Reproductive Rights and Project 2025

A free public service for a better community

Aug 15, 2024

A Good Day To Advocate for Better Healthcare

If there are subjects you’d like to see or improvements made, please let me know using the comment button below. I need to calm down, again, and so we have a kitten doctor image again.

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Say AAH

A computer algorithm has achieved a 98% accuracy in predicting different diseases by analyzing the color of the human tongue.

The proposed imaging system developed by Iraqi and Australian researchers can diagnose diabetes, stroke, anemia, asthma, liver and gallbladder conditions, COVID-19, and a range of vascular and gastrointestinal issues.

Engineering researchers from Middle Technical University (MTU) and the University of South Australia (UniSA) achieved the breakthrough in a series of experiments where they used 5260 images to train machine learning algorithms to detect tongue color.

Two teaching hospitals in the Middle East supplied 60 tongue images from patients with various health conditions. The artificial intelligence (AI) model was able to match the tongue color with the disease in almost all cases.

A new paper published in Technologies outlines how the proposed system analyses tongue color to provide on-the-spot diagnosis, confirming that AI holds the key to many advances in medicine. (University of South Australia)

I know this is an unusual application of machine learning but, it holds great promise to help people in remote locations.

Bird Flu and Raw Milk

We’ve done this before. Bird Flu H5N1 passes to cows and thus to milk. Dairy workers have become infected. If you drink raw un-pasteruized milk you can become exposed to bird flu. No matter what any right wing “Can’t Tell Me What To Do” talking head says - stay away from raw milk.

Now it is reported that one-in-six dairy products in US retail stores contained signs of inactive bird flu virus this summer, regulators said, slightly lower than the numbers seen in a different survey when the pathogen was first found in the nation’s dairy herds. None of the 167 samples, which included milk, ice cream, hard cheese, butter, cream cheese and aged raw milk cheese, contained viable H5N1 bird flu virus, the US Food and Drug Administration said. The results show pasteurized dairy remains safe to consume. (Bloomberg)

NO RAW MILK

Abortion on the Ballot

Abortion will be on Missouri’s statewide ballot in November. An initiative petition to enshrine the right to abortion up until the point of fetal viability received final approval Tuesday, securing a place on the general election ballot. If the measure receives a majority of votes, Missouri could become the first state to overturn an abortion ban through a citizen-led measure.

Abortion is illegal in Missouri, with limited exceptions only in cases of medical emergencies. There are no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. If the amendment receives more than 50% of votes in approval, the measure would legalize abortion up until the point of fetal viability, an undefined period of time generally seen as the point in which the fetus could survive outside the womb on its own, generally around 24 weeks, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (Missouri Independent)

Which States have a ballot referendum related to abortion this fall?

Arizona
Colorado,
Florida
Maryland
Missouri,
Nevada,
New York (discrimination related)
South Dakota.

Still to be decided for the November election are Montana and Nebraska. (AP)

My bad - it was a trick question. Abortion is on every ballot in every state. Vote accordingly.

Project 2025 and Reproductive Rights

Project 2025 also calls for mass data collection on abortions using “every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence, and by what method.”

With contraception, the plan proposes requiring coverage of natural family planning methods and removing requirements that insurance cover certain emergency contraception. It also calls for reviving Trump-era rules giving employers “religious and moral exemptions” from covering the cost of birth control that was changed under President Joe Biden.

The plan also says that the Department of Health and Human Services should be able to defund Medicaid approval of Planned Parenthood despite the health center providing several services outside of abortion care.

The right to contraception in the United States was first recognized by the Supreme Court in 1965 in the case Griswold v. Connecticut. The 7-2 ruling overturned a Connecticut law that criminalized the use of contraception, finding that it violated the right to marital privacy. However, some states continued to prohibit contraception for single people after the ruling.

In 1972, the Supreme Court extended the right to privacy to single people in the case Eisenstadt v. Baird.

In his concurring Dobbs opinion striking down the right to abortion care in the US, Justice Clarence Thomas said that the Supreme Court “should reconsider” its past rulings codifying rights to contraception access, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.

Talk about going back to the good old days - make contraception illegal again.

ACTION

[To: your HOUSE Rep] [H/T Americans For Contraception and Chop Wood Carry Water] [Text text SIGN PZUMHX to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]

The majority of Americans believe that birth control should be legal and accessible. So I was shocked to learn that the House Appropriations Committee has approved a plan to eliminate funding for Title X, a program millions of Americans rely on for family planning services.

Without Title X, more than two million Americans, most of whom are below the poverty line, will be left without their primary source of birth control, and reproductive health care services such as cancer screenings and STI testing. This will lead to more unintended pregnancies and even deeper economic disparities in our country. I urgently ask you to vote against this bill and protect Title X.

I’ll be watching this vote closely. Access to contraception, and reproductive healthcare in general, is a top issue for me. Thanks.

Find My Elected Officials

Contact State and Federal Representatives - phone and email

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

Healthcare Advocacy (Us) Website

Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare - Healthcare Advocacy Reading List

Important Healthcare Resources

League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit

Organizations to Contact

National Nurses United Medicare4All

Physicians for a National Health Program

One Payer States

Healthcare Now

Reproductive Health

NARAL - Pro Choice America

Charley. chatbot abortion resource - make sure to use a secure incognito browser if you live in a state that has banned abortion

Planned Parenthood

Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline has references about where to procure abortion medications. They also assist women in the process of self managed abortion or miscarriage by phone or text and will respond in an hour. Details and hours of operation at their website.

United State of Women Reproductive health page (bottom of the page) has important resources such as medical support, access to Telehealth, prescriptions by mail, and legal support references.

Practice careful communications - The Digital Defense Fund has a number of tips to keep texts, calls, and internet use private. Here is their site.