RandySF
RandySF's JournalPlanned Parenthood asks AZ Supreme Court to block the 1864 abortion ban until repeal takes effect
Just after the Arizona Senate voted to repeal a territorial-era abortion ban on Wednesday, Planned Parenthood of Arizona filed a motion asking the state Supreme Court to issue a stay, delaying the implementation of the ban until after the repeal takes effect.
The near-total abortion ban was originally implemented in 1864 and then made unenforceable in 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court gave women the right to abortion via Roe v. Wade.
After the court voted to repeal Roe in June 2022, it became unclear whether the 1864 law would go into effect, or if a 15-week ban passed by Republicans just months earlier would supersede it.
On April 9, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the 1864 law, which carries with it a 2 to 5 year prison sentence for doctors who perform an abortion for any other reason than saving a woman’s life, trumps that 2022 law.
https://azmirror.com/2024/05/01/planned-parenthood-asks-az-supreme-court-to-block-the-1864-abortion-ban-until-repeal-takes-effect/
Contention brews in ongoing Indiana abortion ban lawsuit over confidential documents
A three-day bench trial scheduled for later this month will put Hoosier abortion providers and the state attorney general’s office back in court as the battle over Indiana’s near-total abortion ban continues. Already in contention, however, is whether certain testimony and internal hospital documents entered as exhibits in the case should become public.
Attorneys for the abortion providers, along with those for Eskenazi Health — which is not a party in the case — maintain that dissemination of those confidential materials will create a “significant risk of substantial harm” to the hospital, as well as patients who received abortion care.
The special judge presiding over the case has so far ordered temporary exclusion of some documents from public view, but it’s not yet clear if they’ll be presented at trial, slated for May 29-31 in Monroe County.
The matter stems from an amended complaint filed in November by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of Indiana’s Planned Parenthood, Women’s Med Group, All-Options Pregnancy Resource Center and obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Amy Caldwell.
https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2024/05/02/contention-brews-in-ongoing-indiana-abortion-ban-lawsuit-over-confidential-documents/
Republican legislative staff move first to unionize under new WA law
Employees of the Washington Legislature could start pursuing union representation Wednesday and two groups of workers did.
Both are Republican.
Legislative assistants for GOP members of the state House and Senate want the recently formed Legislative Professionals Association to represent them. Petitions on behalf of workers in each chamber were filed with the Public Employment Relations Commission, which will certify the bargaining unit and conduct an election.
More than 60% of the House and Senate assistants signed cards showing interest, said Jami Lund, association president and legislative assistant for Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview. As of Wednesday, there were 39 House assistants and 21 Senate.
Lund acknowledged the irony of Republican employees emerging as the first to take advantage of a labor law most of their bosses opposed.
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/05/01/republican-legislative-staff-move-first-to-unionize-under-new-wa-law/
WV-GOV: Dem governor candidate Williams calls for abortion ballot measure to make special session agenda
Steve Williams, a Democrat running to be the next governor, has launched a state-wide petition calling for Gov. Jim Justice to include reproductive freedom on the agenda for the upcoming legislative special session.
He hopes, should Justice OK the issue for special session, that the Republican-majority Legislature will approve a ballot measure that gives voters the chance to reinstate abortion rights.
Williams, who is mayor of Huntington, cited former Republican President Donald Trump’s call to leave the issue up to the states.
“This isn’t a Republican or Democrat issue,” Williams said in a news release on Thursday. “Gov. Justice and the West Virginia Legislature should listen to Trump and let the people decide by putting this question on November’s ballot.”
https://westvirginiawatch.com/briefs/dem-governor-candidate-williams-calls-for-abortion-ballot-measure-to-make-special-session-agenda/
Thank you, Mr. President
Made it clear we value free speech but there is no place for violence, vandalism, intimidation, antisemitism or Islamophobia.
What an RNC Lawsuit in Mississippi Tells Us About Its Goal of Disenfranchising Voters in 2024
In advance of the 2020 general election, Mississippi’s Republican trifecta enacted a GOP-sponsored law allowing mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Election Day to be counted for up to five days after the election.
Passed on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, the common-sense legislation brought the Magnolia State into alignment with approximately 20 other states and U.S. territories, where post-election ballot receipt deadlines ensure that voters are not disenfranchised due to postal delays beyond their control.
However, a bill is currently moving through the Mississippi Legislature that repeals the five-day deadline and instead stipulates that any ballot received after 7 p.m. on Election Day “shall not be counted.” The Legislature’s move to revoke its previously uncontroversial receipt deadline — which has been in place for almost four years — is transpiring against the backdrop of a legal offensive led by the Republican National Committee (RNC).
The RNC, flanked by the Mississippi GOP and individual voters, argues that the state’s current five-day deadline conflicts with federal law by “effectively extend[ing]” Mississippi’s federal election past the Election Day established by Congress — a proposition that even Trump-appointed judges in Illinois and North Dakota have previously rejected.
https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/what-an-rnc-lawsuit-in-mississippi-tells-us-about-its-goal-of-disenfranchising-voters-in-2024/
Democrats' Secret Weapon? Thousands of Candidates You've Probably Never Heard Of
Run for Something is an organization dedicated to recruiting and supporting candidates running for down-ballot offices. We launched on Jan. 20, 2017—Donald Trump's Inauguration Day—and have since helped elect more than 1,000 candidates to local office. They've fought back against book bans and extreme abortion laws, and fought for affordable housing, public safety, and environmental justice—all while building the Democratic bench.
At Run for Something, we often make the point that to win the big things, we need to win the small things first. That's certainly true—we have already seen candidates we helped elect to local office go on to win election to Congress, like Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett and Colorado Representative Yadira Caraveo, and state offices, like Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Kyra Harris Bolden. And we've seen small wins have big impacts, like Justin Douglas, who flipped the Dauphin County Commission in Pennsylvania in 2023, by fewer than 150 votes, and now is taking concrete steps to make it easier for Pennsylvanians to vote.
But along the way, we have learned something else—that investing in the small races actually helps us win the big races in the same election.
You might be familiar with the idea that the top-of-the-ticket candidate has "coattails"—that the big-name elections like for president or Senate bring people to the polls, and those people also vote for the rest of the ticket.
https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-secret-weapon-thousands-candidates-youve-probably-never-heard-opinion-1896246
Mississippi House Speaker proposes ballot referendum for Medicaid expansion
JACKSON, Miss. (WLOX) - On Wednesday, House Speaker Jason White said the House will deliver a signed conference report to proceed with a statewide ballot referendum on Medicaid expansion.
This comes after HB 1725 was sent back to a conference committee yesterday.
“Moving through the final stages of the legislative process, it became apparent that opinions still differed on the best way to address our healthcare crisis,” Rep. White said in a press release.
White said there will be two parts to the referendum: Mississippi voters will have to decide whether to expand Medicaid, and if so, should there be a work requirement.
https://www.wlox.com/2024/05/02/mississippi-house-speaker-proposes-ballot-referendum-medicaid-expansion/
How Six-Week Abortion Bans Went From Fringe to Reality
Just over a decade ago, six-week abortion bans were seen as too radical even by many members of the anti-abortion movement, who worried they carried too much political and legal risk.
On Wednesday, Florida became the latest state to put one into effect.
The law, which was signed last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, cuts off access to the procedure before many women even know they are pregnant, leaving millions of women in the South hundreds of miles from a clinic offering abortion.
The ban represents another victory for the true believers of the anti-abortion movement that seek sharp curbs on the procedure. But when such a ban was first introduced, mainstream abortion opponents who preferred gradually chipping away at abortion rights felt such restrictions could backfire and undermine their broader goals.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/01/us/politics/six-week-abortion-bans.html
Democrats target statehouses to bolster abortion efforts in 2024
Voters in a slew of states could see abortion protections explicitly on the ballot this year, in the form of proposed constitutional amendments.
To be effective, though, Democrats say they’ll also need to secure statehouse victories in 2024.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, an organization focused on electing Democrats at the state level, said in a memo Thursday that these referendums “can be an immediate or initial fix, but the long term building of power in state legislatures is the most effective way” to secure abortion access for Americans across the country.
Abortion rights advocates have been on a ballot measure winning streak since 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a 1973 case guaranteeing the constitutional right to an abortion.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/02/dlcc-abortion-measures-statehouse-wins-2024/73429279007/
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Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit Area, MI
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Current location: San Francisco, CA
Member since: Wed Oct 29, 2008, 02:53 PM
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