PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I have taken on the theme of 'criminalizing reproduction' - a natural theme for a Blog concerned with flawed science in its myriad forms and its flawed devotees (like Charles Smith), as I am utterly opposed to the current movement in the United States and some other countries - thankfully not Canada any more - towards imprisoning women and their physicians on the basis of sham science (or any other basis). Control over their reproductive lives is far too important to women in America or anywhere else so they can participate equally in the economic and social life of their nations without fear for loss their freedom at the hands of political opportunists and fanatics. I will continue to follow relevant cases such as Purvi Patel and Bei Bei Shuai - and the mounting wave of legislative attacks aimed at chipping away at Roe V. Wade and ultimately dismantling it.
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The new abortion bans in Alabama and Missouri are expected to be blocked by lower courts, just as the Mississippi law was. They are designed to be appealed to the US supreme court, which anti-abortion activists hope will reverse the precedent of Roe v Wade. In his order granting a preliminary injunction against the Mississippi law, Judge Carlton Reeves appeared to express a certain amount of irritation with the tactic, writing: “Here we go again. Mississippi has passed another law banning abortions prior to viability … The parties have been here before.” Reeves had previously ruled against a 15-week ban on abortion, he wrote, and the passage of “an even more restrictive bill” did not move him to reconsider. “This Court previously found the 15-week ban to be an unconstitutional violation of substantive due process because the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that women have the right to choose an abortion prior to viability, and a fetus is not viable at 15 weeks lmp,” he wrote, using the initialism to denote weeks after a woman’s “last menstrual period”. “If a fetus is not viable at 15 weeks lmp, it is not viable at 6 weeks lmp.”
STORY: "Abortion clinics report 'alarming' rise in picketing, vandalism and trespassing," by reporter Julie Carrie Wong, published by The Guardian on May 25, 2019. (Julia Carrie Wong is a technology reporter for Guardian US, based in San Francisco.)
GIST: "US abortion providers reported an “alarming escalation” in incidents of disruption and intimidation in 2018, according to new findings report by their professional association, the National Abortion Federation (NAF). Trespassing reached the highest level since the NAF began recording
such incidents in 1999, while incidents of obstruction of facilities
grew 78% from 2017 to 2018. Providers also reported record levels of
picketing (99,409 incidents) since recording began in 1977, and the
highest number of incidents of vandalism (125) since 1990. The group also recorded decreases in incidents of stalking, burglary, and assault and battery. The report comes amid continuing fallout from the recent spate of
anti-abortion legislation in statehouses across the country. On Friday, a
federal judge in Mississippi blocked that state’s recently enacted ban on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy; civil liberties and reproductive rights organizations filed a lawsuit challenging Alabama’s extreme new abortion ban; and Missouri’s governor, Mike Parson, signed a ban on abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy. “Anti-choice individuals and groups have been emboldened by the
rhetoric of President Trump, Vice President Pence and other elected
officials and we are seeing this play out in more instances of
activities meant to intimidate abortion providers and disrupt patient
services,” said Katherine Ragsdale, interim president and CEO of NAF, in
a statement. Trump and other politicians advocating for the restriction of access to abortion have frequently engaged in false and inflammatory rhetoric about the practice, using emotive and inaccurate language such as “infanticide” or “late-term abortion”. In recent weeks, several state legislatures have enacted so-called
“heartbeat” bills . These laws criminalize abortion after six weeks,
when what anti-abortion activists call a “fetal heartbeat” is detected.
At six weeks, a pregnancy involves an embryo, not a fetus, and while
some tissue does throb, the embryo has not yet developed an actual
heart. “Demonizing health care providers and women who rely on them for
abortion care has become one of the go-to tactics for anti-choice
politicians,” added Ragsdale. “Those lies have consequences and it is
not the anti-choice politicians who are facing those consequences; it is
those who are denied abortion care and the providers targeted by
threats, harassment, and violence who are.” NAF began tracking violence and disruption against abortion providers
in 1977, though the categories it tracks have changed over the years. The new abortion bans in Alabama and Missouri are expected to be
blocked by lower courts, just as the Mississippi law was. They are
designed to be appealed to the US supreme court, which anti-abortion
activists hope will reverse the precedent of Roe v Wade. In his order
granting a preliminary injunction against the Mississippi law, Judge
Carlton Reeves appeared to express a certain amount of irritation with
the tactic, writing: “Here we go again. Mississippi has passed another
law banning abortions prior to viability … The parties have been here
before.” Reeves had previously ruled against a 15-week ban on abortion, he
wrote, and the passage of “an even more restrictive bill” did not move
him to reconsider. “This Court previously found the 15-week ban to be an
unconstitutional violation of substantive due process because the
Supreme Court has repeatedly held that women have the right to choose an
abortion prior to viability, and a fetus is not viable at 15 weeks
lmp,” he wrote, using the initialism to denote weeks after a woman’s
“last menstrual period”. “If a fetus is not viable at 15 weeks lmp, it
is not viable at 6 weeks lmp.”
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/24/abortion-providers-disruption-intimidation-report?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0d1YXJkaWFuVG9kYXlVUy0xOTA1MjU%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&CMP=GTUS_email
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
