Arkansas Again

While Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders takes credit for the 4-3 ruling that kept an abortion rights ballot measure away from voters, things are not going well.

The Washington Post — showing that MSM is not only trolling us with pro-Trump fact checks — had a good (if depressing) report:

This state calls itself the ‘most pro-life.’ But moms there keep dying.

The problem of maternal health is so bad that Gov. Sanders knew she had to act:

This spring, facing pressure from business leaders and the medical community, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders launched an initiative to address maternal health, an issue that she acknowledged “we’ve ignored for far too long.” Yet she declined to support extending Medicaid postpartum coverage to a year from 60 days, saying the state’s existing insurance system was enough. Arkansas will soon be one of only two states not adopting such coverage.

Banning nearly all abortions doesn't quite do it. One glaring issue is teenagers:

Though teen birth rates are falling nationally, federal data shows the statistic for Arkansas is almost twice the U.S. average. Lack of access to contraception is a major factor; the rate at which teens in Arkansas have unprotected sex is 75 percent higher, according to a report from the nonprofit Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.

The Dobbs ruling that overturned national abortion rights arose out of Mississippi, which has such bad social welfare stats that it is something of a sick joke. The briefing underlined who would be particularly harmed by an abortion ban.

In theory, you can ban abortion and address other problems. In reality, states with strict abortion bans are not likely to be good places for women and families overall.

Abortion providers do not just provide abortions. The lack of abortion rights is not just about “federalism” (sorry James David Vance) or “pro-life” ends.

North Carolina, helped by a traitor former Democrat, tried somewhat:

The bill also contains a number of provisions cracking down on where and how women can get abortions, and how many steps they must take prior to making the decision — including multiple in-person meetings with a doctor. There's also more state funding for adoption services, maternal health programs and religious charities that run antiabortion clinics called crisis pregnancy centers.

The state has a Democratic governor and a shot in hell for a Harris win so it is not too surprising it did not go the totally extreme route. It drew the line at twelve weeks. You know, slavery-lite. 

State funding of religious charities and crisis pregnancy scams also is not too liberal. But, yes, they could be said “not to be Arkansas.”

At the end of the day, if you are pro-life (not “pro-life with baggage”), Rachel Held Evans (RIP) was right. You should vote blue.

Abortion bans will not do much to reduce abortion rates and the people behind them have too much negative baggage.