Margaret Atwood says the Supreme Court is making The Handmaid's Tale a reality in the U.S

[jerwin]

The idea for the Turnaway Study emerged from a 2007 Supreme Court abortion case, Gonzales v. Carhart . In the majority opinion upholding a ban on a specific procedure used rarely in later abortions, Justice Anthony Kennedy speculated that abortions led to poor mental health. “While we find no reliable data to measure the phenomenon, it seems unexceptionable to conclude some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained,” he wrote. “Severe depression and loss of esteem can follow.”

Is answering Anthony Kennedy’s idle speculations a waste of ones time? He once demanded a metric to quantify gerrymandering, but the “efficiency gap” went nowhere.

[awfulhorrid]

@VeronicaConnor

Meanwhile Republicans can barely get elected

Republicans have, if anything, gotten even better at marching in lockstep while Democrats are a lot more varied in opinions over things including many for which I really wish they’d all pull the same direction. This trait of Democrats can be positive or negative depending on the issue! In any case, it does make it harder to gather the numbers necessary when the other party can so often just issue orders to its members.

[awfulhorrid]

@danimagoo

Democrats have never been as good at falling in line behind the Party leadership as Republicans have been. And that’s both a strength and a weakness.