Reporter Chabeli Carrazana at 19th News:

In a leaked draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued that pregnant people don’t actually need access to abortion to ensure economic mobility — they already have it. 

Except he didn’t, as she immediately goes on to say.

According to the opinion, which was published by Politico Monday night, “unmarried pregnant women” — Alito does not include all pregnant people in his opinion — now have access to pregnancy discrimination protections, “guaranteed” medical leave “in many cases,” and medical costs that are “covered by insurance or government assistance.” 

Yes he does. All pregnant people are women. The normal wording is “pregnant women,” not “pregnant people.” It’s insulting to erase the word women from the conversation, and it’s very bad politics. If it were people who got pregnant this wouldn’t be happening.

The substance of the article is useful: it’s about economics and pregnancy, and the fact that Alito pretends the situation in the US is much better than it is. It’s a point worth making, but it’s not worth erasing women from the discussion for the sake of that point.

As Tim Harris said in his comment alerting us to this piece, “pregnant women” is said only in that one Alito quotation. “Pregnant people” is said six times.

Women don’t matter any more.

There seems to be a competition, declared or not, to caption Owen Jones’s selfie from today.

Aw, why so sad, little buddy?

Survivors’ Network is righteously indignant:

Survivors’ Network is a charity supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse. We support survivors of all ages and genders in Sussex and this includes Trans and Non-Binary people. We are committed to intersectionality, and trans-inclusive feminism is central to our ethos.  

But does that mean women don’t get to have support without men around? It appears it does mean that:

We are disappointed to share that we have recently had legal action taken against us due to our trans-inclusive ethos. The claimant alleges that we have broken equalities law as (they allege) it is not legitimate or proportionate to welcome trans women into our women-only spaces.  

In other words they refuse to provide women-only spaces, while pretending they do provide women-only spaces, so they both refuse to provide what the claimant needs and blow smoke about what they’re doing. It’s sly, it’s smug, it’s self-flattering, and it throws women who need a women-only space under a very dirty bus.

If you’re a charity serving survivors of sexual violence and abuse, and you pretend to provide women-only services but actually don’t because you allow men who identify as women to use them, you’re just re-abusing your own damn clients. And then you pat yourselves on the back for it. Ugly.

The most important thing for us is the continued delivery of our services supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse, and we want to reassure all of our current survivors and anyone seeking support that we are still here for you.

Unless you need a women-only space. We’re not here for you then – in fact we think you’re a monster and will say so in public. Men who call themselves women come first, bitch. See you in court.

Meanwhile Louisiana goes all in:

Louisiana lawmakers advanced a bill out of committee Wednesday that could make having an abortion grounds to be charged with homicide, going far beyond other state-level punishments for abortion, and could take effect whether the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade or not.

…

The bill “fully recognize[s] the human personhood of an unborn child” starting at the “moment of fertilization” and grants embryos and fetuses the same rights under law as human beings out of the womb.

The fertilized egg is “a child.”

This means having, assisting or performing an abortion would be classified as homicide.

Soon they’ll be executing women for menstruating.

The legislation would take effect immediately even if federal abortion rights are still in place and the Supreme Court hasn’t overturned Roe v. Wade, as the bill stipulates it should be enforced “without regard to the opinions and judgments of the Supreme Court of the United States in Roe v. Wade” or any other past or future abortion-related rulings, as well as any federal statutes or executive orders.

Can state legislatures do that? Just “stipulate” a “fuck what the Supreme Court says” and that becomes state law? I don’t think so. That’s why federal troops turned up in Little Rock that time – Eisenhower sent them to enforce the Brown ruling. The legislature wasn’t involved that I know of, but the point is that federal law can’t just be shrugged off by states.

The legislation is likely to get tied up in court if it gets enacted into law, as even proponents of the bill acknowledged Wednesday it may violate the Constitution.

With that whole “ignore the Supreme Court” thing.

Of course when you have a Supreme Court loaded with woman-hating theocratic bullies that can be bad news, but it’s still the case.

Louisiana is one of 13 states that’s set to immediately ban abortion if the court does strike Roe down through “trigger bans” that will go into effect once there’s a ruling. HB813 goes far beyond the state’s existing trigger ban, which would make performing an abortion a crime punishable by up to two years in prison and a $1,000 fine. While many abortion bans that will take effect make performing an abortion a felony punishable by prison time, none punish the person having the abortion themselves, making HB813 particularly extreme in relation.

It’s strange how eager people are to keep ratcheting up the displays of hatred for women. “We hate women more than you do!” “No we do!!”

Out of curiosity I looked for other reporting on Kamala Harris’s denunciation of the leaked abortion ruling and oh gee guess what NPR carefully left out all but one of her mentions of women.

Vice President Harris on Tuesday blasted a leaked draft that indicated that the Supreme Court had voted to overturn the landmark abortion rights decision Roe v. Wade, declaring that “women’s rights in America are under attack.”

“If the court overturns Roe v. Wade it will be a direct assault on freedom — on the fundamental right of self-determination to which all Americans are entitled,” she said.

NPR carefully did not quote:

Those Republican leaders who are trying to weaponize the use of the law against women — well, we say, “How dare they?” How dare they tell a woman what she can do and cannot do with her own body? How dare they? How dare they try to stop her from determining her own future? How dare they try to deny women their rights and their freedoms?”

Way too fiery and feminist and angry, right? And way too not about trans people.

Politico on the other hand did not sanitize what she said.

Kamala Harris still says the W word.

Those Republican leaders who are trying to weaponize the use of the law against women — well, we say, “How dare they?” How dare they tell a woman what she can do and cannot do with her own body? How dare they? How dare they try to stop her from determining her own future? How dare they try to deny women their rights and their freedoms?

…

She then used a term too few Democrats employ: “freedom.” “We must link arms in this fight. I invite all people to join us,” she said. “If you stand for freedom, for self-determination, for the right to privacy — if you stand for these principles, stand with us.” She added that “women’s issues are America’s issues. And democracies — democracies cannot be strong if the rights of women are under attack.”

Five appearances of the word there, and several of she and her. It is still possible!

H/t Mike Haubrich

Planned Parenthood is strikingly consistent about avoiding the word “women.”

“Oklahoman” is a weirdly awkward substitute for “women in Oklahoma” if you ask me.

Scroll scroll scroll, nothing changes.

Intolerance blah blah hate posters blah blah hate literature blah blah.

An Aberdeen council candidate has branded two ‘anti-trans hate posters’ found in toilets at Duthie Park a ‘worrying example of intolerance’.

Martin Greig, who is bidding to represent Hazlehead, Queen’s Cross and Countesswells for a fourth consecutive term, asked city council officials to remove the posters after he was contacted by a constituent.

Intolerant how though?

The posters are critical of the Scottish Government’s proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, which would make it easier for people to legally change their gender.

The plans have been fiercely opposed by campaigners who claim the move would put women’s sex-based rights at risk.

Oh that kind of “intolerance” – the kind that’s not intolerance at all. Funny thing: it’s Greig’s dishonest screechy over-reaction that’s actually intolerant. Women really do get to talk about our rights and what will put them at risk.

Liberal Democrat Mr Greig told Aberdeen Live: “It’s another worrying example of intolerance and closed minds and we don’t want to see that kind of thing.”

Admirably not-closed mind there!

The Irish Examiner publishes grotesque lies:

A woman who was being detained in one of the country’s most secure units for severely troubled youths has gone on trial accused of threatening to kill or cause serious harm to her mother, and to a man who had been involved in her care.

Just one small thing: not a woman. The very first two words of the piece are an insulting lie. This is “Barbie Kardashian,” a violent dangerous man.

Barbie Kardashian, 20, of no fixed abode, who has legally changed her gender and name, told staff at Coovagh House, Limerick, where she had been a resident at various points from 2018 to 2020, that she wanted to “rape” and “murder” her mother, members of her care team told Limerick Circuit Court.

His, he, he, his, his.

Biden says the Supreme Court move to ruin the lives of millions of women might actually matter because hey it might be trans kids next.

Joe Biden has warned of new attacks on civil rights as the supreme court prepares to strike down the right to abortion, telling reporters at the White House that LGBTQ+ children could be the next targets of a Trump-dominated Republican party he called “this Maga crowd” and “the most extreme political organisation … in recent American history”.

Focus, Joe. Never mind the purported next targets, focus on the current targets, the people formerly known as women. Ever heard of them?

“What happens,” the president asked, if “a state changes the law saying that children who are LGBTQ can’t be in classrooms with other children? Is that legit under the way the decision is written?”

Why do you ask, Joe? Why isn’t the decision’s effect on women enough to object to?

The ACLU too is throwing a heavy black wool veil over the word “women” in connection with the abortion issue. Yes, really, what business is it of women’s whether women can have abortions or not?

Here for instance:

On Monday night, Politico published a leaked draft of the highly anticipated Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The draft majority opinion, penned by Justice Samuel Alito, overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which has been on the books for nearly 50 years and has ensured abortion is a protected federal constitutional right. If this draft decision is issued as the official decision, it would be unprecedented and would take away a fundamental right for millions of people…

No, for millions of women. I bet the ACLU doesn’t play the “people” trick when it’s an issue that affects LGB people or African-Americans. I bet the ACLU isn’t squeamish about spelling out whose rights are being taken away when it’s anyone except women. It’s sheer All Lives Matterism, but they keep doing it anyway.

ACLU: Before we get into the details about the opinion, let’s reiterate that this is just a draft. How can people support folks who need access to abortion care now?

Brigitte Amiri: Yes, it’s just a draft; this isn’t an opinion. People who have abortion appointments scheduled today should go to their appointments and call your local clinic if you have questions.

Folks. People.

I did a count, as usual: 18 for people, 4 for women.

Meanwhile Chase Strangio’s attempt to incite hatred against feminists angry about the war on abortion rights appears to have attracted almost universal contempt. I say “appears to” in case Twitter is weirdly hiding pro-Chase responses from me.

And lots more like that. Yet the Washington Post erases the word “women” from its commentary on the Supreme Court draft. Bad moon rising.

They’re all doing it.

It’s a human right, our right, the hard won right, but never ever ever a women’s right.

Same again – the creepy evasive People replacing women in every sentence.

Meet the Reddit ‘Aunties’ covertly helping people get abortions

But it’s not “people” who need abortions, it’s women.

The Reddit group offers a glimpse into a post-Roe era where people resort to informal networks to assist those locked out of an abortion

Women. If it were “people” there would be no ban.

On the page, volunteers sign up to lodge, transport, assist and care for people needing abortions who are alone or in states where it’s difficult to get one.

Women.

A modern day adaptation of underground abortion networks that helped people access care when the procedure was illegal…

Women.

The Reddit community, r/auntienetwork, started in May of 2019, according to the group’s page. It was meant to be an organic space for people who needed help getting abortions to post andfind assistance from others.

Women.

In the thread, users from all across America offer various services to people seeking abortion.

Women.

There’s the rural Colorado auntie who lives with their father near a Planned Parenthood and offered people seeking abortion a “comfy twin bed and a supportive place to crash” among the mountains.

Women.

It’s mildly interesting that “auntie” is allowed, but I guess because it’s in scare quotes it’s ok.

Andrea Miller, the president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, said mutual aid organizations like Reddit’s Auntie Network show how “ready and eager” people are to help those needing abortion care “especially in the face of this hostile Supreme Court.”

Women. Not “those needing abortion care” but women needing it.

She added, however, that Reddit members signing up to volunteer should consider offering help to formal groups that have been around for years, such as the Brigid Alliance which arranges and funds travel for those seeking abortions, or the National Network of Abortion Funds, which helps remove logistical and financial barriers for people seeking abortions.

So careful to make sure NEVER to say “women.”

“We have far too many examples … of ways in which those who are absolutely determined to prevent people from being able to make decisions about the reproductive lives and have abortions literally will stop at nothing,” she said.

Women. To prevent women from being able to make decisions.

“It’s heartbreaking to me,” she said. “People are already in a desperate, terrifying situation and now they’re having to rely on the goodwill of strangers to get access to necessary health care.”

And the Washington Post refuses to call them women.

The word “people” appears 19 times in the article. The word women 0 times.

Even the editorial board of the Washington Post does it.

On Monday, Politico published a draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling declaring that the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to end their pregnancies.

That jolts like a badly-constructed bus hitting a pothole. It’s not “Americans” who had the right to end their pregnancies, it’s American women who did. The Washington Post is not a teenager with tattoos; it should talk like an adult.

What brought the court to its current precipice was not a fundamental shift in American values regarding abortion. It was the shameless legislative maneuvering of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who jammed three Trump-nominated justices onto the court.

In his draft, Justice Alito points out that the court has overturned many cases in the past, including the atrocious Plessy v. Ferguson, which permitted racial segregation. But the court has never revoked a fundamental constitutional right. Overturning Plessy expanded liberty. Overturning Roe would constrict liberty — and be a repugnant repudiation of the American tradition in which freedom extends to an ever-wider circle of people.

Or, to put it another way, in which people who aren’t property-owning white men gain some of the rights those men allotted to themselves only.

For most people, Roe is a workable standard on a fraught issue; absent a clear understanding about when life begins, and with the moral implications surrounding that question far from settled, the Constitution’s guarantees of personal autonomy demand that pregnant people be able to make the difficult decision about whether to end their pregnancy according to the dictates of their own conscience.

Sigh. That “guarantees Americans” wasn’t an oversight; they’re doing it on purpose. They’re adding their bit to the fiction that this is an attack on the rights of everyone when it is in fact a massive attack on the rights of women. Women only. This isn’t done to men. However sympathetic men may be, however inconvenienced they may be, the attack is on the rights of women.

The Post has the bit in its teeth now, and goes all in.

It is Justice Alito’s proposed decision that would further divide the country, starting in nearly every statehouse. Yet the greatest casualties would not be the court as an institution or the nation’s already toxic politics. It would be pregnant individuals suddenly stripped of a right they had been guaranteed for almost half a century. Wealthy people would be able to cross state lines to end their pregnancies. (Although some states are already trying to outlaw that practice, as well.) Poor people would be forced either to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, with all the health consequences and risks that entails, or to seek illegal abortions that could endanger their lives.

Emphasis mine. Perverse choice of wording theirs.

The piece doesn’t mention women at all. Not once.

Matt Gaetz thinks women should not be educated.

There is nothing worse than an over-educated woman.

Chase takes a moment to shit on feminist women again.

Somebody has to.

Even now the ACLU won’t say the word.

The Guardian talks to some actual women about the abortion ruling:

Bonnie Greer:

As someone who had an illegal abortion – in my home town of Chicago in 1969, four years before Roe v Wade – I was very angry when I heard the news. I am very angry. For women, our destiny has always been our biology, and we’ve fought for ever to change that, to ensure that we’re respected and protected as whole human beings, equal to men under the law.

Now we’re fighting just to be mentioned in news stories about the loss of our rights.

Know this: women will always get abortions, and the overturning of Roe v Wade would mean we will once again be at risk.

It means that men and women are not equal under the law, based on our biology. It’s the same thing as saying that a human being is not equal under the law based on the colour of their skin. Both are things that cannot be altered. I hope that the US people will vote out of office the Republicans who have pushed for this to happen.

Greer doesn’t change the subject to trans women. The next interviewee, Judy Chicago, does.

The fight for women’s rights is a long historic struggle against a set of values that restricts the rights of, not only women, but LGBTQ people, trans people and people of colour.

Must change the subject. Women are the deferential sex, so we’re not allowed to focus on our own rights. It’s shocking that the Guardian allowed Bonnie Greer to get away with it.

Mona Eltahawy defers:

I had an illegal abortion in 1996 in Egypt and a legal abortion in the US in 2000. I can’t believe that my past is becoming the present in the United States. This is the most powerful country in the world, and this fundamental right for pregnant people is being stripped away.

Those who can afford to get a safe abortion will continue to do so, and mostly Black, Indigenous and Brown people, and working-class people, will not. But that’s been the reality for many years now. Texas had already shrivelled the number of abortion clinics it had.

People people people. But she does use the word “women” in the end – just long enough to blame them.

As an Egyptian feminist, I have to call out the role of women in creating this theocracy. Look at supreme court associate justice Amy Coney Barrett. It is not just men taking away our abortion rights.

Robin Morgan is with Bonnie Greer: not ashamed to use the word.

There will be marching, demonstrations, sit-ins, petitions. Women will go ahead and disobey the law. What are they going to do when half the population is in revolt? Not 20%, not the ultra right wing, not the evangelicals. Women are going to control what happens to our own bodies. No matter how many thousands of us have to go to jail. We are not turning back the clock. No way.

Katha Pollitt, of course, doesn’t mess around.

Roe v Wade was a life-changing ruling, probably one of the most important – from the ground level – supreme court rulings there has ever been. It meant that women could stay in school. It meant women could work in a consistent way. It meant women could leave abusive partners. It meant that women didn’t have to marry the man who got them pregnant.

I felt horrified when I found out it could be overturned. This really allows states to do whatever they want with abortion, and 26 states is a lot of people. This is going to affect women whether or not they have an abortion, because it says, basically, you’re here to procreate, and we don’t care if there are health concerns, or rape or incest.

If a man can get you pregnant, you have to have that child. I think that’s a tremendous statement that women do not have that human right any more.

Katha literally wrote the book.

Signal that virtue, you woman-hating toads.