On Tuesday, Arkansans for Limited Government sued Arkansas secretary of state John Thurston (R) after he rejected 101,000 ballot signatures. Their ballot measure “would permit people to get abortions up until 18 weeks of pregnancy, as well as in cases of rape or incest.” Currently, Arkansas bans abortion except for medical emergencies. There were enough […]
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On Tuesday, Arkansans for Limited Government sued Arkansas secretary of state John Thurston (R) after he rejected 101,000 ballot signatures. Their ballot measure “would permit people to get abortions up until 18 weeks of pregnancy, as well as in cases of rape or incest.” Currently, Arkansas bans abortion except for medical emergencies.
There were enough signatures to make the ballot, assuming they were certified. They would exceed the state minimum of 90,704 signatures. Now it’s the state Supreme Court’s decision.
The measure in Arkansas follows a flood of abortion bans since the Republican-appointed majority on the US Supreme Court overturned a woman’s right to abortion.
With the Republican National Convention this week, it’s a great time to ask: what’s their position?
The short answer is “it depends on who’s asking” and if the questioner understands code.
The longer, deductive answer: ban it.
Here’s Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance in 2021, while seeking the GOP Senate nomination:
When asked during a local interview whether abortion laws should include exceptions for rape and incest, Vance, a Republican, said he thinks “two wrongs don’t make a right.”
And 2022, while running for US Senate after winning the nomination:
I’d like [abortion] to be primarily a state issue. Ohio is going to want to have a different abortion policy from California, from New York, and I think that’s reasonable.
I want Ohio to be able to make its own decisions, and I want Ohio’s elected legislators to make those decisions. But I think it’s fine to sort of set some minimum national standard.
And his campaign website? The issues section was titled: “Ban Abortion.”
Confused yet? That’s the point.
Let’s move on to 2023, where Vance implied that Democrats support abortion “up to the moment of birth,” something that doesn’t happen. He opposed, unsuccessfully, Issue 1, “a ballot measure that enshrined reproductive rights into Ohio’s constitution” with a 56% vote.
In the wake of that loss, he equated abortion with murder, and a fetus with a child.
Vance is asking us to “embrac[e]” these “contradictions.”
Refuse to believe lies peddled to assuage the less extremist voter.
From Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny: “Post-truth is pre-fascism.”
He’s bragged about his role in overturning Roe v Wade. “I was able to terminate Roe v. Wade after 50 years of trying … I was so honored to have done it.”
’nuff said.
As Oprah so famously said: “when people show you who they are, believe them!”
Now we get to “code.”
Trump’s rewrite of the platform statement on abortion enshrines personhoood — the idea that life legally begins at conception — into the platform. It does so indirectly, as the document does not contain the phrase “personhood.”
We proudly stand for families and life. We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process and that the states are, therefore, free to pass laws protecting those rights (emphasis added).
Earlier this year, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled “that embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) should be considered children.” Embryos as people is personhood. It’s part of Vance’s objection to Ohio voters putting the right to an abortion in the state constitution.
And earlier this month:
The Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America organization made it clear that the platform’s reference to the Fourteenth Amendment was designed to open the way for a national abortion ban.
Finally, there’s Project 2025. If the Republican platform requires a simple code book, Project 2025 requires a translator who understands an alien language.
For example, beginning on page 258, Refocusing Gender Equality on Women, Children, and Families:
Instead of protecting women’s and children’s unalienable human rights and propelling their ability to thrive in society, past Democrat Administrations have nearly erased what females are and what femininity is through “gender” policies and practices [1]. For instance, these Administrations have diluted USAID’s focus on assisting vulnerable women, children, and families around the globe by adding protections for and ideological advocacy on behalf of progressive special-interest groups. USAID now aggressively promotes abortion on demand [2] under the guise of “sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights,” “gender equality,” and “women’s empowerment” and advocates for those who claim minority status or vulnerability…
[USAID] should also remove references to “abortion,” “reproductive health,” and “sexual and reproductive rights” [3] and controversial sexual education materials [from USAID websites, “agency publications and policies, and in all agency contracts and grants”]…
Biden declared a radical assault on the policy of protecting life, choosing instead to promote abortion on demand around the world under the guise of “sexual and reproductive health and rights.” USAID’s priority of funding the global abortion industry negates programs that promote life, women’s health, and the family.
My unpacking of the claims:
A brief overview of disinformation reveals many claims conflict with federal law. From the KFF International Family Planning & Reproductive Health: Statutory Requirements and Policies:
Believe them when they say in code that they want to control women’s bodies.
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The stakes in November have never been more urgent, nor the choices more extreme.
Remember: you are not voting for one person. You are voting for a team.
I’m voting for Team America not Team Russia-Hungary-North Korea.
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