It was not I who decided to change the definition of every OB/GYN procedure to “abortion” and outlaw it.

We all know that women are now dying from blood loss and sepsis because doctors are scared to death for themselves if they interfere with with what’s going on in a woman’s uterus.

It was only this level of barbarism that finally made me say: I am Emphatically Pro-Abortion. It is Part of Women’s Necessary Health Care.

Many of our personal care products are derived from petroleum including perfume, hair dye, cosmetics (lipstick, makeup, foundation, eyeshadow, mascara, eyeliner), hand lotion, toothpaste, soap, shaving cream, deodorant, panty hose, combs, shampoo, eyeglasses, and contact lenses.

Also, Tylenol. And aspirin. And chewing gum. No willow-bark. No chicle.

Many over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription drugs and medicinal products are made with the help of petrochemicals—these include antihistamines, antibacterials, suppositories, cough syrups, lubricants, creams, ointments, salves, analgesics and gels (like hand sanitizers).

All I did was google “what common household items are derived from petroleum” and an amazing assortment of articles came up.

Next I’m going to google “what medical devices are derived from petroleum” and see what comes up. Bags for saline solution and blood. The tubing to convey them into the patient’s body. Non-latex gloves. That's just off the top of my head.

Usually I post everything in GD, but lately it’s chock-full of really bad news. The Lounge is home to a lot of people, but not really me. So I’m dropping this here…

Leona is 80 this year, and we met 30 years ago when we entered an academic program in Mythological Studies with a degree emphasis in depth psychology. It was one of the most meaningful things I’ve ever done, and of all the people I met there, Leona became a friend for life, a treasure.

Leona lived her life with intention — decisively, and with courage. She changed her name and chose Volition as her middle name. And now she is choosing to die with intention — decisively, and with courage. She’s done. She’s in hospice and refusing water and food. She is leaving before she loses her Self to another stroke.

When I met her the first day of classes I was warmed by the sparkle in her eyes. Each in the class were asked what mythic creature had brought us here, and I was so serious in my answer. Leona said, “The Little Red Hen, because she said ‘I will do it myself,’ and she did.”

When her daughter decided to transition to be a man, from that moment Leona changed pronouns and used his chosen name. (He was still a pill to his mom, but my own family relations are enough of a mystery to deal with so I can’t judge. ) Then he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and wasn’t expected to live more than a couple of years. That was over 25 years ago, and he died a only few months ago living in another state, still estranged. This was only one painful thread running thru the tapestry of her life, but she met it all with intention and courage.

The tapestry Leona wove for herself was rich with experience. She lived frugally in a vacation cabin in the national forest for decades so she could do what really mattered to her, like travelling just about everywhere, and studying for a degree that makes most people say, “What?” She described the rigors of her journeys in vivid detail — in Antarctica a penguin fell madly in love with her (well, who wouldn’t? I thought ) . She was slip-sliding up a slope, the ice all covered in penguin poop, when she found herself on her knees nose to beak with a penguin. He bowed to her. Well what would you do? So she bowed back. He bowed again, so did she. At some point he waddled away, but soon returned with a rock in his beak, which he dropped at her feet with a soulful look. At that point she realized his intentions were serious, so she left to rejoin the humans. When she told me the story I laughed like hell.

Leona’s the reason our little group of friends sought out tiny local museums across the counties, and made day-trips to Los Angeles to visit special exhibits at their great museum, LACMA. So much, so much.

She took little part time office jobs at Adult Ed, and saw they needed a nude model for the art class. She was about 70 by then. She thought, why not? She thought, oh dear that's scary. She decided, I will do it. And she did. After one session she asked a student if she could have his sketch — she had it beautifully framed, and by the Goddess she looked like a Neolithic queen with her belly and long breasts, and head held high.

Whatever will I do without her?

Gentle crossing dear friend.

One issue that will actually pertain to our age group is that the drugs in question are used for other, non-pregnancy related, conditions.

This came up on a quick google search:

https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/abortion-bans-may-limit-essential-medications-for-women-with-chronic-conditions/

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and send the decision to ban or permit abortion back to the states will likely have health implications beyond banning abortion in many states. There have already been reports of clinicians and pharmacists denying women access to medications like methotrexate and misoprostol to manage their chronic conditions, such as autoimmune diseases and gastric ulcers, because the drugs are also used for medication abortions and treatment of ectopic pregnancies. In these reports, pharmacists have denied or delayed filling prescriptions unless specific codes for non-pregnancy related conditions are given. Some providers are also requesting patients take a pregnancy test to confirm a non-pregnant status before they will prescribe the medications. This analysis finds that the majority of those who use these drugs are women who are not pregnant but have diagnoses for other chronic conditions and rely on these medications to manage their health. Consequently, women of reproductive age with chronic conditions will be most impacted by these actions.

Methotrexate is indicated for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases that disproportionately affect women. The drug works by suppressing the immune system. Additionally, many chemotherapy regimens include methotrexate for treatment of adult and pediatric cancers, such as leukemia and breast cancer, where it works to slow or stop the growth of cancer cells. It also has some off label uses for common conditions like Crohn’s disease, lupus, and eczema. The drug is also a common treatment for ectopic pregnancies where it stops cells from dividing by interfering with the folic acid in your body.

Beyond methotrexate, another drug that may be limited because of its use in pregnancy terminations is misoprostol. Misoprostol is a prostaglandin that causes cervical softening and dilation, as well as uterine contractions. It is frequently used in obstetrics and gynecology for procedures like the medical management of miscarriage, induction of labor, cervical ripening before surgical procedures, and the treatment of postpartum hemorrhage. It is also indicated for reducing the risk of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs like aspirin and ibuprofen) induced gastric ulcers in patients at high risk of complications from gastric ulcers. In combination with mifepristone, misoprostol can be used to terminate an intrauterine pregnancy through 70 days gestation. Access to methotrexate and misoprostol is essential for patients, especially women, with these cross-cutting conditions.

and this

2-26-2023

Both were found and posted by DUers in recent days, and both very good.

After Decades of Police Brutality, What Has Changed?
https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pithinthewind/after-decades-of-police-brutality-what-has-changed/article_85a1be62-a000-11ed-aa83-a32c442689ac.html

Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop
https://medium.com/OfcrACab/confessions-of-a-former-bastard-cop-bb14d17bc759

There’s Japan and Japanese, and then there’s the rest of the world. They are highly restrictive about who gets to come and work and who gets to be a citizen. (They aren’t the only ones who do this — I saw a list of 17 nations, and Japan was only #10 )

So who takes care of the old folks when all the youngsters have gone away to the big city? Conundrum. Who comes up with all the new ideas and energy when the “youngsters” are 50 years old and settled in their routines?

Then there’s America, which still ranks as a younger-population country, with the dynamism that brings. Immigrants help to make us so. Whatever one can say about the sheer stupidity and downright cruelty of our immigration policies and procedures (and I have said plenty) we are still a magnet for immigrants. A lot of them become citizens, and their children are born US citizens. They keep us collectively younger than we would be if the white nationalists got their way.

In their lame-brained way, the white nationalists have hit on something that is true: their (white) demographic dominance is slipping into history and women in the white demographic have found other things to do besides have lots of babies.

Which is a long digression, but you can probably see my point. DU is a microcosm. We are aging — but the microcosm of which we are a part is America. We can rejuvenate.

It was here that I learned about the theocrats of the USA, their support for homeschooling including a full range of textbooks and handy calendars showing when each of the Founding Fathers was “born again.” Rushdoony was their billionaire patron, who’d already been working on his project for 30 years at that point. They seriously work to undermine the whole institution of public education — and look where we are today.

I discovered Right Wing Watch and from there I accessed primary sources (to use scholar-speak) — it’s easy once you know what you’re looking for — in which these dangerous nutballs tell the reader all about who they are and what their plans are for turning America into a Christian Taliban nation, working in all directions — but definitely utilizing distrust of public education. You think Ron DeSantis’ ideas came out of nowhere?

It was like looking into the Abyss.

It was at DU I found out about burn pits and other toxic injuries to our soldiers in Iraq. A young American journalist (Hispanic name? San Francisco area?) worked extensively on this issue, interviewing troops back home. (I think he made it to Iraq, but all those files are in my old computer, along with his name.) I remember one unit he interviewed when they came back home — all young men — and for a wonder he interviewed their wives as well. One wife said: “Our babies were all healthy before they went to Iraq. Since they returned, not one baby has been born healthy.” That tells me those toxins changed their sperm — their reproductive systems. Was this on NBC?

From DU I found out that the extensive use of National Guard troops came with a peculiar twist: their medical treatment plan wasn’t the renowned Walter Reed Hospital — it is (or was, I hope it’s changed) kind of nothing much. The severely injured were sort of warehoused at Fort Knox, hoping and waiting for rehab. It was a scandal — but I didn’t hear about it on CBS.

I was already taking part in protest marches in my home town when a friend directed me to DU. For all I could tell from the national news, we were all alone. I knew that couldn’t be true.

Some DU members went to the first protest in Washington DC, marched — and took photos, which they uploaded here along with their eye-witness report on the experience. Thousands were there. The Washington Post reported that a couple of hundred were there. I wrote a couple of hot letters to the editor of the WaPo as I am sure others did — over the next few days they changed their numbers from about 200 to several hundred to several thousand.

And I knew my town was not protesting alone.

Thanks for pointing out ways in which DU has managed to improve along the way. ( And I hope the Jackpine Radicals are happy where they are. )

Rumination inspired by Atticus’ thread https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217582951
There’s something in the air. It wasn’t the first time I saw mention of how DU’s population is “older” and that is what Atticus was reacting to — I certainly have also seen a few posts over the past year or two that “boomers” somehow abetted the rise of the oligarchs, voted for Trump, and shit like that. It’s a good long thread he started.

Someone made the point about the age group when DU started as “skewing younger,” and I agree. Hello? That was us! I think of us then as people in “robust middle age” — a rather elastic term, as I was already 50.

When I got here in 2002 I found a cohort of people who were already activists from their youth. Most of us had a lot of experience already, when it came to resistance and working for real change. We were outraged by BushCheney and were only too glad to share with others (ie younger posters) how to create a movement for change. We’d already participated in all the major change movements of the second half of the 20th century

I also found people who could write intelligibly, and carry a thought from beginning to end. I found people who insisted on reliable sources. I found people whose opinions I could respect because those opinions were well grounded, and people I could do battle with, too. I found a community that insisted there be no bigotry — including no misogyny, which is a toxic element in too much of the web.

“Robust middle age.” I miss it. Of course DU skewed younger 22 years ago. We were those people.

And we do need to attract a younger cohort as we go along — for who are we without metaphorical descendants, and for whom else have we done this lifetime of work? But we need to hold fast to the principles on which DU was founded (the TOS as set down by the three founders —our Constitution, if you will — and the way they/we have evolved the TOS for the betterment of the community — a living Constitution, if you will).

I don’t know exactly how that is to be done, just that it does.

Thank you all.




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