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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsConservatives Are Getting Comfortable Talking Openly About a National Abortion Ban
Conservatives Are Getting Comfortable Talking Openly About a National Abortion BanAfter this weeks oral argument, few court watchers believe the Supreme Court is now ready to limit the Food and Drug Administrations authority to approve mifepristone, a drug used in more than half of all abortions, as opponents of abortion sought. At oral argument in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, it did not appear that the plaintiff doctors persuaded the court that the law inflicted injuries that would give them standing to sue. The reason for the justices skepticism is not hard to find. The doctors built their case on a mountain of remote possibilities. Patients might suffer complications from mifepristonea drug with an impressively low complication rateand might seek treatment at emergency rooms, where the plaintiffs may happen to practice, when the plaintiffs might not be able to find another physician willing to intervene. And all of that might mean that the plaintiffs would have to act in violation of their conscience. But then again, it might not. Thats why this case seems dead on arrival: The justices seemed unwilling to engage in the sort of rank speculation the plaintiffs have in mind. If this chain of hypotheticals is enough, anyone can bring a constitutional challenge to any drug approval or any law.
But the case was also a vehicle for advancing ever more expansive conscience-based arguments that have become common currency among Christian conservativesclaims of the kind we have seen in well-known cases like the 2014 Hobby Lobby decision recognizing conscience objections to the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act or even last years ruling in 303 Creative v. Elenis that allowed a conservative Christian graphic designer to refuse to make custom websites for same-sex weddings.
Today, those with conscience-based objections seek more than to pray or dress in conformity with religious belief. They object to laws providing Americans access to health care or freedom from discrimination. Compliance with these laws, they claim, would make the objector complicit in the assertedly sinful conduct of others.
Objectors bringing this new generation of complicity-based conscience claims invite courts to deny other Americans the protections of the law. In the FDA case, the plaintiffs do not even seek an exemption from the law; through an expansive standing claim, the doctors claim the only way the court could protect their conscience is to strike down FDA approvals providing all Americans access to medication abortion. Simply having mifepristone on the market, they argue, risks making them complicit in abortion.
Coventina
(27,120 posts)I'm willing to call that bluff!!!!
enough
(13,259 posts)bullimiami
(13,095 posts)WestMichRad
(1,324 posts)how to bring a lawsuit that will let their bought and paid off Supreemies to rule that abortion is murder.
WestMichRad
(1,324 posts)Duplicate post
ProudMNDemocrat
(16,786 posts)Maybe those who are post-menopausal are finished having babies. They will be okay with a National Ban. If these women have adult daughters and granddaughters, they might want to think twice about voting to prevent them from the rights women had over their bodies and medical decisions up until Roe was ripped to shreds.
Women of child bearing age are PISSED. If a Democrat can win a House seat in Alabama on the Abortion issue, so can any Democrat running to make sure women have access to such services when needed.
So go ahead MAGA Republicans. Run on supporting a National Abortion Ban and see how many votes you get.
Dulcinea
(6,631 posts)I'm the post-menopausal mother of 2 college daughters. Pro-choice now and forever!
ProudMNDemocrat
(16,786 posts)But there are some who apparently do. Where I live, there are some much older women who will vote for Republicans no matter what.
Sky Jewels
(7,107 posts)There is no way the Republican-Nazi-Fascist Party can expand their voting bloc through pushing for a national abortion ban. Instead, they will further erode it.
Emile
(22,771 posts)SARose
(243 posts)Democrat Running on Abortion and I.V.F. Access Wins Special Election in Alabama
Marilyn Lands, a Democrat, won a special election Tuesday for a State House seat in Alabama after campaigning on access to abortion and in vitro fertilization, underscoring the continued political potency of reproductive rights.
Ms. Lands defeated her Republican opponent, Teddy Powell, by about 25 percentage points an extraordinary margin in a swing district where she lost by seven points in 2022. The special election was called when David Cole, the Republican who had held the seat, resigned and pleaded guilty to voter fraud.
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Conservatives in their ivory towers might think they will shove a national ban down our throats but one district in Alabama proved we can win. Bring it!
Sky Jewels
(7,107 posts)The vast majority of us say:
Blue Owl
(50,383 posts)Keep those gums flappin ya dumbasses!