Even in San Diego, Abortion Is on the Ballot
There are 16 of these "Pregnancy Crisis Centers" operating in San Diego County
County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer is asking her colleagues on the Board to pass a resolution today aimed at initiating legal action against so-called Pregnancy Crisis Centers in the County, along with establishing a public awareness program.
Chances are good this resolution, arising out of information gathered in the aftermath of Roe v Wade being overturned, won’t get the three votes needed for passage. The Board is currently split ideologically, and given common right wing stances on access to abortion, two of the Supervisors will vote “no.”
Voters in District 4 will be deciding today on a replacement for Nathan Fletcher, who resigned under a cloud of sexual misconduct allegations last spring.
Republican-endorsed candidate Amy Reichert has both-sided the issue of abortion, but opposed a September 2021 resolution declaring the County a “champion of reproductive freedom.” Fellow travelers alongside her campaign champion anti-abortion strategies.
Democratic candidate Monica Montgomery-Steppe clearly states in campaign materials support for upholding reproductive rights and privacy protections for residents, along with those seeking reproductive care in San Diego.
So it’s clear which candidate will support this bid to put Pregnancy Crisis Centers under the microscope.
There are 16 of these Pregnancy Crisis Centers operating in San Diego County, claiming they offer reproductive health care. Individuals contacting these centers, drawn in by misleading “free consultations,” are presented with anti-abortion information and are (often deceptively) urged to stop from terminating their pregnancies. Anti-abortion clinics outnumber medical facilities offering abortion by a 3 to 1 margin nationally.
State Attorney General Bonta filed lawsuits against two clinics in Northern California earlier this fall, for promoting “an unproven and largely experimental procedure” called “abortion pill reversal.”
Via CalMatters:
According to a scientific review, between 8% and 46% of medication abortions are unsuccessful if the pregnant person does not take the second pill, which causes the uterus to contract and expel its contents, similar to a miscarriage. The first randomized control study of abortion pill reversal in the U.S. was stopped in 2020 after several participants were hospitalized for uncontrolled bleeding, according to study authors.
Abortion rights advocates are adamant: Pregnancy centers have no place in California. They are a “physical manifestation of the anti-abortion movement,” Schiavo said.
Although the legislature has considered bills to regulate and/or clamp down on Crisis Pregnancy Centers, none of them have ended up on the governor’s desk. That’s because California was on the losing end of a 2018 Supreme Court decision striking down a requirement that patients be informed of alternatives including clinics offering access to abortion and posting signage stating they are not a medically licensed facility.
Here’s a snip describing what was to be considered by the Supes:
This Board Letter requests the Board of Supervisors take action to amplify important programs launched by the state of California in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and direct the County Chief Administrative Officer to develop a public education campaign plan to make communities aware of deceptive “Crisis Pregnancy Centers,” and share information about vital reproductive health services from reputable and qualified providers such as Planned Parenthood by making the information available to the public through SB 245 and Medi-Cal.
California and the County have been at the forefront of ensuring continued access to abortion and contraception, as well as the protection of reproductive healthcare rights. However, more must be done. This action will be another step in ensuring that there continues to be broad public access to vital services, and that an individual’s right to choose is not jeopardized.
Union-Tribune coverage of this proposal included this quote from Planned Parenthood:
Dr. Antoinette Marengo, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, said Friday that it is hard to know exactly how many people crisis centers see, though they often set up shop very near clinics where abortions are offered.
Taking action as Lawson-Remer proposes, she said, is supported by many physicians.
“I don’t want to speak for the legal department, but as chief medical officer, I will say that they do not provide qualified medical care and that they make false claims,” Marengo said. “I think, from a medical standpoint, they should be shut down, they should not be able to advertise as providing medical care.”
Nationally, anti-abortion groups are seeking to make access impossible, whether by laws criminalizing such healthcare or limitations on the stage of pregnancy, often before most women are aware they are carrying a child.
In states like California, where the political climate makes such actions impossible, the idea is to flood the market with choices that function as propaganda operations, targeting women of color and/or the poor.
Opposing abortion is NOT about the sanctity of life. If it were, the same politicians writing onerous laws would support life affirming measures, like access to pediatric care, school lunches, and pathways to individual prosperity.
The act of opposing abortion is a carefully cultivated tactic designed to utilize induced outrage to recruit foot soldiers for anti-democratic movements. It grew out of segregation academies seeking a defense for their tax exempt status and the belief that women were property.
It’s my hope the Board of Supervisors will revisit this resolution with a Democratic majority in charge. The forces of modern day feudalism are unrelenting in their undermining of our rights based on democracy; people with good intentions need to push back on every level.
Jessica Valenti has the big picture complete with small details about abortion’s impact on today’s elections.
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Tuesday’s Newsy Add-Ons
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Defense attorney asks judge to remove San Diego District Attorney from antifa conspiracy case Via KPBS (It’s about time!)
In a sprawling 243-page motion filed Tuesday, defense attorney Curtis Briggs says DA Summer Stephan has for years ignored violence from members of the American Guard and other far-right extremists in San Diego County.
"The San Diego District Attorney's office has had a pattern over the last five to six years of ignoring violent acts by white extremists, hate groups (and) white nationalists," Briggs said. "So they've been able to run around basically with a get-out-of-jail-free card — beat up people, cause fights, provoke fights … at protests."
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Honk-Honk Dog Whistles, Heil Hitler, Dark-Skinned Hordes, John McCain a Traitor, and more Hateful Madness… (Nazi frogs with clown noses, racism and replacement paranoia, plus a San Diego-based megachurch preacher whose social media feed claims John McCain trained the North Vietnamese.) By local writer Brad Willis at Perspectives
Enter now “Clown World,” from the rabid social media platform GETTR. Riffing off the Pepe theme, Clown World streams endless vitriol, xenophobia, misogyny, and disinformation.
It’s a favorite of Jurgen Matthesius, founder of Awaken Church of San Diego. On his GETTR feed, where he calls himself “Jurgmeister,” his stream of hate, condemnation, and conspiracy theories regularly includes memes reposted from Clown World.
Note Jurgmeister’s fourth Clown World repost above, with a photo of Michele Obama and Oprah Winfrey, stating “Big Mike and the Black Antichrist!!!” That’s a reference to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ claims that Michele Obama is transgender, and megachurch preacher Mike Bickle’s assertions that Oprah is a forerunner to the antichrist.
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The AMA May Reconsider Single-Payer Health Care Via KFF Health News
The last time the AMA’s House of Delegates, its policymaking body, debated single-payer health care was in 2019. That effort was spearheaded by the more left-leaning medical student section. The students’ resolution would not have specifically endorsed a single-payer program, such as Medicare-for-all. Instead, they just aimed for the AMA to be neutral on single-payer, dropping its longtime official opposition.
The students’ resolution failed, but much more narrowly than anticipated: 53 percent to 47 percent.
This time, it’s not the student section of the organization pushing for a single-payer resolution to be offered at the House of Delegates meeting later this month, at National Harbor outside Washington. It’s the delegation of practicing doctors from New England.