For now I pulled some cards and got that the Supreme Court will review the law at some point and that it will continue to stand. The court will not agree with states that have arbitrarily decided that a six week fetus even has a true heartbeat since there is no heart and no circulatory system.
It is however difficult to predict the outcome when we don’t have a date for the decision. We don’t even have it scheduled in the SCOTUS calendar. I feel we get more accuracy when I can focus on a date.
I just read that Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins both voted Tuesday to confirm an aggressively anti-choice nominee to the 9th Circuit, Daniel Collins. The 9th Circuit is the federal appeals court in CA that's been crucial in stopping a lot of Con Don’s outrageous actions, and it's about to flip in his favor. Daniel Collins has demonstrated his anti-choice views over the years in court filings, arguments, articles, and political donations.
Mr. Collins was also responsible for advancing policies that led to increased incarceration and adversely impacted communities of color. He has also sought to restrict civil liberties and advance executive power claims.
Collins is a member of the Federalist Society and was pushed through the Senate by McTurtle, over the objections of California Senators Feinstein and Harris. I read that this is the first time in modern history judges have been confirmed by an entirely partisan vote over the objections of the senators representing the states where the vacancies are being filled.
I believe this is Senator Collins’ ninth vote for an anti-choice judge. She is up for re-election in 2020. Does anyone know if any Dem has announced to run against her?
@deetoo; Sara Gideon, Maine's Democratic house speaker, will be Collins's likeliest 2020 challenger, although she has not yet declared a run.
Maine is an idiosyncratic state where many voters do not identify with either major party, and this has allowed Collins to maintain healthy approval ratings; to many voters, her commitment to Maine interests over the course a four-term career in the senate outweighs her recent legislative votes. So we shouldn't expect Maine's slight Democratic leanings to translate into a slam-dunk defeat of Collins. On the other hand, Maine instituted ranked-choice voting in 2017 (a wise move for a state where elections often split three ways between the GOP, the Democrats, and an independent candidate), and that makes Collins somewhat more vulnerable. In fact, Democrats were able to flip Maine's Second Congressional District last fall with the aid of the ranked-choice system.
Thanks, Coyote. I had never heard of the ranked-choice system, so I appreciate the link.
I'd been curious about Maine politics ever since Paul LePage became governor. That was a real head-scratcher. (But then what am I saying? Look at who occupies the Oval Office.) Anyway, thank God LePage is out of there.
At this point I thought I was pretty inured to the GOP craziness surrounding abortion. But this week, 19 Republican members of the Ohio legislature sponsored and submitted a bill that directs doctors and the women they're treating to reimplant ectopic pregnancies or face charges of "abortion murder." THERE IS NO MEDICALLY POSSIBLE WAY TO REIMPLANT AN ECTOPIC PREGNANCY. Jesus effing Christ, where do I even begin?
This does it for me. As recently as the mid-term elections, I voted for a few Republicans in local races. But as long as the national GOP condones this type of idiocy, I can't in good conscious offer up even the relatively inconsequential support of a vote in a local race in a deep blue state such as mine. I won't relax until all of these sub-humans are out of government. Gone.
I, too, read that in complete disbelief and still cannot believe anyone would even think that to implant an ectopic zygote is even possible. The absolute stupidity of these so called lawmakers is just mind-boggling. I will be so glad when the republicans are a part of ancient history. I only hope it happens in my lifetime.
According to Frank Schaeffer, who's the son of Fran Schaeffer, one of the architects of the moral majority and the religious right, abortion was never an issue for non-Catholics religious conservatives, until it was make into one for political gain. Read his blog, or any of his books (Crazy for God is a good one). He explains how abortion was turned into a rallying cry and is really mixed in with a toxic stew of racism and misogyny, and just plain ignorance. Reimplanting an ectopic pregnancy or risk jail is just a way to scare doctors out out treating women with this condition, which, if untreated, can be fatal. Sounds extreme, but go to any Catholic hospital (which take federal money) with this condition and see what kind of treatment you get.
No politician or political movement will ever eliminate abortion, ever. They will make it harder, hurt poor women, but will never get rid of it because ultimately you cannot make people do something with their bodies if they don't want to.
What I find most frightening is the sad reality that many of the legislators who are sponsoring this bill probably know that reimplanting an ectopic zygote is indeed impossible, but they are so eager for a constitutional showdown on abortion, they are pushing through this policy anyways (fyi, the bill is 700 pages long, so it's not as if it's purely symbolic). An untreated ectopic pregnancy is deadly, so they may as well have written a law that said they would start shooting people at random until abortions in Ohio were curbed. That's why I very deliberately used the adjective "sub-human" to describe these politicians.