Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggh
I attempted to consider a pithy introduction to this week’s publication. One thing witty, one thing drily poking enjoyable on the dystopic week we’ve had. One thing that was not yet one more reference to Gilead and the Handmaid’s Story. However, sadly, all jokes had been drowned out with inner existential screaming: aaaarggh.
First, there was the bombshell leak on Monday evening of a draft supreme court docket opinion that appeared to point out the court docket is able to overturn Roe v Wade and the federal proper to an abortion. Whereas this was a shock it wasn’t precisely a shock. When Donald Trump was elected loads of folks had been fearful about the way forward for reproductive rights within the US. Settle down, expensive, we had been informed by Affordable Rational Folks™. You’re being alarmist!
Like clockwork, the Affordable Rational Folks™ emerged proper after the supreme court docket leak to chide anybody fearful that Republicans are usually not going to cease at overturning Roe however wish to take away much more of our rights. “I believe the folks catastrophizing about contraception or interracial marriage being subsequent after Roe sincerely imagine it,” a (feminine) Washington Put up columnist snarked on Twitter on Wednesday. “However I’m sorry, I can not take this severely.”
I’m sorry, we should always all be taking this very severely certainly. On the identical day that distinguished columnists had been telling folks to relax – and fewer than 48 hours after the leaked supreme court docket opinion – Republicans in Louisiana superior a invoice that will redefine personhood to start in the intervening time of fertilization and make abortion a criminal offense of homicide. Sure, you learn that proper: the second of fertilization. I’m certain the folks concerned in drafting this regulation don't know about how copy truly works (they like controlling feminine our bodies, not studying about them), however between one-third and one-half of all fertilized eggs by no means totally implant. Which suggests somebody in Louisiana must arrest God – he’s accountable for a hell of a variety of abortions! This extremely broad definition of personhood additionally signifies that anybody experiencing an ectopic being pregnant (which aren't viable and really harmful) in Louisiana has solely two selections: go to jail or die. And that’s not all: consultants are fearful that the regulation would criminalize in vitro fertilization in addition to some types of contraception.
There’s a purpose I introduced God up simply now. There’s speculated to be a division between church and state within the US however the individuals who drafted the Louisiana regulation seemingly forgot about that. The proposal incorporates a line about “the sanctity of harmless human life, created within the picture of God”. That is clearly unconstitutional – however that doesn’t trouble the invoice’s creators who've made it very clear that they don’t care about democratic norms. Certainly, the invoice’s textual content states that the state ought to implement the regulation “with out regard to the opinions and judgments of the Supreme Court docket of the USA” on abortion.
It’s unclear whether or not the Louisiana invoice will turn into regulation anytime quickly. However what is evident is that we're going to see increasingly excessive proposals like this. As I mentioned in a earlier Week in Patriarchy, radicalized Christian nationalism is a rising risk within the US; a small however very organised group of persons are intent on turning the nation into a contemporary theocracy. Just a few years in the past a researcher known as Frederick Clarkson uncovered a Christian supremacist initiative known as Challenge Blitz, whose mission is undermining the separation of church and state. You already know what one main part of their technique is? Flooding state legislatures with so many payments that making an attempt to battle them turns into a sport of “Whac-A-Mole”. And as liberals are busy taking part in Whac-A-Mole with proposals like this Louisiana invoice, extremists and evangelicals are busy consolidating energy. So don’t let anybody let you know that you simply’re “catastrophizing”.
Knowledge dealer sells areas of people that go to abortion clinics
In keeping with Motherboard, an organization known as SafeGraph obtains location knowledge from bizarre apps on folks’s telephones and sells it on. Deliberate Parenthood is classed by SafeGraph as a “model” that may be tracked; Motherboard was in a position to get every week’s value of information on the place individuals who visited Deliberate Parenthood got here from, and the place they went afterwards for simply $160.
Fox host says he doesn’t know why folks would rent pregnant girls for essential jobs
Brian Kilmeade was referencing Nina Jankowicz, who was not too long ago appointed to guide a newly created advisory board on misinformation on the Division of Homeland Safety. She is eight months pregnant. Kilmeade, by the best way, is a father of three. For some purpose he doesn’t appear to suppose that turning into a father had any impression on his potential to do his job. (Then once more, a racist potato might do his job, in order that’s not saying a lot.)
Lacking and murdered Indigenous girls remembered
Thursday marked Lacking and Murdered Indigenous Individuals Consciousness Day within the US and Crimson Costume Day in Canada. As CNN experiences: “Nationally, there have been 764 unresolved circumstances of lacking Native American folks as of March 2022, in keeping with knowledge from the Nationwide Lacking and Unidentified Individuals System. However advocates and consultants have stated these figures don't replicate the total extent of the difficulty as a result of lack of complete knowledge.”
Menopausal girls lack primary assist, UK research finds
About 80% of girls surveyed stated their workplaces haven't any insurance policies or assist in place; 41% stated menopause signs had been handled as a joke by colleagues; 45% stated they keep away from talking to their physician as a result of stigma.
The week in pac-triarchy
The World Video Sport Corridor of Fame introduced its newest inductees on Thursday; among the many 4 “iconic” video games are Ms Pac-Man. The 41-year-old arcade sport is munching its manner into the Corridor of Fame seven years after Pac-Man.
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