Democrats are defending Roe v. Wade as the foundation of women’s rights, but their bill to codify Roe into law lacks the word “woman,” and only mentions the word “women” in the title.
The move to codify Roe began as an attempt to fulfill a campaign promise by President Joe Biden, who said that he would urge Congress to pass a law to make abortion legal nationwide in the event that a conservative Supreme Court struck down the controversial 1973 precedent that granted a “right” to abortion.
That pledge has become more urgent since last week, when a majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito striking down Roe in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case was leaked to the media, triggering alarm among Democrats.
But the 2021 bill to codifyRoe, the Women’s Health Protection Act, did far more than that. It also included radical provisions on gender, including the proclamation that biological women who identify as transgender men can also become pregnant:
The terms “woman” and “women” are used in this bill to reflect the identity of the majority of people targeted and affected by restrictions on abortion services, and to address squarely the targeted restrictions on abortion, which are rooted in misogyny. However, access to abortion services is critical to the health of every person capable of becoming pregnant. This Act is intended to protect all people with the capacity for pregnancy—cisgender women, transgender men, non-binary individuals, those who identify with a different gender, and others—who are unjustly harmed by restrictions on abortion services.
In addition, the bill included other radical provisions on “reproductive justice,” calling it a fight against “white supremacy.”
Byron York of the Washington Examinernoted Monday that the 2022 version of the Women’s Health Protection Act had stripped out the radical “roots” of the legislation. However, the new legislation failed to include the word “woman” at all (original emphasis):
The 2021 bill is, in many ways, the bare, exposed id of today’s Democratic Party. It is filled with the kind of language that turns off voters in the vast middle of the electorate — Democrats, Republicans, and independents. And that is why, now that the Supreme Court leak has pushed abortion to the front of the political debate, and with midterm elections on the way, Democrats have removed all that language from the 2021 version of the bill.
That stuff about Reproductive Justice? It’s gone. About BIPOC? It’s gone, too. Nonbinary people? Gone. White supremacy? Nowhere to be found. Now that Democrats know the public will be watching, thanks to the Supreme Court leak, they don’t want people to see what they really think about abortion.
One notable aspect of the 2021 bill has made it into the 2022 bill. Even though it is known as the “Women’s Health Protection Act,” the title is the only place in the entire 2022 bill where the word “women” or “woman” appears. Instead, the 2022 bill is designed to cover any “person” who is pregnant. It describes its purpose as protecting “a person’s ability to determine whether to continue or end a pregnancy,” and it would strike down any effort to “interfere with a person’s ability to terminate a pregnancy [or] to diminish or in any way negatively affect a person’s constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has scheduled a vote on the bill for later this week.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
New White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced during a press briefing on Monday that she is a “black, gay, immigrant woman, the first of all three of those to hold this position.”
Karine-Pierre’s background was reported on extensively prior to her official succession to the position. Most Americans, and entire audience of reporters in the briefing room, were already aware of her racial and sexual status.
“I just want to say a few words about how honored I am to be here with you today, uh, in this role, in this room, standing behind this podium, ” Jean-Pierre said.
The new press secretary then revealed that she was “obviously acute aware” of her racial and sexual status “representing a few firsts.”
“I am a black, gay, immigrant woman, the first of all three of those to hold this position,” Jean-Pierre then announced to the already-informed audience.
New WH Press Sec. Karine Jean-Pierre: “I am a black, gay, immigrant woman, the first of all three of those to hold this position.” pic.twitter.com/WfLrRuo3sb
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 16, 2022
“Representation does matter. You hear us, you hear us say this, uh, often in this administration,” Jean-Pierre continued. “And no one understands this better than President Biden. Which is why his administration is not only the most diverse in history, it is filled with barrier-breaking women and men from the Vice President to his cabinet secretaries, to the Supreme Court nominee, to senior staff throughout this administration.”
Fox News host Tucker Carlson stated last week that Jean-Pierre is “perfect for the job” because “She’s in the right group” and to the Biden administration,”the group is all that matters.”
“Karine Jean-Pierre is our first out LGBTQ+ White House Press Secretary and that’s all you need to know,” Carlson said. “It’s a good thing, shut up and celebrate.”
“That’s why she got the job,” Carlson continued. “She’s in the right group and so the Biden administration, which thinks exclusively in terms of groups and never in terms of individuals because individuals are messy and inconvenient, the group is all that matters.”
“This is exactly how they pick Supreme Court justices or vice presidents or members of the Federal Reserve Board,” the popular cable news host noted. “And now, the all-important press secretary gig has gone to someone on the basis of group. It’s really simple, show us your picture and we’ll tell you if you’re qualified for the job. And in many ways, Karine Jean-Pierre is perfect for the job.”
Around two thirds of all Americans want abortion policy to decided by the voters and their representatives, a new poll has revealed.
The poll of 1,200 registered voters conducted by Rasmussen and RMG Research released was released last week, and asked whether policies on abortion should be decided by judges and courts, or voters and their elected representatives. 65% of the respondents declared that it should be decided democratically and implemented via legislation.
Only 18% of respondents, just under a fifth of Americans, believed that it should be left to judges and courts to decide. The poll was conducted between May 5 and 7, only a few days after the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, when protests outside the homes of high court judges captured national headlines.
With an overturning of the Roe decision sending abortion policy back to the states, the poll would suggest that a clear majority of voters would back the Supreme Court in doing so.
75% of respondents said that they were closely following the news on the case, a net 52% increase since January.
“The consensus for overturning Roe, and returning this issue to the democratic process, is overwhelming,” former White House advisor Stephen Miller told the Daily Caller.
“By a nearly 4:1 margin Americans think voters and not judges should establish abortion rules in the United States.”
Despite the fact that former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and liberal media outlets have claimed that 60% of Americans are in favour of leaving Roe as is, the new poll of voters suggests very different results.
In fact, 63% of voters in the poll said that they would be against any proposal that would legalise abortion up to both, with 45% of those strongly opposing such a policy, compared to only 14% who would be strongly in favour.
55% of Americans said that they would be less likely to vote for a candidate that supported abortion being legal at any point during the pregnancy, with 33% saying otherwise.
“Broadly speaking, most voters support restrictions on abortion after the first trimester,” said Rachel Bovard, the senior director of policy at the Conservative Partnership Institute.
“Democrats are at sea on this issue and are left grasping at straws with outright fear mongering about what will happen if Roe is overturned, and forcing radical abortion policy on voters.”
Pennsylvania Democrat Lt. Governor John Fetterman, who is now the favorite to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in that state, has been hospitalized following a stroke on Friday that stemmed from a blood clot in his heart.
Due to his hospitalization, he is unable to be delivering remarks on Tuesday night after the election in Pennsylvania. His wife Gisele will be speaking in his place instead. Fetterman is the Democratic front runner for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, and faces possible Republican challengers including Trump-endorsed Mehmet Oz and Kathy Barnette, who is surging in the days before the election.
“On Friday, I wasn’t feeling well, so I went to the hospital to get checked out. I didn’t want to go – I didn’t think I had to – but Gisele insisted, and as usual, she was right,” Fetterman wrote in a statement posted to Twitter on Sunday.
“I hadn’t been feeling well, but was so focused on the campaign that I ignored the signs and just kept going. On Friday it finally caught up with me. I had a stroke that was caused by a clot from my heart being in an A-fib rhythm for too long,” he said.
“Fortunately, Gisele spotted the symptoms and got me to the hospital within minutes. The Amazing doctors here were able to quickly and completely remove the clot, reversing my stroke, they got my heart under control as well. It’s a good reminder to listen to your body and be aware of the signs,” Fetterman said.
Fetterman has since said that he is “feeling much better” and is “on the way to a full recovery.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat is “fully vaccinated + boosted” for COVID-19, as is his “entire family” because he believes the vaccinations are “safe, and still the key to getting us out of this new phase of the pandemic.”
My entire family is vaccinated + boosted.
Vaccines + effective treatments are safe, and still the key to getting us out of this new phase of the pandemic.
Pundits claim Fetterman’s health will likely not impact his electoral chances, and note that Fetterman will have ample time to recover between now and the November midterm election.