Republicans are proud of how they're intimidating women in Texas. But could this abortion ban & its vigilantism be the tipping point that activates women & allies to take down the GOP?
"Pro life" is a misnomber for a far right wing religious minority that exercise a great deal of political power in the United States as they serve indirectly the objectives of the right wing elites who are threatened by democracy and equal rights for the people, when that means everyone else. Nothing new as similar laws have been enacted against minorities in this country. Hardly surprising that it is happening in Texas, a state created specifically to enable slavery for the land owners who wished to settle in this part of Mexico. The slave owner mentality and need for white men to arm themselves to keep people of color in line, is pervasive in Texas. Anyone who has lived in Texas is aware of how regressive most of its white people are and how lacking in any sense of Christianity, though they pretend otherwise.
The CDC has an abortion surveillance program so we can easily understand the rate of abortions in the United States. Unfortunately this data isn’t perfect due to the voluntary reporting structure (i.e. all data is underreported), but it’s the best we have in real-ish time. The latest data published was from a 2018 study in the MMWR journal:
In 2018, 611,376 people got an abortion. This equals 11.3 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years. This also equals 189 abortions per 1,000 live births. This is an underestimate; the true number of abortions in the United States is closer to 1.2 million a year.
The abortion rate has decreased overtime. From 2009 to 2018, the total number of reported abortions decreased 22% (thank you Obamacare and access to birth control)
In 2018, New York had the highest number of abortions (77,250) followed by Florida (70,082) and Texas (55,140).
Number of abortions, rate (Number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratio (Number of abortions per 1,000 live births) of abortions performed, by year — selected reporting areas, United States, 2009–2018
Who typically gets abortions and when?
Women in their 20s accounted for more than half of abortions (57.7%)
3 out of 4 abortions were performed at ≤9 weeks’ gestation. Nearly all (92.2%) were performed in the first trimester
Case Fatality Rate of legal abortions is rare: 0.44 deaths per 100,000 legal abortions. So, on average, 0.44 women die out of 100,000 abortions.
Why do women get an abortion?
The reasons are complex, as more than 60% of women report multiple reasons. More than 900 women in a U.S. study were asked why they got an abortion. The scientists categorized what they heard into 11 broad themes. They were:
Financial reasons (40%): “[It was] all financial, me not having a job, living off death benefits, dealing with my 14 year old son. I didn't have money to buy a baby spoon.”
Timing (36%): Like a 21 year old pointed out, “Mainly I didn't feel like I was ready yet - didn't feel financially, emotionally ready. Due date was at the same time as my externship at school. Entering the workforce with a newborn would be difficult - I just wasn't ready yet.”
Partner related reasons (31%): Like “being with the wrong guy” or “partner issues”
Need to focus on other children (29%): “I already had 2 kids and it would be really overwhelming. It's kind of hard to raise 2 kids by yourself,”
Interfere with future opportunities (20%):“I didn't think I'd be able to support a baby and go to college and have a job.”
Not emotionally or mentally prepared (19%)
Health-related reasons (12%)
Want a better life for the baby than she could provide (7%)
Lack of maturity or independence (7%)
Influences from friends and/or family (5%)
Don’t want a baby or place baby for adoption (4%)
What’s the problem if women are denied an abortion?
Safety and Death
Illegal abortions, for now, are incredibly rare in the United States. You can’t even see the rate of illegal abortions on histogram when compared to other regions of the world.
Unsafe abortion rate per 1000 women aged 15–44 years by region.
But if we do change the laws, it will not result in lower abortion rates. The abortion rate is 37 per 1000 in countries that prohibit abortion and the abortion rate is 34 per 1000 in countries that allow abortion. What does shift is the number of illegal abortions. Our histogram will go up. Before Roe vs. Wade (1950’s and 1960’s), the number of illegal abortions in the United States ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million per year.
And illegal abortions are incredibly dangerous for women. Women with illegal abortions are at higher risk for serious medical problems including:
Incomplete abortions
Heavy bleeding (hemorrhaging)
Infection
Uterine perforation (or the uterus pieced by a sharp object)
Damage to the genital tract and internal organs (due to inserting dangerous objects like sticks, knitting needles, broken glass)
Each year, 7 million women worldwide are admitted to hospitals for unsafe abortions. 4.7-13% of those women typically die.
Mental Health Issues
Women who are denied an abortion also have more mental illness problems. A major JAMA study followed 956 women who had abortions or women who tried to get abortions but were turned away from the offices where they first sought care. The scientists surveyed these women two times a year for 5 years. Scientists were particularly interested in the mental health differences immediately seeking care and mental health thereafter. What did they find?
Women denied an abortion reported more anxiety, lower self-esteem, and lower life satisfaction. Depression among the two groups were the same.
Women who were denied an abortion, in particular those who later miscarried or had an abortion elsewhere, had the most elevated levels of anxiety and lowest self-esteem and life satisfaction
The mental health between groups by 1 year were about the same
This rejects the common misconception that abortion increases women’s risk of mental illness. In fact the inability to get an abortion does this.
The most vulnerable of populations will suffer
In an older study on pregnant rape victims, 1 in 3 of these victims did not discover they were pregnant until they had already entered the second trimester (long after 6 week mark from the Texas law). Of pregnant rape victims, 50% underwent abortion. Victims of rape or domestic abuse are not an exception to the new Texas law. Victimization, alone, causes long-term mental and physical health problems. Adding the inability to get an abortion only exacerbates health problems for years and years to come.
Women in Texas will also now have to travel to other states to get an abortion. Or, if they don’t have the means, they may have to preform an unsafe abortion in their home state. Poor and minority women experience both greater need for and reduced access to abortion services.
Women with incomes less than 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL) have an abortion rate of 52 abortions per 1000 women, compared to 9 per 1000 among women with incomes greater than 200% FPL
The abortion rate for non-Hispanic White women was 12 abortions per 1000 reproductive-age women, compared with 29 per 1000 for Hispanic women, and 40 per 1000 for non-Hispanic Black women.
Health inequity in the United States will only be exacerbated with these laws.
A Better Picture
As a mixed methods scientist, I’ve found that numbers are important but when numbers are married with stories we get a more comprehensive picture of the public health problem. I’m not nearly strong enough to talk about my story, but many, many women are. I suggest you read this one. Here is an excerpt:
Most people talk about abortion as if something is ending. Even the language that pro-choicers use—saying that we ‘ended’ a pregnancy or using the word ‘termination’—reflects that mindset. It’s not that those words aren’t accurate, exactly—but they’re also not complete. Because for me, and for so many others, abortion was the start of something.
The truth is that all abortions create something. Paths forward, lives lived, connections made. Some are hard, some are beautiful—but all are chosen.
Bottom Line: Access to safe and legal abortion is vital to the physical and mental health of women in the United States. The science says this. The women on the ground say this. If only policy-makers would come to the same conclusion.
Love, YLE
There’s a lot you can do. For immediate help, please consider donating to the Lilith Fund so Texans can be financially supported to leave the state for abortions needed now. Donate to the ACLU who is representing the plaintiffs in the case to fight for abortion access in Texas. For more options, here is an amazing list. You can find abortion funds to help and people to follow on this thread too.
Daughters/wives of the "well-off" will have no trouble getting discreet D'nC's from their private docs. Girlfriends of GOP honchos are "taken care of." When did their rules ever apply to them?
How many are witnessing a "friend or neighbor" dying of Covid and recognizing it's existence?They are not going to notice their 12-year-old daughters dying in back alleys: just the will of God dealing with a junior Jezebel. The mind-set is a bottomless pit of hatred and denial. It's not too much to compare to the "American Taliban."
There is one part of this that I think Thom got wrong. The daughters of the well off and politically connected will not be affected by these laws. At this point it seems unlikely that this trend will leap to the federal level, so it will remain a state issue. Red states will pass restrictive laws, but blue states will not. This will be devastating for women without substantial means, but the rich will be able to travel to blue states to get an abortion without having to worry about it at all. It will be abortion tourism for rich people. So don't expect the wealthy to put abortion rights ahead of their desire to take as much of the national wealth as they can grab.
It will tend to make blue states more blue, however - as pointed out in the article, abortion rights activists will become more active, as anti-choice activist try to pass restrictive laws there as well.
Idaho hospitals are full. Our hospitals are built for profit. They are profitable when beds are full during normal times. Just like an airlines is profitable when the seats are full. This is not normal times.
No matter what the laws. White wealthy women (impregnated by men) will go to other states or countries to have their choice. Leaving poor women to go barefoot and pregnant. Texas needs to vote blue.
It is far beyond the moment when Democrats should have codified, in federal law, the right and access to safe abortion for all American women and girls. That is Congress's job, one that Congressional Democrats have been kicking down the road since "Roe". This highlights the reality that we don't really have a two-party political system, just two shades of a single oligarchy.
"Pro life" is a misnomber for a far right wing religious minority that exercise a great deal of political power in the United States as they serve indirectly the objectives of the right wing elites who are threatened by democracy and equal rights for the people, when that means everyone else. Nothing new as similar laws have been enacted against minorities in this country. Hardly surprising that it is happening in Texas, a state created specifically to enable slavery for the land owners who wished to settle in this part of Mexico. The slave owner mentality and need for white men to arm themselves to keep people of color in line, is pervasive in Texas. Anyone who has lived in Texas is aware of how regressive most of its white people are and how lacking in any sense of Christianity, though they pretend otherwise.
It continues to amuse & appall me that hypocrisy & irony are so often combined within a single political movement.
I GET THIS AS A LETTER AND CANNOT SUPPLY A LINK:
The CDC has an abortion surveillance program so we can easily understand the rate of abortions in the United States. Unfortunately this data isn’t perfect due to the voluntary reporting structure (i.e. all data is underreported), but it’s the best we have in real-ish time. The latest data published was from a 2018 study in the MMWR journal:
In 2018, 611,376 people got an abortion. This equals 11.3 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years. This also equals 189 abortions per 1,000 live births. This is an underestimate; the true number of abortions in the United States is closer to 1.2 million a year.
The abortion rate has decreased overtime. From 2009 to 2018, the total number of reported abortions decreased 22% (thank you Obamacare and access to birth control)
In 2018, New York had the highest number of abortions (77,250) followed by Florida (70,082) and Texas (55,140).
Number of abortions, rate (Number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratio (Number of abortions per 1,000 live births) of abortions performed, by year — selected reporting areas, United States, 2009–2018
Who typically gets abortions and when?
Women in their 20s accounted for more than half of abortions (57.7%)
3 out of 4 abortions were performed at ≤9 weeks’ gestation. Nearly all (92.2%) were performed in the first trimester
Case Fatality Rate of legal abortions is rare: 0.44 deaths per 100,000 legal abortions. So, on average, 0.44 women die out of 100,000 abortions.
Why do women get an abortion?
The reasons are complex, as more than 60% of women report multiple reasons. More than 900 women in a U.S. study were asked why they got an abortion. The scientists categorized what they heard into 11 broad themes. They were:
Financial reasons (40%): “[It was] all financial, me not having a job, living off death benefits, dealing with my 14 year old son. I didn't have money to buy a baby spoon.”
Timing (36%): Like a 21 year old pointed out, “Mainly I didn't feel like I was ready yet - didn't feel financially, emotionally ready. Due date was at the same time as my externship at school. Entering the workforce with a newborn would be difficult - I just wasn't ready yet.”
Partner related reasons (31%): Like “being with the wrong guy” or “partner issues”
Need to focus on other children (29%): “I already had 2 kids and it would be really overwhelming. It's kind of hard to raise 2 kids by yourself,”
Interfere with future opportunities (20%):“I didn't think I'd be able to support a baby and go to college and have a job.”
Not emotionally or mentally prepared (19%)
Health-related reasons (12%)
Want a better life for the baby than she could provide (7%)
Lack of maturity or independence (7%)
Influences from friends and/or family (5%)
Don’t want a baby or place baby for adoption (4%)
What’s the problem if women are denied an abortion?
Safety and Death
Illegal abortions, for now, are incredibly rare in the United States. You can’t even see the rate of illegal abortions on histogram when compared to other regions of the world.
Unsafe abortion rate per 1000 women aged 15–44 years by region.
But if we do change the laws, it will not result in lower abortion rates. The abortion rate is 37 per 1000 in countries that prohibit abortion and the abortion rate is 34 per 1000 in countries that allow abortion. What does shift is the number of illegal abortions. Our histogram will go up. Before Roe vs. Wade (1950’s and 1960’s), the number of illegal abortions in the United States ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million per year.
And illegal abortions are incredibly dangerous for women. Women with illegal abortions are at higher risk for serious medical problems including:
Incomplete abortions
Heavy bleeding (hemorrhaging)
Infection
Uterine perforation (or the uterus pieced by a sharp object)
Damage to the genital tract and internal organs (due to inserting dangerous objects like sticks, knitting needles, broken glass)
Each year, 7 million women worldwide are admitted to hospitals for unsafe abortions. 4.7-13% of those women typically die.
Mental Health Issues
Women who are denied an abortion also have more mental illness problems. A major JAMA study followed 956 women who had abortions or women who tried to get abortions but were turned away from the offices where they first sought care. The scientists surveyed these women two times a year for 5 years. Scientists were particularly interested in the mental health differences immediately seeking care and mental health thereafter. What did they find?
Women denied an abortion reported more anxiety, lower self-esteem, and lower life satisfaction. Depression among the two groups were the same.
Women who were denied an abortion, in particular those who later miscarried or had an abortion elsewhere, had the most elevated levels of anxiety and lowest self-esteem and life satisfaction
The mental health between groups by 1 year were about the same
This rejects the common misconception that abortion increases women’s risk of mental illness. In fact the inability to get an abortion does this.
The most vulnerable of populations will suffer
In an older study on pregnant rape victims, 1 in 3 of these victims did not discover they were pregnant until they had already entered the second trimester (long after 6 week mark from the Texas law). Of pregnant rape victims, 50% underwent abortion. Victims of rape or domestic abuse are not an exception to the new Texas law. Victimization, alone, causes long-term mental and physical health problems. Adding the inability to get an abortion only exacerbates health problems for years and years to come.
Women in Texas will also now have to travel to other states to get an abortion. Or, if they don’t have the means, they may have to preform an unsafe abortion in their home state. Poor and minority women experience both greater need for and reduced access to abortion services.
Women with incomes less than 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL) have an abortion rate of 52 abortions per 1000 women, compared to 9 per 1000 among women with incomes greater than 200% FPL
The abortion rate for non-Hispanic White women was 12 abortions per 1000 reproductive-age women, compared with 29 per 1000 for Hispanic women, and 40 per 1000 for non-Hispanic Black women.
Health inequity in the United States will only be exacerbated with these laws.
A Better Picture
As a mixed methods scientist, I’ve found that numbers are important but when numbers are married with stories we get a more comprehensive picture of the public health problem. I’m not nearly strong enough to talk about my story, but many, many women are. I suggest you read this one. Here is an excerpt:
Most people talk about abortion as if something is ending. Even the language that pro-choicers use—saying that we ‘ended’ a pregnancy or using the word ‘termination’—reflects that mindset. It’s not that those words aren’t accurate, exactly—but they’re also not complete. Because for me, and for so many others, abortion was the start of something.
The truth is that all abortions create something. Paths forward, lives lived, connections made. Some are hard, some are beautiful—but all are chosen.
Bottom Line: Access to safe and legal abortion is vital to the physical and mental health of women in the United States. The science says this. The women on the ground say this. If only policy-makers would come to the same conclusion.
Love, YLE
There’s a lot you can do. For immediate help, please consider donating to the Lilith Fund so Texans can be financially supported to leave the state for abortions needed now. Donate to the ACLU who is representing the plaintiffs in the case to fight for abortion access in Texas. For more options, here is an amazing list. You can find abortion funds to help and people to follow on this thread too.
Daughters/wives of the "well-off" will have no trouble getting discreet D'nC's from their private docs. Girlfriends of GOP honchos are "taken care of." When did their rules ever apply to them?
How many are witnessing a "friend or neighbor" dying of Covid and recognizing it's existence?They are not going to notice their 12-year-old daughters dying in back alleys: just the will of God dealing with a junior Jezebel. The mind-set is a bottomless pit of hatred and denial. It's not too much to compare to the "American Taliban."
There is one part of this that I think Thom got wrong. The daughters of the well off and politically connected will not be affected by these laws. At this point it seems unlikely that this trend will leap to the federal level, so it will remain a state issue. Red states will pass restrictive laws, but blue states will not. This will be devastating for women without substantial means, but the rich will be able to travel to blue states to get an abortion without having to worry about it at all. It will be abortion tourism for rich people. So don't expect the wealthy to put abortion rights ahead of their desire to take as much of the national wealth as they can grab.
It will tend to make blue states more blue, however - as pointed out in the article, abortion rights activists will become more active, as anti-choice activist try to pass restrictive laws there as well.
New Mexico to the rescue.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexico-braces-influx-supreme-court-083443579.html
ONLY IN AMERICA
Tucker Carlson encourages anti vaxers to forge vaccination cards.
https://www.thewrap.com/tucker-carlson-says-people-who-try-to-limit-the-s
Oklahoma hospitals are backing up with overdoses from horse deworming medicine.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/oklahomas-ers-backed-people-overdosing-053822589.htmlpread-of-covid-19-should-be-punished-video/
"Mu" is the latest variant.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/09/02/national/japan-coronavirus-mu-variant/
Idaho hospitals are full. Our hospitals are built for profit. They are profitable when beds are full during normal times. Just like an airlines is profitable when the seats are full. This is not normal times.
https://apnews.com/article/business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-idaho-09941b507483a5c7b0183dcbf03a8254
If you want the truth in Kansas, you had better move to another state.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-kansas-republicans-playing-strange-100000721.html
You can bet that this will not happen!
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/09/02/1033583761/cdc-recommends-that-unvaccinated-people-dont-travel-over-labor-day-weekend
No matter what the laws. White wealthy women (impregnated by men) will go to other states or countries to have their choice. Leaving poor women to go barefoot and pregnant. Texas needs to vote blue.
The state house and senate are 180 members. The Dems are at 80. Bless them for fighting back as hard as they can.👏
Check out the documentary "VESSEL". It's on Netflix. It starts with offshore clinics and ends with a new idea. Where there are women, there is a way!
It is far beyond the moment when Democrats should have codified, in federal law, the right and access to safe abortion for all American women and girls. That is Congress's job, one that Congressional Democrats have been kicking down the road since "Roe". This highlights the reality that we don't really have a two-party political system, just two shades of a single oligarchy.