Welcome to Monday, May 24th, societies...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has signed one of the nation’s strictest abortion bills into law, banning the procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

This “heartbeat bill” would ban most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is typically about 6-8 weeks into pregnancy.

At a signing ceremony with members of the Texas legislature who supported the bill, Abbott said:

“Our creators endowed us with a right to life, and yet millions of children lose their right to life each year because of abortion. In Texas, we want to save those lives."

Ilyse Hogue, president of abortion rights advocacy group NARAL, criticized the measure:

“Mere days after the Supreme Court announced it would hear a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, Governor Abbott shamefully signed into law an extreme attack on abortion access in Texas. Anti-choice lawmakers across the country are ramping up their assaults on reproductive freedom at the state level in a desperate bid to retain power and control.”

Do you support or oppose 'heartbeat bills'?

Sanders Leads Progressives' Bid to Block Arms to Israel 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and several progressives from the House Democratic caucus introduced legislation this week to block a proposed $750 million arms sale to Israel over what they believe to be its excessive response to rocket attacks launched by terror groups. 

The move comes after 11 days of fighting between the nation of Israel and Palestinian terror groups including Hamas (which controls the Gaza Strip), Islamic Jihad, and others halted following a cease-fire Thursday. The group of lawmakers announced their proposal before the cease-fire was reached.

The Biden administration recently announced that it approved the sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel. 

Sanders said in a statement:

“At a moment when U.S.-made bombs are devastating Gaza, and killing women and children, we cannot simply let another huge arms sale go through without even a Congressional debate.” 

Do you support blocking the sale of precision-guided weapons to Israel?

Dropping Birth Rates

Births in the U.S. declined in 2020 to the lowest level in more than four decades amid the coronavirus pandemic according to preliminary data from the National Center for Health Statistics. 

It was the sixth straight year in which the number of births declined, and there were about 700,000 fewer births in 2020 than the 2007 peak of 4.3 million births. This USAFacts chart shows the number of annual births dating back to 1980:

Are you concerned about trends in U.S. birth rates?

All The Memes Fit To Post
 

And, In The End...

Happy anniversary to the Brooklyn Bridge.

After 14 years of construction, the BB opened to traffic on May 24, 1883:

May all your troubled waters have a bridge over them,

—Josh Herman

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