Civil rights organizations that truly care about black lives should focus on promoting stronger families instead of pushing abortion on demand, according to a report in The Federalist. The piece argues that, despite the high levels of abortion among black women, reproductive rights activists and progressive figures do not discuss the issue because such groups believe systemic factors cause inequality, rather than individual decisions.
A proposed law that would make it illegal for a physician to perform an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected has been submitted to the Nebraska state legislature by pro-life state senator Merv Riepe. Riepe backed the Nebraska Heartbeat Act, and has introduced an amendment that would lower the existing ban from 20 weeks to 12, rather than his original proposal for a six-week limit. The bill has ignited a debate about when life should be protected; several states, including Illinois and New York, have removed restrictions on abortion, leading to some US Democrats lobbying for federal legislation to remove abortion restrictions after fetal viability.
A federal judge ruled late last week that the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of an at-home abortion pill over two decades ago was improper and didn’t consider all of the pill’s risks to patients. He also did what many in his profession have failed to do: recognize the humanity of the child in the womb. If the decision is upheld, the abortion drug that’s responsible for over half of all abortions in the United States could ultimately be pulled off shelves.In a 67-page opinion, Kacsmaryk determined that the FDA had exceeded its authority in issuing both a fast-track approval of the abortion pill mifepristone and in later loosening restrictions designed to ensure its safest possible use. He temporarily suspended the FDA’s approval but allowed the Biden administration seven days to seek review from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. The judge’s ruling is the most significant abortion-related ruling since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The legal conflict over the Food and Drug Administration’s lax regulation of abortion drugs is getting more complicated by the day as a lawsuit winds its way through the federal courts. Medical groups filed another petition in March 2019 to challenge these changes. Once again, the FDA ignored the law and, this time, waited for 994 days before rejecting the petition.
Last November, four medical associations and four emergency room doctors sued the FDA, alleging that its approval of Mifeprex and subsequent decisions weakening its safety restrictions were “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedure Act. In other words, “Hundreds of thousands of women will … need emergency care on account of [the FDA’s] actions. And because [the FDA] chose to cut out doctors from the prescription and administration of mifepristone, plaintiff doctors and their associations will necessarily be injured by the consequences,” the panel wrote.
The 5th Circuit’s decision is that, while the lawsuit proceeds, the FDA’s original approval of mifepristone remains and the safety restrictions that were repealed in 2016 and 2021 are reinstated. In other words, mifepristone can be used up to seven, not 10, weeks; using mifepristone will require three physician office visits; only doctors may dispense or administer the drug; doctors must report all medical complications to the FDA; and abortion drugs may not be dispensed through the mail or mail-order pharmacies.
Abortion rights are emerging as a key issue in the 2024 race for the White House after the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The subject is a polarising issue for both Republicans and Democrats. The GOP is struggling to articulate a clear plan for the future with many candidates avoiding laying out specifics beyond being against abortion rights. Of concern is an agreement on whether abortion should be illegal after a certain gestational point and what that limit is. Republicans are largely silent on whether they supported a Texas judge’s ruling in early April to invalidate the federal government’s approval of a drug used in over 50% of abortions. Democrats are energetically campaigning on the issue following the Supreme Court's decision and are trying to further capitalise on the blowback it has caused nationally and in red states.
Donald Trump, the 45th president who is running to reclaim the White House, is responsible for appointing three anti-abortion judges to the Supreme Court which lead to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Since that monumental decision, Trump has not been outspoken about other abortion restrictions. His campaign spokesman, Stephen Cheung, told The Washington Post that Trump believes the Supreme Court got it right by ruling that individual states should determine whether abortion is legal or not. Trump suggested, however, that he would be open to a national ban when he spoke to a New Hampshire television station. Florida Governor DeSantis recently signed one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws, banning the medical procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, when many women don’t yet know they’re pregnant.
The United States' debt limit standoff is weighing heavily on its allies across the globe, with concerns expressed in a meeting between top finance ministers in Japan last weekend. Speaking to The Washington Post, Richard Haass, Council on Foreign Relations president and former George W. Bush administration official, said the looming standoff undermined American politics and thus America's "ability to lead" and make an impact globally. Some in China, said Haass, would take it as evidence the US was "on a trajectory where we are less competitive than we used to be". While intermingling with the leaders of G-7 countries in Japan, President Joe Biden remains confident progress will be made to hammer out a deal on the debt limit, with talk continuing today.
A North Carolina Republican-controlled legislature enacted a 12-week abortion limit after Democrats failed by one vote to override the Governor's veto. The apparent defection by Charlotte-area Democratic Rep. Tricia Cotham to the GOP gave Republicans veto-proof margins in both the House and Senate. Cotham ran on an abortion access platform and had previously been known to advocate for women's reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ rights. Since joining the GOP, she has also voted for a ban on gender-affirming surgeries for trans minors and a prohibition on trans student athletes playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
The balance of power in the US state of North Carolina has been thrown into chaos after a single Democrat switched to the Republicans and supported a bill to reduce access to abortions. The switch came just one vote short of giving Republicans what would have been a precious veto-proof majority. The state’s Democratic governor criticized the move and warned that it might be used to drive through new conservative measures. Recently, North Carolina has been hit by a wave of demonstrations, over issues including policing and gay rights, and some commentators view the new political developments as further evidence of societal dislocation.
The Nebraska legislature has approved a bill which includes a ban on transgender minors receiving gender-affirming care, as well as on abortions after 12 weeks’ gestation. Abortion will still be allowed before 12 weeks in cases of incest, rape or to save the life of the mother. If passed with the required 33 votes and then by a simple majority, the ban would be the first introduced in the state post-Roe v Wade, the landmark US Supreme Court decision which established the nation-wide right to abortion.
Nebraska lawmakers have voted to pass a bill combining restrictions on gender-affirming medical care and a 12-week abortion ban for minors. The bill has divided the state’s Capitol, with lawmakers hurling insults at each other, and is expected to pass with the necessary supermajority, before gaining consensus from the state’s Republican governor. The bill includes exceptions for rape, incest, and if the life of the mother is in danger, but has triggered an outcry from medical groups and activists advocating for transgender youth, who said it would make it more difficult for young people to receive healthcare services.
The Satanic Temple is holding a massive gathering in a Marriott hotel in downtown Boston which it has named SatanCon. More than 830 members bought tickets for the its late April convention and local Christian protesters have gathered outside the hotel, carrying signs warning of damnation. The Temple believes in religion being separate from the state, says Satan is a metaphor for questioning authority, and grounds its beliefs in science, rejecting the existence of a literal Lucifer or Hell. The Temple uses the symbols of Satan for rituals, for example when getting married or adopting a new name. Members are vocal advocates of abortion rights.
Nebraska lawmakers have passed a bill, which Republican Governor Jim Pillen is expected to sign into law, limiting abortion and restricting gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths. It bans abortions after 12 weeks of gestational age, allowing exceptions for medical emergencies when the mother's life is at risk, rape or incest. The bill also bans "gender-altering surgery" and restricts hormone therapy and puberty-blocking drugs for transgender people aged under 19. The state's legislature, dominated by Republicans, voted 33-15 to pass the bill.
Neil Levesque, Executive Director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, says "we are entering a new phase of this campaign,” after Ron DeSantis, Florida governor, formally joins the 2024 presidential race. DeSantis will challenge Donald Trump, who is also seeking the Republican candidacy to once more become US President. The race is more like a psychodrama, with both men having no real political mastery or soft touch for conventional political behaviour. There could be one other candidate, Tim Scott of South Carolina, joining the race formally on Monday. Their fight for their chance to oppose Joe Biden will be no "bel canto."
Republican lawmakers in some US states have assembled a “middle way” approach to abortion by adopting a ban on the procedure at 12 weeks of pregnancy, according to The Washington Post. Neighbouring South Carolina is now considering a similar move, while North Carolina has already approved a ban. Campaigners who have called for the legal recognition of rights for fetuses since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the case that allowed the procedure to be legalised in 1973, have previously supported anti-abortion laws in their harshest form, without exceptions for rape and incest for instance.
Friends of the anti-abortion movement say a lack of national interest in the issue meant many of those former campaigners have joined with moderates who have never supported an outright ban on abortion, but who would like to restrict access within parameters, rather than with policies like the “heartbeat bill” approved by Ohio last year, which prohibited the procedure once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, at six weeks. The Post has noted that the adoption of a 12-week limit would not impact on access to the procedure for the vast majority of women who seek one, who do so within a matter of weeks, while opponents of the move complain that it would not stamp out the great majority of abortions, which they describe as “widespread murder”.
Women in Honduras are accessing pills prescribed by the World Health Organization to terminate pregnancies, in spite of the country’s strict abortion ban and social and religious opposition. Assistance is being provided by anonymous networks with participants using aliases, code words, encrypted messages and burners to maintain concealment. The pills – mifepristone and misoprostol – are usually obtained from Mexico via the networks. While some other Latin American countries are relaxing abortion restrictions, Honduras tightened its ban this year by enshrining it in the Constitution. It also increased the number of lawmakers required to alter the ban.
Despite the national ban against abortions under all circumstances and suffocating social and religious opposition, women in remote mountain villages, urban neighborhoods and along the Caribbean coast are terminating pregnancies across Honduras with the help of clandestine networks seeking to make the procedure as safe as possible. Honduras has one of the world’s strictest abortion bans with a constitutional prohibition on terminating pregnancy in all cases, even rape and neighbouting El Salvador and Nicaragua have similar total bans. Activists in the networks use code words, aliases, encrypted messages, burner phones.
Nebraska lawmakers have approved new bills aimed at targeting abortion rights and restricting healthcare access for transgender youth. Republicans in the state have passed a bill to ban abortion care at roughly 10 weeks of pregnancy, as well as combining with it legislation designed to limit gender-affirming care. The bills, both of which have been subject to protests by residents and ACLU-linked groups, will now go before Republican Governor Jim Pillen. Other US states have introduced similar bills aimed at limiting the rights of LGBT+ people and restricting access to healthcare.
The Conservative Party is facing existential threats that could lead to it ceasing to exist as we currently know it. It has governed Britain for the majority of the last century, but is moving further away from the mood of the British people and now faces the possibility of a crushing defeat followed by disarray and then a schism. There are strong hints of decline for the Party, with voters losing faith and a government that appears to be not in control of events. The next two or three years will bring existential threats. Having won a famous victory a little over three years ago, it could be out of contention for decades. All three factors that helped them win in 2019 have disappeared, or turned negative, and the voters have stopped listening to the Tories. The party’s newer voters feel gaslit, while older, more traditional voters feel let down by the party. The Tories are loathed and the great coalition of voters assembled by Boris Johnson in 2019 will now split four ways causing the party to slump below its 1997 score. If the Conservative Party continues to be split, it could cease to exist as we know it.
Pro-choice and anti-abortion protestors gather at Confederation Building
CBC
23-05-21 19:38
Anti-abortion and pro-choice protesters gathered at the Confederation Building in St. John’s, Newfoundland, to voice their opinions on Sunday. Over 100 pro-choice protesters gathered to challenge the smaller group of anti-abortionists, who were rallying on Prince Philip Drive. Nikki Baldwin, executive director of Planned Parenthood Newfoundland and Labrador, said that people need support in making reproductive decisions. She added that access to safe abortion is essential and saves lives. Anti-abortion protester Ruth Robert argued that whilst abortions are fully legal in Canada, the debate surrounding abortions is still ongoing. Baldwin warned that the recent overturning of US abortion laws could affect abortion access in Canada. Access to healthcare, and specifically reproductive and sexual healthcare, is already limited in Newfoundland and Labrador and those living outside of St. John’s have to travel to receive essential care.
On Monday, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen is expected to sign a bill that would ban abortions at 12 weeks of pregnancy. The bill would restrict gender-affirming medical care for those under 19 starting on October 1. The bill passed after hours of debate in Nebraska's unicameral legislature. Opponents have vowed to sue to try and block the law. Bills restricting gender-affirming care have been passed in at least 17 other states with more proposals pending. Medical groups and advocates say such restrictions threaten health and further marginalize transgender youth.
