Tag: abortion restrictions

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Abortion Elections GOP Joe Biden Viral Video

Haunting New Ad From The Biden Campaign Has The GOP Running Scared

Hours after failed one-term former president Donald Trump gave his mealy-mouthed statement regarding his current position on the issue of abortion and restricting the right of a woman to choose, the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign released an ad that quickly went viral online and has Republicans running scared as they desperately try to distance themselves from new anti-choice laws being implemented in states such as Arizona.

NBC News reports the campaign ad deals with a Texas woman who sought to have an abortion and nearly died after she was denied one.

The 60-second ad, which first aired Monday on MSNBC, focuses on Amanda Zurawski, a Texas woman who sued the state after, she said, she almost died from a miscarriage. In the video, Zurawski and her husband, Josh, discuss how they had started buying things for the baby while Amanda was pregnant, including a baby book.

“At 18 weeks, Amanda’s water broke,” the ad’s text said. “She had a miscarriage.”

As the couple continues to recount memories of the pregnancy, text on the screen reads, “Because Donald Trump killed Roe v. Wade, Amanda was denied standard medical care to prevent infection, an abortion.”

But that’s just the beginning of Amanda’s nightmare, as she eventually wound up rushed to intensive care after suffering from sepsis. She nearly died on two separate occasions and may now never be able to have children, all because the state of Texas passed a restrictive anti-abortion law.

The ad ends with this line: “Donald Trump did this.”

Indeed, Trump did play a role in Amanda Zurawski’s ordeal. He appointed three right-wing justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who ruled that states can tell women what they can and cannot do with their bodies.

As you’d expect, Republicans are now trying to distance themselves from the growing political firestorm that has been caused by their draconian laws, the Guardian reported from Arizona, the latest state to decide women have no right to make decisions about their reproductive health.

Republicans in the state took a surprising stance for a party that has historically championed abortion restrictions – they denounced the decision.

Some of the criticisms of the Tuesday ruling came from politicians who had previously supported the 1864 ban or cheered the end of Roe v Wade.

Trump and every Republican who played a role in the anti-abortion movement now have to own the morass they’ve created and pay a political price with voters, the majority of whom say the government doesn’t belong in private decisions made by a woman and her doctor.

Trump and his GOP did this. Never forget that fact.

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Abortion GOP U.S. Senate

WATCH: Woman Slams Ted Cruz For Lying About Abortion During Senate Hearing

A Senate hearing on abortion turned into a verbal dressing down of Texas Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, neither of whom showed up for the hearing, probably because they knew they’d be confronted and humiliated for their refusal to even consider that a woman has a right to an abortion.

Amanda Zurawski was the witness testifying, and she explained that she almost died after she had a medical emergency while pregnant and had to wait until she was on the verge of death before she was allowed to obtain an abortion in the Lone Star State.

“We’ve heard a lot today about the mental trauma and the negative, harmful effects on a person’s psychological well-being after they have an abortion, supposedly,” Zurawski said. “And I am curious why that is not relevant for me as well. Because I wasn’t permitted to have an abortion, and the trauma, and the PTSD, and the depression that I have dealt with in the eight months since this happened to me is paralyzing. On top of that, I am still struggling to have children.”

That horrific situation, Zurawski explained, was forced on her by those who try to make it more difficult for women to get an abortion.

“And I wanted to address my Sens. [Ted] Cruz and [John] Cornyn, neither of whom regrettably are not in the room right now. I would like for them to know that what happened to me, I think most people would agree, was horrific. But it is a direct result of the policies that they support. I nearly died on their watch. And furthermore, as a result of what happened to me, I may have been robbed of the opportunity to have children in the future. And it is because of the policies that they support.”

She concluded her testimony by saying there are other women just like her.

“What happened to me was horrible, but I am one of many. And quite frankly, I am lucky. I am lucky that I have a husband who could take me to the hospital, I don’t have other children that I had to worry about finding childcare for. I have a job that was understanding that allowed me to grieve for three days as I waited to almost die. What about all of the women that don’t have the same opportunities, that don’t have access to health care? They don’t have health insurance; they don’t have a partner? What about them?”

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Abortion GOP

MSNBC Guest Mocks Lindsey Graham For His Abortion Ban: ‘He’s Never Seen A Naked Woman!’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been heavily criticized for suggesting a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks, and his proposal could wind up costing Republicans a chance at retaking control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections.

Just this week, President Joe Biden weighed in on Graham’s legislation, telling attendees to a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in New York:

“Think about what these guys are talking about. No exceptions — rape, incest — no exceptions, regardless of age. I happen to be a practicing Roman Catholic. My church doesn’t even make that argument now.”

Graham’s abortion ban was also the topic of discussion on MSNBC, Mediaite reports, with host Stephanie Ruhle leading a discussion of the topic:

Ruhle said Graham is “more than doubling down” with the legislation, and said to the panel “I want you to first help me understand, why would he even be doing this?”

“Why do this? Republicans don’t even support it across the board. He’s dividing Republicans. It’s not like you can get white evangelical voters to vote for you twice,” said Ruhle. “And now they’re knocking out a ton of other potential new voters.”

Comedian and podcaster Judy Gold then joined the debate, noting:

“And, the fact that he is telling women what to do with their bodies. Go for it.

“He’s never seen a vagina! He’s never seen a naked woman! And he is telling me?”

Clearly, Gold was insinuating that Graham is gay, which has long been suspected about the South Carolina senator, who is 67 and has never been married.

Ron Insana of CNBC agreed with Gold, to an extent:

“If I could flip that, though, as a married man who’s got a wife and two daughters. I don’t want somebody who’s not married, without a family, dictating my family policy.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUCv5DoJdjU

Why is it that old white men think they have a right to tell women what they can and can’t do with their bodies? Whether Graham is gay or not is immaterial to the larger issue: How can any man legislate what a women does with her body when there’s isn’t a man on the planet who can identify with what making such a decision involves.

Sen. Graham and the rest of the GOP need to sit down, shut up, and quit trying to rule other people’s lives.

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Abortion Elections GOP

Powerful Abortion Ad Aimed At Greg Abbott Goes Viral As His Poll Numbers Slide

Unless you live in the state of Texas or happen to be a political junkie who regularly follows campaigns in other states, you may not have seen the hottest political ad of the 2022 midterm elections.

The ad, which is aimed at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), has quickly gone viral, and is being shown all over cable television and online, where it is quickly earning the reputation as the most brilliant political ad in years.

Newsweek notes:

The Mothers Against Greg Abbott PAC posted the ad on Twitter on Monday, where it has since amassed more than 3 million views.

It begins with a nervous couple waiting in a doctor’s office. When the doctor enters, he solemnly tells them their baby has a “catastrophic brain abnormality.”

Nancy Thompson, the founder of the Mothers Against Greg Abbott PAC, explained the purpose of the ad:

“(It shows) the absurdity and horror of the government making a deeply personal decision – a decision which should be made between a woman and her health care provider. The video has been well received… We’re getting donations, and we’re not going to stop.”

Could a political ad in deep red Texas actually manage to turn the tide against the incumbent Abbott, who is facing a challenge from Democrat Beto O’Rourke? That depends on who you talk to, but the polls suggest that Abbott is indeed vulnerable and facing the political battle of his life, according to Axios:

In December, after the well-known Democrat announced his campaign, 54% of voters supported Abbott, compared to 37% who supported O’Rourke, a Quinnipiac University poll showed.

This month, 48% of voters support Abbott compared to 43% who support O’Rourke.

What, you may ask, is happening in Texas, long thought to be a conservative stronghold? In a word, pessimism:

Texans think Texas is on the wrong track and have expressed pessimism about their personal finances and the national economy.

Abbott’s approval rating has slipped to 43%, and 26% of Texas Republicans disapprove of the governor’s handling of the electric grid, according to the latest polling figures from the Texas Politics Project.

Additionally, following the money shows where the momentum is in the last three months of the race, with O’Rourke outraising Abbott since February.

Will Beto pull off one of the great political upsets in electoral history? It’s too soon to say definitively, but if it does happen, a viral campaign ad may well prove to have been the beginning of the end for Greg Abbott.

 

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Abortion GOP

Texas Doctor Admits That He Just Violated The State’s ‘Extreme’ Anti-Abortion Law

Even though Texas has passed the most restrictive abortion legislation in the country, Dr. Alan Braid is admitting in a very public way — an op-ed in The Washington Post — that he performed an abortion and is in direct violation of the law.

Dr. Braid begins by noting that he started his residency in obstetrics and gynecology in 1972, a year before Roe v. Wade made abortion legal nationwide:

“At the hospital that year, I saw three teenagers die from illegal abortions. One I will never forget. When she came into the ER, her vaginal cavity was packed with rags. She died a few days later from massive organ failure, caused by a septic infection.”

Roe changed everything for those who provide health care to women, Braid goes on to explain, but he fears the bad old days may be about to return in the Lone Star State:

“Then, this month, everything changed. A new Texas law, known as S.B. 8, virtually banned any abortion beyond about the sixth week of pregnancy. It shut down about 80 percent of the abortion services we provide. Anyone who suspects I have violated the new law can sue me for at least $10,000. They could also sue anybody who helps a person obtain an abortion past the new limit, including, apparently, the driver who brings a patient to my clinic.

“For me, it is 1972 all over again.”

What did Dr. Braid do? What a doctor should do: He put the needs of his patient above the law and performed an abortion:

“And that is why, on the morning of Sept. 6, I provided an abortion to a woman who, though still in her first trimester, was beyond the state’s new limit. I acted because I had a duty of care to this patient, as I do for all patients, and because she has a fundamental right to receive this care.”

“I understand that by providing an abortion beyond the new legal limit, I am taking a personal risk, but it’s something I believe in strongly. Represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, my clinics are among the plaintiffs in an ongoing federal lawsuit to stop S.B. 8.

“I have daughters, granddaughters and nieces. I believe abortion is an essential part of health care. I have spent the past 50 years treating and helping patients. I can’t just sit back and watch us return to 1972.”

Braid says he realizes there could be legal consequences for his actions. But he did what he believed was right as a medical professional:

We need more doctors like Alan Braid. And we need fewer politicians who are eager and willing to stick their noses where they don’t belong out of political expediency.