announced a 6-3 decision to overturn the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113) which legalized abortion. Abortion is no longer a federal right.
Since
the 1990s, many states have been chipping away at the 1973 decision,
and anti-choice groups have made the work of abortion clinics difficult
or impossible. The driving force in the nomination of Supreme Court
justices has been whether they will support or overturn Roe. In the Senate hearing for their nominations, the conservative justices swore under oath (video) to protect the rights established in 1973. They swear all the time. That's just the way they &@(<!^% talk.
The case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (19-1392) centered on a
Mississippi law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy,
even in cases of rape or incest. Under the direction of Mississippi attorney general Lynn Fitch, the state of Mississippi asked the Supreme Court to
uphold the law and slash the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in the
process. Speaking on Catholic TV program Pro-Life Weekly, attorney general Fitch gloated, “Fifty years ago, for professional women, they wanted you to make
a choice. Now you don't have to. You
have the option in life to really achieve your dreams, your goals, and
you can have those beautiful children as well.” Options? Poverty gives you options?!? Ectopic pregnancies give you options?!? Rape gives you options?!?
And Catholic TV talks about how much they love children?!? That's not what the legal settlements say.
So... what does the Book of Books — the Good Book — the Holy Bible say about abortion?
The fourth book of the Bible, Numbers 5:11-31 gives a drink recipe for a wife who has been unfaithful to her husband, you know, “when your body swells.”
Scour the Bible for the drink recipe for the unfaithful husband. Go ahead, I'll wait.
Past Daniel but before Joel, the Book of Hosea 9:14 has God threatening “a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.”
The songbook of the Bible, Psalms has a song whose tune has been lost in time but the words to Psalm 137:9 go something like this: “Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!” When reading the “Good Book,”
it is important to not just know a verse but also the context. The
context of Psalm 137 is the Hebrews in exile in Babylon and not
particularly happy with their Babylonian masters and would not actually
follow through on such a threat. It's like Pro-Choice supporters
saying, “Vasectomies are still legal.”
It's not that anti-choicers care what the Bible says about abortion. The Bible is a deflection. History is full of abortifacients and abortion methodologies, none as safe and effective as 21st century options.
Another anti-choice deflection is a heartbeat. Two things about a heartbeat.
When
family members decide to end the life-sustaining medical procedures of
a patient who is brain dead, the heart is still beating. Life isn't
defined by a heartbeat. Jellyfish don't have hearts. Starfish and
flatworms don't have hearts. Octopi have three hearts. Hagfish have
four hearts. Earthworms have five hearts. A fairyfly is .006 inches
long and has a long, tiny heart which can only be seen through a
microscope. And hearts don't even need a body.
A petri dish can have a heartbeat.
In 2014, researchers took skin cells, turned them into stem cells, and
then into heart cells (cardiomyocytes). To their surprise, the heart
cells started beating.The
abortion argument is meant to maintain generations of poor people to
attend to the wealthy. “A
substantial majority of women seeking abortions are low income, with
half living below the federal poverty level and another quarter living
between 100% and 199% of the poverty level. Three in five abortion
patients are women of color.”* Abortion restrictions are class warfare. It's an extension of
slavery.
And abortion is a political distraction from mitigating climate change.
Music Association: Blondie - Heart Of Glass* David Cohen and Carole Joffe, Obstacle Course - The Everyday Struggle to Get an Abortion in America, p13.
Poverty & DiscriminationAbortion Economics
June 19,
2022 
The Atlantic recently reported on “The Turnaway Study” — a
comparison of women who had abortions with those who had been turned
away from abortion clinics. “The two groups were economically the
same when they sought an abortion,” Diana Foster said. “One
became poorer.”
Researchers
found that women who were
denied abortions were more likely to end up living in poverty. They had
worse credit scores and, even years later, were more likely to not have
enough money for the basics, such as food and gas. In addition, those
denied a termination were more likely to be with a partner who abused
them. They were more likely to end up as a single parent. Their bodies
were different too. The ones denied an abortion were in worse health,
experiencing more hypertension and chronic pain. None of the women who
had an abortion died from it. This is unsurprising; other research
shows that the procedure has extremely low complication rates, as well
as no known negative health or fertility effects. Yet in the Turnaway
sample, pregnancy ended up killing two of the women who wanted a
termination and did not get one. Most of the women seeking an abortion
were already mothers. In the years after they terminated a pregnancy,
their kids were better off; they were more likely to hit their
developmental milestones and less likely to live in poverty. Many women
who had an abortion went on to have more children. Those pregnancies
were much more likely to be planned, and those kids had better
outcomes. The interviews made clear that women, far from taking a
casual
view of abortion, took the decision seriously. Most reported using
contraception when they got pregnant. Afterward, nearly all said that
termination had been the right decision. At five years, only 14 percent
felt any sadness about having an abortion; two in three ended up having
no or very few emotions about it at all. “Relief” was the
most common feeling, and an abiding one.
The human gestation period is nine months — nine months for the body to make something that looks nearly human.

This week's Newsweek magazine has a cover story titled, “What Science Says About Abortion.” The article attempts to differentiate the survival of premature births in the U.S., saying:
• “The
cost of caring for a single very-premature baby typically runs to more
than $100,000, with a typical NICU handling 20 or more babies at once.
Such advanced NICUs are beyond the reach of most hospitals.” (page 29) • In
the U.S., 17% of babies delivered at 22 weeks (5 1/2 months) survive.
About 9 of 10 extreme preemies will run into serious complications,
including blindness and deafness, lung and bowel problems, and various
types of motor impairment and brain damage — problems which could take decades to overcome. (pages 29-30)
• Black
newborns die at the hospital at three times the rate at which white
newborns die, but the high Black newborn mortality rate is cut in half
for Black newborns who are treated by Black doctors. (page 32)
• Black
expectant women are more likely than white women to end up at an
under-resourced "safety-net" hospital, where premature survival rates
are generally much lower because such hospitals... don't even try to
save extremely premature babies. (page 33)

A few days ago, MinnPost
announced the results of a survey commissioned by MinnPost and
conducted by Change Research, of 1,551 Minnesota voters from June 3-8.
It found 67% of Minnesota voters oppose a ban on abortions in all circumstances.
Women
(75%) were far more likely to oppose an abortion ban than men (58%).
College-educated people (74%) were more likely to oppose an abortion
ban than non-college-educated people (61%). The opposition to a ban on
abortion was stronger in the Twin Cities (75%) and the metro (69%) than
in the rest of Minnesota (61%). The online poll used targeted social
media ads and text messages to recruit respondents.
The survey did not ask if the respondents were doctors or nurses.
Music Association: Paul McCartney - Live and Let Die
Horses Don't RunAbortion Survey
June 2,
2022
Gallup took a survey. It's what they do. Last month they called 1,007 U.S. adults and asked them about abortion.
Today, Gallup reported
that 55% of people now identify as pro-choice, the highest percentage
since 1995. Meanwhile, 39% of people identify as what could be called
anti-choice, the lowest since 1996.
Interestingly, Gallup
started the survey on May 2nd, just hours before the draft of the
Supreme Court's opinion on abortion was leaked to Politico.
Gallup says, “The
latest data show Americans are less likely than a year ago to say
abortion should be illegal in all circumstances, falling six points to
13%, the lowest Gallup has recorded for this position since 1995. At
the same time, the 35% wanting it legal under any circumstances is the
highest in Gallup's trend by one point, after increasing slightly each
of the past three years. Currently, support for legal
abortion in the first trimester runs more than 2-to-1 in favor (67% vs.
27%). A majority of Americans (55%) are generally against abortion in
the second three months, while 36% think it should be legal. Americans
are most unified in their views on the third trimester, with 71% saying
abortion should not be legal at this stage and 20% saying it should
be.”Gallup did not ask how many of those surveyed were doctors or nurses.
Music Associations: America - Horse With No Name
& ELO - Telephone Line
Not a DoctorAbortion Rights
June 1,
2022
As a man and not a doctor, my view on abortion has been that it is none of my business.
It hasn't mattered who is considering an abortion or how close they are to me — none of my business.

Before the leak (leak?!?) by the Supreme Court of a draft ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, I knew very little about abortion. I knew an old joke about some U.S. politician being so stupid as to think Roe v. Wade
were two ways to cross the Potomac River. I knew that before Roe,
people would sometimes die by attempting a surgical abortion at home,
sometimes involving a non-surgical implement found in most closets. And
that abortion was none of my business.
I have always had enough issues to
deal with personally to not go around telling others what to do or how
to live their lives. It takes some big issues (climate change, covid-19, George Floyd, Ukraine-Russia war,
...) for me to haul out the soapbox and even then, I'm not telling you
what to do. Except vote. And get vaccinated. Fine. Well, this is the
first time I've said anything about abortion or looked into it.
Now that I've read about abortion, my position has changed.
Reading
about the long - long history of abortion and all the ways to do an
abortion (abortifacients!) and all the ramifications, I have taken what was a teenaged
view of abortion and morphed it into something that more fully
represents my values and my faith. I've come to realize it is so very none of my business and all the arguments to outright ban abortion defy logic, understanding, and compassion.
I
previously made the mistake of calling the two sides: pro-choice and
pro-life. That's so wrong. The two sides are: pro-choice and
anti-choice. The anti-choice group takes the side of a dependent organ
against the health and wellbeing of women and trans-men, and against the wellbeing of
existing children who also need support. They can't be pro-life and be
against re-banning assault weapons used for mass murder. They can't be
pro-life and pro-war. They can't be pro-life and against basic
healthcare for all and against a living wage. The anti-choicers want protection for them and what is theirs and restrictions on you.
“When
properly done, abortion is one of the safest procedures in medicine,
but unsafe abortion is a major cause of maternal death, especially in
the developing world, while making safe abortion legal and accessible
reduces maternal deaths. Around 56 million abortions are performed each
year in the world, with about 45% done unsafely.” - Wikipedia I
had known about miscarriages. The mother of a friend listed a
miscarriage as one of her children. Miscarriages end 30 to 40% of
pregnancies. I knew certain pregnancies
could kill the mother and the child. I just learned the word, ectopic.
Did I say I'm not a doctor?!? Well, I'm not a doctor, and page 202 of
the 1378 page Mayo Clinic book beside me says, “Ectopic
pregnancy occurs when the fertilized egg implants itself anywhere other
than in the uterus. The fertilized egg may become implanted on the
ovary or in the abdominal cavity, but in 95 percent of all ectopic
pregnancies the egg is implanted in the fallopian tube. Thus an ectopic
pregnancy is sometimes called a tubal pregnancy. This is an extremely
dangerous condition that, when not detected early, can have dire
consequences. It is a leading cause of pregnancy-related death.” Ectopic pregnancy is one reason abortion can be doctor recommended.
I
learned about the combination of mifepristone and misoprostol pills that,
when used as directed, are 97% effective for abortions during the first 63 days of
pregnancy. I learned of Aid Access,
which has sent these pills to more than 30,000 Americans over the
last four years. Other information about abortion pills:
• Plan C
• Safe2Choose • How To Use Abortion Pill
• Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline
• Reprocare HotlineI already knew about Planned Parenthood.
As the largest provider of birth control in the United States, Planned
Parenthood does more than anyone else to prevent abortions. They say, “There
are two ways of ending a pregnancy: in-clinic abortion and the abortion
pill. Both are safe and very common. If you’re pregnant and
thinking about abortion, you may have lots of questions. We’re
here to help. You Can Come to Us, No Matter What. Pregnant and not sure
what to do? That can be scary, but you’re not alone. The
professional, caring staff at your nearest Planned Parenthood health
center will give you all the straight-up information you need to help
you make the right decision for you. No pressure, no judgment. Just
support.”Another resource is I need an abortion (www.ineedana.com) which gives simple, current, and localized information about abortions. They say, “With
3 non-personally-identifiable pieces of information (that we
don’t collect or store), we’re able to give people seeking
abortions the information most relevant to their individual
circumstances. This means there are a ton of different experiences you
could get on ineedana.com.
We show everyone their closest clinics, but if you enter that
you’re a minor in a state with parental consent laws, we show you
that information too. If you click a button asking “How am
I going to afford this?,” we show you your state’s Abortion
Funds and Practical Support Networks. If you’re under 10-weeks
and in a state that allows telemedicine and abortion pills by mail, we
show that as an option.”
Pre-Abortion Decision Help
• Planned Parenthood - Considering Abortion Guide
• All-Options pregnancy talk line • Pregnancy Options Workbook
• The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice • Men and AbortionWhere to get an Abortion in the United States
• I Need an Abortion
• Abortion Finder • National Abortion Federation • Abortion Funding - National Hotline • Abortion Funding - By State •
If you are a minor and need help getting an abortion or obtaining
Judicial Bypass (a judge waives the requirement of parental
consent/notification), contact the Repro Legal Helpline by calling 844-868-2812 or filling out this form.
Post-Abortion Support Resources
• All-Options pregnancy talk line • Connect and Breathe post-abortion talk line • Exhale Pro-Voice post-abortion text line • A Guide to Emotional and Spiritual Resolution After an Abortion
Plus, More Resources+ Safe2Choose
+ Women on Web
+ Women Help Women
+ r/Abortion resource links on Reddit
I
still don't know nearly enough to be any use to you. You need caring
professionals to ask you questions about your situation and offer some
help. You don't need me or the United States Supreme Court interfering
with your health. The Supremes are expected to overturn Roe v. Wade later this month.
Music Association: Supremes - Fetus Love

Climate Change Shell GameBangity, Bangity, You're Dead!
Memorial Day • May 30,
2022No
one needs an AR-15 or any other assault weapon designed to massacre
people. The ten year ban on assault weapons (1994-2004) saw mass
shootings drop 43%. Since the ban expired, mass shootings have tripled.
The Buffalo NY shooting at the Tops grocery store on May 14th should
not have been possible. The Robb elementary school shooting on May 27th
in Uvalde TX should not have been possible. Re-ban assault weapons.
To make this understandable to the assault weapons people, the bangity-bangity guns should be banned again. (It's really more of a ripping sound, like burrrrrraaaaaap.)
Gun
ownership should require a background check, safe storage, and should
be subject to red flag laws or extreme risk protection orders.
Texas
suffered 4,164 gun deaths in 2020, the most recent year for which the
CDC has published data. That's a rate of 14.2 deaths per 100,000
Texans. California, by comparison, saw 3,449 deaths, a gun death rate
of 8.5 deaths per 100,000 Californians. Texas does not have the highest gun death rate, however. They aren't that stupid. The top states by gun death rates are:
Mississippi • 28.6.
Louisiana • 26.3.
Wyoming • 25.9.
Missouri • 23.9.
Alabama • 23.6.
Alaska • 23.5.
Those states with the highest gun death rates are among the ones with the highest gun ownership rates.
Mississippi • 50% of adults live in a household with a gun.
Louisiana • 48%.
Wyoming • 59%.
Missouri • 48%.
Alabama • 50%.
Alaska • 59%.
Where
there are fewer guns, there are fewer gun deaths. The states with the
lowest gun death rates in 2020, per the CDC (alongside the percentage
of homes with a gun in 2007-2016, per RAND) were:
Hawaii • 3.4 (8% of adults live in a household with a gun).
Massachusetts • 3.7 (10%).
New Jersey • 5 (8%).
Rhode Island • 5.1 (11%).
New York • 5.3 (14%).
Parents
and media firebrands that empower the mass shooters should also be held
accountable. The police who not only did not enter the school but
actively prevented others from stepping in should also be held
accountable.
And what should really dominate the news and politics is climate change mitigation.

Music Association: Chris Cross - The Best That You Can Do?
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