Iowa and Abortion, Siwatu-Salama Ra, Paul Ryan: 3 News Stories You Should Read Today – 5/5/2018
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Nearly all abortions banned in Iowa as Gov. Kim Reynolds signs ‘fetal heartbeat’ law
The law, which goes into effect on July 1 if not stopped by courts, will require physicians to conduct an abdominal ultrasound to test for a fetal heartbeat on any woman seeking an abortion. If a heartbeat is detected, a physician cannot perform an abortion. Experts said a fetal heartbeat can be detected about six weeks into a pregnancy and often before a woman realizes she’s pregnant.
Iowa law has barred most abortions after 20 weeks under legislation enacted last year. Those provisions were already among the strictest abortion bans in the country.
A pregnant black woman is in prison for defending herself. Mainstream gun groups are silent.
Last summer, a black woman in Michigan defended herself, her mother, and her 2-year-old daughter with a registered (and unloaded) gun against a woman who she and her attorneys say tried to hit them with a car. She was a concealed carry permit holder and living in an open carry state — one with a “stand your ground” law in place.
Now, Siwatu-Salama Ra is serving a two-year prison sentence at Huron Valley Correctional Facility for felonious assault and felony firearm convictions. She’s seven months pregnant, and according to her attorneys, she’s receiving insufficient medical care — including being shackled to her bed during a vaginal exam — even though her pregnancy is high-risk. The case is under appeal, but the judge deciding Ra’s fate, Thomas Hathaway, has already denied a request to postpone Ra’s sentence until she gives birth.
Paul Ryan warns that if Dems win, they’ll hold Trump accountable
The New York Times had an interesting report about a week ago, pointing to Republican concerns that Donald Trump is insufficiently concerned about the 2018 midterm elections.
The article noted, among other things, that GOP leaders have tried to impress upon the president “just how bruising this November could be for Republicans – and how high the stakes are for Mr. Trump personally, given that a Democratic-controlled Congress could pursue aggressive investigations and even impeachment.”
It’s a fair point to emphasize, but there’s something cynical at the root of the observation: Republican lawmakers have effectively told the Republican president that they’ve looked the other way on Trump’s scandals and misdeeds, ignoring their oversight responsibilities and undermining the entire idea of checks and balances, but Democrats won’t.
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