On July 1, I wrote a post called “Putting my money where my mouth is.” In that post, I wrote about my decision to donate money to pro-choice causes, namely NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood. It was something I had never done before, but I felt compelled to make donations to those causes, because I am so absolutely appalled by how women’s rights are being rolled back 50 years.

Last night, I read an article about Beto O’Rourke’s run for governor in Texas. I am a Texas voter, and I absolutely despise what Greg Abbott has done since he became governor. Much of the anti-choice bullshit that has come up recently had origins in Texas. So I commented that I can’t wait to vote straight blue in Texas. Many people liked the comment, but I got a few rude comments from MAGA assholes. To the last one who commented, I wrote, “Thanks for reminding me to donate to Beto’s campaign.” Then I went to Beto’s page, and donated $250. He might lose the election, but I have to do what I can to see that he has a chance against Greg Abbott. It’s the least I can do for younger women. I also noticed that after I made that comment, no one else took me on. The MAGA jerks don’t like it when you match their snarky comments with money for the opposition.

Maybe it’s just my stubborn, oppositional personality, but the more people on the right “laugh” at and ridicule my outrage, the more left I find myself leaning. I’m really not that liberal leaning, if you want to know the truth. There’s a lot about the liberal side that I don’t like. But at this point, the Democrats are the only party that can win against the Republican Party, and I will not vote for people who want to pass laws that marginalize everyone except white Christian males. Some things are more important than money, which is really the only reason I can see to vote for Republicans. The right to privacy and access to comprehensive healthcare is of paramount importance to all people. So I have to do what I can to preserve that. I hope that by writing this piece, I’ll inspire others to do what they can, too.

Yesterday, a woman named “Becky” decided to come at me with anti-abortion rhetoric. I looked at Becky’s page. She’s clearly beyond her childbearing years, and based on her comments to me, she’s not a very happy or pleasant person. One of her responses to me was, “If you don’t want to be pregnant, use birth control.”

My retort to Becky was, “Should the ten year old rape victim have been on birth control?” She never responded to that. Do people like Becky really think it’s right to compel children to give birth? Can they not see why sometimes abortion is the right choice? Why do they think that poor child should have to justify having an abortion?

I just read an op-ed in the Washington Post by Jennifer Rubin about how Jewish women are making the argument that there should be a religious exemption to abortion bans. After all, Christians have pushed for allowing medical professionals to opt out of providing certain medical procedures and not prescribing certain medications due to their religious beliefs. Jewish people, in general, don’t have an objection to abortion, as they don’t believe that life begins at conception. So why shouldn’t they be allowed to get abortions based on their religious beliefs? A lawsuit has been filed in Florida. I thought the op-ed was excellent. Unfortunately, I ran out of articles to gift this month, so I can’t unlock it for readers. But the Washington Post is fairly inexpensive for a newspaper. Maybe it’s worth a subscription. I did pause when I read this article in the comment section in the paper.

Never a conscience exemption. Not ever!

Any woman looking for an abortion would claim it. 

Nor one for mental health of the mother. Physical after a three member physician panel with no prior knowledge of her makes a decision.

Does this person not realize that sometimes women find themselves in life threatening medical situations that wouldn’t allow time for three doctors to come together for a “conference”? And how does it impact this person that “any woman looking for an abortion would claim it”? Why does it even matter to them? How would that affect an uninvolved person in the slightest? I am so tired of the cruelty and hypocrisy… this person must hate women! They obviously don’t trust them to take care of their own health or make their own decisions! It’s so scary to me that in 2022, there are people out there who think women shouldn’t have their own autonomy.

I am so tired of writing about this… but every day, something else outrages me anew. And this is how I process it. However, I also know that abortion is really a distraction from an even bigger, scarier picture. Yesterday, I watched a video by George Conway about Donald Trump’s sinister plans, should he be re-elected. Folks… it would be a true disaster. He wants to be a dictator. He would like to completely gut the government and put in sycophants who are loyal to him. It would destroy the country.

I am glad I sought out the above clip, if only because I found this joke there…

An assistant to Donald Trump told him she had a fantastic dream last night. There was a huge parade down Pennsylvania Avenue celebrating him. Millions lined the parade route, cheering when the President went past. Bands were playing; children were throwing confetti into the air, there were balloons everywhere. It was the biggest celebration Washington had ever seen. Trump was very impressed and said, “That’s really great! By the way, how did I look in your dream? Was my hair okay?”

His assistant said, “I couldn’t tell, the coffin was closed.

One can only dream… I hope people wake up soon. And I hope that anyone else who is as disgusted and horrified as I am about the state of things right now will put their money where their mouths are, too. I don’t know about other people, but in my case, it was something I felt compelled to do. Otherwise, I feel completely helpless, watching democracy being whittled away by a malignant narcissist.

In other news… I feel markedly better today, although I did have a coughing fit that made me lose breakfast. But overall, I have more energy, am coughing less, and have less gunk. So I think I might be improving. However, I have learned about dashed hopes, so I’ll just be cautiously optimistic that I’m getting well.