Israeli Supreme Court Rules Ultra-Orthodox Jews Must Face Military Draft—Here’s How It Endangers Netanyahu’s Government
The Israeli Supreme Court Tuesday ordered the country’s government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students into the country’s military, dealing a major political blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whose coalition government relies on support from ultra-orthodox parties.
[…]
The ruling is a major blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, as they have pushed for the exemptions to remain in effect. If the draft progresses, Netanyahu risks alienating two key allied Haredi parties—Shas and United Torah Judaism—and causing his government to collapse. While Netanyahu is keen on maintaining the status quo, his defense minister Gallant has called for an end to the special exemptions, saying: “The army is in need of manpower now. It’s not a matter of politics, it’s a matter of mathematics.” Gallant’s views align with a large majority of his country, as a poll published in March showed 70% of Israeli Jews supported scrapping the exemptions.
The New York Times:
Abortion Debate Shifts as Election Nears: ‘Now It’s About Pregnancy’
Two years after Roe was struck down, the conversation has focused on the complications that can come with pregnancy and fertility, helping to drive more support for abortion rights.
The public conversation about abortion has grown into one about the complexities of pregnancy and reproduction, as the consequences of bans have played out in the news. The question is no longer just whether you can get an abortion, but also, Can you get one if pregnancy complications put you in septic shock? Can you find an obstetrician when so many are leaving states with bans? If you miscarry, will the hospital send you home to bleed? Can you and your partner do in vitro fertilization?
POLITICO:
Playbook: The $100 million blitz to bring back Roe
But there are rising voices on both the left and the right challenging those consensus views, Alice Miranda Ollstein writes this morning.
Alice scoops that a new coalition of abortion-rights groups, including Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and Reproductive Freedom for All, have created Abortion Access Now, which pledges “to spend $100 million to restore federal protections for the procedure and make it more accessible than ever before.”
But the group is facing resistance from abortion rights activists who say that just restoring Roe, which legalized abortion through viability, isn’t enough. PAMELA MERRITT of Medical Students for Choice called Roe “a very flawed framework” and accused the new coalition of “leading with compromise.” HAYDEE MORALES of the National Institute for Reproductive Health said the Roe standard is being prioritized “on the backs of Black, Indigenous, other people of color, and all marginalized communities.’”
As for the Republican Party, the right is growing agitated with its leaders’ lack of interest in any federal legislation. Many anti-abortion groups, Alice writes, “as well as close Trump allies who drafted a ‘Project 2025’ policy manifesto to guide Trump if he wins, are still pushing for federal restrictions, with the ultimate goal of a national abortion ban.”
The New York Times:
Democrats Lean on Abortion Rights Message for Anniversary of End of Roe
Across the country this week, Democrats are focusing on abortion issues and emphasizing Donald Trump’s role in nominating the justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
As they seek to reinvigorate their voters, Democrats are embracing variations of arguments that have fueled other victories in the past two years: that the Republican Party is ever more extreme and infringing, to an extraordinary degree, on some of the most personal health care decisions Americans can make.
“Donald Trump hand-picked three members of the United States Supreme Court because he intended for them to overturn Roe v. Wade — and as he intended, they did,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at a campaign event on Monday in College Park, Md. “In the case of the stealing of reproductive freedom from the women of America, Donald Trump is guilty.”
She was also expected to speak in Phoenix to “remind voters that Donald Trump is responsible for overturning Roe and the chaos that has followed,” and to “highlight the threat a second Trump presidency would pose to reproductive freedom nationwide,” according to the Biden campaign.
The New York Times is addicted to presenting Biden’s case from weakness. But, in fact, reproductive rights are a political BFD. And they work in Biden’s favor because he’s where the public is.
Jonathan V. Last/The Bulwark:
What Is the Pro-Life Movement’s Reaction to the Rise in Infant Mortality in Texas?
It sure *looks* like it’s more about control than “life.”
So tell me: How upset do you think the “pro-life” Republicans will be at the jump in infant-mortality rates in Texas?
In the wake of Texas’ abortion ban, the state’s infant death rate increased and more died of birth defects, a study published Monday shows.
The analysis out of Johns Hopkins University is the latest research to find higher infant mortality rates in states with abortion restrictions.
The researchers looked at how many infants died before their first birthday after Texas adopted its abortion ban in September 2021. They compared infant deaths in Texas to those in 28 states — some also with restrictions. The researchers calculated that there were 216 more deaths in Texas than expected between March and December the next year.
In Texas, the 2022 mortality rate for infants went up 8% to 5.75 per 1,000 births, compared to a 2% increase in the rest of the U.S., according to the study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
Among causes of deaths, birth defects showed a 23% increase, compared to a decrease of about 3% in the rest of the U.S. The Texas law blocks abortions after the detection of cardiac activity, usually five or six weeks into pregnancy, well before tests are done to detect fetal abnormalities.
Oops.
Cliff Schecter on character (it’s Trump’s minions that do policy):