Supreme court over turns Roe Vs Wade

[size=48]Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade, Eliminating the Constitutional Right to Abortion
The decision lets individual states decide whether to allow abortions, and will likely lead to all but total bans on the procedure in nearly half of the country
By Stephanie Emma Pfeffer and Vanessa EtienneJune 24, 2022 10:28 AM[/size]
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CREDIT: RICK BOWMER/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK
Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision of 1973 that granted women the right to an abortion in every state, has been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 6-to-3 ruling reverses nearly 50 years of precedent and will completely change the landscape of women's reproductive rights by giving individual states the power to decide whether to allow the procedure. It is estimated that nearly half the country will enact near-total bans in the coming months. The decision will divide the country, with most blue states allowing abortion and most red states severely limiting it.
"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion. "The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision."
"It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives," Alito wrote. The opinion was backed by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, three of whom were appointed by President Trump.

The decision echoes a draft of a 98-page opinion obtained by Politico last month that was leaked to the press in a major breach of confidentiality.
The process of overturning Roe v. Wade began when Mississippi's ban on abortions after 15 weeks was struck down by a federal court. The state then asked the Supreme Court to either overturn Roe v. Wade or allow states to pass pre-viability abortion bans. Oral arguments were heard in December.
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RELATED: With Roe vs. Wade in Danger, These True Stories from Women About Their Abortions Are More Powerful Than Ever

Prior to the verdict, Elizabeth Nash, state policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, a research group focused on abortion rights, told PEOPLE that the country will likely "start to see states, particularly the South, the Plains and Midwest, look to adopt abortion bans." Twelve states, including Mississippi and Texas, have "trigger" laws in place that would automatically ban abortions.
"And that would make it very hard for a large percentage of women in the country to access abortion care in their own state. It means a lot more people would have to travel for care," Nash said. "And the people who are most impacted by these abortion restrictions and bans are people of color, low-income individuals, young people and LGBTQ individuals — people who are already burdened with insufficient access to healthcare."
However, there are efforts to maintain the right to abortion as Roe is overturned. Many states such as New York, Hawaii, California and Washington have statutory protections for abortion rights in their laws.[/size]

• By Stephanie Emma Pfeffer
  
  

If abortion isn't mentioned in the Constitution, and it isn't implicitly protected, it also isn't prohibited. It's astonishing that the Supreme Court can be so schizophrenic as to say states have little right (if any) to regulate gun ownership but have complete jurisdiction over women's bodies. I bet that if someone in their family was in need of an abortion they'd find a way for them to get one.

This panel of Supreme Court justices is in violation of every tenet of our democracy. Trump and the NRA have their paw prints all over this mess.

Yes lizzy you are right. This a way to control women , take away their rights . Keep poorer women pregnant and uneducated
so they won't learn and fight for their rights. 

I hate Clarence Thomas he is the devil , he wants to get rid of birth control and gay marriage. To make gay people straight.
He is an idiot coon. I want to know when they have to vote on ending interracial marriage what he will vote as the coon is
married to a white woman.

Annemarie - I understand that you''re upset. So am I. I totally agree that Thomas is a disgrace and should be removed from the Court, but please don't use that word. It has such an ugly history and connotation.

Honestly, if the women in this country are really serious about Roe vs Wade there should be a sex strike until Roe is made the law of the land. How long do you think Congress could hold out against all the men who weren't getting laid?

Lizzy I call him what he is but o.k I'll change it to Clarence thomas the uncle tom.

You know what would work better than a sex strike? If every tax-paying female of childbearing age declared that she was pregnant, claim the fetus as a dependent, and collect every tax credit she is due. If "life begins at conception," and the woman has no right to terminate it, then this is a logical extrapolation.

All she would need is a positive pregnancy test. Then have a "miscarriage." That happens after a large number of conceptions anyway.

Millions of women could do this three times a year, every year.

Then watch the so-called pro-lifers backtrack because the control of women's bodies is costing them too much money.

Way2Old - I like your thinking, but I'm not sure it would work. There are lunatics out there who claim miscarriages are abortions and want the women prosecuted. We are living in an insane asylum run by the inmates.

If we are really a country of laws, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett should be charged with lying to Congress while under oath - a  crime - and Clarence Thomas would be impeached for supporting an insurrection by not turning in his wife. (And isn't it interesting that in his list of things that should be overturned he doesn't list interracial marriage? Gee, I wonder why?

If these three were actually prosecuted as the law requires we wouldn't need to expand the court. Biden would have 3 new justices to appoint.

PS - How's your summer going?

Personally, the summer is going well. The girls are busy and I'm actually getting in the same room as some of the 'real writers.' I always get asked to leave, but, you know, progress.

On a more collective level, of course, I'm mad and astounded at where we've sunk to, and tired of being mad and astounded. I want some people (Rethuglicans) to hurt and die and be humiliated and go broke. And crawl back under their rocks so they can be ignored while the humane humans run the world. 

Anyway, here's the real pitfall of a sex strike. Those self-righteous tyrannists will simply make it unlawful for a female to deny her partner sex. They will take it forcibly and not be punished. And, they will prey upon young, vulnerable non-partners, and excuse it by saying the striking women left them no choice.

I wish this was sarcasm.

Way2 My daughter said the same thing they will make it unlawful for a woman to deny her partner.

The idiot was at a rally this was said:

Mr President I want to thank you for the historic victorory for white life  in the supreme court.

I don't know the name of the woman who said this 

So basically these fools believe that now white women who get pregnant by any means will 
have to have the baby to make them the mjority in the country.

Annemarie - The woman you saw is Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller. Another fascist.

Way2Old - Glad your summer is going well. Glad you're getting in the room, even if you are asked to leave. Baby steps!

Re: forced sex - It just struck me that there's an answer for that and it was just handed to us by the same putrid justices that killed Roe: concealed carry. We are now allowed to carry a weapon anywhere, any time. Anyone tries to force sex - blow their balls off.  Forced sex is rape, which is a crime. Shooting a rapist is self defense, which is why the court says you're allowed to carry a gun. I'd really like to hear the pretzel-twisted logic they come up with to make rape ok.

Read this somewhere; paraphrasing here.

Instead of health care and gun control, Americans get health control and gun care.

https://people.com/movies/samuel-l-jackson-calls-out-clarence-thomas-leaving-interracial-marriage-off-list-targets/

[size=48]Samuel L. Jackson Calls Out Clarence Thomas for Leaving Interracial Marriage Off List of Targets
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas released a concurring opinion that SCOTUS should reconsider the cases that legalized birth control, sodomy and same-sex marriage
By Glenn GarnerJune 26, 2022 05:42 PM[/size]






CREDIT: SEAN ZANNI/PATRICK MCMULLAN VIA GETTY; CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY
Samuel L. Jackson is weighing in on the fallout around the Supreme Court's latest ruling.
The Academy Award honoree, 73, called out Justice Clarence Thomas' after Thomas suggested the court should reconsider other key decisions, including the 2015 case establishing the right to same-sex marriage, following the SCOTUS decision to overturn 1973's Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion.
"How's Uncle Clarence feeling about Overturning Loving v Virginia??!!" Jackson wrote Friday on Twitter, referring to the landmark 1967 ruling that found interracial marriage bans unconstitutional. Justice Thomas, 74, a Black man, has been married to wife Virginia Thomas, a white woman, since 1987.
RELATED: In Concurring Opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas Writes Court 'Should Reconsider' Rulings Legalizing Gay Marriage and Birth Control

Thomas, who was nominated by President George H. W. Bush as the second Black person to ever serve on the Supreme Court in 1991, wrote in a concurring opinion that SCOTUS should next "reconsider" the rulings that legalized birth control, sodomy and same-sex marriage.
"In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell. Because any substantive due process decision is 'demonstrably erroneous,' ... we have a duty to 'correct the error' established in those precedents," he said.

Jim Obergefell, one of the plaintiffs in the historic Obergefell v. Hodge case that guaranteed the right to marry to same-sex couples, said in a statement sent to PEOPLE that Thomas is "not the Supreme Deity."
"Clarence Thomas is a Supreme Court justice appointed by humans, he is not the Supreme Deity. The millions of loving couples who have the right to marriage equality to form their own families do not need Clarence Thomas imposing his individual twisted morality upon them. If you want to see an error in judgment, Clarence Thomas, look in the mirror," he said.

RELATED: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Opens Up About Being Raped in Her 20s: 'I Felt So Alone'
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren also called out Thomas in a tweet on Sunday: "Clarence Thomas made it clear: right-wing extremists aren't stopping at abortion. They're coming after marriage equality, contraception, & anyone who doesn't live & look like their idea of the ideal American. But the Supreme Court won't get the last word—the American people will."
Friday's 6-to-3 ruling reversed nearly 50 years of precedent, giving states the power to pass their own laws around abortion. Since the decision, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri and South Dakota have already banned abortion in their states, after putting "trigger bans" in place that governors enacted after the SCOTUS ruling.
RELATED VIDEO: Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade, Eliminating the Constitutional Right to Abortion







The Chicks Apologize to Fans After Ending Show Mid-Concert in Indianapolis: 'We Are So Sorry'
RELATED: Megan Thee Stallion Calls Out SCOTUS, Texas' Abortion Laws During Set: 'Really Embarrassing Me'
Protests have since erupted around the country, and President Joe Biden has spoken out against the ruling, which he called the "realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error by the Supreme Court."
The decision comes after the SCOTUS opinion was leaked to Politico last month. A poll conducted by CNN has since found that 66 percent of Americans did not want Roe v. Wade to be overturned.

So everyone's agreed that this sucks and that Thomas is out of control. So...other than the ballot box, what's left to do? Biden has already said he won't expand the Court. Getting rid of Thomas, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett by impeachment (for lying to Congress under oath - a crime) needs cooperation of the whole Congress - and that's never going to happen. Are they hoping for a civil war? Because if we keep going in this direction, that's where we're headed. Thomas may regret giving everyone the right to carry a gun wherever they want.

Regardless of Thomas' rightwingnutjob opinions, nobody who is married to or a partner of an insurrectionist should be on any court, much less the Supreme Court. 

The evidence to impeach Kavanaugh is irrefutable. Not only did he lie, but the FBI failed to conduct an investigation into his sordid background, which gave credence to his denials. And who knows how his debts got paid off, and what he promised for the transactions.

But Democrats are too afraid of looking vengeful... which wouldn't be a concern if they had proactive guts.

Roberts has lost control of "his" Court. He should resign.

But none of that is going to happen. I'll have to look up the mechanism for expanding the Court, but it doesn't seem right that the President gets the final word on that. The Supreme Court has never been an institution reflective of American society, which to me is reason enough to expand, outside of the block of racists and misogynists with good vocabularies that are there now.

The J6 committee has announced a surprise hearing for tomorrow. Maybe that means they've got "smoking-gun" evidence from that documentary on drumpf that the DOJ will have to act on.

 If there's irrefutable evidence against collaborating members of Congress maybe we can get some of them removed. It might even change the balance of power in Congress. Fingers crossed that it's something that can't be ignored - even by the MAGA cult.

I think Biden is right what good would expanding the court be when you will get people like th one's we have on there. They obviously have some way of getting in there with no problem. We all know congress wont agree to impeachment it would
be spinning our wheels. No , they need to find another way I don't know what but something.
There should be term limits in the Supreme Court no one should be there till death .

Lizzy that is what racists are preparing for and pushing for a civil war. That is why no gun control they really believe
that a war will come, of course it would be of their own making. I hope it doesn't come down to that.

Annemarie - If the J6 committee has evidence that can remove some of the MAGA-morons from Congress for collusion in the insurrection - maybe even get them prosecuted for sedition - it might finally get through to the rest of the Republicans that enough is enough and we're not playing. They need to stop catering to the fascists in their party or they might not survive the next mob that storms the capital in the name of "freedom".

It also makes me furious that these idiots can threaten to hurt or kill people and their families just because they disagree with them. Any provable threat (email, phone log, text, letter) should carry a mandatory 6 month jail term. Do it again and it's 1 year in jail. -Hell, maybe it should be a year for each call or letter. I think there's already a crime on the books called "menacing". Maybe that's where this fits.

 I'm waiting to see what happens to the people who terrorized  the poll-worker and her mother, and forced their way into her grandmothers house. They'd better be prosecuted.

(Sorry to vent like this. Today's primary day and I still haven't gotten my mail-in ballot, which I had to apply for twice, so now I have to go to my polling place to file an affidavit in order to vote. The Board of Elections needs to get its act together. )

Lizzy vent a way I think we all feel the same . I agree with you I hope something comes from the committee.

Yes jail time would be great but do we have enough room in jails for all the idiots?.

Here's hope -


      https://healthpolicy-watch.news/fury-after-us-supreme-court-removes-abortion-rights/
       
Biden backing the continuation of medical abortions, as is Garland......

PAN - I like Biden, but this just doesn't feel like it's enough. Some states are making medical abortions illegal. If the "medical abortion" pills are going to be sent through the mail how would anyone know who received them? Is the state going to screen everyone's mail? or their emails? or their medical records? Will there be NO privacy for women? How will Biden stop this?

And what about women traveling to another state for an abortion? How would anyone know why they were traveling? Will they prevent all women of childbearing age from leaving the state?

"Support " is all well and good, but what is Biden going to DO about it? Now, more than ever, I wish Hilary had won!

[size=32]Biden Undertakes to Safeguard Access to Abortion Pills, Travel to Other States, After US Supreme Court Removes Abortion Rights[/size]

Sexual & Reproduction Health 24/06/2022 • Kerry Cullinan

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Women’s rights activists and political opponents reacted with fury to the US Supreme Court’s stunning reversal of the fundamental right to abortion established almost 50 years ago in the landmark 1973 ruling of Roe v. Wade.
US President Joe Biden called it a “tragic error,” saying this is the first time the US Supreme Court has removed “a constitution right that is so fundamental to so many Americans.” He vowed his administration would defend a woman’s right to travel across state lines to seek an abortion.
“Now with Roe gone, let’s be very clear, the health and life of women across this nation are now at risk,” he said. “Let me be very clear and unambiguous. The only way we can secure a woman’s right to choose that exists is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law. No executive action from the president can do that.”


Biden called on voters to elect more senators and representatives who support reproductive rights, and pointed out that the Supreme Court decision does not prevent women from crossing state lines to receive an abortion.
“My administration will defend that bedrock right,” he promised. “If any state or local official, high or low, tries to interfere with a woman’s exercising her basic right to travel, I will do everything in my power to fight that deeply un-American attack.”
Biden added his administration would also back the right of access to medication for medical abortions, which some anti-abortion states want to ban.
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Trigger bans in 13 states

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The Supreme Court decision triggered automatic abortion bans in 13 states that had such laws in place. This means that women living in Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming will no longer be able to get access to abortions. 
Some states like Mississippi make no exceptions for rape, incest or health considerations, and women and girls and doctors face jail sentences for induced abortions.
Another 13 states are also poised to curtail abortion rights, while only 16 states and the District of Columbia have laws that protect the right to abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an NGO that advocates for sexual and reproductive health rights.
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Abortion bans don’t work

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Dr. Herminia Palacio, the institute’s president and CEO, said decades of research consistently show that abortion bans and restrictions don’t reduce unintended pregnancy or demand for abortion.
“And they certainly do not help people improve their health,” said Palacio. “Rather, they impose significant hurdles to obtaining care, causing stress for people in need of abortion and leading some to experience forced pregnancy and all its troubling consequences.”
Rep. Tim Ryan, Democrat of Ohio, said the ruling was “the largest overreach in history” as it removed a constitutional right for the first time, essentially introducing “government-mandated pregnancies.”
A tearful Rep. Cori Bush, Democrat of Missouri, who had an abortion after being raped as a 17-year-old, described the court as “far-right, racist and supremacist.”
Planned Parenthood’s CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said the decision amounts to “the removal of women’s rights to bodily autonomy” but her organization will continue fighting to ensure women can take care of themselves as best as possible.
“This is about power and control,” she said. “Abortion is still legal in some states, and Planned Parenthood will do whatever we can to ensure people have services.”


“This horrifying decision will have devastating consequences, and it must be a wake-up call, especially to young people who will bear the burden,” said former US First Lady Michelle Obama.


Friday’s Supreme Court ruling on the appeal of a case brought by the Mississippi Department of Health, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, which held that the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution provides a “fundamental right to privacy” that protects women’s rights to seek an abortion “without undue restrictive interference from the government.” De facto, the decision also upended the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood_v._Casey#:~:text=In the 1992 case of,have an abortion before viability.]Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey[/url], which barred states from enacting abortion restrictions expressly for “the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus.” 
Justice Samuel Alito Jr.’s opinion overruling Roe and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s concurrence said the decision ending a woman’s constitutional right to abortion shouldn’t endanger other sexual and reproductive rights that the court has recognized such as contraception, interracial marriage and same-sex marriage.
But the concurrence by Justice Clarence Thomas calls for not just revisiting but “overruling” all of the court’s substantive due process precedents including Obergefell v. Hodges, which deals with same-sex marriage, Griswold v. Connecticut, a landmark contraception case, and Lawrence v. Texas, a major case that invalidated anti-sodomy laws.
“After overruling these demonstrably erroneous decisions, the question would remain whether other constitutional provisions guarantee the myriad rights that our substantive due process cases have generated,” he wrote – although he omitted reconsideration of interracial marriage — which would make his own marriage illegal.
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States prepare for patient influx

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Some states where abortion is legal are already preparing for an influx of people seeking abortion, as previously reported by Health Policy Watch.
Last month, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul announced a $35 million investment to directly support abortion providers in anticipation of Roe v. Wade being overturned.
“New York has always been at the forefront of the fight for abortion rights, and as the first female governor of New York, I will not let us go backwards,” said Hochul. “This landmark funding will get resources into the hands of clinics who need our help, safeguarding access to abortion in our state and setting an example for the rest of the nation to follow.”
Image Credits: Gayatri Malhotra / Unsplash.[/size]

I think Biden is doing what he can . I'm sorry but I have no sympathy for the women who voted for trump or believed the lies about Hillary. 
I feel for the women who didn't want this and what will happen to them. 
Hopefully Biden can help them as he has said.

This has simply taken away privacy from all women the one's who wanted this had no clue what this would entail now
they do.  In Texas we know they already have a rule that if you turn in a woman for getting an abortion you will be paid
$10,000, Is this what will happen in all states in the country?

Good grief! I sincerely hope that the Health Department head makes sure that chemists around the country have enough supplies of the morning after pill.

  I note that the head of health in the US Xavier Beccera has three adult daughters....

  https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/06/28/biden-administration-will-use-medication-abortion-civil-rights-office-to-help-protect-abortion-rights-health-secretary-says/?sh=5aa96c7c7aa5&utm_medium=browser_notifications&utm_source=pushly&utm_campaign=2232151

[size=36]Biden Administration Will Use Medication Abortion, Civil Rights Office To Help Protect Abortion Rights, Health Secretary Says[/size]
Alison Durkee
Forbes Staff


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Jun 28, 2022,11:47am EDT


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Updated Jun 28, 2022, 11:48am EDT

TOPLINE

 
The Biden administration will take steps to help shore up access to medication abortion and protect patients and providers in response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade on Friday, Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said Tuesday, as Democrats and abortion rights advocates have demanded action from the White House after the court’s monumental ruling.




People gather to protest against the the Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women's ... [+]
 GETTY IMAGES

KEY FACTS

Calling the court’s decision “despicable” but not “unpredictable,” Becerra said the Department of Health and Human Services will take steps to increase access to medication abortion, including making sure states cannot ban abortion pills because they’re protected under federal law in cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is at risk.

The agency will also provide increased guidance on medication abortion to providers.

Becerra didn’t rule out that the White House could sue states that try to ban medication abortion, saying HHS will “certainly assert and defend our legal authorities,” but what action it takes will depend on what states do.

Becerra will direct HHS’ civil rights office to ensure that privacy and non-discrimination rights for abortion patients and providers are protected.
The department will also work to ensure that the “clinical judgment” of healthcare providers to treat pregnant patients are protected, meaning that it will still be possible for them to perform abortions when it’s medically necessary.
The agency will also protect access to family planning methods like IUDs—as birth control access also comes under threat—including ensuring family planning providers are covered under Medicaid to expand access to more underprivileged Americans.

CRUCIAL QUOTE

“There is no magic bullet, but if there is something we can do, we will find it and we will do it at HHS,” Becerra said Tuesday, saying the agency will “leave no stone unturned.”

KEY BACKGROUND

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, declaring the landmark 1973 ruling “egregiously wrong” and setting off a wave of state-level abortion bans that started taking effect immediately following the decision. The Biden administration has come under heavy pressure to help shore up abortion rights in the absence of Roe—even the executive branch is constrained in impacting state-level issues—and 34 Democratic senators sent a [url=https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Dobbs Decision Biden Letter_FINAL1.pdf]letter[/url] to President Joe Biden on Saturday urging him to “take immediate action” and “use the full force of the federal government” to protect abortion access. Biden and other top Democrats have been criticized on the left for responding to the ruling too tepidly and largely focusing on telling Americans to vote if they disagree with the court’s decision. “We can’t just tell people, ‘Well, just vote — vote your problems away,’ Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) told the Washington Post. “Because they’re looking at us and saying, ‘Well, we already voted for you.’”

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW

How much the Supreme Court’s decision will impact the midterms, as Democratic strategists hope their base’s anger over the ruling will help voter turnout. A Morning Consult poll conducted after the ruling came out found the share of Democrats who say they’re “very” or “extremely” enthusiastic about voting in November shot up eight percentage points from the week before (from 48% to 56%).

TANGENT

While the Biden administration announced several proposals on Tuesday, it’s rejected other steps abortion rights proponents have urged the White House to take, such as allowing abortions on federal lands even in states where the procedure is outlawed. “There’s actually dangerous ramifications to doing this,” a White House official said at a press briefing Tuesday, as quoted by the Post, citing the fact that people who aren’t federal employees could still potentially be prosecuted under state bans even if the abortions take place on federal property. Biden has also refused calls to expand the Supreme Court and add justices to offset the court’s 6-3 conservative tilt.

FURTHER READING

Roe V. Wade Overturned: Supreme Court Overturns Landmark Abortion Decision, Lets States Ban Abortion (Forbes)
Half of Voters Disapprove of Supreme Court Ruling to Overturn Roe v. Wade (Morning Consult)
Frustration, anger rising among Democrats over caution on abortion (Washington Post)
34 Senate Democrats urge Biden to take action on abortion. (New York

Allowing states to control women’s bodies is shameful.  This is extremism, as is with the banning of books in schools and attempts to change school curriculums and remove telling the truths of racism.  Now women will be punished for having sex and getting pregnant.  And underage girls will pay the price of bearing a child as a result of rape/incest.
It’s all shameful.  The far right of this country is bound and determined to change the course of this country.  Donating to Democratic candidates and voting just doesn’t seem to be enough.  I don’t know what else we as citizens can do at this point.  Ugh!

Donnamarie - We can pressure our Congressmen to eliminate the filibuster, increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court to thirteen and impeach Gorsuch and Kavanaugh for lying under oath to Congress. Then impeach Thomas for being a right-wing fascist power-crazed bastard. Every case he ruled on should be investigated for bias.

Write letters, send emails, sign petitions, donate if you can, and above all VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Lizzy besides donating and voting there isn’t much else in the toolbox that will realistically work at this point.  I don’t know how we get rid of the filibuster with the current Congress.  We couldn’t get Manchin and Sinema to support getting rid of it to pass voting rights or Biden’s signature legislation.  And the Democrats are not predicted to maintain the majority in the House, and possibly in the Senate, after the mid-terms.  If they can gain Senate seats  in November then maybe something positive can happen.  

There is no way any Supreme Court justice will be impeached.  Even Thomas.  He should be made to resign but that ain’t going to happen.  There are no ethic guidelines that justices are required to follow.  

But I do appreciate your optimism

Donnamarie - It's not optimism - it's total disgust and fury at what is happening in this country. That there are so many people willing to see an end to democracy for absolutely no good reason makes me sick. Can so many of us be so stupid that a pervert like Gaetz or traitorous morons like Greene and Boebert are the kind of people we want running our country? Never mind Drumpf. God willing he'll be in jail by '24 - or maybe he'll have another tantrum and his head will explode. One can only hope.

It strikes me that if something isn't done to get the SC under control the next big wave of immigrants will be Americans fleeing persecution in the US.

Lizzy I absolutely agree with your “disgust and fury”.  I only hope that the worst will happen to Trump.  No one is more deserving considering the damage he has done to this country.  He didn’t do it alone but he clearly opened the floodgates.

Here's what I think is going to happen. TheRump is going to announce his candidacy early, much sooner than is usual. The thinking is that the public disclosures will lessen or disappear because the law enforcement agencies have a practice, if not policy, of not disclosing info that would seem to influence elections. (But we all remember what Comey did to Hillary Clinton, don't we?) And if the disclosures continue, TheRump will just use them to whine about his perpetual persecution. In his warped orange hairless head, this is a win-win.

But what he's not taking into account, for one, are the state charges that are coming his way, from Georgia for sure and New York for a high maybe. He can't make those cases go away, the charges are not in the least bit nebulous, and the Black women leading the investigations are not afraid of him.

The other thing is that there is too much out there already that we know are criminal offenses. He will be charged long before anyone else has to announce their candidacy. The Biden DOJ will make sure it happens, or there is no more Democrat administration and no more democracy. No one is going to vote Democrat if Donald TheRump is not charged and convicted, or is not on his way there when the elections roll around.

Then Biden has to contend with whatever Rethuglican wins the battle to the bottom to replace TheRump. But they won't get the Orange Shitgibbon's entire base. That is a cult, and cultists don't switch leaders. For tRumpists, it's tRump or nobody. They won't vote.

And Biden's polls suck. But let's all remember, Joe Biden was not supposed to be the Democratic nominee. He was toast in the primaries. And now many of his opponents serve at the pleasure of President Biden. Don't count him out.

Way2Old - By the time the election rolls around drumpf may be political road kill. The J6 committee is far from finished, Georgia and NY are after his ass, and soon his cronies are going to start cooperating in order to stay out of jail. The DOJ is being left little excuse not to indict  - maybe not drumpf, but everyone around him. Sadly there are plenty of reptiles waiting to take his place.

What worries me much more is the SC ruling on state legislatures being able to ignore the popular vote re: electors. That , and the possibility that if drumpf is convicted there could be blood in the streets. Hopefully law enforcement would be on the side of the law, not on the side of insurrection.

As I see it, the SC has to be expanded to at least 13 justices and they should be term limited, we should abolish the electoral college, and we should end Citizens United. Anyone proven to have been involved in plotting the insurrection should be booted out of Congress (Greene, Boebert, Gaetz, Hawley, Johnson ...there's a long list of traitors holding office). Hopefully we'll survive climate change long enough to get our country back!

For anyone interested in what the Supreme Court might do next to destroy our democracy, I saw this on Twitter (and lost it) so I couldn't pass it on. Luckily it was just mentioned in a Politico post. The Twitter thread is way too long to post here, but if you want to check it out:

     Thom Hartmann: The Nightmare Scenario SCOTUS is Plotting    for the 2024 Election Takeover.

It's terrifying, so if you want to sleep well tonight you might not want to read it. (Although I did see a tweet saying that Congress has a way to stop this. I hope they're right and Congress acts.)

Yeah, Lizzy, I think tRump threatening to announce he's running is like Putin threatening other countries with military force. Yeah, um, come on. We've seen what you got, and it ain't shit.

They're both holding on to their delusions of power, hoping the tough talk distracts from the reality everyone but them is living in. 

tRump thinks no one will risk indicting him because of the harm it will do to the country. But most of us know that the much greater harm comes if he's NOT punished.

Way2Old - It isn't drumpf we have to be afraid of. Whether he's indicted or not, he's pretty much done - although the country needs him to suffer the consequences for his actions, just to prove that our laws still work.

It's the Supreme Court and the Republican/fascist right that has spent the last decade infiltrating state legislatures and the judiciary. They've wormed their way into positions where they can influence and manipulate the electoral process and SCOTUS is poised to hand them more tools to undermine our elections. My hope is that the J6 committee finds enough solid evidence to charge Thomas, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Barrett before they can do more damage.

Speaking from afar, I regard this action from the not-so-supreme court an insult to all            women. Who do they think they are that they can decide what women want - or need -or feel
safe doing?

    Perhaps they need to have some quiet contemplation about who gave birth to them -  given that we are the only ones who could have them!


    I

I just keep thinking what a shame it is that their mothers didn't have easy access to abortion, Maybe some of them wouldn't be here destroying democracy.

Sort of on topic (since it could be where we're heading) I watched a program called "Meet the Survivors", where Matt Lucas interviewed a Holocaust survivor. It was horrifying but riveting, and I learned things that surprised me. As bad as things are getting here, they could be infinitely worse. Is this program part of a series or was it a one-off?

Lizzy, it is going to get worsee sadly for all of us.Even those wo are dumb enough to believe thngs won't effect them.

Annemarie - I know, but at least most of us have some idea of what's coming and are looking for ways to fight back. With any luck we might be able to minimize the damage.

The MAGA crowd seems to think that just because they fell for drumpf's lies they're immune from the changes the right-wingers are trying to make. They are in for a rude awakening when they find out they're losing their rights along with the rest of us. If they vote these fascists into office, their usefulness will be gone and they'll be treated like the trash drumpf always thought they were. I could almost feel sorry for them...almost.

[size=28]Joe Biden to sign executive order protecting access to abortion[/size]
[size=14]Move by president signals start of White House fightback after supreme court struck down Roe v Wade[/size]


[size=11][size=11]Abortion rights activists protest the supreme court ruling outside the White House in Washington DC. Photograph: Daniel Slim/AFP/Getty[/size][/size]


[size=14]David Smith Washington bureau chief
@smithinamerica
Fri 8 Jul 2022 07.00 EDT
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[size=14]Joe Biden is to sign an executive order offering protections to millions of American women denied the constitutional right to an abortion.
The move signals the start of a White House fightback after the supreme court last month [size=14]struck down Roe v Wade, its landmark ruling that for half a century had legalised abortion nationwide.

The president, who condemned the court’s decision as a “tragic error”, is due to speak about the executive order from the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Friday morning.
According to a fact sheet released by the administration, Biden’s order will safeguard access to reproductive healthcare services, including abortion and contraception. This includes access to medication abortions, also known as abortion pills, approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

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Among the provisions is a plan for Merrick Garland, the attorney general, and Dana Remus, the White House counsel, to convene private pro bono lawyers, bar associations and public interest organisations to encourage “robust legal representation of patients, providers, and third parties lawfully seeking or offering reproductive health care services throughout the country”.
Such representation could include protecting the right to travel out of state to seek an abortion. Biden and Garland have vowed to oppose any state or local official who attempts to interfere with women exercising that right.
In addition, the executive order is designed to promote “the safety and security of patients, providers, and clinics”. A how-to guide for consumers will explain steps to ensure they are protecting their personal data on mobile apps amid fears that state officials could try to track and prosecute them.






‘It’s incredibly far-reaching’: medical students on the Roe reversal

Read more


An interagency taskforce will coordinate federal government efforts to protect reproductive rights. Garland will provide technical assistance to states affording legal protection to out-of-state patients as well as providers who offer legal reproductive health care.
The supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade two weeks ago was a seismic shock to the political system that left elected officials scrambling to respond. It leaves about half of the states certain or likely to immediately ban abortion and will disproportionately affect women of colour, low-income women and rural women.
A [url=https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/07/06/majority-of-public-disapproves-of-supreme-courts-decision-to-overturn-roe-v-wade/?utm_source=AdaptiveMailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=22-7-6 Abortion Attitudes Update_GEN distro&org=982&lvl=100&ite=10196&lea=2141705&ctr=0&par=1&trk=a0D3j000011IIOAEA4]Pew Research Center survey[/url] published this week found that 57% of adults disapprove of the court’s sweeping decision, while 41% approve. Public support for legal abortion remains largely unchanged [url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/05/06/americas-abortion-quandary/?utm_source=AdaptiveMailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=22-7-6 Abortion Attitudes Update_GEN distro&org=982&lvl=100&ite=10196&lea=2141705&ctr=0&par=1&trk=a0D3j000011IIOAEA4]since before the decision[/url], with 62% saying it should be legal in all or most cases.
Biden has been criticised for failing to push back hard enough. Friday’s executive order might buy him some time but is necessarily limited in scope. He acknowledged as much in White House remarks on the day of the court’s ruling.
“Let me be very clear and unambiguous,” he said. “The only way we can secure a woman’s right to choose and the balance that existed is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v Wade as federal law. No executive action from the president can do that. And if Congress, as it appears, lacks the votes to do that now, voters need to make their voices heard.”


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This is all well and good, but what I want to know is how would state governments know why you're leaving the state?  Are they going to mandate pregnancy tests for any woman crossing the state line? And, how would they know what you're getting in the mail? The pills should be sent in unmarked packaging or labeled as something else to make them unidentifiable. That way no one would know what you're receiving i the mail - which is as it should be.

Anyone whose moral superiority (or desire for the $10,000 bounty) demands that they "turn in" someone they suspect is planning to get an abortion should keep in mind that though the SC shot down Roe, they also gave us all the right to bear arms. Snitches, better sleep with one eye open!

Along, with snitches minding their own business. Women need to kearn to be quiet about what is going on in their lives.
You can't trust everybody or hell maybe anybody.

I regard abortion like I do guns..... if you don't like it, don't get one.

Even though I'm somewhat conservative,
I'm also old enough to remember what life was like for women before abortion was legal.

I'm not a big fan of the women I've seen who use it as a method of birth control and keep getting repeated abortions but fortunately they are in the minority. I've always been glad its legal so I'm not snitching on anyone. Not that my neighbors have to worry because Maryland is very liberal and I don't forsee it disappearing in this state.

I see this country as nothing more than a patchwork of states that is anything but united.  It’s horrible to see what’s happening here.  Democracies in other parts of the world must be shaking their heads and wondering what the hell happened to the US.  It’s shameful how women’s reproductive rights have been stripped from us.   Someone said on a recent news program that all the advances that this country made in the 20th century regarding civil rights, voting rights and women's rights have been brutally attacked, especially in the last 10 years.  We have clearly moved backwards.  The arc of our progress has come to a screeching halt.

I think Biden is doing the best that he can.  He’s limited, And he’s right.  The only way to right this wrong is to vote in November for Democratic candidates.  We need big majority wins in the House and Senate if we want a federal law protecting Roe.  There is a chance we may keep a Democratic majority in the Senate but the House doesn’t look likely at this time.

Donnamarie - You're right about voting being our best chance to turn things around, but not just on the Congressional level. The beliefs of every candidate for every elective office in the country have to be scrutinized. Too many local and state positions have been infiltrated by drumpf supporters who are willing to ignore the law to get what they want.
One bright spot I see is that the J6 committee hearings are having an effect. (Besides, drumpf may be in jail soon - Thank you, Georgia! - which might hamper his election bid a bit.) drumpf is losing the support of some of the more rational Republicans and they're starting to look for another candidate for 2024. If Biden doesn't run, and as much as I like him I hope he doesn't, the Dems have a lot of strong choices to challenge anyone the Reps choose.

Curious: If Biden doesn't run, who would be your choice for Dem candidate?

One of the things that has always intrigued me is that large portions of the public seem to         have decided to interpret the word 'socialism' as communism. Which is laughable when you       look at how much of European is a capital trading block - but also has vital services like the       National Health which is basically funded by peoples' taxes so that those in need can get           treatment.

   And somehow the American public have allowed the pharmaceutical companies to get away
   with huge profits, and promote an opioid epidemic  while advising the powers that be on the       health of nation. Why on earth would somebody NOT vote for decent health cover for                 themselves and their families?

I have mixed feelings about National Healthcare. I don't consider having to wait months to get a cancer surgery or a bypass "decent" Healthcare.

When Obamacare was implemented, my middle sister, who had been uninsured for many years, was finally able to get insurance so I was happy for her.

On the flip side, the insurance we had through my husband's retirement skyrocketed every year afterwards....going from $600 a month to $1100 a month during the Obama administration. Fortunately I was able to obtain insurance through my job for $500 a month so that was what we finally did.

I really wanted to stay on hubbys plan because it was better but who can afford that?

I certainly would love to see everyone insured but someone is going to have to pay for it. And some of the abuses I see with our healthcare system are sickening. I wish they would make cigarettes illegal. That would save this country millions in healthcare but I know no one wants to hear that idea. Lol.

PAN -It's easy to understand why these people conflate social welfare with socialism/communism. They, for the most part, don't bother to think it through. They just parrot what they're told by their "leaders", who spout this nonsense to disguise why they do nothing but line their own pockets.

What gets me is that these people, who refuse to accept any program that in any way helps someone, consider themselves Christians! Yet they are diametrically opposed to all the teachings of Jesus and Christianity. It boggles the mind.

Ida - Maybe. if the major corporations and the billionaires who own and run them actually paid their fair share of taxes. we could afford decent health care for everyone.

Yep, exactly Lizzie. I blame the amount of TV advertising where your brain's concentration span can go down with every shot on the screen and how fast it is. Everything to do with money -and actually not taught. 


Of course most people here have some form of private insurance too.It often comes as a perk with work - and even if they don't you can pay to see a specialist who will have NHS work as well - and the NHS is a wonderful
 net with access to all the advanced treatments for a small amount of tax from your pay packet which is taken every month.  

Bottom line: It takes care of every member of the population in a tiny island of 70 million people...

PAN - I wasn't aware that private insurance was that widespread in the UK. Over here many people have insurance through their jobs, but it's usually a shared expense with their employer. Individual private insurance is expensive and out of reach for most people.

 It would make much more sense if we each paid a reasonable premium to an agency that would in turn provide medical services. I don't know why we even need insurance agencies to be involved at all.

Yep, it's the same here, Lizzy and often includes the family. But that's on top of the automatic NHS cover and many GP's offices which are open every day for anyone having concerns about their health- even visitors who may or may not be registered somewhere else. It's the same throughout Europe, and mostly we're very grateful we don't have any other system!

Ps That's why the vaccine rollout was so successful here.......