Not only will draconian laws on abortion cause a shortage of OB/GYN specialists but it will also cause a shortage of all doctors in all specialties. This is a major disincentive to attend medical school period. When potential medical school students see what is happening nationwide with the OB/GYN specialists they will quickly learn that when the government inserts themselves into an arena where they have no business being they will try to do the same thing with other medical specialists. Where the hell does intrusive government ever stop? Once they are given the green light they NEVER stop. Then we’ve allowed the government to f*** up our entire medical system. And it all started with abortion. Pretty soon the red states will have NO doctors.
If I were a lawyer arguing before the Supreme Court today they would get a tongue lashing over their overreach into an area where they have no damn business being. They would get lambasted until the paint is peeling off the walls.
The truly disheartening aspect of this is the dishonesty in Alito's Dobbs opinion. Women have been aborting fetuses for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. The fundamental flaw underlying Alito's reasoning is that women of the colonial era had no voice. The Constitution only recognized white male property owners. Unless a woman was born into a wealthy family, she received, at most, a rudimentary education. Shortly after puberty, she was married and continually pregnant until she died in childbirth or of exhaustion. Notably, women didn't publicly discuss "woman things," and it's not surprising that Alito's literary search turned up nothing but a book written by a man who hated women. There's far more that's wrong with Dobbs, including that it seems to have removed women from the coverage of the 14th Amendment. My objection is that his opinion allowed the States to impose HIS religious belief (life begins at conception) on all women. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" the 14th Amendment applied the same rules to the States.
The patriarchy sees this as a way to oppress women, so it will continue as long as we are ruled by patriarchy. And yes, it is about to get exponentially worse. Women have always been treated as second class citizens, and the last 10 years has been a massive backlash against females having some control of their lives. Many men don't want partners, they want servants.
Thank you for sharing this important information about how so much is tied together in the medical industry and what the potential ripple effect could be for everyone, but especially women.
Thank you both for writing this column full of important facts and info for all women. I only wish all women in the U.S. could read this and become informed of all that is really going to affect every woman in America and how their freedom over their own bodies and lives will be drastically limited. We've taken our democracy for granted in so many ways. Likewise, women have taken for granted the new found freedoms as far as more control over their own bodies with reproductive rights (birth control/abortion) and many more career choices becoming possible in only just the last several decades. I am 79, the oldest baby boomer and when I was in college demonstrating in the mid 60's for women's rights, civil rights and against the Vietnam War, we had so much hope and optimism about the future for both women's and civil rights. Yet even then when I graduated from college, almost all of my women friends immediately got married and began a family. (Myself and my best friend, also a 'rebel', didn't find any of the few options at that time appealing so we both took different paths but it wasn't easy to go against our culture's expectations. We had to "stand alone" to be true to ourselves.) The "work" choices that most of us heard of and believed were possible were basically limited to school teacher, secretary or nurse but getting married was what was mainly expected. Never in my wildest nightmare would I have imagined that in 60 years later towards the end of my life that all we fought for could be so quickly erased and that in fact we are even in danger of siding back much farther into darkness at this current time under this authoritarian regime. I fervently believe that it's almost entirely up to the Women to awaken and use their anger to take drastic action in this resistance. With this latest BBB, we cannot look to anyone but ourselves to save us from an unimaginable, frightful future. Fear needs to transform into anger as anger gives us the energy to take action for what we need to do to fight for our rights. There are just too many men in powerful positions that are addicted to power and control. It's up to us to save ourselves and it truly is now or never. I wish you both could publish this column so that it would be accessible nationwide. Thank you for all that you both do in this effort!
Wonderful, focused article on women's reproductive health but ANOTHER concern is the de-funding of the NIH and the CDC. It's only been in the last few decades that we've become aware of how the "standard" medical model was 40-year old white males, so it stands to reason that all of the grants & other funding sources DOGE slashed might have finally included women or older humans in general, as well as other races --- especially as all of these forgotten groups could be considered DEI - their most important target.
BTW in addition to maternal morbidity, have the numbers of female & male sterilizations increased, too? Especially since all temporary forms of contraception are no longer readily available to so many.
Oh, I can see it, I and those I know have long been alarmed, and our voices and dollars have been raised, in elections and legislation. The question is what to do next. Because we haven't slowed it much. What is the opening we are watching for? How do we build our collective power?
Republicans hate women. Oh, I'm sure there are some who do not, but as a whole, hate.
And even given the way they regard them as portable and disposable incubators, they are very short sighted. Even livestock businesses take care of their "breeding stock" better than do Republicans.
Not only will draconian laws on abortion cause a shortage of OB/GYN specialists but it will also cause a shortage of all doctors in all specialties. This is a major disincentive to attend medical school period. When potential medical school students see what is happening nationwide with the OB/GYN specialists they will quickly learn that when the government inserts themselves into an arena where they have no business being they will try to do the same thing with other medical specialists. Where the hell does intrusive government ever stop? Once they are given the green light they NEVER stop. Then we’ve allowed the government to f*** up our entire medical system. And it all started with abortion. Pretty soon the red states will have NO doctors.
If I were a lawyer arguing before the Supreme Court today they would get a tongue lashing over their overreach into an area where they have no damn business being. They would get lambasted until the paint is peeling off the walls.
Religion and patriarchy are to blame....both are evil.
The truly disheartening aspect of this is the dishonesty in Alito's Dobbs opinion. Women have been aborting fetuses for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. The fundamental flaw underlying Alito's reasoning is that women of the colonial era had no voice. The Constitution only recognized white male property owners. Unless a woman was born into a wealthy family, she received, at most, a rudimentary education. Shortly after puberty, she was married and continually pregnant until she died in childbirth or of exhaustion. Notably, women didn't publicly discuss "woman things," and it's not surprising that Alito's literary search turned up nothing but a book written by a man who hated women. There's far more that's wrong with Dobbs, including that it seems to have removed women from the coverage of the 14th Amendment. My objection is that his opinion allowed the States to impose HIS religious belief (life begins at conception) on all women. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" the 14th Amendment applied the same rules to the States.
The patriarchy sees this as a way to oppress women, so it will continue as long as we are ruled by patriarchy. And yes, it is about to get exponentially worse. Women have always been treated as second class citizens, and the last 10 years has been a massive backlash against females having some control of their lives. Many men don't want partners, they want servants.
Thank you for sharing this important information about how so much is tied together in the medical industry and what the potential ripple effect could be for everyone, but especially women.
Thank you both for writing this column full of important facts and info for all women. I only wish all women in the U.S. could read this and become informed of all that is really going to affect every woman in America and how their freedom over their own bodies and lives will be drastically limited. We've taken our democracy for granted in so many ways. Likewise, women have taken for granted the new found freedoms as far as more control over their own bodies with reproductive rights (birth control/abortion) and many more career choices becoming possible in only just the last several decades. I am 79, the oldest baby boomer and when I was in college demonstrating in the mid 60's for women's rights, civil rights and against the Vietnam War, we had so much hope and optimism about the future for both women's and civil rights. Yet even then when I graduated from college, almost all of my women friends immediately got married and began a family. (Myself and my best friend, also a 'rebel', didn't find any of the few options at that time appealing so we both took different paths but it wasn't easy to go against our culture's expectations. We had to "stand alone" to be true to ourselves.) The "work" choices that most of us heard of and believed were possible were basically limited to school teacher, secretary or nurse but getting married was what was mainly expected. Never in my wildest nightmare would I have imagined that in 60 years later towards the end of my life that all we fought for could be so quickly erased and that in fact we are even in danger of siding back much farther into darkness at this current time under this authoritarian regime. I fervently believe that it's almost entirely up to the Women to awaken and use their anger to take drastic action in this resistance. With this latest BBB, we cannot look to anyone but ourselves to save us from an unimaginable, frightful future. Fear needs to transform into anger as anger gives us the energy to take action for what we need to do to fight for our rights. There are just too many men in powerful positions that are addicted to power and control. It's up to us to save ourselves and it truly is now or never. I wish you both could publish this column so that it would be accessible nationwide. Thank you for all that you both do in this effort!
Another frightening aspect of the MAGA Repubs that we now have to suffer for no good reason.
Wonderful, focused article on women's reproductive health but ANOTHER concern is the de-funding of the NIH and the CDC. It's only been in the last few decades that we've become aware of how the "standard" medical model was 40-year old white males, so it stands to reason that all of the grants & other funding sources DOGE slashed might have finally included women or older humans in general, as well as other races --- especially as all of these forgotten groups could be considered DEI - their most important target.
BTW in addition to maternal morbidity, have the numbers of female & male sterilizations increased, too? Especially since all temporary forms of contraception are no longer readily available to so many.
Thank for the work you do.
Oh, I can see it, I and those I know have long been alarmed, and our voices and dollars have been raised, in elections and legislation. The question is what to do next. Because we haven't slowed it much. What is the opening we are watching for? How do we build our collective power?
Republicans hate women. Oh, I'm sure there are some who do not, but as a whole, hate.
And even given the way they regard them as portable and disposable incubators, they are very short sighted. Even livestock businesses take care of their "breeding stock" better than do Republicans.
Thank you Jennifer for including this incredibly important piece by these 2 exceptional women!