As is being widely reported now, Republicans have shot themselves in the feet by capturing the Supreme Court and using its right-wing Catholic bloc to rip away from women the right of abortion.

As Tori Otten reports, they're now facing a branding problem vis-a-vis abortion, and it's a difficult one, since they have for so long relied on calling themselves the "pro-life" party.

When they're anything but that…. And now the mask is off.

#abortion #Republicans #ProLife

https://newrepublic.com/post/175455/republicans-new-term-pro-life-losing-elections

Jill Filipovic adds,

"Over and over again, the worst states for children are clustered around the 'pro-life' Bible Belt, and the map of the states that are the worst for children looks a lot like a map of red state America."

#children #US #Republicans #ProLife
/2

“Children in the US can be legally married in 41 states, physically punished by school administrators in 47 states, sentenced to life without parole in 22 states, and work in hazardous agriculture conditions in all 50 states.”

~ Human Rights Watch, cited by Jill Filipovic

#children #US #Republicans #ProLife
/1

https://jill.substack.com/p/the-us-fails-on-child-rights

„Eine Gesellschaft ist dazu aufgerufen, jedem die Freiheit zu geben, sich zu entfalten – Abtreibung zerstört aber die Freiheit zu leben."
Weihbischof John Sherrington, Westminster UK

#ProLife #abtreibung #katholischekirche #fedikirche

"Catholics United for Life became one of the country’s most vocal anti-abortion groups, protesting outside of clinics and operating a pro-life printing press. But it’s now the subject of multiple lawsuits and former members of the community say sexual abuse and violence permeated their lives."

~ NBC

#Catholic #SexualAbuse #abortion #ProLife

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/catholic-commune-bay-area-sex-abuse-allegations/3307609/

From its inception, the "pro-life" movement has been about putting women in their place, about stopping the advance of women's rights — not about serving "the value of life" and safeguarding life. Tennessee Republicans now standing on their heads to serve the interests of the gun lobby while calling themselves pro-lifers: this is the real, honest to God face of the "pro-life" movement in the US.

#abortion #ProLife
/4

The "pro-life" movement has so patently not promoted what it calls "the value of life" or a "life-centered ethic" that it has no moral leg to stand on as it tries to posture as a moral movement. Moral movements don't stoop to lies and deceit and coercion to make moral points. They persuade via reason and logic and the example they provide of moral behavior.

#abortion #ProLife
/3

A truly moral position is never defended by coercion, by force of law that imposes my moral values on you. The moment that's my objective — to coerce you to recognize as moral what I dictate — I have forfeited the claim to be promoting a moral cause.

From the outset, the "pro-life" movement has been about coercing a majority of Americans to accept — by force of law — a moral judgment about abortion held by a minority.

#abortion #ProLife
/2

Mona Charen, who objects to abortion on moral grounds, thinks that pro-lifers need to change tactics and realize that the attempt to limit abortions through the law has been a failure.

What Charen's argument fails to recognize, it seems to me, is that the "pro-life" movement was a failure from its inception, because it's not about what it claims to be about. It claims to be about morality. But it's about coercion.

#abortion #ProLife
/1

https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/pro-lifers-should-change-tactics

The state’s maternal mortality review committee was dissolved this summer. Research of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) finds that 61% of Idaho residents say they oppose overturning Roe v. Wade.

#Idaho #abortion #healthcare #ProLife
/2

Kathleen McLaughlin reports that over the past year, OB-GYNs have fled Idaho due to severe restrictions and punishments for doctors who perform abortions after Dobbs. In one Idaho town, a maternity ward that delivered as many as 350 babies every year was closed, citing staffing issues and the state’s “legal and political climate."

#Idaho #abortion #healthcare #ProLife
/1

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/22/abortion-idaho-women-rights-healthcare

"Biden officials have tried to pressure states quietly to fix the errors—including long waits to get phone calls answered and slow processing of applications, as well as paperwork errors—but yesterday released letters it had sent to individual states to warn them they might be violating federal law. Thirty-six states did not meet federal requirements."

#Medicaid #healthcare #Texas #ProLife #Republicans
/2

"The idea for such a device [i.e., Greg Abbott's buoy barrier in the Rio Grande, now found to have circular saw blades embedded in it] is not new. The Trump administration considered such a scheme to deter crossings as well, but it ultimately decided against it.

For good reason:"

~ The Big Picture and Todd Beeton

#GregAbbott #Texas #migrants #cruelty #Republicans #ProLife
/1

https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/greg-abbott-lone-star-buoys

"The wrecking ball-sized buoys that make up the floating barrier that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott installed in July in the Rio Grande have circular saws between them, according to a video posted by Rep. Sylvia Garcia."

~ Khaleda Rahman

This is because Texas Republicans are, as they constantly loudly proclaim, pro-life, right? It's because they're led by Catholic pro-life governor Abbott, right?

#Texas #Republicans #RioGrande #cruently #brutality #ProLife #GregAbbott

https://www.newsweek.com/video-texas-floating-barrier-saws-rio-grande-1818433

Three words: Sarah Huckabee Sanders
More kids are working dangerous jobs amid weaker labor laws, child migration - CBS News https://apple.news/AsRcjUajtQiOwa_4AEU_zBg
#ChildLabor #ChildAbuse #GOP #WarOnKids #FamilyValues #hypocrisy #ProLife #immigration #refugees #UnaccompaniedMinors #LaborLaw #WorkersRights #health #future #work #MigrantWorkers #USPol #news

"conservative Republicans in Congress began pushing a spending bill that would ban mailing Mifepristone, an abortion-inducing medication, while also cutting billions of dollars in food aid to needy families. And they seem willing to hold the entire country hostage to do it."

#abortion #Republicans #ProLife #children #food
/2

"If anything encapsulates the anti-abortion Republican right, it’s this: As an all-male panel of anti-abortion leaders convened to discuss imposing the death penalty on women who have abortions and as a Nebraska court was sentencing a terrified teenager to jail for self-inducing an abortion,"

~ Jill Filipovic

#abortion #Republicans #ProLife #children #food
/1

https://jill.substack.com/p/republicans-want-to-ban-abortion-dff

"The Texas abortion ban seems to have forced thousands upon thousands of women into unwanted pregnancies and births, reversed a nearly decade-long decline in infant mortality, and killed a lot of babies.

And, appallingly, according to CNN, 'Infant deaths caused by severe genetic and birth defects rose by 21.6%.'”

~ Jill Filipovic

#Texas #abortion #ProLife

https://jill.substack.com/p/texas-banned-abortion-more-babies

"These include hidden razor wire traps, the withholding of water even in extreme heat, and orders to push migrants—including children and infants—back into the Rio Grande where they might drown.

According to the e-mail, the razor wire has already caused grave injury to migrants, including children and pregnant women."

#Texas #Republicans #ProLife #GregAbbott #migrants #cruelty
/2

Why worry about school, children? If you can make your way to Iowa and a number of other Republican-dominated "pro-life" states, you'll find "expanded employment opportunities."

Why worry about school when you can work in a slaughter house kill floor or in its meat coolers or in an industrial laundry? As Charles Pierce notes, pportunity awaits you in Iowa!

#ChildLabor #Iowa #education #exploitation #labor #ProLife

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a44591030/iowa-child-labor-law/