I hear that.
From Jessica Valenti:
Stop Believing Republicans
3.17.25
Jessica Valenti
Mar 18
Stop Believing Republicans
It’s a rule to live by, especially when it comes to abortion rights.Right now, Republican state legislators across the country are pushing bills they claim will ‘clarify’ abortion bans, add vital exceptions, or otherwise protect women and doctors. For them, it’s politically necessary: Abortion bans are wildly unpopular, and conservatives need a smokescreen—policies they can point to and tell voters, See? I’m just trying to help!
Because we’re all so desperate to reduce the suffering abortion bans cause, it’s tempting to see these bills as good news. But let’s be clear: Republicans are not writing abortion legislation to help women. These bills are designed to make conservative legislators look more moderate while embedding even more dangerous policies into law.
The Kentucky legislation I told you about last week is a perfect example. Republicans are calling it a bill to add exceptions to the state’s ban—which sounds great! In reality, though, the legislation redefines abortion, and mandates that doctors perform ‘separations’ on patients with life-threatening pregnancies. In other words: forced C-sections or inductions. That’s part of the broader strategy I warned about in November—codifying the lie that abortion is never medically necessary.
Still, Kentucky Republicans are selling it as a way to make life-saving care easier for doctors to provide. Bill sponsor Republican Rep. Jason Nemes even warned, “If you vote ‘no,’ the blood is on your hands.”
It’s a brilliant con: Pass legislation you can tell voters proves that you’re looking out for women, while handing the anti-abortion movement exactly what they want. I mean, does anyone actually believe that Kentucky Right to Life—which endorsed this bill—would back anything that made abortion easier to get?? Give me a fucking break.
That’s one of the red flags to watch for in Republican bills that claim to help women:
🚩 Are anti-abortion groups supporting it? Then it’s garbage. Even if they’re just staying quiet—refusing to lobby against it—it’s probably bad news.
🚩 Are Republicans calling it ‘clarifying’? That’s GOP-speak for we’re not changing anything meaningful, but we want you to think we are. In fact, these bills are often worse than the original bans, further embedding false definitions of abortion or other sneaky new language.
🚩 Does the bill redefine ‘abortion’ or use the term ‘separation’? This is probably the clearest sign that a bill isn’t meant to help patients, but codify the lie that abortion is never necessary. Read Abortion, Every Day’s explainer on this strategy here.
🚩 Are Republicans calling for ‘educating’ doctors? If a bill includes anything about ‘educational’ materials or videos on abortion law for health care providers, it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. These so-called ‘Med Ed’ bills claim to help doctors understand when they can legally provide care—making it appear that Republicans are working with doctors to save women’s health and lives. In reality, they enshrine false definitions of abortion and pressure doctors into performing forced C-sections or inductions. (Check out AED’s coverage of South Dakota’s ‘Med Ed’ law here for more.)
There are plenty more red flags, so I may add this list to AED’s Resource Page and update it as needed. But in the meantime, just don’t believe them.
And listen, I get it: We all want to reduce the harm these bans are causing, and sometimes that may mean doing incremental work. But there’s a difference between chipping away at a bad law and giving Republicans the opportunity to make those bad laws even worse. Because even if some of these bills manage to help a few people in the short term—and that’s a big if—conservatives are using legislation like this as vehicles for long-term devastation to abortion access everywhere.
I appreciate Ms. Valenti for telling the truth about Abortion Rights in this country. She tells it like it is, and how much of a danger Republicans are to women’s lives.
WHERE is the Wisconsin Attorney General bringing charges for paying for votes?
Dude from the Hinterlands… (@FlyoverRevolt) posted at 9:55 AM on Fri, Mar 21, 2025:
“Here we go again, folks! Elon Musk, the billionaire puppet master, is at it with his fat wallet, trying to buy democracy like it’s a clearance sale at Tesla!
According to Axios, his shady PAC is dangling $100 bribes in front of Wisconsin voters to sign some petition against so-called “activist judges.” Activist judges? You mean the ones who dare to stand up to Musk and Trump’s power grab? This ain’t about justice—it’s about control! Musk’s already got his claws in the White House, and now he’s slithering into Wisconsin to rig the courts, too. He’s not just some tech bro anymore; he’s a one-man oligarchy, stomping on the little guy while waving cash like a carrot on a stick. We’re not his pawns, people! This is our state, our courts, our fight! Tell Musk to take his dirty money and shove it—Wisconsin’s not for sale! Rise up, resist, and kick this plutocrat back to his space yacht!”
(https://x.com/FlyoverRevolt/status/1903098128019927239?t=x7WCgkODILn8shhclUGgtw&s=03)
TracingWoodgrains
@tracewoodgrains
Gutting museums and libraries to save .004% of the federal budget does not seem like a good way to achieve government efficiency.
https://x.com/tracewoodgrains/status/1902874091918372931
BREAKING: Acting Social Security commissioner Leland Dudek says he is consulting with the Justice Department about shutting down the agency.
Dudek told the Washington Post: “Unless I get clarification, I’ll just start to shut it down. I don’t have much of a choice here.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/21/social-security-benefits-trump-doge/
Why is nobody in the MSM making the connection with what is going on in Argentina, and Musk’s involvement there, and what they’re trying to do here?
The Associated Press (@AP) posted at 4:20 PM on Sat, Mar 15, 2025:
A river ‘died’ overnight in Zambia after an acidic waste spill at a Chinese-owned mine https://t.co/mjJZjmal9s
(https://x.com/AP/status/1901020609057886374?t=hkuaX2EOXWjc4a2h_eC_mw&s=03)
Nikos (@NikosReggae) posted at 4:22 PM on Sat, Mar 15, 2025:
A Chinese owned mine’s negligence just killed Zambia’s Kafue River overnight, dumping 50 million liters of acidic waste. Millions now face water shortages. Corporate greed strikes again.
(https://x.com/NikosReggae/status/1901021083303547184?t=a9jTj0Upi0L7NLODd0N1PA&s=03)
Sheldon Miller (@SheldonMiller) posted at 4:26 PM on Sat, Mar 15, 2025:
😡😡😡 This is the largest & longest river in Zambia and a huge part of its eco-system. This is a huge environmental catastrophe.
(https://x.com/SheldonMiller/status/1901022202277097549?t=AG4rLvyuIH-45oTRRwWvlw&s=03)
The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) posted at 1:55 PM on Thu, Mar 20, 2025:
Canadian MP Charlie Angus: I am here today to urge Canadians to avoid travel to the United States if at all possible. @Acyn
https://t.co/s5HSYGV0QB
(https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1902796067701215281?t=BdAGxcH9htuL6we1YlYJ2g&s=03)
Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) posted at 7:05 AM on Thu, Mar 20, 2025:
A French researcher was detained on arrival in the US and his computer and phone were confiscated. Texts criticizing Trump’s cuts to scientific research were deemed by DHS agents as “hatred of Trump …described as terrorism.” He was deported. https://t.co/27qJl6hq5W
(https://x.com/shannonrwatts/status/1902693019557490806?t=9Dppvb__i0jltvqFSUEYcg&s=03)
Henry M. Rosenberg (@DoctorHenryCT) posted at 11:01 AM on Thu, Mar 20, 2025:
Trump is the most negative person to ever be President. He doesn’t do anything. He doesn’t build or build up anything. He just destroys everything done by others for spite. And he will go down as the worst President since Trump45. He is a cancer on the U.S.
(https://x.com/DoctorHenryCT/status/1902752329943675084?t=dDUk8LK4qwB42EiEnhsV-g&s=03)
Minding My Black Business (@lacadri34) posted at 0:56 PM on Thu, Mar 20, 2025:
A lot of school teachers are NOT liberal by any means. When I did case management for my local school district years ago I was floored at how many were conservative and Trump supporters. They literally voted for this.
(https://x.com/lacadri34/status/1902781302681563409?t=luUC5Ck0zHzhhbfnzOjcrw&s=03)
Chrysalis💙📖🎷🪮💃🏿🌻🦂 (@JustStop0691) posted at 1:53 PM on Thu, Mar 20, 2025:
This alarms me because I fear that they have no respect for many of their students, particularly the Blk or kids of color, and low income. Reminds me of a honors teacher I had in the 6th grade during integration in the 70’s. We could tell she didn’t really like us Blk kids.
(https://x.com/JustStop0691/status/1902795585499140392?t=1nVUtdKdBLO9c1e4ieQdhQ&s=03)
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) posted at 2:03 PM on Thu, Mar 20, 2025:
NEW! Even as evidence emerges of potentially grave errors in their vetting process, the Trump administration appears ready to argue that they can use the Alien Enemies Act to enter the home of any person they allege is a member of Tren de Aragua, WITHOUT A WARRANT. https://t.co/dZeXnQw7rK
(https://x.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1902798050348700092?t=qQ4hb73D9yV38-dqi1pwuw&s=03)
Carlos Turnbull (@cturnbull1968) posted at 8:39 AM on Thu, Mar 20, 2025:
Pete Hegseth removed Colin Powell’s name from a list of notable Americans, buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Hegseth also removed the names of every person of color and every woman on the same list. Only white men were left in place. https://t.co/FZlv8gdUS9
(https://x.com/cturnbull1968/status/1902716740213080167?s=02)
James E. Clyburn (@RepJamesClyburn) posted at 4:06 PM on Thu, Mar 20, 2025:
Trump pretended he wouldn’t implement Project 2025 because he knew how destructive and unpopular it was.
He wasn’t being truthful. And now his dismantling of the Department of Education will kick teachers out of classrooms and rip away financial aid for college students.
This
(https://x.com/RepJamesClyburn/status/1902829224190234624?t=ST3u4b1PuVLTpwu22OzsFQ&s=03)
John Hudson (@John_Hudson) posted at 3:09 PM on Thu, Mar 20, 2025:
Bukele agreed to accept hundreds of suspected gang members living in the United States. In return, he wanted the U.S. to send him less than a dozen MS13 gang members in U.S. custody. Why was he so intent on getting the MS13 guys? Via WaPo: https://t.co/6WQxolMH43
(https://x.com/John_Hudson/status/1902814895751467095?t=VKFddmrLyuzy-rjxBBBpsw&s=03)
Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) posted at 6:19 AM on Fri, Mar 21, 2025:
The whole point of deporting someone with a soccer tattoo that’s relabeled a “gang” tattoo is for Trump to assert the power to simply say someone is a gang member or terrorist *without* presenting evidence of it.
On the pod, we go deep into all this:
https://t.co/jQml2cDZqJ
(https://x.com/GregTSargent/status/1903043796918587520?t=j1KU6tzxEEH1o6-FfvqmEw&s=03)
Brendan Duke (@Brendan_Duke) posted at 4:59 PM on Thu, Mar 20, 2025:
They start dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and then DoorDash becomes a payday lender a month later.
(https://x.com/Brendan_Duke/status/1902842533715345870?t=Rqn0zlYExCkA3zRC1YVs7g&s=03)
Rachel True (@RachelTrue) posted at 7:38 PM on Thu, Mar 20, 2025:
America is being restructured to harm the most
All so the mediocre unmotivated, not very bright, but think they deserve it all, spoiled children of the rich can game the system w/ the least amount of effort
All on the back of your minimum wage labor
Ain’t that a bitch 🤨
(https://x.com/RachelTrue/status/1902882544988852451?t=d12cgPwz-HguegXO4gZbMw&s=03)
Adam Serwer
@adamserwer.bsky.social
Follow
American civil society is full of abject cowards, that is the issue. The government is a mafia state but it is winning because most American elite institutions are devoid of anything resembling integrity and are folding rather than stand on principles that were little more than marketing.
March 21, 2025 at 6:35 AM
https://bsky.app/profile/adamserwer.bsky.social/post/3lkv4n7m3dc2n
Multiply this couple by THOUSANDS😭😭😭
THIS is what Apartheid Clyde and his band of minions have done
All so that he can have tax cuts.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP82QKH97/
I love this woman’s channel.
”Black Muggle parent confronts Lucius Malfoy”
😂😂😂😂😂😂
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP82QARq4/
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊