#Gov. Kay Ivey

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

One week after the federal government made it easier to get abortion pills, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Tuesday that women in Alabama who use those pills to end pregnancies could be prosecuted.

That’s despite wording in Alabama’s new Human Life Protection Act that criminalizes abortion providers and prevents its use against the people receiving abortions. Instead, the attorney general’s office said Alabama could rely on an older law, one initially designed to protect children from meth lab fumes.

“The Human Life Protection Act targets abortion providers, exempting women ‘upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to be performed’ from liability under the law,” Marshall said in an emailed statement. “It does not provide an across-the-board exemption from all criminal laws, including the chemical-endangerment law—which the Alabama Supreme Court has affirmed and reaffirmed protects unborn children.”

The announcement followed changes last week to regulations of two medications commonly prescribed for abortion. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized a change that will allow brick-and-mortar and mail-order pharmacies to dispense mifepristone and misoprostol, two drugs used in more than half of abortions in the United States.

Before the change, people using medication for abortions had to pick it up at specialty clinics. Officials at the U.S. Department of Justice issued an opinion that carriers with the U.S. Postal Service could deliver pills in states that banned abortion. The new rules will expand access through telehealth and mail-order pharmacies but could set up clashes with anti-abortion states such as Alabama.

Marshall has said in the past his office could prosecute doctors with U.S. Veterans Affairs who perform abortions for victims of rape or incest. He has also said people who assist in setting up out-of-state abortions could face criminal penalties. This is the first time he has said police and prosecutors could arrest women who have undergone medication abortion.

“Promoting the remote prescription and administration of abortion pills endangers both women and unborn children,” Marshall said in an email. “Elective abortion—including abortion pills—is illegal in Alabama. Nothing about the Justice Department’s guidance changes that. Anyone who remotely prescribes abortion pills in Alabama does so at their own peril: I will vigorously enforce Alabama law to protect unborn life.”

In 2019, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed the Human Life Protection Act, which banned abortion except in cases where the mother’s health is in danger. That law went into effect when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last summer.

The law specifically states that women receiving abortions cannot be held criminally liable. However, Marshall said women using pills to induce abortions could be prosecuted under the chemical endangerment law.

Lawmakers passed the chemical endangerment law in 2006 to protect small children from fumes and chemicals from home-based meth labs. District attorneys soon began applying the law to protect the fetuses of women who used various drugs during pregnancy. Justices on the Alabama Supreme Court upheld and affirmed prosecutions of pregnant people in 2013 and 2014.

Since then, the law has been used against more than a thousand Alabama women who used drugs during pregnancy. Its enforcement varies widely. District attorneys in some counties rarely apply the law to pregnant women, while others routinely arrest those who use any illegal substance, including marijuana, while pregnant.

The chemical endangerment law has been used to incarcerate women for years who have had miscarriages or stillbirths after using drugs. Etowah County officials jailed pregnant women for months before trial under bond conditions designed to protect fetuses, despite evidence that incarceration increases the risk of pregnancy loss. After the publication of an investigative series in 2015 by ProPublica and Al.com, lawmakers voted to amend the law so it couldn’t be used against women who had lawful prescriptions from doctors.

Attorneys with Pregnancy Justice, a legal organization that represents pregnant women, have fought efforts to criminalize pregnancy and abortion. Emma Roth, a staff attorney at Pregnancy Justice, said prosecutors have already twisted the chemical endangerment law so it can be used against pregnant women. Using the law to go after those who use medications to induce abortions could be unlawful and would undermine the goals of lawmakers who voted for the Human Life Protection Act, she said.

“The Alabama legislature made clear its opposition to any such prosecution when it explicitly exempted patients from criminal liability under its abortion ban,” Roth said in an email. “Yet Alabama prosecutors and courts have shown a willingness to disregard legislative intent time and again in their crusade to criminalize pregnant women. Pregnancy Justice stands ready to challenge any attempt to expand the chemical endangerment statute to criminalize the use of abortion medication.”

JaTaune Bosby Gilchrist, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama, said women have the right to receive prescriptions from out-of-state doctors.

“The ACLU of Alabama is disappointed to learn that Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is continuing to insert himself into a person’s medical exam room,” Gilchrist said. “Medical decisions should remain the private choice between a patient and doctor. The Alabama Attorney General lacks the jurisdiction to prosecute Alabamians from receiving legal and legitimate medical services prescribed outside the state of Alabama.”

#us politics #news #2023 #al.com #Alabama #Steve Marshall #Human Life Protection Act #Alabama Supreme Court #food and drug administration #department of justice #united states postal service #telehealth #mail-order pharmacies #abortions #abortion bans #contraceptive bans #contraception bans #veteran's affairs #Gov. Kay Ivey #chemical endangerment law #ACLU of Alabama #JaTaune Bosby Gilchrist #Pregnancy Justice #Emma Roth #conservatives #republicans #pro choice #abortion is a human right #abortion is better than negligence

[rjnonymous]

Ummmm

UMMM????

Ok, so literally just disregarding their rights to privacy and there are elementary classes teaching their children about sex?? I find that highly unlikely

TATTOOS AND NICOTINE ARE A HORRIBLE COMPARISION. Also, last time I checked, hormone/puberty blockers are completely reversible, and surgeries are pretty rare in minors.

This is going to kill them. This is literally going to kill them. And i see no one talking about it.

#tw transphobia #tw: transphobia #SB 184 #HB 322 #Alabama #Gov. Kay Ivey #kay ivey #once again #I'm saying #what the fuck America #why do these guys keep pulling this shit #over and over and over again

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Paul Blest at More Perfect Union:

Thousands of workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee have voted to join the United Auto Workers, defying an all-out union-busting effort from the state’s political leaders and marking a key victory for the United Auto Workers in their renewed effort to organize the South and non-union plants.

Unofficial results tallied Friday showed that after three days of voting, more than two-thirds of workers voted to join the UAW. The win in Chattanooga is the first successful attempt to organize a non-union automaker in decades and comes after multiple failed attempts to organize the plant, including in 2014 and 2019. More than 4,300 workers were eligible to vote this week.  “I can't explain it. It's not like the first times,” Renee Berry, who has worked at the Chattanooga plant for 14 years and through two prior facility-wide votes, told us in the lead-up to the election. “The first few times was hell…now it's like we can roll our shoulders back, because we got it.”  Volkswagen is the world’s largest auto company by revenue, and until today, every one of its plants around the globe has been unionized except for one.

"This is going to be in history books down the road. This is huge—forever huge,” Robert Soderstrom, a worker at the plant, told More Perfect Union. “People recognize for the first time in a long time, on a mass scale, that there's got to be some changes. And some of the power and stuff that's gone to the corporate world needs to come back to us little guys.” The victory in Tennessee continues a winning streak for the UAW, which negotiated record contracts at the Detroit Three of Ford, GM, and Stellantis last year following a lengthy “stand-up” strike. After passing the contracts, UAW President Shawn Fain announced a $40 million effort to organize non-union U.S. plants, largely based in right-to-work states like Tennessee and owned by auto companies based in Europe, Japan, and South Korea, as well as EV manufacturers like Tesla and Rivian. 

Since launching that new effort, more than 10,000 autoworkers around the country have signed union cards, according to the UAW. Earlier this month, workers at a Mercedes plant in Vance, Alabama became the second group to file for an election, which will be held from May 13 to 17. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and the state Chamber of Commerce have forcefully opposed the unionization effort, claiming it would hurt Alabama autoworkers—who, even before the pandemic, were making less than they did in 2002 when adjusted for inflation. The same dynamic has played out in Tennessee. Gov. Bill Lee, who denounced the last unsuccessful union campaign in 2019, said it would be a “mistake” for workers at the Chattanooga plant to unionize and boasted about the state’s “right-to-work” law. 

🚨🚨 BREAKING:🚨🚨 Workers at the Volkswagen (VW) plant in Chattanooga have voted yes to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) after 2 failed attempts in 2014 and 2019. #UAW #VWChattanooga #1u

#Unionizaion #Unions #Labor #Labor Unions #Workers' Rights #VW Chattanooga #Chattanooga Tennessee #US News #Chattanooga #UAW #United Auto Workers #Volkswagen #VW #UAW Strike

[cleolinda]

Here we fucking go

#winter 2024 #alabama

[soberscientistlife]

It looks like the backlash from SCOTUS banning IVF worked.

This is what happens when we stand up for what we want.

#women's rights #reproductive rights

[socialjusticeinamerica]

Kay Ivey is a dinosaur who should have been extinct by now.

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

[dosesofcommonsense]

NEW — There are now 25 states standing in solidarity with the great state of Texas and Gov. Greg Abbott against the lawless Joe Biden:

Wyoming - Gov. Mark Gordon

Iowa - Gov. Kim Reynolds

Arkansas - Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Montana - Gov. Greg Gianforte

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Idaho - Gov. Brad Little

North Dakota - Gov. Doug Burgum

Nebraska - Gov. Jim Pillen

West Virginia - Gov. Jim Justice

Alabama - Gov. Kay Ivey

Tennessee - Gov. Bill Lee

Louisiana - Gov. Jeff Landry

Georgia Gov. - Brian Kemp

Utah - Gov. Spencer Cox

Virginia - Gov. Glenn Youngkin

South Dakota - Gov. Kristi Noem

Oklahoma - Gov. Kevin Stitt

Alaska - Gov. Mike Dunleavy

Indiana - Gov. Eric Holcomb

Nevada - Gov. Joe Lombardo

New Hampshire - Gov. Chris Sununu

Mississippi - Gov. Tate Reeves

Missouri - Gov. Mike Parson

Ohio - Gov. Mike DeWine

South Carolina - Gov. Henry McMaster

Please encourage these men and women and tell them THANK YOU.

Remember, they can't arrest us all!

https://thefederalist.com/2024/01/25/here-are-all-the-states-standing-with-texas-against-bidens-border-assault/

[sleepyleftistdemon]

overnor Kay Ivey on Friday announced she proclaimed Thursday, November 9, 2023, as Military Day in the state of Alabama. Military Day recognizes the state’s commitment to those who serve and those who have served by encouraging all military members, active duty and veterans, to proudly wear their uniforms on Thursday, November 9, 2023, as a symbol of their service and as a reminder of the sacrifices they have made.

And yet “Tubbyville” is holding up military promotions.

[aspiringbogwitch]

A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday said prisoners in Alabama have been denied parole and forced to work jobs at fast food restaurants as part of a “labor-trafficking scheme” that generates $450 million a year for the state, according to a press release.

Ten former and current prisoners and labor unions that represent service workers filed the lawsuit Tuesday against Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, Attorney General Steve Marshall, a beer distributor and several fast food companies. The lawsuit alleges the prison system makes money by deducting fees from the wages of prisoners. Private companies such as KFC, Wendy’s. Burger King and McDonalds get a steady supply of workers from the prison system, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit claims the arrangement resembles convict leasing, a system that followed slavery in the South. Prisoners, many of whom were Black and had been arrested for violations of Jim Crow laws, could be forced to work dangerous or grueling jobs for private employers.

#anti capitalism #eat the rich #capitalism #anticapitalism #anti work #wage slavery #literal slavery #slave labor #slave labour #us prisons #anti racism #racism #prison industrial complex #prison profiteering #private prisons

[seymour-butz-stuff]

On June 8, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Allen v. Milligan, holding that Alabama’s congressional redistricting scheme likely violated the Voting Rights Act. The state had cleverly (or so it thought) carved out a single Black-majority district, intentionally diluting Black representation in a state where 1 in 4 residents is Black. Alabama had relied on this same map in the 2022 elections, and given the current makeup of the court, they expected it to be rubber-stamped. But in a surprise 5-4 ruling, the court agreed with a lower court decision finding that map to be discriminatory. They ordered Alabama to draw up a new map. The last thing Alabama’s Republican-dominated legislature expected was to have their racist redistricting map repudiated by some of their own right-wing friends on the United States Supreme Court. The ruling was even more shocking as the court’s opinion was authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, who had previously gutted the most significant provisions of the Voting Rights Act in the case of Shelby County v. Holder. So Alabama Republicans huddled together and hours before the deadline produced another map, again containing a single Black majority district. In other words, they completely ignored the Supreme Court’s ruling, much as they had ignored a much different Supreme Court’s ruling in the 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education, which ordered that the state’s schools be integrated. As noted by Jane Timm, reporting for NBC news, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey heaped praise on the legislature, declaring it “knows our state, our people and our districts better than the federal courts or activist groups.”  The reaction of the national Republican Party to this blatant defiance of the court by their Alabama compatriots has been uniform: dead silence. As Adam Serwer, writing for The Atlantic, observes, this deliberate ignoring of the law when it doesn’t happen to suit their needs fits a pattern with conservatives, “whose view is that the only legitimate outcomes—or laws, or governments, or presidents, or Supreme Court rulings—are conservative ones.” Serwer notes that The Wall Street Journal editorial page—one of the primary mouthpieces of the right—has virulently criticized Democrats who have harshly assessed the court’s obvious right-wing politicization and apparent obliviousness toward following ethical standards. This defensiveness on the Journal’s part has only increased after multiple recent revelations about the court’s conservatives’ evident corruption and conflicts of interest. Because the Journal now has a vested interest in defending the court’s integrity (the Allen ruling was an anomaly from this year’s otherwise radical and reactionary slate of court rulings), it has assailed Democratic efforts to impose some type of ethical standards on the justices as an affront to the court’s “legitimacy.” As Serwer notes: What the Roberts Court’s defenders truly fear is the political strength of a critique of the Court as overreaching and out of touch with the majority of the electorate, because as conservatives well understand, that is a critique that has the power to influence elections and ultimately shape the Court itself. They understand this because that is one reason the 6–3 right-wing majority on the Court came to be in the first place. This is why questioning the Court’s legal reasoning and sweeping power is a privilege that must be exclusively reserved for conservatives. As Serwer points out, if Republicans were actually concerned about the “legitimacy” of this Supreme Court, they’d be up in arms about their Alabama brethren’s open defiance of it. The reason there is virtually no criticism (from The Wall Street Journal or otherwise) of Alabama thumbing its nose at Roberts’ ruling is, as Serwer views it, a selective perception by conservatives about how this nation’s laws should be applied. Because Alabama’s legislature is violating the law here to further conservative causes, there is no objection from the right.

[gwydionmisha]

#Alabama #Criminalizing Healthcare #Gender-affirming Care #Trans Ban #Gender-affirming Care Ban #Bodily Autonomy #News

[mywitchcultblr]

Alabama House Bill 322

In April, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed into law a bill preventing transgender students from using facilities like restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. An amendment to the law also bars kindergarten through fifth grade educators from engaging in classroom instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity in a manner that is not “age appropriate or developmentally appropriate.”

Florida House Bill 1557

One of the most highly publicized measures of the year, Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law – dubbed by its critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law –  will prevent public primary school teachers from engaging in classroom instruction related to sexual orientation or gender identity.

Public school educators through high school will be prohibited from addressing either topic with their students in a manner that is not “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate.” Parents will also be given greater authority to take legal action against school districts they believe to be in violation of the law.

Florida House Bill 7

Florida’s Individual Freedom Act prevents workplaces and schools in the state from requiring training or instruction that may make some people feel they bear “personal responsibility” for historic wrongdoings because of their “race, color, sex or national origin.”

The measure has also been called the “Stop WOKE Act” by the state’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis, where woke is used as an acronym for “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees.”

Indiana House Bill 1041

The now-law prevents transgender women and girls through high school from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, in March vetoed the measure, writing in a letter that he believes the bill does not solve a problem that exists in Indiana. The state legislature later voted to override the governor’s veto.

South Dakota Senate Bill 46

In February, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) signed into law the year’s first transgender athlete ban.

Under the law, transgender women and girls through high school are barred from playing on sports teams that match with their gender identity. Students and schools that “suffer any direct or indirect harm” from the law being violated are permitted to take legal action.

South Dakota House Bill 1012

Much like Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act,” this new South Dakota law was designed to “protect students and employees at institutions of higher education from divisive concepts” related to race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity or national origin

Under the measure, colleges and universities are not restricted in their ability to teach certain courses or subject matter, but “forced” or “compelled” speech in college orientations or trainings is prohibited.

Tennessee House Bill 1895

In April, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed into law a measure to pull funding from state schools that allow transgender students to play on sports teams consistent with their gender identity, doubling down on an existing Tennessee law which already bars transgender athletes from playing on sports teams inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth.

The new law requires Tennessee’s education commissioner to “withhold a portion of the state education finance funds” from local school districts that fail or refuse to determine a student-athlete’s gender using the student’s “original” birth certificate.

Tennessee Senate Bill 2153

In May, Lee signed an additional law prohibiting “males from participating in public higher education sports that are designated for females.” The legislation requires Tennessee colleges to determine a student-athlete’s gender using the student’s “original” birth certificate.

Under the law, any government entity, organization or athletic association is barred from taking “an adverse action” against a school that complies with the law or a student who reports a violation. 

If evidence of a violation is found which “deprives a student of an athletic opportunity or causes direct or indirect harm to the student,” the affected student will have a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages and “any other relief available under law.”

Tennessee House Bill 2454

This law expands an existing requirement that internet vendors block “obscenity and pornography” on school computers. Previously, an exception to the law was education material. That is no longer the case.

LGBTQ+ advocates worry the law will be used to restrict access to resources about LGBTQ+ issues and identities, which Tennessee lawmakers have made clear they believe are inappropriate for children.

Utah House Bill 11

The new Utah law bars transgender women and girls from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity.

Gov. Spencer Cox (R) vetoed the measure, which requires school sports teams be determined by the players’ sex assigned at birth, in March.

“Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live,” Cox wrote in a veto letter at the time. “And all the research shows that even a little acceptance and connection can reduce suicidality significantly.”

Cox’s veto was later overridden by the legislature.

#lgbt #lgbtqa #lgbtq+ #lgbtqia+ #oppression #usa #politics #human rights #america #trans #lesbian #pansexual #bisexual #aroace #aromantic #asexual #intersex #trans rights #lgbt rights #what happened to revolution? #people used to do it #do it again #this is tyranny #trans inclusive feminism #intersectional feminism #blm #stop asian hate #memes #this is just oppression

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

North Carolina on Monday became the 40th state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the latest sign of how Republican opposition to the health measure has weakened more than a decade after President Barack Obama signed it into law.

Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, signed legislation expanding the state’s Medicaid program during a sunny afternoon ceremony on the lawn of the Executive Mansion, days after the Republican-controlled legislature gave final approval to the measure. He was surrounded by patients, advocates and some of the same Republican leaders who had previously blocked expansion in the state.

The bill will expand Medicaid to adults who make less than 138% of the federal poverty level, or about $41,000 for a family of four. State officials say the expansion will cover an estimated 600,000 people. It will take effect when the state adopts a budget, likely by June, Mr. Cooper said in an interview before the signing ceremony.

“Today is a historic step toward a healthier North Carolina,” the governor declared before signing the measure. When a reporter pressed him on when the expansion would take effect, he said, “It’s only a question of when, not if.”

It has been nearly 11 years since the Supreme Court ruled that states did not have to expand Medicaid — the government health insurance program for low-income people — under the Affordable Care Act. Nearly half the states opted out. More recently, progressives have helped to expand Medicaid in seven states — all of them with either Republican-controlled or divided governments — by putting the question directly to voters; in November, South Dakota adopted Medicaid expansion via the ballot box.

But getting Republican elected officials to abandon their opposition to expanding the program has not been easy. The last state where a Republican-controlled legislature voted to expand Medicaid was Virginia, in 2018. The governor at the time was a Democrat, Ralph Northam.

The battle over Medicaid has been particularly intense in North Carolina. Supporters of expansion conducted hundreds of “Moral Mondays” protests at the State Capitol. In 2014, the Republican mayor of a town that lost its hospital walked all the way to Washington to build support for expansion.

Monday’s bill signing leaves just 10 states — all with divided or Republican leadership, and most of them in the South — that have yet to expand Medicaid. Advocates say they now have their sights set on Alabama, where Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, can expand her state’s program with her own authority.

In North Carolina, there are various reasons for Republicans’ recent change of heart. Much of the opposition in the state and elsewhere has been both ideological and partisan — a reflection of Republicans’ deep distaste for Mr. Obama. But it is now clear that the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, is here to stay. Republicans in Washington have been unable to repeal the law and appear to have largely given up fighting it, helping to pave the way for expansion in North Carolina.

“The argument that this is somehow an endorsement of Obamacare is losing a lot of political currency, even among conservatives,” said Frederick Isasi, the executive director of Families USA, a health care advocacy group based in Washington.

Hospitals, especially struggling rural ones, are eager for the extra revenue that Medicaid reimbursement will bring. The federal government picks up 90% of the costs of reimbursement under the expansion, and in North Carolina, hospitals will pay the other 10%. The state has revamped its Medicaid program, moving it from a fee-for-service program to one that relies on managed care — a long-sought goal of Republicans.

“This has been a long day coming, but it’s been as a result of a lot of reforms,” Tim Moore, the Speaker of the state’s House of Representatives and a Republican, said during the signing ceremony. The changes, he said, “allowed us to be in the position that we’re in today to be able to expand this coverage.”

For Mr. Cooper, who is in his second term and has been mentioned as a possible future Democratic candidate for Senate or even president, the bill signing was a significant victory. He sought to expand Medicaid when he first took office in 2017, and Republicans sued in federal court to stop him from doing it.

The push for expansion picked up steam last year, when the state’s House and Senate approved separate measures. But the two chambers were unable to reconcile differences.

The signing ceremony on Monday was at turns poignant and celebratory. Cassandra Brooks, who operates Little Believer’s Academy, a day care center in the Raleigh area, choked back tears as she recalled two of her teachers who had died, she said, because they could not afford health care.

“They were excellent early childhood teachers who didn’t have health insurance and passed away due to preventable health conditions,” she said. She cast the expansion measure as a boon to small businesses that operate on thin margins and cannot afford to offer their employees coverage.

“Here’s to Medicaid expansion in North Carolina,” she said. “Here’s to supporting small business in North Carolina. Here’s to continued growth in North Carolina. I believe in North Carolina.”

#us politics #news #the new york times #2023 #expand medicaid #medicaid #obamacare #affordable care act #Gov. Roy Cooper #north carolina #Tim Moore