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- Right-wing ~*intellectual*~ Jordan Peterson sputtering out utter nonsense like the guy in your high school History class who didn’t do the reading
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It’s been almost four months since the Dobbs decision eliminated the federal right to abortion, and Dems remain laser-focused on related messaging as we head into midterms, but are still having some difficulty breaking through Republican noise.
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President Biden promised today that the first bill he sends to Congress in the new year will be one to codify Roe v. Wade. To make that a reality, he noted, Democrats will need to hold on to the seats they have and gain a few more in the Senate (if it weren’t for Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, that shit would be law by now). Biden’s clarity is key, because elected Democrats have not nationalized the issue. Many voters (in ban states and hotly-contested states) know that abortion is on the ballot this November, but voters elsewhere haven’t been told a clear story about why their votes matter just as much. Biden’s promise is meant to connect those dots for them.
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We can’t take our eye off the ball when these bans have already harmed scores of real people.
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Extremist abortion bans have led to an emerging covert market for abortion pills. The widespread availability of medication abortion makes this relatively easy, and much safer than the pre-Roe demand for back alley abortions, but still caries the risk of any self-administered medication in the absence of medical supervision. This is a community-driven network usually providing pills free of charge, distinct from services that sell pills to patients over the internet. While the internet and some social-media networks have in some cases allowed these covert efforts to continue, others have stymied such efforts. Big Tech platforms are blocking abortion-pill distribution information, and, according to experts, the dissemination of disinformation about reproductive healthcare is worse than before the Dobbs decision.
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Back in August, a Missouri woman named Mylissa Farmer experienced extreme complications 17 weeks into her (wanted) pregnancy. Farmer’s doctors immediately recommended terminating the pregnancy, but Missouri had banned abortion the previous month. She was then forced to do what was once unthinkable: make a series of trips across three states while the fetus was dying inside of her. Abortion clinics in the surrounding states were overbooked, unsurprisingly. Doctors repeatedly told Farmer that her child was not viable and her own health was at risk, but that didn’t change her circumstance under the law. With almost no options left, she called her state senator, whose office connected her with Choices Medical Services, a crisis pregnancy center dedicated to discouraging women from having abortions.
Democrats are in the unenviable position of having multiple major legislative priorities to convey to voters, but they owe it to their beleaguered base, and all citizens who would suffer if the GOP regains power in Washington, to do everything they can to win and make good on Biden’s promise.
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Voting Rights are Under Attack
Elections matter. And the elections this November could affect the course of our country and our democracy for decades to come.
But, attacks on voting rights continue to escalate and, as has long been true, Black voters are the main target. We’re seeing everything from racially-motivated block-the-vote efforts to so-called “election integrity group” volunteers (many of them armed) confronting people in their home demanding that voters tell them how they voted in the last election.
The ACLU is doing everything in our power to protect free, fair, and robust elections. We’re acting swiftly and decisively to push back against voter suppression and expand voter participation. But, we need you with us.
Join the ACLU to help us fight to protect voting rights and expand voter participation.
Threats to our democracy must be met with a vigorous defense of the right to vote and our other fundamental freedoms. That’s exactly where the ACLU’s resources are focused right now. We’re going all-in to:
✅ Pursue legal challenges to sweeping voter suppression laws.
✅ Engage in Secretary of State races and judicial elections in key states helping voters assess which candidates are likely to preserve, protect, and expand civil rights and civil liberties.
✅ Ramp up our far-reaching mobilization efforts to encourage robust voter participation in the 2022 and 2024 elections and beyond.
Become an ACLU member today to stay up to date on the fight for free and fair elections. Join today.
Thanks for the support,
The ACLU Team
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A new report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis concluded that Trump administration aides “usurped control of CDC communications and blocked public health officials from providing accurate information about the coronavirus to the American people.” Subcommittee members spoke to several senior officials at the CDC, including former Director Dr. Robert Redfield, who confirmed that Trump officials blocked the department from conveying information to Americans early on in the pandemic. They also spoke to senior officials at the Trump-era Department of Health and Human Services. In its 91 page report, the subcommittee makes the case that disgraced former president Donald Trump and his administration “installed political operatives who sought to downplay the seriousness of the pandemic.” Yep, that’s them! The committee also notes in its investigation that Trump administration HHS officials tried to influence the scientific reports on COVID-19 between May and September of 2020, editing the content or blocking the publication of at least 19(!!!) different reports that they believed could have been harmful to Trump. That feels like it should be, I don’t know, super illegal and everyone involved should be in big trouble. Just spitballing here.
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A jury found Igor Danchenko, the private researcher who was a primary source for the 2016 Steele Dossier of allegations about disgraced former president Trump’s ties to Russia, not guilty of lying to the FBI about his sources. Another tough break for Republican hack special counsel John Durham, who has now lost both cases that have gone to trial as part of his 3.5 year investigation.
The Biden administration announced today that it will release 15 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in December as a measure to drive down fuel prices after OPEC announced last week that they would be cutting their collective output by 2 million barrels per day.
A new Quinnipiac poll shows Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) holds only a four-point lead over her (extremist!) Republican challenger.
A major new study by the National Institutes of Health concluded that chemical hair-straightening products could put women at a higher risk of developing uterine cancer, posing especially high risk for Black women.
After British police opened an investigation into the assault of a Hong Kong protester who was allegedly dragged into the Chinese Consulate in Manchester, UK, and beaten up, China’s Foreign Ministry said today that its diplomatic missions abroad have the right to “take necessary measures.” Great explanation! No follow-up questions.
Industries across France went on strike today to push for higher pay to keep pace with rising inflation, intensifying the ongoing clash between the French government and workers.
U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss has vowed to carry on amidst early setbacks in her administration like her disastrous economic plan, and some fellow Conservative Party members are already calling on her to resign. Liz, I disagree with all of your politics and yet still have to say, as a woman, this is embarrassing.
Iran has promised to provide Russia with more missiles and drones according to Iranian officials and diplomats, which will inevitably stoke tensions with the United States and other Western countries.
In a setback for organized labor, Amazon workers at a warehouse near Albany, NY, voted overwhelmingly against joining the Amazon Labor Union. Unfortunately, sometimes that happens when the employer in question has bottomless resources for feeding workers disinformation.
A new Washington Post investigation revealed that since 2015, more than 500 retired U.S. military personnel (many of them admirals and generals!) have taken lucrative jobs working for foreign governments, disproportionately in countries known for human rights abuses. USA! USA!
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Airstrikes cut power and water to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians today, with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying that nearly one-third of Ukrainian power stations have been destroyed by Russian missile and drone strikes in the past week, causing massive blackouts across the country. Targeted attacks on energy sources are a clear attempt by Russia to hurt Ukrainian civilians as much as possible with winter just around the corner. Meanwhile, Russian troops still face major challenges in the southern region and city of Kherson, which Russia’s new commander Sergei Surovikin confirmed in an unusual admission. Across Ukraine, basic utilities are in jeopardy, if they are functioning at all. As the winter freeze sets in, Ukrainians who haven’t already fled from the fighting, regular shelling, and months of Russian occupation in Eastern Ukraine are desperately trying to find a way to stay resilient in the face of inhumane conditions.
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