#Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is playing with women's lives

[coochiequeens]

It's not pro-life if Women die.

Sept. 20, 2024

By Erika Edwards, Zinhle Essamuah and Jason Kane

The number of women in Texas who died while pregnant, during labor or soon after childbirth skyrocketed following the state’s 2021 ban on abortion care — far outpacing a slower rise in maternal mortality across the nation, a new investigation of federal public health data finds.

From 2019 to 2022, the rate of maternal mortality cases in Texas rose by 56%, compared with just 11% nationwide during the same time period, according to an analysis by the Gender Equity Policy Institute. The nonprofit research group scoured publicly available reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and shared the analysis exclusively with NBC News.

“There’s only one explanation for this staggering difference in maternal mortality,” said Nancy L. Cohen, president of the GEPI. “All the research points to Texas’ abortion ban as the primary driver of this alarming increase.” 

“Texas, I fear, is a harbinger of what’s to come in other states,” she said.

The SB 8 effect

The Texas Legislature banned abortion care as early as five weeks into pregnancy in September 2021, nearly a year before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — the case that protected a federal right to abortion — in June 2022. 

At the time, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, lauded the bill as a measure that “ensures the life of every unborn child.”

Texas law now prohibits all abortion except to save the life of the mother. 

The passage of Texas’ Senate Bill 8 gave GEPI researchers the opportunity to take an early look at how near-total bans on abortion — including cases in which the mother’s life was in danger — affected the health and safety of pregnant women. 

The SB 8 effect, Cohen’s team found, was swift and stark. Within a year, maternal mortality rose in all racial groups studied.

Maternal mortality rates in Texas

Deaths per 100,000 live births

This grouped bar chart compares maternal mortality rates among all women, Black women, Hispanic women and white women from 2019 to 2022. In all categories, rates were lowest in 2019. In most categories rates doubled from 2019 to 2021, then declined in 2022. Rates in 2022 are highest among Black women, followed by white women, all women, then Hispanic women.

Source: Gender Equity Policy Institute analysis of CDC data

Among Hispanic women, the rate of women dying while pregnant, during childbirth or soon after increased from 14.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2019 to 18.9 in 2022. Rates among white women nearly doubled — from 20 per 100,000 to 39.1. And Black women, who historically have higher chances of dying while pregnant, during childbirth or soon after, saw their rates go from 31.6 to 43.6 per 100,000 live births. While maternal mortality spiked overall during the pandemic, women dying while pregnant or during childbirth rose consistently in Texas following the state’s ban on abortion, according to the Gender Equity Policy Institute.

“If you deny women abortions, more women are going to be pregnant, and more women are going to be forced to carry a pregnancy to term,” Cohen said.

Beyond the immediate dangers of pregnancy and childbirth, there is growing evidence that women living in states with strict abortion laws, such as Texas, are far more likely to go without prenatal care and much less likely to find an appointment with an OB-GYN.

Doctors say the feeling among would-be moms is fear.

“Fear is something I’d never seen in practice prior to Senate Bill 8,” said Dr. Leah Tatum, an OB-GYN in private practice in Austin, Texas. Tatum, who was not involved with the GEPI study, said that requests for sterilization procedures among her patients doubled after the state’s abortion ban.

That is, women prefer to lose their ability to ever have children over the chance that they might become pregnant following SB 8.

“Patients feel like they’re backed into a corner,” Tatum said. “If they already knew that they didn’t want to pursue pregnancy, now they’re terrified.”

Tatum said she’s seeing many women in their late 30s and 40s who, even though they’d like to have a child, worry they wouldn’t have an option to end the pregnancy if it turned out that the baby wouldn’t be born healthy. “‘What happens if I end up with a genetically abnormal fetus?’” Tatum said her patients have asked her. They worry their options are limited, she said. ‘Treated like a criminal’

That unthinkable tragedy happened to Kaitlyn Kash, 37, of Austin, Texas. 

Kash had a textbook pregnancy with her first child, a healthy little boy, born in 2018. 

“It’d been so easy the first time,” she said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would go down the journey that we went down.”

When she became pregnant again, it wasn’t until Kash’s second trimester, at 13 weeks, that she and her husband, Cory, discovered that their fetus had severe skeletal dysplasia, a rare genetic disorder affecting bone and cartilage growth. It was highly unlikely the baby would survive. 

Kaitlyn Kash and her husband, Cory, at home with their two children.NBC News

“We were told that his bones would break in utero and he would suffocate at birth,” Kash said. “We were expecting our doctor to tell us how we were going to care for our baby, how we were going to end his pain.”It was October 2021, just a month after Texas passed the SB 8 abortion law. 

“We were told that we should get a second opinion, but make sure that it was outside of Texas,” she said. 

At 15 weeks, Kash had to travel to Kansas to terminate her doomed pregnancy. Outside the medical clinic, protesters harassed the grief-stricken mom. 

“I was being treated like a criminal,” she said. “I didn’t get the dignity that I deserved to say goodbye to my child.”

“It’s just another example of how it’s heartbreaking to practice in the state of Texas,” Tatum said. “These patients are asking for help. The state of Texas has failed women.”

CORRECTION (Sept. 21, 2024, 8:17 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the maternal mortality rates by demographic. The figures represent the number per 100,000 live births, not percentages.

Erika Edwards is a health and medical news writer and reporter for NBC News and "TODAY."

Jason Kane is a producer in the NBC News Health & Medical Unit. 

[dankusner]

President Joe Biden touches Johnson’s casket while paying his respects to the longtime lawmaker during a brief appearance at Concord Church in Dallas. Johnson played a key role in Biden’s 2020 presidential primary victory in Texas.

‘Unnecessary’ death

At one point during the funeral, Johnson’s friend and lawyer, Les Weisbrod, brought up the controversy surrounding her death. Her family intends to sue Baylor Scott & White Health System, alleging that negligent care at the hospital’s rehabilitation center led to her death. A statement from Baylor Scott & White said representatives are committed to working with the family and their counsel.

“I never expected Eddie Bernice Johnson to be one of my medical malpractice cases,” Weisbrod said at the funeral. “It is important for the world to know that Eddie Bernice Johnson opposed the law that devalued human life. No human being that dies from medical negligence in the state of Texas should have to suffer further with a $250,000 cap on that life.”

Weisbrod called on Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas lawmakers to change the law to increase the damages victims can receive in malpractice cases.

Kirk Johnson also alluded to the lawsuit, calling his mother’s death “untimely and unnecessary,” but added that “God knows best.”

LEGAL RESOLUTION

EBJ’s family agrees to deal

Baylor Scott & White to name scholarship for congresswoman

The family of the late U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson and Baylor Scott & White have reached a deal over allegations that the hospital chain and rehab center were at fault for the congresswoman’s death in December, an attorney for the family said Thursday.

Six months ago, the family said it intended to sue Baylor Scott & White Health System and Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation, alleging that negligent care at the hospital’s rehabilitation center led to Johnson’s death. Kirk Johnson, the son of the congresswoman, and family attorney Les Weisbrod announced a resolution Thursday between the family and the medical facilities.

“We are at peace,” said Kirk Johnson, choking back tears. “We have to accept God’s will, but her initiatives, her interests will continue to live.”

Johnson, a trailblazing Black woman who spent decades as North Texas’ most powerful Democrat and who was the first registered nurse elected to Congress, died of a bone infection in her lumbar spine.

She was 89.

The resolution includes renaming a scholarship program that allows the hospital system to sponsor employees seeking an advanced degree in nursing after Johnson and the creation of a not-for-profit foundation run by her family that will champion causes that she advocated for. The Eddie Bernice Johnson Lives Foundation will support organizations that promote women’s rights, stable families, education and peace initiatives.

Baylor Scott & White suggested to the family’s lawyers the renaming of the scholarship and the formation of a charitable foundation, Weisbrod said.

The family and lawyers would not discuss the details of the resolution, including financial commitments from the hospital.

Baylor Scott & White made an undisclosed initial contribution to the foundation, Weisbrod said.

“It’s an excellent resolution considering the caps that are in place in the state of Texas, and it’s the resolution that will allow the family to do good in the congresswoman’s name,” Weisbrod said at a news conference.

The Texas cap outlines that in most malpractice cases, a person can win no more than $250,000 against Texas physicians for their pain and suffering, per a 20-year-old state law and constitutional amendment backed by insurers and medical groups.

It leads to Texans looking to sue over medical malpractice being turned away by trial lawyers because the allegations are too costly to litigate compared with how much can be won in court.

During the news conference, Weisbrod held up a copy of a January Dallas Morning News article with the headline, “The price of a life: Congresswoman’s death is drawing attention to Texas malpractice cap.”

“One of the important things here is that sometimes the court of public opinion can be more powerful than the court of law, particularly when we’re dealing with these unfair caps on damages in medical malpractice death cases, ” Weisbrod said.

Views on rule

The rule has been called a way to shield doctors from baseless lawsuits and exorbitant verdicts and to keep them from leaving the state, but malpractice attorneys say the ceiling short-changes victims and defers accountability.

Johnson, often called EBJ, underwent extensive back surgery in September to correct degenerative conditions that would have made the longtime congresswoman unable to walk, Weisbrod said.

Johnson’s surgeon recommended that she go to Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation after the operation for , physical therapy and redressing her wound to prevent infections.

Before an appointment Kirk Johnson had made to meet his mother’s caseworker at the rehabilitation center, his mother called him saying she needed help and no one responded when she repeatedly pressed a call button.

According to the family and their lawyers, EBJ was lying in her own feces and urine.

The family’s lawyers estimated that EBJ was alone for about an hour before she received medical care.

Medical records

In medical records, Johnson’s orthopedic surgeon wrote she “was found in bed sitting in her own feces, which was not being cleaned up.”

Days later, the doctor wrote, she began having “copious purulent drainage” — a sign of an infection — from the surgical incision.

The family had said the hospital’s neglect caused the infection and Johnson’s subsequent death.

In the upcoming legislative session, Weisbrod said he and the family plan to work across party lines to raise the caps to $500,000 to keep up with inflation.

Weisbrod said he’s been assured by the hospital that policies and procedures are now in place to prevent the neglect originally alleged.

“We have got to continue working so that those caps are changed, so that every Texan could get a more favorable result for the loss of their loved one and not just those that are related to a congresswoman,” Weisbrod said.

[newstfionline]

Friday, September 29, 2023

In El Paso, Migrants With Nowhere to Go Strain a Welcoming City (NYT) The city of El Paso, a West Texas way station long accustomed to migrants arriving from Mexico, has begun to buckle under the pressure of thousands upon thousands of people coming over the border, day after day. The usual shelters have been filled. So too have the hundreds of hotel rooms wrangled by the city to house migrants. A new city-run shelter opened over the weekend in a recreational center, and rapidly filled all of its roughly 400 beds. Another shelter is planned in a vacant middle school. Mayor Oscar Leeser said over the weekend that the city had reached a “breaking point” and was no longer able to help all the migrants on its own. He welcomed the buses, chartered by the administration of Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, that once again began carrying hundreds of migrants out of the city to Denver, Chicago or New York. The mayor said he was seeking millions of dollars in additional aid from the Biden administration. The strain felt in El Paso, a traditionally welcoming border town, reflected a situation that has become increasingly untenable for communities up and down the U.S. border with Mexico. After months of relative calm, a new wave of migrant arrivals, mostly from Venezuela but also from other countries in South America, Africa and elsewhere, is taxing the available services in cities and small towns from Texas to California.

Two days left (NYT) Two basic facts are central to understanding why the federal government may shut down on Sunday morning: First, the House Republican caucus contains about 20 hard-right members who sometimes support radical measures to get what they want. Many of them refused to certify the 2020 presidential election, for example, and now favor impeaching President Biden. They also tend to support deep cuts to federal spending, and they’re willing to shut down the government as a negotiating tactic. “This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy—a fellow Republican—said last week. Second, the Republicans’ House majority is so slim that McCarthy needs the support of most of these roughly 20 members to remain speaker. If he passes a bill to fund the government and keep it open without support from the hard-right faction, it can retaliate by calling for a new vote on his speakership and potentially firing him. Nobody knows who would then become speaker. This combination has created a strange situation in Washington. Most House members—along with President Biden—want to avoid a shutdown. So does the Senate: A bipartisan group agreed this week on a spending bill that would keep the government open through mid-November. A similar bill could probably pass the House by a wide margin if it came to the floor. Yet the small Republican faction has enough sway over McCarthy that he has resisted allowing a vote on such a bill. As a result, much of the federal government may shut down this weekend.

Troops stormed a prison. They found inmates had built a luxury resort. (Washington Post) When 11,000 soldiers and police officers stormed Venezuela’s Tocorón prison this month, they discovered a professional baseball field, swimming pools, children’s play equipment—even a small zoo, with monkeys and flamingos. They also found concrete tunnels in and out, just like in the onetime Mexican prison home of the Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. And 200 women and children, living on the grounds. What they didn’t find was Tocorón’s most notorious inmate: Héctor “El Niño” Guerrero. Guerrero, 39, heads Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization spawned in the prison that has spread across Latin America with the Venezuelan diaspora—its principal victims. Now authorities not only in Venezuela, but also Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile, are hunting for the fugitive. Interpol has issued a Red Notice seeking his capture. And critics are asking how his gang managed to turn the prison into a luxury resort. Renato Rivera, an analyst in Ecuador who focuses on organized crime, said the search for Guerrero “is revealing just how vulnerable and permeable our countries’ land borders are.”

Rising poverty grips Argentina as runaway inflation takes its toll (AP) With tired faces, residents of a homeless shelter in Argentina’s capital pass through the main entrance and line up to receive a hot drink and a slice of cake for an afternoon snack. Places like the Bepo Ghezzi Social Inclusion Center in the Parque Patricios neighborhood of Buenos Aires have seen demand soar as more people are struggling to make ends meet amid an annual inflation rate above 100%. The portion of Argentines living in poverty reached 40.1% in the first six months of the year, according to figures released Wednesday by the government’s INDEC statistics agency. That is up from 39.2% in the second half of 2022. For much of the 20th century, Argentina showed a social mobility dynamic that gave rise to a large middle class and made the country stand out in the region. But the good times derailed, and poverty has remained firmly above 25% the last two decades as the South American country stays mired in economic malaise. Prices soared 124.4% during the 12-month period through Aug. 31.

Deadly violence in Sweden (AP) Three people were killed overnight in separate incidents in Sweden as deadly violence linked to a feud between criminal gangs escalated. Late Wednesday, an 18-year-old man was shot dead in a Stockholm suburb. Hours later, a man was killed and another was wounded in a shooting in Jordbro, south of the Swedish capital. Early Thursday a woman in her 20s died in an explosion in Uppsala, west of Stockholm. Swedish broadcaster SVT noted that the two fatal shootings brings the death toll from gun violence in September to 11, making it the deadliest month for shootings since police started keeping statistics in 2016. Swedish media said at least two of the three events were somehow connected to a feud between criminal gangs, a growing problem in Sweden with drive-by shootings and bombings. Two gangs—one led by a Swedish-Turkish dual national who lives in Turkey, the other by his former lieutenant—are reportedly fighting over drugs and weapons.

Long a city that embraced cars, Paris is seeing bike-lane traffic jams (AP) It’s rush hour on Paris’ Sébastopol Boulevard, and the congestion is severe—not just gas-guzzling, pollution-spewing, horn-honking snarls but also quieter and greener bottlenecks of cyclists jockeying for space. Until four years ago, motorists largely had the Paris thoroughfare to themselves. Now, its bike-lane jams speak to a cycling revolution that is reshaping the capital of France—long a country of car-lovers, home to Renault, Citroen and Peugeot. This revolution, like others, is also proving choppy. A nearly decade-long drive by Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo to turn Paris from a city hostile for cyclists into one where they venture more safely and freely has become so transformative that bikes are steadily muscling aside motor vehicles and increasingly getting in each other’s way. Already, on some Paris boulevards, bikes outnumber cars at peak times.

Europeans are the world’s heaviest drinkers—is Gen Z breaking the habit? (Worldcrunch) From Irish whisky to French wine to German beer, Europe has long been known for alcohol consumption. But that may be starting to change, especially among Gen Z Europeans, who are increasingly drinking less or opting out entirely, out of concern for their health or problematic alcohol use. In Germany, which has the world’s seventh-highest consumption of beer per capita, non-alcoholic beer has exploded in popularity among those looking to live a healthier lifestyle. Though the land of Oktoberfest and Biergartens remains one of the highest consumers of alcohol worldwide, Germans’ average consumption of beer has drastically decreased. In 2022, Germans drank an average of 87.2 liters of beer per year, compared to nearly 100 liters 10 years earlier. Brewers have responded to the changing market, and are developing a wider variety of non-alcoholic beverages than ever before. Since 2007, the production of non-alcoholic beers, which can contain at most 0.5% alcohol, has doubled, according to Les Echos. In Germany, the beverages account for 7% of the beer market, and are expected to take off in the years to come.

Armenian exodus continues (Washington Post) The exodus continues. In a matter of days, roughly half of the ethnic Armenian population of the highland enclave Nagorno-Karabakh have now fled their homes to nearby Armenia. They lived for decades in isolation and de facto independence within the territory of Azerbaijan, but a surprise offensive last week by Azerbaijani forces swiftly overwhelmed the mismatched defenders of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, known to Armenians as Artsakh, and triggered a new wave of displacement in a part of the world that has witnessed generations of ethnic strife and forced population transfers. My colleagues on the ground along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border reported Wednesday that some 47,000 people of Nagorno-Karabakh’s more than 100,000-strong population had already crossed into Armenia. They were crammed into trucks and cars, their possessions piled high. Many more are expected to follow them.

Bengaluru’s growth (Bloomberg) As recently as 30 years ago, Bengaluru was known as a sleepy place where well-heeled Indians chose to retire. Almost 200 lakes were linked by countless canals, low-rise cottages clustered in parklike neighborhoods, and it was easy to bike wherever you needed to go. Now, the heart of India’s tech boom is a metropolis. India’s $194 billion IT services industry has made it the the Silicon Valley of the subcontinent—the population has more than tripled since 1990 to 13 million. In the 1970s, the tree canopy covered about 70% of Bengaluru; today it’s less than 3%. And navigation software developer TomTom last year ranked the city as the most traffic-clogged place in India—and No. 5 worldwide.

Israelis can travel to U.S. without a visa by Nov. 30 (Washington Post) The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will allow Israeli travelers to come to the United States without a visa, a coveted status that was given in exchange for the Israeli government dropping long-standing travel restrictions on Palestinian Americans and other Americans of Arab and Muslim descent. Israel’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program has been a top priority for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his predecessor, Naftali Bennett. The country had never been granted access because it refused entry to many Palestinian Americans at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, forcing them to fly to Jordan and then travel overland into the West Bank. In July, Israel agreed to open Ben Gurion Airport to all Americans regardless of their origin in a bid to prove it is committed to its side of the deal. Since then, tens of thousands of Palestinian Americans have flown to Israel successfully, U.S. officials say, been granted visas and access to move around Israeli territory in a way that they haven’t been able to do for decades.

Once Inconceivable, Officials’ Visits Highlight Warming Saudi-Israeli Ties (NYT) Parallel visits this week by an Israeli minister to Saudi Arabia and a Saudi envoy to the Israeli-occupied West Bank have highlighted the fast-warming ties between the Jewish state and the most powerful Arab country. In the first-ever public visit by an Israeli minister to the Arab kingdom, Haim Katz, the Israeli tourism minister, attended a multilateral tourism conference in Riyadh on Tuesday and Wednesday that was organized by the United Nations. Simultaneously, the Saudi ambassador to the Palestinians, Naif al-Sudairi, traveled through an Israeli border checkpoint to visit the West Bank, where he met with the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, the organization that administers just under 40 percent of the Israeli-controlled territory. Experts said the visit by Mr. Sudairi, who is based in neighboring Jordan, was the first known visit by a Saudi official to the region since Israel captured it from Jordan in the 1967 war between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Inconceivable for most of Israel’s history, the two visits symbolized how Israel and Saudi Arabia are gradually setting the stage for the formalization of their relationship, amid escalating efforts by the United States to broker a deal between the two countries.

[schraubd]

Gallows Humor vs. Pure Fear in Political Ad Strategy

Last night, I saw the following ad start circulating by a pro-choice organization targeting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (and, by extension, the draconian anti-abortion regime that has recently been ushered in).

  I'm curious what people think on this (as I've mentioned, cutting political ads is something I'm absolutely irrationally confident I'd be good at).

I fully agree that Democrats should be running and running hard on the demise of Roe. If there is one thing Americans hate, it is changes to settled expectations, and this one was a doozy. Democrats can and should do everything they can to elevate and place at the forefront the anxieties, fears, and trauma that is associated with this settled right being unceremoniously torn away.

I am curious how people view this ad, in particular, as fitting into the strategy. The most striking feature of the ad is the abrupt switch in tone -- from a pure emotional appeal to absurdist gallows humor. The ad has gotten generally positive reception on my Twitter feed, though I can imagine people thinking it's a little too jokey and slapstick for the moment. The alternative, of course, would be to run ads that aren't cut with humor but rather play purely on fear -- fear of women dying, being maimed, being arrested. I want to be clear: those fears are justified. I don't think this is fear-mongering, because these terrible prospects are absolutely on the horizon where they are not already the reality. But the point is there is a different style of ad one can imagine that doesn't flinch away from the raw terror of the moment by interspersing it with a bit.

Consider something like the following: 

A woman is sitting in an examination room in a hospital gown. She's terrified, and has clearly been crying, but she's trying to stifle any sound and keep a brave face. There's blood spotting the gown near her groin. The camera slowly pans over, zooming out so she stays in frame but capturing more of the exam room until it reaches the doorway. Out in the hall, one sees three police officers talking to a doctor or nurse. Eventually, one of the officers walks into the exam room with handcuffs out.

No humor, no levity, no absurdism. Not even any dialogue. Just a terrified woman, in the most vulnerable moment of her life, facing the abusive power of the state. A terrible image. But we are living in terrible times.

Would that be better? Worse? Or should both types of ads be run? I'm not sure. Again, curious what people think about what's the right and most effective strategy.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/AasnVPQ

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

Amanda Zurawski was losing her baby. Nothing would change that. Still, she had to wait three days to become sick enough, under Texas law, for doctors to intervene. At that point, under anti-abortion laws championed by Texas politicians who call themselves pro-life, Zurawski faced the risk of dying. “Having to sit with that knowledge that you're going to lose the baby that you had worked so hard for is difficult enough,” said Zurawski, who went public this week with the ordeal she and her husband experienced in August. “And then being told, ‘Oh, we can't do anything to help you until you're incredibly sick,’ I mean, it's barbaric.” To be clear, the Zurawskis blame the politicians, not the doctors who wanted to help but feared the threat of felony charges and extortionate litigation. .... The Austin couple, both 35 and working for tech companies, had gone through a year and a half of fertility treatments. Then in late August, 18 weeks into the pregnancy, Amanda Zurawski was diagnosed with an incompetent cervix — meaning the base of her uterus was opening prematurely, so the fetus would soon come out or an infection could take hold. The condition is responsible for about 20% of miscarriages in the second trimester. Still, at the time of the diagnosis, the fetus had a faint heartbeat, and Zurawski’s life was not yet in danger. Under Texas law, doctors cannot terminate a pregnancy with a fetal heartbeat unless the patient is having “a medical emergency.” In practice, that means waiting until the mother’s condition gets worse. It means playing chicken with the woman’s life. After waiting three days for the inevitable miscarriage, Amanda Zurawski suddenly deteriorated: Raging fever. Dangerously low blood pressure. Rapidly spreading bacterial infection, sending her body into sepsis. ... Even before the Zurawskis’ story made national news this week, Gov. Greg Abbott was aware of cases like it. Answering a question about abortion during an interview that aired Oct. 16 with Dallas TV station WFAA, Abbott acknowledged there are “situations that some women are going through where they are not getting the health care they need to protect their life.” “Too many allegations have been made about ways in which the lives of the mother are not being protected,” Abbott continued, “and so that must be clarified” next legislative session. Meaning: Wait a good six months, maybe longer, for officials to fix the laws that are putting lives at risk now.

So, forced birthers, if you have a heart problem, you cool with waiting six months for treatment? You get into a car accident, you cool with waiting 6 months for the doctor to see you?

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 6, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

This week, lawmakers will begin to construct the details of the $3.5 trillion infrastructure package they declared their intention to pass. On August 11, the Senate approved a budget resolution telling committees to hammer out the details of a bill that will deal with the “soft” infrastructure not covered in the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that dealt with roads, bridges, broadband, and other “hard” infrastructure needs. The larger bill will focus on child care, education, elder care, health care, and climate change.

If this measure passes, it will expand the ways in which the government addresses the needs of ordinary Americans. It updates the measures put in place during the New Deal of the 1930s, when Democrats under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt shored up nuclear families—usually white nuclear families—by providing unemployment insurance, disability coverage, aid to children, and old age insurance.

After World War II, people of both parties accepted this new system, believing that it was the job of a modern government to level the economic playing field between ordinary men and those at the top of the economic ladder. Republican presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon expanded government action into civil rights and protection of the environment; Democrats Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter expanded education initiatives, health care, anti-poverty programs, civil rights, and workers’ rights.

But opponents insisted that such government action was “socialism.” In America, this word comes not from international socialism, in which the government owns the means of production, but rather from the earlier history of Reconstruction, when white opponents of Black voting insisted that the money to pay for programs like schools, which helped ordinary and poorer people, must come from those with wealth, and thus redistributed wealth. They demanded an end to the taxes that supported public programs.

They elected Ronald Reagan president in 1980 to reject the post–World War II “liberal consensus” that used the government to level the economic playing field, focusing instead on cutting taxes to return power to individuals to make their own decisions about how to run their own economic lives. Over the past forty years, that ideology has cut the national safety net and moved economic power dramatically upward.

True to that ideology, opponents of the $3.5 trillion infrastructure package are already calling it, as Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) said, a “freight train to socialism." But more than 60% of Americans want to invest our money in our people, as lawmakers of both parties did from 1933 to 1981.

Grover Norquist, a former spokesman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who rose to power by pushing the opposite idea, that economic development depended on consistent and complete tax cuts, told Michael Scherer of the Washington Post, “We are really on this precipice, this knife’s edge, and each party goes, ‘If I just push a little bit harder I can control politics for the next 20 years.’” The conservative activist added, “And it’s true.”

But what Norquist didn’t spell out was that Democrats are trying to win control by protecting the ability of Americans to have a say in their government, while Republicans are trying to make their ideology the law of the land by skewing the mechanics of our democracy to permit a minority to rule over the majority.

Scherer laid out what this skewing looks like. Since 1988—the year George H. W. Bush was elected—Democrats have won the popular vote in seven of nine presidential elections. And yet, Republicans have taken the White House through the Electoral College and have appointed 6 of the 9 justices now on the Supreme Court.

The concentration of Republicans in rural states with smaller populations means that the Senate is also skewed toward the Republican Party. Public policy scholars Michael Ettlinger and Jordan Hensley crunched the numbers to show that today’s 50 Democratic senators represent 26% more people than Republican senators: 202 million compared to 160 million. They go on to say: “A Black American is 16% less represented in the Senate than an American on average; [a] Latinx American 32% less.”

Ettlinger and Hensley note that, as the Senate has become less representative, Republican senators have relied on arcane rules to let a minority stop popular legislation. “In the current Senate,” they report, “41 Republican senators representing as few as 75 million people can block most legislation from even coming to a vote—thwarting the will of a group of Democratic and Republican senators representing as many as 270 million Americans."

In the House of Representatives, gerrymandering allows Republicans to hold more seats than their share of the popular vote. In 1996 and 2012, Republicans lost the national vote tally but controlled Congress nonetheless.

The skew in state legislatures is also large. Scherer points out that the Michigan legislature, for example, has a Republican majority although Democrats have won a majority of the popular vote there for a decade. In North Carolina in 2018, Democrats won 51% of the popular vote but got only 45% of the seats.

After the 2020 election, Republican-dominated legislatures in states where Democrats likely make up the majority—Georgia, Texas, and Florida, for example—have worked aggressively to restrict voting rights. More than a dozen states have enacted more than 30 new laws to suppress votes. Tonight, Texas governor Greg Abbott announced that tomorrow he will sign another major voter suppression measure in his state.

Noting “how far the [Republican] party has fallen on fundamental matters of democracy,” the Washington Post editorial board today called on Democrats to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore and expand the Department of Justice’s protection of the right to vote, gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013 and 2021.

The board continued: “They should merge it with other provisions designed to promote fairness at the ballot box, such as universal voter registration, protections for absentee voters, standards to guard against rampant gerrymandering and restrictions on partisan interference with vote counting. They should dare Republicans to vote down a package that unambiguously enhances democracy, with no extraneous measures. If Republicans continue to unify against it, they should consider ways to reform the filibuster rule blocking urgent democracy reform.”

At stake is whether our government will work for ordinary Americans who make up the majority of our population—including in 2021 women and minorities as well as white men—or whether it will serve an entrenched minority.

—-

Notes:

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/10/1026081880/senate-passes-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill

https://mettlinger.medium.com/the-2021-senate-is-exceedingly-unrepresentative-in-multiple-ways-899ceedf064a

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/abortion-republican-victories/2021/09/04/c7a0b8da-0c23-11ec-a6dd-296ba7fb2dce_story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/us/politics/democrats-biden-social-safety-net.html

Marc E. Elias @marceelias🚨BREAKING: Texas Gov. Abbott will sign the voter suppression bill tomorrow at Noon ET. Expect litigation to be filed immediately thereafter. Follow @DemocracyDocket for alerts and details.

3,198 Retweets12,143 Likes

September 6th 2021

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/06/john-lewis-act-would-restore-key-voting-protections-democrats-should-fight-it/

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[phroyd]

(CNN)  "Lives were taken who should still be with us today," Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference.Twenty-six people were injured, according to El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen.

What we know about the shooting in El Paso, Texas

"The ages and genders of all these people injured and killed are numerous in the age groups," Allen said. "The situation, needless to say, is a horrific one."

A 21-year-old white man from Allen, Texas, is in police custody, Allen said. Authorities are looking at potentially bringing capital murder charges against him.

The case also has a "nexus to a potential hate crime," he said."Right now, we have a manifesto from this individual that indicates to some degree a nexus to a potential hate crime," Allen said.FBI El Paso Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie said more investigative work was needed before determining whether there was a possible hate crime.

Authorities on the scene of a shooting at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso.CNN reported the suspect is 21-year-old Patrick Crusius of Allen, just outside Dallas, according to three sources.Two federal law enforcement sources and one state government source confirmed the suspect's identity. The federal sources said investigators are reviewing an online writing posted days before the shooting that may speak to a motive.

The online posting was believed to be written by Crusius, the sources said, but that has not been confirmed.'This was a massacre'The first call of an active shooter went out at 10:39 a.m. local time, Allen said. The first officer arrived on scene six minutes later.El Paso Police Sgt. Robert Gomez previously told reporters police were initially given multiple possible locations for the shooting, at a Walmart and the Cielo Vista Mall next door.

"This is a large crime scene, a large area," Gomez said of the scene Saturday afternoon.Multiple agencies responded to the scene, including the FBI, the sheriff's department, the state Department of Public Safety and Border Patrol.The crime scene will "be in play for a long period," Allen said. "Unfortunately, the deceased will remain at the scene until the scene is processed properly for evidentiary purposes to be gathered for later prosecution."

El Paso Police Department Sgt. Robert Gomez briefs media on a shooting that occurred at a Walmart.Officials from two local hospitals said they had received at least 23 people.Thirteen people were taken to University Medical Center of El Paso, spokesman Ryan Mielke told CNN, and one of them has died. Two children with non-life-threatening injuries were transferred to a children's medical facility, Mielke said.Eleven victims were transported to the Del Sol Medical Center, hospital spokesman Victor Guerrero said. Nine are in critical but stable condition, he said.

At least two of the patients are in a "life-threatening predicament," according to Del Sol Medical Center Dr. Stephen Flaherty. He said the patients ranged in age from 25 to 82. Two are in stable condition, he said, and seven required emergency operations."This was a massacre," US Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents the area, told CNN. Escobar has received conflicting reports on the numbers of casualties, she said, but added, "The numbers are shocking."Footage shows people lying on the ground outside Walmart

Walmart issued a statement regarding the shooting, saying, "We're in shock over the tragic events at Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso. ... We're praying for the victims, the community & our associates, as well as the first responders."Inside the mall, crowds hid inside stores after hearing reports of an active shooter, according to 26-year-old Brandon Chavez, an employee at Forever 21.Chavez had just started his shift when he saw customers and staff members running to the stock room to take shelter.

"There were about 20 children and adults, plus employees, hiding, all cramped like sardines," he told CNN. "Most of us were desperate, some were on their phones. There were girls crying, people trying to talk to each other and women with babies in their arms."

Shoppers exit with their hands up after a shooting in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday.Store employees had closed the glass doors but he could see police officers walking around the mall and evacuating people from other stores.After police officers knocked on the store's doors, Chavez said his group had to leave the store, forming a line with their hands up and running.

In a shaky Snapchat video aired by CNN, a woman holding the camera frantically runs with a small group of girls or women through a mall department store and into a parking lot.As the group hurries past racks of clothes and cases of merchandise, voices off camera shout, "Hands up!"Once in the parking lot, one member of the group asks, "What happened?" ... "I don't know," the woman holding the camera responds. "I don't know."Another video, shot from outside the Walmart, showed people lying on the ground, some of them next to a table set up by the store's entrance.

Authorities respond to an active shooter at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso."There's a man lying down at the stand that a school set up," the man holding the camera says in Spanish. "Help!" a man screams in English. "We need CPR," someone else says. "We need CPR."'Our community will heal,' mayor says Mayor Dee Margo said Saturday evening that his city would rise above this "senseless and evil act of violence." ... "We will be defined by the unity and compassion we showed in the wake of this tragedy," he said. "United, our community will heal.

"Nowhere was that spirit more on display than at blood donation centers. Authorities had said donations were urgently needed, and said if local residents wanted to help, they should make appointments to do so.  Frances Yepez, waiting in line at one blood donation center, said the center was at max capacity and dozens of people were waiting to make appointments for Sunday or Monday.  "It's easy to make a dollar, but it's harder to make a difference," she said. "So I get out there and do whatever I can do to help.

"She said the mood there was somber, and she could hear sniffling as the crowd of people learned updates over the television. White House pledges 'total support 'President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting, and the White House is monitoring the situation, deputy press secretary Steven Groves said in a statement. "Terrible shootings in El Paso, Texas," the President tweeted Saturday afternoon. "Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement. Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!"

Phroyd

[orbemnews]

Mother who lost her three children and her mom in a fire during Texas power outages talks about the tragic night Jackie Pham Nguyen lost her mother, Loan Le, and her three children, Olivia, 11, Edison, 8, and Colette, 5 in a fire while trying to stay warm at her home in the Houston suburb of Sugarland during the power outages that crippled the state. When the power went out in her house, the family lit the fireplace and played board games and card games, she said. They went to bed by around 9:30 p.m. as the kids had tired themselves out, Nguyen told CNN’s Don Lemon. She tucked the kids into bed and the next thing she knew she was in the hospital and a fireman and police officer was telling her no one else had made it. She says she doesn’t fully remember what happened, but recalls being on the first floor where her bedroom is and being unable to get upstairs to the children’s bedrooms. Nguyen told Lemon her mother Le was the reason she could be a working mom. From afternoon pickups from school to grocery shopping, Nguyen says her mother was the reason she could be a single working mom and also be involved in the lives of her children and their activities. “I really wanted my girls to see that women can do it all and I wanted my son to be the kind of man that steps up. Like I said, my mom really kind of bridged that gap for me to be able to do that and for my kids to be able to see that,” Nguyen said. As for her children, she told Lemon about their big and beautiful personalities. “She just really loved and cared for people in such a deep way,” Nguyen said of Olivia. “In November, she spent weeks curating a Spotify play list for her brother Edison for his birthday as a gift to him… and she noticed that I was listening to it so much that she made me one for my birthday, which we all just celebrated together just a few weeks ago,” she said. Nguyen said Edison was born shortly after her own father passed away, and he filled a “gaping hole” in her heart. “He was a lot like my dad in many ways, so I think that gave my mom a great feeling of comfort, feeling like my dad was still with us,” she said. She said her youngest Collette, or Coco as she was affectionately known, “wanted to do it all.” “Words can’t capture, how big her personality was,” Nguyen added. Nguyen said she has a support system that’s helping her through this difficult time. She is staying with her brother at the moment, and her two sisters have flown in to help her. She says some of her really good friends who were like aunts and uncles to her children are also part of her support system. She has also set up a GoFundMe page for donations to honor her children’s lives with a foundation. “Our hearts are broken right now,” she wrote on the page. “However, your acts of kindness have given us some comfort to pull us through. We are forever grateful to you all.” Millions of people shivered in the cold with power outages and disrupted water supply after winter storms slammed the state with extreme cold, snow and ice earlier this month. President Joe Biden is planning to survey damage with Gov. Governor Greg Abbott Friday. Source link Orbem News #children #Fire #Lost #mom #mother #night #outages #power #talks #Texas #Texaspoweroutages:Motherwholostherthreechildreninafireaftertheyweretryingtostaywarmspeaksout-CNN #Tragic #us

[dipulb3]

Mother who lost her three children and her mom in a fire during Texas power outages talks about the tragic night

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/mother-who-lost-her-three-children-and-her-mom-in-a-fire-during-texas-power-outages-talks-about-the-tragic-night/

Mother who lost her three children and her mom in a fire during Texas power outages talks about the tragic night

Jackie Pham Nguyen lost her mother, Loan Le, and her three children, Olivia, 11, Edison, 8, and Colette, 5 in a fire while trying to stay warm at her home in the Houston suburb of Sugarland during the power outages that crippled the state.

When the power went out in her house, the family lit the fireplace and played board games and card games, she said. They went to bed by around 9:30 p.m. as the kids had tired themselves out, Nguyen told Appradab’s Don Lemon.

She tucked the kids into bed and the next thing she knew she was in the hospital and a fireman and police officer was telling her no one else had made it. She says she doesn’t fully remember what happened, but recalls being on the first floor where her bedroom is and being unable to get upstairs to the children’s bedrooms.

Nguyen told Lemon her mother Le was the reason she could be a working mom. From afternoon pickups from school to grocery shopping, Nguyen says her mother was the reason she could be a single working mom and also be involved in the lives of her children and their activities.

“I really wanted my girls to see that women can do it all and I wanted my son to be the kind of man that steps up. Like I said, my mom really kind of bridged that gap for me to be able to do that and for my kids to be able to see that,” Nguyen said.

As for her children, she told Lemon about their big and beautiful personalities.

“She just really loved and cared for people in such a deep way,” Nguyen said of Olivia. “In November, she spent weeks curating a Spotify play list for her brother Edison for his birthday as a gift to him… and she noticed that I was listening to it so much that she made me one for my birthday, which we all just celebrated together just a few weeks ago,” she said.

Nguyen said Edison was born shortly after her own father passed away, and he filled a “gaping hole” in her heart. “He was a lot like my dad in many ways, so I think that gave my mom a great feeling of comfort, feeling like my dad was still with us,” she said.

She said her youngest Collette, or Coco as she was affectionately known, “wanted to do it all.” “Words can’t capture, how big her personality was,” Nguyen added.

Nguyen said she has a support system that’s helping her through this difficult time. She is staying with her brother at the moment, and her two sisters have flown in to help her. She says some of her really good friends who were like aunts and uncles to her children are also part of her support system.

She has also set up a GoFundMe page for donations to honor her children’s lives with a foundation. “Our hearts are broken right now,” she wrote on the page. “However, your acts of kindness have given us some comfort to pull us through. We are forever grateful to you all.”

Millions of people shivered in the cold with power outages and disrupted water supply after winter storms slammed the state with extreme cold, snow and ice earlier this month. President Joe Biden is planning to survey damage with Gov. Governor Greg Abbott Friday.

[nosy-talk]

20 people dead in El Paso shooting, 26 injured Texas governor says!

20 people dead in El Paso shooting, 26 injured Texas governor says!

(CNN)Twenty people were killed and more than two dozen were injured in a mass shooting at an El Paso shopping center on Saturday, according to Texas and local authorities.”Lives were taken who should still be with us today,” Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference.Twenty-six people were injured, according to El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen.What we know about the shooting in El Paso, Texas“The ages and genders of all these people injured and killed are numerous in the age groups,” Allen said. “The situation, needless to say, is a horrific one.”A 21-year-old white man from Allen, Texas, is in police custody, Allen said. Authorities are looking at potentially bringing capital murder charges against him.FOLLOW LIVE UPDATESThe case also has a “nexus to a potential hate crime,” he said.”Right now, we have a manifesto from this individual that indicates to some degree a nexus to a potential hate crime,” Allen said.FBI El Paso Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie said more investigative work was needed before determining whether there was a possible hate crime.

Authorities on the scene of a shooting at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso.CNN reported the suspect is 21-year-old Patrick Crusius of Allen, just outside Dallas, according to three sources.Two federal law enforcement sources and one state government source confirmed the suspect’s identity. The federal sources said investigators are reviewing an online writing posted days before the shooting that may speak to a motive.The online posting was believed to be written by Crusius, the sources said, but that has not been confirmed.

‘This was a massacre’

The first call of an active shooter went out at 10:39 a.m. local time, Allen said. The first officer arrived on scene six minutes later.El Paso Police Sgt. Robert Gomez previously told reporters police were initially given multiple possible locations for the shooting, at a Walmart and the Cielo Vista Mall next door.

WalmartCielo Vista Mall

“This is a large crime scene, a large area,” Gomez said of the scene Saturday afternoon.Multiple agencies responded to the scene, including the FBI, the sheriff’s department, the state Department of Public Safety and Border Patrol.The crime scene will “be in play for a long period,” Allen said. “Unfortunately, the deceased will remain at the scene until the scene is processed properly for evidentiary purposes to be gathered for later prosecution.”

El Paso Police Department Sgt. Robert Gomez briefs media on a shooting that occurred at a Walmart.Officials from two local hospitals said they had received at least 23 people.Thirteen people were taken to University Medical Center of El Paso, spokesman Ryan Mielke told CNN, and one of them has died. Two children with non-life-threatening injuries were transferred to a children’s medical facility, Mielke said.Eleven victims were transported to the Del Sol Medical Center, hospital spokesman Victor Guerrero said. Nine are in critical but stable condition, he said.At least two of the patients are in a “life-threatening predicament,” according to Del Sol Medical Center Dr. Stephen Flaherty. He said the patients ranged in age from 25 to 82. Two are in stable condition, he said, and seven required emergency operations.”This was a massacre,” US Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents the area, told CNN. Escobar has received conflicting reports on the numbers of casualties, she said, but added, “The numbers are shocking.”

Footage shows people lying on the ground outside Walmart

Walmart issued a statement regarding the shooting, saying, “We’re in shock over the tragic events at Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso. … We’re praying for the victims, the community & our associates, as well as the first responders.”Inside the mall, crowds hid inside stores after hearing reports of an active shooter, according to 26-year-old Brandon Chavez, an employee at Forever 21.Chavez had just started his shift when he saw customers and staff members running to the stock room to take shelter.”There were about 20 children and adults, plus employees, hiding, all cramped like sardines,” he told CNN. “Most of us were desperate, some were on their phones. There were girls crying, people trying to talk to each other and women with babies in their arms.”

Shoppers exit with their hands up after a shooting in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday.Store employees had closed the glass doors but he could see police officers walking around the mall and evacuating people from other stores.After police officers knocked on the store’s doors, Chavez said his group had to leave the store, forming a line with their hands up and running.In a shaky Snapchat video aired by CNN, a woman holding the camera frantically runs with a small group of girls or women through a mall department store and into a parking lot.As the group hurries past racks of clothes and cases of merchandise, voices off camera shout, “Hands up!”Once in the parking lot, one member of the group asks, “What happened?””I don’t know,” the woman holding the camera responds. “I don’t know.”Another video, shot from outside the Walmart, showed people lying on the ground, some of them next to a table set up by the store’s entrance.

Authorities respond to an active shooter at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso.”There’s a man lying down at the stand that a school set up,” the man holding the camera says in Spanish.”Help!” a man screams in English.”We need CPR,” someone else says. “We need CPR.”

‘Our community will heal,’ mayor says

Mayor Dee Margo said Saturday evening that his city would rise above this “senseless and evil act of violence.””We will be defined by the unity and compassion we showed in the wake of this tragedy,” he said. “United, our community will heal.”Nowhere was that spirit more on display than at blood donation centers. Authorities had said donations were urgently needed, and said if local residents wanted to help, they should make appointments to do so.Frances Yepez, waiting in line at one blood donation center, said the center was at max capacity and dozens of people were waiting to make appointments for Sunday or Monday.”It’s easy to make a dollar, but it’s harder to make a difference,” she said. “So I get out there and do whatever I can do to help.”She said the mood there was somber, and she could hear sniffling as the crowd of people learned updates over the television.

White House pledges ‘total support’

President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting, and the White House is monitoring the situation, deputy press secretary Steven Groves said in a statement.”Terrible shootings in El Paso, Texas,” the President tweeted Saturday afternoon. “Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement. Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!”

Terrible shootings in ElPaso, Texas. Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement. Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2019

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who once represented the area in Congress, addressed the shooting while at a speaking event in Las Vegas.”We know there is a lot of injury, a lot of suffering in El Paso right now,” he said. “I am incredibly sad and it is very hard to think about this.””But I’ll tell you, El Paso is the strongest place in the world,” he added. “This community is going to come together.”O’Rourke said he would be cutting short his trip to Las Vegas to return to El Paso.Gov. Abbott tweeted late Saturday afternoon that he had arrived in El Paso.”Texans grieve today for the people of this wonderful place. We united in support of all the victims. We thank First Responders for their swift action,” the governor said. “We ask God to bind up the wounds of all who’ve been harmed.”The scene was unfolding in the same week two employees were fatally shot at a Walmart store in Southaven, Mississippi, and three people were shot and killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.

CNN’s Josh Campbell, Evan Perez, Ed Lavandera, Theresa Waldrop, Artemis Moshtaghian, Shawn Nottingham and Jay Croft contributed to this report.

source

The post 20 people dead in El Paso shooting, 26 injured Texas governor says! appeared first on NosyTalk.

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[schraubd]

Gallows Humor vs. Pure Fear in Political Ad Strategy

Gallows Humor vs. Pure Fear in Political Ad Strategy Last night, I saw the following ad start circulating by a pro-choice organization targeting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (and, by extension, the draconian anti-abortion regime that has recently been ushered in).   I'm curious what people think on this (as I've mentioned, cutting political ads is something I'm absolutely irrationally confident I'd be good at). I fully agree that Democrats should be running and running hard on the demise of Roe. If there is one thing Americans hate, it is changes to settled expectations, and this one was a doozy. Democrats can and should do everything they can to elevate and place at the forefront the anxieties, fears, and trauma that is associated with this settled right being unceremoniously torn away. I am curious how people view this ad, in particular, as fitting into the strategy. The most striking feature of the ad is the abrupt switch in tone -- from a pure emotional appeal to absurdist gallows humor. The ad has gotten generally positive reception on my Twitter feed, though I can imagine people thinking it's a little too jokey and slapstick for the moment. The alternative, of course, would be to run ads that aren't cut with humor but rather play purely on fear -- fear of women dying, being maimed, being arrested. I want to be clear: those fears are justified. I don't think this is fear-mongering, because these terrible prospects are absolutely on the horizon where they are not already the reality. But the point is there is a different style of ad one can imagine that doesn't flinch away from the raw terror of the moment by interspersing it with a bit. Consider something like the following:  A woman is sitting in an examination room in a hospital gown. She's terrified, and has clearly been crying, but she's trying to stifle any sound and keep a brave face. There's blood spotting the gown near her groin. The camera slowly pans over, zooming out so she stays in frame but capturing more of the exam room until it reaches the doorway. Out in the hall, one sees three police officers talking to a doctor or nurse. Eventually, one of the officers walks into the exam room with handcuffs out. No humor, no levity, no absurdism. Not even any dialogue. Just a terrified woman, in the most vulnerable moment of her life, facing the abusive power of the state. A terrible image. But we are living in terrible times. Would that be better? Worse? Or should both types of ads be run? I'm not sure. Again, curious what people think about what's the right and most effective strategy. via Blogger https://ift.tt/AasnVPQ July 26, 2022 at 03:01PM

[h-bailey]

In one Texas city where refugees are welcomed, immigration ban sows fear and confusion

Evelyn Lyles, a longtime volunteer with Amarillo’s refugee community, poses inside a community center she established at the Astoria Park Apartments. (Photo: Holly Bailey/Yahoo News)

AMARILLO, Texas — Evelyn Lyles has been retired for four years, but she’s never worked harder. Up before dawn, she tries to leave her house most days around 7 a.m., driving her old Toyota Corolla across town to the Astoria Park Apartments, where she spends most of the daylight hours checking in on the people she lovingly refers to as her “family.”

They are refugees from all over the world who have landed in this remote town in the sweeping plains of the Texas panhandle seeking to forge a new life from the often chaotic one they left behind: men and women and children from far-flung places that Lyles has never seen, such as Burma, Somalia and Iraq. She is not the first face they see when they step off the plane in Amarillo, but weeks later, when resettlement agencies leave them to adapt to life in a new land on their own, Miss Evelyn, as the 65-year-old retired schoolteacher is known, becomes their most important friend.

Along with helping them practice English and learn their way around a foreign land, Lyles assists scores of families with little, but consequential, things like making doctor’s appointments and filling out job applications. She teaches mothers who have never used a stove how to bake birthday cakes, and she helps the kids with their math and vocabulary words. She tutors families about American history and culture as they pursue citizenship. She helps them with the overwhelming task of starting over.

“If you see a need, in my eyes, you should step up and fill it, and that’s what I am doing,” Lyles explained during a rare break between appointments a few days ago. “God expects us to reach out to our neighbors, whether they are our color or not.” Besides, she added, “unless you are an American Indian, we are all descendants of someone who came here. All of us. …We were all refugees at some point.”

Lyles is a shepherd for refugees in what would seem to be an unlikely place. Amarillo is firmly Donald Trump country, an unwavering bastion of bright red in a safely Republican state known for its anti-immigrant politicians. Yet for the last several years, Texas has led the country in refugee resettlement. Roughly 7,800 arrived in the state alone last year, many landing in big cities like Dallas, Houston and Austin, according to State Department data. Amarillo has become the state’s leading safe haven, accepting nearly 400 refugees alone in 2016 — the most per capita of any city in Texas.

Last year, as Trump regularly railed against refugees as a potential terrorism risk, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that the state would no longer play the middleman in helping the federal government dole out money to local resettlement agencies, arguing that refugees were a potential “security threat” to the state — a symbolic but largely meaningless maneuver that did not stop the flow of new immigrants.

Even amid the incendiary rhetoric often aimed at refugees, Amarillo’s new arrivals have generated little public outrage. They have been largely greeted with open arms by local officials, community groups and dozens of churches in town that have made it their ministry to help the refugees build new lives in America. But that mission has been upended in recent days after President Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order aimed at slowing the flow of foreigners entering the United States.

The most controversial part of the order, which blocked arrivals from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days and indefinitely blocked Syrian refugees, has been temporarily suspended amid federal court challenges. But the other parts of the order remain intact, including Trump’s decision to reduce the number of resettlements this year to 50,000 from the 110,000 that originally had been planned.

The order has already had an impact on Amarillo, forcing six people who had been en route to the city after years of vetting to turn around. And many dozens more who had been scheduled to arrive in coming weeks are now in limbo. That includes the husband of a young mother from Burma who arrived with her 18-month-old son in Amarillo on Jan. 26. After years of background checks and interviews, the mother and son were the last family to arrive before Trump’s order took effect. Her husband had been scheduled to follow in coming weeks, but now, it’s unsure when or if the family members will ever be reunited.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Natalie Lowe, an area director with the Refugee Services of Texas, one of two nonprofit resettlement groups that work with refugees coming into Amarillo and have been assisting that family and many others. “These people have been waiting and suffering for years. They have been vetted and screened more strongly than any other traveler that comes into this country, and now, just as they were on the brink of finally getting here, they are pushed into the unknown.”

Trump’s move has caused handwringing among people here who voted for him and generally support his efforts to keep the country safe but are vexed by his approach to refugees. As in other cities, many of the people working here to help resettle refugees are affiliated with churches and other religious groups that see helping refugees as a key part of their ministry. A local pastor, who declined to be named because he didn’t want to get publicly caught up in the controversy, said he and others in his congregation were stunned and upset by Trump’s move, which he described as “not what Jesus would do.” “Let’s have strict security, but to turn away people who have been screened, who have been persecuted and need our help, it doesn’t feel right,” the pastor said.

A Somali community center in Cactus, Tex., home to many newly arrived refugees. (Photo: Holly Bailey/Yahoo News)

Lyles, who perhaps understands more than anyone here what refugees have gone through in order to claim a new life in this country, did not vote for Trump but says she supports him now as her duty as an American. She has tried to avoid the political debate over refugees, but she admitted that the new president’s actions have made it hard. “He’s really diligent right now, trying to worry about terrorism or somebody that’s coming in that’s got a radical viewpoint. … He’s trying to be protective of our country, and after all, (people) did vote for him for that reason,” Lyles said, speaking carefully, like the special-education teacher and diagnostician she used to be.

But she suggested that Trump didn’t fully understand the issue and had gone too far. She dismissed his criticism that the refugees hadn’t been properly screened, pointing to a family she knew that had undergone screening for more than five years before they were allowed into the country. She said none of the people she has worked with in the 14 years she has been volunteering with refugees in Amarillo have been “unsafe.” And she worried about the policy’s impact on not only America’s reputation as a welcoming country but also on Amarillo, a town she said has been deeply enriched by its new diversity.

“We call America the melting pot (because we) welcomed all these different cultures, and it’s enriched our country,” Lyles said. “I never saw anywhere where it says we are suddenly going to stop immigration at the year 2017. … That’s not who we are.”

Even to those who live here, Amarillo’s role in accepting refugees is an unexpected one. With a population of roughly 196,000, the town is so remote from other parts of Texas (Dallas is a six-hour drive; Austin is7 1/2) that residents here have long mused about Amarillo and other panhandle cities seceding to form their own state. It’s a town that remains defined by its rich history as a cattle town. Cattle feedlots dot the landscape on the roads leading into town, supplying meatpacking plants that are the region’s biggest employers and provide roughly a quarter of the nation’s beef.

But it’s the other legacy that many don’t know about. Amarillo, named for the yellow wildflowers that dot the wide-open prairie here in the springtime, has had a long history of opening its doors to refugees — dating back to 1975 when Vietnamese relocated here after the end of the Vietnam War. Over the years, waves of immigrants from more than a dozen other countries have come to join them — among them, residents of Iran, Iraq, Congo and Ethiopia in the past year alone.

On historic Route 66, which cuts through the center of town, the old roadside motels with their classic cowboy signs now are mixed with once-empty buildings that have been newly occupied by Somali restaurants and specialty stores catering to the many ethnicities that now call Amarillo home. Taco joints run by Mexican immigrants sit alongside Middle Eastern restaurants, south Asian supermarkets and the last of the old honky-tonks that once provided brief escape to those passing through on old Route 66.

The transformation has been more dramatic in other nearby cities. In tiny Cactus, Texas, a town of about 3,000 an hour north of Amarillo, an estimated 25 percent of the population is said to be made up of new immigrants. Largely from Somalia and Burma, they moved there to work at JBS Swift, one of the largest meat processing plants in the country.

The plant was nearly shut down in 2007 when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the plant and arrested hundreds of illegal immigrant workers, deporting them back to Mexico and parts of Central America. Since then, the plant has relied heavily on newly arrived refugees as its workforce, including hundreds who live in Amarillo and commute by bus two hours a day back and forth for their shifts.

“Most Americans don’t want to work at a meatpacking plant,” Lowe said. “So that’s been one of the biggest draws. People can come here, take care of their family and make a life for themselves.”

A mosque in Cactus, Tex., home to many newly arrived refugees. (Photo: Holly Bailey/Yahoo News)

In Cactus, which has grown up around the plant, there are signs of the changing population. The town, which was blown away by a tornado a few weeks after the immigration raid in 2007, has been rebuilt to include a new mosque. On the main strip is a new Somali-American community center — an outpost of a large group based in Amarillo. On a recent afternoon, men in loose, flowing shirts and skullcaps could be seen walking down the dusty streets here alongside Hispanic men in cowboy hats — co-workers leaving their daily shift at the plant.

Many in and outside the city became aware of Amarillo’s relationship with refugees last year when a handful of conservative websites, including Breitbart and Watchdog.org, published posts saying the city was being overrun by refugees who were building “Muslim ghettos.” Amarillo Mayor Paul Harpole, a Republican, was quoted complaining about the impact of refugees on schools and other city services. He said that Amarillo wasn’t equipped to handle the influx and that immigrants were so ill-served that they were forming their own informal governments — though he later told reporters he had been misquoted. The stories went viral on other conservative blogs. “Sharia law! This is how it begins!” one wrote.

But Harpole’s comments opened a dialogue with resettlement groups who agreed to curb the number of arriving immigrants by declaring Amarillo to be a “reunification city” — meaning that people can only come here if they already have a family member established here. But that hasn’t solved all the problems, according to the mayor, including some schools that continue to be taxed by kids who arrive speaking little to no English. Harpole has said the city has struggled to keep up with the estimated 45 different languages now spoken in the city ­— a challenge for 911 operators who sometimes can’t communicate with callers because of the language barrier.

Still, Harpole, who did not respond to a request for comment, has repeatedly insisted he doesn’t have a problem with refugees — as long as the city can take care of them. In an interview with the Amarillo Globe-News last week, the mayor broke with his party and criticized Trump’s immigration order for stopping people who had already been vetted and for treating refugees too broadly. He pointed out that refugees in Amarillo aren’t responsible for an uptick in crime but rather just want to find jobs and “fit in” to America.

“I have a problem with stopping them cold when they’ve been vetted and painting them all with the same brush,” Harpole told the paper.

Trump’s immigration order has only stoked fear among immigrants who were already suspicious of the New York billionaire and his attitude toward refugees long before his stunning victory in November. Even among those who are legally here in Amarillo on visas and green cards, there have been worries that they could be rounded up and deported. Others worry about not being allowed back into the country if they leave, meaning they may have to postpone or cancel visits to see relatives abroad.

“Even before this happened, people were saying: Don’t do anything to call attention to yourself, drive below the speed limit, stay low-key,” said Van Lian, 28, who came to Amarillo as a refugee from Burma six years ago. “A lot of people are really scared.”

A sign advertising classes for refugees at a community center inside the Astoria Park Apartments in Amarillo, Tex. (Photo: Holly Bailey/Yahoo News)

Lian, who is currently applying to become a U.S. citizen, escaped with his family from Burma to Malaysia, where they spent five years scrambling to make ends meet, in a country where refugees aren’t permitted to work, while they waited for passage to the United States. They immigrated to Grand Rapids, Mich., spending just two days there before moving to Amarillo, where other relatives had settled. Other family members had been approved for entry after four years of rigorous screening and were set to join them in coming months. But, like others, they are now in limbo. “We don’t know what they will do,” he said.

After arriving in the U.S., Lian got his high school degree through the vocational training group Job Corps. He owns two businesses: a sushi restaurant and a tax preparation service, where he works to help other refugees. He shares space with Lyles in a donated three-bedroom apartment at Astoria Park that serves as a makeshift community center for immigrants. The two met when Lyles helped his family get settled in Amarillo.

“I love America so much. I have had so many opportunities here that I would have never had anywhere else,” he said.

Lyles stood nearby, a huge smile on her face. “He’s the American dream,” she said.

Walking through the apartment, which was mostly empty except for a few chairs and tiny tables, Lyles offered a quick tour of her community center, where refugees come for tutoring, citizenship classes and other life help. The owner of the complex loaned it to Lyles not long ago, after she spent years working out of the cramped rental office. Upstairs, there is a closet packed with guitars for a music class, which helps immigrants learn English through song. Downstairs, the wall is covered with tiny signs featuring vocabulary words and Bible verses, since Lyles, a proud member of the First Baptist Church, also views her job as a chance to minister.

In the kitchen, Lyles opened the oven to reveal a stack of paperwork — makeshift storage for space that is tight. “You make do,” she said. In a few hours, the place would be packed — kids downstairs on the hardwood floor for class, adults upstairs crammed into the tiny rooms for citizenship or language classes or anything else they need from Lyles.

They had all overcome so much to get there, to begin anew in a foreign land. And through them, in some ways, Lyles had been reborn too. She had started working with refugees in 2003 when, as a diagnostician at a nearby middle school, she noticed an influx of refugee kids and began working with them. On home visits, she met their parents, who asked her for help as they struggled to adapt to America. Soon, she was helping three families.

She loved the work and considered quitting her job to volunteer full time so she could help even more families, but then tragedy struck. In 2004, her youngest son, who had struggled with bipolar disorder, committed suicide. “I was suffering, and I needed something to fill that void,” Lyles said. “Those families became my friends. They became my family. All of them are my family.”

Even on this afternoon, where she is so busy she barely has time to escape to the bathroom, Lyles said she wouldn’t change anything. Her heart is with the refugee families of Amarillo, the ones she’s helped and the others she knows she will help in the future. She is quietly angry over how refugees have been portrayed and refuses to accept that Trump’s immigration order will be allowed to stand.

“My life, our lives, are so much richer with having them here. … They touch our lives, those of us who have always been in America. They touch our lives with their music, with their food, with their language, with their love for us. They love us,” Lyles said. “And it’s a two-way street. We love them. … We aren’t going to have a totally closed door. We just can’t.”

A wall showing Bible verses inside a community center for refugees at the Astoria Park Apartments in Amarillo, Tex. (Photo: Holly Bailey/Yahoo News)

—–

Read more from Yahoo News:

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[streetyouthministry]

Street Youth Ministry Uses Art to Reframe Conversation on Homelessness

Reposting an article from Reporting Texas published on December 19, 2019

Street Youth Ministry 

Uses Art to Reframe

Conversation on Homelessness

By NATALEAH SMALL

Reporting Texas

A collection of purple, orange and green stones appeared in front of the Congregational Church of Austin in early October. The stones were decorated to resemble pumpkins, and some were painted with words of affirmation such as “love” and “pride.”

A prayer garden made of painted rocks marks the entrance to the Street Youth Ministry’s facility in the basement of the Congregational Church on 23rd Street in Austin, Texas. The rocks are a way for the ministry to draw attention to the positive impact of its mission. Joshua Guenther/Reporting Texas

Throughout November and December, more art popped up: a face and scarf on the tree in front of the church, colorful chalk art messages on the sidewalk and hearts and peace symbols stenciled on planter pots.

The group responsible for the guerilla art was Street Youth Ministry, which wanted to draw attention to the ministry and positively impact the thousands of people who pass the building every day, said Terry Cole, the ministry’s founder. He said the ministry began creating the installations after the Austin City Council lifted a camping ban and made other changes in the city’s approach to homelessness, which sparked contentious debate.

An art installation created by Street Youth Ministry clients showcases their desire to send a positive message to the community. Joshua Guenther/Reporting Texas

“We really just wanted to say to the neighborhood: ‘We love you, and we want to be kind to you as well,’” said Suzanne Zucca, Street Youth Ministry staff member.

Nestled in the heart of West Campus, Street Youth Ministry is located in the basement of the Congregational Church of Austin. The faith-based ministry is a day center that assists young people experiencing homelessness. Staffers refer to them as clients.

Volunteers of Street Youth Ministry set up arts and crafts for clients to make nativity scenes and angels. The program offers  practical things like clothing, counseling and food, but its goal is “to know, love and serve street-dependent youth so they might come to know Christ,” according to its annual report. Alexander Thompson/Reporting Texas

According to its mission statement, the goal of the ministry is “to know, love and serve street-dependent youth so they might come to know Christ through the witnessing community we develop.” According to the ministry’s 2018 annual report, it provides clients with “practical things to help meet immediate needs.” Cole said the ministry is not an overnight facility.

Volunteers, such as Lorena Garza, a UT-Austin social work freshman, play a crucial role in the ministry by cleaning and organizing the basement of the Congregational Church, where the program is housed. Joshua Guenther/Reporting Texas

The ministry offers a variety of services: access to food, counseling, clothing and gear such as bicycles and sleeping bags. Founded in 2008, the ministry serves about 600 clients up to 28 years old every year.

According GuideStar, a service that reports on U.S. non-profits, the ministry reported $492,267 in gross receipts during its most recent fiscal year. According to the ministry’s 2018 year-end report, 45% of its income is from private individuals and 30% is from in-kind giving. Additional funding comes from grants, churches and other sources. According to the report, 94% of every dollar spent by the ministry goes toward program services with the remaining 6% allotted to administration and fundraising.

Cole said the ministry employs eight staffers as guidance counselors and resources on matters related to drugs, physical and mental health and safe sex practices.

Street Youth Ministry volunteer Lorena Garza, left, plays dominoes with Deon Watts, right, and another client of the Street Youth Ministry during a weekly game night on Nov. 19, 2019.  Joshua Guenther/Reporting Texas

The team is trained to handle difficult situations and deal with people in crisis, but Cole said team members are not doctors, social workers or licensed therapists. Nearly 1,000 individuals volunteer with the ministry every year, Cole said.

Patrick Hudson, left, removes a block from a giant Jenga set while volunteering at the Street Youth Ministry’s weekly game night with other UT-Austin students Shad Khan, center, and Nuvia Cruz. The ministry’s proximity to the University allows students to accumulate volunteer hours for class and service organizations. Joshua Guenther/Reporting Texas

Austin’s homeless population has remained relatively steady since the ministry began its work.

According to the Point In Time Count compiled annually by the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, 2,087 people were counted in 2010. The lowest recorded number, 1,832, occurred in 2015. In 2019, the number of individuals increased to 2,255; 50% were between the ages of 18-44.

According to ECHO, the leading factors contributing to homelessness include inadequate access to health care, lack of engagement in school or employment and time spent in juvenile detention or jail.

Two members visit the Street Youth Ministry basement to have a meal and fill out paperwork on Dec 3, 2019. The ministry opens everyday at 12 p.m. and provides a safe space for people 28 years old and younger. Alexander Thompson/Reporting Texas

In July, when the city passed an ordinance that decriminalized sitting, lying and camping in public places, people who had been sleeping in the woods and other unsafe areas started sleeping on the streets, Cole said. A population that had been hidden became more visible.

In reaction to the heightened visibility, Gov. Greg Abbott retweeted a video of a man attacking a car in downtown Austin. It was later revealed that the video was over a year old and the person recorded was not experiencing homelessness. Cole said the misleading post had a negative impact on public perception of homeless people and a “scarring” effect on the city.

A sign posted at the 23rd street Artist’s Market notifies visitors that the Street Youth Ministry cleans the area. The ministry’s staff hope the message will counter some negative perceptions of people experiencing homelessness. Joshua Guenther/Reporting Texas

The idea for the art installation emerged amid this conversation. Cole said he wanted people walking by their building to notice a positive change and reflect on how the ministry is serving its clients.

Two clients who worked on the installation agreed to talk to Reporting Texas but declined to give their full names.

Red said she painted a rock that resembles a “golden ghost” the day she was taken to jail for having too many unpaid tickets. By the time she got out of jail, other clients had added the face to the tree in front of the building.

Red, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, laughs as her friend pulls out a bullhorn while they sit near the entrance of the Street Youth Ministry basement on Dec 3, 2019. Alexander Thompson/Reporting Texas

Red, 28, said she has traveled through Austin six times over the past decade. A friend introduced her to the ministry three years ago, and since then she has utilized its services.

She participates in Girl’s Group, a peer support group that discusses topics such as toxic relationships and the difficulties that face women who live on the streets. If she hadn’t heard about the ministry, Red said, she would have died in Austin because she knew few people and didn’t know where to stay.

“I feel like we have a family, and that’s rare around here,” Red said. “Like we have our street family, but you can’t talk to your street family about certain things, you know, you’ve got to stay within the mindset of ‘I can survive.’”

Arthur also helped create the installation. He created a collection of rocks painted with single words of prayer like “love,” “pride,” and “joy.”

Halloween-themed prayer rocks that youth ministry client, Arthur, helped create, decorate the base of a tree outside the entrance to the Street Youth Ministry. Joshua Guenther/Reporting Texas

Arthur, 27, said he came to Austin four years ago with his former husband. When they divorced, he ended up on the streets. He said his “blood sister” told him Street Youth Ministry could help him, but he didn’t know if he would be accepted because of his sexual orientation. In other places he said he has felt out of place and unwelcome.

Street Youth Ministry client Arthur, whose nickname is Summer Rose, sings Carrie Underwood’s, “Jesus, Take The Wheel,” during the weekly talent night on Nov. 20, 2019. Arthur, said the ministry has come to feel like a family to him. Joshua Guenther/Reporting Texas

Earlier this year, he said he was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer. Since the diagnosis, members of the ministry have prayed for him, Arthur said, and in return he has volunteered to prepare food, wash dishes and clean the space.

“It feels like I’m back at home with my own family,” Arthur said. “There’s no other place I would rather be than here. I don’t want to separate from the people that have taken care of me.”

Read it on Reporting Texas here

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[imreviewblog]

Insane Texas Bill That Attacks Abortion From All Sides Just Became Law

On Tuesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a far-reaching anti-abortion bill that critics have slammed as “cruel” and “unconstitutional.”

After a landmark Supreme Court ruling that struck down two Texas abortion restrictions last June, legislators in that state came back with a vengeance, considering some 50 anti-choice measures over the last several months. (Rewire called it an “anti-choice blitz.”) But the newly passed Senate Bill 8 stands out from the rest for the startling breadth with which it attacks abortion rights. 

The Center for Reproductive Rights has already pledged to fight the law, saying in a press release that it was “rammed through” at the last minute despite widespread criticism. As it stands, however, parts of the SB8 are set to go into effect in September.

Here’s some of what it contains: 

A ban on the safest type of second-trimester abortion.

SB 8 prohibits what it calls “dismemberment abortions”—a term adopted by anti-abortion advocates to target abortions performed via dilation and evacuation, or D&E.

But D&E is a safe and common method of second-trimester abortion. According to the Guttmacher Institute, just 11 percent of abortions nationwide take place after the first trimester, and roughly 95 percent of those are done via D&E. So a ban on the procedure is effectively a ban on abortion after 13 weeks. 

A totally redundant ban on “partial birth” abortions. 

The law also prohibits “partial birth” abortions ― the anti-abortion language used to described intact dilation and extraction procedures.

The issue? The Supreme Court already banned the procedure a little over a decade ago. 

Possible criminal charges for anyone remotely involved in helping women get abortions.

Any physician who performs an abortion that would now be illegal under the law, such as a D&E procedure, could face up to two years in prison. (The woman herself would be exempt.)

But as Texas Rep. Joe Moody (D) pointed out in a debate on the House floor before the bill was passed, the wording of the bill also opens up the possibility that anyone involved in the process of helping a woman get a second-trimester abortion could now face felony charges, The Texas Observer reports. That could include a friend or family member who drives a woman to the clinic where the abortion is performed, or the receptionist whose job it is to book appointments.

“If the goal is to prosecute people who perform these acts, what’s written here goes way beyond that,” Moody warned. 

A ban on fetal tissue donation.

Under the law, women who have abortions will be prohibited from donating fetal tissue, which can help with scientific research. Human fetal tissue plays an important roll in finding drugs for HIV/AIDs patients, for example, and in creating vaccines for things like Ebola. (Presently, women in Texas can choose to donate fetal tissue.)

But the Center for Reproductive Rights argues that the way the law addresses fetal tissue donation is a clear effort to reproach women who chose to end a pregnancy.

“By banning fetal tissue donation just for women who have had abortions — and not other patients — the state is singling out those women to shame them and send a clear message that the state does not approve of their decision to have an abortion,” the group said in a press release. 

A requirement that women have “fetal funerals.”

Texas legislators have tried several times to pass legislation requiring the burial or cremation of all fetal tissue resulting from abortion or miscarriage — and with the passage of SB 8, they may have just succeeded. The law requires that all facilities that treat pregnant women dispose of any embryonic and fetal remains that are “passed” or “delivered” via burial or cremation, meaning women who miscarry in a medical facility are also subject to the rule. Abortion clinics are required to cover burial or cremations, though the law includes a provision for the creation of a “burial or cremation assistance” registry that could help offset some of the costs. 

But Gov. Abbott won’t stop there. On Tuesday he also announced a special session to begin on July 18, in which Texas legislators will consider a ban on private insurance coverage for abortion, in addition to several other anti-choice measures.

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from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://bit.ly/2sgxaSn

[imreviewblog]

Texas Just Won't Stop Trying To Force 'Fetal Burial' Rules On Women

Anti-choice legislators in Texas are continuing to try and jam through a regulation that would require so-called “fetal funerals” after abortions, even though a federal district court judge already blocked a similar measure in the state.

Senate Bill 8 ― which passed the Texas House of Representatives over the weekend ― is a wide-ranging anti-abortion bill that would, among other things, require all health facilities that treat pregnant women to dispose of embryonic and fetal remains that are “passed” or “delivered” via burial or cremation ― regardless of patients’ wishes. That means that women who miscarry in a medical facility would also be subject to the rule. 

Lawmakers backing the bill are seemingly unfazed that a federal district court already blocked a similar requirement after The Center for Reproductive Rights sued the state of Texas in December. The judge in that case was critical of the regulation, saying it could be a “pretext for restricting abortion access.”

Indeed, opponents of fetal burial rules ― which have also been proposed in Louisiana and Indiana ― say they serve no medical purpose. Instead, they are an attempt to elicit an emotional response and shift thinking about the nature of fetal remains.

“For many years ... abortion opponents were attempting to make the case that restrictions were necessary to protect women’s health, and this is a real shift from that. This isn’t about women’s health,” Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues manager with the Guttmacher Institute, the policy and research organization, told HuffPost last year. “This is about trying to change attitudes toward the fetus and products of conception in order to try and revisit abortion rights.”

The latest Texas bill, for example, states that cremated remains cannot be placed in a landfill; they must be scattered or buried. It also says that Texas will devise a grant program using private donations to help cover the cost of cremating or burying fetal remains, and that there will be a “burial or cremation assistance” registry that will maintain a database of funeral homes willing to provide “low-cost” burials or non-profits willing to help take on some of the costs. However, it’s not at all clear what groups might be interested in doing that. Providers who do not comply with the regulation would lose their license, while women could face a $1,000 civil penalty.

In addition to the fetal burial rule, SB 8 also calls for a ban on dilation and evacuation or “D&E” abortions, a safe and common procedure used in second-trimester abortions, and prohibits the donation of fetal tissue (which can be used in medical research). It also includes a redundant ban on “partial birth abortion” ― a term used by anti-choice legislators for a procedure that was already banned by the Supreme Court in 2007. 

Reproductive rights advocates from groups such as NARAL Pro-Choice Texas slammed the proposed regulations as “shameful” and “cruel.”

“Lawmakers admitted during the SB 8 debate that they haven’t consulted with any medical professionals but still chose to play doctor on the House floor,” Heather Busby, executive director at NARAL Texas said in a press release. “Politicians are not doctors and they have no place in the exam room.”

The bill now awaits final approval from the Senate before it would go to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to be signed into law. 

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