Texas Abortion Ban

[PepperBlossoms]

Abortion is now illegal in Texas for women 6 weeks pregnant plus one can get $10k for successfully snitching.  Other conservative states in the the USA are wanting to follow suit.

The Texas website to report people for getting or aiding in an abortion: https://prolifewhistleblower.com/

People flooding Texas system with fake reports because they disagree with it: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/02/texas-abortion-law-tiktok-reddit-whistleblower

Either progressives and women of child rearing age will start to leave Texas and make it more conservative by leaving, Texas will vote more progressive at the next election cycle, or Texas will continue to set more conservative laws.  

No one says, hey I'm gonna get an abortion in 3 years.  You never know if you are gonna get raped, be a victim of incest, or not financially or emotionally able to take care of a baby, or whatever.  Not having a legal, safe abortion as an option/back up plan really changes things when it used to be an option.

Texas banned city's from being able to set mask mandates as they did not want to infringe on "personal freedom" and likewise to the conservatives, an abortion is seen as infringing on the "personal freedom" of the developing unborn baby.  There is no consideration that by not wearing a mask, it is infringing on the health and safety of the community and by not allowing abortions, it is infringing on a women having to carry that thing for the entire pregnancy and take care of it for the rest of her life (or give it away).  As others have said, the politicians care about the unborn baby but as soon as it is born, there is not enough funding and systems to ensure it can be taken care of.

Texas is okay with keeping oil and gas going at full speed, talks about immigrants from the south as "illegals" and "lets go catch them", had hundreds of deaths during a power freeze that shut off the power grid, etc.

We would pledge of allegiance to the flag... "one nation under god".  The courts pray to god before their meetings.  There are churches all over the place.  When someone gets sick, the first response by 90% of the people is "I will pray for you".  It is a very, very religious area (but also depends on where/who you are around).

Will be interesting to see if the federal government does anything, which the supreme court voted 5-4 to ALLOW it even though it violates Roe vs. Wade.

When other conservative states follow suit, liberals may leave, hence making the state more conservative. - Hence could be what got some places like the middle east so conservative - all the liberals left.

Will be interesting to see if we have more bans on gay rights, women's right to work/education, colored people's rights, immigrants rights, or freedom of religion - if the conservatism stops here or if not, what else it comes up with.  Will have to see if Texas is not okay with how things have been going enough to vote in the democratic (or other) party.

People are saying the conservatives mindset reminds them of the Taliban, but instead of creating the rules as Allah wants them, they are making them as God wants them (or as their selfishness shortsightedness sees them).

The snitching sets a dangerous precedent - it is kinda like North Korea in that you snitch on everyone else (but there if you don't snitch, you get in trouble too).  Some people are saying, well how else are they going to elaborate and expand on the snitching and to what else will snitching be on?

Edited September 3, 2021 by PepperBlossoms

[Willie]

Anybody remember this:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/26/texas-senator-wendy-davis-abortion-bill-speech

People called her “Abortion Barbie”. She ran against Greg Abbott in the gubernatorial election and lost badly. She was also on the Biden bus that was almost stopped on I-35. 

This is how it is in Texas. And now, with more liberal people moving into the state in droves, there is a massive backlash against it. This abortion ban was inevitable, really. Sad and predictable.

[Rokazulu]

Abortions are only enacted upon because of our economic disparity and stress.
Fixing that should be the real emphasis of anyone who says they care about life.

Masks may help people feel safe, but I do not feel safe with a mask on. Quite the opposite. The increased C02 levels experienced with a mask on, places more stress on my immune system than if I were to breathe naturally. Mandates of this kind were highly reactionary and don't even solve the fundamental issue of disease.

[BlueOak]

Drug Use
Abuse
Rape
Poverty
Hunger
Neglect
Too many children already.
Parents splitting up
Parents arguing all the time.
An overworked foster care system.
People doing it themselves anyway, as they used to do before. Only now for Americans its unsafe and without medical supervision.

There is nothing humane about having a kid raised in an abusive household. Trust me I know. It messes them up for life. You can work through it but its not till decades later that you see the effect of things you were not aware of. After all the work you can do on yourself, your personality is never 100% as others might more commonly be in a situation. There are still aspects of you from that abusive household that form your core identity and your mind forever.

So for those in favor at least walk a few minutes in those shoes. Go sit with a few drug addicts, and talk to them and what they put their families through, they tell plenty of stories if you are willing to listen. Put some time in with people who go through physical or sexual abuse to see what you are condemning kids to.
 

Edited May 6, 2022 by BlueOak

[DocWatts]

For what it's worth, my problem with anti-abortion as an ethical position isn't due to someone having a personal belief that abortion is wrong.

Reasonable people can disagree on at what stage in an embryo's development we should consider offering it the status and protections of personhood. 

The problem is that as far as anti-abortion advocacy is tied to conservatism, it's an incoherent position where its regard for the supposed sanctity of life ends once a person is born.

The unborn are an easy group to advocate for; they don't demand anything, aren't complex, and can't disagree with you.

This incoherent stance is further compounded by the heartless and cruel way that not an iota of compassion is given for the actual struggles of families, let alone the difficulties that people forced to bring a child into this world against their wishes endure.

If the majority of anti-abortion advocacy was closer to how something like Veganism is typically practiced, as a personal choice not to participate in something they view as immoral, I would have a far easier time respecting someone who holds that position.

Edited May 6, 2022 by DocWatts

[ZenAlex]

The fact that abortion is banned shows you how many mindless, religious fundamentalists there are these days.

There is simply nothing good to come from banning abortion. A child will be born into a scenario that they're not wanted by their parents, cannot be provided for well. A young mother who's made a mistake or been raped will be forced into having a kid. It's just stupidity.

 

[Ulax]

@PepperBlossoms Jheeze some good points there. Some I disagree with too. But mainly agree.

You made me think about the increased polarisation this will bring. As the state will likely become more conservative based in terms of populace which will start a snowball effect of increasing conservatism. Scary stuff.

And, ye the snitching stuff reminds me of the soviets. Not the same level but similar in some way.

Thing is it makes sense within their paradigm. I don't usually manage to embody empathy for people of different levels of consciousness, aside from intellectually, but I do for pro-lifers within this context.

If you think abortion after X date is murder, then having people 'snitch' is a no-brainer. You'd snitch on a murderer w/o question hopefully.