Archive for Supreme Court

and it only gets worse [the return]

Posted in Kids, pictures, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 1, 2025 by xi'an

“The EU has been very tough over the years and was formed to really do damage to the United States in trade through a little bit of a monopoly situation to create a unified force against the United States.” DJ Trump

“We need to get better at treating [deportation] like a business, like (Amazon) Prime, but with human beings.” ICE Director Todd Lyons

“The EU make [sic] it so difficult, the standards and the tests as they drop a bowling ball on the top of your car from 20 feet up in the air and if there’s a little dent, they say no, I’m sorry, your car doesn’t qualify.”DJ Trump

“We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture” JD Vance

“I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up kissing my ass.” DJ Trump

“The implications of the [Trump] government’s position [are] that not only noncitizens but also United States citizens could be taken off the streets, forced onto planes and confined to foreign prisons with no opportunity for redress if judicial review is denied unlawfully before removal. History is no stranger to such lawless regimes, but this nation’s system of laws is designed to prevent, not enable, their rise.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor

“I think [the Russian missile bombing of Sumy] was terrible and I was told [the Russian attackers] made a mistake, but I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing. This war would never have started if I were president. That war is a shame.” DJ Trump

abortion bans increased fertility rates and infant deaths (through a Bayesian analysis)

Posted in Books, Kids, Statistics with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 26, 2025 by xi'an

“fertility rates in states with abortion bans were higher than would have been expected in the absence of these policies, with the largest estimated differences among subpopulations experiencing the greatest structural disadvantages and in states with among the worst maternal and child health and well-being outcomes” Bell, Frank & al., JAMA, 13 Feb 2025

“The groups that are most likely to have children as a result of abortion bans are also individuals who are most likely, for a number of different reasons, to have higher rates of infant mortality,” THYT, 13 Feb 2025

“Infant mortality in Texas was 9.4 percent higher after abortion bans were implemented than would have been expected” THYT, 13 Feb 2025

“Evidence suggests that increases in the fertility rate due to abortion bans were especially large among people who experienced structural disadvantage, including racially minoritized individuals, those without a college degree, and individuals using public health insurance3—all groups with higher infant mortality rates.” Gemmil, Frank & al., JAMA, 13 Feb 2025

plan C

Posted in Kids, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , on December 6, 2023 by xi'an

Waco, indeed… [my body, your choice]

Posted in Books, Kids, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , on December 25, 2022 by xi'an

Just read a terrible story in The New York Time Magazine about a pregnant Texan teenager with absentee parents being denied abortion (in the Roe vs. Wade past era) by a Waco judge on the basis that “she was not mature enough to make that decision”… Leading to the irrational conclusion that she was deemed to be mature enough to raise children since she was to continue her pregnancy till delivery. Unsurprisingly, the story does not end up well.

“The question of “maturity” is open to wildly different interpretations, particularly when assessed by a judge who answers to voters (…)The maturity test was not about a teenager’s ability to weigh the benefits and risks of her medical choice.”

 

more threats on reproductive rights

Posted in Books, Kids, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 12, 2022 by xi'an

Despite the slightly positive attitude of the US electorate during the midterms towards abortion and reproductive rights, especially concerning ballots specifically targeting those rights, these elections did not see a shift in the States already suppressing these rights since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Incl. ten States where abortion is completely prohibited. And, unsatisfied with the outcome, US Catholic bishops have reinforced their anti-abortion activism with the election of Archbishop Broglio, under the newspeak slogan of fighting “an uncompromising secularism” [sic] even though the Supreme Court is so much bent in implementing a Catholic agenda. Most revealingly, they “worried that many Catholics actually support abortion rights under certain circumstances“. (Next they will think for themselves!)

Meanwhile, the far-right  National Front proposed to enshrine the right to abortion into the French constitution, incl. the current limitation to 14 weeks into pregnancy. This sounds most paradoxical from a party that has long been opposed to abortion rights. A first reason is to block in the near future any extension of the limitation. A second one is to protect and enlarge the conscience clause that protects practicians who refuse to perform abortions, clause that can be used to prohibit in practice abortions in an entire city or district if all local doctors claim this exemption (as exemplified by Italy)… The attempt was however short-cut at the eleventh hour by the [almost] entire Parliament moving towards this inclusion of the right to abortion without the snares planned by the far-right party. (But it is no over yet!)