In Italy, anti-abortion activists are moving into abortion clinics, not away from them:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/16/italy-passes-measures-to-allow-anti-abortion-activists-to-enter-abortion-clinics
Arizona again blocks a vote on repealing the 1864 law. Second time. Just keep hitting yourselves in the head, GOP.
https://www.meidastouch.com/news/arizona-house-republicans-again-refuse-to-take-up-repeal-of-1864-abortion-ban
Some good news which I hadn't seen until now - Poland
12 Apr 2024 17.08 CEST Summary of the day The Polish parliament considered proposals on loosening the country’s near total ban on abortion. The MPs looked at four bills: Two are aimed at legalising abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy and another is focused on decriminalisation. The fourth seeks a return to strict 1993 laws. The parliament voted on Friday afternoon to send all four bills to a special committee for consideration, despite differences of opinion within the ruling coalition. The speaker of the Polish parliament, Szymon Hołownia, said his party backed the bills “out of respect for democracy and concern for the durability of the coalition.” Civil society groups and some MPs celebrated the move. Miko Czerwiński, head of campaigns at Amnesty International Poland, said that “Poland’s parliament has taken a significant step towards ending Poland’s cruel and draconian restrictions on access to abortion.” The Center for Reproductive Rights in Europe said that “this is an important first step towards aligning the law with the majority of European countries where abortion is legal on request.” The president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, the archbishop Tadeusz Wojda, urged Poles “to make this Sunday a day of special prayer in defence of the unborn.”
12 Apr 2024 17.08 CEST Summary of the day
The Polish parliament considered proposals on loosening the country’s near total ban on abortion.
The MPs looked at four bills: Two are aimed at legalising abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy and another is focused on decriminalisation. The fourth seeks a return to strict 1993 laws.
The parliament voted on Friday afternoon to send all four bills to a special committee for consideration, despite differences of opinion within the ruling coalition.
The speaker of the Polish parliament, Szymon Hołownia, said his party backed the bills “out of respect for democracy and concern for the durability of the coalition.” Civil society groups and some MPs celebrated the move.
Miko Czerwiński, head of campaigns at Amnesty International Poland, said that “Poland’s parliament has taken a significant step towards ending Poland’s cruel and draconian restrictions on access to abortion.”
The Center for Reproductive Rights in Europe said that “this is an important first step towards aligning the law with the majority of European countries where abortion is legal on request.”
The president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, the archbishop Tadeusz Wojda, urged Poles “to make this Sunday a day of special prayer in defence of the unborn.”
There is a growing reluctance within the Coalition, however, around making further changes, with one senior source saying it is hard to envisage any major change prior to the general election. Another Government source said they were not sure how much appetite there is for legislative change.
I wonder is this mindset part of the fallout from the referedum defeats. Whatever, I think it would be a big OG not to at least scrap the three-day waiting period, given the apparently overwhelming consensus around that.
The funny thing is, I don't have any expectation SF would change it either - once they get into government the pressure on them to be socially "radical" 🙄 is off, and they still have a sizeable catholic conservative rump especially up north.
Meanwhile - the ASN don't exactly beat around the bush do they? 😁
https://www.asn.org.uk/
👍️
If I still cared, I could use that as a means of proving to my local diocese I'm no longer a catholic in good standing 😛
Arizona finally passes a repeal of their ,1864 ban. Not quite repealed yet. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/24/politics/arizona-house-abortion-law/index.html
Safe zones bill passes Seanad, goes to the President for signature.
Should've been done five years ago.
The Bill will prohibit anti-abortion protests within 100 metres of any facility that could be providing access to terminations. This will allow for exclusion zones around all hospitals, GP practices and other facilities such as the Dublin Well Woman Centre and Irish Family Planning Association services.
Should be 200 or 300 metres! Nobody has any reason to protest at such a facility other than to attempt to intimidate staff and clients.
The bill is just to be signed into law by Governor Hobbes to make almost all abortions legal. I do not know what class of abortion will still be unlawful after Gov Hobbes sign's the bill into law.
Newly-elected city councillor, Malachy Steenson, recipient of a three-year suspended sentence from the Special Criminal Court for "Republican activities", is now in favour of life and wants people to attend the "Rally for Life" on 7th July:
he has always been on the pro-life side to be fair so his views are well known and nothing new.
..
Pregnant people? He means pregnant women.
I think we should be applauding his inclusiveness and support for the right for every man to have a baby, if they so desire.
Men don't have ovaries.
It may mark me out as unbearably woke, Highlighter, but I have always been of the view that women are people too.
Why devalue womanhood then? Nature dictates its women who give birth, not men.
Splitter
Look, it's not anyone's fault he can't have a baby - not even the Romans.
They who are called the Romans, they go to the house!
On the other side of the pond, the U.S.S.C has rejected a bid by anti-abortion groups and doctors to restrict access to Mifepristone, deciding instead that access to it be preserved for women who request it, and [presumably] service providers who assist women requesting abortions.
Umm, nature dictates? A large number of religious believers would differ with you about that, men being in the preponderance there actively [as it were] involved in promoting a certain approach to the issue.
More on this… very odd choice of thumbnail picture though which does not appear in the article, BBC still has not learned that 'balance' != equal space and time for fringe nutcases a la Farage
Or maybe they're looking for outrage clicks 🙄 🤬
In recent months, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has called for compromise from his party members, suggesting strict bans were politically costly.
Sucking up to fundies has a price tag attached, Donald.
I struggle to see how accepting that women are people "devalues womanhood".
I hope by my reading of the decision, that the SCOTUS has shot down the 'judges review the CDC' nonsense that this law was based on. Their 9-0 decision was that, the plaintiffs (right-winggity Texas so-called doctors) had no standing since they weren't impacted by the use of the drug. But, this attempt at judicial activism by the GQP can come back in another form; it took them quite a few tries to get Roe repealed.
I don't do sky fairies. I'm a science guy. 😎
Perhaps not a sciency as you think you are? A science guy wouldn't say that nature "dictates" anything. Dictating requires a will, an inention, an ability to command, the capacity to frame objectives and pursue outcomes. Nature has none of these things.
It's true that only some people can give birth but, nevertheless, everyone who can give birth is included in the term "people" and there is nothing scientifically objectionable in referring to those who give birth as "people"; they are people. Whatever drives an insistence that, whenever birth is mentioned, regardless of the context it's necessary to use language that emphasises that only some people can give birth, it's not a commitment to science.
To be pedantic, dictating does not require intention, circumstances can also dictate. From Merriam-Webster
transitive verb
1 : to speak or read for a person to transcribe or for a machine to record dictating a letter to her secretary 2 a : to issue as an order b : to impose, pronounce, or specify authoritatively dictate the terms of surrender … the league will dictate policy for all teams … —Alex Yannis c: to require or determine necessarily injuries dictated the choice of players The weather will dictate how long we stay.
And yet it is science that looks like providing the artificial womb very soon, see https://english.elpais.com/technology/2023-12-26/some-feminists-believe-that-artificial-wombs-will-be-an-antidote-to-the-patriarchy-but-the-prospects-are-not-so-clear.html#
Technological progress through science is continually expanding what humanity can achieve beyond previous natural limitations.
Nature does indeed dictate. A man cannot conceive. Only women can. Correct?
So you agree with me. As nature intends to this day, only women can get pregnant. Yes? 😎
