* Oklahoma…

Before February, Jaci Statton wasn’t particularly focused on Oklahoma’s abortion bans. “I was like, ‘Well, that’s not going to affect me. I won’t ever need one,’ ” she says. […]

Then, in mid-February, she started to feel really sick — nauseous and dizzy and weak. The first few pregnancy tests came back negative, but after several trips to the hospital, a blood test confirmed it: She was pregnant. […]

In Jaci’s case, there was a problem. The treatment is a dilation and curettage or D&C — a procedure that clears tissue out of the uterus. A D&C is the most common type of surgical abortion. Even though Jaci’s pregnancy was not viable and the embryo would never develop into a full-term infant, there was cardiac activity. Jaci’s doctor said she couldn’t treat Jaci at the Catholic hospital where she works.

Jaci was transferred to the University of Oklahoma Medical Center. Doctors there confirmed the partial molar pregnancy diagnosis and were ready to do a D&C, but Jaci says an ultrasound tech from the emergency department objected because he detected fetal cardiac activity. The D&C didn’t happen. Instead, she was transferred yet again, this time to Oklahoma Children’s Hospital. […]

At Oklahoma Children’s Hospital, she says the medical staff told her that her condition was serious. “You at the most will last maybe two weeks,” she remembers them telling her. But still, cardiac activity was detectable, and the doctors would not provide a D&C.

Eventually, Statton was able to travel out of state to Wichita, Kansas to receive life-saving care.

* Oklahoma Governor Stitt said he will veto a bill set to fund PBS through 2026…

"Why are we using taxpayer dollars to overly sexualize or indoctrinate children?" — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on vetoing funding for PBS pic.twitter.com/iKOrxfVkq1

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 8, 2023

* Florida…

Conservation groups across the Southeast United States are urging Gov. DeSantis to veto a bill that would allow the use of radioactive fertilizer waste in road construction across the state.

The bill passed by legislators permits the use of toxic phosphogypsum in “demonstration” road projects in Florida. Critics said this is the first step in a phosphate industry push to eventually use the waste in roads nationwide.

The Environmental Protection Agency prohibits using the toxic phosphate waste in roadway construction because it poses an unacceptable risk to road construction workers, public health and the environment.

The bill would require the Florida Department of Transportation to complete a study on the feasibility of using phosphogypsum as a material for road construction, with a short timeline and completion date of April 1, 2024.

* A thread on banned books in Florida…

2. Duval County has banned "House and Homes" by Ann Morris as porn.

The book is a series of photographs illustrating different kids of homes around the world

It was named "one of the best books of the year" by Parents Magazine pic.twitter.com/HPBHQmkDss

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) May 8, 2023

* Disney vs. DeSantis…

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a bill into law that gives a new board he controls the power to void development agreements its predecessor body signed with Disney - the latest episode in a feud between the conservative governor and the entertainment giant.

Under the bill, which passed the Republican-controlled legislature largely along party lines, the Central Tourism Oversight District Board - whose members are appointed by DeSantis - can cancel any deals signed up to three months before the board’s creation.

“Make no mistake about it, the reason why the legislature had to act was not because of anything we did,” DeSantis said at a news conference Friday. “It was basically born out of Disney’s arrogance that they would be able to subcontract around the duly enacted laws of the state of Florida. That’s wrong.”

The legislature formed the board in February to replace the Disney-controlled Reedy Creek Improvement District to oversee development in the 25,000 acres (10,120 hectares) surrounding Walt Disney World, effectively wresting control from the company and handing it to DeSantis.

* It’s Missouri’s final week of session…

After barely passing a budget on time Friday thanks to a filibuster over a Cass County landfill, legislators still have major priorities to try to pass in the dwindling hours of the session, including restrictions on initiative ballot petitions and gender-affirming care. […]

Missouri lawmakers followed several other GOP-leaning states by pursuing legislation curtailing treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors. But it’s likely that the final product will be less restrictive than in some of those other places.

That’s because Senate Democrats extracted compromises to exempt transgender youth who are already receiving gender-affirming care. And the law would expire after four years, which gives Democrats in the upper chamber a chance to filibuster any effort to extend it.

But House Republicans don’t want gender care legislation that includes an expiration date or exemptions.

One added wrinkle to this debate is emergency restriction rules from Attorney General Andrew Bailey. Since state statutes trump emergency rules, it’s possible that passage of gender-affirming care legislation that only affects minors will supersede Bailey’s guidelines that also affect adults.

* Missouri…

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is trying to convince the state auditor’s office to increase the projected cost of an initiative petition seeking to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution, according to records obtained by The Independent. […]

Bailey wrote on April 10 that the fiscal note should tally in the billions.

“…because the impact to the State of Missouri is likely to be so drastic but is not reflected in the submissions you received from state and local entities, the fiscal note on which your summary relied is legally deficient,” he wrote. […]

Fitzpatrick pushed back on each Bailey’s claims, writing on April 21 that though he vehemently opposes abortion and would like to be able to say the initiative petition would cost the state billions of dollars, “it wouldn’t.”

“To submit a fiscal note summary that I know contains inaccurate information would violate my duty as State Auditor to produce an accurate fiscal note summary,” Fitzpatrick wrote.

* South Carolina…

The Sisters, as they call themselves, are the women in the South Carolina State Senate — the only women, three Republicans, one Independent and one Democrat, in a legislature that ranks 47th among states in the proportion of women. As a block, they are refusing to allow the legislature to pass a near-total ban on abortion, despite a Republican supermajority.

Three times in eight months, Republican leaders in the chamber have tried to ban abortion beginning at conception. Three times, the women have resisted, even as fellow Republicans have threatened primary challenges and anti-abortion activists have paraded empty strollers and groups of children heckling the women as “baby killers.”

Before the most recent debate started in April, the anti-abortion group Students for Life dropped off gift bags at the offices of the three Republican women containing plastic spines, infant size but intended to encourage the women to grow one, with notes signed, “the pre-born.”

The women filibustered, taking the gifts to the podium on the Senate floor to declare themselves even more firmly in resistance. “I’ve got one hell of a spine already, but now I’ve got another backup,” Senator Katrina Shealy said, flanked by the two other Republican women, all holding their plastic spines like trophies.

After three days of debate, during which the women spoke for as long as four hours each at a time, Senate leadership acknowledged — again — that it did not have the votes to pass the ban.

* North Dakota…

North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has signed a bill into law that allows public school teachers and state government employees to ignore the pronouns their transgender students and colleagues use, the governor’s office announced Monday.

The new law also requires teachers to tell a parent or legal guardian if the student identifies as transgender. It also prohibits transgender students from using the bathroom of their choice without prior approval from a parent or guardian.

It is effective immediately.

Burgum said in a statement that the new law “largely codifies existing practices while reaffirming the First Amendment right to free speech … balancing the rights and interests of students, parents and teachers.”