Do You Like A Right-Wing, Mostly White Old Male Government Telling You What To Do-- Or Do You Prefer Choice?

On May Day we looked at how Alabama plans to reshape laws to change the way women interact with 21st century society... make it more like 18th century society or, among the hard-core, first century society. Since then, Georgia one-upped them with an even more draconian anti-choice bill, probably ruining the state's burgeoning and carefully nurtured film production business in the process.

GA-07 congressional candidate Marqus Cole was the first to alert me, writing me that "This morning, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed H.B. 481 into law-- the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the country. The new law limits the window for legal abortions in Georgia to just six weeks-- before most women even know they’re pregnant... I’m sick of Republicans trying to turn back the clock on reproductive rights. As a lawyer, this is just the latest affront to the sanctity of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade. Even worse, it’s part of an overarching GOP strategy to start a chain of appeals that ends with Roe v. Wade being overturned by Brett Kavanaugh and Trump’s handpicked Supreme Court.  And more importantly, it’s a direct attack on the women of my family and my community. My daughters-- and all women-- deserve agency over their own bodies. Women know better than the government what’s best for themselves and their families. It’s not complicated: All medical decisions should be between women and their doctors."

That's pretty much what all Democrats say, right? Well... it sure isn't what Congressman Dan Lipinski is saying-- you know... the guy being protected by Cheri Bustos and the DCCC. He's being primaried by a progressive Democratic woman, Marie Newman, but instead of supporting Marie-- or at least staying neutral-- the DCCC is threatening to blacklist any firms that work with Newman's campaign. I guess Pelosi and her nasty DCCC chairwoman are pro-Choice... unless it's politically inconvenient.

Three reproductive justice organizations collaborated on an effort-- Intersections of Our Lives, a national survey looking at the perspectives of women of color voters in the 2018 midterm election. I'm sure you recall that last cycle this was the voting bloc that blew the doors off Paul Ryan's and Kevin McCarthy's GOP House by turning out at historic levels. The Intersections of Our Lives polling was seeking insights on what women of color voters think and what their policy priorities are, following the midterms and going into the 2020 election cycle. These were the key finds of their research:

• Women of color were motivated to vote because they thought the stakes were too high not to. 88 percent of women of color voters said the stakes in the 2018 midterm election were too high not to vote. 75 percent expressed serious concerns about the trajectory of the country, noting they were angry, disgusted, scared, sad or nervous.
• Women of color supported Democratic candidates for federal and statewide races. Three-quarters of women of color voters supported the Democratic candidates in statewide and federal races. 74 percent of the women of color who voted for Democrats said Democratic candidates earned their vote.
• There is common ground on the policies that women of color believe are extremely important for Congress to address:

◦ Ending racial/ethnic/cultural discrimination (62 percent)
◦ Ensuring people with pre-existing conditions can still access health insurance (62 percent)
◦ Ensuring access to clean water (62 percent)
◦ Ensuring everyone has access to affordable health care (60 percent)

• Women of color will be watching their representatives in Congress more closely than previous elections (62 percent).
• Looking ahead to 2020, women of color would prefer to see more women candidates (88 percent) and candidates of color (85 percent). And 70 percent said candidates running for office fail to acknowledge the issues that matter most to them.

Yesterday, AOC communicated with her supporters about the Georgia Republican Party abotion bill. "Last year, Brian Kemp stole an election from Stacey Abrams by abusing his position as Secretary of State, spreading lies about hacks by Democrats, and brazen voter suppression with his 'exact match' rule, which prevented tens of thousands of voters from accessing their fundamental right to participate in this democracy. Now, he’s using his disgracefully acquired power to functionally ban abortion. Georgia joins Ohio, Kentucky, and Mississippi in passing a 'fetal heart beat' abortion ban, capping the procedure at 6 weeks. For those of us who understand women, that 6 weeks might as well be 0."

"Being pregnant for 6 weeks can look a whole lot like a 2 week late period-- something not uncommon for millions of women across the country. But Brian Kemp doesn’t care. He, and Republicans like him, just want to mask their war on women in a veneer of moral outrage about the abortion care that Roe v. Wade enshrined as a right... The insidious nature of this ban doesn’t stop there either. In 2013, North Dakota passed a nearly identical version of this fetal heartbeat ban-- which was then stuck down by a federal court, with a concurrence by the Supreme Court. Ask yourself one question: why do you think Republican governors across the country are now suddenly emboldened to brazenly violate Supreme Court rulings? What’s different between the Court in 2016, and the Court today? Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. That’s the difference. One justice sitting in a stolen seat, and another whose life of privilege masked him from ever facing a single consequence for his actions, no matter how heinous they were. Today, they serve as the vanguard of Mitch McConnell’s assault on our justice system, as well as the Republican war on women."

I hate to be a downer, but the Republican Supreme Court justices waiting to strike down Roe v Wade didn't get into this position without help from shit-eating Democrats, starting with Joe Biden, who almost single-handily got Clarence Thomas confirmed too the bench. (He's sorry now. Screw that! He's just plain sorry and should have retired 3 decades ago.)

Other than Biden, most of the Democrats who helped get Thomas onto the bench are dead or retired, except for Richard Shelby, who is still serving as the senior senator from the state of Alabama-- although he switched to join the GOP some years ago. There were 22 Democrats behind John Roberts, including 4 still serving in the Senate: Tom Carper (DE), Ron Wyden (OR), Pat Leahy (VT) and Patty Murray (WA). Carper, a Biden protege, won't give a rat's ass but imagine how embarrassed Wyden, Leahy and Murray will be if the Court overturns Choice. Should they be dragged out into the street for a tar-and-feathering? Make up your own mind if they should be held accountable-- along with Joe Manchin (WV), who helped Trump confirm Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. Conservative asshats Heidi Heitkamp (ND) and Joe Donnelly (IN) also voted to confirm Gorsuch and their Democratic base responded by sitting on their hands and letting Republican voters defeat them during last year's "blue wave." That should be the fate of all traitorous Blue Dog and New Dem scum who want to compromise away our fundamental right for their careers. Don't buy into the Democratic Party establishment's "lesser-of-two-evils" strategy. Don't vote for crap candidates just because the Republican is worse.

In fact, just a Wednesday, Auditi Guha, writing for Rewire News, noted that there are Democrats on the state level who are working with the Republicans to overturn Roe v Wade. Lesser of two evils? [Insert your favorite expletive.]

After 6 Louisiana Democrats voted with the Republicans on Monday for the extremist (insane) anti-Choice bill, most people felt that Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards would sign it.

SB 184 passed the state senate in a 31-5 vote on Monday. It prohibits abortion around the sixth week of pregnancy, before most people know they’re pregnant, making it a near total abortion ban. Similar bans, designed to challenge the legal underpinnings of Roe v. Wade now that conservatives dominate the U.S. Supreme Court, have been proposed in 14 other states. A near total abortion ban was signed into law Tuesday in Georgia.

The Louisiana bill includes exceptions when abortion is necessary to prevent the death or serious injury of the pregnant person. Apart from those exceptions, a physician who performs or induces an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected would have their medical license revoked, be fined up to $1,000, and face up to two years in prison. The ban would not apply to abortions performed when a pregnancy is diagnosed as medically futile.

Six Democrats joined Republicans on Monday to pass the bill, which will head to a committee hearing in the house, where Republicans hold an outsized advantage. Advocates told Rewire.News that they believe Edwards, who has long supported anti-choice policy, will sign the measure...

Last year Edwards signed a 15-week abortion law, and in 2016 he approved laws requiring people to wait 72 hours to get an abortion and banning abortion facilities from receiving taxpayer funds. Those laws are being challenged in court and are not in effect.