Official Thread for Abortion Demagoguery

[ChuckNorrisActionJeans 2678]

4 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Paxton couldn’t wait and he clearly wants an all out war of sorts over abortion, brilliant to do this going into an election year.  If Soros was paying somebody to do this to get Democrats and women out to vote, it’ would be money well spent.

 

Isn't this essentially an ex parte communication to parties who may be bound by the TRO, and an attempt to threaten consequences for conduct that is consistent with the ruling? And the idea that this society would tolerate any kind of state surveillance on a non-criminal citizen with intent to prevent (not investigate but PREVENT) a potential "crime".... well this is way fucking beyond abuse of power --  bravo Kenny. There are no fucking limits for this evil shit. We are way beyond what even Ireland was doing a while back before they came to their fucking senses there. But we continue to be frogs in the boiling pot where it's already on fire, just taking it up the ass in this state. I hope one of the parties sues his ass and makes this a case everyone hears about.

[atomheartbevo 89727]

20 minutes ago, ChuckNorrisActionJeans said:

 And the idea that this society would tolerate any kind of state surveillance on a non-criminal citizen with intent to prevent (not investigate but PREVENT) a potential "crime".... well this is way fucking beyond abuse of power --  bravo Kenny. There are no fucking limits for this evil shit. 

Members of our legislature, and various West Texas towns, would love to arrest people who leave the state to have an abortion or even stop them from leaving the state, regardless of the legality elsewhere.  They were openly talking about how they could bust people who leave the state for an abortion.

There's no way to do that without getting access to medical records, receipts for those who buy pregnancy tests (lock up the tests, make women swipe their ID to buy a test, then the state could "follow up" with those women?) as well as combining all of that into a database that anybody leaving the state is checked against.

The Republicans have, for years, claimed the Dems were going to go all Orwell/Minority Report on everybody, yet here we are, and its the Republicans openly championing this big government involved in everybody's lives approach.

[ChuckNorrisActionJeans 2678]

I feel like there should be much more civil unrest. Instead, people and corporations (sorry, redundant) have just become completely apathetic. We even get the college nat'l championship game in Houston despite all the fuckery here. Yay?

[elfenix 34307]

1 hour ago, ChuckNorrisActionJeans said:

an ex parte communication to parties

ex parte is a communication to the court without the other parties being copied. 

[Gap03 3308]

3 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

state police monitoring citizens !!

Only a matter of time before all women must send menstruation data to the state  

This would be a good opportunity to make a commercial about the impending trampling of privacy rights - sort of a real-life version of that commercial where the mom and daughter get stopped trying to travel out of state.  Just load up a close friend's car with cameras, drive over to her house in the middle of the night , set up a dummy laying down in the passenger seat and drive toward the New Mexico border, and document the behavior of DPS / cops in Texas border towns / whatever new brown shirt organization Abbott and Paxton set up to police this shit.  Perhaps people would realize it isn't just breathless overreaction after all ...  

[WhatTheBuck 28788]

7 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

From the story.  No, we don't all seem to recognize that:

“Ms. Cox’s story is heartbreaking because all of us recognize that she and her child are equally valuable and loved by God,” Texas Right to Life Communications Director Kimberly Schwartz said. “If you feel compassion for this situation like us, it is because we all know that there are two lives at stake and that both are supremely important. The answer is not to end the child’s life because of the baby’s disability, but state law does anticipate the serious risk to the mother.”

What exactly do these Jesus freaks think happens to the soul of an aborted fetus? What’s the scriptural basis for what they believe? Or in the case of the Catholics, what is the church’s doctrine? Shouldn’t they believe the poor, innocent little soul is going straight to Heaven? Do the Catholics have some alternate plane for the souls of those who never reached the age of reason?

Ten bucks says Kimberly Schwartz enthusiastically supports capital punishment.

[YGIFS 19452]

It's a weird loophole.  If you're not baptized, you don't go to heaven.  My wife's family was in a big rush to get our girls baptized because if something should happen to them in the early weeks/months of life, they wouldn't go to heaven for some reason.  So I once inquired, not with them  but some other learned Catholics, if a baby should be stillborn, or died in utero in late term, or get malaria at 6 weeks old or whatever.  When there's clearly life that can survive?  And of course there's no clear answer, no scripture, just a "Well, God grants them a special pass to heaven in that case."  But apparently being alive outside the belly for a few months, but not baptized, and then the baby dies, they're fucked and don't go to heaven.  But your parish mileage may vary.  

Catholics are actually the last annoying political element in all of this abortion debate.  Their thinking is hypocritical but at least they've held on to it for a long while.  The Evangelical and Baptist movements in Texas' newest and loudest jam is, "Fetal heartbeat is detectable after just a few weeks!  So that means life and you cannot abort!  You shouldn't even have contraception!"  Because yeah, I totally forgot that bible verse that talks about sonograms detecting fetal heartbeats in week 3 in Jerusalem.  That thing Luke and Matthew couldn't stop talking about while fishing.

If all life counts no matter what, from the moment of conception.  Fine, we may disagree on nuance but if you're supportive of it all without exception...I get your conviction.  But if a Catholic teaching hospital's experts all agree, "Yeah, this baby ain't gonna make it and the mom's probably dead too..."  Maybe sit the next couple of plays out, eh?  

[CooterBrown 18014]

11 hours ago, ChuckNorrisActionJeans said:

I feel like there should be much more civil unrest. Instead, people and corporations (sorry, redundant) have just become completely apathetic. We even get the college nat'l championship game in Houston despite all the fuckery here. Yay?

Texans don't give a shit.  As long as they can complain about Biden's gas prices and Mexicans, they don't give a fuck about giving up rights.

 

 

[mchookem 16336]

...and jack off with their murder dildos, don't forget that. our resident fetishist literally just bragged about that in another thread 😐

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by mchookem

[tx 3 putt 77057]

15 hours ago, Gap03 said:

This would be a good opportunity to make a commercial about the impending trampling of privacy rights - sort of a real-life version of that commercial where the mom and daughter get stopped trying to travel out of state.  Just load up a close friend's car with cameras, drive over to her house in the middle of the night , set up a dummy laying down in the passenger seat and drive toward the New Mexico border, and document the behavior of DPS / cops in Texas border towns / whatever new brown shirt organization Abbott and Paxton set up to police this shit.  Perhaps people would realize it isn't just breathless overreaction after all ...  

 

there is no right to privacy when a fetus is involved !

[skeeter 454]

fuck this ...

TX Supreme Court pauses ruling

[Pescado_Rojo 19423]

On 12/7/2023 at 9:52 PM, Aqua Buddha said:

From the story.  No, we don't all seem to recognize that:

“Ms. Cox’s story is heartbreaking because all of us recognize that she and her child are equally valuable and loved by God,” Texas Right to Life Communications Director Kimberly Schwartz said. “If you feel compassion for this situation like us, it is because we all know that there are two lives at stake and that both are supremely important. The answer is not to end the child’s life because of the baby’s disability, but state law does anticipate the serious risk to the mother.”

“And once that child is born into a terrible life where it will be a physical, financial, and emotional burden, Mrs Cox can get fucked if she expects any help from the state” -Kimberly Schwartz…Probably

[jimmyjazz 45975]

Probably?

[DDD Dad 14339]

On 12/8/2023 at 6:13 AM, YGIFS said:

It's a weird loophole.  If you're not baptized, you don't go to heaven.  My wife's family was in a big rush to get our girls baptized because if something should happen to them in the early weeks/months of life, they wouldn't go to heaven for some reason.  So I once inquired, not with them  but some other learned Catholics, if a baby should be stillborn, or died in utero in late term, or get malaria at 6 weeks old or whatever.  When there's clearly life that can survive?  And of course there's no clear answer, no scripture, just a "Well, God grants them a special pass to heaven in that case."  But apparently being alive outside the belly for a few months, but not baptized, and then the baby dies, they're fucked and don't go to heaven.  But your parish mileage may vary.  

Catholics are actually the last annoying political element in all of this abortion debate.  Their thinking is hypocritical but at least they've held on to it for a long while.  The Evangelical and Baptist movements in Texas' newest and loudest jam is, "Fetal heartbeat is detectable after just a few weeks!  So that means life and you cannot abort!  You shouldn't even have contraception!"  Because yeah, I totally forgot that bible verse that talks about sonograms detecting fetal heartbeats in week 3 in Jerusalem.  That thing Luke and Matthew couldn't stop talking about while fishing.

If all life counts no matter what, from the moment of conception.  Fine, we may disagree on nuance but if you're supportive of it all without exception...I get your conviction.  But if a Catholic teaching hospital's experts all agree, "Yeah, this baby ain't gonna make it and the mom's probably dead too..."  Maybe sit the next couple of plays out, eh?  

 

[WhatTheBuck 28788]

23 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

“And once that unwanted child is forced into a terrible life where it will be a physical, financial, and emotional burden, Mrs Cox can get fucked if she expects any help from the state” -Kimberly Schwartz…Probably

Fify

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13585]

On 12/7/2023 at 9:21 PM, CTC2 said:

 but no one will notice
 

If you have MAGA/politically indifferent friends and/or family in your social media circle it would probably be a good idea to drop the latest GOP abomination- particularly as it relates to reproductive freedom- into their hermetically sealed news feed once a week or so-ish from now till next November.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand

[atomheartbevo 89727]

A Texas Representative has some thoughts

 

[atomheartbevo 89727]

Texas is just shit.  Arrested 37 times as a pro-lifer, on the Texas Supreme Court.

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by atomheartbevo

[4th&Five 41558]

I’m glad this led the NBC Nightly News today. The more people who see what these ghouls are doing here the better. 

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19103]

It would be better for all women in Texas if Kate Cox is arrested trying to leave.  She is who we need right now.  The State of Texas is a complete shithole at this point.  Anyone who can should get the hell out.  Leave it to the Fatty's and Iconos of the world.

[YGIFS 19452]

20 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Texas is just shit.  Arrested 37 times as a pro-lifer, on the Texas Supreme Court.

 

That awkward moment when your cruelty and punchable face aren’t your biggest flaws.  Rather; that as a judicial practitioner held to a high standard of linguistic prowess, and you so utterly and completely fail at the use of the word “ironic” in front of So many stupids.  
 

Don’t ya think?

[royiv 9325]

24 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Texas is just shit.  Arrested 37 times as a pro-lifer, on the Texas Supreme Court.

 

That guy has alpha male written all over him.

[jimmyjazz 45975]

Kate Cox is a damn hero.

[Post Oak 20244]

I just checked the local news station's FB page.  It is usually infested with repugnant morons and abhorrent cretins. 

The overwhelming response to this story is that Paxton needs to fuck off. I'm absolutely shocked.

 

[wildcat09 29355]

24 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

It would be better for all women in Texas if Kate Cox is arrested trying to leave.  She is who we need right now.  The State of Texas is a complete shithole at this point.  Anyone who can should get the hell out.  Leave it to the Fatty's and Iconos of the world.

That would be giving them exactly what they want and would reward them for their horrible behavior. Fuck that and fuck them.

[cactusflinthead 27601]

 

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19103]

24 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

That would be giving them exactly what they want and would reward them for their horrible behavior. Fuck that and fuck them.

It would also piss 99% of the women off in this country.  And I would imagine a fair few men men.  Kate Cox is a hero, and she is absolutely the hero we need.  The Texas idiots are going to come out of this with egg on their face.  

[mchookem 16336]

so she was able travel someplace civilized to get the services she needed? no doubt they are going to pull out all the stops trying to figure out how to nail her for it. and her husband/family for helping. 

[YGIFS 19452]

This maneuver by Paxton is woefully unpopular, even with a decent-sized chunk of his base.  

So why's he doubling down on it?  

Because y'all keep talking about him.  Good, bad, or indifferent.  He's an absolute master at remaining relevant no matter how shitty the context.  When you're in the headlines, you're safe.

[Shut up Lou Holtz 2041]

So the kxan article stated the doctor didnt attest to the court that Ms. Cox’s condition poses the risks the exception requires,” the ruling states.

 

So did the doctor not state it well enough to fit the exception?

[Chopper 17238]

This fills me with so much dread, depression and anger. On top of all the other dread, depression and anger.

[Chopper 17238]

5 minutes ago, Shut up Lou Holtz said:

So did the doctor not state it well enough to fit the exception?

This may come as a shock but doctors speak in medical terms. Fascist fucks with evil intent speak in their own language. The phrasing of the law and the words it requires a physician to attest are not something they encounter in the ordinary course of their jobs, nor are they trained to.

[jimmyjazz 45975]

2 minutes ago, Chopper said:

This may come as a shock but doctors speak in medical terms. Fascist fucks with evil intent speak in their own language. The phrasing of the law and the words it requires a physician to attest are not something they encounter in the ordinary course of their jobs, nor are they trained to.

Yeah, I'm inclined to assume the same.  This is a nightmare come true.  Good luck with the 2024 vote, 'pubs.

[BevoAbyss 2059]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

Texas is just shit.  Arrested 37 times as a pro-lifer, on the Texas Supreme Court.

Texas is worse than shit. It is fast becoming a fascist theocracy, a literal Handmaid's Tale right before our eyes. All sanctioned by that pasty-faced Texas Supreme Court Justice, Paxton, Abbott and the rest of their alpha dogs of Gilead. 

The MAGA-GQP Christians are shoving their Bible down the throats of Texas women and inside their bodies, while saying to the rest of Texas: "Fuck you! Try and stop us." 

[Shut up Lou Holtz 2041]

3 minutes ago, Chopper said:

This may come as a shock but doctors speak in medical terms. Fascist fucks with evil intent speak in their own language. The phrasing of the law and the words it requires a physician to attest are not something they encounter in the ordinary course of their jobs, nor are they trained to.

That makes sense. I have a daughter and I’m so pissed off right now. Fuck Paxton in every way possible 

[atomheartbevo 89727]

28 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

I just checked the local news station's FB page.  It is usually infested with repugnant morons and abhorrent cretins. 

The overwhelming response to this story is that Paxton needs to fuck off. I'm absolutely shocked.

A bunch of the hardcore anti-abortion/MAGA types are going hard after her, and she's a mom who actually wants more kids and is not some teen trying to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy (and she's white, let's not kid ourselves), so I'm not surprised that a lot of people are taking her side.

[Chopper 17238]

8 minutes ago, Shut up Lou Holtz said:

That makes sense. I have a daughter and I’m so pissed off right now. Fuck Paxton in every way possible 

Yeah the reality is I unintentionally undersold the amount of evil intent involved by Paxton.

[Captainant 27680]

23 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

This maneuver by Paxton is woefully unpopular, even with a decent-sized chunk of his base.  

So why's he doubling down on it?  

Because y'all keep talking about him.  Good, bad, or indifferent.  He's an absolute master at remaining relevant no matter how shitty the context.  When you're in the headlines, you're safe.

You're leaving out that Paxton is only able to pursue his christofascist agenda because of the complete and total failure of our justice system to effectively prosecute fascists when they break the law. I have it on good surly legal authority that it is all very legal and very cool though

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19103]

13 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

A bunch of the hardcore anti-abortion/MAGA types are going hard after her, and she's a mom who actually wants more kids and is not some teen trying to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy (and she's white, let's not kid ourselves), so I'm not surprised that a lot of people are taking her side.

As I said, she is the hero we need.  They show their crazy going after her.

[atomheartbevo 89727]

17 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

This maneuver by Paxton is woefully unpopular, even with a decent-sized chunk of his base.  

So why's he doubling down on it?  

Because y'all keep talking about him.  Good, bad, or indifferent.  He's an absolute master at remaining relevant no matter how shitty the context.  When you're in the headlines, you're safe.

He's doubling down because he's hit his ceiling and there are no other offices in Texas within his reach, and he probably has a big chunk of West Texas fracking money behind him.

He may think Trump will appoint him if he does the impossible and win again, but Trump won't, because he's cock-eyed.

[YGIFS 19452]

7 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

He's doubling down because he's hit his ceiling and there are no other offices in Texas within his reach, and he probably has a big chunk of West Texas fracking money behind him.

He may think Trump will appoint him if he does the impossible and win again, but Trump won't, because he's cock-eyed.

Like the optimistic Billy Mumphrey?  

I agree with your assessment.  But we both know how to count to 100.  The trouble with this pissing contest from Florida to Texas to every other 'red' state in between is eventually somebody's gonna do the math.  Even if Trump wins, or the guy in 2028 becomes even more sadistically cruel...there's only so many judicial appointments and cabinet positions to go around.  Lotta people gonna be left standing without a chair when the music stops, having visited much terror and cruelty upon a lot of women, children, and brown people.  

We are all the audience to hundreds of sociopathic shitheels auditioning for the same one-man show.  And there are no rainchecks, refunds, or intermissions.  

[Chuckie Finster 22700]

I’m firmly in the “Texas will never turn blue” camp, but goddamnit the Republicans really wanna test the theory.

[atomheartbevo 89727]

18 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

I agree with your assessment.  But we both know how to count to 100.  The trouble with this pissing contest from Florida to Texas to every other 'red' state in between is eventually somebody's gonna do the math.  Even if Trump wins, or the guy in 2028 becomes even more sadistically cruel...there's only so many judicial appointments and cabinet positions to go around.  Lotta people gonna be left standing without a chair when the music stops, having visited much terror and cruelty upon a lot of women, children, and brown people.  

We are all the audience to hundreds of sociopathic shitheels auditioning for the same one-man show.  And there are no rainchecks, refunds, or intermissions.  

Paxton is forever a big fish in a small pond.  Or he thinks he's a big fish and he currently has the power of a big fish, so he's going to keep this shit up.

I will not be surprised if Abbott calls another special session that gets into abortion as well.

 

[ChuckNorrisActionJeans 2678]

It needs to be understood -- Texas is a DANGEROUS  place to be pregnant, to raise a family, to be a woman of childbearing age, to love a woman of childbearing age.

This is an anti-family, anti-life regime.

[Dahobbs 17625]

1 hour ago, mchookem said:

so she was able travel someplace civilized to get the services she needed? no doubt they are going to pull out all the stops trying to figure out how to nail her for it. and her husband/family for helping. 

Fuck @fattyflattie

[YGIFS 19452]

Here's what I don't get.  Y'all like to throw around the "every accusation is a confession" trope on every single thread.  And I kinda get it, to an extent.  And as I've berated the point over and over again (as is the Lobo way), the worst thing to happen to women is men and now a close second is other women.  But conflate the two.  Honestly.  Let it stir around in your head.  We saw it coming that guys like Abbott and Paxton and Patrick and most of our State Supreme Court would do this women.  And not to discard our responsibility in all of this, but why in the ever living fuck are other Texas women voting this way to punish other Texas women?  Is it some sort of penance for their own path in life?  They're women.  Most of them have daughters.  They have to see, at some rudimentary level, that this just sets the stage for their own re-subjugation.  There's nothing about this path that ends well for women.  Even Aunt Lydia still lived a miserable existence, with a heel on her throat.  Don't they realize, when this agenda is done with---the first people they come for to exact revenge are always the middle-aged/elderly women?  That's always the first group we destroy.  Always.  The irony being you've nothing left to offer society and the girls you broke and the men you enabled, who do you think we'll take out our guilt and frustration on?  Read a fucking book.

[fattyflattie 4639]

8 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Fuck @fattyflattie

Fuck you too, lulz. You’re still able to enjoy Texas, I hope? 

[UpperWestside 6169]

2 hours ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

It would also piss 99% of the women off in this country.  And I would imagine a fair few men men.  Kate Cox is a hero, and she is absolutely the hero we need.  The Texas idiots are going to come out of this with egg on their face.  

I was thinking “What horrific thing did Paxton try to do now?” Yes this one is going to hurt his GQP friends at the ballot box. The lengths men will go to just to regulate what a woman can do with their body is insane.

[TexArcher 37976]

Look, if you incorrectly believe that a fertilized egg is a human being, or that government has the right to legislate morality based on pressure from churches, then go ahead be that fucking stupid.  There's nothing any of us can do to stop you.

But this isn't some woman who just doesn't want to be pregnant anymore; this is a mother who's trying to have her third child.  And now she doesn't get to, because she got horribly unlucky, and she must be absolutely gutted right now.  And you pieces of shit are going to tell her that she has to risk her own life and her future fertility (holy irony, Batman) because you don't want to set a precedent.  There's a legal apparatus in place for a medical exception, and any reasonable person can see that this situation qualifies, or why even have such a medical exception?  But no, you fucking ghouls want to make a point.  There's no abortion in Texas.  Period.  Baby Jesus don't like it, so we don't like it.  And, let's be honest, you also want the next few dozen women who get this horribly unlucky to understand that they need to just go ahead and go to another state to have their abortion, quietly.  You don't even care that the abortion happens anyway, not really.  You only care that it doesn't happen here.

Fuck 100% of the people who support this decision.  Your lack of compassion is an absolute disgrace.

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by TexArcher

[Chopper 17238]

Here's Jessica Valenti's article about the Texas situation. https://jessica.substack.com/p/a-country-of-walking-coffins
 

Quote

Kate Cox is leaving Texas to get an abortion. The 31 year-old mother-of-two didn’t want to watch her baby have a heart attack or die of suffocation. She didn’t want to put her health at risk, or ruin her chances of having another child in the future. That’s why Cox, after being given a fatal fetal diagnosis, asked for an emergency order to get an abortion: it was her plea to the state to prevent her baby’s suffering and to stop her own.

In a just world, it would be unthinkable for a woman to have to beg the courts for such a thing. But Cox doesn’t live in a just world, she lives in Texas. And in Texas, women are expected to carry doomed pregnancies to term.

Even after a judge granted Cox the emergency order, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton went straight to the Texas Supreme Court. That’s how intent he is on ensuring women suffer through every single day of their nonviable pregnancies. So on Friday, when the Court agreed to temporarily block Cox from getting an abortion—expecting her to once again plead for just a few scraps of humanity—she made the decision to leave.

I’m so glad that she did. The truth is that it was remarkably brave and selfless of Cox to stay as long as she did. She was clearly fighting the good fight in Texas so that any women who come after her might have an easier time, but there’s only so long someone can put their health at risk.

As relieved as I am that Cox will travel to a state where she can get the compassionate care she needs, there’s a question festering at the back of my mind:

What if there was no other state to go to? What if instead of being forced to travel to a neighboring state—an already-impossible hurdle for many Americans—Cox had to travel to a nearby country?

That is not some hyperbolic hypothetical: it’s exactly what life would look like under Republicans’ 15-week national ban. And we can’t let voters forget it.

Republican lawmakers and conservative activists have been pushing a 15-week national ban as a supposed ‘compromise’ on abortion: it’s the focus of their abortion talking points, and powerful anti-choice groups expect candidates to publicly declare their support for such legislation.

But this ‘middle ground’ would force women like Kate Cox to either flee the country entirely or carry their doomed pregnancies to term just to watch their babies die. Remember Samantha Casiano vomiting on the stand while recounting her daughter taking pained last breaths? That’s what Republicans’ compromise would look like every day, in every state.

Because despite all of the ‘reasonable’ rhetoric, the GOP’s 15-week ban is not unlike Texas’ law: there is no ‘exception’ for fatal fetal abnormalities. Women in every state would be forced to carry dying fetuses to term. And even though doomed pregnancies are more likely to put women’s health and lives at risk, abortions for health and life would only be granted when women are deemed sufficiently ‘sick enough’—a standard decided not by doctors, but politicians.

In Cox’s case, the Texas lawyer fighting to stop the emergency order argued that she wasn’t “at any more of a risk, let alone life-threatening, than the countless women who give birth every day with similar medical histories.” Paxton even sent a letter to area hospitals warning them against providing Cox an abortion, claiming that she hadn’t proved her condition was “life-threatening.”

Just how sick was Cox supposed to get before she was allowed care? Should she have waited until she was dying of sepsis? That’s what Amanda Zurawski’s doctors did out of fear of the state’s ban, and the near-fatal infection caused one of Zurawski’s fallopian tubes to permanently close. Now that she’s suing, though, Texas says her doctors didn’t act quickly enough.

Imagine what this kind of cruelty and confusion looks like on a national level: About 120,000 pregnancies are diagnosed with fetal abnormalities every year, and congenital malformations are responsible for thousands of infant deaths per year.

Are Republicans prepared for a country where thousands or tens of thousands of women are suing for the right not to be treated as “walking coffins”? Do they understand what it will mean when local hospital NICUs are overloaded with dying babies, or what it will do to communities as families go bankrupt from medical costs and baby funerals? Will they be buying stock in infant burial gowns?

Even if conservatives do allow abortions in pregnancies with fatal abnormalities—telling us how generous they are to do so—the nightmare won’t end, and women will still have to beg for care: Parents will have to show that a baby born without a skull is, in fact, going to die. Or that their daughter’s condition constitutes being “lethal” even though she’ll survive a few days rather than a few hours.

People who might otherwise be able to grieve and recover at home in peace will still be treated to lawyers and courtrooms. Can someone show me where the ‘pro-life’ part is in all of this?

There’s a reason that Cox’s story has attracted national and international attention. The whole world truly has been watching the cruelty of abortion bans in real time. But what’s happening in Texas isn’t some unthinkable outlier—it’s the reality in half the country. And conservatives are planning for a rapid expansion everywhere else.

In October, I published an investigation into how the anti-abortion movement is quietly spending millions of dollars on new initiatives for ‘prenatal counseling’ and ‘perinatal hospice care’. This isn’t a coincidence. These groups are working to change legislation, medical norms, patient care and more—all in the service of pressuring and forcing American women to carry doomed pregnancies to term. They’ve prepared for cases like Cox’s, and they’re not planning on backing down.

As the saying goes: None of the suffering we’re seeing is a bug—it’s a feature. Most insulting of all, Republicans want to sell us that suffering a ‘compromise’, as if they’re doing us a favor.

Anyone who has been horrified by what’s happened to Kate Cox needs to understand that the cruelty doesn’t stop with her story, and it certainly won’t stop for you.

 

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by Chopper