Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.
The focus this time: In a post-Roe world, abortion is anything but a settled question.
First, a little mood music:
Carrying on…
In Missouri, the voters directly are at odds with the voters indirectly. Specifically after enshrining abortion rights via initiative, the Missouri legislature is seeking to reverse that.
“Three months after Missouri voters enshrined reproductive rights in the state constitution, abortion remains unavailable as the state’s main provider fights legal hurdles to resume offering the procedure.
“At the same time, opponents of abortion in the state Legislature, stung by the passage of Amendment 3 in November, have filed a raft of bills aimed at thwarting implementation of the measure or undercutting its goals while they try to find a unified strategy to prevent the return of abortion services.
“This week, state lawmakers held a hearing on a conservative-backed plan to put a new amendment on the ballot that would block most abortions. If passed by the General Assembly, the measure could go to voters as soon as this year.
“The proposed amendment would ban abortion except for in medical emergencies, when a fetus has abnormalities, or in cases of rape or incest, with rape or incest cases requiring a police report and subject to a 12-week limit. It would also prohibit public funding for abortions. What’s more, it would ban providing surgeries, hormones or drugs to assist a child with a gender transition, procedures that are already illegal in Missouri.”
The Center for Disease control is now suggesting adoption when people search for abortion related information.
“Users who search for abortion information on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website are now directed to try searching for the word ‘adoption.”’
“The change comes less than a week after more than a dozen federal agency websites — including the CDC’s — went offline. Some of the CDC’s webpages have since been restored, but scientists and public health researchers are concerned that the information that has come back has been altered in some way.
“If users click on the “Also try: adoption” hyperlink, they are brought to a search result page with a mixed list of CDC articles. Many of the links are to health guidelines for families considering international adoption.”
Meanwhile, attempts to restrict abortion to 15 rather than 24 weeks has hit a road bump.
“The state lawmakers who introduced a bill last month in the New Hampshire House of Representatives to restrict abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, rather than 24 weeks, have withdrawn their proposal.
“Citing an unspecified ‘flaw’ with their legislation, all nine sponsors tried to withdraw House Bill 476 last week. But the lawmaking process was too far along for them to terminate the proposal on their own, so their request went before the full 400-member chamber on Thursday.
“Although the Republican-controlled House voted overwhelmingly to grant the withdrawal request, the New Hampshire Democratic Party used the vote as fodder for criticism, releasing a list of 12 Republicans who ‘voted in favor of the 15-week abortion ban.’
“Technically, nobody on that list voted Thursday in favor of approving HB 476 outright. They did, however, vote in favor of an unsuccessful motion for reconsideration — which could have led to the bill being kept alive.”
TTFN.
