#1- reproductive rights in state constitution

[the-corset-witch]

It's in my top 3 reasons of moving to Michigan, actually

Was at a friends apartment and she had me try 59% THC infused shake. Which is a thing now. Anyway one bowl later and I was having lsd flashbacks it hit me so fuckin hard

[tomorrowusa]

Are you in Ohio? Are you outside Ohio but know a voter there? Today is Election Day for Part One of a two stage process to determine whether Ohio will protect Reproductive Freedom.

tl;dr – Vote No on today's August ballot measure and vote yes on the November measure: August NO — November YES.

There is a lot of interest in this election. If Ohio voters reverse the gerrymandered GOP legislature's decision to ban almost all abortions, Ohio will become the largest state to do so since the regressive Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling by SCOTUS last year.

You can usually tell how much interest there is in an election by the amount of early voting. Early voting has been brisk in Ohio.

Almost 700,000 Ohioans cast ballots in the early voting period leading up to the Aug. 8 special election on the constitutional amendment to make it harder to pass future amendments. More than 118,000 Ohioans have voted early, either by mail or in person, during the last three days of early voting alone on Issue 1. Early absentee ballots began to be sent out on June 23, and the first ballots were returned five days later. Since then, 696,905 Ohioans have voted early by mail or in person at county early voting centers. That’s already more than the 638,708 Ohioans who voted in the legislative primary last August. And it's more than twice the around 289,000 Ohioans who voted early in the primaries in May 2022, in which seven Republicans and three Democrats were running for their parties' nominations for US Senate and both parties also had contested primaries for governor.

If you've received a mail-in ballot but neglected to mail it, you can still deliver it TODAY in person to your election board.

There are about 68,000 ballots that have been mailed to voters that haven't been returned. If they are, they'll be added into the early vote totals. Anyone who has voted their ballot and hasn't mailed it by now should hand deliver it to their local board of elections. They can be deposited into secure drop boxes at those locations. Polls open at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7:30 p.m.

State elections, state legislatures, and state constitutions have been neglected far too long by liberals.

[amaditalks]

Abortion Is On The Ballot

In ten states, there are ballot measures or questions which will be decided in the November election which will impact the future of abortion access in those states. Here’s what you need to know.

Arizona

Arizona Proposition 139 the Right to Abortion Initiative will amend the state constitution to provide for the fundamental right to abortion that the state of Arizona may not interfere with before the point of fetal viability unless justified by a compelling state interest.

To enshrine abortion rights protection in the state constitution Vote Yes

Colorado

Colorado Amendment 79, the Right to Abortion and Health Insurance Coverage Initiative will amend the state constitution to create the right to an abortion and authorize the use of public funds (Medicaid) to pay for abortion care.

To enshrine abortion rights protection in the state constitution Vote Yes

Florida

Florida Amendment 4, the Right to Abortion Initiative, will amend the state constitution to declare that "no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.” The current constitutional provision requiring parental consent for minors' abortions will not be affected.

To enshrine abortion rights protection in the state constitution and overturn the current six week abortion ban Vote Yes

Maryland

Maryland Question 1, the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment, will amend the state constitution to establish a right to reproductive freedom, defined to include "the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one's own pregnancy."

To enshrine reproductive rights protection in the state constitution Vote Yes

Missouri

Missouri Amendment 3, the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative will amend the state constitution to provide the right for reproductive freedom, which is defined as "the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions," and providing that the state legislature may enact laws that regulate abortion after fetal viability.

To enshrine broad reproductive rights protection including abortion in the state constitution and overturn the current complete abortion ban Vote Yes

Montana

Montana CI-128, the Right to Abortion Initiative will create a constitutional "right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion," and allow the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except when "medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient."

To enshrine broad reproductive rights protection including abortion in the state constitution Vote Yes

Nebraska

The Nebraska Prohibit Abortions After the First Trimester Amendment will amend the state constitution to elevate the current twelve week abortion ban law to a constitutional provision with limited exceptions for medical emergencies or in cases of rape.

To prevent the current legislative abortion ban from being enshrined in the state constitution Vote No

Nevada

Nevada Question 6, the Right to Abortion Initiative will amend the state constitution to create a constitutional right to an abortion, providing for the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except where medically indicated to "protect the life or health of the pregnant patient."

To enshrine abortion rights protection in the state constitution Vote Yes

New York

New York Proposal 1, the Equal Protection of Law Amendment will amend the state constitution to provide that people cannot be denied rights based on their "ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability" or "sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy."

To enshrine equal rights protection for pregnant people and abortion patients in the state constitution Vote Yes

South Dakota

The South Dakota Constitutional Amendment G, the Right to Abortion Initiative will amend the state constitution to protect the right to an abortion based on a trimester framework, with no restrictions permitted in the first trimester, only limited medical need restrictions permitted in the second trimester and allowing deeper restrictions in the third trimester except "when abortion is necessary, in the medical judgment of the woman's physician, to preserve the life and health of the pregnant woman."

To enshrine abortion rights protection in the state constitution and overturn the state's current full abortion ban Vote Yes

If you live in one of these ten states and abortion rights matter to you, get registered or double check your registration and make your voting plan today. Every single vote matters significantly in amendment questions.

[stevetoday]

Pro-Choice - Abortion Measures on The Ballot

Florida Amendment 4, the Right to Abortion Initiative A Yes vote with 60% will Establish a constitutional right to abortion until viability, with exceptions for later pregnancies. Arizona Proposition 139, Right to Abortion Initiative (2024) A "yes" vote supports amending the state constitution to provide for the fundamental right to abortion, among other provisions.

Colorado Amendment 79, Right to Abortion and Health Insurance Coverage Initiative A  "yes" vote supports creating a right to abortion in the state constitution and allowing the use of public funds for abortion. Maryland Question 1, Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment A "yes" vote supports adding a new article to the Maryland Constitution's Declaration of Rights establishing a right to reproductive freedom, defined to include "the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one's own pregnancy."

Missouri Amendment 3, Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative A "yes" vote supports adding a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, defined to include abortion and “all matters relating to reproductive health care,” to the Missouri Constitution, among other provisions. Montana CI-128, Right to Abortion Initiative

provide a state constitutional "right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion," and

allow the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except when "medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient."

Nebraska Initiative 434, Prohibit Abortions After the First Trimester Amendment A "no" vote opposes amending the state constitution to prohibit abortions after the first trimester unless necessitated by a medical emergency or the pregnancy is a result of sexual assault or incest.

Nebraska Initiative 439, Right to Abortion Initiative A "yes" vote supports amending the state constitution to establish a right to abortion until fetal viability. Nevada Question 6, Right to Abortion Initiative A "yes" vote supports providing for a state constitutional right to an abortion, providing for the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except where medically indicated to "protect the life or health of the pregnant patient." New York Proposal 1, Equal Protection of Law Amendment A "yes" vote supports adding language to the New York Bill of Rights to provide that people cannot be denied rights based on their "ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability" or "sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy."

South Dakota Constitutional Amendment G, Right to Abortion Initiative A "yes" vote supports providing for a state constitutional right to abortion in South Dakota, using a trimester framework for regulation:

During the first trimester, the state would be prohibited from regulating a woman's decision to have an abortion;

During the second trimester, the state may regulate abortion, but "only in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman;" and

During the third trimester, the state may regulate or prohibit abortion, except "when abortion is necessary, in the medical judgment of the woman's physician, to preserve the life and health of the pregnant woman."

[chibikittens]

More good news, NY successfully passed prop 1

“This proposal amends Article 1, Section 11 of the New York Constitution. Section 11 now protects against unequal treatment based on race, color, creed, and religion. The proposal will amend the act to also protect against unequal treatment based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, and pregnancy outcomes, as well as reproductive healthcare and autonomy. The amendment allows laws to prevent or undo past discrimination.”

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - November 1-7

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles on Patreon!

1. Climate Initiatives Fare Well Across the Country Despite National Political Climate

“[California voters approved] a $10 billion bond measure to boost climate resilience across [the] state[…. Hawai’i] voters cast their ballots in favor of establishing the [climate] resiliency fund, with money for the project coming from existing property tax revenue.“

2. ‘You have to disguise your human form’: how sea eagles are being returned to Severn estuary after 150 years

“[… To avoid imprinting,] the handlers will wear long robes and feed the young eagles chopped rabbit and other meat with bird hand-puppets. […] Williams hopes that restoring eagles to the top of the food chain in the estuary will create a more balanced, thriving ecosystem.”

3. 10 states voted on pro-abortion referendums. 7 of them passed

“New York voters overwhelmingly approved the Equal Rights Amendment, adding [… among other characteristics] gender expression, pregnancy, and pregnancy outcomes to anti-discrimination laws. […] In deep-red Missouri and Montana, voters also enshrined abortions protections in their state constitutions.”

4. Giant rats could soon fight illegal wildlife trade by sniffing out elephant tusk and rhino horn

“”Our study shows that we can train African giant pouched rats to detect illegally trafficked wildlife, even when it has been concealed among other substances[.…] They can easily access tight spaces like cargo in packed shipping containers or be lifted up high to screen the ventilation systems of sealed containers,” Szott explained.”

5. Sarah McBride wins Delaware U.S. House seat, becoming the first out trans member of Congress

“McBride spearheaded Delaware’s legislation to ban the “gay and trans panic” defense as a state senator [… and] helped to pass paid family and medical leave, gun safety measures, and protections for reproductive rights.”

6. Critically endangered Sumatran elephant calf born in Indonesia

“Indonesian officials hailed the births and said they showed conservation efforts were essential to prevent the protected species from extinction. […] Sumatran elephants are on the brink of extinction with only about 2,400-2,800 left in the world, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.”

7. Sin City is Going Green

“[Hotels there] have conserved 16 billion gallons of water since 2007, thanks to […] replacing grass with desert-friendly landscaping, installing water-efficient taps across all properties, and reusing water at aquariums and in the Bellagio Fountain.”

8. Gray squirrel control: Study shows promise for effective contraceptive delivery system

“[… T]he feeders have a very high level of species-specificity. […] The bait and monitoring system developed and tested in the study demonstrated that […] “spring was the only season tested where female squirrels were more likely to visit bait feeders than males. Spring coincides with a peak in squirrel breeding and is therefore a good time to deliver a contraceptive."”

9. Returning Grazing Land to Native Forests Would Yield Big Climate Benefits

“[… S]trategically regrowing forests on land where cattle currently graze […] while intensifying production elsewhere could drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions, with little hit to global protein production, a new study shows.”

10. Interior Department Strengthens Conservation of American Bison Through New Agreement with Canada and Mexico

“Approximately 31,000 bison are currently being stewarded by the United States, Canada and Mexico with the goal of conserving the species and their role in the function of native grassland systems, as well as their place in Indigenous culture.”

October 22-28 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[luckydiorxoxo]

––If you vote in one of these ten states, abortion rights are on your ballot!

NEW YORK *flip your ballot* and vote YES on Prop 1, Equal Protection of Law Amendment.

ARIZONA vote YES on Prop 139, Right to Abortion Initiative.

COLORADO vote YES on Amendment 79, Right to Abortion and Health Insurance Coverage Initiative.

FLORIDA vote YES on Amendment 4, Right to Abortion Initiative.

MISSOURI vote YES on Amendment 3, Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative.

MARYLAND vote YES on Question 1, Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment.

MONTANA vote YES on Constitutional Initiative 128, Right to Abortion Initiative.

NEBRASKA vote YES on Nebraska Initiative 439 Right to Abortion Initiative ** and vote NO on 434 (this second anti-abortion measure was drafted specifically to confuse voters!)

NEVADA vote YES on Question 6, Right to Abortion Initiative.

SOUTH DAKOTA vote YES on Constitutional Amendment G, Right to Abortion Initiative

[eugenedebs1920]

This is Trump’s America. Him and reptilian alien, turtle variant, Mitch McConnell, not only their theft of Obama’s Supreme Court pick, not only rushing through Amy Barrett, in a breathtaking feat of hypocrisy, but the unlawful obstruction in the vetting of Kavanaugh, who, as fate would have it, not only takes rights away from women’s bodies by enacting (or removing)laws, turns out he is a serial sexual assailant, taking away a woman’s freedom to say no to what he will do to her body!

Ken Paxton and Greg Abbott are some of the most hideous humans on earth! Texas is the scrimmage game of how JD Vance and the psychopaths with the Heritage Foundation want America to be in accordance to their dystopian manifesto Project 2025 (and if you think Trump isn’t going to be using that playbook because he said so, you don’t know Donald Trump). Between Paxtons antidemocratic, unethical, countless lawsuits to disenfranchise voters in Texas, his case to get women’s medical records so if they go out of Texas to get medical treatment for a miscarriage, the government is aware and will jail her. Abbotts razor wire in the Rio Grande, his relentless disparagement and dehumanizing of immigrants, this is a glimpse of a future with a second Trump term.

Texas is huge! It’s very much a microcosm of America. Large, diverse cities on the gulf coast, a few scattered larger cities, and a very rural center. Austin, one of, if not the, #1 music city in America, very blue, large population, great place! Houston, and the surrounding areas. Massive population, heavy blue, large diversity. Dallas Ft. Worth. Red leaning yet purple, massive population. Then there’s a lot of rural desert area. It is voter suppression that keeps that state red. With its minority populations, the younger families in the major cities, the hip young areas. It should be blue, if not a close 50-50. Paxton was on Steve Bannons show in 2022 BRAGGING, LAUGHING, with Bannon on how he had taken the votes of 2 MILLION Texas voters away from them right before the 2020 election saying “Texas could have been one of those Biden states”. That’s the Republican Party!!! That’s Project 2025 and the 2nd Trump term. That is the microcosm of America if we don’t stop voting against our own interests (I’m looking at you MAGA) and start voting for those who will actually represent you and do their job according to the Constitution.

What kind of America does an 18 year old hopeful mother DIE because she’s having a miscarriage and can’t get the help she needs. Another young woman in Tx, 23, wanted a sibling for her 2 year old, at 16 weeks there’s a problem, the fetus dies. This 23 years old mother gets sepsis, has 40 hours of excruciating pain in a Texas emergency room as doctors look on and can’t do anything to save this 23 year old mom. She dies in the hospital after 40 hours of suffering. From sepsis needing an assisted miscarriage (an abortion)

That’s what the right can’t wrap their dogmatic little brains around! Abortion is not simply discarding a viable child, it women’s health! Things don’t always work out with pregnancies and a woman needs healthcare. Shes not doing it because she doesn’t respect life or whatever other misogynistic bullsh*t thing the anti abortion freaks say! Also! Mind your own f*cking business!! What a man and a woman decide when planning to have a family is their own private decision!

You know who does respect woman’s rights? You know who believes a woman should be in control of her own body? You know who respects the sanctity of life enough to keep a mother alive by allowing the reproductive healthcare she needs!? Kamala Harris.

For freedom, for Woman’s rights, for women’s LIVES!! Vote Kamala Harris

[crazycatsiren]

I'm putting this one out there.

Abortion will be protected in the Maryland state constitution.

Abortion is already legal in Maryland. By approving and passing the amendment (voted in by a 74.1% for and 25.9% against) in the state constitution, it will be extremely difficult for lawmakers in the future to pass a law that could limit reproductive care without violating the state constitution.

The amendment protects Maryland residents and those who travel to Maryland for care.

Maryland Constitutional Amendment 1: Right to Reproductive Freedom

The amendment would guarantee the right to abortion access by adding language to the Constitution protecting "the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one's own pregnancy."

My state will be safe for you. You can reach out to me anytime. I will help you.

[the-rad1o-demon]

START PETITION TEXT:

Why this petition matters

Started by Isabella Smith As a concerned citizen, I am deeply troubled by the potential consequences of Project 2025, which threatens to undermine the hard-fought rights and freedoms that we hold dear in the United States. This petition aims to shed light on the alarming implications of this project and rally support to prevent its implementation. This plan is personal to me because it poses a direct threat to marginalized communities, including members of the LGBTQ+ community and individuals seeking reproductive healthcare. As an advocate for equality and choice, I strongly believe that everyone should have the right to live their lives authentically without fear or discrimination. Project 2025 has been proposed by the Heritage Foundation with intentions that are deeply concerning. If implemented, this project would grant Republicans in power unprecedented authority over legislation related to civil rights, potentially enabling them to make LGBT people illegal and outlaw all forms of abortion across our nation. In their Mandate For Leadership book, they want to outlaw many laws and freedoms we currently have for the sake of their own personal beliefs which will bring upon a dark time in American History. Here are some videos that best explain what the book is about and some of the things Republicans want to implement.

A Deep Dive into Project 2025’s 900 page manifesto, let’s get to it. As a single mom, this document was terrifying to read. There’s a whole section regarding single parent households and basically saying 1/2. PROJECT 2025: They have a plan to make Trump dictator.#wontbesilent #tryit #vote #blue #trump #explode #project2025 Let's consider some well-known historical events as cautionary tales. Throughout history, minority groups have faced discrimination when their rights were left vulnerable due to political shifts or changes in leadership. We must learn from these past mistakes and ensure that our society continues progressing towards inclusivity rather than regressing into intolerance. By signing this petition today, you can join me in urging decision-makers at all levels of government – local, state, and federal – as well as influential organizations within our society not to support or allow Project 2025's implementation. Together we can protect the fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution while fostering an environment that respects and celebrates diversity. Let us stand united against any initiative that threatens the rights and freedoms of our fellow citizens. Sign this petition to stop Project 2025 and safeguard the progress we have made towards a more inclusive society. Thank you for your support in defending equality, choice, and human rights for all.

Signatures: 699 Next Goal: 1,000 70 people signed this week Thanks to your support this petition has a chance at winning! We only need 301 more signatures to reach the next goal - can you help? Take the next step!

-- END PETITION TEXT

[ridenwithbiden]

ICYMI "Ohio Republicans are claiming a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights, which was approved by voters in Tuesday’s election, doesn’t actually do that - and they’re promising to take steps to prevent the legal protection of reproductive freedom in the state.

“To prevent mischief by pro-abortion courts with Issue 1, Ohio legislators will consider removing jurisdiction from the judiciary over this ambiguous ballot initiative,” Ohio House Republicans wrote in a statement released Thursday. “The Ohio legislature alone will consider what, if any, modifications to make to existing laws based on public hearings and input from legal experts on both sides.”

Ohio banned abortion in the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, but legal challenges to state’s abortion laws left residents’ reproductive rights in limbo until Tuesday’s ballot measure. The strategy Republicans are now proposing would essentially strip Ohio’s courts of the authority to repeal existing abortion restrictions before the new amendment goes into effect on December 7.

“No amendment can overturn the God-given rights with which we were born,” state Rep. Beth Lear (R-Galena) added in the Republican’s statement. Another representative, Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester), claimed the referendum had only passed due to “foreign election interference.”

Rep. Bill Dean (R-Xenia) said the amendment “doesn’t repeal a single Ohio law,” and that its language is “dangerously vague and unconstrained, and can be weaponized to attack parental rights or defend rapists, pedophiles, and human traffickers.”

Ohio is not the only state where Republicans are attempting to undermine pro-choice ballot initiatives endorsed by constituents. In Michigan, two anti-choice activist groups are working with Republican lawmakers to sue the state and block the implementation of that state’s voter-approved constitutional amendment.

Stacey LaRouche, press secretary to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, told The Detroit News that “it shouldn’t be lost on people that these right-wing organizations and radical Republicans in the Michigan Legislature are cherry-picking courts to try to once again overturn a constitutionally guaranteed right because they can’t win with voters.”

Ballot measures supporting reproductive freedom have been approved in all seven states where they have been put to voters. Despite Republicans claiming that the end of Roe signified the return of the abortion issue to the will of individual states, they clearly remain determined to undermine reproductive rights no matter what any state’s voters have to say about them."

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Jesse Duquette

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 2, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Nov 03, 2024

Yesterday, in Time magazine, Eric Cortellessa explained that the electoral strategy of the Trump campaign was to get men who don’t usually vote, particularly young ones, to turn out for Trump. If they could do that, and at the same time hold steady the support of white women, Trump could win the election. So Trump has focused on podcasts followed by young men and on imitating the patterns of professional wrestling performances.

At the same time, he has promised to “protect women…whether the women like it or not,” and lied consistently about crime statistics to keep white suburban women on his side by suggesting that he alone can protect them. Today in Gastonia, North Carolina, for example, Trump told the audience: "They say the suburban women. Well, the suburbs are under attack right now. When you're home in your house alone and you have this monster that got out of prison and he's got, you know, six charges of murdering six different people, I think you'd rather have Trump."

The crime rate has dropped dramatically in the past year.

Rather than keeping women in his camp, Trump’s strategy of reaching out to his base to turn out low-propensity voters, especially young men, has alienated them. That alienation has come on top of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that recognized the constitutional right to abortion. 

Early voting in Pennsylvania showed that women sent in 56% of the early ballots, compared to 43% for men. Seniors—people who remember a time before Roe v. Wade—also showed a significant split. Although the parties had similar numbers of registrants, nearly 59% of those over 65 voting early were Democrats. That pattern holds across all the battleground states: women’s early voting outpaces men’s by about 10 points. While those numbers are certainly not definitive—no one knows how these people voted, and much could change over the next few days—the enthusiasm of those two groups was notable. 

This evening, a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll conducted by the highly respected Selzer & Co. polling firm from October 28 to 31 showed Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump in Iowa 47% to 44% among likely voters. That outlying polling result is undoubtedly at least in part a reflection of the fact that Harris’s running mate is the governor of a neighboring state, but that’s not the whole story. While Trump wins the votes of men in Iowa by 52% to 38%, and of evangelicals by 73% to 20%, women, particularly older women, are driving the shift to favor Harris in a previously Republican-dominated state. 

Independent women back Harris by a 28-point margin, while senior women support her by a margin of more than 2 to 1, 63% to 28%. Overall, women back Harris by a margin of about 20 points: 56% to 36%. Seniors as a group including men as well as women are also strongly in Harris’s camp, by 55% to 36%.

A 79-year-old poll respondent said: “I like her policies on reproductive health and having women choosing their own health care, and the fact that I think that she will save our democracy and follow the rule of law…. [I]f the Republicans can decide what you do with your body, what else are they going to do to limit your choice, for women?”

The obvious driver for women and seniors to oppose Trump is the Dobbs decision. The loss of abortion care has put women’s lives at risk. Within days after the Supreme Court handed the decision down, we started hearing stories of raped children forced to give birth or cross state lines for abortions, as well as of women who have suffered or died from a lack of health care after doctors feared intervening in miscarriages would put them in legal jeopardy. 

As X user E. Rosalie noted, Iowa’s abortion ban also has long-term implications for the state. It has forced OBGYNs to leave and has made recruiting more impossible. As people are unable to get medical care to have babies, they will choose to live elsewhere, draining talent out of the state. That, in turn, will weaken Iowa’s economy.

That same process is playing out in all the states that have banned abortion. 

It seems possible that the Dobbs decision ushered in the end of the toxic American individualism on which the Reagan revolution was built. When he ran for president in 1980, Ronald Reagan set out to dismantle the active government that regulated business, provided a basic social safety net, promoted infrastructure, and protected civil rights. Such a government was akin to socialism, he claimed, and he insisted it stifled American individualism. 

In contrast to such a government, Reagan celebrated the mythological American cowboy. In his telling, that cowboy wanted nothing from the government but to be left alone to provide for and to protect his family. Good women in the cowboy myth were wives and mothers, in contrast to the women who wanted equal rights and jobs outside the home in modern America. That traditional image of American women had gotten legs in 1974, when the television show Little House on the Prairie debuted; it would run until 1983. Prairie dresses became the rage.

Reagan’s embrace of women’s role as wives and mothers brought traditionalist white Southern Baptists to his support. Those traditionalists objected to the government’s recognition of women’s equal rights because they believed equality undermined a godly patriarchal family structure. They made ending access to abortion their main issue. 

At the same time that the right wing insisted that women belonged in their homes, it socialized young men to believe in a mythological world based on guns and the domination of women. In 1980 the previously nonpartisan National Rifle Association endorsed Reagan, their first-ever endorsement of a presidential candidate, and the rise of evangelical culture reinforced that dominant men must protect submissive women. 

When federal marshals tried to arrest Randy Weaver at his home in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in August 1992 for failure to show up in court for trial on a firearms charge, right-wing activists and neo-Nazis from a nearby Aryan Nations compound rushed to Ruby Ridge to protest what right-wing media insisted was simply a man protecting his family. 

The next February, when officers stormed the compound of a religious cult in Waco, Texas, whose former members reported that their leader was sexually assaulting children and stockpiling weapons, right-wing talk show hosts—notably Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones—blamed new president Bill Clinton’s attorney general, Janet Reno, for the ensuing gun battle and fire that killed 76 people. Reno was the first female attorney general, and right-wing media made much of the idea that a group of Christians had been killed by a female government official who was unmarried and—as opponents made much of—unfeminine. 

When he ran for office in 2015, Trump appealed to those men socialized into violence and dominance. He embraced the performance of dominance as it is done in professional wrestling, and urged his supporters to beat up protesters at his rallies. The Access Hollywood tape in which he boasted of sexual assault did not hurt his popularity with his base. He promised to end abortion rights and suggested he would impose criminal punishments on women seeking abortions. 

And then, in June 2022, thanks to the votes of the three religious extremists Trump put on it, the Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs decision, stripping women of a constitutional right that the U.S. government had recognized for almost 50 years. 

Justice Samuel Alito suggested that women could change state laws if they saw fit, writing in the decision that “women are not without electoral or political power.” Indeed, since the Dobbs decision, every time abortion rights have been on the ballot, voters have approved them, although right-wing state legislators have worked to prevent the voters’ wishes from taking effect. 

In this moment, though, it is clear that women have electoral and political power over more than abortion rights. 

The 1980 election was the first one in which the proportion of eligible female voters who turned out to vote was higher than the proportion of eligible men. It was also the first one in which there was a partisan gender gap, with a higher proportion of women than men favoring the Democrats. That partisan gap now is the highest it has ever been.

The fear that women can, if they choose, overthrow the patriarchal mythology of cowboy individualism that shaped the modern MAGA Republican Party is likely behind the calls of certain right-wing influencers and evangelical leaders to stop women from voting. For sure, it is behind the right-wing freak-out over the video voiced by actor Julia Roberts that reassures women that they do not have to tell their husbands how they voted. 

The right-wing version of the American cowboy was always a myth. Nothing mattered more for success in the American West than the kinship networks and community support that provided money, labor, and access to trade outlets. When the economic patterns of the American West replicated those of the industrializing East after the Civil War, success during the heyday of the cowboy depended on access to lots of capital, giving rise to western barons and then to popular political movements to regulate businesses and give more power to the people. Far from being the homebound wives of myth, women were central to western life, just as they have always been to American society. 

In Flagstaff, Arizona, today, Democratic presidential candidate and Minnesota governor Tim Walz told a crowd: “I kind of have a feeling that women all across this country, from every walk of life, from either party, are going to send a loud and clear message to Donald Trump next Tuesday, November 5, whether he likes it or not.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[a-really-big-cat]

Ohio's Issue 1 is a disaster.

On November 7, Ohioans will have the chance to vote on Issue 1 ("The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety"), a ballot initiative that would enshrine the right to abortion into Ohio's state constitution. This is a crucial battle for not only Ohio but also the country, both because people from Kentucky, Indiana, and other nearby states would travel to Ohio for abortions, and because our opposition wants to build momentum with the narrative that Americans are overall pro-abortion.

Of course, this is a lie. Supporters of Issue 1 are running ads telling Ohioans that a yes vote means they are protecting access to emergency care for miscarriages or life-threatening situations; such interpretations gloss over the fact that Ohio's current abortion statutes already do that (see Section 2919.11 regarding missed miscarriage and Section 2919.12(C)2 regarding emergencies). Abortion activists have to lie about the nature of these ballot initiatives, because in general Americans are very sympathetic to abortion for emergencies, and very unsympathetic to elective abortion. And the reality is these initiatives dramatically expand elective abortion.

This is a winnable fight.

Here's the good news: First, initial polls found less than 60% of Ohioans supported Issue 1; usually at this stage in a ballot fight, the side that wants a ballot to be approved hopes for at least 60% support so they have a buffer when there's voter attrition. Second, the language that will appear on the ballot is modified from the language originally used for gathering signatures, and specifically the word "fetus" has been replaced with the phrase "unborn child" (see the recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling here at paragraphs 43 & 44). Research shows the more we humanize the unborn, the less inclined people are to support abortion. Third, support for Issue 1 decreases as we talk to more voters about the full impacts of this amendment. We are already moving in the right direction. 

Learn the impacts of Issue 1.

Pro-life organizations and volunteers in Ohio are finding voters are not difficult to persuade. Often when they learn the full impacts of the text of the amendment, they oppose it. Issue 1 impacts can include:

Eliminating parental rights (notification and consent) as they've already done in Illinois and California

Eliminating health and safety standards for abortion clinics

Eliminating the Down Syndrome Nondiscrimination Act

Eliminating 24 hour waiting periods

Allowing elective abortion of healthy, viable fetuses under broad "health" exceptions that include not just physical health but emotional, familial, and financial wellbeing, among other factors. (More here.)

Allowing anyone (including abusers) to purchase abortion pills over the counter - no physician oversight required

Requiring abortions to be taxpayer funded

Again, when voters learn about these impacts, they oppose Issue 1. Even pro-choice voters want common sense abortion regulation.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Elsie Carson-Holt at LGBTQ Nation:

New York voters have the opportunity to codify abortion and protections against gender discrimination this November with New York’s Proposal 1.

Proposition 1, known as the Equal Rights Amendment, expands protections to include abortion and closes loopholes that exclude LGBTQ+ people from accessing some of the rights and protections listed in the New York State Bill of Rights. The proposal gives residents of New York a chance to “add anti-discrimination provisions to State Constitution. It covers ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex, as well as sexual orientation, gender identity, and pregnancy. Also covers reproductive healthcare and autonomy,” according to the New York State Board of Elections. In a post-Roe world, supporters of Proposal 1 say it is deeply necessary. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) supports the bill, saying in a statement: “We might like to think we’re safe from these attacks here in New York, but the truth is there are dangerous loopholes in our state constitution that leave us vulnerable to the whims of politicians. And though we have strong laws protecting us from discrimination, we know that laws aren’t enough, because they can be easily changed, as we’ve seen time and again in recent years as political winds shift.”

[...]

While Proposal 1’s proponents are stressing its protections for abortion rights, its opponents are rallying against its protections for LGBTQ+ people.  The ballot initiative would close loopholes left by the state’s current Equal Rights Amendment, which doesn’t protect the LGBTQ+ community from discrimination. The New York GOP says that the proposal would “create new constitutional rights and likely become the subject of litigation by activist groups seeking to create new ‘rights’ inconsistent with the views of most New Yorkers. Among these new ‘rights’ are ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ covering ‘all persons’ including minor children. The ERA would create a constitutional right to medical transgender procedures without parental consent.”

This fall, voters in New York state will be casting a vote to determine whether an Equal Rights Amendment (Proposal 1) gets to pass. Proposal 1 would guarantee anti-discrimination protections for abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights.

[bocceclub]

some good news: NY passed ballot proposition 1!! it enshrines civil protections relating to sexual orientation & gender presentation, pregnancy, and reproductive healthcare in the state constitution and was largely drafted to bolster state abortion law post roe v. wade.

[thepro-lifemovement]

Just a reminder to pray for Ohio tomorrow!

I had to look it up and for those who don't know:

If approved, the amendment, titled "The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety," would protect any person or entity that helps a patient receive reproductive medical treatment and prohibit Ohio from "directly or indirectly burdening, penalizing or prohibiting abortion" before viability, generally considered to be between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. The proposal allows the state to ban abortion after viability, except when it is considered necessary to protect the life and health of the mother. 

So Issue 1 will allow abortions up until 22-24 weeks. For those in Ohio, make sure you vote against this. Let's hope the state citizens don't let this pass.