The anti-choicers have won. Abortion rights no longer exist for millions of women.

[cali]

This is really not hyperbole as anyone who has been closely watching what's happened in state after state, knows.

Anti-Choice March Madness: The Worst State for Women

Despite being Women's History Month, March has seen relentless attacks on ladies' rights. As soon as one state passes some outrageous woman-restricting bill, another is right behind with something even, well, outrageous-er. The "state-by-state race to the bottom on women's health," as the president of Planned Parenthood put it, inspired us to set up our own March Madness bracket to determine the national champion in the War on Women.
ROUND ONE: THE MEAN SIXTEEN

No doubt about it, these states all brought their A games to this season's War on Women. From imposing onerous new building codes on abortion clinics to threatening to throw doctors in jail for providing life-saving abortions, these contenders made it all but impossible for women to obtain (still constitutionally protected) abortions. The qualifiers:

<snip>

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/anti-woman-march-madness

North Dakota passes toughest anti-abortion package in US; bills await governor

North Dakota lawmakers approved measures Friday that would effectively ban abortion in the state, including a ballot referendum that would let voters declare that life begins at conception.

<snip>

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/22/17420927-north-dakota-passes-toughest-anti-abortion-package-in-us-bills-await-governor?lite

40 years after Roe v. Wade, more states restricting abortion

Forty years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down many state restrictions on abortion with Roe v. Wade, women who want to terminate a pregnancy face a growing number of roadblocks in many parts of the country.

Last year, 19 states enacted a total of 43 provisions limiting access to abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute. That was half the number that went into effect the previous year, but still the second-highest number since 1985.

"The laws that have been passed, in the last couple of years especially, really make women walk through a gauntlet to get abortions, throughout the country," said Eric Ferrero, a spokesman for Planned Parenthood.

<snip>

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/21/16624980-40-years-after-roe-v-wade-more-states-restricting-abortion?lite

As I said, this is not hyperbole. In huge swaths of this country, obtaining an abortion is off the table.

[In_The_Wind]

1. This is a huge step backward.

[cali]

3. huge.

when it comes to rights under Roe, we are a divided country. Women in MA, for instance, have access without roadblocks, women in Arkansas, for instance, have virtually none.

[In_The_Wind]

5. I cannot believe they are doing this!

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Pope Francis is an anti choicer, he must be thrilled

nt

[cali]

4. This has zip, zilch, nada, zero to do with the Pope, but whatthefucker, honey.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. Your tile: The anti-choicers have won. Pope is world's leading anti choicer.

So, 'honey', if this thread is about anti choicers, it is about the Pope. Do you claim Francis is pro choice? If so you are highly misinformed.
Is the Pope anti choice? Is this OP about anti choicers? This thread has to do with anti choicers, of which the Pope is one of the global leaders.
You can not have it both ways, you can not protect the leading anti choicers from criticism while opposing their goals. He is an anti choice activist.

[cali]

10. bwahahahaha. says who? YOU?

I'm saying that the Pope has nothing to do with this. Most American Catholics are pro-choice. He doesn't live or vote in the U.S. and has little impact on legislation regarding abortion in this country.

This isn't quantum physics, dear.

And I'm fine with criticizing the Pope on abortion, but it's not germane to the op or the abortion debate in this country. That's a no brainer.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. So you do not include him among 'anti choicers'? Even though he is anti choice?

How does that work? By shutting off reason and logic, that's how.

"Before Roe v. Wade, the United States right-to-life movement consisted of lawyers, politicians, and doctors, almost all of whom were Catholic. The only coordinated opposition to abortion during the early 1970s came from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Family Life Bureau, also a Catholic organization. Mobilization of a wide-scale pro-life movement among Catholics began quickly after the Roe v. Wade decision with the creation of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC). The NRLC also organized non-Catholics, eventually becoming the largest pro-life organization in the United States. Connie Paige has been quoted as having said that, "[t]he Roman Catholic Church created the right-to-life movement. Without the church, the movement would not exist as such today."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_pro-life_movement#Roman_Catholics

Our history should be told with truth if we give a shit about the issue.

[progressoid]

19. ^^^+1^^^This^^^

[Bluenorthwest]

28. OP about 'anti choices' which defends the world's leading anti choicer

Also interesting to me that the OP sees choice as for Americans only not as a global issue. Apparently it is fine if a person opposes choice in South America or Europe.

[Ter]

17. You expect a Pope to be pro-choice?

n/t

[SemperEadem]

22. I expect him to keep his nose out of this country's business

and worry about the business of his own little principality.

[Bluenorthwest]

23. Did I say that? No I did not.

I just find it stunning that the OP wants cake, and also to eat that cake.

[Little Star]

6. Rachel Maddow has devoted a lot of time to this subject....

You are 100% correct it's not hyperbole. k&r

[daybranch]

7. Where are the women

to fight this crap? Do they not have enough political power to keep their choice? Maybe they do not want choice or maybe they do not want it badly enough for others and no longer need it for themselves. Maybe they believe that it is anti-religious to choose to abort.
I am a man who supports women's rights to choose. If they choose to remove other women's right to choose, I am saddened but they have the political power and it is up to them on an individual basis how they use.
They have the power and if they want to let others make the choice for them, men have been told over and over it is their bodies. I guess that does not apply to conservative legislators.

[cali]

12. Where are you men??? Should only blacks have fought for civil rights?

Should only GLBT folks fight for their civil rights?

I've seen 3 statements identical to your "where are the women to fight this crap" in recent days and they piss me off no end.

[Conium]

31. The highest court in the land ruled on this many years ago.

Roe vs. Wade ring a bell? The recent legislation is total crap and probably a diversion to distract you from their true agenda, stealing more of your money.

[RKP5637]

9. Now the black market for abortions will soar ... coat hangers will be in, coke bottles, etc., etc.

All of the horrors of the past can be relived. All the misery and deaths, the infections. Hey, ain't America great! Go USA!!! Go USA!!! Go USA!!! US = United Stupidity ... one more step forward for "Idiocracy." America, the place brains left behind.

[duhneece]

13. Yup. Roe v Wade was when American women quit dying from illegal, unsafe abortions

&size=1632%2C1224

We had our first 'We Trust Women Commemoration of Roe v Wade Rally' last January...we won't stop until they stop the war on women's reproductive rights.

[n2doc]

11. People are complacent

They think Roe is going to stop all this. They are wrong. Until Pro choice voters become as active and committed as fetus worshippers, they will see their rights taken away. If all the fetus worshippers in the ND legislature were voted out, this would stop. But people would have to make this their #1 priority, above all else, and work like hell. Just like the fetus worshippers have been doing.

[RKP5637]

14. Americans are too complacent about too many things as their country slips

away from them while being too lazy, too gullible, too naive, too religious, whatever, to get the facts and pay attention. Too many think someone else is taking care of their rights for them ... well, they're not ... and that's what these F'ers count on.

Here, they are silently voting in RW Judges and control freaks, while many good Kaaansans don't bother to vote for judges ... oh, it's just toooo hard. So, all that is required is a small core of mobilized RW control freaks to take over the judicial system while the good Kaaansans sleep. ... who will later wake up with deer in the headlight looks wondering WTF, how did this happen.

Most people don't pay attention to a damn thing 'till it smacks them in the nose ... and then it's too late.

[sheshe2]

15. K&R!

Thanks, cali.

[still_one]

18. I hate to say this, but the voters are doing this to themselves, and women, who make up the majority

either have to start voting in force, or they will actually sign away their rights.

As far as North Dakota is concerned, the previous ballots banning abortion all lost, and this is the most restrictive one.

In addition, it is just a matter of time before this gets to the Supreme Court. The question is would the Supreme Court over-rule themselves?

Women should be very concerned because their very lives are being threatened. As we all know the repuke party is controlled by extremists who believe abortion should not be allowed in cases of rape, incest, or the life of the mother. Many of these same people also do not believe contraception should be legal.

According to the MSM we were supposed to lose the election in 2012. We didn't to a large extent because of the Women vote. Voting does matter, but we knew that in 2000

[Rider3]

20. No, I won't believe they won

All states are (thankfully) not North Dakota. Or Mississippi (again, thankfully). I'm grateful to be living in Massachusetts, where women are still allowed to be in charge of their own body. BUT - I do not take that for granted at all. I'll fight to the end to preserve a woman's right to choose no matter where she lives. We still have a chance, crazies be damned!

[spicegal]

21. American women better get off their duffs, and start fighting back before it's too late. Vote these

neanderthals out. It's the only way. All of these laws need to be challenged as unconstitutional, and meanwhile we need to replace a few more of the Justices on the SCOTUS with more mainstream moderate Justices. I'd be happy with a progressive, but please let's get rid of the conservative ideologues.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

24. this is not good. sadly, DU Rec

[Gore1FL]

25. Won the battle, perhaps, but not the war

The right has (at least a recent) political history of overreaching on all matters. This is another one.

While I am not cheering about this, it's victories like this that will lose it for them in the end.

[NutmegYankee]

26. Don't give up the fight!

We can still push back and regain lost ground.

[CrispyQ]

27. We need more of this:

North Dakota Republicans Will Join Pro-Choice Rally To Protest New Abortion Restrictions
By Tara Culp-Ressler on Mar 22, 2013 at 10:45 am

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/03/22/1760521/nd-republicans-oppose-abortion-bans/

North Dakota lawmakers recently passed the worst abortion ban in the nation, outlawing the legal medical procedure after just six weeks of pregnancy, and are currently advancing an even more stringent “personhood” restriction to ban all abortion services altogether. But not all of the state’s legislators support North Dakota’s recent shift toward a far-right anti-abortion agenda. Spearheaded by state Rep. Kathy Hawken (R), a group a Republican politicians are speaking out against the new affronts to women’s reproductive rights.

Hawken and her fellow GOP lawmakers think their party has “stepped over the line” with the new restrictions, and will join a “Stand Up for Women” rally on Monday to raise their voices in opposition. As Hawken explained to the Huffington Post, she believes the new bans are too extreme, and simply distract lawmakers from the real legislative priorities they ought to be tackling in North Dakota:

“It’s to say, hey, this isn’t okay. We have stepped over the line,” said state Rep. Kathy Hawken (R-Fargo) in a phone interview with The Huffington Post. “One of the key tenets of the Republican Party is personal responsibility. I’m personally pro-life, but I vote pro-choice, because you can’t make that decision for anyone else. You just can’t.” [...]

Hawken said the personhood bills are so extreme that she and approximately 10 of her Republican colleagues in the state legislature — both men and women — were inspired to speak out in defense of women’s rights.

~more at link

on edit:

[mountain grammy]

29. The religious fanatics are here in Colorado, but they are definitely the minority.

Our Democratic controlled legislature is pushing forward with anything but abortion legislation.
The anti women states are ruled by religious fanatics, a male dominated, submissive women culture. All of my female relatives in Texas support this shit and will pray for the woman who is taken to the gallows for having an abortion.
They pray fervently for me because, when the subject comes up, I say it's nobody's business but the woman's.
Oh, the horror, women with rights!

[Conium]

30. ALEC

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) provides the unconstitutional right-wing legislation and idiotic state legislators put their names on it. The states then spend millions to defend these "laws" which create jobs for lawyers.

More info: http://www.alecexposed.org/

[enlightenment]

32. Hard to battle when it

seems like there is an entire generation of young people who are either willfully complacent - even when faced with hard truths like these - or actively in opposition. I know this isn't true of all young people, but there are enough that it is very noticeable - at least where I am.

I teach at a community college; most of the students are not "well off" - they are often first-generation college attendees from working class families. I am constantly amazed - not in a good way - at their response to discussion of women's legal rights. The attitudes come primarily from the women (the young men seem more interested - but the complacency is still there).

This is willful complacency, not ignorance. They understand that they have the rights; now; and cannot fathom that will ever change. When faced with information like you've posted, they will play the "won't happen here" card as if that wins the hand every time. Many of the young women, when pushed, will then reveal that they are planning on "getting married and having a big family", so they don't see the point of worrying about a law that in their minds has no relevance.

They're not opposed to abortion, per se, but they can't seem to project far enough past their own existence, desires, and experiences to understand that the issue is relevant. They can engage in a discussion of the history, the politics, the mindset - and still walk away without it so much as scraping the surface of their consciousness. Sometime I wonder if I'd have more success if I taught via text to their cell phones - they certainly spend enough time on those.

There is a smaller - but growing - subset of young people who are actively opposed to abortion. It is both a religious and a cultural opposition for most of them. They don't even want to discuss it, frankly, unless they are allowed a bully pulpit to preach their ideas. That doesn't happen, so they just turn off their minds and turn on the teflon . . . the conversation slides right off them.

Before 2001, there were a lot of young people who couldn't conceptualize war and tended to have similar attitudes. It has taken 12 years of war to penetrate that shell of complacency.

I'm very afraid that it will take a return to the world before Roe v. Wade to penetrate the complacency of many young people today.

[DFW]

33. I am SO relieved I have one daughter living in New York and one in Germany

Not that I think either of them will ever need an abortion, but if ever they should want one, I know they won't be terrorized by their local governments because of it.

[SpartanDem]

34. The truth is pro-choice voters don't value choice that much

whether it's complacency on our side or the anti-choice crowds religiously motivated fervor. Those against choice are far more willing to make it an issue in the voting booth When politicians feel they'll be held accountable for their vote they'll stop doing it.

[HeiressofBickworth]

35. Women with the money

will always have access to abortions -- just as they did when all abortions were illegal -- before Roe v. Wade. With enough money, they can travel whatever distance they need to to avail themselves of what is denied to others in their home locations. Inequality.

[brooklynite]

36. Unrec

Your title implies these restrictions are in place. They are NOT. They are subject to a public referendum. so stop weeping and get organized to defeat it!

[cali]

37. Do some research. Learn just a wee bit about the topic.

MANY are in place. For instance, the 12 week ban in Arkansas is now law. Governor vetoed. Legislature overrode. Will it hold up? Probably not, but what is in place in state after state after state are the onerous building code laws, the waiting periods, forcing women to undergo ultrasounds, forcing docs to have admitting privileges and much more. In several states, there is only one clinic that performs abortions and in Mississippi and SD, these are close to shutting down.

Maybe YOU don't understand what this means for women of limited means but most of us grasp that it makes abortions unobtainable for many.

You have resources. I hope YOU contribute to abortion funds for women who can't afford a safe, legal abortion.

And btw, hon. I've been a pro-choice advocate for a long time.

[brooklynite]

38. Why should I contribute if "they've won"?

I support raising awareness of the problem. I don't support defeatism. When Mississippi passed a "personhood" Amendment and sent it to the voters, did we give up?

[Cannikin]

39. They're not in place?

look up #ARProtest on Twitter and tell those women that.