I had not previously thought of Idaho as one of the crazy Red states, and have been saddened to have to reappraise that view. Idaho is now one of the leading states controlled by Republicans who are obsessed with controlling a woman's right to make her own health decisions. The latest iteration of this is that the Republican-controlled legislature has made it illegal to help a less than 18-year-old girl to travel out of state to get the abortion she cannot get in Idaho. You're a 14 year old who has been raped, or has been the victim of incest and you are pregnant. Republicans want you to carry that fetus to term, which completely changes your life. As a result of this legislation, and the other things being done in Idaho, OB/GYN doctors are leaving the state in droves, and hospitals are changing the obstetrical care they will offer. One hospital in Sandy Point, Idaho, the only hospital in that city, has decided to cease offering Obstetrical care. The net-net of this in the view of most physicians, my research shows, is that it is now dangerous and inadvisable for a woman to get pregnant in Idaho. If something goes wrong with your pregnancy, you may find that you cannot get the medical care you need, and you may die.
A sign taped to a hanger hangs near the Idaho Capitol in Boise after protests against the state’s new abortion laws, which effectively banned the procedure. Credit: Sarah A. Miller / Idaho Statesman / TNS
Amid a flood of residents fleeing states that ban abortions to seek legal procedures or medication elsewhere, Idaho has become the first state to try to stem that exodus — at least for minors.
Abortion is illegal at all stages of pregnancy in Idaho and a dozen other states. The law signed by Republican Gov. Brad Little Wednesday creates a new crime of “abortion trafficking,” threatening prosecution for any adult who helps transport a pregnant Idaho girl to get an abortion without her parents’ consent.
Abortion rights advocates and legal experts say they expect other states to follow Idaho’s approach — and eventually to extend interstate travel prohibitions to adults.
The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly include a right to interstate travel, but it is implied. Idaho’s new law attempts to skirt that issue by criminalizing only the in-state portion of a trip to […]
Here is the view of what is happening in Idaho, from a physician in Idaho. Would you like to be a pregnant woman in Idaho. I certainly wouldn't.
Bonner General Hospital in Sandy Point, Idaho, the only hospital in the city. They will no longer offer obstetrical care. Credit: The Spokesman-Review
By North Idaho standards, Sandpoint is a fairly big, bustling community. Since the 1950s, a lot of babies have been born in its hospital, Bonner General Health, but that long run is coming to an end. Changing demographics — and short-sighted politics — are forcing the hospital to close its obstetrical department.
The number of deliveries at Bonner General has been declining for years, but it’s the ham-handed meddling of politicians in Boise that finally pushed the hospital to cut the cord. Its obstetrical department will close in May.
In a news release earlier this month, hospital administrators pointedly referred to Idaho’s “legal and political climate” as one of the reasons behind the decision. Spoiler alert: Idaho’s new abortion laws are at the bottom of it all.
“Highly respected, talented physicians are leaving,” said the Bonner General news release. “Recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult. In addition, the Idaho Legislature continues to introduce and pass bills […]
As I see it there is something historic going on in American politics. It is clear by today's Texas court decision, and all the woman controlling anti-choice actions by Republicans that the Republicans think they are dominant. But when I look at what has gone on since the 2022 elections, and how things came out, and now the craziness we are seeing in the Red states, and how people are reacting to that, I think the MAGAts, are so entranced with their greed for power that they have made a historic miscalculation. The other two-thirds of Americans, I assess, are getting tired of the nastiness of MAGAt world, particularly young people, male and female, and suburban women. Then leading up to the election we are going to go through the whole vileness of Trump's legal theater. It is going to get nastier as the weeks go on, and other indictments develop. This, all in the context of the attempts to control women. I believe the result is going to be an enormous Democrat win in the 2024 elections.
An abortion rights rally outside the Idaho State Capitol in Boise, Idaho, in May 2022. Credit: Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Idaho could be at the center of a free speech battle over abortion care.
Driving the news: The American Civil Liberties Union announced Wednesday that it’s suing the Idaho Attorney General for “threatening health care providers who exercise their First Amendment right to give patients information about out-of-state abortion care.”
Idaho last week became the first state to pass a bill banning interstate travel for abortion for some of its residents in what it refers to as “abortion trafficking.” Gov. Brad Little (R) signed it into law on Wednesday.
The legislation makes it illegal for a minor to travel to a different state for an abortion if they do not have parental consent. Those found guilty of breaking this law could face up to five years in prison, according to the legislation.
Meanwhile, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) signed into law on […]
Jonathan Chait, Political Columnist - New York Magazine
Stephan:
Clarence Thomas’ corruption is, I think, unparalleled in American history. And that is without considering his wife, Ginni, who has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from far-right groups, and who actively worked to overthrow democracy. And now this. How it is possible that neither Congress nor the Court seems to have the integrity to establish any integrity standards for the U.S. Supreme Court justices? This is the only court in the United States, and the only supreme court in the developed world, having no integrity standards, and it gives us a measure of how corrupt the American government has become.
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas who never should have been made a justice and who may be the most corrupt justice in American history. Credit: Eric Lee | Bloomberg | Getty
One of the oddest features of the American constitutional order is that it cedes the greatest level of power to the branch of government with the weakest ethical constraints. The judicial branch can, by majority vote, override any law passed by the other two branches, even those requiring supermajority support. Yet the justices of the Supreme Court, whose authority is total, do not even need to follow the ethical rules imposed on lower-ranking judges. The assumption, if there is any, is that, having ascended to the highest point in the legal-political hierarchy, the forces of corruption and influence that tug at everybody else within the system cease to operate.
The most glaring example of the Supreme Court’s ethical vacuum is Clarence Thomas. The right-wing justice has operated, in conjunction with his wife, in the center of a network of conservative activists whose project is indistinguishable […]
Robert Reich, Carmel P. Friesen Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, . - Robert Reich substack
Stephan:
I think Robert Reich has it about right. I think the Republicans are making a major mistake, one that will be seen as a historic miscalculation.
In February, Ron DeSantis led Donald Trump 45 percent to 41 percent in the Yahoo/YouGov poll. But Trump’s indictment has reversed the race. Just after Trump said he would be arrested, he moved into the lead — 47 percent to 39 percent. Now, after his arraignment, Trump’s lead over DeSantis has widened — 57 percent to 31 percent.
What’s going on? Trump’s high-decibel howls of anger and grievance and his vitriolic charges of a “deep state” aligned against him are rallying Republicans to his side. He is blaming his indictment on a racist and antisemitic conspiracy theory. He has threatened the judge, the prosecutor, and their families with violence. And of course he continues to repeat his Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
But the commotion isn’t increasing Trump’s odds of being elected president in November 2024. To the contrary, it’s reducing those odds.
Remember, only about 28 percent of American voters identify as Republican. And as Republicans move back to Trump, another group of voters that will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 […]
