#fetal viability

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

#us politics #2022 #us supreme court #scotus #dobbs v. jackson women’s health organization #roe v. wade #planned parenthood v. casey #taxes #tax returns #irs #internal revenue service #us government #abortions #abortion bans #income tax returns #fetal viability #personhood #reproductive health #reproductive rights

[thatstormygeek]

“Ultimately, I believe that we should provide equal protection under the law for all unborn children,” Fairchild said. “I believe that science proves that life begins at conception, and the government has a responsibility to protect that life from conception until natural death.”

Oh, wow. That's quite a stand for a Republican. Obviously this means he supports extended pregnancy and parental leave and socialized healthcare and universal basic income and all that stuff, right? I mean, if the government has a responsibility to "protect" life from "conception until natural death," that's a big change from how we currently operate.

Let's see what else he's been up to in his 3 years in the Kansas legislature...

Hmm. That doesn't seem like it's super concerned with protecting life. What else?

That's kind of odd. I mean, if you're going to disallow certain types of medicine that have years of evidence of their effectiveness, sponsoring a bill to make sure drugs that don't have that evidence are more widely available certainly is A Choice.

Ultimately, of the 19 bills and resolutions he's signed on to sponsor, four of them have been anti-abortion actions. The rest are spread out across topics, though two of the four non-abortion resolutions are about legislative term limits (the other two are recognizing a Teacher of the Year and condemning the Oct 7th attacks).

I don't know why I bothered to begin doing this. We all know they don't care that they are hypocrites. I guess something about the ridiculousness of his statement combined with the GOP take on pretty much anything inspired me.

However, I did run across this in a bill that became law over Gov. Kelly's veto and just...what?

This is an ultrasound of a fetus at 9 weeks

There is zero chance of this fetus being born alive.

This is a 12 week ultrasound:

Again, this fetus is not going to survive birth. (Ultrasound images from here)

Fetal viability is a complex topic that I'm not going to go into, except to say that experts place the earliest viable gestation age around 22-24 weeks and, according to that Wikipedia article linked right there, the "lowest gestational age newborn to survive...was born on 5 July 2020 in the United States, at 21 weeks and 1 day gestational age, weighing 420 grams." So what the fuck are they even doing with that reporting requirement? I mean, we know what they are doing, but still. wtf.

#this is my brain on life #us politics #representative government my ass #fire the gop #kansas reflector #kansas #abortion #fetal viability #ultrasound images

[8241991]

i get that it’s considered a fringe position to believe that abortion should be legal throughout the entirety of pregnancy, viability of the fetus be damned bc it genuinely doesn’t matter, but it confuses me why this position is considered just as extreme as banning abortion without exception

#like even to most political normies this is considered extremist #but I’d much rather have all abortion be available and legal w/out factoring in fetal viability #than have it be illegal at any stage

[fillejondrette]

if you want to know what it's like to live in ohio, just know that my town designated itself as a sanctuary city for the unborn, which meant that it was illegal to get or assist someone else to get an abortion, even if the support consisted of giving them money to get an abortion in columbus or whatever.

#it was later overturned so we are no longer a sanctuary city for the unborn lol #state law bans abortion after 6 weeks but im not sure if that law is in effect rn or if the state supreme court has intervened #but if today's election and the nov election go well abortion will be legal up to fetal viability (~24 weeks)

[lilleluv]

What Is Viable/ Non-Viable Pregnancy?

Pregnancy is a beautiful phase in a woman’s life. However, not all pregnancies progress to a full-term healthy delivery. In some cases, a pregnancy may not develop normally or may cease to grow, leading to what is known as a non-viable pregnancy. In this article, we will explore what viable and non-viable pregnancies are, what causes them, and how they can be diagnosed and managed. What Is…

View On WordPress

#early viability scan #emotional support #expectant management #fetal heartbeat #genetic factors #gestational age #infections #lifestyle factors #live birth #maternal age #medical management #non-viable pregnancy #Pregnancy #pregnancy health #Pregnancy Plan #structural issues #surgical management #underlying health conditions #viable pregnancy

[intersectionalpraxis]

"Under a Missouri statute that has recently gained nationwide attention, every petitioner for divorce is required to disclose their pregnancy status. In practice, experts say, those who are pregnant are barred from legally dissolving their marriage. “The application [of the law] is an outright ban,” said Danielle Drake, attorney at Parks & Drake. When Drake learned her then husband was having an affair, her own divorce stalled because she was pregnant. Two other states have similar laws: Texas and Arkansas."

"Missouri is particularly restrictive when it comes to reproductive health and autonomy. It was one of the first to ban abortion after Roe v Wade was overturned in 2022, including in cases of rape and incest. Research shows that abortion restrictions can effectively give cover to reproductive coercion and sexual violence: the National Hotline for Domestic Violence said it saw a 99% increase in calls during the first year after the loss of the constitutional right to abortion."

"Advocates are currently trying to gather enough signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would make abortion legal until fetal viability, or around 24 weeks."

"In Missouri, homicide was the third leading cause of deaths in connection with pregnancy between 2018–2022, the majority (75%) of which occurred among Black women, according to a 2023 report by the Missouri department of health and senior services, which examines maternal mortality data. In every case, the perpetrator was a current or former partner. And in 2022, 23,252 individuals in the state received services after reporting domestic violence, according to the latest reporting from Missouri Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, which compiles data from direct service providers in the state."

The dystopia we speak of -across many of issues that women and marginalized folks face is HERE already. This is terrifying.

#feminist #feminism #social justice #current events #current news #missouri #missouri law #united states #partner abuse #tw abuse #intersectionality #intersectional feminism #violence against women #intimate partner violence #intimate partner abuse #divorce #relationship #us law #important #information #pregnancy #gender violence #bodily autonomy #womens rights #reproductive freedom #abortion is healthcare

[lesbianrobin]

something that i think a lot of pro-choice people who exist in liberal/leftist/pro-choice circles and cities and families don't realize is that a lot of anti abortion people Know that outlawing abortion is misogynistic and cruel. that's Why they are anti abortion. it's the same reason why they'll never get behind prison abolition or the decriminalization of drug possession. they think that wrongdoing must be punished regardless of whether that punishment is productive, and these people think of pregnancy and motherhood as a punishment for having sex.

they think that "irresponsible" women ought to be forced into motherhood so that they'll behave the way that a woman "should." and the pro choice bitches just don't comprehend that like arguments that actually abortion isn't murder and actually people deserve to have bodily autonomy and actually it's better for children to be wanted etc etc don't MATTER to these people because none of that is the point the point is that they think abortion allows women to duck out of their "natural role" and the "consequences" of sexual permissiveness. and because they are conservatives who believe that fundamentalist white american gender roles are actually biologically inherent this is bad to them.

and i'm not just saying shit right now like i have family members who have literally justified their anti abortion stance to me as saying "well i just think that people should have to deal with the consequences of their actions!" and quite frankly there's literally no other logical explanation for why some people might be anti-abortion but still allow exceptions for rape and incest. if they think abortion is murder then the means of conception make no difference it Only makes a difference if your position on abortion is aimed at punishing people for having sex.

anyway idk why i'm saying all of this i just think that a lot of lefties and liberals who don't have to deal with conservatives all the time just do not understand the actual basis of the arguments they're having and as a result they run around in circles and bend over backwards citing medical research about fetal viability and philosophical/legal foundations of bodily autonomy when that quite literally is not even relevant to the people they are trying to convince.

#em talks #abortion

[moniquill]

Casual reminder because I have a bunch of new followers:

I'm 100% Pro Choice, I do not believe in fetal personhood before defined brainwaves can be detected In the third trimester, and that even a fully enpersoned fetus with thoughts and sensations doesn't have the right to use someone's uterus without that person's express and ongoing consent. Abortions should take place as early in the pregnancy as possible and by the least invasive means possible because that's medically the safest way for a person to undergo the procedure.

I also recognize that no one is ever getting late term abortions for fun; they're undertaken because the fetus is in some way incompatible with life, or the pregnant individual's life or health are significantly endangered.

Therefore I think that any law that limits or curtails a person's right to terminate a pregnancy at -any time- up to the moment of external viability is reprehensible and should be fought.

A person who is pregnant can withdraw consent to that state at any time for any reason.

[thepro-lifemovement]

#abortion #abortion bans #polls #prolife #prochoice

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

“Women are not without electoral or political power.”

April 3, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

APR 03, 2024

President Biden issued a statement on Tuesday condemning a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court that effectively institutes a six-week abortion ban. The state supreme court’s decision overruled a 35-year-old precedent recognizing that Florida’s constitution protected reproductive liberty. Biden’s statement said, in part,

[The decision] will likely trigger Governor DeSantis’ even more extreme law that would prevent women from accessing care before many even know they are pregnant. It is outrageous. These extreme laws take away women’s freedom to make their own health care decisions and threaten physicians with jail time simply for providing the medical care that they were trained to provide. Vice President Harris and I stand with the vast majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to choose, including in Florida, where voters will have the opportunity to make their voices heard in support of a reproductive freedom ballot initiative this November. We . . . continue to call on Congress to pass a law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade in every state.

As President Biden noted, the six-week abortion ban is effectively on the ballot in Florida in November, when Floridians will have the opportunity to enshrine reproductive liberty in the Florida constitution. Public support for the six-week ban is in the low 20% range.

The text of the proposed constitutional amendment (called “Amendment 4”) reads as follows:

No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.

Under Florida’s law governing constitutional amendments, Amendment 4 must garner at least 60% of the vote to pass. Although that is a high bar, it is not impossible. Other initiatives have surpassed the 60% threshold (approving medical marijuana and requiring parental consent for a minor to obtain an abortion).

As explained in an article on Substack by MCIMAPS, Floridians have reason to hope that Amendment 4 will pass by the 60% threshold in November. See MCIMAPS Report, Abortion and Weed will be on the Florida Ballot in 2024 (substack.com).

Will Amendment 4's presence help President Biden and other Democrats' chances on the Florida ballot in November?

Possibly, even probably.

First, because of the 60% threshold, supporters of Amendment 4 will have every incentive to drive massive turnout.

Second, supporters of a constitutional initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana will also drive turnout in November.

Third, as noted in an analysis by Mark Joseph Stern, the justices on the Florida Supreme Court indicated in Tuesday’s opinion that they favor the “fetal personhood” doctrine, which would outlaw abortion (and contraception) in Florida at every stage of pregnancy from the moment of conception. See Mark Joseph Stern in Slate, The threat lurking behind Florida’s November abortion vote. If Amendment 4 fails to pass, the six-week ban will likely turn into a total prohibition on abortion. When Florida voters realize the additional implications of failure to pass Amendment 4, turnout should be massive.

Finally, Senator Rick Scott is up for re-election in November. Rick Scott supports the six-week ban (“If I was still governor, I would sign the bill.”) His position on abortion is based on his belief that life begins at conception, a position that aligns with the fetal personhood movement in Florida.

There is reason to believe that Senator Rick Scott is vulnerable. See The Hill, (3/5/24), Scott narrowly leads Mucarsel-Powell in Florida Senate race: Poll. Rick Scott will be forced to run on a six-week abortion ban and the fetal personhood doctrine—positions that are highly unpopular in Florida.

The Biden administration is right to say that Florida is “winnable” for Democrats. Although the ruling by the Florida Supreme Court will impose hardship on thousands of women in the next seven months, the anti-choice extremists have overreached to the point they are prompting a national backlash.

In late-breaking news on Tuesday, it appears pro-choice activists have secured enough signatures to place a pro-choice constitutional amendment on Arizona’s ballot in November. See Arizona Likely To Join Growing Group Of States With Abortion Ballot Initiatives | Talking Points Memo. The group Arizona for Abortion Access has collected more than 506,000 signatures; only 383,923 are required to place the measure on the ballot.

Let’s make Justice Alito regret his attempt to patronize women with his snide statement in Dobbs, “Women are not without electoral or political power.” No, they are not. Nor are their partners, parents, siblings, friends, and fellow citizens. The reactionary anti-choice movement is about to find out just how much electoral power they have.

#Robert B. Hubbell #Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter #women #women's rights #human rights #corrupt SCOTUS #Opus Dei SCOTUS #election 2024

[kali-tmblr]

Ohio woman leaves state for abortion

"Knowing Tara’s health was on the line and the baby’s chance of survival was slim, I really thought that in Ohio, everyone said that they were gonna do anything to protect the mother. I honestly never even thought twice that they would say no to us, and then when they did, we had to start finding other options,” said Justin George.

#politics #us politics #republicans #republican hypocrisy #republican #republican family values #family values #fetal viability #abortion history #abortion resources #abortion access #abortion rights #abortion #reproductive health #reproductive rights #reproductive freedom #reproductive justice #reproduction #reproductive choice #health care

[tomorrowusa]

Bad news and good news out of Ron DeSantis's Florida.

The Florida Supreme Court will allow a new 6-week abortion ban to take effect in May. BUT the court also approved a ballot initiative for November which would restore reproductive freedom in the state.

Floridians will be able to vote on abortion protections this fall, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Monday—a win celebrated by the state’s Democrats despite the court, in a separate case, also paving the way for a law to take effect that will ban all abortions after six weeks. That six-week abortion ban, passed by Florida’s Republican-majority legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year, will go into effect on May 1. That measure can be undone by voters come November, however. The court’s decision is expected to reverberate across Florida and the southeast. A privacy protection clause in the Florida constitution had allowed the Sunshine State to enjoy abortion access up to 15 weeks despite DeSantis being at the helm—access that women relied upon in nearby states like Alabama and Mississippi, where abortion is outright banned, and in Georgia and South Carolina, which have laws similar to Florida’s soon-to-be-active six-week ban.

DeSantis appointed most of the Florida Supreme Court justices. Another reason why we should pay more attention to state government – regardless of state.

Florida’s Supreme Court, which had five of its seven justices appointed by DeSantis, ruled in favor of the state on Monday, 6-1. Now, Florida women will often be barred from having an abortion before many realize they’re even pregnant.

The court approval of the upcoming referendum, actually a Florida constitution amendment called Amendment 4 on the 2024 ballot, was narrow.

That amendment, if it received at least 60 percent of votes in favor of it, would significantly protect abortion access in Florida. Its text reads, in part, that “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before fetal viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.” Viability is estimated to be around six months of pregnancy. The Florida Supreme Court voted 4-3 in favor of approving the amendment to reach the ballot—a tight victory for abortion advocates like Planned Parenthood, which has championed the proposed amendment.

60% is a relatively high bar. But Kansas, arguably more conservative than Florida, had an abortion referendum in 2022 in which the reproductive freedom side got 59.16% of the vote; the Kansas election required just a simple majority but the final result exceeded that by almost 10%.

The necessary 60% for the Florida reproductive freedom amendment required in Florida won't be a cake walk but it is quite doable.

As many as 11 states could have reproductive freedom on the ballot as referendums this year.

Where abortion rights could be on the ballot this fall

^^^ Just to clarify: New York already offers strong reproductive legal protections. The upcoming referendum, if passed, would place freedom of choice into the NY constitution. It doesn't get more secure than that in state law.

#florida #6 week abortion ban #abortion #reproductive freedom #a woman's right to choose #ron desantis #florida supreme court #florida abortion referendum #amendment 4 #state government #roe v. wade #restore roe #keep republicans out of your bedroom and doctor's office #republicans hate freedom #election 2024 #vote blue no matter who

[bitchesgetriches]

Take action the moment you suspect you may be pregnant

We’re born procrastinators here at BGR. So we normally cut a lot of slack for that shit. But in this case, you absolutely mustn’t delay. Not even by one day.

Most states restrict your ability to get an abortion after a time limit. The most common cutoff is around the age of fetal viability (around 20-24 weeks), but some are intentionally draconian (6 weeks). These ultra-restrictive laws are designed to legally trap you into a pregnancy before you even realize you’re pregnant.

Setting aside the legality, the cost of the procedure will climb if you delay past the 11-12 week window.

State-by-state gestational limits are shifting all the time based on active lawsuits. For example: when I started writing this article, telemedicine abortions were legal. By the time I finished it, they were not! States keep trying new things, and courts keep striking them down, and it’s hard to stay on top of everything. So here are some links of sites that should have up-to-date information as things change—always for the better, we hope!

An Overview of Abortion Laws via the Guttmacher Institute

Is Abortion Legal in My State? via Planned Parenthood

Abortion in the United States by State: Current Legal Status Nationwide on Wikipedia

full article: How To Get an Abortion

#abortion #reproductive rights

[archiveofkloss]

st. louis public radio: “Fashion icon Karlie Kloss emphasizes Missouri's role in national abortion rights fight” by Jason Rosenbaum

Webster Groves native Karlie Kloss took the modeling world by storm in the 2010s before launching a highly successful effort to connect young women with computer coding and, more recently, helping relaunch Life magazine.

On Monday, Kloss discussed another passion: her advocacy for abortion rights in Missouri and around the Midwest.

“I'm one of four daughters. I grew up here in the Midwest. My father is a physician. The idea of reproductive care was never political in my house,” Kloss said. “It's devastating to me the reality of what is happening and how it has become so politicized. Because to me, this is a conversation that belongs between an individual and their physician and an individual and their loved ones. To me, politicians should not be involved.”

Kloss helped gather signatures in Creve Coeur for the Missourians for Constitutional Freedom initiative, a measure that would legalize the procedure up to what’s known as fetal viability. That’s defined in the initiative as when medical professionals determine that a fetus could survive outside of the womb without extraordinary medical intervention.

Before Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Kloss started the Gateway Coalition, which provides financial and logistical assistance to small clinics that provide abortions throughout the Midwest. She said those facilities, particularly the ones in Illinois, have become havens for people in states like Missouri where most abortions are prohibited.

“What I really realized, especially once Roe fell, was about the fragmentation of care across this country, but specifically in the Midwest,” Kloss said. “I wanted to do whatever I could, and initially focused on Illinois of just the infrastructure that exists — the independent clinics, the clinics across Illinois who are really holding up the front line.”

She called the Missourians for Constitutional Freedom initiative “an opportunity to take it to the ballot box and actually have Missourians reinstall protections in our home state.”

“So you don't have to leave Missouri to receive just the vital care that I believe every woman deserves,” Kloss said.

Since rolling out the initiative at the beginning of the year, Missourians for Constitutional Freedom has raised more than $4.5 million in contributions of more than $5,000. That includes a $50,000 donation from Kloss.

She said that the initiative can find support with a wide range of voters — pointing specificallyto polling from SLU/YouGov that showed more than 20% of Republican respondents backed the initiative.

“They see this as a human issue,” Kloss said. “And also, the fact is that the trigger ban that went into effect had no exceptions, which to me is just unacceptable.”

Kloss was referring to how Missouri’s abortion ban that went into effect in June 2022 contained no exceptions for anyone who became pregnant due to rape or incest.

If organizers get roughly 171,000 signatures all over the state, the amendment legalizing abortion could go before voters in either August or November. It’s part of a trend in other states, including Arizona and Florida, of trying to use the initiative petition process to enshrine abortion rights.

Backers have until May 5 to turn in signatures.

Kloss said there’s a reason for people everywhere to care about what’s happening in Missouri and other states with strict abortion bans.

“To me this issue is about dignity,” Kloss said. “It's about respect and an individual's bodily autonomy to decide what is right for them in their life at whatever time they need to be making that choice. And so this ban, I believe, we have a chance to overturn.”

While in town Monday, Kloss participated in a ceremony officially naming a portion of Washington Avenue after her.

#karlie kloss #04012024 #st louis missouri #stlpr interview #interview #article #reproductive rights

[foreverlogical]

The existence of Mifepristone, commonly referred to as the “abortion pill,” presents a unique challenge to the anti-abortion lobby. Because it is normally used to terminate pregnancies within ten weeks, well before any semblance of “fetal viability” has occurred, and can be used without any medical intervention, the arguments usually employed by those who seek to control pregnant people’s reproductive decisions are far less persuasive. Consequently, forced birthers are themselves obligated to invent new and novel justifications for their position. In doing so, they inevitably reveal more about their true motivations, which are ultimately all about control: specifically, and most obviously, control over women and pregnant people.  

On August 16, a three-judge panel for the staunchly right-wing 

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld (in part) the decision of the Trump-appointed Texas District Judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, who had, at the urging of several anti-choice organizations, unilaterally suspended the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of use of mifepristone (known as the “abortion pill”) by women and others who might become pregnant. The appellate court, in a 2-1 ruling, permitted the drug to remain on the market, but affirmed the restrictions Kacsmaryk previously imposed, including a prohibition on prescribing the drug past seven weeks’ of pregnancy and forbidding the drug’s delivery by mail. Those restrictions, currently on hold due to a prior stay ordered by the Supreme Court, will almost certainly be taken up by that same Supreme Court for hearing and decision next year.

Both Judges in the Circuit Court’s majority were appointed by Republicans: Jennifer Elrod, appointed by George W. Bush, and Cory Wilson, appointed by Donald Trump. However, the third judge, James Ho, also appointed by Trump, dissented in part from the majority’s ruling while concurring with other aspects of its final opinion. In his dissent, Ho made clear he would have upheld Kacsmaryk’s ruling in the the lower court, which would have maintained an absolute ban on the drug mifepristone. In that separate dissent, Ho advanced what may well be the most disturbing rationale yet for prohibiting the right to abortion, as wielded by the the virulent forced birth lobby.

In essence, Ho would hold that Mifepristone, because it terminates pregnancy at such an early stage, would deprive doctors and medical practitioners of the “aesthetic” pleasure of peering into a woman (or pregnant person’s) body.

RELATED STORY: Where do the 2024 presidential candidates stand on abortion? Take a look

As observed by professor Rhonda Garelick of Southern Methodist University, writing for the Los Angeles Times, Ho held that doctors could bring an actionable claim against abortion drugs based on the “aesthetic injury” they impart—to the doctors:

In what seemed a baffling argument, Ho wrote, “Unborn babies are a source of profound joy for those who view them. Expectant parents eagerly share ultrasound photos with loved ones. Friends and family cheer at the sight of an unborn child. Doctors delight in working with their unborn patients — and experience an aesthetic injury when they are aborted.”

As reported by Laura Clawson for this site, to bolster his bizarre position, Ho cited to multiple environmental law cases in which courts held that tourists or other nature aficionados were permitted to sue government agencies and developers whose actions had deprived them from experiencing the pleasurable “aesthetic” enjoyment of the natural world. For example, Ho argued, “[I]f a plaintiff has ‘concrete plans’ to visit an animal’s habitat and view that animal, that plaintiff suffers aesthetic injury when an agency has approved a project that threatens the animal.”

Leaving aside the crass comparison of women and others who become pregnant to wild (or captive) animals existing solely for the joy of viewing by others, Garelick recognizes in Ho’s opinion an even more sinister aspect about the forced birth movement in general: 

To construe abortion as a crime against the privilege of looking inside women is to construe them as objects offered up for the visual consumption, pleasure and, of course, control of others. This is not a new concept. Psychoanalytic critics use the term “scopophilia” to refer to a presumably male audience’s erotic viewing enjoyment of the prurient presentation of women’s bodies in film or television, for example. Scopophilia objectifies women, turning them into visual surfaces to be looked at, embellished, augmented or reduced, perfected and consumed — in a word, commodified.

As Garelick notes, mifepristone uniquely prevents this type of “commodification” at the outset by forestalling any opportunity for medical practitioners to surveil their female patients. Because the anti-abortion, forced birth movement is—as amply demonstrated by Supreme Court Justice Alito’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overruling Roe v. Wade—rooted in theocratic sensibilities about women’s proper, “subordinate” role in society, this is evidently intolerable.

As Garelick sees it, the language and reasoning employed by Ho and others of his ilk is not simply offensive. It’s not only a scramble on the part of the forced birth lobby to justify restricting abortion by any means necessary, but a calculated and intentional repositioning of the abortion argument in response to the existential “threat” afforded by a drug that can terminate a pregnancy before even the watchful eyes of medical practitioners are involved.

Mifepristone in this way offers women a powerful mode of resistance to the kind of compulsory bodily visibility that Ho advocates. Perhaps that’s why the judge chose the seemingly bizarre grounds of “aesthetic injury” to argue against access to the drug. It allows him to reposition abortion in the very realm from which mifepristone effectively frees it: that of prurient visual surveillance.

As has been repeatedly emphasized by pro-choice activists (and confirmed by forced birth proponents), the movement to restrict or dictate the reproductive decisions of women and others who become pregnant did not end with the Dobbs decision. Right-wing Republican judges exactly like James Ho (who was—and presumably still is—on Donald Trump’s shortlist for a Supreme Court nomination) will continue to spin legal arguments out of whole cloth until they achieve their goal of complete control. They will not stop short of that goal until they are defeated.

This is why the 2024 election, and the next, and the one after, are so incredibly important.