casii
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,476 
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Post by casii on Jan 30, 2024 0:36:55 GMT
Jessica Valenti publishes a weekly newsletter on the current situation with abortion in the United States. She recently testified before a congressional panel on RvW. Her content is well researched and alarming. Since the overturn of Roe v Wade, there have been 65,000 rape related pregnancies in anti-choice states. That makes me ill as a SA survivor. I would have killed myself if that were to happen to me. To be clear, for Republicans, it's not about life. It's about punishing and controlling women. 65,000 Rape related pregnanciesA few paragraphs from the article: There’s a reason that conservatives consistently downplay how many women and girls are raped: They know that Americans very much oppose sexual violence victims being forced into childbirth. Anti-abortion lawmakers and activists believe that if they pretend rape-related pregnancy—or rape, in general—is rare, they can hide their extremism. But the truth is that these people don’t want anyone to be able to have an abortion, ever. Not if they’re a rape victim, not if they’re a child, not if their life is in danger. (Yes, even those who back ‘exceptions’; they know they’re not real.) That’s why Republicans’ only messaging recourse has been saying over and over again that cases like these almost never happen. Some even claim that women can’t get pregnant from a rape. Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins, for example—who has been celebrated as the future of the anti-abortion movement—says that “sexual assault actually helps prevent a lot of pregnancies itself because of your body’s natural response.” |
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Jan 30, 2024 1:10:41 GMT
Memories of former Rep Steve King surfaces again...
He has also made incendiary comments on multiculturalism, immigration and abortion, falsely expressing skepticism that a woman could get pregnant as a result of rape or incest.
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Post by Merge on Jan 30, 2024 1:16:32 GMT
Yeah, after Texas passed its total ban, Greg Abbott promised the state was going to "eliminate rape" so there wouldn't be any reason in his mind for a woman to need an abortion.
That hasn't happened, obviously.
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Post by mollycoddle on Jan 30, 2024 1:19:13 GMT
Pro-birthers are some of my least favorite people. I would like to know if fewer young women are moving to states with draconian abortion restrictions.
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Post by dewryce on Jan 30, 2024 1:39:24 GMT
Yeah, after Texas passed its total ban, Greg Abbott promised the state was going to "eliminate rape" so there wouldn't be any reason in his mind for a woman to need an abortion. That hasn't happened, obviously. Have there even been any new laws passed towards this BS claim? Have the numbers gone down noticeably? And why are we only “eliminating rape” NOW? Was it not a priority before? So many questions. |
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Post by aj2hall on Jan 30, 2024 1:50:00 GMT
I can't even imagine. Compounding the loss of bodily autonomy from a sexual assault with an abortion ban is just cruel. This article from NPR talks about how the researchers came up with that number and included really moving stories from sexual assault survivors. Remember the Republican politician who said a pregnancy after a rape was an opportunity? Or the one who said women couldn't get pregnant after a rape - some nonsense about the body shutting that down? Just ignorant and insensitive. www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/01/24/1226161416/rape-caused-pregnancy-abortion-ban-states"Having had my autonomy stripped of me that night that I was raped, having the ability to make that choice of — can I take back control of my body and either keep or abort? — was so, so pivotal to my healing," she explains. |
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casii
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,476
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Post by casii on Jan 30, 2024 2:38:37 GMT
Here's the deal, rapists don't only rape Democratic people. Republicans aren't immune. This is harsh, ugly stuff, but instead of looking away and pulling the lever for R at the polls, women need to take back control.
I don't care who you are or how you vote, YOU know someone who has been touched by this. And if we don't turn the tide, more and more women will suffer.
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Post by femalebusiness on Jan 30, 2024 2:42:14 GMT
And those statistics don't even take into account the lives that are lost from back alley abortions. I am old enough to remember when desperate women were forced to go underground to quack doctors. A lot of them died from botched abortions and infection.
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Post by scrappintoee on Jan 30, 2024 3:00:10 GMT
casii.... I'm so sorry for what you've suffered---this news must be extra horrific for you! This is one of the reasons I have such a difficult relationship with a family member who STILL likes Trump and was THRILLED when Roe v. Wade was overturned. Yeah, after Texas passed its total ban, Greg Abbott promised the state was going to "eliminate rape" so there wouldn't be any reason in his mind for a woman to need an abortion. One of my dearest friends is a "S.A.N.E." ---(Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) in San Antonio. How wonderful that Abbott is going to eliminate rape! Gee, I guess she'll have to find another specialty in nursing now.
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Post by scrappintoee on Jan 30, 2024 3:04:08 GMT
I wish Greg Abbott and ALL of these idiots could spend a week with my assault nurse friend, who
examines/ collects evidence/ gives emotional support to rape victims (children included) in San Antonio.
What if their 10-year-old
daughter was raped by her uncle, then FORCED to have the baby ? ! ? ! ?
Would they change their stupid minds then?
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Jan 30, 2024 3:19:00 GMT
I wish Greg Abbott and ALL of these idiots could spend a week with my assault nurse friend, who examines/ collects evidence/ gives emotional support to rape victims (children included) in San Antonio. Would they change their minds if they saw what these victims go through? What if their 12-year-old daughter was raped by her uncle, then FORCED to have the baby ? I have no hope for our country, it is terrifying! The thing is their daughters et al would have an abortion by a family friend doctor, which is what absolutely did occur before RvW with people who could afford it. There is no doubt in my mind. 65 years plus and I could still name names....... |
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Post by epeanymous on Jan 30, 2024 3:30:18 GMT
I think there are some genuinely believers that abortion is murder so the means of conception doesn’t matter. Bur for many people it is, “women will lie and claim they have been raped to get an abortion,” and they want to make sure the sinners get punished. They think “actually raped” women will be able to quietly get abortions from sympathetic doctors, or go out of state, and if they don’t, well they wouldn’t have gotten raped if they’d made better choices.
Dead serious about that last one. The most pro-life woman I have ever known blamed herself for her own rape and taught her daughter it was her responsibility to make sure she was never in a situation where she could get raped. I just …
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Jan 30, 2024 6:27:56 GMT
A ten year old cannot make choices before or after!!
But I guess they will lower or dismiss the age of consent! Or are they aiming for no consent needed ever?
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Post by mollycoddle on Jan 30, 2024 10:46:54 GMT
Here's the deal, rapists don't only rape Democratic people. Republicans aren't immune. This is harsh, ugly stuff, but instead of looking away and pulling the lever for R at the polls, women need to take back control. I don't care who you are or how you vote, YOU know someone who has been touched by this. And if we don't turn the tide, more and more women will suffer. Well said. I believe that if Republicans get the WH, Senate and the House, there is a good chance that they will enact a national ban. |
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Post by mollycoddle on Jan 30, 2024 10:50:25 GMT
I wish Greg Abbott and ALL of these idiots could spend a week with my assault nurse friend, who examines/ collects evidence/ gives emotional support to rape victims (children included) in San Antonio. Would they change their minds if they saw what these victims go through? What if their 12-year-old daughter was raped by her uncle, then FORCED to have the baby ? I have no hope for our country, it is terrifying! The thing is their daughters et al would have an abortion by a family friend doctor, which is what absolutely did occur before RvW with people who could afford it. There is no doubt in my mind. 65 years plus and I could still name names....... Yep. A lot of politicians who oppose abortion publicly have the money and means to deal with unwanted pregnancies in their own families. |
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Post by aj2hall on Jan 30, 2024 11:46:43 GMT
Here's the deal, rapists don't only rape Democratic people. Republicans aren't immune. This is harsh, ugly stuff, but instead of looking away and pulling the lever for R at the polls, women need to take back control. I don't care who you are or how you vote, YOU know someone who has been touched by this. And if we don't turn the tide, more and more women will suffer. Well said. I believe that if Republicans get the WH, Senate and the House, there is a good chance that they will enact a national ban. This exactly. www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/opinion/biden-trump-abortion-election.htmlWhat is plausible is that, returned to the White House, Donald Trump would seek to use his executive power — power that his allies are aiming to increase on his behalf — to further curtail abortion access. This election is the most consequential for reproductive rights in half a century — a referendum on whether voters continue to be the ones to decide on this issue, or whether instead conservatives in the executive branch will decide for them. A second Trump administration could still try to eliminate access to the drug nationwide even if the court sides against the anti-abortion plaintiffs in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. The road map created by Project 2025 calls on the F.D.A. to limit access to mifepristone and ultimately withdraw it from the market as a drug “proven to be dangerous to women and by definition fatally unsafe for unborn children.” The choice in this election is not simply between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The choice is between the status quo — or a chance for more protection for reproductive rights — and the possibility of an effective abortion ban that would be all but impossible to achieve using democratic means. A Supreme Court transformed by Mr. Trump promised that with the demise of Roe, it would be up to the voters of each state to decide on the future of reproductive rights. If plans for institutionalizing Trumpism come to fruition, the future of American reproductive rights may not be up to the voters of each state for much longer. It may be up to Donald Trump. |
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Post by Merge on Jan 30, 2024 13:41:27 GMT
Well said. I believe that if Republicans get the WH, Senate and the House, there is a good chance that they will enact a national ban. This exactly. www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/opinion/biden-trump-abortion-election.htmlWhat is plausible is that, returned to the White House, Donald Trump would seek to use his executive power — power that his allies are aiming to increase on his behalf — to further curtail abortion access. This election is the most consequential for reproductive rights in half a century — a referendum on whether voters continue to be the ones to decide on this issue, or whether instead conservatives in the executive branch will decide for them. A second Trump administration could still try to eliminate access to the drug nationwide even if the court sides against the anti-abortion plaintiffs in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. The road map created by Project 2025 calls on the F.D.A. to limit access to mifepristone and ultimately withdraw it from the market as a drug “proven to be dangerous to women and by definition fatally unsafe for unborn children.” The choice in this election is not simply between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The choice is between the status quo — or a chance for more protection for reproductive rights — and the possibility of an effective abortion ban that would be all but impossible to achieve using democratic means. A Supreme Court transformed by Mr. Trump promised that with the demise of Roe, it would be up to the voters of each state to decide on the future of reproductive rights. If plans for institutionalizing Trumpism come to fruition, the future of American reproductive rights may not be up to the voters of each state for much longer. It may be up to Donald Trump. To be clear, in states like mine, it isn't up to the voters. Because of our gerrymandered lege and the fact that Texas doesn't allow citizens OR the minority party in the lege to place ballot initiatives, the ban here was passed without ever asking the voters. And what we see in some other red states now (Missouri comes to mind) is their legislatures wanting to end citizen ballot initiatives in their states to prevent outcomes like we've seen in Kansas and elsewhere - abortion rights protected by citizen vote. |
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Post by birukitty on Jan 30, 2024 22:11:13 GMT
I wish Greg Abbott and ALL of these idiots could spend a week with my assault nurse friend, who examines/ collects evidence/ gives emotional support to rape victims (children included) in San Antonio. What if their 10-year-old daughter was raped by her uncle, then FORCED to have the baby ? ! ? ! ? Would they change their stupid minds then? Honestly I don't think their stupid minds will ever change unless a miracle happened and all of a sudden men could get pregnant. A complete reversal and they were raped, got pregnant and forced to carry those unwanted fetuses to term. Then abortion would become free to all men on demand. It would be a drive in service, all expenses paid deal. We all know it isn't about saving "babies". It's about control. Controlling women. |
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Post by alsomsknit on Jan 31, 2024 0:16:03 GMT
Yeah, after Texas passed its total ban, Greg Abbott promised the state was going to "eliminate rape" so there wouldn't be any reason in his mind for a woman to need an abortion. That hasn't happened, obviously. Or just naming it such? |
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pilcas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,982
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Post by pilcas on Jan 31, 2024 0:48:00 GMT
And an educated woman with a Masters degree told me some women use abortion in place of birth control.
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Post by Merge on Jan 31, 2024 0:57:53 GMT
And an educated woman with a Masters degree told me some women use abortion in place of birth control. Just one of the many ways people - including other women - vilify women who have an abortion. They feel like they have to justify their own decision to deny women bodily autonomy by making them out to be monsters. |
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Post by epeanymous on Jan 31, 2024 1:25:00 GMT
And an educated woman with a Masters degree told me some women use abortion in place of birth control. Abortions are expensive and painful, I literally cannot wrap my head around this argument. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jan 31, 2024 1:55:32 GMT
And an educated woman with a Masters degree told me some women use abortion in place of birth control. Abortions are expensive and painful, I literally cannot wrap my head around this argument. Yeah, who does that when birth control is much more readily available today than it was back when? Isn’t there a version of the pill that’s basically OTC now, and others are 100% covered by insurance. Back when I was in my 20’s-30’s, I was paying $25-30 a month for mine and that was WITH insurance! I think I read in one of those reports that over 25K of those pregnancies were the result of rape in Texas alone, so way to go, Gov. Abbott!  You’re doing a bang up job of eliminating rape.  |
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Post by Merge on Jan 31, 2024 18:58:48 GMT
Abortions are expensive and painful, I literally cannot wrap my head around this argument. Yeah, who does that when birth control is much more readily available today than it was back when? Isn’t there a version of the pill that’s basically OTC now, and others are 100% covered by insurance. Back when I was in my 20’s-30’s, I was paying $25-30 a month for mine and that was WITH insurance! I think I read in one of those reports that over 25K of those pregnancies were the result of rape in Texas alone, so way to go, Gov. Abbott! You’re doing a bang up job of eliminating rape. Don't forget - there's a vocal subset of Republicans who also want to outlaw most forms of birth control. I had a man on Twitter tell me it was easy to avoid pregnancy - women just need to "keep their legs closed during the two days per month they can get pregnant." I had to acquaint him with some basic biological realities. But then there are also a shocking number of women who don't understand their own fertility and biology because it's considered shameful to talk about these things. |
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Post by sabrinae on Jan 31, 2024 20:36:52 GMT
Abortions are expensive and painful, I literally cannot wrap my head around this argument. Yeah, who does that when birth control is much more readily available today than it was back when? Isn’t there a version of the pill that’s basically OTC now, and others are 100% covered by insurance. Back when I was in my 20’s-30’s, I was paying $25-30 a month for mine and that was WITH insurance! I think I read in one of those reports that over 25K of those pregnancies were the result of rape in Texas alone, so way to go, Gov. Abbott! You’re doing a bang up job of eliminating rape. Birth control is more accessible but there are still accessibility issues. I’m paying $25 a month for my daughters that’s used to control her POTS symptoms not even for birth control. |
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Post by Merge on Jan 31, 2024 21:40:10 GMT
Yeah, who does that when birth control is much more readily available today than it was back when? Isn’t there a version of the pill that’s basically OTC now, and others are 100% covered by insurance. Back when I was in my 20’s-30’s, I was paying $25-30 a month for mine and that was WITH insurance! I think I read in one of those reports that over 25K of those pregnancies were the result of rape in Texas alone, so way to go, Gov. Abbott! You’re doing a bang up job of eliminating rape. Birth control is more accessible but there are still accessibility issues. I’m paying $25 a month for my daughters that’s used to control her POTS symptoms not even for birth control. Yeah, back in the day we could get our birth control from PP on a sliding scale based on income, making it reasonable even when I was a broke grad student. But now Rs have shut down clinics like that in many states. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jan 31, 2024 22:38:57 GMT
Birth control is more accessible but there are still accessibility issues. I’m paying $25 a month for my daughters that’s used to control her POTS symptoms not even for birth control. Yeah, back in the day we could get our birth control from PP on a sliding scale based on income, making it reasonable even when I was a broke grad student. But now Rs have shut down clinics like that in many states. And some pharmacists won’t dispense it if they have religious objections. 🙄 |
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Post by hop2 on Feb 1, 2024 13:19:00 GMT
Some even claim that women can’t get pregnant from a rape. Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins, for example—who has been celebrated as the future of the anti-abortion movement—says that “sexual assault actually helps prevent a lot of pregnancies itself because of your body’s natural response.” That’s not how a female body works biologically. If it was we wouldn’t need birth control. Tell me you know nothing about female biology without telling me you know nothing. AND the worst part is they keep the knowledge of how female biology works from their female children keeping them in the dark about how pregnancy actually occurs. Setting them up for failure. |
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Post by agengr2004 on Feb 1, 2024 13:27:16 GMT
A ten year old cannot make choices before or after!! But I guess they will lower or dismiss the age of consent! Or are they aiming for no consent needed ever? CHildren forced to have babies but can't read what they want. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Feb 1, 2024 13:34:42 GMT
A ten year old cannot make choices before or after!! But I guess they will lower or dismiss the age of consent! Or are they aiming for no consent needed ever? CHildren forced to have babies but can't read what they want. Odds are pretty good that any age appropriate books about reproductive health are banned in schools in those states. I’d also be willing to bet that half of those schools also don’t teach evolution in science class.  |
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You’re doing a bang up job of eliminating rape. 
