08/13/24

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, August 13th.

Lefthanders Day!

Good job lefthanders, you get a whole day for being a mirror image of 89.4% of the world. You don’t have scissors or mugs that work right, but you’ve got this day. And that’s not nothing.

And now, the news.

Abortion in America

-via AP News, Wired, Springer Link

Today I’m doing one story and one story only.

Because this show is free so sometimes I just do what I want.

An Associated Press investigation has shown that, since the fall of Roe in 2022, more than 100 people in medical distress were turned away or negligently treated.

More than 100.

In Texas, a woman was seeking medical help for what she believed was a miscarriage. She claims the doctors handed her some pamphlets on miscarriages and told her to, “let nature take its course.”

Now that a pretty hideous bit of bedside manner in general, but in this case, it was also a misdiagnosis. What was actually happening was an ectopic pregnancy.

The investigation also found two women forced to miscarry in public restrooms. A woman in Arkansas went into septic shock.

More than 100 women.

Turned away when they sought help.

Because Donald Trump put three justices on the highest court in the country who lied on the stand and then turned around and dismantled Roe as soon as they had the chance.

And now we’ve got multiple problems. This first, most immediate, is the medical issue.

Part of the reason people are being turned away is because in some states, the law is very confusing – on purpose.

And in other states, like Texas, the law is confusing and the consequences are severe. A doctor in Texas faces up to 99 years in prison for performing an illegal abortion.

And it goes much further than that. In February, a group surveyed more than 2,000 licensed and trainee physicians and found that 82% want to work or train in states that retain abortion access, while 76% would refuse to apply in states restricting it.

In April, the Association of American Medical Colleges found that ob-gyn applications dropped by 10% in states with abortion restrictions.

We are losing doctors in places where they are desperately needed. Losing doctors because Republicans don’t want to allow women to make their own decisions about their bodies.

These lawmakers don’t care about you. Not really. And we know this because they would rather let people die, or come as close as possible, instead of letting you make your own decisions about your life.

So I know this is going to be a short episode but the numbers in that report are jarring.

These are people that went to the emergency room for help, and a bunch of so-called “pro-life” yahoos made it so that going for help meant risking their life or a doctor’s career.

This election is going to be made up of a million moments, big and little. But abortion is on the ballot, and since the fall of Roe, every single time it’s been on the ballot, voters have voted to protect that right.

Let’s make sure that’s the case again this year.

Are you, and is everyone you know, registered to vote?

And that’s it. That’s the news!

It has to be! I’m just… so tired.

But I’m proud of lefthanders. They don’t even have notebooks that work for them! And they, they write anyway. They are… so brave.

And because you are also brave… I’m proud of you.