@angelobottone@qoto.org
I teach #philosophy and work as a researcher for the Iona Institute (www.ionainstitute.ie) Abruzzese. #Distributism
Joined Jul 2019
CW Long post (original content)
The US midterm elections took place on Tuesday. What has attracted little attention on this side of the Atlantic is the fact that voters in three US states backed extreme, pro-choice amendments to their constitutions. Pro-life proposals went before two other states, and they were rejected. Perhaps part of the reason is that the Democrats spent half a billion dollars on pro-abortion ads, a truly stunning amount.
The US Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade last summer in a ruling called Dobbs vs Jackson. The Roe vs Wade ruling in 1973 imposed a liberal abortion-law nationwide. The Dobbs decision handed the power to decide abortion laws back to the individual states, through legislation, court rulings, or ballots initiatives.
The Democrats are now pushing for laws which go even further than Roe vs Wade.
In California they put a constitutional amendment before voters that allows abortion up to birth, without exceptions, even for minors. Sixty-five percent voted in favour. The current law already allowed abortion for any reason before viability but now access to terminations is explicitly protected in the state constitution.
Seventy-seven percent of voters in Vermont approved a constitutional change that recognises a “right to personal reproductive autonomy”. Among other things, this will exclude parental involvement when minors seek an abortion.
While the results in ultra-liberal California and Vermont were not surprising, the vote in more middle-of-the-road Michigan was a particular disappointment for the pro-life side.
Fifty-seven percent of Michigan voters opted to recognise an unlimited right to abortion, including for minors. The amendment has wide consequences, such as repealing the state’s ban on tax-funded abortions and removing parental consent not only for abortion but also for contraception and sterilisation. This radical change goes beyond the Roe v Wade abortion rights regime.
Kentucky rejected by a small margin (52pc vs 48pc) a pro-life amendment that would have declared: “nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.”
The consequences of this vote are not as radical as the referendums in California or Michigan, because there is still no positive right to abortion in the Kentucky constitution and its regulation is a matter for the state General Assembly. The current law is quite restrictive as it allows abortion only when necessary to prevent possible death or risk or permanent injury to the mother. If passed, the amendment would have put an end to legal challenges to overturn the law in courts.
Montana rejected a law requiring health care providers to make reasonable efforts to save the life of a baby born alive after an abortion. A total of 52.6pc voted against the proposal. Unlike the other ballot initiatives, this law did not set limits to abortion and, in theory, could have been supported even by people with pro-choice views. Still, it was rejected.
AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm, has estimated that the Democrats have spent nearly half a billion dollars on ads mentioning abortion. Adimpact also found that abortion was mentioned in 654 ads of 3,295 total commercials run in races for governor, Senate and House. Inflation was mentioned in 575 of those total ads.
Not everything went badly on Tuesday from a pro-life point of view. In spite of the gigantic sums spent, abortion activists did poorly at state level.
In states that have enforced abortion limits since Roe vs Wade was overturned, no pro-choice governor or attorney general was elected.
Pro-life Governors were re-elected in four states with early gestational prohibitions (Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and Tennessee).
Governors that have signed moderately pro-life laws have been re-elected with significant margins also in Florida and Texas, where they were running against well-funded candidates.
In Nebraska, the pro-life side now has a strong majority in the state legislature, and they can easily pass legislation to protect unborn children.
In Ohio, pro-lifers have won three Supreme Court seats, giving them a majority in the court which bodes well for pro-life laws there.
Throwback on FAFCE conference on the protection of children from online pornography https://familysolidarity.org/972-2/
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Why leading doctors oppose assisted suicide
A Private Members’ Bill seeking to permit assisted suicide will be debated in the Dáil next week. It is proposed by Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny. The last time when this issue was discussed in Leinster House, three years ago, some of the strongest opposition came from the members of the medical profession and […] http://familysolidarity.org/why-leading-doctors-oppose-assisted-suicide/
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Getting the facts right about reversing effects of abortion pills
This week an article attacked Irish doctors who offer medical assistance to women who have taken abortion pills and then changed their minds before the effects were final. The article contains a number of claims that need to be challenged. A chemical abortion consists of two separate pills: the first, called mifepristone, blocks the effects […] https://ionainstitute.ie/getting-the-facts-right-about-reversing-effects-of-abortion-pills/
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Expect some of the following to happen in the coming weeks:
- celebrities with huge follower counts pushing tiny community-run servers to their knees
- instance admin burnout; shutting down of servers
- big new servers that don't "vibe" with common rules or culture being widely defederated
- some notable account violating an instance code of conduct and throwing a fit
- lots of people ragequitting Mastodon for one reason or another
- etc.
It'll be a rough ride. Patience and strength, all.
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The collapse of Twitter is a system breakdown. Mastodon and the fediverse represent something different: _system change_. From for-profit "Big Tech" to nonprofit, open source, community-owned public spaces.
System change is always harder than you think. It always incurs short-term costs, with hoped for long-term benefits.
The next few weeks will be really tough for the fediverse. Stick around, vibe with it, and you just might help us put a huge part of the web back in community hands. <3
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@freemo #introduction
Italian, I teach #philosophy in Dublin (Ireland) and do research for the Iona Institute, a Christian think-tank/advocacy group.
I am interested in #stamps,
#comics, #bioethics, #chesterton.
I waste too much of my time online.
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I don't think Mastodon or the fediverse has ever received this much attention before. It's a great opportunity for people to finally see that social media can be done differently, that it can be a protocol not under control of any single company.
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I'm now on Telegram
https://t.me/angelbotton
The appalling recommendations of the surrogacy committee https://ionainstitute.ie/the-appalling-recommendations-of-the-surrogacy-committee/
I'm now on Telegram
https://t.me/angelbotton
New genetic screening lets parents practice eugenics https://ionainstitute.ie/news-roundup/new-genetic-screening-lets-parents-practice-eugenics/
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When you're posting hashtags that contain multiple words, it's a good idea to capitalise the first letter of each word. This helps blind people who use screen reader software to know what the hashtag actually says.
For example #DogsOfMastodon is much easier for screen reader users than #dogsofmastodon, even though they're technically the same tag.
This kind of capitalisation is usually known as "CamelCase". CamelCase doesn't just help blind people, it also makes hashtags clearer for sighted people too!
Using CamelCase won't affect your post's visibility (because searches ignore capitalisation) but it will improve the post's accessibility, so you'll get more people reading it.
Thank you to @martyn for raising this topic 👍
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So, how to make friends with a squirrel?
Step 1: be good friends with local chipmunks!
How religious sisters are the real founders of modern nursing https://ionainstitute.ie/how-religious-sisters-are-the-real-founders-of-modern-medicine/#NursesDay #NursesDay2022 #InternationalNursesDay
Marriage in Ireland continues its decline https://ionainstitute.ie/marriage-in-ireland-continues-its-decline-2/
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On 9 May 1950 Robert Schuman set out his idea for a new form of political cooperation in Europe, which would make war between Europe’s nations unthinkable. This proposal is considered to be the beginning of what is now the #EU. 1/2
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How Should We Approach Triage in the Crisis?
By Catherine Kavanagh The current crisis of care in nursing homes is explained by some as simply an exercise in triage, necessary because there are not enough resources to go around, and it is alarming how many people simply shrug it off as inevitable. However, before capitulating completely to the law of the jungle, it […] https://ionainstitute.ie/how-should-we-approach-triage-in-the-crisis/
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#European #politics is moving to #Mastodon #Fediverse
• #EuropeanCommission
@EU_Commission
• #EuropeanUnion #Agency for #FundamentalRights
@FRA
• European #DataProtection Supervisor #EDPS
@EDPS
• European Union Agency for #SpaceProgramme #EUSPA
@EUSPA
• European Ombudsman
@ombudsman
• #OpenSource Programme Office
@EC_OSPO
In case I forgot any institution or politicians, please respond!
Breda O’Brien: Learning to listen to those with whom we disagree is vital https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/breda-o-brien-learning-to-listen-to-those-with-whom-we-disagree-is-vital-1.4865168
I teach #philosophy and work as a researcher for the Iona Institute (www.ionainstitute.ie) Abruzzese. #Distributism
Joined Jul 2019
