Kacsmaryk’s decision resurrects the Comstock Act of 1873, named for a horrible misogynist.
“[Comstock] was given that [post office] title so that he could have the power to inspect the mail and over time it was expanded to be able to come into people’s houses and seize items,” she says. “It was a very broad, broad definition of what someone affiliated with the post office could do with regards to individual civil liberties.”
Someone is busy trying to figure out a way to apply it to the Internet.
What a strange thing for “libertarians” to be doing!
The Kochs were never merely greedy.
It is old, to be perfectly honest, predating several palace coups
And that article is short a few reveals of the extent of the Koch empire.
archive link to breach paywall
The FDA has followed a consensus interpretation of the Comstock Act that has not faced serious challenge since the 1920s, which allows the mailing of abortion drugs when the seller does not intend them to be used unlawfully. Kacsmaryk dismissed this argument, concluding instead that the “plain text of the Comstock Act” controlled the result of the case—and mifepristone, he reasoned, was clearly an abortion drug that could not be mailed.
No abortion method exists in the United States that does not use something “designed, adapted, or intended for abortion” and sent through the mail or via another carrier. Abortion clinics do not make their own drugs or devices; they order these items from pharmaceutical-distribution companies and medical-equipment suppliers. Taken to its logical conclusion, Kacsmaryk’s ruling means that all abortions already violate criminal law.
Except when it’s not.
The extra cruelty is just topping on the cruel cake.
Then they take the babies.
Iowa Attorney General is “auditing” rape victim compensation fund’s paying for emergency contraception and abortion for rape victims, i.e. all payments are halting “pending review”.
That is some serious bullshit. Barring a truly astronomical bilirubin level, a value notably absent from this report, feeding and a bit of sunbathing is all that is called for. We do this at my office all the time. It does require a few extra visits, but very rarely requires hospitalization. With transcutaneous bili tech, it doesn’t even require blood draws. What happened here is insane.
According to this article, the bilirubin level was 21.7:
I’m not qualified to say if this required medical intervention.
Yeah, needs monitoring and close follow-up. Kid is not in danger as long as it is coming down. (Very important qualifier.) Hospitalization would be a judgement call, but not a CPS referral. At least unless they refused to follow up.
I am feeling a bit weird, as I kinda missed the part about billirubin being 21.7. My medically trained friends said that’s "go to hospital ASAP’ level (anything over 20).
Hospitals turning people away mid-miscarriage sadly isn’t a new phenomenon as Catholic hospitals have been doing that for decades, but this kind of horror has become more common since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which led to abortion being banned or mostly banned in 14 states. Florida will soon make that number 15.
Given that the capacity for cruelty has been trained up for decades, this explains much about republicans.
Unfortunately, “fear of 20” is deeply ingrained into medical minds. There is no grounding for it. The vulnerability of the baby brain is dependent on gestational age, weight, postpartum age and status. There is a nomogram that we use as a guideline, but that’s all it is. A full sized, full term baby a few days old and eating well is at very low risk at 21 so long as it is coming down. We would follow this, daily until it is clearly coming down, less frequently after until it is under 12. If parents were OK with this plan, that would be fine. No guarantee of staying out of the hospital, but not mandatory. If it went up, they go. But at that moment, it’s dealer’s choice, and we would defer to the parents so long as it was safe.
