Abortion in the US

[stevebrooks]

Ohio for the win, or the loss depending on which side you are on of course.

Ohio has soundly rejected the emergency Republican bill designed to prevent changes to the constitution to prevent abortion being protected constitutionally in the November bill, so it was a resounding NO to the Republican bill.

Issue 1 was the only question on the ballot in Ohio's 8 August special election.

If passed, it would have changed the threshold for approving amendments from 50% to 60%. And Issue 1 would have also made it harder to put amendments before voters in the first place, asking petitioners to gather signatures from 5% of eligible voters in each of Ohio's 88 counties, instead of the current 44.

In the 111 years since Ohio first granted voters the power to introduce citizen-led amendments, just 19 of 71 proposed measures have passed the 50% benchmark.

The bill was defeated 57% to 43%, so that's good news for the November bill, and bad news for republicans, it seems the majority of the population actually do support abortion, who would have guessed all those polls that showed the majority support in the past were actually right?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66442370

[Irrev-Black]

From a lawyer chap I follow on Mastodon:

Qasim Rashid, Esq.
@QasimRashid@mastodon.social

BREAKING: Ohio voters overwhelmingly rejected Amendment 1 tonight.

So to recap:
•Red KS—Citizens vote to protect access
•Red MT—Citizens vote to protect access
•Red KY—Citizens vote to protect access
•Red WI—Citizens vote to protect access
•Red OH—Citizens vote to protect access

72%+ Americans SUPPORT access. GOP runs on culture wars because they can't win on ideas. Vote Republicans out permanently.

One holds a faint hope that the loons are only more prominently vocal.

[stevebrooks]

The latest news is the bill was rejected by nearly 70%, which is good news all around. In fact it's quite possible that the abortion constitution changes would have passed even of the margin was 60% based on this result, fact is Republican's and the conservatives are actually in a minority here and fair and free votes would see them severely trounced on all fronts, this is why they try to suppress the vote, they know they are losers.

[stevebrooks]

“The purpose of these laws is not to meaningfully enforce them,” said Neesha Davé, executive director of the Lilith Fund, an abortion fund based in Texas. “It’s the fear that’s the point. It’s the confusion that’s the point.”

Ah, that's good to know, laws aren't made to not be enforced though, otherwise what's the point of them. If you make a law, and then it doesn't scare anyone because you have said you aren't going to enforce it, what's the point of the law? Eventually you are going to have to start enforcing it so people are scared and fearful! Oh yes what is this law?

Antiabortion advocates behind the measure are targeting regions along interstates and in areas with airports, with the goal of blocking off the main arteries out of Texas and keeping pregnant women hemmed within the confines of their antiabortion state. These provisions have already passed in two counties and two cities, creating legal risk for those traveling on major highways including Interstate 20 and Route 84, which head toward New Mexico, where abortion remains legal and new clinics have opened to accommodate Texas women.

Well that's peachy, now how do you determine that a woman traveling in a car isn't an interstate visitor traveling, or a pregnant woman heading out for a holiday, or just a nice dinner and not someone traveling for an abortion? The crux is, you can't, you have to assume that every pregnant woman traveling by car is traveling for an abortion, therefore illegally, unless they can prove otherwise, and that could be a hard thing to do!

So basically you will need travel documents to leave your county or state, oh hang on wasn't this something the Rep's said the Dem's were going to do?

[stevebrooks]

So we ready for this? Further to the above, Greg Abbott of Texas has stated they are now going to be building a border wall between Texas and New Mexico, because apparently the evil Dem state allows abortions, and that's not right, so they have to stop people crossing the border and seeking health care in a state that provides it!