All-Male Texas City Council Debates Whether Barring Abortion-Havers From Using Their Roads Would Hurt Businesses
And more, in this week's reproductive rights roundup!
This week, the all-male Amarillo City Council held their third meeting on whether or not to become the sixth Texas county to ban using their roads in order to travel out-of-state to get an abortion — and were still unable to figure out what they want to do.
Via Texas Tribune:
Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley said the council was using the session as a way to “divide and separate things” and come back to what makes the most sense for the city.
“With our citizens in mind first, not what’s popular,” Stanley said.
Stanley said the council had to answer important questions regarding the ordinance — does local government have a role and duty to protect life? Can they further protect life? Has the state done enough?
Ah, yes. “With our citizens in mind.” Because they’re obviously protecting their citizens by forcing them to travel to get an abortion by themselves, with no support from friends or family. What a nice thing to do for people!
Two council members, Don Tipps and Josh Craft, agreed the council has a duty to protect life. Lee Simpson said they were miles ahead of him on the ordinance.
“I'm willing to commit to asking questions so that I can then come to the opinion of whether it's the right thing for our community,” Simpson said.
Simpson later suggested the council work more on resolving human trafficking, which he said could go a long way in protecting children and preventing unwanted pregnancies and abortion. An older woman in the crowd broke the rules of decorum and booed his suggestion.
Council member Tom Scherlen also offered criticism of the council's work. He called one draft an overreach and said it would be bad for businesses.
And isn’t that what’s most important? Won’t anyone think of the businesses?
These travel bans function about the same way as Texas’s abortion ban and would allow Texans to file suit not against the person who had the abortion but against anyone who uses the county’s roads to drive another person to get an abortion in another state where it is legal. This is meant to comport with the anti-choice logic that those who have abortions are not choosing it themselves of their own volition, but rather because they are pressured or forced to by others. Why? Well because they know people have a much easier time ratcheting up hate against evil straw-men looking to cover up sex crimes or just experience the sheer joy of vicarious baby-murder than they do about people choosing to have abortions for literally any of the many reasons one might choose to have an abortion.
It is not, we must note, illegal in any of these counties to use their roads to travel out of the state to do anything else that is illegal in the state. For instance, if you wanted to use these roads to give someone a ride so they can kill someone in Oklahoma, that’s fine — at least as far as the road-use part is concerned. This is how you can tell they don’t care about life or forcing people to play by their rules as much as they like controlling women’s bodies.
Wisconsin Republican Still Hoping To Chip Away At Abortion Rights
Back in September, a judge ruled that a law from 1849 did not actually ban elective abortion in the state — which meant that the law reverted to allowing abortion up to 20 weeks into the pregnancy. Not great, but not as bad as it was.
Wisconsin Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (a shame to all of us who share a variation on that name) now feels that, in response to that decision, he really wants to get an amendment on the ballot in the next few years that would ban abortion somewhere between the 12th and 15th weeks.
“It’s probably the only way for us to put this issue to rest,” he told the Associated Press this week. “It has the idea of saying we’re letting the people decide.”
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers says he opposes the proposal and would veto any such law that came to his desk. This is great news, but given how well this nonsense has gone for Republicans in other states, and the fact that 68 percent of Wisconsinites support the right to abortion in most or all cases, we might want Vos to “let the people decide” in 2024.
Shocking: Social Media Posts From Anti-Abortion People Vastly Misrepresent Kate Cox’s Situation
You’re not going to believe this, but forced-birthers have been telling easily disproven lies on social media about Kate Cox’s case and Trisomy 18, the fatal fetal anomaly affecting her pregnancy.
Via FactCheck.org:
A popular Instagram post made a number of misleading claims. For instance, the post stated that “90% of kids with Trisomy 18 live when given proper medical care,” while giving examples of children who defied the odds. According to studies, the median survival time for the condition among babies born alive was four to 14.5 days, and just 5.6% to 8.4% of those born alive lived to their 1st birthday.
The post also misleadingly stated that Cox “does not want to go through labor or c-section for a disabled child.” But Cox’s petition said that doctors concluded based on her specific case that her child would not survive beyond a few days at most.
Unfortunately, many people don’t actually check to see if the social media posts that confirm their worldview are true or not, because they’re too excited to run back to tell someone else on social media “Actually, 90 percent of children with this condition survive with proper medical care” to bother.
As a general rule, people who are secure in their positions do not have to add any sauce in order to justify them. I am more than willing to acknowledge that there was one woman who (has?) lived to at least 40 with that condition (believed to be the oldest person to have done so), because I believe Kate Cox has the right to an abortion whether or not that is the case. Clearly, these people think they need to lie (or that they don’t need to fact check their own talking points) in order to get people on their side.
And Some More Stuff!
Vice President Kamala Harris announced this week that she will be touring the country promoting abortion rights. [ABC]
The Floridians who have been collecting signatures to get abortion rights on the ballot in their state believe they have already met the threshold! [WLRN]
A recent poll showed that only 26 percent of Americans favor a national abortion law like the one in Texas and only 13 percent of Americans believe it was right of the state to try to force Kate Cox to give birth. [Yahoo]
A recent report from Abortion Onscreen determined that depictions of abortion on television are still very unrealistic. [NPR]
Yesterday, I told Young Werewolfess, who unfortunately is going to college in Texas, that if for some reason she needs to, she can call me and tell me she needs to visit me in San Diego right away. I'll buy her a ticket out there and book an appointment at Planned Parenthood. And I told her if she needs to buy a pregnancy test, pay cash. She already knows not to use a period tracking app on her phone.
She told me that she's relieved that I told her that.
I can confirm the "bad for business" aspect of these travel laws.
I've already planned out my annual spring trip to New Jersey. I'm driving. Usually, I will drive through the panhandle of Texas, buy gas there, maybe spend a night in a motel.
This year, I'm doing a little jog to the north, eliminating any need for a stop in Texas. Only adds about 50 miles to the overall trip.
It's just me and my paltry spending. But fuck those shitheads (not all Texans...you know). Let the dust rise and the weeds tumble.