COMMENTARY: By Jessica Valenti, in her ''Abortion, Every Day' column called 'The week in Abortion," published on May 27, 2024. (This informative column deals with, 'All things abortion, feminist commentary and community.') GIST: "On Tuesday, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed an anti-abortion travel ban. Republicans purport that the law, which they call 'anti-trafficking' legislation, will protect minors from abusive adults trying to sneak them out-of-state for an abortion. The truth is that the legislation was deliberately written to criminalize anyone who helps a teen get abortion care in any way. I've written this many times before, but I'll keep repeating it: Under this law, an aunt who lends her niece gas money to leave the state could be labeled a trafficker, as could a grandmother who texts her granddaughter the url to an out-of-state clinic. If you think that sounds like a free speech violation, you're not the only one! A judge blocked a near-identical law in Idaho on First Amendment grounds. We can expect to see a legal challenge in Tennessee as well. Republicans insist that they're just trying to protect children (even as they force them into childbirth), but it's important to know that these laws will not stop with teenagers. Minors are the canaries in the coal mine: what happens to them today will come for us tomorrow. Already, multiple Texas counties have made it illegal to help a woman of any age leave the state for an abortion, and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has argued that the state could restrict pregnant women's travel in the same way they restrict a sex offender's." The entire commentary can be read at: https://jessica.substack.com/p/the-week-in-abortion-225 PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985 --------------------------------------------------------------- FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices." Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; ————————————————————————————————— FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true! Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project; ———————————————————————————— YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD: David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction. https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801 ———————---------------------------------------- |
Sunday, June 2, 2024
Criminalizing Reproduction: Attacks on science, medicine and the right to choose:Tennessee's new ''anti-abortion travel ban;' Commentary: Jessica Valenti, author of 'Abortion, Every Day' excoriates an 'anti-abortion travel ban' recently signed into law, noting that, "The truth is that the legislation was deliberately written to criminalize anyone who helps a teen get abortion care in any way."…I've written this many times before, but I'll keep repeating it: Under this law, an aunt who lends her niece gas money to leave the state could be labeled a trafficker, as could a grandmother who texts her granddaughter the url to an out-of-state clinic."
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Republicans insist that they're just trying to protect children (even as they force them into childbirth), but it's important to know that these laws will not stop with teenagers. Minors are the canaries in the coal mine: what happens to them today will come for us tomorrow. Already, multiple Texas counties have made it illegal to help a woman of any age leave the state for an abortion, and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has argued that the state could restrict pregnant women's travel in the same way they restrict a sex offender's."
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