Meanwhile, in Opposite Land…
Friday, May 5, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Opposite Land, indeed…
* Texas…
In March, a Texas man, Marcus Silva, sued three women for $1 million each after they helped his ex-wife obtain an abortion last summer using pills. The suit alleged that the termination of the pregnancy qualified as wrongful death under state law, and he presented text messages between his ex-wife and the women as evidence.
In the post-Roe era, the suit horrified abortion-rights advocates and galvanized opponents. Both sides view it as a test case aimed at discouraging anyone from helping women access abortion in states where the procedure is now banned or severely restricted.
This week, two of the women, Jackie Noyola and Amy Carpenter, filed their response in court: They are countersuing Mr. Silva for invasion of privacy in addition to offering a number of defenses to his claims. Ms. Noyola and Ms. Carpenter, who are close friends of Brittni Silva, Mr. Silva’s ex-wife, said he searched her phone without her consent and read their private messages. […]
The suit asserts that under that state law, the rights of a fetus are equivalent to those of an adult. If Mr. Mitchell’s argument succeeds, it would be a legal victory for the concept of fetal personhood — a goal of many abortion opponents.
* Florida…
The Florida legislature passed a bill Thursday that will let the state take transgender minors away from their families if they are receiving gender-affirming care.
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 26–13, mainly along party lines, and the House shortly after by a vote of 83–28, again along party lines. The measure now goes to the desk of Governor Ron DeSantis, who has previously expressed support for it and will likely sign it into law.
If he signs it into law, the measure will allow the state to take custody of a child if they have been “subjected to or [are] threatened with being subjected to” gender-affirming care, which includes puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy. Florida courts could modify custody agreements from a different state if the minor is likely to receive gender-affirming care in that second state. The text refers to gender-affirming care as “sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures” and qualifies this care as a form of “physical harm.”
Medical facilities would have to give the state Department of Health a signed attestation that they neither provide gender-affirming care to any patients under the age of 18 nor refer people to providers that do. Their medical license renewal is contingent upon sending in this attestation.
* North Carolina…
North Carolina hastily approved legislation on Thursday that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, setting the stage for a likely test of the Republican Party’s new, but slim, supermajority.
After an emotional, five-hour debate, the Senate, by a vote of 29-20, approved a ban the House had already passed the night before.
The bill now goes to the state’s Democratic governor, who has called it “extreme,” and said he would veto it. He has 10 days to act.
But the legislature has the potential to override his veto if Republicans can keep their party united to muster enough votes.
* New Jersey…
Tammy Murphy, the first lady of New Jersey, has made infant and maternal health her signature cause during her husband’s tenure as governor. She led the push for free nurse visits for newborns and expanded access to doulas during labor, with a goal of improving New Jersey’s abysmal pregnancy-related death rates.
But a gender-discrimination lawsuit, filed by four female troopers against the State Police, accuses Ms. Murphy of failing to practice what she has so often preached.
The suit claims that Ms. Murphy refused to permit a State Police trooper assigned to protect her to use a carriage house at the family’s riverside estate in Middletown, N.J., to pump breast milk during breaks.
The first lady told the woman’s supervisor, who runs the State Police unit that guards Gov. Philip D. Murphy and his family, that “it was not encouraged because of optics by guests who may be on the premises,” the lawsuit states.
* Indiana via the AP…
Indiana’s governor on Thursday signed a bill that will require schools to notify a parent if a student requests a name or pronoun change at school, one of the final bills approved in a legislative session that had targeted LGBTQ+ people in the state, especially students.
Critics worry the law could out transgender children to their families and erode trust between students and teachers while supporters have contested the legislation keeps parents empowered and informed about their children when at school.
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb’s approval of the legislation comes in a year when GOP-led legislatures around the country are seeking to curb LGBTQ+ rights, specifically targeting trans people’s participation in sports, workplaces and schools, as well as their access to health care.
Recently, Florida Republicans on Wednesday also approved a bill that would prevent students and teachers from being required to use pronouns that don’t correspond to someone’s sex, a bill Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign into law. Meanwhile, at least 16 states, including Indiana,have banned or restricted access to gender-affirming care such as hormones, puberty blockers, and surgeries.
- Demoralized - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 12:34 pm:
==the measure will allow the state to take custody of a child==
Florida has just turned into a very scary place. They continue to weaponize the government against those they don’t like. They openly legislate hate. Now they want to take kids away from their parents because they don’t agree with the medical care those parents have decided is best for their child. Florida is turning into a modern day fascist state.
- Norseman - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 12:58 pm:
There is also a bill making it a crime for a trans to go to the bathroom of the gender they identify as. So much for going to Florida with a trans relative.
- JS Mill - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:00 pm:
=Florida has just turned into a very scary place.=
No doubt. Solzhenitsyn wrote about a similar place, but the name was different. Who new Desantis was a soviet.
- Steve - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:03 pm:
Sure glad I live here, speaking of which, pretty impressive first few months in office for Alexi
- Anotheretiree - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:05 pm:
I’m not hearing any exceptions for children who are born Intersex when banning gender type care.
- wildcat12 - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:10 pm:
Reading this and today’s subscriber edition, it’s hard to wrap my mind around Indiana Republicans voting to require schools to notify parents of students requesting a pronoun change while Illinois Republicans vote against legislation requiring schools to notify parents when their kid is getting bullied.
- Jerry - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:16 pm:
The small government Conservatives in Indiana are now regulating which pronoun you can use.
- Jocko - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:20 pm:
==require schools to notify a parent if a student requests a name or pronoun change==
Thereby turning every educator into Donald Sutherland at the end of ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’.
- Steve Polite - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:29 pm:
“Florida courts could modify custody agreements from a different state if the minor is likely to receive gender-affirming care in that second state.”
Scenario: I’m a parent living in Illinois. I share custody (agreement approved by a court in IL) of my child with a parent who is now living in Florida. My child is going through gender affirming care in Illinois. A Florida court can then just modify the custody agreement and take my child away from me?
This can’t be right. If it is Florida is worse than I thought. The way I interpret this is under the new law, Florida courts can, at their discretion, modify a custody agreement approved by another State’s court. How would they even have jurisdiction to do this?
- Lucky Pierre - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:36 pm:
If Florida is so scary why is it the fastest growing state in America with 22.6 million residents and is projected to hit 25 million by 2032? How many people migrated to Russia?
https://www.wmnf.org/floridas-population-is-estimated-at-22-6-million/#:~:text=February%2016%2C%202023%20by%20Staff,and%20Public%20Affairs%2C%20State%20Politics.&text=Florida%20is%20projected%20to%20have,a%20report%20released%20Thursday%20shows.
- Jerry - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:45 pm:
Then move to Florida where they regulate:
- the books you can read
- pronouns you can use
- speech of corporations
- your gender
- when you can have children
Bye!
- Huh? - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:47 pm:
“take kids away from their parents because they don’t agree with the medical care those parents have decided is best for their child.”
That is always the case. A hospital can file for guardianship if they feel the best medical interests of a child are not being considered by parents.
It is not a step that is undertaking lightly in Illinois. The doctors better have a really good reason for filing the suit.
- Hannibal Lecter - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:48 pm:
=== Florida is turning into a modern day fascist state. ===
And what makes it scary is that this ideology is coming to a state near you. I saw my first DeSantis for President ad yesterday (it may have actually been a SuperPac ad supporting him) where the end of the ad shows a person putting a DeSantis bumper sticker over a Trump bumper sticker.
His ideology is the same as Trump - he just does it with a smile instead of personal attacks and non-sensical tweeting. Everyone should beware of this wolf in sheep’s clothing.
- Demoralized - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:50 pm:
LP
Do you support this nonsense in Florida or not. Instead of making your usual ignorant comments maybe make an actual relevant comment sometime.
So I ask again - do you support the nonsense going on in Florida. It’s a simple question - if you have the guts to answer it.
- Rudy’s teeth - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:50 pm:
Will the Indiana legislature stipulate whether the pronoun is in nominative, objective, or possessive case?
- don the legend - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:51 pm:
LP. Old, scared, bigoted, narrow minded people need somewhere to finish out their white priveliged final days.
- Demoralized - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:51 pm:
LP
If you can’t see that what is going on in Florida is wrong then you really are beyond all help. You truly are a joke.
- Cool Papa Bell - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:51 pm:
=why is it the fastest growing state in America=
Literal sunshine is a factor. But I know many who have held their nose when being asked to move there for a job. They plan to be in and out.
The work the FLA GOP is doing to splash sunshine on the work of the government and its elected officials - well that’s a whole different deal.
To keep it local and in Illinois. I remain long on our humble state of 13 million people and access to the largest source of fresh water in the world.
- MisterJayEm - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 1:52 pm:
“If Florida is so scary why…”
If Florida is so wonderful, why in the hell are you still here?
– MrJM
- Steve Polite - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 2:01 pm:
“If Florida is so scary why is it the fastest growing state in America with 22.6 million residents and is projected to hit 25 million by 2032?”
Baby Boomers have an irrational fear of the democratic boogey man
People like the government control when it’s not targeted at them.
To own the libs
People like the sunshine and warmer weather; the rain, hurricanes, and rising sea levels notwithstanding.
Those are the reasons I could think of off the top of my head.
- TheInvisibleMan - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 2:07 pm:
– if a student requests a name or pronoun change–
“Well, I would have notified the school and parents as the law states. But the student didn’t request it, as the law states, the student demanded it. Guess we’re good here then?”
- Jerry - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 2:10 pm:
Cool Papa Bell hit the nail on the head: a source of fresh water.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 2:11 pm:
The amount of government intrusion into people’s private lives by the party of small government and individual liberty is breathtaking.
- H-W - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 2:14 pm:
===If Florida is so scary why is it the fastest growing state in America? ===
-Higher birth rate than average
-Migration of U.S. retirees
-Immigration from Puerto Rico, the Caribbean nations, Central America
- Stormsw7706 - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 2:14 pm:
What business is it of the government in these states what people do. Talk about overreach, invasion of privacy, and family destruction. Why, oh why would any doctor work in these states ? I’m really proud that I live in Illinois where we have grownups in charge.
- Sir Reel - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 2:25 pm:
What parents “subject” their child to gender affirming care? I bet parents would much prefer that their child keep the gender of their birth. But because they love their child, and their child wants to change, they support their child. Another “for the children” bill that’s all about hate.
- Suburban Mom - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 3:19 pm:
===If Florida is so scary why is it the fastest growing state in America with 22.6 million residents and is projected to hit 25 million by 2032===
I mean you know it’s mostly immigrants from Central America, right? I feel like I’ve heard you complain a lot about that.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 3:25 pm:
- Lucky Pierre -
Do you have anything good to say about Illinois?
I can’t find anything .
- Proud Papa Bear - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 3:33 pm:
Whether it’s 75 and sunny or 5 below and snowing, every day I’m thankful to live in Illinois.
- Lucky Pierre - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 3:38 pm:
Sure plenty, I told you just a few weeks ago Chicago was a World Class city and you criticized me for that. Remember?
You are an enigma with little tolerance for people with different viewpoints than you.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 3:59 pm:
===Sure plenty===
That’s inaccurate.
You say worst in crime, business, and it’s a world class city.
It’s only good here when you’re shilling for the Bears, remember?
- Demoralized - Friday, May 5, 23 @ 4:24 pm:
==with little tolerance==
No LP. We just have little tolerance for you and your continued dishonest drivel.