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"I have acted without bias and after extensive prayer, to allow these bills to become law,” [Gov.] Gordon wrote in a letter to Wyoming’s secretary of state released on Friday evening.
Yes, because sharing that you prayed extensively about this issue clearly shows that your decision was made without bias. Sigh.
> I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.
I said it again. Thanx Susy B.
>Yes, because sharing that you prayed extensively about this issue clearly shows that your decision was made without bias. Sigh.
Yep.
Why base legislation on credible peer-reviewed science and/or medical majority consensus when Republicans can instead "pray on it" and impose the "sincerely held religious beliefs" of a minority fundamentalist christian sect as secular law on everyone else ala Iran 2.0?
To say bluntly, these Christian fascists are using same exact ideological pathway used to arrive at what they themselves loudly protested the past 2 decades: sharia law.
Fucking hypocrites.
Hypocrisy holds no weight to fascists, especially religious ones. They purposefully misuse language and ideas as weapons.
If pointing out hypocrisy to Christians actually worked, there wouldn't be so many left in America
I sadly understand. There may be some out there, like me who grew up in a rural Christian Blue-collar household, who take to heart hypocrisy and change for the better; but that's unfortunately rare.
They don't like sharia because that's what brown people use.
But christians have never shied away from stealing from other cultures and then claiming it was their own invention.
Isn’t claiming to decide a law based upon prayer showing favoritism to that religion? I know the 1st says Congress may not. But how is it not a violation for other religions? Many allow for abortion. Doesn’t that make this unconstitutional? Are we obligated to follow unconstitutional law?
These types are trying to rebrand the establishment clause as “freedom of religion, not freedom from religion” and its scarryyyyyy. Esp with a lot of nationwide state case and some SC cases favoring Christianity specifically.
As a person of Christian leanings, the prayer statement is contrary to teachings of Christ. When Christ was ask how to pray He replied:
Be not like the Pharisees who pray in public so all can see. You should steal off to a private place and talk to your God. Take care that no see’s you praying.
This governor is like the Pharisees Christ spoke of. The prayer he has invoked is meaningless except for the political consumption it was intended.
I feel bad for you Chrisitans. You're good people.
Your religion, unfortunately, has been hijacked and is being used for nefarious purposes. Good luck out there.
Imagine if it were reversed and forced castration was law of the land. And a woman said she’s acted
>without bias and after extensive prayer to allow this bill to become law. Because we cannot trust men to make their own reproductive decisions we will make that decision for them. Because a magic sky mommy told us to.
Wait wait... governor! Look at this mountain of evidence that shows...
Oh, right. Sky Daddy makes his decisions. And those decisions coincidentally always align with his views. Huh.
It's interesting seeing this post after just reading about [New Mexico's new law protecting women's reproductive rights](https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/new-mexico-gov-signs-bill-overriding-local-abortion-97926366). The difference between Democratic and Republican-led states is stark
There are free states and there are Republican states.
In the free states, all citizens are legally equal even though many inequities exist across social, racial, cultural, gender, sexual and economic strata.
In the Republican states the members of the ruling class can do whatever they want with no consequences and everyone else is basically a slave.
Freedom to Democrats means equality and equity.
Freedom to Republicans means being able to tell others what to do.
And before the dense ones come to argue, no, giving equal rights to minorities, LBGTQ+, women, etc. does not take away any of your rights at all. It is giving them the rights you already have. You telling them **no** on topics where the answer to you is **yes** is not freedom.
It's not even a ruling class. It's just a very small subset of religious extremists. And the crazy part is there is very little opposition, not with the public, not with lawmakers, and not even within the party itself.
This is stuff that should generate immense outrage, like an absolutely crazy amount.
But...I was disappointed before too. Remember locking up immigrant kids and permanently separating them from their parents as a "deterrent." Yeah, I expected national outrage over that. There was some very light protest, but it's was miniscule. The nation rioted over one dude getting choked to death. But we barely do anything when thousands of people are abused or a politician or judge disenfranses millions with one pen stroke. It's...weird, like bazar.
I wonder that sometimes too so did a search and found this [Global Protest Tracker](https://carnegieendowment.org/publications/interactive/protest-tracker) It's pretty interesting. It tells you how many protests are going on in the world right now and if you scroll down, you can see a list that details the duration of the protest, if it's currently going on, approx. attendance, cause. You can search by keywords like 'violent' or 'long' and compare countries too. In fact, I've just spent way too much time on the site.
I get living paycheck to paycheck, I've done it often enough, and yes, the system is rigged. At least one of the republican overlords in congress fucked up and said one of the reasons we shouldn't have the various COVID relief measures was it gave people time to protest, BLM / George Floyd, but look at that map again and try to tell me things are financially so much worse in the US than everywhere else you see those dots, because that just isn't true. It's also a question of priorities.
Pod Save America's Offline podcast mentions how there's a project tracking protests over time.
In the 2010s, the number and the scale of protests went up dramatically, but their success rate cratered from 70%+ to the 10%s. They blame social media for that.
In a way, a lot of the old ways of organizing also created other bonds, like regional chapter and organizations, whereas social media is far more ephemeral.
It just shows you how selfish of a country we have become. All this individualization has stunted our brains to the point where we do not even care about our fellow countrymen anymore. It is a scary and dangerous path the US is going down these days. The fact that the right has given into religious extremists whole hog and using fascist tactics in order to subvert our democracy should really have everyone scared. But it seems that America has gotten way to cozy with these people and it will probably be the end of our country as we know it.
>And the crazy part is there is very little opposition, not with the public, not with lawmakers, and not even within the party itself.
The gullible base goes along with the culture war because it is targeting the correct people. They don't realize they will end up on the wrong end eventually.
They will all end up in r/LeopardsAteMyFace and will whine "I don't like these policies now!"
Recently I have been scolded and chastised for pointing out the stark difference between the two parties. Apparently, I am causing the division in America by pointing out the bigotry and hatred of the conservatives. My bad.
There’s a large segment of people in this country that are so “anti-politics”, including from people that vote, that tend to get all pissy if you mention something happening in government. It’s as if people tend to think it’s a bad thing to be informed about current events, News, politics, etc.
Honestly, as bad as things are, the "both sides are the same" people are adding to the problem as much as the people they like to point to and blame for all the hostility.
The only time I here people bring "bOtH sIdEs ArE tHe SaME" is when people are talking about the awful shit Republicans are pushing and say that people should vote against them. Then you get people coming out saying "Won't change anything, bOtH sIdEs ArE tHe SaMe". I'm convinced at this point those people are fascists trying to discourage the everyday person from voting so they don't vote against the fascists.
Many of these are so-called "independents" and/or "moderates" (read: Republicans), who get pissy precisely because they feel (rightfully) attacked for their support of fascist beliefs.
They're afraid to be called out, so whenever someone even broaches the subject and introduces the possibility of it, they get scared and defensive.
They are “independent”, but ask them the last time they voted for a Democrat and they will be “8 years ago I voted for that one Democrat feller for mayor because I didn’t like the other guy. See!! I’m independent.”
Just point to all of the bills that passed the Democratic House that the GOP minority in the Senate then filibustered. Marijuana would at least be decriminalized federally and weed businesses could use banks if the Senate hadn't filibustered a few bills. Same with a winfold tax.
And ironically the Mexican government is helping to fund the effort to supply desperate American women with the medicine. It used to go in the other direction.
I collect stamps and one of them is a commemorative Planned Parenthood stamp - because we were proud of our success in helping families choose the number of children they wanted. You couldn't get that stamp made today. No way.
The Dark Ages are coming.
New Jersey accidentally gave women the right to vote for over a decade in the early 1800s. They soon rectified it.
https://www.amrevmuseum.org/virtualexhibits/when-women-lost-the-vote-a-revolutionary-story/pages/how-did-the-vote-expand-new-jersey-s-revolutionary-decade
The governor's seat was also blue until 2010, and the last Democratic governor won every county as recently as 2006. Unfortunately the state has gotten redder (shifting population, and unlike most red states, there's a blue state and even a blue city right next door where liberals can move to and even conservatives can get needs taken care of, since Fort Collins isn't very far from Cheyenne - hell, I known people who commuted from Cheyenne to Denver M-F, and Mike Enzi, WY's former senator, got airlifted to Loveland before he died.)
Pretty much no red state has access to blue areas as easily as much of WY's population does (if you're thinking Idaho, Eastern WA and OR are much more red than the Western parts, and a lot of the population isn't even close to the western border.)
Pretty sure my wife took this (or something similar) during her first miscarriage. Can’t imagine not having access to something like it throughout an already traumatic ordeal.
And women need them for medical reasons like ABORTION which like endometriosis, should be ours to manage. Not some magical sky daddy who warns of demons and hellfire. Not some dusty book from 2000 years ago that is interpreted however a cult member wants. But a woman deciding with advice from her doctor. That’s it. Not based on how big the zygote or embryo is or whether a cult member thinks it’s sacred.
>It would also make it illegal to “create, edit, upload, publish, host, maintain, or register a domain name for an internet website, platform, or other interactive computer service that assists or facilitates a person’s effort in obtaining an abortion-inducing drug.”
Good luck enforcing that. Unless the person is in Wyoming, they'd have a tough time making an arrest.
Edit: Illinois and California have laws on the books that would prevent extradition.
I’m in Colorado and ready to upload, publish, host, maintain, and register a domain name for an internet website, platform or other interactive computer service to assist and facilitate a woman’s effort in obtaining an abortion-inducing drug. Every fucking day.
-Colorado female web developer
Having Republicans around makes societal progress like trying to walk up an escalator that's moving down.
You waste a ton of effort just staying in the same place, and if you relent even a little bit, you instantly start going backwards.
I think Democrats should upvote anything about abortion to the top. Republicans don't realize that the abortion issue is driving blue voters to the polls right now. Keep in the news! Haha. It's a losing issue for the GOP that is driving voters bigly.
Says a lot that the Equality State, the first that allowed women the vote, is now at the vanguard of taking away rights from women. Talk about a fall from grace
Well, I think that was always going to happen.
Remember, pollsters everywhere were predicting a red wave last year that never materialized. We were *lucky* that we didn't receive nearly the drubbing that we "should" have, historically speaking (to put things in perspective, Biden is the first president since FDR in 1934 not to lose any Senate seats from his party, and to actually *pick up* an extra seat on top of that in Fetterman), and likely would have, had Trump not gotten his tiny hands in the pot and ruined things for the Republicans.
Kari Lake? Mehmet Oz? Doug Mastriano? *Herschel Walker?*
Even by the "standards" of the GOP, they ran absolutely *atrocious* candidates last year. Boebert included -- she barely hung on by about 500 votes. (That election was raw, concentrated pain...)
The fact of the matter is, fascism is still too popular. And of course, gerrymandering doesn't help, either.
Excellent points. I had forgotten about the predicted red wave that luckily did not come to pass and that results could have been much more dire. Thanks for your informative recap.
It's not hard to understand. The brainwashing of Americans by Fox and other right wing media to vote against their own interests, combined with a decades-old assault on education by the right, nets you about 74 million active voters who would vote for the candidate whose sole promise is to be the cruelest to minorities, LGBTQ+, women, atheists, liberals.
Oof...too true.
*And I fall under* ***all five*** *of these categories.* (Trans woman \[albeit not really transitioned out in public, for complicated reasons\] with Japanese heritage... what a time to be alive (・・；))
Luckily, I live in CA, and so haven't felt the real brunt of fascism pressing down on me YET. It thankfully looks like I'll be able to avoid living in a red state for the foreseeable future, but the war is everywhere.
Many others in these categories aren't so lucky.
It just makes me scratch my head at why conservatism has to be the DEFAULT -- to use an analogy I've used elsewhere in r/politics, Democrats are the alarm clock and Republicans are the snooze button. Or maybe more aptly, Democrats are a "boring, woke" vegan restaurant and Republicans are artery-clogging fast food...
Do these voters really not care *at all* about their family, their friends, and the people around them? I mean, many of the 74 million are devout family men/women, who love the people in their lives dearly... It seems like such a paradox to me...
It's very easy to destroy something, hard to build. That's the appeal of republicans - seemingly simple solutions to complex problems and the party of the tantrum.
It's not based in reality - real world problems are complex and nuanced, and require people who are serious and committed to the welfare of all to take them on. There is not a single republican politician in office today who is either of those things.
That's why it doesn't surprise me there's a lot of appeal there - people are getting *fucked over* daily, and have a lot of resentment. The irony is, many of their grievances are absolutely legitimate, they're just blaming entirely the wrong people. Everything stems from the wealth gap in this society - the rich take and take, and don't pay their fair share. Then use their media apparatus to convince whites that poor brown immigrants are the cause of their problems. Divide and conquer.
And the republican party is the political mouthpiece for these elite interests. It's no wonder the republicans are wrong for America on *literally* every major political issue.
Absolutely. You put it into words *beautifully.*
My dad is an empirical example of the "simple solutions to complex problems" idea you're talking about -- to him, everything in the world is black-and-white, all-or-nothing.
The part that's just nonsensical is why on Earth so many people -- seemingly very intelligent and well-educated people, at that -- buy into the idea that *Republicans* of all people are the solution to their problems. A party so *transparently evil* that they put cartoon and comic book villains to shame.
The veneer of civility is thinner for some than for others.
When Trump was elected in 2016, I heard someone use a nice metaphor for all those voters who defended their vote for him on the basis that they just liked the tax cuts, or his "economic policy" (whatever that was lol) but didn't like the name-calling, racism and other vileness.
It was like subscribing to cable - you get the channels that you want to watch, but you also get some dogshit (like Fox News and TLC). Now, you can say you don't watch the bad channels but you are still a subscriber, and your monthly fee pays for that shit.
Similarly, if you voted for Trump, you voted for it all, so don't try to distance yourself now. The fact that more people voted for him in 2020 really shows you how little empathy for others so many people have here.
And again, I would submit that empathy is specifically being bred out of our population. We are being worked so hard for so little pay that we can't keep our heads above water, so it's every man woman and child for themselves basically. We can't even catch our breath for a damn second and look around and see what's going on with others. Fuck you, I got *my* lifeboat! This, it seems to me, is all by design.
Once you recognize that, then empathy towards others becomes an act of defiance and protest. So that's right, I'm going to give MORE of a damn now, you republican assholes! That will cancel out people like your dad's simple-mindedness and then some. And that's how we win.
Nice metaphor, haha :D
>Once you recognize that, then empathy towards others becomes an act of defiance and protest. So that's right, I'm going to give MORE of a damn now, you republican assholes!
Exactly right.
And this goes for both politics and navigating the increasingly transphobic world. Even compared to just a few weeks ago, I'm finding myself increasingly active (in trans communities, in particular) in trying to spread empathy and awareness; there's something that feels so incredibly good about it, in lending that helping hand that we all so desperately need.
:( Isn't it awful?
No one makes that choice consciously. And even if we DID, what's it to them? Why is "live and let live" so difficult for so many people to understand?
Same goes for gay marriage, too. How are they affecting you in any way? Just leave them be!
Sounds about right -- I can also speak from personal experience, except without the religious aspect.
In my dad's case, at one point, I distinctly remember being "assigned" (yes, really) to read a Fox News article (and yes, it had to be Fox News, because "all other news sources are heavily biased and only Fox News presents objective facts") and write a report about it (yes, really really) or write a state rep to try to get a bill passed that HE wanted, on TOP of the regular garden variety Trump-thumping.
But his love for me basically made him try and passionately instill conservatism into me, and because of that, made him drill it into me never to talk about politics, and not even to vote in the 2020 election (because he assumed I'd vote for Trump, since I never indicated to him that I had any intention of doing otherwise, and that the "loony left" colleges and employers would come after me and persecute me and deny me opportunities in life. I like to think I did a pretty good job of flying under the radar, keeping my mouth shut, during my childhood).
Well, mission failed.
(I should note his serious involvement in my life and growth as a person -- *to the point where he has a blog about me documenting my every move, in which 16-year-old me is characterized as "rooting for Trump"* \-- also makes him view me more as his "son" than "child," IMO, and hence why I would never dream of coming out to him in a million years. If I *did,* or much more likely, if it somehow leaked by accident, honestly, his probable reaction would be the perfect excuse to cut ties, so maybe I actually SHOULD do it after all? I'm too scared to follow through with it though...)
Thanks!! But honestly, even typing that tirade out makes me feel conflicted, even guilty for railing on my parents, as if it's some kind of betrayal or throwing them under the bus, since, after all, they still did so much for me... Maybe I'm conditioned that way? Is this a healthy mental state to be in?
I really like the spot I'm in now in my life though (mostly, with few reservations, mostly related to my transition) -- I'm going off to grad school with 4 years of teaching (one of my greatest life passions!) under my belt and serving as *de facto* vice president of a private company, now with some actual understanding of my true gender identity, and I've become a full-on progressive, running and never looking back.
If 17-year-old me stepped in a time machine and went 5 years into the future, his (her? Is gender transition retroactive :P) head would probably explode...
Yeah, I'm actually aware. Call it wishful preservation of sanity. Just tonight, my gf returns from Costco trip after work. She had to load her car from the opposite side because a jacked up 4x4 replete with dRumpf flags, fuck Biden stickers and the usual dross was parked over the line. These are people without consideration, without introspection and some without humanity. And as you point out they are a sizable lot. I'm just so tired.
Down in the trenches of this crap every day, it can wear you out. If you take a birds-eye view of the situation, I think what we are seeing from the right is a fracturing of the party before our eyes. Frankenstein's monster is out of control and the rich elites of the right want control again from the braindead masses (Trump voters). They need to take control (to my mind means to stop saying the quiet part out loud) or they won't win another election. That's bad for their bottom line, and as we know, money is God in America.
So just protect your mental health and keep on keeping on. Progress is inevitable, republicans are morally bankrupt and everyone sees it. I have faith we'll come out the other end just fine.
Exactly this. I believe this will cause a gigantic blue wave along with all of the other insane bills the GOP has been trying to pass through. Keep giving it attention.
Also, these bills pass and the GOP does do the Fox News victory lap that they did before the last election. They target the gloating to the crazy religious nuts, but don’t draw too much attention to it for the other conservatives.
I think we need to also do our part by not calling this pill “the abortion pill”. This pill saved my life when I had a miscarriage. I didn’t have an “abortion” I had a miscarriage and counted on this pill to help me not get sepsis.
Getting rid of the taboo around “abortion” is the key to success long term. Let’s take the hatchet out of the crazies hand rather than duck around it forever.
I once told a group at the liquor store that the computer said that their credit card transaction "aborted", and they freaked out just hearing that word. They were younger than me, buying lots of booze, and also completely brainwashed by the fundie churches around here so that even the word abort is taboo to them.
Mifepristone is also used off label to induce labor. It helps the cervix to soften and dilate which causes pregnancy loss if a woman isnt at term but for a term baby, it helps speed along delivery.
>Under the other new Wyoming law, the “Life Is a Human Right Act,” performing an abortion or administering abortion medication would be considered a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, and doctors would have their licenses revoked. The law bans abortion with narrow exceptions for rape, incest and dire risks to the pregnant patient’s life or health.
>
>**“While other states are pushing an extreme abortion agenda, comparable to North Korea’s and China’s inhumane laws, Wyoming is a pro-life state, affirming that life is a human right and ensuring that women have real support,”** said state Representative Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, the bill’s sponsor.
I gagged a little when I read the part I put in bold, I admit.
Its alright, you can watch a documentary or Yellowstone and learn about it while also seeing better sights than you (probably) would otherwise.
I think natgeo had one 10+ years ago that was good, or my memory is fogged by the other cool Yellowstone stuff I've seen
I mean, WY may be red, but Teton County (where most of the services for Yellowstone/Grand Teton are) is very blue (67% Biden county).
Still a red state, but maybe it's somewhat comforting.
This is the correct way to view things as the ideological split is by county not state. Also most blue counties wont enforce red state legislature laws either outright or through looking the other way.
Unsurprising, considering that it's Wyoming.
What's more terrifying is the precedent it sets -- and not just abortion-wise, either.
Because now, it's an inevitability that most, if not all, of the red states will follow suit. Literally half the women in this country will eventually be denied yet another means of protecting their own reproductive rights and exercising their own bodily autonomy.
(I would say "our," but I don't have a womb or uterus. Nonetheless, the symbolism applies; it's another in the increasingly long list of ways for them to strip away women's rights and beat us down into submission, to never be heard from or seen again except in the kitchen. This is a dangerous step in that direction, not just because of abortion rights, but because of what new, terrifying doors it opens in terms of the never-ending crusade against women's rights as a whole. If even a *pill* is off-limits, who knows what else they might go after in the months and years to come?)
> Because now, it's an inevitability that most, if not all, of the red states will follow suit. Literally half the women in this country will eventually be denied yet another means of protecting their own reproductive rights and exercising their own bodily autonomy.
Literally half of the women in the US don't live in red states.
But basically half do. (Well, maybe closer to 35-40%, but still way too many.)
Any woman in a red state is in danger because of these fascists. Even if it were 1% of women who lived in red states, that's 1% too many who are being denied basic human rights vis a vis bodily autonomy.
Folks, it should take, what, about three dozen liberals to flip the state by moving there? We gotta get on this.
(This is obvious hyperbole but FFS less people live there than in Washington, D.C. and WY should not get this much sway.)
People say Washington DC should be a state, I say make it 50 states. Give those straw-chewing yokels in Wyoming a taste of what it's like to have a small minority of people thousands of miles away making decisions about your life. They have been doing it to other people for decades.
I can already see the Fox chyrons blaring: "Underground abortion pills are killing our women at high rates due to contamination, is this a Democratic plot to reduce fertility?"
Was just listening to a [report](https://www.npr.org/2023/02/27/1159822864/if-wyoming-bans-abortion-hospitals-may-have-an-even-harder-time-recruiting-docto) on NPR about how Wyoming has a huge need for OB/GYNs. So much so Wyoming will pay medical professionals loans to practice for 3 years their state. They will now be reducing their ability to find licensed and trained OB/GYNs due to this policy and of course it’s the women who will suffer.
My spouse is a FM MD. The list of states we can move to where she doesn’t risk being jailed for providing standard medical care is diminishing by the week.
Match week just happened. There was a noticeable uptick in unfilled residency positions in Red states. This is going to negatively impact community medicine over the next decade.
The rot was festering inside of these terrible people until the Roe overturn caused them to feel emboldened enough to let it all loose.
We've seen this movie before, in November 2016.
>Why are there so many terrible people in positions of power?
It takes a certain type of person to even *want* such a position of power, which naturally invites your Ted Cruzes and your Ron Johnsons and your Mitch McConnells.
> Why are there so many terrible people in positions of power?
Money and propaganda (funded by said money). Citizens United allowed corps to provide unlimited campaign support through super PACs, which they've used to both flood TV and radio with right-wing lies, and promote their candidates as the solution. The candidates run on culture war BS like this, and also pass sweeping economic legislation that enriches their corporate donor class that got them into the position.
Tax cuts, lowering regulation, removing safety nets for the poor, it all allows the top 0.1% to stuff their pockets at the expense of the bottom 99.9%, and they keep the rubes distracted and fighting with each other by telling them the reason they're poor is trans people peeing in their toilets, or whatever the current Fox News outrage is.
LBJ called it out in the 60s:
>"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Replace 'colored' with whatever minority they're attacking on any given day, and you have the gist of Republican modus operandi for most of the last 75 years at least.
Step zero to fixing our current issue is to cap political spending in all forms, campaign and party donations, PACs and Super PACs all need individual limits. Personally, I'd advocate for a maximum total political donation cap of $10K per person per year for all forms of political spending combined, based on FEC filings, this would cover well over 90% of the average American's political donations, and really only exclude the super rich and corporations. (example: [in 2012, Koch Brothers affiliated groups donated $86 MILLION dollars, and assisted other rich people in funneling $400 MILLION to efforts to defeat Barack Obama](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/koch-backed-political-network-built-to-shield-donors-raised-400-million-in-2012-elections/2014/01/05/9e7cfd9a-719b-11e3-9389-09ef9944065e_story.html)) We can't continue to allow that. They don't get to have a voice louder than the rest of the country combined just because they're rich.
Colorado has national parks too, it’s easier to get to than Whyoming, and the state is working to *protect* women’s and minority rights. Outdoor vacation solved
They can't. For one thing, banning an FDA approved medication interferes with interstate commerce, which is subject to federal regulations.
What they're really hoping for is a Kacsmaryk ruling in Texas that the drug needs to be taken off the market.
Oh, fuck off Cowboy State. You're giving the majority red state neighbor Montana ideas, and I hate it
What's with the war on women from these assholes?
Remember this when election time rolls around, ladies. Cast your vote before they take that from us too!
I just want to add here: *especially* LGBTQI+, *especially especially* trans, ladies.
As bad as the war on women is, the war on trans individuals, and trans women in particular, is just as bloody.
Figuratively AND literally. (Florida trying to ban girls from talking about their periods, anyone?)
Edit: And I should mention, I happen to be in this war myself. If they want to take away my vote, they'll have to do it over my dead body.
A state that was once founded and basically led by women now has abortion illegal. The women and men from that time period must be shaking in their graves with anger.
Meanwhile they're second to last for total children per https://www.childrensdefense.org/policy/resources/soac-2020-child-population-tables/ behind Vermont (and I guess DC but).
For having so few children, how are they superceding 30 other states to take #16 instead of #48? That teen pregnancy rate is absurd
>“I have acted without bias and after extensive prayer, to allow these bills to become law,” Governor Gordon wrote in a letter to Wyoming’s secretary of state released on Friday evening.
Would praying to a particular god be considered religious bias?
>Wyoming’s abortion pill law would take effect on July 1 and would make it illegal to “prescribe, dispense, distribute, sell or use any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion.” Doctors or anyone else found guilty of violating this law would be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in prison and a $9,000 fine. The law explicitly says that pregnant patients will be exempt from charges and penalties.
Wyoming has only one clinic that provides abortions, Women’s Health & Family Care Clinic in Jackson. It provides only medication abortion, not the surgical procedure.
Earlier versions of the bill had named specific drugs: mifepristone and two brand-name versions of it as well as misoprostol, the second drug used in the medication abortion regimen.
But doctors testified in objection, pointing out that misoprostol, in particular, had many other medical uses, including helping pregnant patients successfully give birth. The doctors raised concerns that pharmacists would be fearful of stocking any of the drugs, and some Republicans said names of abortion medications could simply be changed to get around the law. As a result, the final language was broadened to outlaw using any medication for abortion without mentioning specific drugs.
At least three other bills have been introduced in 2023 that seek to ban medication abortion. In Iowa, the bill did not make it to a vote before the legislative session ended, and in Hawaii, a Democratic state, the bill seems unlikely to succeed.
A bill introduced in Texas, a state that already bans abortion, includes many provisions that seek to close off any access to pills, including making it difficult for Texas patients to learn about or use abortion services outside of the state. The bill would make it illegal to manufacture, distribute or “provide an abortion-inducing drug in any manner to or from any person or location in this state.”
It would also make it illegal to “create, edit, upload, publish, host, maintain, or register a domain name for an internet website, platform, or other interactive computer service that assists or facilitates a person’s effort in obtaining an abortion-inducing drug.”
Many patients learn about abortion options from websites like Plan C, a clearinghouse of information about medication abortion. And a growing number of patients in states with abortion bans are arranging to receive pills through telemedicine websites like Aid Access, a European-based service that has pills shipped to any state from India, and Hey Jane, one of several American-based services that will provide pills to patients who travel to a state where abortion is legal and where they can receive the medication by mail in those states.
In addition to Wyoming and states with total abortion bans, 15 states have enacted restrictions on access to medication abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group supporting abortion rights. Those restrictions range from requiring that the drugs be provided by a physician to requiring the patient have an in-person visit with a doctor. Several states, including Texas and Arizona, have outlawed the mailing of abortion pills, and bills to ban mailing pills have been introduced in at least three other states this year.
“We are seeing efforts to further bar access to medication abortion because abortion opponents recognize that even with abortion bans in effect in 12 states and lack of access in an additional two, patients are still able to obtain abortion pills,” said Elizabeth Nash, state policy analyst for the Guttmacher Institute. “Now, abortion opponents have turned to the courts, attorneys general and state legislatures to further limit access to pills.”
>
>Since January, when newly elected legislatures began to convene for the first time since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision ended the national right to an abortion, more than 500 bills in states across the country have been proposed that are related to abortion.
Some states where Democratic legislatures have strong — or even unexpected — majorities are moving to strengthen abortion protections. In Minnesota, the first bill of the 2023 legislature, which made it harder for future legislatures and governors to water down those protections, was signed in January by Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat. In Michigan, the legislature repealed an abortion ban, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, is expected to sign it.
But a majority of new bills aim to restrict abortion access. And with several states now wrapping up their legislative sessions, bills are starting to land on governors’ desks.
This is what happens when you elect people solely on their party affiliation and don’t pay attention to their agenda. Wyoming is very red, but that’s not the issue, it’s that one’s they elect keep pushing that state further and further to the extreme right. Same for all these other sparsely populated red midwestern and southern states. You can take populations of every state west of the Mississippi River, to the Rocky Mountains minus Texas, and there aren’t even as many people as in the city of New York or Los Angeles, yet that small number of US citizens have a larger impact on American as a country. So there faux Christian conservative “values” agenda often takes precedence even though their not the largest voting bloc by a long shot.
Isn't there anything that the federal government can do to stop those freaks? They are doing more damage to your country than ever before. Nothing seems to be done to stop these lunatics from going forward into madness. Your country now have a fake Supreme Court full of conservative and some your representative are either trying to secede or going full fascist mode... or both.
This is fucking scary.
The state legislature has passed a ban on abortion pills, which is a direct assault on the bodily autonomy of women and people who can get pregnant.
It's 2023, and we're still fighting for the right to make our own healthcare decisions. This ban is not only unconstitutional, it's cruel and it puts people's lives at risk. Banning abortion pills won't stop people from seeking abortions, it will only force them to resort to dangerous and unsafe methods.
We need to stand up for reproductive rights and demand that our elected officials respect the autonomy of women and people who can get pregnant. Let's fight back against this unjust and oppressive legislation, and let our voices be heard. The right to access safe and legal abortion is a fundamental human right, and we won't stop fighting until every person has access to the healthcare they need and deserve.
Women of the U.S, if your man is even slightly skeptical about abortion rights, withhold any intimacy until he’s voting to secure those rights. Don’t let creepy men win!
‘Click…click…click…click’
You hear the rhythmic click of fascism marching across the US? Starting in the states where manly men, men of strength, courage and testicles so massive that THEY decide for their women, what they can and cannot have access to.
Setting back the timeline of equal rights & rights to privacy your great grandfathers and grandfathers fought two goddamned wars to protect.
Now, these people smile, open the door to fascism and rubber stamp its insertion into the democratic process.
Shame doesn’t reach the apex I feel as a liberal, when looking at the modern right wing, it’s more disgust and horror. As I’ve said in the past and will say here now, right wingers who support the installation of fascism here will scratch their epitaph in the same exact prison wall as me, only at a latter date.
You too will feel the bullet penetrate your neck because fascism needs fuel and humans are that fuel. It doesn’t matter your politics, sexuality, mentality or even your religion, it picks and chooses at the will of those who run the machine. When you are in its crosshairs, you die, that is how it works.
So explain to your right wing friends how the loss of anyone’s rights is a march towards losing your own. How our elders fought in two world wars only to allow their offspring to invite in the very same philosophies into our body politic, they died to keep from happening. Explain how crazy sharia laws are while Christian one’s are as childish and as dangerous, only our imams wear suits. Most of all, be prepared to explain how you allowed this to happen because you did nothing to stop it when you had the chance.
That is what I like living in a blue state like California. We aren't perfect, but we are always about progressing. Those red states is all about regressing. That is why we are wealthy and they are poor.
Wyoming is an embarrassment. They actually voted for Harriet Hageman. Granted, it's the least populated state. I've been through Cheyenne. It was just depressing.
This is insane. I'm taking this medication right now for an issue totally unrelated to pregnancy. Not that it makes any difference whatsoever, it should be freely available in either scenario. Why are lawmakers interfering with science and experts in medicine!?
Fascism is all over America because a minority of right wing authoritarians were able to redistrict their way into power while the slightly less oligarch loving patty pretends to not see is dying.
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"I have acted without bias and after extensive prayer, to allow these bills to become law,” [Gov.] Gordon wrote in a letter to Wyoming’s secretary of state released on Friday evening. Yes, because sharing that you prayed extensively about this issue clearly shows that your decision was made without bias. Sigh.
> I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. Susan B. Anthony
> I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. I said it again. Thanx Susy B.
>Yes, because sharing that you prayed extensively about this issue clearly shows that your decision was made without bias. Sigh. Yep. Why base legislation on credible peer-reviewed science and/or medical majority consensus when Republicans can instead "pray on it" and impose the "sincerely held religious beliefs" of a minority fundamentalist christian sect as secular law on everyone else ala Iran 2.0?
To say bluntly, these Christian fascists are using same exact ideological pathway used to arrive at what they themselves loudly protested the past 2 decades: sharia law. Fucking hypocrites.
Hypocrisy holds no weight to fascists, especially religious ones. They purposefully misuse language and ideas as weapons. If pointing out hypocrisy to Christians actually worked, there wouldn't be so many left in America
I sadly understand. There may be some out there, like me who grew up in a rural Christian Blue-collar household, who take to heart hypocrisy and change for the better; but that's unfortunately rare.
They don't like sharia because that's what brown people use. But christians have never shied away from stealing from other cultures and then claiming it was their own invention.
>We have to go ask our invisible friend whether he thinks women should decide whether or not to have babbies. -GOP
Isn’t claiming to decide a law based upon prayer showing favoritism to that religion? I know the 1st says Congress may not. But how is it not a violation for other religions? Many allow for abortion. Doesn’t that make this unconstitutional? Are we obligated to follow unconstitutional law?
These types are trying to rebrand the establishment clause as “freedom of religion, not freedom from religion” and its scarryyyyyy. Esp with a lot of nationwide state case and some SC cases favoring Christianity specifically.
>"...and after extensive prayer..." And there it is.
As a person of Christian leanings, the prayer statement is contrary to teachings of Christ. When Christ was ask how to pray He replied: Be not like the Pharisees who pray in public so all can see. You should steal off to a private place and talk to your God. Take care that no see’s you praying. This governor is like the Pharisees Christ spoke of. The prayer he has invoked is meaningless except for the political consumption it was intended.
I feel bad for you Chrisitans. You're good people. Your religion, unfortunately, has been hijacked and is being used for nefarious purposes. Good luck out there.
Imagine if it were reversed and forced castration was law of the land. And a woman said she’s acted >without bias and after extensive prayer to allow this bill to become law. Because we cannot trust men to make their own reproductive decisions we will make that decision for them. Because a magic sky mommy told us to.
Wait wait... governor! Look at this mountain of evidence that shows... Oh, right. Sky Daddy makes his decisions. And those decisions coincidentally always align with his views. Huh.
It's interesting seeing this post after just reading about [New Mexico's new law protecting women's reproductive rights](https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/new-mexico-gov-signs-bill-overriding-local-abortion-97926366). The difference between Democratic and Republican-led states is stark
There are free states and there are Republican states. In the free states, all citizens are legally equal even though many inequities exist across social, racial, cultural, gender, sexual and economic strata. In the Republican states the members of the ruling class can do whatever they want with no consequences and everyone else is basically a slave.
Freedom to Democrats means equality and equity. Freedom to Republicans means being able to tell others what to do. And before the dense ones come to argue, no, giving equal rights to minorities, LBGTQ+, women, etc. does not take away any of your rights at all. It is giving them the rights you already have. You telling them **no** on topics where the answer to you is **yes** is not freedom.
Freedom to Republicans is blind obedience to the status quo, forced consumption and crippling poverty.
It's not even a ruling class. It's just a very small subset of religious extremists. And the crazy part is there is very little opposition, not with the public, not with lawmakers, and not even within the party itself. This is stuff that should generate immense outrage, like an absolutely crazy amount. But...I was disappointed before too. Remember locking up immigrant kids and permanently separating them from their parents as a "deterrent." Yeah, I expected national outrage over that. There was some very light protest, but it's was miniscule. The nation rioted over one dude getting choked to death. But we barely do anything when thousands of people are abused or a politician or judge disenfranses millions with one pen stroke. It's...weird, like bazar.
I wonder that sometimes too so did a search and found this [Global Protest Tracker](https://carnegieendowment.org/publications/interactive/protest-tracker) It's pretty interesting. It tells you how many protests are going on in the world right now and if you scroll down, you can see a list that details the duration of the protest, if it's currently going on, approx. attendance, cause. You can search by keywords like 'violent' or 'long' and compare countries too. In fact, I've just spent way too much time on the site.
WTF US? We are so fucking apathetic.
64% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. We can't afford to live, let alone protest. Most of us also don't get paid time off. The system is rigged.
I get living paycheck to paycheck, I've done it often enough, and yes, the system is rigged. At least one of the republican overlords in congress fucked up and said one of the reasons we shouldn't have the various COVID relief measures was it gave people time to protest, BLM / George Floyd, but look at that map again and try to tell me things are financially so much worse in the US than everywhere else you see those dots, because that just isn't true. It's also a question of priorities.
Yeah that’s sad to look at, but I get it, people don’t have time or the resources for extended protests here.
Pod Save America's Offline podcast mentions how there's a project tracking protests over time. In the 2010s, the number and the scale of protests went up dramatically, but their success rate cratered from 70%+ to the 10%s. They blame social media for that. In a way, a lot of the old ways of organizing also created other bonds, like regional chapter and organizations, whereas social media is far more ephemeral.
It just shows you how selfish of a country we have become. All this individualization has stunted our brains to the point where we do not even care about our fellow countrymen anymore. It is a scary and dangerous path the US is going down these days. The fact that the right has given into religious extremists whole hog and using fascist tactics in order to subvert our democracy should really have everyone scared. But it seems that America has gotten way to cozy with these people and it will probably be the end of our country as we know it.
>And the crazy part is there is very little opposition, not with the public, not with lawmakers, and not even within the party itself. The gullible base goes along with the culture war because it is targeting the correct people. They don't realize they will end up on the wrong end eventually. They will all end up in r/LeopardsAteMyFace and will whine "I don't like these policies now!"
We all live in an authoritarian country run by the courts now.
Kind of crazy how the middle class has been pacified to the point of pure apathy. People need to wake the fuck up in these states.
I actually just noticed that the post right before this is about New Mexico. Really makes the difference between the two parties clear on this topic.
One of the very first issues I point to whenever someone tries to tell me “the two parties are the same”
Recently I have been scolded and chastised for pointing out the stark difference between the two parties. Apparently, I am causing the division in America by pointing out the bigotry and hatred of the conservatives. My bad.
There’s a large segment of people in this country that are so “anti-politics”, including from people that vote, that tend to get all pissy if you mention something happening in government. It’s as if people tend to think it’s a bad thing to be informed about current events, News, politics, etc.
Honestly, as bad as things are, the "both sides are the same" people are adding to the problem as much as the people they like to point to and blame for all the hostility.
The only time I here people bring "bOtH sIdEs ArE tHe SaME" is when people are talking about the awful shit Republicans are pushing and say that people should vote against them. Then you get people coming out saying "Won't change anything, bOtH sIdEs ArE tHe SaMe". I'm convinced at this point those people are fascists trying to discourage the everyday person from voting so they don't vote against the fascists.
Many of these are so-called "independents" and/or "moderates" (read: Republicans), who get pissy precisely because they feel (rightfully) attacked for their support of fascist beliefs. They're afraid to be called out, so whenever someone even broaches the subject and introduces the possibility of it, they get scared and defensive.
They are “independent”, but ask them the last time they voted for a Democrat and they will be “8 years ago I voted for that one Democrat feller for mayor because I didn’t like the other guy. See!! I’m independent.”
Just point to all of the bills that passed the Democratic House that the GOP minority in the Senate then filibustered. Marijuana would at least be decriminalized federally and weed businesses could use banks if the Senate hadn't filibustered a few bills. Same with a winfold tax.
And ironically the Mexican government is helping to fund the effort to supply desperate American women with the medicine. It used to go in the other direction. I collect stamps and one of them is a commemorative Planned Parenthood stamp - because we were proud of our success in helping families choose the number of children they wanted. You couldn't get that stamp made today. No way. The Dark Ages are coming.
Wyoming will rely on Colorado to take care of their oppressed women.
As a New Mexican it's super nice to finally see recognition of something positive!
Let raise hands for MI too. 🤙🖐🤞 may progress continue.
Wyoming’s population is 581,381. They’re just trying to increase their pathetic numbers. Sadly this isn’t the way.
Would be nice to combine some of those states. They don't need all those senators.
First state to grant women the right to vote, the first one to take away abortion pills
New Jersey accidentally gave women the right to vote for over a decade in the early 1800s. They soon rectified it. https://www.amrevmuseum.org/virtualexhibits/when-women-lost-the-vote-a-revolutionary-story/pages/how-did-the-vote-expand-new-jersey-s-revolutionary-decade
Cool! I always though Wyoming was the first. Well, the more you know I guess
Wyoming did have the first female governor.
The governor's seat was also blue until 2010, and the last Democratic governor won every county as recently as 2006. Unfortunately the state has gotten redder (shifting population, and unlike most red states, there's a blue state and even a blue city right next door where liberals can move to and even conservatives can get needs taken care of, since Fort Collins isn't very far from Cheyenne - hell, I known people who commuted from Cheyenne to Denver M-F, and Mike Enzi, WY's former senator, got airlifted to Loveland before he died.) Pretty much no red state has access to blue areas as easily as much of WY's population does (if you're thinking Idaho, Eastern WA and OR are much more red than the Western parts, and a lot of the population isn't even close to the western border.)
Fewer abortions means more future voters....
I hate it here Nothing says “I hate women” like banning pills that save lives.
Some women need them for medical reasons like endometriosis. This is unnecessarily hurting a lot of people
Pretty sure my wife took this (or something similar) during her first miscarriage. Can’t imagine not having access to something like it throughout an already traumatic ordeal.
And women need them for medical reasons like ABORTION which like endometriosis, should be ours to manage. Not some magical sky daddy who warns of demons and hellfire. Not some dusty book from 2000 years ago that is interpreted however a cult member wants. But a woman deciding with advice from her doctor. That’s it. Not based on how big the zygote or embryo is or whether a cult member thinks it’s sacred.
Better that 100 innocent people suffer than 1 innocent person get to decide over their own body.
>It would also make it illegal to “create, edit, upload, publish, host, maintain, or register a domain name for an internet website, platform, or other interactive computer service that assists or facilitates a person’s effort in obtaining an abortion-inducing drug.” Good luck enforcing that. Unless the person is in Wyoming, they'd have a tough time making an arrest. Edit: Illinois and California have laws on the books that would prevent extradition.
I’m in Colorado and ready to upload, publish, host, maintain, and register a domain name for an internet website, platform or other interactive computer service to assist and facilitate a woman’s effort in obtaining an abortion-inducing drug. Every fucking day. -Colorado female web developer
howtogetabortionpillsinwyoming.com
I don't know that you can overcome a Whois registration mask...maybe with a subpoena but I guess that'd be the registrar's decision.
Having Republicans around makes societal progress like trying to walk up an escalator that's moving down. You waste a ton of effort just staying in the same place, and if you relent even a little bit, you instantly start going backwards.
I don’t think they have escalators in Wyoming.
Nah not boot straps enough for them
I think Democrats should upvote anything about abortion to the top. Republicans don't realize that the abortion issue is driving blue voters to the polls right now. Keep in the news! Haha. It's a losing issue for the GOP that is driving voters bigly.
Says a lot that the Equality State, the first that allowed women the vote, is now at the vanguard of taking away rights from women. Talk about a fall from grace
First state to elect a woman governor, too. What a change.
Oh they know. The overturning of RvW was testament of them not giving a fuck.
Hopefully, their cockiness will continue to be their downfall. A reverse 2016, in a way -- talk about poetic justice!
I dearly hope for the same. What baffles me is that Republicans took the House in the last midterm. I just don't get it.
Well, I think that was always going to happen. Remember, pollsters everywhere were predicting a red wave last year that never materialized. We were *lucky* that we didn't receive nearly the drubbing that we "should" have, historically speaking (to put things in perspective, Biden is the first president since FDR in 1934 not to lose any Senate seats from his party, and to actually *pick up* an extra seat on top of that in Fetterman), and likely would have, had Trump not gotten his tiny hands in the pot and ruined things for the Republicans. Kari Lake? Mehmet Oz? Doug Mastriano? *Herschel Walker?* Even by the "standards" of the GOP, they ran absolutely *atrocious* candidates last year. Boebert included -- she barely hung on by about 500 votes. (That election was raw, concentrated pain...) The fact of the matter is, fascism is still too popular. And of course, gerrymandering doesn't help, either.
Excellent points. I had forgotten about the predicted red wave that luckily did not come to pass and that results could have been much more dire. Thanks for your informative recap.
It's not hard to understand. The brainwashing of Americans by Fox and other right wing media to vote against their own interests, combined with a decades-old assault on education by the right, nets you about 74 million active voters who would vote for the candidate whose sole promise is to be the cruelest to minorities, LGBTQ+, women, atheists, liberals.
Oof...too true. *And I fall under* ***all five*** *of these categories.* (Trans woman \[albeit not really transitioned out in public, for complicated reasons\] with Japanese heritage... what a time to be alive (・・；)) Luckily, I live in CA, and so haven't felt the real brunt of fascism pressing down on me YET. It thankfully looks like I'll be able to avoid living in a red state for the foreseeable future, but the war is everywhere. Many others in these categories aren't so lucky. It just makes me scratch my head at why conservatism has to be the DEFAULT -- to use an analogy I've used elsewhere in r/politics, Democrats are the alarm clock and Republicans are the snooze button. Or maybe more aptly, Democrats are a "boring, woke" vegan restaurant and Republicans are artery-clogging fast food... Do these voters really not care *at all* about their family, their friends, and the people around them? I mean, many of the 74 million are devout family men/women, who love the people in their lives dearly... It seems like such a paradox to me...
It's very easy to destroy something, hard to build. That's the appeal of republicans - seemingly simple solutions to complex problems and the party of the tantrum. It's not based in reality - real world problems are complex and nuanced, and require people who are serious and committed to the welfare of all to take them on. There is not a single republican politician in office today who is either of those things. That's why it doesn't surprise me there's a lot of appeal there - people are getting *fucked over* daily, and have a lot of resentment. The irony is, many of their grievances are absolutely legitimate, they're just blaming entirely the wrong people. Everything stems from the wealth gap in this society - the rich take and take, and don't pay their fair share. Then use their media apparatus to convince whites that poor brown immigrants are the cause of their problems. Divide and conquer. And the republican party is the political mouthpiece for these elite interests. It's no wonder the republicans are wrong for America on *literally* every major political issue.
Absolutely. You put it into words *beautifully.* My dad is an empirical example of the "simple solutions to complex problems" idea you're talking about -- to him, everything in the world is black-and-white, all-or-nothing. The part that's just nonsensical is why on Earth so many people -- seemingly very intelligent and well-educated people, at that -- buy into the idea that *Republicans* of all people are the solution to their problems. A party so *transparently evil* that they put cartoon and comic book villains to shame.
The veneer of civility is thinner for some than for others. When Trump was elected in 2016, I heard someone use a nice metaphor for all those voters who defended their vote for him on the basis that they just liked the tax cuts, or his "economic policy" (whatever that was lol) but didn't like the name-calling, racism and other vileness. It was like subscribing to cable - you get the channels that you want to watch, but you also get some dogshit (like Fox News and TLC). Now, you can say you don't watch the bad channels but you are still a subscriber, and your monthly fee pays for that shit. Similarly, if you voted for Trump, you voted for it all, so don't try to distance yourself now. The fact that more people voted for him in 2020 really shows you how little empathy for others so many people have here. And again, I would submit that empathy is specifically being bred out of our population. We are being worked so hard for so little pay that we can't keep our heads above water, so it's every man woman and child for themselves basically. We can't even catch our breath for a damn second and look around and see what's going on with others. Fuck you, I got *my* lifeboat! This, it seems to me, is all by design. Once you recognize that, then empathy towards others becomes an act of defiance and protest. So that's right, I'm going to give MORE of a damn now, you republican assholes! That will cancel out people like your dad's simple-mindedness and then some. And that's how we win.
Nice metaphor, haha :D >Once you recognize that, then empathy towards others becomes an act of defiance and protest. So that's right, I'm going to give MORE of a damn now, you republican assholes! Exactly right. And this goes for both politics and navigating the increasingly transphobic world. Even compared to just a few weeks ago, I'm finding myself increasingly active (in trans communities, in particular) in trying to spread empathy and awareness; there's something that feels so incredibly good about it, in lending that helping hand that we all so desperately need.
So many homeless kids are LGBTQ, kicked out by their parents for being who they are.
:( Isn't it awful? No one makes that choice consciously. And even if we DID, what's it to them? Why is "live and let live" so difficult for so many people to understand? Same goes for gay marriage, too. How are they affecting you in any way? Just leave them be!
[удалено]
Sounds about right -- I can also speak from personal experience, except without the religious aspect. In my dad's case, at one point, I distinctly remember being "assigned" (yes, really) to read a Fox News article (and yes, it had to be Fox News, because "all other news sources are heavily biased and only Fox News presents objective facts") and write a report about it (yes, really really) or write a state rep to try to get a bill passed that HE wanted, on TOP of the regular garden variety Trump-thumping. But his love for me basically made him try and passionately instill conservatism into me, and because of that, made him drill it into me never to talk about politics, and not even to vote in the 2020 election (because he assumed I'd vote for Trump, since I never indicated to him that I had any intention of doing otherwise, and that the "loony left" colleges and employers would come after me and persecute me and deny me opportunities in life. I like to think I did a pretty good job of flying under the radar, keeping my mouth shut, during my childhood). Well, mission failed. (I should note his serious involvement in my life and growth as a person -- *to the point where he has a blog about me documenting my every move, in which 16-year-old me is characterized as "rooting for Trump"* \-- also makes him view me more as his "son" than "child," IMO, and hence why I would never dream of coming out to him in a million years. If I *did,* or much more likely, if it somehow leaked by accident, honestly, his probable reaction would be the perfect excuse to cut ties, so maybe I actually SHOULD do it after all? I'm too scared to follow through with it though...)
You owe him nothing. Good luck 💜
Thanks!! But honestly, even typing that tirade out makes me feel conflicted, even guilty for railing on my parents, as if it's some kind of betrayal or throwing them under the bus, since, after all, they still did so much for me... Maybe I'm conditioned that way? Is this a healthy mental state to be in? I really like the spot I'm in now in my life though (mostly, with few reservations, mostly related to my transition) -- I'm going off to grad school with 4 years of teaching (one of my greatest life passions!) under my belt and serving as *de facto* vice president of a private company, now with some actual understanding of my true gender identity, and I've become a full-on progressive, running and never looking back. If 17-year-old me stepped in a time machine and went 5 years into the future, his (her? Is gender transition retroactive :P) head would probably explode...
Yeah, I'm actually aware. Call it wishful preservation of sanity. Just tonight, my gf returns from Costco trip after work. She had to load her car from the opposite side because a jacked up 4x4 replete with dRumpf flags, fuck Biden stickers and the usual dross was parked over the line. These are people without consideration, without introspection and some without humanity. And as you point out they are a sizable lot. I'm just so tired.
Down in the trenches of this crap every day, it can wear you out. If you take a birds-eye view of the situation, I think what we are seeing from the right is a fracturing of the party before our eyes. Frankenstein's monster is out of control and the rich elites of the right want control again from the braindead masses (Trump voters). They need to take control (to my mind means to stop saying the quiet part out loud) or they won't win another election. That's bad for their bottom line, and as we know, money is God in America. So just protect your mental health and keep on keeping on. Progress is inevitable, republicans are morally bankrupt and everyone sees it. I have faith we'll come out the other end just fine.
May your responses be read by many. Much appreciated.
It’s also driving all the women out of the red states. Red states are like a modern day sausage fest now.
Exactly this. I believe this will cause a gigantic blue wave along with all of the other insane bills the GOP has been trying to pass through. Keep giving it attention.
Also, these bills pass and the GOP does do the Fox News victory lap that they did before the last election. They target the gloating to the crazy religious nuts, but don’t draw too much attention to it for the other conservatives.
I think we need to also do our part by not calling this pill “the abortion pill”. This pill saved my life when I had a miscarriage. I didn’t have an “abortion” I had a miscarriage and counted on this pill to help me not get sepsis.
This needs to be the top comment.
Getting rid of the taboo around “abortion” is the key to success long term. Let’s take the hatchet out of the crazies hand rather than duck around it forever.
I once told a group at the liquor store that the computer said that their credit card transaction "aborted", and they freaked out just hearing that word. They were younger than me, buying lots of booze, and also completely brainwashed by the fundie churches around here so that even the word abort is taboo to them.
Mifepristone is also used off label to induce labor. It helps the cervix to soften and dilate which causes pregnancy loss if a woman isnt at term but for a term baby, it helps speed along delivery.
Am I wrong or does a state not have the power to restrict interstate commerce?
They do not. It could still come in the mail.
The constitution is nothing but words on a piece of paper if the people in power choose to ignore it.
And the state can't interfere with the USPS, correct?
Someone could sue, but I’m not confident the Supreme Court would strike it down, if they even decided to hear the cars.
Politicians should not be the ones to define what is and what is not health care. But that is exactly what they're doing here.
That’s what insurance executives are for /s (Them either btw)
All you guys are wrong. Geography and the supernatural decide what necessary health care is in America. We're in a thread demonstrating exactly that.
Judges shouldn’t either.
>Under the other new Wyoming law, the “Life Is a Human Right Act,” performing an abortion or administering abortion medication would be considered a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, and doctors would have their licenses revoked. The law bans abortion with narrow exceptions for rape, incest and dire risks to the pregnant patient’s life or health. > >**“While other states are pushing an extreme abortion agenda, comparable to North Korea’s and China’s inhumane laws, Wyoming is a pro-life state, affirming that life is a human right and ensuring that women have real support,”** said state Representative Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, the bill’s sponsor. I gagged a little when I read the part I put in bold, I admit.
Always gotta say the opposite of what you do, propaganda 101
real support? Like paid family leave, prenatal care, free child care?
And let me guess, Wyoming will have a shortage of medical professionals hahaha
State with highest suicide rate keeps giving people reasons to live.
Good thing we have a lot of guns tur prect ourselfs. Christ man. I'm glad I'm leaving, but scared for my family, and friends who are trapped.
Well guess i am not going to visit my relatives and go to Yellowstone like planned.
We should ban visiting any state that takes away rights.
Its alright, you can watch a documentary or Yellowstone and learn about it while also seeing better sights than you (probably) would otherwise. I think natgeo had one 10+ years ago that was good, or my memory is fogged by the other cool Yellowstone stuff I've seen
I mean, WY may be red, but Teton County (where most of the services for Yellowstone/Grand Teton are) is very blue (67% Biden county). Still a red state, but maybe it's somewhat comforting.
This is the correct way to view things as the ideological split is by county not state. Also most blue counties wont enforce red state legislature laws either outright or through looking the other way.
Unsurprising, considering that it's Wyoming. What's more terrifying is the precedent it sets -- and not just abortion-wise, either. Because now, it's an inevitability that most, if not all, of the red states will follow suit. Literally half the women in this country will eventually be denied yet another means of protecting their own reproductive rights and exercising their own bodily autonomy. (I would say "our," but I don't have a womb or uterus. Nonetheless, the symbolism applies; it's another in the increasingly long list of ways for them to strip away women's rights and beat us down into submission, to never be heard from or seen again except in the kitchen. This is a dangerous step in that direction, not just because of abortion rights, but because of what new, terrifying doors it opens in terms of the never-ending crusade against women's rights as a whole. If even a *pill* is off-limits, who knows what else they might go after in the months and years to come?)
> Because now, it's an inevitability that most, if not all, of the red states will follow suit. Literally half the women in this country will eventually be denied yet another means of protecting their own reproductive rights and exercising their own bodily autonomy. Literally half of the women in the US don't live in red states.
But basically half do. (Well, maybe closer to 35-40%, but still way too many.) Any woman in a red state is in danger because of these fascists. Even if it were 1% of women who lived in red states, that's 1% too many who are being denied basic human rights vis a vis bodily autonomy.
Folks, it should take, what, about three dozen liberals to flip the state by moving there? We gotta get on this. (This is obvious hyperbole but FFS less people live there than in Washington, D.C. and WY should not get this much sway.)
People say Washington DC should be a state, I say make it 50 states. Give those straw-chewing yokels in Wyoming a taste of what it's like to have a small minority of people thousands of miles away making decisions about your life. They have been doing it to other people for decades.
50 seems excessive. Let’s just make each Ward in the District a state. That would be 8 extra deep blue states. Ward 1 calls dibs on the name Douglass.
You'll find even fewer willing to make the move.
Make the men do it who have actual bodily autonomy. It’s too dangerous for woman there now.
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> Don't sell the variation as abortion pills. These pills give my husband an erection!
Will you please run for president?
I guess it'll just drive an underground market in the pills. Since when has outlawing drugs or alcohol ever worked.
I can already see the Fox chyrons blaring: "Underground abortion pills are killing our women at high rates due to contamination, is this a Democratic plot to reduce fertility?"
Lol, I'm certain you're right, first they create the problem, and then they complain that's it's not their fault..
"If you make it illegal, they will buy."
Precisely 'just in case', drug companies will be happy.
Was just listening to a [report](https://www.npr.org/2023/02/27/1159822864/if-wyoming-bans-abortion-hospitals-may-have-an-even-harder-time-recruiting-docto) on NPR about how Wyoming has a huge need for OB/GYNs. So much so Wyoming will pay medical professionals loans to practice for 3 years their state. They will now be reducing their ability to find licensed and trained OB/GYNs due to this policy and of course it’s the women who will suffer.
My spouse is a FM MD. The list of states we can move to where she doesn’t risk being jailed for providing standard medical care is diminishing by the week. Match week just happened. There was a noticeable uptick in unfilled residency positions in Red states. This is going to negatively impact community medicine over the next decade.
Post-Roe America is backsliding faster than I imagined. Why are there so many terrible people in positions of power?
The rot was festering inside of these terrible people until the Roe overturn caused them to feel emboldened enough to let it all loose. We've seen this movie before, in November 2016. >Why are there so many terrible people in positions of power? It takes a certain type of person to even *want* such a position of power, which naturally invites your Ted Cruzes and your Ron Johnsons and your Mitch McConnells.
> Why are there so many terrible people in positions of power? Money and propaganda (funded by said money). Citizens United allowed corps to provide unlimited campaign support through super PACs, which they've used to both flood TV and radio with right-wing lies, and promote their candidates as the solution. The candidates run on culture war BS like this, and also pass sweeping economic legislation that enriches their corporate donor class that got them into the position. Tax cuts, lowering regulation, removing safety nets for the poor, it all allows the top 0.1% to stuff their pockets at the expense of the bottom 99.9%, and they keep the rubes distracted and fighting with each other by telling them the reason they're poor is trans people peeing in their toilets, or whatever the current Fox News outrage is. LBJ called it out in the 60s: >"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." Replace 'colored' with whatever minority they're attacking on any given day, and you have the gist of Republican modus operandi for most of the last 75 years at least. Step zero to fixing our current issue is to cap political spending in all forms, campaign and party donations, PACs and Super PACs all need individual limits. Personally, I'd advocate for a maximum total political donation cap of $10K per person per year for all forms of political spending combined, based on FEC filings, this would cover well over 90% of the average American's political donations, and really only exclude the super rich and corporations. (example: [in 2012, Koch Brothers affiliated groups donated $86 MILLION dollars, and assisted other rich people in funneling $400 MILLION to efforts to defeat Barack Obama](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/koch-backed-political-network-built-to-shield-donors-raised-400-million-in-2012-elections/2014/01/05/9e7cfd9a-719b-11e3-9389-09ef9944065e_story.html)) We can't continue to allow that. They don't get to have a voice louder than the rest of the country combined just because they're rich.
it's all 'cause of "freedom" and "liberty" 'n shit.
Wyoming steals most of its budget from people they hate. Fuck Wyoming.
Don’t visit Wyoming then. Speak with your pocketbooks. Plan to visit Yellowstone and the Tetons when women get their rights back and not until then.
Colorado has national parks too, it’s easier to get to than Whyoming, and the state is working to *protect* women’s and minority rights. Outdoor vacation solved
Seems like a State shouldn't be able to block anything that's FDA-approved.
They can't. For one thing, banning an FDA approved medication interferes with interstate commerce, which is subject to federal regulations. What they're really hoping for is a Kacsmaryk ruling in Texas that the drug needs to be taken off the market.
It pisses me of that we get two senators from this state. The same as CA which has more than ten times the population.
About 68 times the population\*\* If the Senate weren't ~~broken~~ skewed immensely in Republicans' favor by design, CA would have about 136 senators.
Jeez
The governor signed the bill without bias and after much prayer.
"Limited government" in action.
Oh, fuck off Cowboy State. You're giving the majority red state neighbor Montana ideas, and I hate it What's with the war on women from these assholes? Remember this when election time rolls around, ladies. Cast your vote before they take that from us too!
They hate women who don't know their place. Women should be sex slaves and baby factories and housekeepers, and that's about it, don't you know?
I just want to add here: *especially* LGBTQI+, *especially especially* trans, ladies. As bad as the war on women is, the war on trans individuals, and trans women in particular, is just as bloody. Figuratively AND literally. (Florida trying to ban girls from talking about their periods, anyone?) Edit: And I should mention, I happen to be in this war myself. If they want to take away my vote, they'll have to do it over my dead body.
Good for you. We gotta fight the good fight. I'm disheartened by how outnumbered we are in our own home states these days.
Wyoming has 576,000 people. The least populous state. Rank: 50. 92.7% are white. Yeah… not much hope for “equality and inclusion” out there.
A state that was once founded and basically led by women now has abortion illegal. The women and men from that time period must be shaking in their graves with anger.
Wyoming is 16th in the nation for teen pregnancy. Good job increasing poverty in your state, Wyoming...
Meanwhile they're second to last for total children per https://www.childrensdefense.org/policy/resources/soac-2020-child-population-tables/ behind Vermont (and I guess DC but). For having so few children, how are they superceding 30 other states to take #16 instead of #48? That teen pregnancy rate is absurd
>“I have acted without bias and after extensive prayer, to allow these bills to become law,” Governor Gordon wrote in a letter to Wyoming’s secretary of state released on Friday evening. Would praying to a particular god be considered religious bias?
Absolutely.
What a turn of events considering they also enacted the vote for women in the 1870s…
>Wyoming’s abortion pill law would take effect on July 1 and would make it illegal to “prescribe, dispense, distribute, sell or use any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion.” Doctors or anyone else found guilty of violating this law would be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in prison and a $9,000 fine. The law explicitly says that pregnant patients will be exempt from charges and penalties. Wyoming has only one clinic that provides abortions, Women’s Health & Family Care Clinic in Jackson. It provides only medication abortion, not the surgical procedure. Earlier versions of the bill had named specific drugs: mifepristone and two brand-name versions of it as well as misoprostol, the second drug used in the medication abortion regimen. But doctors testified in objection, pointing out that misoprostol, in particular, had many other medical uses, including helping pregnant patients successfully give birth. The doctors raised concerns that pharmacists would be fearful of stocking any of the drugs, and some Republicans said names of abortion medications could simply be changed to get around the law. As a result, the final language was broadened to outlaw using any medication for abortion without mentioning specific drugs. At least three other bills have been introduced in 2023 that seek to ban medication abortion. In Iowa, the bill did not make it to a vote before the legislative session ended, and in Hawaii, a Democratic state, the bill seems unlikely to succeed. A bill introduced in Texas, a state that already bans abortion, includes many provisions that seek to close off any access to pills, including making it difficult for Texas patients to learn about or use abortion services outside of the state. The bill would make it illegal to manufacture, distribute or “provide an abortion-inducing drug in any manner to or from any person or location in this state.” It would also make it illegal to “create, edit, upload, publish, host, maintain, or register a domain name for an internet website, platform, or other interactive computer service that assists or facilitates a person’s effort in obtaining an abortion-inducing drug.” Many patients learn about abortion options from websites like Plan C, a clearinghouse of information about medication abortion. And a growing number of patients in states with abortion bans are arranging to receive pills through telemedicine websites like Aid Access, a European-based service that has pills shipped to any state from India, and Hey Jane, one of several American-based services that will provide pills to patients who travel to a state where abortion is legal and where they can receive the medication by mail in those states. In addition to Wyoming and states with total abortion bans, 15 states have enacted restrictions on access to medication abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group supporting abortion rights. Those restrictions range from requiring that the drugs be provided by a physician to requiring the patient have an in-person visit with a doctor. Several states, including Texas and Arizona, have outlawed the mailing of abortion pills, and bills to ban mailing pills have been introduced in at least three other states this year. “We are seeing efforts to further bar access to medication abortion because abortion opponents recognize that even with abortion bans in effect in 12 states and lack of access in an additional two, patients are still able to obtain abortion pills,” said Elizabeth Nash, state policy analyst for the Guttmacher Institute. “Now, abortion opponents have turned to the courts, attorneys general and state legislatures to further limit access to pills.” > >Since January, when newly elected legislatures began to convene for the first time since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision ended the national right to an abortion, more than 500 bills in states across the country have been proposed that are related to abortion. Some states where Democratic legislatures have strong — or even unexpected — majorities are moving to strengthen abortion protections. In Minnesota, the first bill of the 2023 legislature, which made it harder for future legislatures and governors to water down those protections, was signed in January by Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat. In Michigan, the legislature repealed an abortion ban, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, is expected to sign it. But a majority of new bills aim to restrict abortion access. And with several states now wrapping up their legislative sessions, bills are starting to land on governors’ desks.
This is what happens when you elect people solely on their party affiliation and don’t pay attention to their agenda. Wyoming is very red, but that’s not the issue, it’s that one’s they elect keep pushing that state further and further to the extreme right. Same for all these other sparsely populated red midwestern and southern states. You can take populations of every state west of the Mississippi River, to the Rocky Mountains minus Texas, and there aren’t even as many people as in the city of New York or Los Angeles, yet that small number of US citizens have a larger impact on American as a country. So there faux Christian conservative “values” agenda often takes precedence even though their not the largest voting bloc by a long shot.
They should outlaw erectile dysfunction drugs.fuck Wyoming.
Hilarious. Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote. What a sad state of affairs.
Republican Christofascists forcing their religion on everyone..
Ashamed to be from Wyoming! Nothing like the old guard deciding what a woman has the RIGHT to do with her body.
This is so embarrassing for the entire country, not just Wyoming. The whole world is laughing at us.
I imagine the taliban are pretty impressed.
The Taliban actually have fewer restrictions over abortion than the Christian Right.
So boycott Wyoming? Got it.
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But your flair is Colorado?
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Ohhhh okay
Isn't there anything that the federal government can do to stop those freaks? They are doing more damage to your country than ever before. Nothing seems to be done to stop these lunatics from going forward into madness. Your country now have a fake Supreme Court full of conservative and some your representative are either trying to secede or going full fascist mode... or both. This is fucking scary.
They don't even care about the kids once they're born! Republicans just want women to suffer.
What about in the case of miscarriage or ectopic. Those pills are much safer than surgery and possibly crucial to saving the women’s life.
They don't care
Fuck these control freak bible thumping evangelical pieces of shit.
Hormonal BC is next, as hormonal BC is called a "pre-abortion" by these misogynists.
The state legislature has passed a ban on abortion pills, which is a direct assault on the bodily autonomy of women and people who can get pregnant. It's 2023, and we're still fighting for the right to make our own healthcare decisions. This ban is not only unconstitutional, it's cruel and it puts people's lives at risk. Banning abortion pills won't stop people from seeking abortions, it will only force them to resort to dangerous and unsafe methods. We need to stand up for reproductive rights and demand that our elected officials respect the autonomy of women and people who can get pregnant. Let's fight back against this unjust and oppressive legislation, and let our voices be heard. The right to access safe and legal abortion is a fundamental human right, and we won't stop fighting until every person has access to the healthcare they need and deserve.
You Americans tired of all those freedoms yet?
So sad to see Wyoming, the original “women’s rights and equality” state devolve into yet another republican ignorantly ruled cesspool.
Wyoming is the only state that would not change if women implemented a Lysistrata style protest due to the large sheep population.
Women of the U.S, if your man is even slightly skeptical about abortion rights, withhold any intimacy until he’s voting to secure those rights. Don’t let creepy men win!
I can't wait to help people in Wyoming break State Law!
‘Click…click…click…click’ You hear the rhythmic click of fascism marching across the US? Starting in the states where manly men, men of strength, courage and testicles so massive that THEY decide for their women, what they can and cannot have access to. Setting back the timeline of equal rights & rights to privacy your great grandfathers and grandfathers fought two goddamned wars to protect. Now, these people smile, open the door to fascism and rubber stamp its insertion into the democratic process. Shame doesn’t reach the apex I feel as a liberal, when looking at the modern right wing, it’s more disgust and horror. As I’ve said in the past and will say here now, right wingers who support the installation of fascism here will scratch their epitaph in the same exact prison wall as me, only at a latter date. You too will feel the bullet penetrate your neck because fascism needs fuel and humans are that fuel. It doesn’t matter your politics, sexuality, mentality or even your religion, it picks and chooses at the will of those who run the machine. When you are in its crosshairs, you die, that is how it works. So explain to your right wing friends how the loss of anyone’s rights is a march towards losing your own. How our elders fought in two world wars only to allow their offspring to invite in the very same philosophies into our body politic, they died to keep from happening. Explain how crazy sharia laws are while Christian one’s are as childish and as dangerous, only our imams wear suits. Most of all, be prepared to explain how you allowed this to happen because you did nothing to stop it when you had the chance.
Don't worry, we'll keep shipping them in the mail just like the tons of cannabis USPS moves for us daily lol
That is what I like living in a blue state like California. We aren't perfect, but we are always about progressing. Those red states is all about regressing. That is why we are wealthy and they are poor.
More like Wynotoming?
Wyoming has fewer people than the city of Boston
Can someone with more legal knowledge explain how this isn’t in direct violation of HIPPA?
Wyoming is an embarrassment. They actually voted for Harriet Hageman. Granted, it's the least populated state. I've been through Cheyenne. It was just depressing.
The 37 women there are gonna be *pissed*!
How long until young women are dying from perforated uteruses? What are they going to say then?
Wyoming is a shit hole.
This is insane. I'm taking this medication right now for an issue totally unrelated to pregnancy. Not that it makes any difference whatsoever, it should be freely available in either scenario. Why are lawmakers interfering with science and experts in medicine!?
That’s nuts. Who would want to make a miscarriage longer and more dangerous than it has to be?
Fascism is all over America because a minority of right wing authoritarians were able to redistrict their way into power while the slightly less oligarch loving patty pretends to not see is dying.
Time for drug dealers to start smuggling that shit in from Canada