🇺🇸 Relitigating Roe

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ABORTION

Relitigating Roe

Yesterday US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina introduced federal legislation that would ban abortions past a pregnancy’s 15-week mark. This comes after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision.

Reporting From the Left: ‘A wakeup call’: more Republicans are softening staunch anti-abortion stance (The Guardian)

Reporting from the Right: Sen. Lindsey Graham Will Push For Nationwide Abortion Restrictions In New Bill—Here’s What To Know (Forbes)

From The Flag: The always divisive abortion debate has reemerged as a leading political issue ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Past newsletters have covered abortion laws in individual states, while we also looked at the concept of a federal law codifying the right to an abortion. Here’s more from both sides.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Republicans Must Stand Their Ground

• The media is expecting Republicans to suffer a political backlash over the abortion issue, but some things are more important than politics.

• Democrats are the real abortion extremists as most Western nations enforce abortion bans at 12 to 14 weeks.

• Doctors can maintain their religious convictions while still caring for their patients and informing them of all their options.

“Absolutely Dobbs Was Worth It” David Harsanyi, The Federalist: “Conventional DC wisdom says Republicans are about to pay a heavy political price for supporting the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v Wade. The prospects of a Red Wave election are deteriorating. An ‘invisible army of women’ are flocking to register to vote. Dobbs had fired up Democrats. Joe Biden’s fortunes, miserable only a few months ago, have suddenly turned around. … Even if all of this were true, and I’m highly skeptical it is, ‘cheering on’ the Dobbs decision was completely worth it. Just as cheering the overturning of Dred Scott or Schenck was worth it. Not everything is about short-term partisan gain. … Unlike Obamacare, a political decision, Dobbs was a judicial one. It might be impossible for the progressive to comprehend, but it’s highly likely that none of the justices who signed onto the majority in Dobbs believed — or cared — if it would be popular (well, other than perhaps John Roberts).”

“Kamala Harris is wrong. Democrats are the real abortion extremists” Tom Joyce, Washington Examiner Opinion: “Liberal, pro-choice politicians such as Harris take positions on abortion that are not only wildly out of step with public opinion but also the rest of the world. For example, just seven countries permit elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. This list includes the United States, as well as China and North Korea. Like the leaders of those countries, Harris supports no gestational limit on abortion. In the 2020 election cycle, Tulsi Gabbard was the only Democratic primary presidential candidate who vocally supported a gestational limit on abortion (and even she just wanted to ban elective third-trimester abortions, which are fewer than 1% of abortions). Harris maintains her position, even though most Americans support a gestational limit more similar to European countries. Those countries typically have gestational limits of about 12 to 14 weeks.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: How does a religious obstetrician-gynecologist counsel patients on abortion? Dr. Howard T. Sharp, Deseret Opinion

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Now is the Time for Courage and Change

• Physicians must show courage and conviction in standing up against abortion bans, all while lawyers are offering to help.

• The Supreme Court sacrificed its legitimacy with the Dobbs decision, paving the way for changes to the nation’s highest court.

• Putting abortion laws into the hands of the states isn’t a popular policy, which spells political trouble for Republicans.

“Abortion bans are a threat to patients. Doctors can and should resist them.” M. Gregg Bloche and Sarah K. Werner, Washington Post Op-ed: “Initial reaction to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade has cast doctors as powerless — unable to protect their patients from an onslaught of state laws that compel people to bear children. But physicians do have power, and they can — and should — resist the threat that forced-birth laws pose to patients’ lives and well-being. … Doing so will demand courage. Some ideologically motivated judges might push back, permitting prosecutions to go forward against abortion providers who act on these clinical standards. A few providers, at least, will need to risk this on their patients’ behalf. But lawyers are already volunteering to represent doctors willing to champion their patients’ reproductive liberty. And convicting health professionals for saving women from serious harm is unlikely to appeal to courts and jurors — or to voters.”

“The Supreme Court Is Vulnerable on Abortion” Ryan Cooper, The American Prospect: “Perhaps the biggest obstacle to Supreme Court reform, such as adding new justices, stripping its jurisdiction from certain laws, or abolishing judicial review entirely… is its relative legitimacy. Most Americans are taught in school that the Court is a key part of the American political system, and it has hitherto escaped the mass condemnation that has engulfed Congress, where approval registers about 17 percent. As of mid-2021, approval of the Court registered about 60 percent, likely thanks to its legalization of gay marriage in 2015, and the lingering glow of the heroic Warren Court decisions striking down Jim Crow apartheid. But it seems the Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade has brought it down into the toilet of unpopularity, along with the rest of the American government. … Democrats ought to seize this opportunity.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: How Republican and Democratic women are standing up for abortion rights Liz Plank, MSNBC Opinion

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After Dobbs Ruling: Thoughts on Legalized Abortion and Potential Bans

Polling data released earlier this month shows support has grown for legalized abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The number of respondents that say abortion should be legal in all or most cases (60%) is 5% higher than in March (Wall Street Journal).

A separate poll from July found 72% of Americans would support a ban on abortions occurring past 15 weeks. The number drops to 49% for those supporting a ban past 6 weeks (Harvard CAPS/Harris).

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Operation Stalemate, Mind-Wandering, Not My Sliced Bread

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Today I Learned the US banned sliced bread during WWII as a rationing measure to save the wax paper and plastic used as wrapping. The ban was reversed 3 months later due to widespread consumer backlash and because savings were less than anticipated.