I worked in an emergency room in 1981. During a busy shift, the triage nurse wheeled a screaming, obviously pregnant 19-year-old into an exam room. I went to the room and found something I couldn't identify protruding from the girls vagina. I asked the only M.D who was on the phone to come right now, but he wouldn't. I yanked him by the arm and dragged him to the room where a 6 month fetus with no legs and an abdomen much larger than the head was delivered.
The M.D. called out for an incubator and another doctor to be called on the intercom. The M.D. and the other doctor ignored the mother who was bleeding profusely as they worked on the fetus. No amount of pleading on my part could get either doctor to evaluate and give me orders on the mother whose blood pressure was barely palpable.
Back then, starting an IV without orders was cause to have an RN license revoked, but I did it anyway and tried to massage the fundus of the uterus. I had worked in traumas, cardiac, and burns, but never in labor and delivery. After a couple of hours, the preemie was moved upstairs and died a few hours later due to "not compatible with life.
My point is, the mother was obviously not as important as the newborn, and if I hadn't risked my license to start the IV with whatever solution I chose and risk my license, the doctors would have let her die. I was shocked and sure that would have been the outcome. The mother barely survived. One of the doctor's wives was pregnant at the time if that puts any perspective on the situation.
Labor and delivery had no nurses to spare that night. That is always the story. Nurses and patients are commodities in this "capitalism gone wild system".
There is a shortage of nurses, and you would think that Medical Centers/Hospitals would be paying a premium, but the exact opposite.
MC/Hospitals are corporations and the purpose of a corporation is to provide a positive return for investors.
There are a few non profits, like Peace Health, founded by Sisters of St Joseph, but being Catholic they won't perform abortions, although Washington State Law requires it, and much of their work, like staffing of the Emergency room, and labs are contracted off to Black Rock, a private equity LLC
Nurses have always been told there is a shortage. While I was working as a nurse and we were very short, the administration told us that there were no nurses available. I personally knew two nurse who had applied but weren't hired. Other nurses said the same.
It may actually be the case now. I don't know, but I was offered $77. dollars an hour to work in Madison yesterday in a text message, so it might be true. I have a inherited collagen deficiency disorder that causes me pain to do physically strenuous work, but I would have been a good supervisor or risk management person in a healthcare system that valued human lives over profit.
Its true there is a bad shortage of nurses. I worked in a Long Term Care unit recently and skilled unit. You literally never stopped the entire shift. Non stop. No help .
I heard DOL Philippine nurse immigration cases. We recruit nurses from all over the world, but the Philippines accounts for 27% of foreign-born registered nurses or around 150,000 people, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
Immigration as an advanced degree professional usually follows a three-step process. First, to permanently fill a position in the United States with a foreign worker, a prospective employer must obtain certification from DOL. If DOL approves a position, an employer must next submit the certified labor application with an immigrant visa petition to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
if USCIS grants a petition, a designated noncitizen may apply abroad for an immigrant visa or, if eligible, for adjustment of status in the United States.
DOL, however, has already determined that the United States lacks sufficient nurses and that employment of noncitizens in these positions will not harm the wages or working conditions of U.S. workers in similar positions. Thus, DOL authorizes USCIS to adjudicate labor certification applications for nurses in immigrant visa petition proceedings.
I also heard H1B cases involving physicians.
If Americans feel they have been screwed out of job, they may have a claim for relief.
I worked with nurses from the Philippines. It appeared we had adequate nursing staff on the schedule, but they couldn't communicate with patients, families, for doctors so it was not a safe situation. I had to print their assignments because they couldn't read cursive. I don't know how they passed the boards. They could do treatments but not much else. The administrator told me to schedule them for any shifts because if they objected, "it is back to the rice paddies." I felt sorry for them and for us. I don't think it's the shortage solution.
I had a craniotomy to remove a cancerous tumor by an H1B surgeon, and his back up was also and H1b, and here I am going on 7 years later, still trucking.
I lived in Microsft Town, Redmond Wa, for 16 years, and the area and surrounding towns were populated by H1b employees, Indian, Pakistan, Korean mostly if you went shopping at Kroger's, Safeway, Target, Home Depot (no WalMart) you were in the United Nations.
I wonder how relevant your process description is to many more government jobs? I frequently stay on military bases, and it is hard to overlook the overwhelming dominance of Filipino civilian employees. They're great, but....
I know it is Doctors and Private equity have been buying up non profit and community hospitals, and turning them into profit centers and that means a reduction in personnel and a reduction in supplies, meds, and care.
But what about doctors who devalue a woman's suffering? She's "overreacting." etc. I've had two or three experiences, thankfully minor. "It hurts!:" No, it doesn't!" What about (religious) asshole doctors and nurses?
My sister has worked for the same hospital her entire career in Labor & Delivery (25 years+). Unfortunately the hospital was purchased by a Catholic hospital chain and now no abortions (and D &C's, I assume) can be performed and the maternity division is no longer technically a part of the hospital...
Every shift a nurse or doctor works in this system risks moral injury. "Burn out" is the wrong term. "Moral injury" is what happens to people when they work in a system that causes death when you know the only excuse is somebody's profit. No amount of money would entice me to put myself in that situation again, or the many other situations that still haunt me. I only continued until my children were grown and could take care of themselves. Then I finally accepted SSI that I should have qualified for years earlier. Showering in cold water because I couldn't keep up with utilities and counting every penny for food and shelter was preferable to the nightmare of working in this healthcare system. Patients have no idea the peril they are in because the medical staff have to keep quiet in order to stay employed.
There are many health care providers like I was who face staffing shortages everyday but must continue to work in almost unendurable circumstances to support their families. Why those two male doctors ignored my pleas to take care of the mother and focused instead on the sadly hopeless life of the newborn escapes me. That is not even good triage.
A horror story. I will be sure to show more appreciation and gratitude towards nurses. Shudder showering in cold water. Reminds of Vietnam, in the boonies, waited until there was a rain, to wash off, then the rain quit and I had to rinse off in red muddy water. Quite often a "whores bath", washing hands, face and armpits out of a helmet, and the water was always cold, even when a shower was jerry rigged. 5 second not 5 minute showers.
I've read that the mortality rates of doctors is higher than the general public, same for nurses, you can count yourself lucky.
I'm lucky I didn't have to go to Vietnam. But this memory was triggered by hearing of the fifth circuit court decision that puts pregnant women's lives in jeopardy. My heart raced and I paced the floor after writing about what happened. I won't be able to think about much else for a few hours. My plans for the day went out the window.
This is just one horror story I have to remember. I have the satisfaction of knowing that young woman lived, but I shouldn't have to remember the anxiety of having the responsibility without the authority. That is what nurses have to live with every day; responsibility without authority.
My children were young and depended on me to provide for them. It wasn't an easy decision to choose between that young mother's life and my own children, because losing my license would not allow me to pay my mortgage or have the money to care for them. Remember, health insurance in this country is employment related, and my youngest child had severe asthma.
A long time ago, I looked into the psychology of high stress jobs, and one red flag was: high responsibility/no power. Have I just encapsulated the perpetual status of women, forever?
Yours is another horror story, And I fully understand the dilemma faced by medical professionals.All of this would be cured by Single Payor, but think of this. What would happen to Single Payor if the Republicans controlled Congress, look what Tuberville did to the military, holding up promotions, and look what the Republicans are doing to the defense budget, they inserted a rider that would prohibit military sanctions of abortions, and of course the Democrats and Biden will accept it.
There is a parable of a quarrel between the brain and the anus, about who should be the boss.
The brain argued, that it had all of the knowledge and smarts, the anus simply squeeze the sphincter, the brain finally gave up. The moral is you don't have to be smart to be the boss, only an asshole.
So goes the right, so goes the vapid, feckless and childish independents.
There's legislative sexual violence with the passage of these draconian abortion bans. Then there's judicial sexual violence with this stupid decision to apply equal stabilizing care to the pregnant woman and fetus. Horrific!
I am not a nurse, so I can imagine what you can envision, but I could already envision this happening before they overturned R v W. We are going back to the days of illegal back alley abortions, and our lowering life expectancy will go down even more. Why do oligarchs like third world countries so much? That is what we are becoming.
The Nazis also outlawed women having abortions, at least for White women. They did not care about Brown, or Jewish, or Romani, or babies that had disabilities, because they wanted those babies and their moms dead anyway. Aborting a White baby could get you the death penalty in Nazi Germany. This is where we are headed. In the Lebensborn program of the Nazi's young blonde, blue-eyed women were matched with blonde, blue or green eyed SS officers to mate and breed babies, which were taken from them and given to others to raise, because their role was to breed for their country.
Women are 52% of the country. We are being told that WE don’t count. WE - our lives - don’t count!!!! These laws are taking women right back to the 1950’s. Are we to be paid less because we might become pregnant? Ken Paxton and his ilk are attempting to force their religion on the rest of the country. Abortion has ALWAYS been about Religion. Catholics believe life begins at conception. In the seventies almost all Protestant churches, including the Southern Baptist Convention supported “choice”. It wasn’t until Jerry Falwell linking up with Ronald Reagan and squashing the endorsement of the Equal Rights Amendment that a woman’s right to control her own body was thrown out the window by the Republican Party. The Republicans now are willing to kill women to shut us up. It’s time to shut them down.
I am trying to get into the 'mentality' of these people who are prepared to let women suffer. I wonder sometimes what happened in their lives or what they have seen. Or are they just totally ignorant/brutal/ supposedly religious fanatics! I just don't get it.
I would love to sit down with some of these people and hear what they have to say in front of pregnant women. NO one gets to talk to these morons who make fatuous laws.
Ken Paxton is a corrupt politician and isn’t faithful to his wife or wives - don’t know/don’t care. But it appears that he has no morals and doesn’t respect women. Neither does Donald. Speaker Mike Johnson plays “religious” but then came up with this “scheme” to steal an election from the voters which violated his Oath of office which he swore “so help me God”. If Mike Johnson really believed in Christianity he would never have violated an oath onto God. These men (and women) are liars who are after the riches and power being offered by the “morbidly” wealthy as Thom Hartman rightly calls them. The MAGAts care nothing about regular Americans except as pawns to get what they want. The ones who could present a threat to their power scheme like (non subservient) women, blacks, gays, immigrants, intelligent people - they will attack and suppress. That’s why there are all the threats and the restrictive laws. I am a Christian. I have had a Near Death Experience. I saw Heaven. Kill me and I know that I am going to Heaven. I also know that Ken Paxton and Mike Johnson are liars and preaching the antithesis of what Jesus Christ stood for - and I will not back down from saying it. So “Fear Not” there are more of us than there are of them.
To understand their mentality pick up a book on the Spanish Inquisition. There you will find understanding. In fact, it is the Catholic Bishops of America that are behind the anti women's rights Pro forced birth stance in America. In 1973 when Roe v Wade passed it was the Catholic Bishops of America that told everyone to ignore the Supreme Court decision and not follow the rules. They also swore to get rid of r o e versus Wade at that point. Next thing the Catholic Bishops did was to bribe with several Millions of dollars an evangelist by name of Christianson to do the anti-abortion dance so that people didn't think it was only the Catholic Church involved. They did this not directly but covertly instead. They gave the very Catholic organization the Knights of Columbus to raised over a million dollars to pay off this preacher. Yes Jerry Falwell was also one of the ones that got paid off. They then sent this mob out chasing women who needed to have an abortion. It is the Catholic Church, in the form of Pope Pius the 9th in the 18th through 1870s that came up with the idea of Life beginning at conception. Pious the 9th decided that the so-called Blessed Virgin Mary who mothered Jesus without any father supposedly also had a virgin mother. Based on all that nonsense he decided that life must of course start at conception. Pope Pius pushed so hard that medical students in the United States, who were generally Catholics going to Catholic University, were instructed to never ever do an abortion. The United States also had many Catholic politicians who were told by the church to never ever allow abortions. Yes the crazy evangelicals are behind the anti-abortion anti-woman's rights stance but remember well it is the Catholic Bishops of America who are behind all of it including the five Catholic Supreme Court Justices. It should be noted that the Catholic church has almost always been misogynist and has always pushed the idea that women should keep their mouth shut and listen to their husbands and make least eight babies for the church. This is a sick Church. Members should write the Pope and resign from its membership. Women should also make a concerted effort to not go to church. I spotted these problems when I was very young. I wrote my letter when I was 14. You should do it too.
Jenny - it’s not just the Catholic Church - more importantly here in the United States it’s the corruption of the Evangelical faith. That’s an American failure. It became corrupted during the Reagan administration. Had the disagreement about abortion remained a Catholic vs Protestant issue the United States would not be facing this War on Women. It’s about money and power - using corrupted Christian teaching (which the New Testament warned against repeatedly) to subjugate whole segments of the American population to wealthy white men. Jesus Christ and every Apostle warned us about false Christians doing this over 2000 years ago and here we are.
As a senior in high school in 1972, I had a class called Family Life. One of my classmates said he thought abortion should be illegal; the girl should have to have the baby. " They made their bed; let 'em lie in it," were his words. Then he got worried that his 15 year old girlfriend might be pregnant, and he became an abortion advocate. Hypocritical jackass.
What percentage of Republicians are women? What percentage of MAGAts are women.
Thinking here of Boebert, MTG, ACB, Ginny Thomas, and the MAGAt women wearing T shirts with an arrow pointing to the vagina with the caption, Trump grab me here.
My wife says that these female enablers of the misogynists are supporting their MAGAt men and Trump, because they are threatened by equality, and are happy being relieved of the tedium of having to work. Happy with being the property of men, as they are relieved of responsibility.
For those that are too young to remember, It was women, led by the likes of Phyllis Schafly that kept the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) from being ratified.
I remember it. I was a Republican until Reagan. I remember Phyllis Schafly only too well. There was a series called “Mrs. America” about her which did an excellent depiction of her, including her raw ambition, and the damage she wrought. Unfortunately, much of what we are seeing from these “Republican” women comes from the Evangelical church and it’s teaching that men are the head and women are less than men Ephesians 5. Ephesians 6 says that slaves should obey their masters. Evangelicals
recognize that this is outdated but they still cling to women obeying their husbands. This was pushed by Jerry Falwell and others. After all - why wouldn’t they if they can hold onto power?? What they ignored is the part within Ephesians 5 that said the husband is to be willing to lay down his life for his wife as Jesus as willing to lay down his life for his church. Ephesians 5:25 Puts a whole different spin of it doesn’t it? More like a unit in a combat situation. We are to love each other as The Lord loved us. - if that is true then how could you justify not giving life saving aid to a woman in need. You can not and call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ.
I don't know (blessedly) what its like now, but back in 70's, to find a husband was paramount over all else, if a female was more than, say, 10 years old. It was, like, you were nobody unless you had a man. Under contract for babies. It seemed beyond religion: just Zeitgeist. Some of my college classmates seemed to have a biological urgency more than others. How could I disrespect them? But how much is social conditioning, how much biology? None of us were under the thumbs of preachers.
I believe it is the Pauline books that demand submission of women.
1 Corinthians 14;34 women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.
Catholicism and Orthodox Judaism, and Islam of the same ilk, not to mention cults like the Southern Baptist Convention . Orthodox keep women in balconies, Islam behind a screen
Only reformed Synagogues, and reformed Protesting churches have women Rebbe's and Pastors.
Thanks, however they love it, because they are provided for and protect it, and don't have to worry about work, and can sit around the house and eat chocolates (OK hyperbolic there) but my wife and I are retired and know how little has to be done to keep up the house, water and feed four cats, the worse chore is cleaning out the litter boxes. My wife has fibromyalgia and arthritis, so I do most of the chores, and still have plenty of time to read emails and comment on substack.
When I was a kid in Pennsyltucky,, virtually all Republican women were traditional Protestants and pro-choice trending toward eugenics. Today Protestants still account for a majority of Republican voters (59%), with their share of the party’s voters essentially unchanged across the past four elections.
IMHO all politics is local. Our Republicans were mostly Presbyterian or Methodists that had a tradition of the social gospel. Not true anywhere south of us.
Thanks for the links , especially Republican women link
I grew up age 6-17 in a project in NE Phila. and it was not Pennsyltuckey, but that was late r40's and 50's and the whole world was "father knows best" and racism was openly institutional.
Two of my friends older brothers were stabbed by blacks from Nicetown, who jumped out of their cars while cruising for safe victims.There was a quarter mile stretch on Rising Sun Ave, in front of Exide Batteries, that was quiet, especially on week ends
Then I moved to Northern Louisiana and fell in with bad ass cajuns, who would brag about jumping in the car and going "N......r knocking" and enough for me. I had my uncle, a So. Baptist Preacher (and racist hpocrite) drive me to Monroe and stepped into a recruiting station.
Like the Joni Mitchell song, Clouds, I've seen life from both sides now" in many ways.
Funny thing about Tammy Wynette in real life she was the opposite of her songs
Same with Loretta Lynn
A little story here in 1959 I my name came up as a runner for the Charge of Quarters, the CQ was a staff sergeant, I was a two striper. I answered the phone.
There was a phone call from a woman, visiting a sister in the nearby town. She said you was Kitty Wells, and she started to sing, very good, I never head of Kitty Wells in 1959. She wanted me to come and party with her (she was looking for another troop but he had been transferred, so I would do. The SSgt CQ, gave me a go ahead, with a big smile on his face, but I demurred and turner her down. I had no idea what I would be walking into, and discretion is the better part of hormonal drive.
It was 1959, and not too old at the time, and her husband was nowhere in sight. Democrats at that time were racist southerners and/or laborers., I wanted nothing to do with it. I was a "virgin" and definitely afraid of sex. Believe it or not, my mother raised me to be clinically aware of sex and the medical names for genitalia. The kids though I was cool. They called it a rubber and I corrected to prophylactic.
Campaign this issue to the hilt but know it is not an economic issue for most voters especially the majority of low information base Dem voters. Include abortion as just one of the many health issues that single payer has to be included in the law. Make it just one of many family choices that are needed. It is a family culture value not a huge economic issue to be included as a basic value but not one of the 3 or 4 economic items of the party campaign. The party better have those 3 or 4 economic items AND repeatedly at every opportunity tell the low information base Dem voters what those items are.
The Democrats controlled Congress for 21 or 22 days after Biden was sworn in, they could have done many things, like Legalize Reproductive Health Care, but they only passed the Respect for Marriage Act.
IMO, it was because gay marriage had become non partisan and there are a lot of wealthy Republican gays, like Log Cabin Republicans and Peter Thiel. But I am afraid that there are a lot of patriarchal Democrats.
The Dems lack of discipline makes it hard to bare in contrast to Repubs discipline. The two failed senators who think they are the president made simple things impossible as the party saw it.
I'm not getting you on this one. Do you really think "average Joe" thinks financial burden of a child is, like, NOT a "huge economic issue?" I was a Public Defender, and met lots of Joes hauled into court over child support. Frankly, I have a terrible premonition that there are dead women, nuff said.
Thank you for this post. It needs to be shared far and wide. I also think it is important for all of us to share our own stories. I live in a conservative area and am often involved in conversations with folks (mostly men) who defend this devastating blow to human rights by rolling out the tropes of the "them." That women who end up in the situation where they would need an abortion are somehow second class citizens who deserve the punishment of being forced to carry a fetus to term. The "welfare queen" title is alive and well and flourishing. This group is often stopped in their tracks when I say that I've had an abortion. I'm a white, middle class, heterosexual, christian, married woman who they know well and they do not know what to do when I tell them my story.
We need to personalize this. We need to make the conversation uncomfortable by making them defend their opinion that a woman shouldn't have the right to bodily autonomy by providing a familiar face and story to their vague assertions of who "these women" are. Kate Cox's agonizing story has helped, albeit at the cost of her and her family's privacy at such an excruciating time. I just pray that our collective stories won't include stories - like those from before Roe v Wade - of how we lost loved ones to these draconian laws.
I was interviewed by NPR abt my Abortion experiences, just after the RvW decision broke. Heard from lots of people. Yes, we’ve got to tell our stories.
I have a post here about the core misogyny. "Second class citizens" is too nice. "Sluts" is the real word. "Why couldn't she just keep her legs together?" (posted on YouTube) Thanks for the reminder about "welfare queen." But the rest of that story is that "Welfare" comes after the biological father for "reimbursement." Mom may be required to ID the perp in order to qualify. Now that the "ladies" can't "take care of it" discreetly, I have a dire prediction that there will be a surge in "missing" women. "Shotgun abortion." Damn if he's gonna have the D.A. after him for 18 years!
In the early 2000's I was a poster on Liberty Forum, created and funded by a wealthy anti Bush Republican, he was a Libertarian.
The forum was heavy with Libertarians and right wingers,most were opposed to Bush's war, but was also heavy with anti abortion libertariians, and even wanted to criminalize abortions and charge the women with murder.
Libertarans are libertarian only when it comes to government regulation of business, but are ultra conservative when it comes to culture.
Women are expendable in Republican doctrine! Hey, didn't you know that getting pregnant involves a contract that you will forfeit your life in its prime to save a never-seen, non-sentient fetus? Can't you see how great this is for families?! But don't worry - white women of means will always be able to obtain abortions.
In a patriarchy women serve only as breed cows, sexual and domestic servants and nanny's to change diapers, feed, cloth and pamper the homonculus , that these men believe is delivered to a woman's womb by ejaculation. Well not literally, but certainly until 1677 , when sperm were discovered and called animalculae . Yet there is still a subconscious belief that children are mini me's, and by them we cheat death, thus inheritance laws, a means by which we cheat the grave by passing our wealth on to ourselves as we continue to live through our children.
The patriarchy is really manifested in conservative religions, like the Catholic Church, the Amish, Mennonites, Islam.
As hyper patriarchal as Islam is, and though abortion is forbidden in Islam it has exceptions
Abortion is permitted for fetal anomalies up to 120 days, where they believe the fetus is ensouled, and forbidden after that regardless of the condition of the fetus, an exception being the risk of the mother's life or confirmed intrauterine death. However that also means that abortion is prohibited in the case of rape or incest. Allah forbid that the women reject the homonuclus.
Hah! You were all stuffed-shirt about "New Age" ideas a little while back, but this issue of when the soul actually animates the soma is a discussion across many cultures. It engages questions of not just a woman's "choice," but her existential philosophy, perhaps even organic instincts. Who knows, if not the female engaged in the biological process? Who claims to know, for her?
Yesyes! Also, this is "PROHIBITION." First rule of Prohibition is, the activity will persevere. Second rule of Prohibition is, the privileged class won't be discommoded much. Most famous Prohibition: speakeasys rocked, floating on a cloud of smuggled "good stuff." And protected by law enforcement corruption at ports and on the beat. Po folks died from bathtub gin. I am thrilled to have someone else point out the baked-in-the-cake class derangement. Mistresses of honchos and rich ladies will get their "medically indicated" D&C's, no problem.
You did put in the word "misogyny" at least once. I think it is vastly underestimated how central is despite and fear and negative presumption against females to this reactionary program. I suffered a revelation about this, when a relative recounted about girls in her dorm "disappearing" in the 60's, and the "scuttlebutt" was, they had been pregnant, and hadn't survived the hangar. My Mom, a Master-degreed College teacher of young women, (repetitive, but who knows might be new?) Blurted out : "THEY DESERVED IT!" One of her favorite words, at least at home, was "SLUTS!" Any woman who contemplated abortion was a "SLUT!" I have seen comments on YouTube: couldn't she just keep her legs together? Thom has referenced the story of Eve, after all. God itself didn't just punish Eve for
(whatever), IT cursed all women forever. My dire prediction is that there will be statistics showing an increase in "missing" women. Now that the ladies can't "take care of it" discreetly; maybe dude gives her a ride and a few bucks; heck if he's going to pay for 18 years for his little fun! He's got a gun: I predict "Shotgun Abortions." (I predicted crossing state lines etc. way in advance.)
Ken Paxton, indeed the entire Republican bunch in Texas are all Devils advocates. Indeed I could swear can Paxton as the base of horns on his head. Avid already has a tail that he hides in his drawers.
I did pass this on as I have passed on many of these beautifully written and highly educational pieces. Sometimes, I start to think it is making a difference. One extremely bright grandson, who was buying a pile of both-sidesism and one-sided propaganda from the right has now started repeating facts and information from the sane world and frequently trolls the trolls and nutcases on the Internet pushing the right-wing garbage talking points. He now argues coherently and cogently with his dad, who has been on a first name basis with Inannity Hannity for about 20 years. He typically ignores the articles I send but there are signs he may even be starting to crack. 2024, the year democracy was saved and sanity returned. It was a very good year. Make the prediction come true.
Cogent comments! Part of what you describe is a "hyper" version of the selfish gene concept in patriarchal societies. What's different from female infanticide and sex-selective abortions in some countries, is the inclusion of female fetuses in the ban. Should we celebrate this egalitarian turn?
Equal standing at any stage of the pregnancy!? They have made the legal aspect of women's health impossible to figure out.
It keeps bringing to mind all the sappy hospital dramas where the father is expected to choose--it's his wife or the baby because the doc can't save them both. Or on some shows the mother would beg the doctor to save her child even if it killed her. All I know is if those scenarios ever arise, it's none of my business nor a judge's. Women have to be able to choose and doctors and nurses need to be free from prosecution for helping save a life.
Keep your damn religion out of the emergency room we are all paying for!
Diane Sawyer has a heartbreaking documentary about the moms in horrible circumstances because of the new laws. It's called "On the Brink", and it's on ABC Friday night. You're going to need a tissue, and it shows just how impossibly sad these situations are.
You are probably right. There are a lot of those men and they are the ones who back Trump. The dominance over women is part of the attraction of Trump to these men. It’s the younger wife with nice clothes, all the other women are attractive. The way he talks down to everybody.
As a labor nurse all of this is concerning plus politics doesn’t have the medical background-
I worked in an emergency room in 1981. During a busy shift, the triage nurse wheeled a screaming, obviously pregnant 19-year-old into an exam room. I went to the room and found something I couldn't identify protruding from the girls vagina. I asked the only M.D who was on the phone to come right now, but he wouldn't. I yanked him by the arm and dragged him to the room where a 6 month fetus with no legs and an abdomen much larger than the head was delivered.
The M.D. called out for an incubator and another doctor to be called on the intercom. The M.D. and the other doctor ignored the mother who was bleeding profusely as they worked on the fetus. No amount of pleading on my part could get either doctor to evaluate and give me orders on the mother whose blood pressure was barely palpable.
Back then, starting an IV without orders was cause to have an RN license revoked, but I did it anyway and tried to massage the fundus of the uterus. I had worked in traumas, cardiac, and burns, but never in labor and delivery. After a couple of hours, the preemie was moved upstairs and died a few hours later due to "not compatible with life.
My point is, the mother was obviously not as important as the newborn, and if I hadn't risked my license to start the IV with whatever solution I chose and risk my license, the doctors would have let her die. I was shocked and sure that would have been the outcome. The mother barely survived. One of the doctor's wives was pregnant at the time if that puts any perspective on the situation.
Gloria Maloney RN, BS, MS, MSH
What a truly awful story Gloria and thank you for being brave.
This is a truly disgusting way to treat mothers......Americans go on about the barbarity of other nations! Ha!
Labor and delivery had no nurses to spare that night. That is always the story. Nurses and patients are commodities in this "capitalism gone wild system".
I remember (I think it was Reagan) talking about Family values!
From what I saw in the US I had no idea what this meant. It seemed family's were being torn apart by lack of healthcare/bad food/etc!
Aaarghhhhhh
There is a shortage of nurses, and you would think that Medical Centers/Hospitals would be paying a premium, but the exact opposite.
MC/Hospitals are corporations and the purpose of a corporation is to provide a positive return for investors.
There are a few non profits, like Peace Health, founded by Sisters of St Joseph, but being Catholic they won't perform abortions, although Washington State Law requires it, and much of their work, like staffing of the Emergency room, and labs are contracted off to Black Rock, a private equity LLC
The best in state hospital/medical center is the non profit Evergreen of Kirkland, WA it provides Medical care for Reproductive Health, because Washington State Law requires it of PUBLIC hospitals. /https://doh.wa.gov/sites/default/files/hospital-policies/EvergreenRH.pdf
Nurses have always been told there is a shortage. While I was working as a nurse and we were very short, the administration told us that there were no nurses available. I personally knew two nurse who had applied but weren't hired. Other nurses said the same.
It may actually be the case now. I don't know, but I was offered $77. dollars an hour to work in Madison yesterday in a text message, so it might be true. I have a inherited collagen deficiency disorder that causes me pain to do physically strenuous work, but I would have been a good supervisor or risk management person in a healthcare system that valued human lives over profit.
Its true there is a bad shortage of nurses. I worked in a Long Term Care unit recently and skilled unit. You literally never stopped the entire shift. Non stop. No help .
I heard DOL Philippine nurse immigration cases. We recruit nurses from all over the world, but the Philippines accounts for 27% of foreign-born registered nurses or around 150,000 people, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
Immigration as an advanced degree professional usually follows a three-step process. First, to permanently fill a position in the United States with a foreign worker, a prospective employer must obtain certification from DOL. If DOL approves a position, an employer must next submit the certified labor application with an immigrant visa petition to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
if USCIS grants a petition, a designated noncitizen may apply abroad for an immigrant visa or, if eligible, for adjustment of status in the United States.
DOL, however, has already determined that the United States lacks sufficient nurses and that employment of noncitizens in these positions will not harm the wages or working conditions of U.S. workers in similar positions. Thus, DOL authorizes USCIS to adjudicate labor certification applications for nurses in immigrant visa petition proceedings.
I also heard H1B cases involving physicians.
If Americans feel they have been screwed out of job, they may have a claim for relief.
I worked with nurses from the Philippines. It appeared we had adequate nursing staff on the schedule, but they couldn't communicate with patients, families, for doctors so it was not a safe situation. I had to print their assignments because they couldn't read cursive. I don't know how they passed the boards. They could do treatments but not much else. The administrator told me to schedule them for any shifts because if they objected, "it is back to the rice paddies." I felt sorry for them and for us. I don't think it's the shortage solution.
I had a craniotomy to remove a cancerous tumor by an H1B surgeon, and his back up was also and H1b, and here I am going on 7 years later, still trucking.
I lived in Microsft Town, Redmond Wa, for 16 years, and the area and surrounding towns were populated by H1b employees, Indian, Pakistan, Korean mostly if you went shopping at Kroger's, Safeway, Target, Home Depot (no WalMart) you were in the United Nations.
I have worked with Philippine nurses. Truly outstanding. But they had to pay big money to come here to work.
I wonder how relevant your process description is to many more government jobs? I frequently stay on military bases, and it is hard to overlook the overwhelming dominance of Filipino civilian employees. They're great, but....
Its even worse now
I know it is Doctors and Private equity have been buying up non profit and community hospitals, and turning them into profit centers and that means a reduction in personnel and a reduction in supplies, meds, and care.
100%
Thank goodness you were there to do the only right thing!
this is truly barbaric-I worked in labor and delivery for a long time. It is best for politicians to stay our of delivery rooms
But what about doctors who devalue a woman's suffering? She's "overreacting." etc. I've had two or three experiences, thankfully minor. "It hurts!:" No, it doesn't!" What about (religious) asshole doctors and nurses?
My sister has worked for the same hospital her entire career in Labor & Delivery (25 years+). Unfortunately the hospital was purchased by a Catholic hospital chain and now no abortions (and D &C's, I assume) can be performed and the maternity division is no longer technically a part of the hospital...
Bravo, would there be more health care providers like you. Proud of you Gloria.
The patriarchs certainly know how to control human behavior. Threaten their livelihood and their money. Works every time.
Every shift a nurse or doctor works in this system risks moral injury. "Burn out" is the wrong term. "Moral injury" is what happens to people when they work in a system that causes death when you know the only excuse is somebody's profit. No amount of money would entice me to put myself in that situation again, or the many other situations that still haunt me. I only continued until my children were grown and could take care of themselves. Then I finally accepted SSI that I should have qualified for years earlier. Showering in cold water because I couldn't keep up with utilities and counting every penny for food and shelter was preferable to the nightmare of working in this healthcare system. Patients have no idea the peril they are in because the medical staff have to keep quiet in order to stay employed.
There are many health care providers like I was who face staffing shortages everyday but must continue to work in almost unendurable circumstances to support their families. Why those two male doctors ignored my pleas to take care of the mother and focused instead on the sadly hopeless life of the newborn escapes me. That is not even good triage.
A horror story. I will be sure to show more appreciation and gratitude towards nurses. Shudder showering in cold water. Reminds of Vietnam, in the boonies, waited until there was a rain, to wash off, then the rain quit and I had to rinse off in red muddy water. Quite often a "whores bath", washing hands, face and armpits out of a helmet, and the water was always cold, even when a shower was jerry rigged. 5 second not 5 minute showers.
I've read that the mortality rates of doctors is higher than the general public, same for nurses, you can count yourself lucky.
I'm lucky I didn't have to go to Vietnam. But this memory was triggered by hearing of the fifth circuit court decision that puts pregnant women's lives in jeopardy. My heart raced and I paced the floor after writing about what happened. I won't be able to think about much else for a few hours. My plans for the day went out the window.
This is just one horror story I have to remember. I have the satisfaction of knowing that young woman lived, but I shouldn't have to remember the anxiety of having the responsibility without the authority. That is what nurses have to live with every day; responsibility without authority.
My children were young and depended on me to provide for them. It wasn't an easy decision to choose between that young mother's life and my own children, because losing my license would not allow me to pay my mortgage or have the money to care for them. Remember, health insurance in this country is employment related, and my youngest child had severe asthma.
A long time ago, I looked into the psychology of high stress jobs, and one red flag was: high responsibility/no power. Have I just encapsulated the perpetual status of women, forever?
Yours is another horror story, And I fully understand the dilemma faced by medical professionals.All of this would be cured by Single Payor, but think of this. What would happen to Single Payor if the Republicans controlled Congress, look what Tuberville did to the military, holding up promotions, and look what the Republicans are doing to the defense budget, they inserted a rider that would prohibit military sanctions of abortions, and of course the Democrats and Biden will accept it.
There is a parable of a quarrel between the brain and the anus, about who should be the boss.
The brain argued, that it had all of the knowledge and smarts, the anus simply squeeze the sphincter, the brain finally gave up. The moral is you don't have to be smart to be the boss, only an asshole.
So goes the right, so goes the vapid, feckless and childish independents.
I had a case involving "travel nurses" who were on call and made more than the physicians.
Wow.
Republican Fifth Circuit screws women literally and figuratively.
Unleash Taylor Swift!
Fifth circuit is screwing the Constitution, and Americans
There's legislative sexual violence with the passage of these draconian abortion bans. Then there's judicial sexual violence with this stupid decision to apply equal stabilizing care to the pregnant woman and fetus. Horrific!
I am not a nurse, so I can imagine what you can envision, but I could already envision this happening before they overturned R v W. We are going back to the days of illegal back alley abortions, and our lowering life expectancy will go down even more. Why do oligarchs like third world countries so much? That is what we are becoming.
https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=2048
The Nazis also outlawed women having abortions, at least for White women. They did not care about Brown, or Jewish, or Romani, or babies that had disabilities, because they wanted those babies and their moms dead anyway. Aborting a White baby could get you the death penalty in Nazi Germany. This is where we are headed. In the Lebensborn program of the Nazi's young blonde, blue-eyed women were matched with blonde, blue or green eyed SS officers to mate and breed babies, which were taken from them and given to others to raise, because their role was to breed for their country.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-quot-lebensborn-quot-program
FASCISM IS UGLY! Why do more Americans not understand that?
Thank you for sharing this
Women are 52% of the country. We are being told that WE don’t count. WE - our lives - don’t count!!!! These laws are taking women right back to the 1950’s. Are we to be paid less because we might become pregnant? Ken Paxton and his ilk are attempting to force their religion on the rest of the country. Abortion has ALWAYS been about Religion. Catholics believe life begins at conception. In the seventies almost all Protestant churches, including the Southern Baptist Convention supported “choice”. It wasn’t until Jerry Falwell linking up with Ronald Reagan and squashing the endorsement of the Equal Rights Amendment that a woman’s right to control her own body was thrown out the window by the Republican Party. The Republicans now are willing to kill women to shut us up. It’s time to shut them down.
Hello Kay
I am trying to get into the 'mentality' of these people who are prepared to let women suffer. I wonder sometimes what happened in their lives or what they have seen. Or are they just totally ignorant/brutal/ supposedly religious fanatics! I just don't get it.
I would love to sit down with some of these people and hear what they have to say in front of pregnant women. NO one gets to talk to these morons who make fatuous laws.
I feel like tearing my hair out.
Ken Paxton is a corrupt politician and isn’t faithful to his wife or wives - don’t know/don’t care. But it appears that he has no morals and doesn’t respect women. Neither does Donald. Speaker Mike Johnson plays “religious” but then came up with this “scheme” to steal an election from the voters which violated his Oath of office which he swore “so help me God”. If Mike Johnson really believed in Christianity he would never have violated an oath onto God. These men (and women) are liars who are after the riches and power being offered by the “morbidly” wealthy as Thom Hartman rightly calls them. The MAGAts care nothing about regular Americans except as pawns to get what they want. The ones who could present a threat to their power scheme like (non subservient) women, blacks, gays, immigrants, intelligent people - they will attack and suppress. That’s why there are all the threats and the restrictive laws. I am a Christian. I have had a Near Death Experience. I saw Heaven. Kill me and I know that I am going to Heaven. I also know that Ken Paxton and Mike Johnson are liars and preaching the antithesis of what Jesus Christ stood for - and I will not back down from saying it. So “Fear Not” there are more of us than there are of them.
To understand their mentality pick up a book on the Spanish Inquisition. There you will find understanding. In fact, it is the Catholic Bishops of America that are behind the anti women's rights Pro forced birth stance in America. In 1973 when Roe v Wade passed it was the Catholic Bishops of America that told everyone to ignore the Supreme Court decision and not follow the rules. They also swore to get rid of r o e versus Wade at that point. Next thing the Catholic Bishops did was to bribe with several Millions of dollars an evangelist by name of Christianson to do the anti-abortion dance so that people didn't think it was only the Catholic Church involved. They did this not directly but covertly instead. They gave the very Catholic organization the Knights of Columbus to raised over a million dollars to pay off this preacher. Yes Jerry Falwell was also one of the ones that got paid off. They then sent this mob out chasing women who needed to have an abortion. It is the Catholic Church, in the form of Pope Pius the 9th in the 18th through 1870s that came up with the idea of Life beginning at conception. Pious the 9th decided that the so-called Blessed Virgin Mary who mothered Jesus without any father supposedly also had a virgin mother. Based on all that nonsense he decided that life must of course start at conception. Pope Pius pushed so hard that medical students in the United States, who were generally Catholics going to Catholic University, were instructed to never ever do an abortion. The United States also had many Catholic politicians who were told by the church to never ever allow abortions. Yes the crazy evangelicals are behind the anti-abortion anti-woman's rights stance but remember well it is the Catholic Bishops of America who are behind all of it including the five Catholic Supreme Court Justices. It should be noted that the Catholic church has almost always been misogynist and has always pushed the idea that women should keep their mouth shut and listen to their husbands and make least eight babies for the church. This is a sick Church. Members should write the Pope and resign from its membership. Women should also make a concerted effort to not go to church. I spotted these problems when I was very young. I wrote my letter when I was 14. You should do it too.
S Howard.
I half read this because I am sick and tired of hearing European History from Americans.
We know all this in Europe and have moved on BUT it seems Amerika is still tied to the 'apron strings' of olde world politics.
I was under the illusion that you Americans had brought in a BRAVE New World.
What has happened is that you have actually moved backward in time and are trying to find someone to blame for your mistakes?
We do have abortion in Europe (at the moment) except in right wing countries.
YOU on the other hand are repeating old European History. Why?
Your culture was born out of 'greed' and religion. You had nothing else.
A huge country which could have been so different.....but you decided to try and take over the whole world in the name of DEMOCRACY.
The fallacy of democracy is that you had nothing new.
Jenny - it’s not just the Catholic Church - more importantly here in the United States it’s the corruption of the Evangelical faith. That’s an American failure. It became corrupted during the Reagan administration. Had the disagreement about abortion remained a Catholic vs Protestant issue the United States would not be facing this War on Women. It’s about money and power - using corrupted Christian teaching (which the New Testament warned against repeatedly) to subjugate whole segments of the American population to wealthy white men. Jesus Christ and every Apostle warned us about false Christians doing this over 2000 years ago and here we are.
As a senior in high school in 1972, I had a class called Family Life. One of my classmates said he thought abortion should be illegal; the girl should have to have the baby. " They made their bed; let 'em lie in it," were his words. Then he got worried that his 15 year old girlfriend might be pregnant, and he became an abortion advocate. Hypocritical jackass.
Existential anecdote!!! Her fault!
What percentage of Republicians are women? What percentage of MAGAts are women.
Thinking here of Boebert, MTG, ACB, Ginny Thomas, and the MAGAt women wearing T shirts with an arrow pointing to the vagina with the caption, Trump grab me here.
My wife says that these female enablers of the misogynists are supporting their MAGAt men and Trump, because they are threatened by equality, and are happy being relieved of the tedium of having to work. Happy with being the property of men, as they are relieved of responsibility.
For those that are too young to remember, It was women, led by the likes of Phyllis Schafly that kept the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) from being ratified.
I remember it. I was a Republican until Reagan. I remember Phyllis Schafly only too well. There was a series called “Mrs. America” about her which did an excellent depiction of her, including her raw ambition, and the damage she wrought. Unfortunately, much of what we are seeing from these “Republican” women comes from the Evangelical church and it’s teaching that men are the head and women are less than men Ephesians 5. Ephesians 6 says that slaves should obey their masters. Evangelicals
recognize that this is outdated but they still cling to women obeying their husbands. This was pushed by Jerry Falwell and others. After all - why wouldn’t they if they can hold onto power?? What they ignored is the part within Ephesians 5 that said the husband is to be willing to lay down his life for his wife as Jesus as willing to lay down his life for his church. Ephesians 5:25 Puts a whole different spin of it doesn’t it? More like a unit in a combat situation. We are to love each other as The Lord loved us. - if that is true then how could you justify not giving life saving aid to a woman in need. You can not and call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ.
I don't know (blessedly) what its like now, but back in 70's, to find a husband was paramount over all else, if a female was more than, say, 10 years old. It was, like, you were nobody unless you had a man. Under contract for babies. It seemed beyond religion: just Zeitgeist. Some of my college classmates seemed to have a biological urgency more than others. How could I disrespect them? But how much is social conditioning, how much biology? None of us were under the thumbs of preachers.
I believe it is the Pauline books that demand submission of women.
1 Corinthians 14;34 women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.
Catholicism and Orthodox Judaism, and Islam of the same ilk, not to mention cults like the Southern Baptist Convention . Orthodox keep women in balconies, Islam behind a screen
Only reformed Synagogues, and reformed Protesting churches have women Rebbe's and Pastors.
Let us not forget the Mormons (women). If not totally suppressed: "From Housewife to Heretic" Sonia Johnson.
Thanks, however they love it, because they are provided for and protect it, and don't have to worry about work, and can sit around the house and eat chocolates (OK hyperbolic there) but my wife and I are retired and know how little has to be done to keep up the house, water and feed four cats, the worse chore is cleaning out the litter boxes. My wife has fibromyalgia and arthritis, so I do most of the chores, and still have plenty of time to read emails and comment on substack.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/compare/gender-composition/by/state/among/party-affiliation/republican-lean-rep/
When I was a kid in Pennsyltucky,, virtually all Republican women were traditional Protestants and pro-choice trending toward eugenics. Today Protestants still account for a majority of Republican voters (59%), with their share of the party’s voters essentially unchanged across the past four elections.
IMHO all politics is local. Our Republicans were mostly Presbyterian or Methodists that had a tradition of the social gospel. Not true anywhere south of us.
There is evangelism by Democrats, i.e. https://www.commondreams.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAy9msBhD0ARIsANbk0A_yenxRs5Xj_KZo_tSeg7liTc1HpRs8Wsorwg9id5ZUzRjlkIY-6A8aAicxEALw_wcB
Those MAGAT women channel Tammy Wynette. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM-b8P1yj9w
Thanks for the links , especially Republican women link
I grew up age 6-17 in a project in NE Phila. and it was not Pennsyltuckey, but that was late r40's and 50's and the whole world was "father knows best" and racism was openly institutional.
Two of my friends older brothers were stabbed by blacks from Nicetown, who jumped out of their cars while cruising for safe victims.There was a quarter mile stretch on Rising Sun Ave, in front of Exide Batteries, that was quiet, especially on week ends
Then I moved to Northern Louisiana and fell in with bad ass cajuns, who would brag about jumping in the car and going "N......r knocking" and enough for me. I had my uncle, a So. Baptist Preacher (and racist hpocrite) drive me to Monroe and stepped into a recruiting station.
Like the Joni Mitchell song, Clouds, I've seen life from both sides now" in many ways.
Funny thing about Tammy Wynette in real life she was the opposite of her songs
Same with Loretta Lynn
A little story here in 1959 I my name came up as a runner for the Charge of Quarters, the CQ was a staff sergeant, I was a two striper. I answered the phone.
There was a phone call from a woman, visiting a sister in the nearby town. She said you was Kitty Wells, and she started to sing, very good, I never head of Kitty Wells in 1959. She wanted me to come and party with her (she was looking for another troop but he had been transferred, so I would do. The SSgt CQ, gave me a go ahead, with a big smile on his face, but I demurred and turner her down. I had no idea what I would be walking into, and discretion is the better part of hormonal drive.
She was too old -- and her husband Johnnie Wright, would kick your ass.
Many of the blue grass stars, like Dr. Ralph Stanley, were hard core Democrats.
It was 1959, and not too old at the time, and her husband was nowhere in sight. Democrats at that time were racist southerners and/or laborers., I wanted nothing to do with it. I was a "virgin" and definitely afraid of sex. Believe it or not, my mother raised me to be clinically aware of sex and the medical names for genitalia. The kids though I was cool. They called it a rubber and I corrected to prophylactic.
Campaign this issue to the hilt but know it is not an economic issue for most voters especially the majority of low information base Dem voters. Include abortion as just one of the many health issues that single payer has to be included in the law. Make it just one of many family choices that are needed. It is a family culture value not a huge economic issue to be included as a basic value but not one of the 3 or 4 economic items of the party campaign. The party better have those 3 or 4 economic items AND repeatedly at every opportunity tell the low information base Dem voters what those items are.
The Democrats controlled Congress for 21 or 22 days after Biden was sworn in, they could have done many things, like Legalize Reproductive Health Care, but they only passed the Respect for Marriage Act.
IMO, it was because gay marriage had become non partisan and there are a lot of wealthy Republican gays, like Log Cabin Republicans and Peter Thiel. But I am afraid that there are a lot of patriarchal Democrats.
The Dems lack of discipline makes it hard to bare in contrast to Repubs discipline. The two failed senators who think they are the president made simple things impossible as the party saw it.
I'm not getting you on this one. Do you really think "average Joe" thinks financial burden of a child is, like, NOT a "huge economic issue?" I was a Public Defender, and met lots of Joes hauled into court over child support. Frankly, I have a terrible premonition that there are dead women, nuff said.
Thank you for this post. It needs to be shared far and wide. I also think it is important for all of us to share our own stories. I live in a conservative area and am often involved in conversations with folks (mostly men) who defend this devastating blow to human rights by rolling out the tropes of the "them." That women who end up in the situation where they would need an abortion are somehow second class citizens who deserve the punishment of being forced to carry a fetus to term. The "welfare queen" title is alive and well and flourishing. This group is often stopped in their tracks when I say that I've had an abortion. I'm a white, middle class, heterosexual, christian, married woman who they know well and they do not know what to do when I tell them my story.
We need to personalize this. We need to make the conversation uncomfortable by making them defend their opinion that a woman shouldn't have the right to bodily autonomy by providing a familiar face and story to their vague assertions of who "these women" are. Kate Cox's agonizing story has helped, albeit at the cost of her and her family's privacy at such an excruciating time. I just pray that our collective stories won't include stories - like those from before Roe v Wade - of how we lost loved ones to these draconian laws.
https://open.substack.com/pub/danismart/p/i-am-one-of-them?r=1c5095&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I was interviewed by NPR abt my Abortion experiences, just after the RvW decision broke. Heard from lots of people. Yes, we’ve got to tell our stories.
I have a post here about the core misogyny. "Second class citizens" is too nice. "Sluts" is the real word. "Why couldn't she just keep her legs together?" (posted on YouTube) Thanks for the reminder about "welfare queen." But the rest of that story is that "Welfare" comes after the biological father for "reimbursement." Mom may be required to ID the perp in order to qualify. Now that the "ladies" can't "take care of it" discreetly, I have a dire prediction that there will be a surge in "missing" women. "Shotgun abortion." Damn if he's gonna have the D.A. after him for 18 years!
In the early 2000's I was a poster on Liberty Forum, created and funded by a wealthy anti Bush Republican, he was a Libertarian.
The forum was heavy with Libertarians and right wingers,most were opposed to Bush's war, but was also heavy with anti abortion libertariians, and even wanted to criminalize abortions and charge the women with murder.
Libertarans are libertarian only when it comes to government regulation of business, but are ultra conservative when it comes to culture.
The Republican party in America and the mothers for Liberty as well as many justices of the US courts are not pro-life they instead a pro-death cult.
Women are expendable in Republican doctrine! Hey, didn't you know that getting pregnant involves a contract that you will forfeit your life in its prime to save a never-seen, non-sentient fetus? Can't you see how great this is for families?! But don't worry - white women of means will always be able to obtain abortions.
In a patriarchy women serve only as breed cows, sexual and domestic servants and nanny's to change diapers, feed, cloth and pamper the homonculus , that these men believe is delivered to a woman's womb by ejaculation. Well not literally, but certainly until 1677 , when sperm were discovered and called animalculae . Yet there is still a subconscious belief that children are mini me's, and by them we cheat death, thus inheritance laws, a means by which we cheat the grave by passing our wealth on to ourselves as we continue to live through our children.
The patriarchy is really manifested in conservative religions, like the Catholic Church, the Amish, Mennonites, Islam.
As hyper patriarchal as Islam is, and though abortion is forbidden in Islam it has exceptions
Abortion is permitted for fetal anomalies up to 120 days, where they believe the fetus is ensouled, and forbidden after that regardless of the condition of the fetus, an exception being the risk of the mother's life or confirmed intrauterine death. However that also means that abortion is prohibited in the case of rape or incest. Allah forbid that the women reject the homonuclus.
Hah! You were all stuffed-shirt about "New Age" ideas a little while back, but this issue of when the soul actually animates the soma is a discussion across many cultures. It engages questions of not just a woman's "choice," but her existential philosophy, perhaps even organic instincts. Who knows, if not the female engaged in the biological process? Who claims to know, for her?
Yesyes! Also, this is "PROHIBITION." First rule of Prohibition is, the activity will persevere. Second rule of Prohibition is, the privileged class won't be discommoded much. Most famous Prohibition: speakeasys rocked, floating on a cloud of smuggled "good stuff." And protected by law enforcement corruption at ports and on the beat. Po folks died from bathtub gin. I am thrilled to have someone else point out the baked-in-the-cake class derangement. Mistresses of honchos and rich ladies will get their "medically indicated" D&C's, no problem.
Good analogy! Privilege always skates above the fray, helping to maintain the arrogance of wealth.
You did put in the word "misogyny" at least once. I think it is vastly underestimated how central is despite and fear and negative presumption against females to this reactionary program. I suffered a revelation about this, when a relative recounted about girls in her dorm "disappearing" in the 60's, and the "scuttlebutt" was, they had been pregnant, and hadn't survived the hangar. My Mom, a Master-degreed College teacher of young women, (repetitive, but who knows might be new?) Blurted out : "THEY DESERVED IT!" One of her favorite words, at least at home, was "SLUTS!" Any woman who contemplated abortion was a "SLUT!" I have seen comments on YouTube: couldn't she just keep her legs together? Thom has referenced the story of Eve, after all. God itself didn't just punish Eve for
(whatever), IT cursed all women forever. My dire prediction is that there will be statistics showing an increase in "missing" women. Now that the ladies can't "take care of it" discreetly; maybe dude gives her a ride and a few bucks; heck if he's going to pay for 18 years for his little fun! He's got a gun: I predict "Shotgun Abortions." (I predicted crossing state lines etc. way in advance.)
Ken Paxton, indeed the entire Republican bunch in Texas are all Devils advocates. Indeed I could swear can Paxton as the base of horns on his head. Avid already has a tail that he hides in his drawers.
I did pass this on as I have passed on many of these beautifully written and highly educational pieces. Sometimes, I start to think it is making a difference. One extremely bright grandson, who was buying a pile of both-sidesism and one-sided propaganda from the right has now started repeating facts and information from the sane world and frequently trolls the trolls and nutcases on the Internet pushing the right-wing garbage talking points. He now argues coherently and cogently with his dad, who has been on a first name basis with Inannity Hannity for about 20 years. He typically ignores the articles I send but there are signs he may even be starting to crack. 2024, the year democracy was saved and sanity returned. It was a very good year. Make the prediction come true.
Cogent comments! Part of what you describe is a "hyper" version of the selfish gene concept in patriarchal societies. What's different from female infanticide and sex-selective abortions in some countries, is the inclusion of female fetuses in the ban. Should we celebrate this egalitarian turn?
My head hurts! Did you have to be logical?
I guess I could have been more like a Republican...
Equal standing at any stage of the pregnancy!? They have made the legal aspect of women's health impossible to figure out.
It keeps bringing to mind all the sappy hospital dramas where the father is expected to choose--it's his wife or the baby because the doc can't save them both. Or on some shows the mother would beg the doctor to save her child even if it killed her. All I know is if those scenarios ever arise, it's none of my business nor a judge's. Women have to be able to choose and doctors and nurses need to be free from prosecution for helping save a life.
Keep your damn religion out of the emergency room we are all paying for!
Diane Sawyer has a heartbreaking documentary about the moms in horrible circumstances because of the new laws. It's called "On the Brink", and it's on ABC Friday night. You're going to need a tissue, and it shows just how impossibly sad these situations are.
Thank you so much for your comments from Europe.
You are probably right. There are a lot of those men and they are the ones who back Trump. The dominance over women is part of the attraction of Trump to these men. It’s the younger wife with nice clothes, all the other women are attractive. The way he talks down to everybody.