#medical ethics in USA

[cfiesler]

New research alert! Research about research, actually!

A couple of years ago we recruited here (and elsewhere) for interview participants for a research study about fat people's experiences online. As part of that study we also asked for thoughts about how to ethically conduct such research, both in online communities and in human-computer interaction research more generally. This short paper was presented as a poster at the ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing. Led by PhD student Blakeley Payne, this also won the conference's Best Poster Recognition! <3

"How to Ethically Engage Fat People in Research"

(1) Choose respectful language. Use participants' own self description in conversation and reporting. Consider the connotations of euphemisms and medicalizing language. We recommend "fat" as a default term to use until participants or the context indicates otherwise.

(2) Consider positionality and practice reflexivity. Fat people are not a monolith but are experts in their own lived experiences. Engage with the history of fat oppression, especially as facilitated by research and medical institutions. Consider your positionality with respect to this history.

(3) Rethink assumptions around weight loss. Don't assume fat people are unhealthy and/or want to lose weight. Interrogate "weight loss" as an embedded design value and its potential for harm. Use notions of health that are weight-neutral such as Health at Every Size.

(4) Engage fat people in research. Fat people want to be engaged in technology design and research! Center fat people's voices, needs, and desires when choosing research questions and methods.

Citation and (open access!) link to full paper: Blakeley H. Payne, Jordan Taylor, Katta Spiel, and Casey Fiesler. 2023. How to Ethically Engage Fat People in HCI Research. In Companion Publication of the 2023 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW '23 Companion). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 117–121. https://doi.org/10.1145/3584931.3606987

[bea-l-zebul]

Pride Month is almost upon us once again folks, and I’ve been reflecting on that. I have some thoughts.

We’re not safe in the USA anymore

Not a huge revelation I know, most of us have been paying attention because we don’t have the choice to opt out.

If you didn’t know though, The ACLU just released a travel advisory for Florida. If you are a POC, a woman, or LGBTQ+ (especially Trans/Non-binary) it is not safe or advisable for you to travel to Florida.

Florida has already made it clear that they will kidnap Trans Children from their supportive parents and place them into abusive foster situations.

Apparently a trans person has already died from DeSatans newest law which allows doctors to discriminate and deny care to people based on “ethical or moral” grounds.

Florida has fully embraced the genocide of Trans and Non-Binary people. Full Stop. They have started eradication efforts through denial of medical care.

Pride can’t be about celebration this year. Not with this going on. We don’t have equality or equity, we shouldn’t be celebrating a “win” that doesn’t exist.

Pride needs to go back to its roots, it’s gotta go back to being a protest for our right to live life as we see fit, without fear of dying. Not some corporate block party tying to appeal to the cishets fragile heteronormative sensibilities.

If it causes “ally’s” to leave, fine, that means they were performative and were most likely causing division within the community anyway.

Pride should be a protest.

Im also suggesting we start boycotting products from Florida.

In the 1970’s when Anita Bryant started her “think of the children” shtick, the LGBTQ+ community boycotted Florida Orange. Gay Bars started serving “Anita Bryant’s” instead of screwdrivers, which used apple juice in place of orange juice.

Guess who inevitably lost her contract?

We need to bring the boycotts back, not because of a bigoted spokesperson, but because of where the tax dollars from purchasing these things goes.

Boycott Florida Orange, do not buy anything that contains orange juice, do not buy oranges.

Boycott Airlines that use parts in their planes from Florida, better yet don’t fly at all if you can avoid it

Same thing with smartphones, do not upgrade your smartphone “just because”, most smartphone parts manufactured in the USA are made in Florida.

Do not buy anything that is made in and/or shipped from Florida.

Do not go to Florida for Disney World, Sea World, or Universal Studios, in fact don’t vacation in Florida at all, do not let your money fund their tourist industry, which is (obviously) paying taxes to the state.

Protest This Pride and Hit Florida Where it Hurts for however long this takes.

[thegreenleavesofspring]

By the way, when I say that the American church has FAILED, this is what I'm talking about:

The email I sent to Focus on the Family a couple weeks ago, identifying information redacted:

Hello,

My name is [redacted] and I followed a link to one of your website's articles - about Biblical discipline - and saw the massive donation solicitation banner at the top of the website, saying any donations would go to families in need.

My mother is very much in need.

She is 61 and severely disabled, mentally and physically. In 2016 she had a stroke, which type has a 70% death rate and of the remaining 30%, the vast majority never recover any cognitive or physical function. She is a medical outlier in that she recovered both - through odds so astronomical it is a blatant miracle she survived at all - to some degree. But now her cognitive abilities are declining, as well as her mobility and eyesight: she is effectively 100% disabled.

She is also currently undergoing an eviction since she can no longer pay rent. She had planned to move into her car, but earlier this week it had an oil/engine failure that will require about $7,000 of work to repair. Her insurance would pay for it, save that she has a $1,000 deductible she cannot afford.

She gets $914 a month in disability.

I am a single mother of three boys five and under; my husband has walked out on us and does not pay child support and I cannot get any legal division to enforce it. I make $1,000 a month, and also do not own a car or have any sort of transportation. I order her groceries online and try to get small expenses for her when I can, and that is the most aid I am currently able to offer.

Right now she just needs her car repaired. But we do not have $1,000 for that deductible.

We have spent weeks calling every phone number and resource in the area and even the state. The churches send us to the government, the government sends us to the NGOs, the NGOs send us to the churches. No one helps.

Your website claims you help families. I looked under the "get help" tab and found nothing of any use, hence this email.

Will you help my family?

Sincerely,

~~~~

I got this in return:

Dear [Redacted],

Thank you for writing to Focus on the Family. Your willingness to share your concerns means a lot to us, and we want you to know we care about you, your dear mother, and your children. 

Our hearts are heavy after reading about the serious financial problems your disabled mother is facing right now. We’re especially concerned to hear that her car has broken down and she has no place to call home. Though we realize you’ve already asked for assistance from churches and a number of organizations, we recommend you contact the Salvation Army. You can visit their website at: Salvation Army: Housing and Homeless Services. We’d also like to mention three more online sources of information: National Coalition for the Homeless,  2-1-1 Get Help,  Catholic Charities USA. We can’t guarantee that they will be able to provide the help you need, nor can we say with certainty that they consistently uphold Christian values and ethics. Nevertheless, we think it would be worthwhile to find out what services are available. Please note that our mentioning these organizations should not be taken as an endorsement by our ministry.

Be assured we’re praying for the Lord to comfort your mother, provide for her many needs, and lead her to a safe place to live. We’re also asking God to surround you and your three young sons with caring people who will offer their support and help you in practical ways. 

Along with praying for you, we invite you to call the Christian counselors on our staff if you think it might be helpful to discuss your concerns with caring professionals. They might be able to offer additional suggestions and useful referral information. To reach them, please call 1-855-771-HELP (4357) any weekday between 6:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M. (MT). Someone on our staff will ask for your name and phone number in order to arrange for a counselor to return your call as soon as they’re able. This service is available at no cost to you.

[Redacted], we understand you contacted our ministry because you saw a banner on our website indicating that all donations to our ministry are used to help families in need.  In order to provide clarification, we need to explain that the purpose of our ministry is to respond to the spiritual, emotional, and psychological needs of individuals and families. We do this by praying, providing books and other resources, airing broadcasts that address the serious issues many people face, and offering one free consultation with a professional Christian counselor on our staff. The financial contributions we receive are used to accomplish these objectives.

While it’s true that our ministry has been privileged on occasion to provide financial assistance to those experiencing hardships, our capacity to do this is limited as we are primarily a media ministry. Unfortunately, as much as we would like to, we’re not always able to offer monetary aid to the many individuals and families whose needs are brought to our attention. We’re so sorry to disappoint you.

Thanks again for writing to us, [Redacted]. God bless you and your loved ones, and may He always be the strength of your heart and your refuge.

[Redacted]

Focus on the Family

~~~~

I'll hand it to the Catholics. They do try. But their assistance is focused primarily on Catholics - quite understandable - and within their own parishes - equally understandable.

You might as well ask a brick wall for help as any Protestant church. Actually the brick wall probably at least won't - more or less literally - slam a door in your face.

I know good and well that my mother, my family, is not the only one in such dire straits. There is nowhere to turn - least of all our 'brothers' and 'sisters'.

One of these days the leaders of all these churches - these vastly wealthy mega churches and the haughty local churches and all of them - are going to have to answer to Christ about all the blood on their hands of their own people they left to starve and freeze and die in the streets.

(I'd bet good money - if I had any - that they'll have the money to put on a Christmas pageant this year.)

[blueraspberrycoke]

Best college research is in USA cost vs degree use which has a list of schools, this gives you the best loan for degree cost of the degree is the goal. Look at that and the subject then online at the best cross matches. Unless you want a social experience mostly then whatever vibes. Listen you know anti-trans bigotry like in your about has NO ethical point in feminism, it's just bigotry.

Thank you for the advice on college :)

I'm not a bigot. I'm not anti-trans. I don't think trans people are inherently evil. But I do not believe you can change your biological sex. I do not believe allowing trans women into women's sports, changing rooms, sexualities (lesbians being pressured to date trans women), etc. is good for women and girls. It's not just a belief I have, it's factually proven to be dangerous to put TW in women's prisons (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and in bathrooms (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 [5 is written by a trans woman]).

I'm not saying I hate trans people or that I don't trust them or that teens/children who identify as transgender are "broken" or "wrong" like people have said I do. I think we have manipulated an entire generation of lesbians and homosexual boys (though not all trans-identified people are homosexual/bisexual) into believing they have to be the opposite sex. We've lied to dysphoric teens and told them they're going to die if they don't recieve gender-affirming care (see all the posts on the protecttranskids, transgenocide, transrights etc. hashtags).

This is also evident in that anytime you question someone who says trans people are experiencing a genocide, especially a younger person (like a teenager who gets all their information from Instagram and TikTok) they actually can't come up with a single example. Even when they bring up the so-called "anti-trans legislature" being passed in the United States, they can't name any specific bans, because that actually does not exist. What I linked for you is HB1276, which, if you read it, allows minors who underwent sexual reassignment surgery to sue their doctors up to 30 years after they turn 18 for malpractice if they regret surgery. Trans Legislation Tracker labels this an "anti-trans" bill.

They have reason to regret it, too. Lupron, the drug administered in FtM transition to dysphoric females, has painful and sometimes deadly side effects that gender-affirming medical clinics will not disclose with you in full. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Also, a disproportionate amount of FtM females are autistic, homosexual, and depressed. I care especially about these women because I'm eighteen, autistic, and a lesbian, so I really resonate with their pain and struggle. I'm not disgusted by transgender individuals and I'm not angry with them. I feel terrible for them. And I want to help.

What I think we have in the world now is an extreme lack of education. It's harming girls and women my age, when there are more affordable and better options. We've known for a long time doctors will push medicines that don't work/shouldn't be as expensive as they are in order to make money (I'm talking about things like selling insulin for $500 a vial. I'm not talking about things like vaccines.).

If you want to change your name and use other pronouns, cool, fine, whatever. I don't care what you do with your life, your money, and your time. But don't call yourself male or female when you're not. See my pinned post for why doing so harms women and men.

Transgenderism is motivated by misogyny. Go to any of the subreddits created for TW (r/Egg_irl, r/MtF, r/transgender [though that one contains trans men also]) and you'll see in every "How I knew I was trans" post that these people consider being female synonymous with being feminine, and it isn't. I'm not feminine. Does that make me a man? No. It just makes me a nonfeminine woman.

I'm not denying the existence of gender dysphoria. Many of my mutuals are desisted females who still struggle with it. But hormone therapy/SRS (sexual reassignment surgery) are very clearly not the answer. I hope this helps you understand my position better. I also hope I've not come across as condescending or patronizing in any way.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Madeleine Rowley

Published: Jun 18, 2024

Mandatory ideological training has now come to the drugstore. In California, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, in order to keep their license, must study the latest in gender identity, colonialism, and white privilege. Such “cultural competency” courses are required by a state law that went into effect this year.

When the bill was introduced, Democratic Assemblyman Christopher Ward, the lead sponsor, said that the continuing education class would help “ensure pharmacists are looking out for the well-being of LGBTQ+ individuals.” 

Like many licensed professionals, pharmacists are required to take continuing education courses, usually with titles like “Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD)” and “Trimming Trends: Unveiling the Latest in Weight Management Guidelines.” Though this new training requires only an hour of the pharmacist’s time every two years, it’s another demonstration of compelling people to passively accept dubious assertions and assumptions, or risk losing their livelihoods.

One such course, titled Caring for All: The Pharmacy Professional’s Role in LGBTQ+ Health and Equity comes from the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA). The outline, obtained by The Free Press, features many charts that are hard to square with the duties of a pharmacist. There is a chart illustrating many “systems of oppression.” These include “sexism,” “cis-sexism,” “heterosexism,” and “adultism.” 

Another chart describes “effects of colonialism and colonization on pre-colonial ways of being.” It states: “Racism creates race: otherness and whiteness.” Some of the pre-colonial ways of being pharmacists are taught include “two-spirit,” the term used by Native Americans to describe someone who has “both a masculine and feminine spirit.” 

The training also suggests that pharmacists introduce a question about a customer’s gender at their first interaction. The course gives this prompt: “Hello, my name is Jay. I use they/them and he/him pronouns. How would you like me to address you?”

Click here to see a slide show of the training.

What does any of this have to do with being a pharmacist? Not much, said several pharmacists The Free Press spoke to.

Lisa Marino, 54, a hospital pharmacist in Los Angeles County, says the new cultural competency course provides nothing that relates to her job. “Our role is to aid in providing safe and appropriate use of medication for all people, regardless of culture, and with a respect for everyone’s privacy and dignity,” said Marino. “This feels like indoctrination.”

Joe, 50, who asked The Free Press not to use his last name, worked as a pharmacist for 25 years and owns an independent pharmacy in Los Angeles County. He says that respecting all customers, no matter their race or sexual orientation, is a given.

“To be a competent pharmacist, you need to know about medications, professional ethics, and the law,” said Joe. “That’s it.” 

Dr. Carrie Mendoza is an emergency medicine physician and the recently appointed director of Genspect USA, an organization that seeks evidence-based treatments for people with gender distress. She says people are taught to be so hyper-sensitive to avoid offending people, especially to those in a designated “marginalized” group, that pharmacists may be afraid to bring up legitimate concerns. “A pharmacist might not raise medication safety concerns such as adverse effects [or] inappropriate dosing. . . out of fear they will be called discriminatory,” said Mendoza. “Political trainings like this undermine safety for all patients and should be immediately removed from our healthcare system.”

But one of the three CPhA cultural competency course authors, Dr. Tam Phan, an assistant professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of Southern California—and the clinical pharmacy program coordinator at the Los Angeles LGBT Center—told The Free Press in an email that a pharmacist’s role has expanded beyond quick interactions at the prescription counter. 

“Pharmacist prescriptive authority in California has expanded to immunizations, hormonal contraceptives, travel medicine, nicotine replacement products, and HIV. . . treatments,” he wrote. “For pharmacists who are not interacting with patients directly, LGBTQ+ cultural sensitivity is still important since pharmacists should be knowledgeable of potential drug interactions between hormones being used in gender affirmation with the patient’s other medications.”

==

This has nothing to do with "well-being." The point is to proselytize and indoctrinate at any and every available opportunity, to embed their particular ideological commitments as deeply into society as possible.

[sigynsilica]

If a child wants to earn money, they should be able to do so.

If a child wants to contribute to society in the workforce, they should be able to do so.

If a child wants to work, they should be able to do so.

But not yet.

At this point in human history, to work does not just mean earning money or contributing to society.

It means signing up for exploitation.

The working world is at one of it's most dangerous points in history right now. In some places in the USA, people who do heavy labor outdoors are having to fight to be able to take a break and drink some water.

At the job I work, some of my elderly coworkers are put into agony every day because the company requires us to stand up for eight hours at a time with only three breaks, not to mention while dealing with a constant barrage of customers, some of which are just plain mean. The only exceptions to this rule are people who can afford medical diagnoses for their ailments. Guess which same company doesn't pay these people enough to afford medical diagnoses for their ailments?

And basically no layman's job yields actually fair financial compensation for the work done or the effort put in. Your average CEO makes about four hundred times their typical worker, and the workers are the biggest factor towards the company getting any profit in the first place.

Under these circumstances, it's not ethical for anyone to work, so most people would feel really guilty about making a child do the things they expect of adults. As well they should.

But if we were to create a work environment that is not built around exploitation and seeing how much profit the boss man can wrong from a single human on the payroll, that would be an entirely different story. We're not at a place where a work environment is healthy for anyone in the working class, so we protect children from work. As well we should.

But I think if we get to a point where signing up for a job doesn't mean signing up to let yourself, your time, and your energy be exploited, there would be nothing wrong with letting a child have a job. In fact, I would encourage it. Jobs can be an opportunity to make friends, to find purpose in the work that you do, to learn valuable lessons about the way the world works, and these are all things that are useful to children. We've just got to make work a safe environment for everyone, first.

[coochiequeens]

Shocking £11bn global trade in babies must end. Here’s what Keir Starmer should do

By Susan Dalgety Published 13th Jul 2024, 06:00 BST

As wealthy people buy babies from poor women whose health often suffers as a result, Keir Starmer should move quickly to ban surrogacy

The global trade in babies is big business. Research company Global Market Insights estimates the surrogacy industry was worth $14 billion (nearly £11bn) in 2022 and expects this to grow to $129bn by 2033.

Celebrities think nothing of renting a woman’s womb to secure a baby. Singer Robbie Williams and his wife used a surrogate for two of their four children. Actor Sarah Jessica Parker, she of Sex and the City fame, was delivered twin girls by a surrogate.

Even government ministers, desperate to have children, turn to this controversial method. Two years ago, the new Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, revealed in her local newspaper that she and her partner were delighted to announce they were having a baby… through surrogacy.

But it was a decision in Edinburgh Sheriff Court a few days ago that exposed the ethical questions at the heart of this most controversial practice. A judge decided that a 72-year-old man and his now-dead wife were the legal parents of a three-year-old boy, Child A, who had been born in the USA under a surrogacy arrangement.

Sheriff Wendy Sheehan accepted the man was outwith the normal accepted range of parenthood but, in her written judgment, pointed out that he is “active and energetic” and had secured a nursery place for the child and involved him in various age-appropriate activities. He was also “researching boarding schools” for his son’s secondary education.

‘Gestational carrier’

And while Sheriff Sheehan admitted that she would not have granted an adoption order to a man in his 70s, she said the child’s welfare would be compromised if the court did not grant a parental order in these circumstances. “These concerns must be balanced with the fact that A’s welfare would be gravely compromised by the court’s refusal to make an order,” she said, “His gestational carrier has had no contact with him since birth. He is now aged three years and 10 months.”

And there, in a judgment handed down by Edinburgh Sheriff Court, is the reason that surrogacy is unethical. The child’s birth mother, a woman who rented out her womb to elderly strangers in circumstances we will never know, is dismissed as a “gestational carrier”. She is dehumanised. Reduced to nothing more than a living incubator for a rich couple who were far too old to have a baby but wealthy enough to buy one.

A surrogacy pregnancy is also more dangerous for a woman’s health. Only this week, Canadian researchers who looked at the records of nearly one million births revealed that surrogates, who usually become pregnant by IVF, have double the chance of dangerous pregnancy complications such as high blood pressure and heavy bleeding. Around seven per cent of surrogates suffered severe complications, compared with 2.4 per cent of women with natural conceptions and 4.6 per cent who had undergone IVF.

Psychological impact on mothers

Marina Ivanova, the study’s author, said there could be several reasons for this, including the “physiological and psychological impact associated with carrying a pregnancy for another person” and “the socio-demographic characteristics of those who choose to become gestational carriers”. In other words, surrogates are more likely to be women living in poverty, and carrying a baby for strangers will have an adverse impact on a woman’s physical and mental well-being. Tell me again, which aspect of this practice is ethical?

It is a crime in this country to buy and sell human organs such as kidneys because law-makers and the medical profession understand that such a trade could lead to the terrible exploitation of vulnerable people. Yet surrogacy, where a young woman’s body is used to incubate a baby for strangers, is considered perfectly acceptable.

The Surrogacy Arrangements Act of 1985 set out the legal basis for the practice, and last year the Scottish Law Commission and its partner body, the Law Commission of England & Wales, published proposals to liberalise UK surrogacy law even further, including a proposal to allow the “intended parents” to become a child’s legal guardians from birth. At the moment, it can take up to a year for this to happen.

Starmer must act

And while commercial surrogacy is illegal in the UK, “intended parents” can pay a woman “reasonable expenses” to carry a child for them. Many people, including the elderly couple who were the subject of the Edinburgh judgment this week, go abroad to buy a baby. Dr Herjeet Marway of Birmingham University points out that Britons are the largest consumers of the Indian commercial surrogacy industry, which is reportedly worth over £300 million a year.

Little wonder that women’s rights campaigners are now calling for an outright ban on surrogacy, among them Surrogacy Concern. Its founder, Helen Gibson, says that, at the very least, the legal loophole that allows Britons buy a baby outside the UK should be closed. She adds: “It is selfish and grossly irresponsible to pursue surrogacy at all. We call on the UK Government to ban the practice of surrogacy in its entirety.”

The demand for surrogacy is rising. It is driven by people with wealth, same-sex couples, women who are infertile or too old to have a child of their own, and some who are simply “too posh to push”. Even people who in other aspects of their life consider themselves progressive or left of centre seem happy to exploit another human being to get what they crave – a baby to call their own.

But babies should not be for sale. Women are not “gestational carriers”, and surrogacy is a feminist issue. The new Prime Minister has a never-ending to-do list, but if he is serious about building a country where every single person is treated with respect, as he promised only last week, then he should start with a ban on surrogacy.

[trans-advice]

so i have my first gender care appointment coming and i have no idea what to expect. do you have any advice or know what i should expect?

I suspect you're in, so I'm not sure. PhilosophyTube has a videoessay about the NHS & Catch 22, but I'm not sure whether how much advice on passing the screening is in there.

If it's an informed consent clinic then you can just look up what is informed consent because it means they aren't going to like try to disprove your transness nor your capacity to give consent.

In my experience in 2018 USA when I was in my early 20's, informed consent (i do not have experience beyond informed consent clinics) is basically you make an appointment or walk-in depending on how the location is set up.

Once you're seeing a doctor they bring out a standard list of expected side effects including how the treatment works etc. They'll then supplement the standard document with whatever updated knowledge they have learned.

They'll then ask if you have any questions, usually their expertise is on medical procedures not supply chains or political stability.

if you feel comfortable with the treatment & its pros & cons, then you sign some paperwork in order to give proof of authorization, they set up a dosage, and then you go to a pharmacy & hope they fill it. (Some places will have their own pharmacies in order to minimize obstruction from say sexist pharmacists.)

Usually the information is based on a specific medication regime that the clinic provides (that is say spirolactone + estradiol, vs progesterone, are separate treatments. Some places don't offer both of these.)

I won't get into why I made the decisions I made because it reflected a lot on how things were in 2018 instead of 2023 (plus how health insurance works in USA before & after turning 26), but that's the gist on how the appointments works under an informed consent model.

Good Luck, Peace & Love,

Eve

[mydarlingdahlia]

Please please please read this. The things I am going to say below need more attention than they are getting.

The USA sucks right now. Florida, for example.

This is the state that I live in. And I am fearing for my safety as of now. For one, I couldn’t even name all of the anti LGBTQIA+ laws and bills that have been passed. Some of my coworkers who have kids (and are apart of the LGBTQIA+ community) are risking having their kids taken away from them.

If your kid is in preschool all the way up to eighth grade, sorry! They’re “too young” to be exposed to anything remotely related to sexual orientation or gender identity. Preschoolers and all of the younger kids, I can get behind that a little. But middle schoolers? Sure, maybe they shouldn’t get top surgery or anything (not saying they aren’t allowed to) but they don’t have to be shielded from that kind of stuff.

And we have a gender affirming care ban, and an anti transgender bathroom bill.

And academic freedom? Thanks to our Governor, Ron DeSantis, say goodbye to that. Oh, and your healthcare? You can be discriminated against by a nurse or doctor or denied medical care by your religious, moral, or ethical beliefs.

I am going to go into detail about some of these bills, so be prepared to read.

Expansion Bill (HB 1069): In an intentional effort to erase transgender and non-binary people from the curriculum, HB 1069 bans instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity from Pre-K through Grade 8, creates an anti-LGBTQ+ definition of sex based on reproductive function, and would force school staff and students to deadname and misgender one another. In April, Florida’s Board of Education also voted to expand Gov. DeSantis’s shameful “Don’t Say LGBTQ+” bill from 2022 to all grades.

Extreme Gender Affirming Care Ban (SB 254): Even among the crowded field of extreme and damaging bans on best practice, age-appropriate health care, this bill stands out as particularly mean-spirited. SB 254 would penalize providers by inflicting criminal penalties (including felony penalties) on providers who give gender-affirming care; it would take licenses away from those providers; and it would prohibit Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care for transgender youth or adults. It would also forbid public funds, including those of a public university, public hospital, city or county, and Medicaid, from being used to provide benefits that include gender-affirming care – for transgender people of all ages. And – uniquely – it allows the state to use gender-affirming care or the “risk” of such care for a child as a reason to give Florida family courts exceptional jurisdiction to set aside another state’s custody determination. By singing this bill, DeSantis is disrespecting the United States Constitution as well as the rule of law, not to mention transgender Floridians, their families, and their medical care providers.

Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill (HB 1521): HB 1521 criminalizes transgender people for using the restroom that matches their gender identity. The bill prohibits gender-inclusive restrooms and changing facilities in schools, public shelters, healthcare facilities, and jails.

License to Discriminate in Healthcare (SB 1580): This bill will allow healthcare providers and insurers to deny a patient care on the basis of religious, moral, or ethical beliefs. It creates a license to discriminate by allowing healthcare employers to discriminate in hiring, and it bars medical Boards from disciplining doctors for spreading misinformation

So far in 2023, HRC is opposing more than 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced in statehouses across the country. More than 220 of those bills would specifically restrict the rights of transgender people, the highest number of bills targeting transgender people in a single year to date. This year, HRC is tracking:

More than 125 gender-affirming care bans — bills that would prevent transgender youth from being able to access age-appropriate, medically-necessary, best-practice health care; this year, 14 have already become law in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Dakota, Utah, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Dakota, Montana, and Oklahoma;

More than 30 anti-transgender bathroom bills filed;

More than 100 anti-LGBTQ+ curriculum censorship bills, and;

45 anti-LGBTQ+ drag performance ban bills.

By comparison, last year in 2022 politicians in statehouses across the country introduced 315 anti-LGBTQ+ bills, 29 of which were enacted into law. These efforts — the result of a coordinated push led by national anti-LGBTQ+ groups, which deployed vintage discriminatory tropes seeking to slander, malign, and stigmatize LGBTQ+ people — only yielded a less than 10% success rate, as more than 90% of anti-LGBTQ+ bills were defeated. The majority of the discriminatory bills – 149 bills – targeted the transgender and non-binary community, with the majority targeting children. By the end of the 2022 state legislative season, a record 17 bills attacking transgender and non-binary children were enacted into law.

I have done my research. I know the stuff that I am talking about.

Oh! And we have something to else to worry about as fanfiction writers and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The KOSA bill.

KOSA, or K O S A stands for Kids Online Safety Act. This bill will be presented to Congress in about a month or fronting it as a way to keep kids safe online or to give parents ways to regulate what their kids are accessing online.

You might be thinking right now, why is this a problem?

We have to listen to what they are not directly saying out loud. Because surprise surprise!

The people who actually wrote the bill are extremely transphobic and homophobic. Republicans are looking for ways to censor the internet, but only in ways that push their beliefs forward and everyone that does not fall in line with that are going to be deemed as a groomer or a predator.

Which is incredibly rhetoric to be spreading.

Any site that has any LGBT topics like AO3, Wattpad, Tumblr, fanfiction in general, will fall as victims to this act.

And it has bipartisan support, so that means support from both Democratic and Republican sides are being like “yeah let’s get this out there”.

So who are they targeting? Platforms such as Wattpad, TikTok, Twitter, and AO3. And this bill, if passed, could possibly take down AO3 if set into motion.

Remember how bad the uproar was when AO3 was under the DDoS attack? What if it was all just gone? This bill is basically breaking the first amendment: Freedom of RAPPS. (Religion, Assembly, Press, Petition, and Speech.)

Here is some more information about the KOSA bill here.

If parents don’t want their kids doing things they shouldn’t online, the parents should handle it. Not the government.

Come on. It’s fucking 2023. And there are probably some people out there who aren’t against this bill and against LGBTQIA+ members saying “oh this generation has gone so downhill” or “back in my day we didn’t have trans or gays”. No, no. You did.

They were just so closeted out of the fear of being prejudiced against. And now that people are coming out of the closet, your bigot and outdated mindset doesn’t know what to do.

People and children are being prejudiced against for no damn reason. What’s the point of it all? So the conservatives can have their way? If you try to get rid of something, it’s just going to go underground.

Like all of the controversy with abortion. So a 12 year old has to be forced to push out a baby when their body isn’t physically ready, but as soon as the baby is born you don’t give a flying fuck about what happens to it.

“Abortion is murder!” And killing the mother in the process of birth isn’t? What if a child got raped? Would you be on the living, breathing host’s side, or the unborn fetus’s side? What if having a baby is detrimental to their health? What then?

Would you say having an abortion is fine if the host will die? But if it’s an 11 or 12 year old they have to give birth? Where do you draw the line? Cause I don’t fucking see it.

Most of this stuff isn’t just in Florida, it’s the whole country.

Please reblog and share this with your friends, I don’t care if you have zero or 20k followers. Please. We need to get this out there.

-C

[practical-herbalist]

About

Hey there, I'm H (they/them) and this is my side blog focusing on (practical) herbalism and herbal medicine.

There's also a lot of content relating to: medical chemistry, foraging, healthy recipes, cultivation and harvesting, bushcraft, and hunting/fishing.

There will be some content relating to: ethical/humane omnivorism, locavorism, animal welfare, worker's welfare and rights, anti macro farm / intensive farming, land stewardship, and environmentalism, though my blog specifically for ethical omnivorism is ethical-omnivore-h.

My main is homo-adaptionem. My witchcraft blog is grotesque-grimoire. My youTube channel is H. adaptionem. You can see all of my playlists at h-adaptionem.tumblr.com/ytplaylists. Misc Series, including Practical Herbalism: h-adaptionem.tumblr.com/miscseriesytpl.

I'm a witch, a home cook, a novice herbalist, a novice forager, and a newbie ethical onmivorous flexitarian. I am NOT an activist, just a dipshit with opinions!

Currently researching: practical-herbalist.tumblr.com/research Currently growing: practical-herbalist.tumblr.com/garden Disclaimers: practical-herbalist.tumblr.com/disclaimers FAQ: practical-herbalist.tumblr.com/faq

Foraging in: the Ozarks of the USA Ontario of Canada

Stay safe and stay weird!

Blog info below; I recommend reading before you view the rest of the blog; definitely read before following. Enter at your own risk.

TL;DR:

disabled, LGBT, an adult

EXCESSIVE TAGGER; most trigger tags have "CW" before them; tags all slurs

doesn't mind like/reblog spam

doesn't check mentions or replies; send an ask if you need to get my attention

OG tags: Answered - asks I've answered Face of H - pics of me pracitcal-herbalist - refers to this blog H. adaptionem - refers to my YT channel of the same name Homo adaptionem - all og posts

Like/reblog spamming is fine, I don't mind at all.

If you want my attention, you have a better shot if you shoot me an ask, as I rarely check my mentions/replies. I have a shit ton of stuff blacklisted, so I may not see your asks/mentions/posts if they include slurs, content triggering to me, etc. It's not that I'm ignoring you, I'm just trying to take better care of my mental health, Y'know? Gotta police my own intake of content, etc. etc.

Most things are tagged, so block what you need to using tumblr's own blocking function, Xkit, or Tumblr Savior. Slurs and triggering content usually have a CW before them, even if the OP doesn't consider the content triggering. I tag excessively, deal with it.

DNIs/DNFs are useless and performative; I just block (& report if needed) who I dislike/etc, and I block liberally, for any reason. I respect most other people's DNIs, if they're accessible. If I can't read it, I won't bother. Don't like me? Block me.

I block anti-vaccine, anti-science, anti-chemo, anti-recovery, anti-medicine types, and those who promote quackery and fake "treatments" or "cures" on sight. This includes: New Agers, starseeds/indigo children, crystal healers, energy healers, faith healers, etc.

I block radfems of all types (febfems, perfs, terfs, tirfs, twerfs, swerfs, etc.) because their underlying rhetoric & theory goes completely against our understanding of biology, neurology, sex, gender, and DNA. Also they're sexist and LGBTphobic lmao

I also block trad weirdos (not trad goths, you are loved here <3) for reasons I hope are obvious. I'm a bisexual tranny they/them who hates organized religion, hugs trees and despises big oil, loves weird ass porn & kinks, and loves bodily autonomy & thinks abortion, tattoos, piercings, & transitioning is cool. You like natural medicine because you're under the delusion that it's a part of your (bigoted) heritage. I like natural medicine because chemistry is cool and plants are neat. We are not the same.

Stay safe and stay weird!

[emptyanddark]

weekly reading list

things i've read this week i found interesting.

In Syria, the West’s Humanitarian Claims Crumble to Dust by Jonathan Cook: as the death toll from the earthquakes hitting Syria and Turkey exceeds 46 thousand lives, don't forget that the people of Syria have been living under the collective punishment by western powers choking them with sanctions. humans can't control forced of nature but the amount of damage and human sufferings is entirely political (as it appears in Turkey infrastructure was compromised by corruption)

The Foundation of Monte Albán, Intensification, and Growth: Coactive Processes and Joint Production: authors Linda Nicholas & Gary Feinman propose their hypothesis about egalitarian, collective "good" governance in Oaxaca valley settlements.

Surveillance Capitalism by John Bellamy Foster & Robert W. McChesney: outlines the history of cooperation between USA government and private companies to present issues of surveillance capitalism.

Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit by David Graeber about creativity, innovation and imagination.

The Case for Free-Range Lab Mice by Sonia Shah: a long-overdue discussion about the limited benefit of using lab animals in biological & medical research. the questions about this practice are not only ethical, but practical.

The Evolution of Meaning – from Pragmatic Couplings to Semantic Representations: author Kevin Mitchell writes about the distinction between deriving pragmatic and semantic meanings, and proposes evolutionary theory about their development.

Three Ideas from Linguistics that Everyone in AI Should Know by Gary Marcus and Elliot Murphy: large language models don't in fact, use language, at least not as humans use it. they merely spit out words & phrases that are statistically likely to be next; the author of this article focuses on 3 key elements of language that are absent from LLMs: reference, cognitive models and compositionality.

Africa's Forgotten Colony in the Sahara by Paweł Wargan: from European imperialism, to Moroccan nationalist interests and the greed of multinational mining corporations, this articles introduces a bit of the modern history of Western Sahara and the plight of the Sahrawi people.

The Carbon Triangle: analysis by Jeremy Wallace who identifies interactions between three major economic actors in contemporary China: finance, land and real estate, and how they impact the environment.

interview with Clara E. Mattei, the author of The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism

Inside Google’s Quest to Digitize Troops’ Tissue Samples: James Bandler answers the question: what's more creepy than the US' DOD's largest collection of human tissues going back over a century? reply: Google wants to make money off it.

Lever News covering the catastrophe that is US rail, in the name of profiteering, from Rail Companies Blocking Safety Rules, Biden DOJ Backing Norfolk Southern’s Bid To Block Lawsuits, all this after they screwed overworked rail workers for daring demanding more than one (1!!) single day of paid sick leave per year, amid rail companies high profits and terrible working conditions.

[indianeggdonors]

Egg Donor Programs USA: Your Journey to Parenthood Starts Here

In the realm of assisted reproductive technologies, egg donation has emerged as a beacon of hope for many aspiring parents. This intricate process not only requires precision but also compassion, and it has played a pivotal role in helping couples and individuals fulfill their dreams of parenthood. In the United States, egg donor programs have gained widespread recognition for their excellence and commitment to making this journey possible.

At IndianEggDonors, we understand the profound significance of this journey and the emotions that come with it. With a deep-rooted commitment to providing guidance, support, and an extensive database of exceptional egg donors, our egg donor programs in the USA offer a ray of hope to those longing to start or expand their families. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the world of egg donor programs in the USA, shedding light on the process, its significance, and how IndianEggDonors can be your partner on this incredible journey.

Understanding Egg Donation

The Essence of Egg Donation

Egg donation is a remarkable fertility treatment that allows individuals or couples who are unable to conceive with their own eggs to experience the joys of parenthood. This process involves a generous and selfless donor providing her eggs to be fertilized by the intended parent's partner's sperm (or donor sperm) and then transferring the resulting embryo to the recipient's uterus.

Egg donation can be a path to parenthood for various groups of people, including those dealing with:

Infertility: Couples facing infertility due to issues such as diminished ovarian reserve, genetic disorders, or recurrent miscarriages can benefit from egg donation.

Same-Sex Couples: For same-sex male couples and some same-sex female couples, egg donation is an essential step in the conception process.

Single Individuals: Single individuals, both men and women, can choose egg donation to build their families.

The Role of Egg Donor Programs

Egg donor programs in the USA play a pivotal role in facilitating this process. They serve as intermediaries, connecting intended parents with suitable egg donors and guiding them through every step of the journey. These programs are responsible for:

Donor Recruitment: Identifying and recruiting potential egg donors who meet stringent criteria for health, genetics, and personal history.

Matching: Carefully matching intended parents with an egg donor who aligns with their preferences and requirements.

Medical Screening: Conducting thorough medical and psychological evaluations of both donors and recipients to ensure compatibility and safety.

Legal and Ethical Guidance: Providing legal and ethical guidance to all parties involved, including donor contracts and consent forms.

Coordination: Overseeing the coordination of medical procedures, including egg retrieval and embryo transfer, and offering emotional support throughout the process.

The Significance of Choosing the Right Egg Donor Program

Why the Right Egg Donor Program Matters

Choosing the right egg donor program is a crucial step in your journey to parenthood. It can significantly impact the success and overall experience of the egg donation process. Here's why it matters:

Quality Donor Database: Reputable programs like IndianEggDonors maintain extensive databases of screened and qualified egg donors, increasing your chances of finding the perfect match.

Medical Expertise: Trusted programs work with experienced fertility specialists who can provide top-notch medical care throughout the process.

Legal Protection: Proper legal counsel ensures that all parties involved are protected, and the process adheres to legal requirements.

Emotional Support: Going through egg donation can be emotionally challenging. The right program offers emotional support and counseling to help you navigate these feelings.

IndianEggDonors: Your Trusted Partner

At IndianEggDonors, we understand the significance of this journey and are committed to helping you achieve your dream of parenthood. Here's why we are your trusted partner:

A Comprehensive Donor Database

Our extensive database comprises diverse and carefully screened egg donors, ensuring you have access to a wide range of options to find the perfect match for your family.

Medical Excellence

We collaborate with some of the most respected fertility clinics and specialists in the USA, ensuring that you receive the best possible medical care throughout your journey.

Legal Expertise

Our team of legal experts is well-versed in the complexities of egg donation, ensuring that all legal aspects are handled with precision and professionalism.

Emotional Support

We understand that the journey to parenthood can be emotionally taxing. Our compassionate team provides emotional support and counseling to help you navigate this profound experience.

A Commitment to Your Dream

At IndianEggDonors, we share your dream of parenthood, and we are dedicated to making it a reality. Our commitment extends to every aspect of your journey, from the initial consultation to the joyous moment when you hold your baby in your arms.

The Egg Donation Process

Step by Step

Understanding the egg donation process is essential for anyone considering this path to parenthood. While the specifics can vary, the basic steps typically include:

Initial Consultation: Your journey begins with an initial consultation with a fertility specialist or an egg donor program coordinator to discuss your needs, preferences, and expectations.

Donor Selection: With the guidance of your program, you'll select an egg donor who aligns with your preferences. This can include considerations such as physical traits, educational background, and health history.

Medical and Psychological Screening: Both you and the chosen donor undergo thorough medical and psychological evaluations to ensure compatibility and safety.

Legal Agreements: Legal experts draft contracts outlining the rights and responsibilities of all parties involved, including the financial aspects.

Egg Retrieval and Fertilization: The donor undergoes a cycle of fertility medications to stimulate egg production. Once the eggs are mature, they are retrieved during a minimally invasive procedure. The retrieved eggs are then fertilized with sperm, either from the intended parent or a donor.

Embryo Transfer: The resulting embryos are cultured in a lab for a few days. The healthiest embryos are selected and transferred to the recipient's uterus, typically during a minimally invasive procedure.

Pregnancy Test: A pregnancy test is conducted around two weeks after the embryo transfer to determine if the procedure was successful.

The Emotional Rollercoaster

The egg donation journey can be emotionally challenging for all parties involved. Intended parents may experience a range of emotions, from excitement and hope to anxiety and uncertainty. Donors, too, may have their own emotional journey.

Support and Counseling

Egg donor programs, including IndianEggDonors, offer emotional support and counseling to help individuals and couples navigate these emotions. It's essential to have a support system in place to address any concerns and provide guidance during this journey.

The Legal Aspects of Egg Donation

Ensuring Legal Clarity

Egg donation involves complex legal considerations to protect the rights and responsibilities of all parties involved. Key legal aspects include:

Donor Contracts: Detailed contracts are drafted to outline the rights and responsibilities of both the egg donor and the intended parents. These contracts cover issues such as compensation, confidentiality, and parental rights.

Parental Rights: Legal procedures ensure that the intended parents have full parental rights over any child born as a result of the egg donation.

Privacy and Confidentiality: Egg donor programs must prioritize the privacy and confidentiality of all parties involved to protect their identities and sensitive information.

Trusting Legal Experts

Trusting legal experts who specialize in fertility law is crucial to ensure that all legal aspects are handled correctly. Reputable egg donor programs, like IndianEggDonors, work closely with experienced legal professionals to safeguard your rights and interests.

Conclusion: Your Journey Begins

Embarking on the path to parenthood through egg donation is a profound and life-changing experience. With the support of a trusted egg donor program like IndianEggDonors, you can take the first step toward realizing your dreams of becoming a parent. Our commitment to excellence, compassion, and unwavering support makes us your ideal partner on this remarkable journey.

As you move forward, remember that the journey may be filled with emotions, challenges, and uncertainties, but it is also a journey of hope, love, and the possibility of creating a family. Your dream of parenthood begins here, with the choice to explore the world of egg donation, and we are here to guide you every step of the way. Visit our website now to learn more about our Egg Donor Program and how you can empower dreams.

[not-poignant]

Hi, Pia

I just read chapter 28 'Strange and Lonely' of UtB and got curious about the omega rights that exist in this world. Would you mind listing some of the rights omegas have in Australia in this universe? And are there countries where they don't have these rights? Or countries where omegas have even *more* rights than where UtB takes place?

And also Gary says that Temsen became 'radicalised' after what he'd seen while studying overseas. Does Gary really think Temsens views are radical or was that just a word he used in the moment?

Thanks!

Hi anon!

Some of this stuff I don't know the full answer to (winging the story), some of it will be revealed in the story, but here's some bits and pieces!

Would you mind listing some of the rights omegas have in Australia in this universe?

I don't know them all because honestly I can't keep every single legal right that humans have in my brain so I don't know how I could do that for omegas, but generally speaking omegas in Australia have:

A right to education (conditional) A right to life (conditional - if no birth certificate is recorded, a right to life can be legally circumvented -> problematic because omegas have their own birth register, and many omegas births still aren't recorded at all) A right to freedom from medical experimentation and unusual acts of cruelty or inhuman acts (this includes conditional freedom from being imprisoned and raped in a fraternity house, but not freedom from being imprisoned and raped in an omega rehabilitation centre) A right to health (conditional) A right to a fair trial (conditional) A right to work (conditional) A right to protection from violence from strangers (conditional)

(I'm putting conditional next to all of these, because many of these rights have loopholes that can often be utilised by alphas and betas, especially in the case of spouses and families, and these are the people normally controlling an omegas life in the first place. For example, if a family causes an omega to be sick, that omega has no right to take their family to court.)

They do not have rights to:

Vote (hugely contested, but as omegas are such a tiny portion of the population and don't get much support, this is slow going. Alphas can of course vote, despite also being a tiny proportion of the population, lmao) Freedom from discrimination based on being omega Protection from violence (inc rape) from family or partners

Australia is considered one of the better places in the world for an omega, about on par with with UK, and ahead of places like the USA. However there are many countries that offer better rights and protections to omegas, but I couldn't tell you what they are, because I don't know! I just know they exist, lol. One of them is Switzerland, based on the fact that Gary and James went to do a conference there on omega psychology and rights.

But! Any of this could change depending on how the story goes. Winging it means the story decides how it progresses, in a way, so if one of these becomes inconvenient to me and I haven't established it in the story, I will ditch it lmao.

Does Gary really think Temsens views are radical or was that just a word he used in the moment?

Temsen's views really are radical. Just because Gary shares many of them, doesn't make them any less so. Hillview is a place that practices pretty radical omega theory and acceptance, and has to kind of hide that it does that because it goes counter to the global culture in general.

There's very few people in the world for example who would agree with Temsen's approach to Efnisien. Temsen asking Efnisien if he wants an alpha in the room with him instead of giving the alpha the choice is unusual and generally not done. Temsen seeking even some consent is not something many doctors do. Temsen embodies a more ethical practice (overall, not always though) towards omegas and in his viewpoints towards omegas. Gary agrees in theory, but he can have a harder time implementing it in practice, because he's still got a lot of internalise issues towards omegas. Everyone at Hillview does, because they live in a society that has taught them to discriminate against omegas, so it's something everyone there is unpacking, including the omegas.

It also makes Hillview challenging, because it tends to turn out more politically aware and educated omegas, and while they're sometimes wanted by their partners who also happen to be activists, it's not generally what omega rehabilitation facilities are meant to do (which is to usually establish the kind of mindbreak where the omega becomes so docile - through repeated rape and forced bonding - that they see complete and total obedience to a partner or family outside of the facility as true freedom).

The world is definitely described / tagged as dystopia for a reason!

[gunlovingpacifist]

Now I have to block you because people on the right celebrate ignorance and Mooch of blue states. Them gunz ain't gonna feed your family......

I have posed this question a few times and never get a response

.... 🤔

Here is why I am a liberal...

Why are you a Republican?

The 40-hour work week, and thus, weekends!

Overtime pay and minimum wage.

Paid Vacations.

Women’s Voting Rights

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

The right of people of all colors to use schools and facilities.

Public schools.

Public libraries

Public transportation

Public universities

Public broadcasting

Public police and fire departments

Worker’s rights

Labor safety and fairness laws

*Nixon gave us the EPA

Child-labor laws.

The right to unionize

Health care benefits

National Parks, Monuments, and Forests, “America’s Best Idea”

Interstate Highway System (Eisenhower (R) and Al Gore Sr. (D)

Safe food and drugs (via the FDA)

Social Security

NASA

The Moon Landing and other space exploration

Satellites

The Office of Congressional Ethics.

The Internet

National Weather Service

Product Labeling/Truth in Advertising Laws

Rural Electrification/Tennessee Valley Authority

Bank Deposit Insurance

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Consumer Product Safety Commission

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Rights of the disabled (via Americans With Disabilities Act)

Family and Medical Leave Act

Clean air and water (Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency).

Civilian Conservation Corps

Panama Canal

Hoover Dam

The Federal Reserve

Medicare/Medicaid

The United States Military

The FBI

The CIA

Peace between Israel and Egypt

Peace between Israel and Jordan

Veterans Medical Care

Federal Housing Administration

Extending Voting Rights to 18 year olds

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Religion/Separation of Church and State

Right to Due Process

Freedom of The Press

Right to Organize and Protest

Pell Grants and other financial aid to students

Federal Aviation Administration/Airline safety regulations

The end of slavery in the USA (The Emancipation Proclamation, The 13th Amendment)

Unemployment benefits

Smithsonian Institute

Americorps

Mandatory Food Labeling

Peace Corps

United Nations

World Health Organization

The Lincoln Tunnel

Sulfur emissions cap and trade to eliminate acid rain

Earned Income Tax Credit

The banning of lead in consumer products

National Institute of Health

Garbage pickup/clean streets

Banning of CFCs.

LGBT rights

Expanded voting access via polling places

Erie Canal

Bailout — and thus continued existence — of the American Auto Industry

Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Established the basis for Universal Human Rights by writing the Declaration of Independence

Miranda Rights

Banning of torture

The right to a proper defense in court

An independent judiciary

The right to vote

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

Fair, open, and honest elections

The founding of The United States of America

The defeat of the Nazis and victory in World War II

Paramedics

Woman’s Right to Choose

The Civil Rights Movement

National Science Foundation

Vehicle Safety Standards

NATO

The income tax and power to tax in general, which have been used to pay for much of this list.

911 Emergency system

Tsunami, hurricane, tornado, and earthquake warning systems

The Freedom of Information Act

Water Treatment Centers and sewage systems

The Meat Inspection Act

The Pure Food And Drug Act

The Bretton Woods system

International Monetary Fund

SEC, which regulates Wall Street (weaked by conservatives)

National Endowment for the Arts

Campaign finance laws (weaked by conservatives)

Federal Crop Insurance

United States Housing Authority

School Lunch Act

Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act

Vaccination Assistance Act

The creation of counterinsurgency forces such as the Navy Seals and Green Berets.

Voting Rights Act, which ended poll taxes, literacy tests, and other voter qualification tests (weaked by conservatives)

The Brady Bill (5-day wait on handgun purchases for background checks)

Lobbying Disclosure Act

"Motor-Voter" Act

Civil Rights Act of 1968

Job Corps

Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

Teacher Corps

Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966

National Trails System Act of 1968

U.S. Postal Service

Modern Civilization

BIDEN WINS:

• Inflation Reduction Act

• CHIPS & Science Act

• PACT Act for veterans

• First major gun safety legislation in decades

• Took out the leader of al Qaeda

• Historic job growth (+12.8 million)

• Historically low unemployment

• Expanded the NATO alliance

• American Rescue Plan led to fastest jobs recovery in history

• Confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

• Rallied our allies in support of Ukraine

•Once-in-a-generation infrastructure investments

• Student loan forgiveness

• Rural broadband investment

In not a republican. I lean right on one issue. The second amendment. Why's that hard for leftists to comprehend

[killed-by-choice]

“Daphne Roe”, 16 (USA 1988)

The American Journal of Forensic Pathology published a case report from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. The case study detailed the death of a Black teenager from a legal abortion. I have given her the name Daphne Roe here.

Daphne was 16 and pregnant in the second trimester. When she was 21.5 weeks pregnant, she underwent a hypertonic saline abortion.

Up until 26 hours after the saline administered, Daphne seemed to be okay. Then she started having painful cramps and projectile expulsion of amniotic fluid. Daphne started shaking and went into convulsions. She went into shock and died within 2 hours of the start of her symptoms.

Daphne’s autopsy showed the extensive damage throughout the 16-year-old’s body. Her lungs suffered from pulmonary edema with marked vascular congestion, focal areas of atelectasis, and intra-alveolar hemorrhages. The blood vessels in her kidneys, liver, brain, and spleen showed marked congestion. Her postmortem diagnosis included lethal hypernatremia from amniotic fluid embolism.

Amniotic fluid embolism should have been unlikely for Daphne. According to the medical journal, most cases occur in older, multiparous women in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy, labor, delivery, and the immediate postpartum period. A young patient pregnant for the first time would not have been likely to have an amniotic fluid embolism during birth, but thanks to the abortion, Daphne’s bloodstream contained a mixture of amniotic fluid and hypertonic saline.

It’s worth mentioning that saline abortion had already been banned in multiple countries for being too dangerous. A doctor wrote in the July 3, 1972 Journal of the American Medical Association, warning that "Saline amniocentesis abortion has the highest fatality rate of any elective surgical procedure, second only to cardiac transplantation. The ethical, sensible answer to this problem would be to place a moratorium on saline abortions...."

Women — and young girls like Daphne — deserve better than abortion.

(If you think you know who Daphne is and would like to help share her story, please DM me.)