The Way To End Abortion: Make It Unnecessary

THE SHORT VERSION: Republicans want to make abortion illegal, Democrats want to make it unnecessary.

THE LONG VERSION: Criminalizing abortion tells women their bodies are not their own by codifying the radical idea that government is best suited to make decisions about their bodies, lives and healthcare.

THE QUESTION: Isn’t the real, core issue unwanted pregnancies? Wouldn’t it be more productive to focus our energies on preventing them?

Do Republicans really think that criminalizing abortions will make them go away? It’s not that simple. The ramifications of outlawing abortion go far beyond criminalizing one procedure. Anti-abortion laws do not improve women and children’s lives or their safety, nor are they meant to support life. This article examines the complicating factors and negative effects of anti-abortion laws on interactions between women, medical professionals, and the legal system.

Pregnancy is not just morning sickness and an expanding waistline.  It changes almost every aspect of  a woman’s life in a way that no man will ever experience. Her life permanently shifts focus as she adjusts to physical changes that affect almost every key bodily process, and alters the trajectory of her life as new responsibilities claim priority on her future. By criminalizing abortion, the state will allow total strangers to intrude in a woman’s personal life and sit in judgement on her lifestyle, how she makes medical decisions, and the day to day details of her life, such as food preferences, personal habits, and physical activities.

Because the U.S. Supreme Court is now stacked with anti-abortion ideologs, reversing Roe v. Wade is a very real possibility.  Should this happen, Iowa’s proposed constitutional amendment, House Joint Resolution 5 will insure anti-abortion laws can no longer be declared unconstitutional.  Our government will have free reign to interfere with women’s reproduction and all Iowa women will be the losers – including women who are single-issue anti-abortion voters, and their daughters and granddaughters.

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ALEC – The Hidden Source Behind the Scene -or Why We Need to Make Our Voices Heard

Do you really think legislators are writing the bills they introduce? Think again. Have you ever wondered why Republican governors, representatives and senators almost always vote as a block, even on bills that would be detrimental to most individuals, small businesses and family farms? Look to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), for an answer. In ALEC's own words, large and multinational corporations have…"a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law [sic] that are then proposed in your state. ..” (The Center for Media and Democracy, ALEC Exposed). Disguised as the work of our lawmakers, members of ALEC generate so called “model” bills, that are little more than fill-in-the blank legislation with titles and descriptions that are meant to deceive. They are put forth in one state Capitol after another, frequently word for word, quietly advancing the agenda of big business and global corporations.

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We Can Run – We Can Try To Hide – But There Is No Planet B

While simultaneously trying to stay safe and reopen the economy, the COVID 19 pandemic reminds us daily that we are all part of the interconnected web of life on earth.  We are struggling with unprecedented disruptions in healthcare and the economy, as climate disasters increase in frequency and intensity, exacerbating health risks. (1) Long after this wave of infections ebb, and a vaccine is developed, we will still live with the reverberations . In the grand scheme of things, Mother Earth doesn’t give a fig about politics, the stock market, big profits, or the lines we draw in the sand that divide us.  Nor does she need us.  Basically, we live on a big rock floating in the vast cosmos, with a unique environmental system of which we are a very-small part. Our lives depend on a thin, delicately balanced layer of invisible gases (2)  and a massive, diverse population of flora and fauna. (3) This is her environment and it is up to us to figure out how to live within her ecosystem.  If we screw it up, we live or die with our choices. Everything we do, affects the whole…think of the butterfly effect as metaphor.(4) When we pollute air molecules here, they keep going around the earth; when we pollute water molecules here, they continue around the earth – no passport required.

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RURAL HOSPITALS – OUR CANARY IN A COAL MINE

Having chest pains?  Cut off a finger?  Need medical care now? For anyone living in a rural area there is no guarantee the closest hospital can provide needed emergency care.  Signs may say “Hospital” and the doors may be open, but odds are they will not have the capability or staff to care for an urgent need or life-threatening emergency.  Logic tells us in an emergency increased time and distance can be life-threatening.  One study found that rural hospital closures are associated with a 5.9 percent increase in inpatient mortality.

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If You’re Yearning To Return To The 1950s, You’re Going To Love This

With the beginning of 2020, Republican legislators, and our Governor, have introduced measures to eliminate a woman’s right to choose.   In plain language, this is about increasing unwanted pregnancies and trapping women in cycles of menstruation and reproduction that, once again, denies them control of their fertility and the autonomy to be free and creative agents of their own future.  Anti-abortion extremist rhetoric professes protection for women and future “unborn” (author’s note - an emotionally…

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Q. – Is Dark Money A Serious Problem? A. – Yes

“If We Don’t Know  Who’s Doing The Speaking  Is It Really Free Speech,” Steve Bullock, Montana Governor. [1]https://www.npr.org/2018/07/12/626693116/riveting-documentary-sheds-light-on-dark-money-in-montana-politics

Dark money is a legal form of corruption.  It undermines public trust in elections.  We can no longer depend on our courts to provide evenhanded justice and be completely independent. [2]https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/rise-dark-money-threat-judicial-independence Dark money  is untraceable and unlimited, used by corporations, business and special interests, economic elites, individuals, and now foreign countries to influence politicians and manipulate voters’ decisions.  Dark money’s influence extends far beyond the headline issues such as climate change, fossil fuels, health care and big pharma, and the big guys like the Koch brothers and the NRA. [3]DARK MONEY – The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right; By Jane Mayer; Doubleday, 2016 (more…)

References

References
↑1 https://www.npr.org/2018/07/12/626693116/riveting-documentary-sheds-light-on-dark-money-in-montana-politics
↑2 https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/rise-dark-money-threat-judicial-independence
↑3 DARK MONEY – The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right; By Jane Mayer; Doubleday, 2016

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Violence Against Women Renewal Act – At An Impasse In Senate

Senator Dianne Feinstein’s attempt to bring renewal of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to a vote before the end of the year hit a GOP roadblock in the form of Sen. Joni Ernst.  After months of negotiations, Sen. Ernst ended discussions on the bill.  Undaunted, Sen. Feinstein introduced S.2843,(( https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2843)) the companion bill to HR1585,((https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2843)) that passed the House in November with bipartisan support, 263-158. Not to be outdone, Sen. Ernst introduced her own bill which falls far short of meaningful protection for victims of domestic violence.  The following is an excerpt from her email:   "Senator Joni K. Ernst" ; November 22, 2019 3:59 PM:  “ As a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence, reauthorizing and modernizing VAWA is not only urgent and critical to me, but it’s personal.”  Really?  How can she profess to be a domestic violence/sexual assault survivor and still propose a bill that keeps guns in the hands of  people who have been convicted of domestic violence, and prevents women, children, and domestic partners with few or no resources from finding sanctuary when their safety, and often their lives, are at stake?

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Read more about the article Let’s Discuss Gun Violence

Let’s Discuss Gun Violence

LOOKS LIKE WE’RE STUCK It’s Clear:  “We The People” Want A Solution To Gun Violence! Poll after poll indicates that a vast majority of Americans favor expanded background checks for all gun buyers, including gun show and online purchases:  94% – Quinnipiac University Poll, including 90% of gun owners; May 22, 2019;  89% – NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey; August 19, 2019;   89% –  July NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, including 84% of Republicans;  91% – POLITICO/Morning Consult, Aug.…

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Legislation

PENDING LEGISLATION: The Gun Violence Prevention Research Act of 2019 (H.R. 674, introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY and S. 184 introduced by Sen. Edward Markey, D-MA) Purpose:  To Fully Fund Gun Violence Research At The CDC. This legislation directs Congress to provide the funding that has been committed to the CDC to study violence with guns over the next five years.  In 2018 Congress lifted its prohibition on gun violence research, which includes the CDC.  House Democrats have passed a bill allocating $50 million for gun violence research, but it has yet to be funded.  Republicans are standing in the way, with Mitch McConnell preventing it from reaching the Senate floor.  ((Union of Concerned Scientists, Science for a Healthy Planet and Safer World;  https://www.ucsusa.org/suppressing-research-effects-gun-violence ))

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Healthcare -The Maze – Up Next–Insurance

Sister Austin Doherty, VP of Academic Affairs at Alverno College, would pose this question to first semester students, “What causes problems?” The suggestions were always wide and varied, sometimes filling a large white board with possibilities.  After considerable discussion on the topic Sister Austin would tell us that the answer could be summed up in one word…Solutions. How true, how true...Nothing exemplifies this more than the healthcare rabbit hole we fall into when seeking medical…

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