The Arizona Supreme Court just upheld an anti-abortion law from 1864 — a time when women couldn’t vote, human beings were still enslaved, and Arizona wasn’t even a state. It bans all abortions except to save the pregnant person’s life. More here from Joy Reid. Arizona Republicans made a show of saying the law “went too far” — then blocked Democrats’ attempts to repeal it.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says she will not enforce this law, which she calls “unconscionable.” It’s worth remembering that she beat her Republican opponent by less than 300 votes. Every vote counts, ad we need a blue tidal wave this November.
Meantime, here are some quick links from Jessica Valenti:
➡ Safe websites to buy abortion medication: Aid Access, Plan C Pills, Abortion Finder, I Need An A
➡ If you need help affording abortion care, contact an abortion fund near you.
➡ To protect your digital privacy when planning your abortion, click here.
➡ For free legal help as a patient or doctor, call If/When/How’s Repro Helpline: 844-868-2812
➡ For medical advice, contact the Miscarriage & Abortion Hotline: 833-246-2632
➡ If you need to know the abortion law in your state, look to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Reproductive Rights:
In the wake of TFG’s mealy-mouthed attempts to backpedal about killing Roe v. Wade, Biden released a powerful new ad reminding women of the damage that decision has already done.
It’s incredible that the Comstock Act was never officially repealed, and it needs to go.
Amanda Marcotte: Right-wingers oppose birth control because it gives women freedom. They’ve repackaged their opposition as “protecting” women.
A Texas woman is suing the prosecutors who had her arrested for her abortion.
Kamala Harris talks about reproductive rights.
Violence:
OJ Simpson died this week, 30 years after the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson was acquitted at the criminal trial, but later found liable in a civil trial for wrongful death. His 9-year prison sentence was for a 2008 robbery of sports memorabilia (which he claimed had been stolen from him). Some of the coverage of his death foregrounded his “football hero” status rather than the murder trial. Moira Donegan has more:
Abuse is like this: its contradictions and reversals, the batterer’s promises that he will change matched only by the victim’s desperate, delusional wish to believe him. But domestic violence is like cancer: without intervention, it will march inevitably towards death. Nicole begged for help: from police, from her friends, from family and ultimately from a domestic violence shelter. No one was able to help her, because no one was willing to stand between her and OJ. No one was willing to act like her life was more important than his celebrity.
After being convicted of assault and harassment against his ex-girlfriend, Jonathan Majors got off with probation and counseling.
Jon Stone was fired from his job as a cop after an investigation into his exploitation of a teenage girl led to him threatening to rape the police chief’s daughter and go on a shooting spree. Stone is now a Republican state legislator in New Hampshire, running on — what else? — “family values.”
It’s unclear yet how many men are involved but there have been a rash of incidents of men randomly punching women in NYC.
More than 200 women and several men have accused a Massachusetts doctor of sexual abuse, including unnecessary breast and pelvic exams.
From Native News Online: April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Stabbing spree at shopping mall leaves five women and a man dead from stabbing attacks in Australia earlier today. Eight hospitalized, some with severe injuries. Female police officer shot the assailant dead in self defense and in defense of others, when she confronted him by herself on arrival. TRIGGER WARNING: Upsetting details about the victims at the link. Police have yet to determine motive. I will go out on a limb and predict that they will find he's a domestic abuser. And he's been in trouble for it but just a slap on the wrist in the past.
Health Care:
Federal law now requires hospitals to get informed consent before performing a pelvic exam. Incredibly, many states allowed hospitals to perform them without the patient’s knowledge while the patient was unconscious for unrelated surgery. This was done in order to teach medical students how to do the exam. Requiring informed consent should have been obvious.
Inside Gaza’s primary maternity hospital, where up to three babies die daily.
From The19thNews On Tuesday, President Joe Biden doubled down on his support for care workers, family caregivers and advocates.
From WorldHealthOrganization downloadable: “Fair share for health and care: gender and the undervaluation of health and care work.”
Media:
There's a trailer HERE for a film entitled Irene's Vow the true story of Irena Gut, a Polish nurse in WWII. On learning that a ghetto nearby is about to be liquidated, she found a way to shelter Jews in the safest place she could imagine — the basement of the house of a Nazi officer.
From the 19TH What college basketball tells us about women and winning democracy: When we see people participate, we normalize their leadership in public life. A lesson in sports and politics.
Amanda Marcotte on Nick Adams, the lates “masculinity influencer” to profit off insecure men by selling misogyny as “just a little joke.”
Uncategorizable:
The19thNews Black gubernatorial North Carolina GOP nominee Mark Robinson, the current Lt. Gov., built his brand through online vitriol — particularly toward Black women. Experts say his candidacy sheds light on how Republican candidates rise by appealing to the extremes and how hate spreads online. (This guy is a real piece of work — says he wants to go back to when women couldn’t vote. I suggest we compromise and not vote for HIM.)
Nike revealed the new US track & field uniforms for the Paris Olympics — and the women’s uniform doesn’t have much to it, and is getting backlash from women athletes.
Amanda Marcotte: Why Republicans are doubling down on misogyny.
Good News:
Judith Suminwa Tuluka was appointed the first female prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
From cfr.org Women Voters’ Pivotal Role in Electing the Next U.S. President - the 2024 U.S. presidential election could be the first election clearly decided by women, in a landmark assertion of power by the majority.
The number’s going up, much too slowly!
