FARGO, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple has signed legislation that would ban most abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, something that can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The Republican governor also signed into law another measure that would makes North Dakota the first to ban abortions based on genetic defects such as Down syndrome.Abortion-rights advocates say the measures signed Tuesday are an attempt to close the state’s sole abortion clinic in Fargo. Supporters of the so-called fetal heartbeat measure say it’s a challenge the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion up until a fetus is considered viable, usually at 22 to 24 weeks.Abortion-rights advocates say the state will have to defend the legislation in a costly legal fight.Continue Reading… … Read More
If only conservatives cared about big banks as much as fetuses
We’re still legislating and regulating private morality, while at the same time ignoring the much larger crisis of public morality in America.In recent weeks Republican state legislators have decided to thwart the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in “Roe v. Wade,” which gave women the right to have an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, usually around 24 weeks into pregnancy.Legislators in North Dakota passed a bill banning abortions after six weeks or after a fetal heart beat had been detected, and approved a fall referendum that would ban all abortions by defining human life as beginning with conception. Lawmakers in Arkansas have banned abortions within twelve weeks of conception.The morality brigade worries about fetuses, but not what happens to children after they’re born. They and other conservatives have been cutting funding for child nutrition, healthcare for infants and their mothers, and schools.The new House Republican budget gets a big chunk of its savings from programs designed to help poor kids. The budget sequester already in effect takes aim at programs like Head Start, designed to improve the life chances of disadvantaged children.Continue Reading… … Read More
North Dakota sends three extreme antiabortion measures to governor’s desk
The North Dakota Legislature has made a sport out of denying women their reproductive rights. And they have gotten very, very good at it.Three of the four extreme abortion bills state lawmakers passed in recent weeks are expected to reach Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Monday. Dalrymple has not indicated whether or not he intends to sign the measures, but the state House and Senate may have the votes necessary to override any veto he issues.Once the bills arrive on his desk, the governor has three days to sign or veto them. If he fails to act, they will automatically become law.The first of the three measures Dalrymple will consider is House Bill 1456, the “fetal heartbeat ban.” The measure would make all abortions illegal after a fetal heartbeat is detected which, if a trans-vaginal probe is used, can be as early as five or six weeks after fertilization. If signed into law, doctors could face up to five years in prison if they perform an abortion after the cut-off date. After passing the state Legislature earlier in March, the measure beat out Arkansas’ 12-week abortion ban to become the most extreme in the nation.Continue Reading… … Read More
North Dakota Senate passes extreme 6-week abortion ban
The North Dakota State Senate voted Friday for a bill that bans abortions as early as six weeks of pregnancy, in what looks to be the nation’s most extreme restriction on female reproductive health services yet. The Associated Press noted that H.B. 1456 (PDF) received virtually no debate, and…
Undoing the New Deal
PT2 On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Roosevelt’s election and the introduction of the New Deal, Jennifer Taub and John Weeks discuss the post-war period and how successive administrations dismantled it … Read More
80th Anniversary of Roosevelt and The New Deal
Jennifer Taub and John Weeks discuss President Roosevelt’s policy of saving the economy from the ground up … Read More
Jonathan Rettinger: Should You Buy a BlackBerry 10?
I’ve spent the last two weeks playing with the Z10 and there are some definite pros and cons. Here’s what you need to consider before shelling out $199 to buy one.
Read More…
