A Dark Fourth of July

There are a lot more steps to it than that……but it’s the best place to start. Write your senators and your congress people and ask that an actual law be drafted to replace what scotus took away. One that isn’t based on a courtroom technicality, and could be added to the bill of rights.

That’s tv/movie cops that get all the details. Most cops are looking for the easiest information. All they need is a doctor to attest “she was pregnant, now she’s not.

I guess I'm sort of biased because I get to see and hear every day the stuff that detectives try to do and use to attempt to basically convict anyone they can. If you actually start digging into case statistics for police it's scary. But you can pretty much guarantee if there's some variety of homicide on the line, they're going to subpoena all of your basic information. It's basically routine at this point. That's why they hate stuff like Signal that's encrypted.

Part of the problem with this entire situation is that half of the federal government is part of a group whose publicly stated goals are to pass a constitutional amendment to make abortion illegal in all cases. It's not hyperbole, it's literally on page 13 of their platform. They want the 14th amendment to apply to unborn/undeveloped zygotes and fetuses. It isn't an over-reaction. It's literally what they are telling you they want to do.

Most people are convicted because they take a plea deal instead of going to court.

While in California, my husband and I got to talk with a social worker who didn’t really understand the law. Actually I should say, she did but because of actions of the police around her she questioned her understanding of the law.

She told us of a time where the cops forced their way into a home without a warrant. They got the evidence they needed to prosecute and in the end the people in the home took a plea bargain because they felt they couldn’t win.

But if they had gone to court, it would have put the police in their place. The reason it would have been thrown out is what we call “Fruit of the Poison Tree”. By using their “authority” to get into the home instead of a warrant, the police overstepped their bounds.

The social worker had told us she was uncomfortable with what had happened and we agreed. “You should be, because the police roped you into an illegal action,” we told her, “That’s not your fault. You are told to trust what the police do, but you are right to feel uncomfortable about it.”.

There are police that are of the belief to protect people they need to go against the law. But there are those that do things by the books because they don’t want to risk their cases getting thrown out if they end up in court.

Court is a tremendous expense. Public defender's are over worked and underpaid. Going to court often means months or years waiting for trial.

So...

We've got work to do on all ends here

As for the federal government. We are so focused on the Feds that we’re missing big points.

1) Marijuana is a Schedule I drug according to the Feds.
2) States said “we’re done enforcing most of this stuff, make it legal”.
3) Feds don’t have the resources to go against the state to enforce the laws around Marijuana so they end up leaving states alone that legalized it.

Your local government literally has far more power than the federal government. Stop buying into the illusion that the Feds are you’re most protective barrier and focus on local elections. Sure vote in a pro-choice person when time comes around to fed elections, but seriously pool more resources to your state.

It’s a mid-term election year. Make sure you’re looking at “la-di-da-di-da everybody”, get out and encourage your neighbors to vote. You can also get a (Physical, skip Change.org and other such sites) Petition going. Each house you go to, just ask “No judgments, just curious, how do you feel about Roe v. Wade? If they say something that puts them in the pro-life category, thank them for their time (with a smile), then move to the next home. When you find pro-choice members start pitching a “please consider voting for XYZ candidates that can help our state maintain/restore women’s rights to abortion.” Don’t pitch a crazy talk, have a flyer they can look at with bullet points on major beliefs of the candidates you are supporting (not just pro-choice bullets, give them a good solid idea of what they would be voting for and what day they can vote).

You can even use my Marijuana point to show how important it is you VOTE LOCALLY.

Promote your candidates on Facebook if you have local voters following your feed. If not, you’re better off working towards a physical campaign.

If you can’t go door to door due to physical disability, hook up with the campaign team for the candidate you want to support the most and help spread the word through an email campaign….they’re not as effective (people tend to throw out mail that’s not bills or from family), but they can reach some eyes.

You’re absolutely right, Rosalyn. There is A LOT of work to be done. Including appointing better police chiefs, better local councils, attorney generals, etc. Finding the right people to run for office and supporting them. It takes courage, time and effort for all of this. Not everyone is suited to this kind of work though (being an elected official or even just trying to support them), we all have our circumstances.

But if you are, find the strength to get out there and do it. Cheerleading (protests, social media) on the side only goes so far.

It was suggested I post this here:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/moral-politics

This course seems particularly relevant to what we are talking about. I am enrolled in it if any one wants to join me

Maine got some new bills signed into law today reguarding this topic to protect reproductive rights for anyone comming to maine.

The huge one was a law that prohibits any medical office or Maine law enforcement from assisting in any way with any other states legal investigations on abortions that happen in Maine…..So what that means is if someone comes to Maine from another state to get an abortion, and that persons home state files charges against them, Maine authorities will not assist that investigation and will provide ZERO information to the other state including if that person was even in Maine at all. It protects medical offices and doctors from prosecution the same way. Even a subpoena comming from another state would be invalid and shot down.

The second one makes it illegal to protest within 500 yards of an abortion clinic or Harass or photograph women going to one.

North Carolina and Colorado are currently taking their states stance.

Texts, web searches about abortion have been used to prosecute women

https://archive.ph/WYkGL

In my state, Wisconsin, once Roe was overturned we went back to the laws that were previously on the books. Those laws were written prior to 1900. Our governor (a liberal) has tried to get the state legislature to protect women's right to choose, but our state legislature is heavily conservative and refuses to budge. The consequence in my state is that no abortion can take place unless the pregnancy itself presents a direct and imminent threat to the life of the mother. I don't believe that there is any exception for victims of rape or incest.

But when the law is written this way, it leads to more death. Ectopic pregnancies present a threat of death to the mother -- but our doctors are being told that they can't remove the pregnancy until life-threatening, imminent danger already has begun. That means that a woman can get an ectopic pregnancy removed, but only after it has presented her with serious complications that can (even with treatment!) lead to death and infertility. What's more, our doctors are being told not to treat cancer in pregnant women because treating cancer can threaten the life of the child -- and because it's the cancer, not the pregnancy, which is threatening the life of the mother, this doesn't count as something that qualifies a woman for an abortion.

Personally, I find these positions to be quite disgusting. We live in a world where a significant percentage of underage girls are sexually assaulted every year. In some states, they are being forced to carry pregnancy from these assaults to term -- something which, for a very young girl, can certainly threaten the life of both the mother and the child anyway.

For those of you who are pro-life, I'm not going to judge you for your position, but do keep in mind that legislating a pro-life position in some cases looks very much like a pro-death position, as in the cases I've written of in this post.

I just want to point out, regarding Br. John's post about texts- that's vastly different than a Period Tracker. You don't know how a period tracker is being used, but you can tell what someone's intent is if they are text messaging. Those are their real thoughts. Same is true of google searches.

Yes, but it is information on their condition at the time. And that's literally all prosecution cares about. The more information they can get that makes you LOOK guilty. The more they can make it look like a trial would go badly for you. The more likely people are to plea and not risk heavier sentencing. Especially the poorer segments of the population who can't afford an attorney. This stuff would still get subpoenaed 100% of the time.

What peecentage of abortions are actually for víctims of sexual abuse and/or women/unborn child in legitimate danger?

I feel that there is some sort of middle ground to be found. For example, I found it bizare when female activists in Argentina were essentially chanting "kill the fetus!". I believe this sort of trivialization of abortions is what most conservatives actually oppose.

I see no middle ground. Either a woman has the right to her own body and health decisions or she does not. The forced birth movement has never been about compromise and they don't care whether anyone thinks abortion is serious or trivial.

THE RADICAL THEOLOGY THAT COULD MAKE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM A THING OF THE PAST

Even devout Christians should fear these influential leaders' refusal to separate church and state.

https://www.texasobserver.org/dominion-theology/ OR https://archive.ph/e7fwZ

John is right. Its become like most other issues. Very us vrs them. We’re over here, they are over there. This whole country needs a lesson on balance. Both sides of all of these big political topics are so filled with hate, and ego, that we’re just about at the point of everyone losing sight of what the original topic was.

Personally I’m still at a loss that we even have this as a topic. Everyone has a right to their own body, and to make there own medical decisions. That’s probably the most common sense sentence I have ever wrote. How we’ve arrived at a point where that’s the hot topic in the U.S. and how there are people on the other side of it just dosnt make sense to me.

Zero wrote: John is right. Its become like most other issues. Very us vrs them. We’re over here, they are over there. This whole country needs a lesson on balance.

And your plan for balance involves doubling down on your position?

As a republican who’s pro choice, I’d say I got the meet in the middle (or balance) of this topic figured out.

I’m willing to cross party lines based on my personal beliefs. A lot of people arnt. Do I think women should be getting 5 abortions a year and using it as birth control….no. But am I for a woman choosing what happens to her own body…yes. Am I for a woman correcting a mistake made during a one night thing….yes. Am I for an assault victim NOT having to look at what happened to her every day for the rest of her life…yes.

Br. John wrote: I see no middle ground. Either a woman has the right to her own body and health decisions or she does not.

You must admit the argument is more nuanced than that. You cannot simply dismiss the fact that there may be some merit to the argument of the unborn child having the right to live, and then expect the "other side" to see your point.