Poland’s Far Right Are Attacking Everyone They Hate | Decade of Hate

Apr 30, 2021 | In Poland, these are just some of the reasons the far right might attack you: for carrying an LGBTQ flag, for peacefully protesting outside a church, for marching in a Pride parade, for being pro-choice. Why are adult angry white men attacking women and people holding rainbows? In short, the government is encouraging it.

In this episode of Decade of Hate, host Tim Hume looks at how Poland’s populist government and powerful Catholic Church are stripping women and the LGBTQ community of their rights, and how the far right is using the opportunity to physically attack people who don’t fit their narrow world view. As Poland lets hate groups do its dirty work, we hear from activists who are determined to keep up the fight for their rights.

US Supreme Court Justice Mocks Prince Harry and Boris Johnson’s Criticism of Roe v Wade Ruling

THE GUARDIAN: Samuel Alito, who authored the argument overturning the landmark case, dismisses complaints by foreign leaders at conference in Rome

US supreme court justice Samuel Alito on a banner attacking his position on Roe v Wade. He has mocked critics of his stance on abortion. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP
US supreme court justice Samuel Alito has mocked prominent figures around the world who have criticised last month’s ruling that overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 abortion rights decision.

In his first public remarks since the decision, which has led to various conservative US states imposing abortion bans, Alito dismissed criticism of the ruling, which has come from the likes of British prime minister Boris Johnson, French president Emmanuel Macron and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Alito, a conservative justice, also took aim at Prince Harry who referenced the abortion ruling in a speech at the United Nation’s last week. » | Reuters | Friday, July 29, 2022

The End of Roe Is Coming, and It Is Coming Soon

Damon Winter/The New York Times
OPINION : GUEST ESSAY
THE NEW YORK TIMES: As someone who has spent my career studying the history of abortion, I thought I knew what to expect tuning into Wednesday’s oral arguments in the Supreme Court abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It was clear that big changes were coming to U.S. abortion law, no matter what. The Mississippi law at issue bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, even though Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey recognize a right to choose abortion significantly later in pregnancy. So if the court sides with Mississippi in this case — as it is widely expected to do — then American abortion rights will be fundamentally undermined.

The only real question is how the justices will rationalize their decision to side with Mississippi. And on that front, I fear I was wrong.

There are two likely scenarios for how this decision could go: The justices could throw out the so-called viability standard, which is the underpinning of abortion law today. (Viability is the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb, or about 23 weeks of pregnancy.) Or they could do something much more radical and say — precedent be damned — there is no right to abortion in America at all.

After hearing arguments, I now believe that the justices will fully overturn Roe v. Wade when their decision comes down next year. » | Mary Ziegler * | Wednesday, December 1, 2021

* Ms. Ziegler is the author of “Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present.”

Abortion rights advocates vow to fight on after supreme court hearing: Leaders say they will look to statehouses and lower courts if justices allow undermining of Roe v Wade »

Conservative US supreme court justices signal support for restricting abortion in pivotal case: Case poses a direct threat to the legal underpinnings of the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion »

Five takeaways from US supreme court’s Mississippi abortion rights case hearing: The Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Oganization case could weaken the provisions of the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling »

Abortion at the Court: The Supreme Court seems likely to undermine or overturn Roe v. Wade. »

Don Winslow Films - #TexasWarOnWomen

Who in his right mind would ever vote Republican? There was a time when I held the Republican Party in high regard. No longer! The Party is not fit for purpose. They are destroying the once wonderful USA. The USA used to be a beacon of progressive thought and forward-thinking. That, alas, was long ago.

To think that my own country has cut the umbilical cord with the European Union only to get tied to the apron strings of the USA sends shivers down my spine!

Sooner or later, this country will have to re-join its European brothers and sisters. It is imperative that we do so. We also need to start thinking of a federal Europe, of which the UK could take a leading rôle.

Recent events in Afghanistan should have shown us all that we can no longer depend on America for our security. We need to go it alone. And for that, we Europeans need to work closely together and form our own military: a European army, a European air force, and a European navy.

This crooked Brexit referendum should also have shown us all that it was neither fair nor sensible. IT MUST BE REVERSED. Sooner rather than later.

If we do not re-join Europe, the once 'United' Kingdom, a nation of which I was once so proud, will break up: the regions will go their separate ways. Scotland is sure to be the first country to break away from the disUnited Kingdom. The Scots are proud Europeans; and so they should be. – © Mark

To read my comment on the Texas insanity, click here.

Don Winslow Films - #TexasLearnedFromTrump

Most Extreme Abortion Law in US Takes Effect in Texas

THE GUARDIAN: US supreme court fails to act to block near-total ban that allows private citizens to sue abortion providers

The most radical abortion law in the US has gone into effect, despite legal efforts to block it.

A near-total abortion ban in Texas empowers any private citizen to sue an abortion provider who violates the law, opening the floodgates to harassing and frivolous lawsuits from anti-abortion vigilantes that could eventually shutter most clinics in the state.

“Abortion access will be thrown into absolute chaos,” says Amanda Williams, executive director of the abortion support group the Lilith Fund, a plaintiff in the suit that challenged the law. “Unfortunately, many people who need access the most will slip through the cracks, as we have seen over the years with the relentless attacks here in our state.

“It is unbelievable that Texas politicians have gotten away with this devastating and cruel law that will harm so many.” » | Mary Tuma | Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Abtreibungen selbst nach Vergewaltigung illegal: In Texas dürfen Frauen von der sechsten Woche an nicht mehr abtreiben. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt wissen viele aber noch nichts von ihrer Schwangerschaft. Überhaupt ist das neue Gesetz umstritten – von Denunziantentum ist die Rede. »

Is Capital Punishment for Abortion & Miscarriage Coming to America?

Republicans are trying to criminalize abortion. Even planning to make abortion a capital offense, worthy of the death penalty. And with Donald Trump's Supreme Court there is no guarantee that these laws will be overturned. Will Republicans be able to get away with making women the property of the state?

US Conservative Pundit Ben Shapiro Ends Interview with BBC's Andrew Neil

US conservative pundit Ben Shapiro has said he was 'destroyed' by Andrew Neil in a feisty debate in which he accused the veteran broadcaster of being a 'lefty' before abruptly ending the interview on BBC's Politics Live. Neil, chairman of the group which owns rightwing magazine the Spectator, subjected Shapiro to a robust interrogation about his previous controversial remarks, and highlighted Shapiro's support for new hardline abortion laws in the state of Georgia.


THE GUARDIAN: Ben Shapiro apologises to Andrew Neil after being 'destroyed' in BBC interview » | Mattha Busby | Saturday, May 11, 2019

Jacob Rees-Mogg Admits That He Opposes Abortion and Same-Sex Marriage | Good Morning Britain

The man who is tipped by many to become the next Conservative leader talks openly about his thoughts on same-sex marriage and abortion.

Tribute to a Fighter: France Remembers Simone Veil; Grubby Deal? Theresa May's Tenous Grip on Power

David Horowitz on Communism, Marxism, and the Black Panther Party; Why I Am No Longer a Leftist; On Abortion, Islam, and Donald Trump (Parts 1, 2 & 3)

David Horowitz (author) joins Dave Rubin to discuss the Communist Party, Black Panthers, similarities with the hate for Reagan and the hate for Trump and more.

Steven Crowder and Dave Rubin Discuss Abortion and Climate Change

Pope Francis Denounces Abortion as ‘Horrific’

THE INDEPENDENT: The Pope described abortion as part of modern ‘throwaway culture’ which has grown to encompass human beings themselves

Pope Francis has denounced abortion as “horrific”, describing it as part of a “throwaway culture” that has grown to encompass human beings themselves.

Speaking in his annual “State of the World” address, the Pope finally bowed to conservative Catholic demands that he break his silence on what they call “the evil of abortion”.

While he has never looked likely to change the Church’s position on the practice, Pope Francis has been much less willing to publicly rail against abortion in the same manner as his predecessors Pope Benedict XVI and the late John Paul II.

And in a landmark interview with the Italian Jesuit magazine Civilta Cattolica, he said it was time for the Church to be rid of its “obsession” with teachings on abortion, contraception and homosexuality.

But addressing diplomats in the Vatican yesterday, the Pope spoke about the rights of children around the world.

“It is horrific even to think that there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day,” he said.

Abortion, he said, was part of a “throwaway culture” that had enveloped many parts of the world.

“Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as unnecessary,” he said. » | Adam Withnall | Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The Abortion of Unwanted Girls Taking Place in the UK
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Illegal abortion on the grounds of gender may be taking place in Britain within immigrant communities, ministers have admitted for the first time after an official analysis of birth statistics.

The Government was on Thursday night urged to open an inquiry after officials found signs that birth rates for girls and boys vary noticeably according to where their mothers were born.

A health minister said that these differences in rates of male and female births among mothers of certain nationalities may “fall outside the range considered possible without intervention”.

It forms the first official statistical evidence potentially backing up concerns that sex-selection abortions are being carried out in Britain.

Andrew Lansley, the former health secretary, last year criticised the “illegal and morally wrong” practice following a Daily Telegraph investigation into the issue.

After this newspaper received information that the procedures were becoming increasingly common for cultural and social reasons, undercover reporters filmed doctors offering women terminations based on gender. » | Rowena Mason, Political Correspondent | Thursday, January 10, 2013

I wonder which community this might be. And I wonder, too, why we should not be surprised. – © Mark

US Election: America Goes Liberal with Gay Marriage, Abortion and Cannabis Votes

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: US states backed legalising marijuana for recreational use, allowing gay marriage and rejected a call to ban public funding for abortions, in a swathe of state-wide ballots Tuesday.

The generally liberal moves were decided among more than 170 ballot initiatives and referendums held across the country, as it re-elected Democratic President Barack Obama for four more years.

Mr Obama came out in favor of gay marriage months before the election which pitted him against Republican rival Mitt Romney, who insists that marriage should be reserved for a relationship between a man and a woman.

During his first four-year term Mr Obama had also fulfilled a pledge to repeal the controversial Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) law banning openly gay servicemen and women from serving in the US military.


Three states voted Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage, including Maine - which voted in a referendum against it in 2009, but reversed that decision with 54 percent in favor to 46 percent against.

Washington state and Maryland also appeared set to approve the move, which had already been passed by state lawmakers. Both states voted 52-48 percent in favor, according to CNN projections based on partial results. » Source: AFP | Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Brad Pitt's Mother Attacks Barack Obama On Gay Marriage

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: As the rock-star president who publicly backed gay marriage, Barack Obama has long enjoyed the support of Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt – but not, it seems, the actor's rather more traditionalist mother.

While her son is a champion of gay rights, Jane Pitt has thrown her support behind the Republican candidate Mitt Romney, attacking Mr Obama for his liberal views on abortion, same-sex marriage and his links to the firebrand pastor Jeremiah Wright.

Calling on Christian voters to accept Mr Romney – who is a Mormon – Mrs Pitt said she would be happy to [vote] for a "family man with high morals" who shares "Christian conviction" on homosexuality over the likes of Mr Obama.

"Any Christian who does not vote or writes in a name is casting a vote for Romney's opponent, Barack Hussein Obama – a man who sat in Jeremiah Wright's church for years, did not hold a public ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer, and is a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage," she wrote in Missouri's Springfield News-Leader. » | Peter Foster, Washington | Friday, July 06, 2012

Anti-abortion Fanatics Are Threatening Free Speech, Warns Academic
THE GUARDIAN: Death threats to philosophers writing on 'after-birth abortion' curb academic discussion, says Journal of Medical Ethics editor

Two academics who wrote a paper suggesting that it should logically be permissible to kill babies at birth who would have fitted the criteria for abortion during pregnancy have been subjected to death threats, according to the journal editor.

Julian Savulescu, editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics, published by the British Medical Journal group, said the online intimidation of two philosophers endangered free speech.

The pair – Alberto Giubilini from the University of Milan and Monash University in Melbourne and Francesca Minerva from the University of Melbourne and Oxford University, argued in the journal that, as "potential persons", newborn babies, like foetuses, do not have the same moral status as "actual persons".

What they preferred to call "after-birth abortion" rather than infanticide should be allowed not only for babies with abnormalities, such as Down's syndrome, which had not been detected during the pregnancy, but also newborns whose parents would have been granted an abortion because they felt they could not psychologically or materially cope with a child.

The newborn baby is a non-person, argue the ethicists, because they have no sense of their own existence. At a few days old, they say, newborns are "potential persons" but not actual persons, in the same way that a foetus is a potential person. So the interests of their parents over-ride theirs. » | Sarah Boseley, Health editor | Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Sex-selection Abortions Are 'Widespread’
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A former medical director of the country’s largest abortion provider said it was “well known” that women were terminating pregnancies because of the gender of the child and that he had been asked by women to arrange the procedure for this reason.

Dr Vincent Argent, who previously worked for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and is now a GP and consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, said he had “no doubt” that women were terminating pregnancies because of the sex of the baby and that he believed the practice was “fairly widespread”. This week The Daily Telegraph disclosed that women were being offered illegal abortions by doctors on the basis of the gender of the foetus.

Dr Argent said there were “an awful lot of covert abortions for sex selection going on” where women would have a scan or blood test to find out the sex, then ask for a termination without telling the doctor the real reason.

However, he said there were also “ones where the patient actually says that it is the reason she wants the termination of the pregnancy”. He confirmed that he had been asked to arrange abortions for this reason but had told the patients it was unethical and he could not help them. There is nothing to suggest that the terminations Dr Argent described were arranged at BPAS clinics.

Dr Argent also disclosed that he believed that some colleagues had arranged terminations relating to the sex of the foetus and they felt it was reasonable to do so. » | Claire Newell, and Holly Watt | Friday, February 24, 2012

Abortion Investigation: Doctors Filmed Agreeing Illegal Abortions 'No Questions Asked'
Women are being granted illegal abortions by doctors based on the sex of their unborn baby, an undercover investigation by The Daily Telegraph reveals.

Read the article here | Claire Newell, and Holly Watt | Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Rate of Abortion Is Highest in Countries Where Practice Is Banned
THE INDEPENDENT: In Africa and Latin America researchers found that 95 to 97 per cent of abortions were unsafe

Abortion rates are higher in countries where the procedure is illegal and nearly half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe, with the vast majority in developing countries, a new study concludes.

Experts could not say whether more liberal laws led to fewer procedures, but said good access to birth control in those countries resulted in fewer unwanted pregnancies.

The global abortion rate remained virtually unchanged from 2003 to 2008, at about 28 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, a total of about 43.8 million abortions, according to the study. The rate had previously been dropping since 1995. » | Maria Cheng | Friday, January 20, 2012