There has been a lot going on the news. Not just today or this week but back to Trump being sworn in for a second term, and even before that. A powerful message was sent about protecting victims of sexual abuse (mostly women and in the Epstein case underage teens) and that's a very good thing. Still, that's not the only issue that affects women and by extension their loved ones that has fallen below the radar. Due to draconian anti-abortion laws passed by various states after the Dobb's decision even in medical emergencies doctors are afraid to talk about, much less perform an abortion. Not even when the health or even LIFE of the mother is at risk.
As I result, in much of the country women face life-altering medical problems, and even sometimes die because they no longer have access to abortion services even in medical emergencies. Over the objections of the anti-abortion zealots some states allowed for in 'emergencies' the procedure to take place to protect the 'health and/or life of the moths." In theory. In practice the typical doctors doesn't want to risk loss of their medical license. Or ever worse prosecution and prison time. In some states it's no abortion at all. If women die, or suffer complications that ruin their health or if "lucky" simply prevent them from ever getting pregnant again we are all supposed to accept the Krazy Kristian's blather about 'god's will.'
When I hear these folks and their thoughts on their Jeebus and what they consider to be Christianity I hear people who reject the teachings of Christ. If you want to make their heads explode ask them to cite a bible passage where Jesus or the disciples speak against abortion. Hell, it's just not something they seemed to think was worth mentioning! Si I'll take a pass on accepting any of their pronouncements about 'god's will' when women are suffering and even dying. I say to them if they don't approve of abortion then don't have one if they have an unwanted pregnancy.
What set me off this afternoon was reading this article from CNN which brought this tragic subject back into the forefront. I'm ashamed to admit it was something I hadn't thought about in a while. So I'm raising it here because it can and should be part of the debate about health care we're going to be having right up until the midterms. Admittedly it's a bit of an ask as the linked article is CNN republishing a piece from ProPublica. Yes, it's a long read but this is important because it gets into detail about a tragic death that should never have happened. A death that left behind a loving husband and a 14 year old so. Why I implore you to make the time to read it is this kind of thing happens every day and not just in Tex-A$$.
Although the events recounted took place just over a year ago I can promise you they are happening to someone (or more than one woman) literally as I'm writing this. Rather than turn this into one of my long-winded articles I'm infamous for I want to keep it short and sweet and ask you please, PLEASE click on the link tonight or tomorrow, perhaps this weekend even and absorb the scope of this tragedy.
The victim, Tierra Walker was a dental assistant. Just another American woman with a job and a family that loved her as much as she loved them. She was 37 in October 2024 when she'd had enough and directly raised the issue doctors and other providers hadn't dared to bring up on their own. As I mentioned she had a 14 year old son, but several years prior to her death had become pregnant again. Her fetus was stillborn, due to a medical condition known as preeclampsia.
Let me briefly backtrack. Walker experience a severe set of medical symptoms last year that led to an ambulance trip to the hospital where she was startled to learn she was five weeks pregnant. During her first trimester she had a series of medical issues including dangerously high blood pressure and seizures. All of this got worse in her second trimester. Traveling to another state wasn't an option for her, and at a time when obtaining the pills needed for a medication abortion scared her too given how much she was in and out of the hospital. She feared getting caught and going to prison.
During her treatment, or perhaps more accurately lack thereof Walker saw 90 doctors. (who knows how many nurses?) and not one had a discussion with her about having an abortion to protect her health or even life. Even though at least one doctor did note in her records she was at high risk of death if the pregnancy continued. Basically they were afraid of doing decades in prison for 'aiding and abetting' an 'illegal abortion. She finally raised the subject herself. Through it all she was managed through significant medical problems and told he it would all work itself out. What's so outrageous is that out of some 90 doctors NOT A SINGE ONE so much as raised the issue of abortion and how she might obtain one. Not one.
Having been through the loss of a child due to preeclampsia already Walker knew better. And that information was surely in her medical records. AND she was 37 years old, old enough that any pregnancy would be bumped up into high risk territory. It didn't matter. While her husband was at the grocery store Walker's teenage son went into his mom's bedroom to check on her, a natural thing to do given her condition and her having a particularly bad day. He found her sprawled face down on her bed and unresponsive. She was dead.
Texans and others can take their self-righteous "it was god's will' and shove it up their asses. I've said several times women die every day due to these anti-abortion laws even in states that theoretically allow them in "special" circumstances. "Special" I'm sure means a white women with money and connections. it would be done quietly of course, but she'd get the care she needed. Average and poor women, especially those who aren't white? No effing way.
I'd say it will take a white woman from a family of substance, pillars of the community type to die like this for things to change. However as I just said THAT will never happen because a white woman with money and some influence won't die for lack of basic, medically justified and needed care. I'm an old white guy. Married just once but it didn't last. I never had kids either. Still, I was raised by a strong willed mom (she died when I was 18) and I've had lots of women friends in my now fairly long life. (I'm a senior citizen now) I've worked with plenty of capable, smart (yes, sometimes smarter and more capable than me and I was no slouch) women. I look at them, the rights they've had stripped from them, and younger women who never realized what they had when they couldn't bring themselves to vote for Hillary Clinton for "reasons."
I think about women who hadn't even hit puberty when Dobbs was handed down and those that have been born since and those yet to come who won't have the protections so many women (and some of us guys) fought so hard to get and then maintain. You're goddamned right I'm angry and you should be too. One last time I implore you to set aside perhaps ten minutes and read the linked article. I'll bet you'll be angry too.
GOPers are probably hoping since this kind of story has been supplanted by ICE outrages and a different "woman story" (Epstein) voters will forget about Dobbs. About how McConnell partnered with The Federalist Society to provide Trump Justices who would overturn Roe. And the appalling steps he took to steal seats to keep a Democratic President from appointing fair Justices who weren't RWNJ zealots. AND how Trump bragged about delivering on his promise to overturn Roe. Finally don't forget the Republicans on the Hill who either cheered it all along, or meekly stood by instead of doing the right thing.
GOPers were stunned at the reaction to Dobbs. They figured there'd be a month or two of outrage and people would "get over it" and "move on." The Blue Wave in 2018 proved them wrong. Alas, voters including too many Democrats have too short memories and if it took longer than expected I'm guessing GOPers are thinking this particular storm is over. THAT is why I've written this. To get you to realize the death and suffering that's been going on and which won't stop anytime soon. We have to summon up the same kind of energy we had in 2018 and not just a year from now. We need to do it again in 2028 and for still more elections after.
It's not just women's rights at stake. It's their health and their very lives. For guys out there think about women you love. Think about the world they have to live in and how easily theirs and your lives can be shattered. AND MAKE CONSERVATIVES PAY for taking away rights to choose when or when not to have children.