No one talking about the fact that Alabama have outlawed abortion?

[Bedsidedrawer]

25 white, republican men deciding authority on women's bodies...

If no one thinks not ALL men are like that then what’s the problem? You’ve literally just said It. I appreciate it might get annoying and seem like derailing so why not say it in the first place and say some men, or a significant proportion of men, or a lot of men do x y z. I come back to my racism point or islamaphobia point. Anyone who said Muslims do this or Blacks do that would be castigated and destroyed by the media. Even the far right are clever enough to say ‘not all’ when in the public eye

@MrsSpenserGregson I think it's more that the US is going backwards whereas the situation in NI has been the way it is for a long time. Clearly we should be pushing for change there.

Name any crime that is done 98% by one racial group.

@Ginger1982 true but Poland took away women's right to abortion a couple of years ago, which is exactly what is happening in the US now, and nobody made a fuss about it at all

@MrsSpenserGregson it probably says a lot that I didn't even know that! Shocking!

John Oliver has done a piece on it and well worth a watch.

Terry P I think it’s a disgrace this decision was made and comes across as more of a disgrace that all of the legislators are old white men. All 25 of them like you say and we are in agreement. These 25 old white men were voted for however so it’s not like they rocked up and said this is what is happening.

It would be better if it was 25 women but the result would be the same in that part of the world. Alabama and Georgia is made up of a majority of people harbouring deeply Christian views, and a large proportion of such of the evangelical variety. It there was a referendum they’d have come with the same thing. If it was all female they would have came up with the same thing, it was left to the good old boys they did come up with the same thing.

This is why some people have a problem with democracy because it doesn’t always come up with what you and I consider to be nice things. It’s why the Roe Wade case was important as it was at a federal level. But horrifying it is to Brits they do have different systems and people value states powers are untrustworthy when it comes to federal laws.

It’s why died in the wool acts like Human Rights Acts are important as it makes it very difficult to reverse or dilute on the whims was whoever managed to win the election in the last 4-5 years

Anybody thinking about Northern Ireland? Right on the doorsteps

There are downsides to absolute tablets of stones also though. Hence why it’s pretty impossible to introduce gun control due to the constitution and 2nd amendment rights to bear arms

If it was all female they would have came up with the same thing

The women in the Alabama senate voted against the bill. And one put forward an amendment that gave medical support to women forced to give birth if this bill went through. It was not successful. Because this isn't about healthcare or life, it's about controlling women.

Poland took away women's right to abortion a couple of years ago, which is exactly what is happening in the US now, and nobody made a fuss about it all

That's not true. There was a strike and I know a number of feminists who publicized it. And as for the situation in NI, there are ongoing measures to challenge the situation and I think they stand a very good chance of success, and all the momentum is towards reforming the situation to better care for women.

The Polish situation is more like the US one because it's a real roll back of rights, but it's possibly more extreme in the US because Poland is still more of a conservative country to begin with, not to mention smaller. The US laws are gob smacking because they are pretty much designed to stoke up division and unrest and a Supreme Court challenge to Roe. In fact I've been outright told that by Pro-life friends who have been trying to 'reassure' me that the laws 'aren't that bad'.

Rightly or wrongly, I think it's the sudden onslaught of successful legislation in what we tend to assume is a modern, liberal western democracy that has really shocked so many people.

Poland took away women's right to abortion a couple of years ago, which is exactly what is happening in the US now, and nobody made a fuss about it all

People did make a fuss.

With reference to other current threads Poland is of course in the EU and a fat lot of good it does for Polish women.

The USA has a population ten times Poland's.

The other issue is that Poland keeps their misogyny mostly within their borders, whereas the USA likes to spread their misogyny worldwide. The Mexico City gag order means that millions of women worldwide will be left with no safe legal abortions. Also the organizations that are defunded provide contraception and women's healthcare so more actual abortions happen, just unsafe and illegal ones. It's almost like it's NOT ABOUT BABIES.

Plenty of people on my timelines talking about NI, for those who mention it above, including a bunch of women in Glasgow who have set up a support area for women who travel to the U.K. mainland for procedures. Offering accommodation, support, whatever else is needed. NI has always been spoken about in Scotland because of the number of women who come here just for abortions.

Theresa May giving the DUP a squillion pounds (for no apparent real benefit in the end) didn't sit well to begin with and really isn't sitting well right now either. Her imminent departure won't relieve the Conservative party of their reliance on DUP either. Maybe something for voters to consider. Anyway.

If no one thinks not ALL men are like that then what’s the problem? You’ve literally just said It. I appreciate it might get annoying and seem like derailing so why not say it in the first place and say some men, or a significant proportion of men, or a lot of men do x y z

Becaus it goes without fucking saying. People should not have to add 'I know not every man on the planet is like this' to the end of every post about men. Its just...one of those obvious things that most rational people would already know, yet over and over again, on near any thread (usually ones about rape and DV) we have someone (usually male) popping up to let us know that all men are not rapists. Like..never?!

Also me saying that its usually men who NAMALT is not me saying men shouldn't post. Incase its taken that way..

Forgive me if I hear echoes of the complaints about the Gillette ad in your paragraph here. If you're not a sexist man then the women talking about sexist men are not referring to you so you have no reason to feel defensive.

Also this.

And saying 'some men' would still attarct NAMALTers as it would be claimed that the wrong wording was used an it should be 'a minority of men' or something, Regardless of how much effort you put into saying you know its not ALL men, you are still pulled up on it as you are 'attcking other men by assuming that a fair amount of men are dicks' and such. Its just stupid, and exhausting really going over it daily.

I mean, I posted on another forum about the Ulster rape case, and specifically said that some men are gross, and even quslified again at the end of my post 'I know NAMALT' and still some guy popped up to tell me that I was wrong and clearly a man hater and think all men are rapists..

The US public opinion on abortion seems to be largely in favour of pro choice. Currently, 58% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 37% say it should be illegal in all or most cases:
www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/

So the politicians aren't really going with public opinion here.
Interestingly, it seems women (60%) and men (57%) are pretty similarly in favour, while white people (61%) are slightly more in favour than black (60%) or hispanic (49%).

Doesn't change what's actually happened in the voting though.