All the stats (worldwide) show banning abortion actually increases the number. All the ban does is make them less safe. One of the cases I try to make is that it’s actually about controlling women. or at least more about that. Because the leaders of the forced birth movement must know the stats. The only stat you ever hear them using is raw numbers in isolation, which tell you very little.

The best I can say about abortion is that it is between a woman and her doctor. No one else. Can’t believe what is going on right next door over in Missouri. Those people are mostly nuts and mostly med-evil. One clinic left in the whole state and they are trying like hell to close it. The religious in America are beyond help.

I’m in complete shock about Grania. Jerry and I were talking about how long she’d been ill on Skype the night before he left for Hawaii, and I promised to add my advice to go to the doctor to his (which I did). I was very concerned about her, but of course you don’t really think someone as young as her will die. My assumption was always that the doc would sort her out. That fact there’s no justice in the world is obvious when we lose someone like her and Trump continues to get rid of the remains of McDonalds in a gold-plated bathroom.

I promise I’m working on a post. Things keep getting in the way. I’m averaging a couple of hours every second day, which isn’t much, but at the limit of my capacity. One of the problems is it’s up to almost 5,000 words long, and there’s not much time left once I’ve read it from the beginning again, correcting it as I go. Also, as it’s about abortion it’s important to me to counter all the arguments of the forced-birth movement before they make them, and also that my data are completely accurate.

Personally, I think that Dominionism and Islamist extremism are the same thing in different religions. Both believe the same things in many areas. Death penalty for homosexuality being an obvious one. The only reason Dominionism isn’t as bad is they’re mostly stopped by the consequences of breaking the law in the US.

The number of Dominionists in, or close to, the US government is something the whole world should be worried about. I remember that people were concerned about the number back in Bush 43’s term, but there are a whole lot more now, and they’re closer to the throne. I get the impression from the way he talks that Mike Pompeo is a Dominionist. Even if he’s not, he believes in all that End Times rubbish. It is very scary having someone with those beliefs as Secretary of State.

It did take longer than I thought. In my imagination I thought the right chair would mean I was fine again straight away. The reality was somewhat different! Still, I wouldn’t be where I am today without the enormous kindness of my benefactor, and for that I’ll always be grateful and thankful. What my life would be like otherwise doesn’t bear thinking about.

It’s really pretty weird that abortion isn’t legal here. In many ways we’re one of the most progressive countries on the planet. E.g. prostitution has been legal here since 2003, and same-sex civil unions were made legal the same year. (It took another decade for same-sex marriage though – 2013.) We’re a popular holiday destination for the gay community as they can be open about their relationships here by such things as openly holding hands and other PDAs with almost no one blinking an eyelid. We had the first trans MP. She served three terms starting in the 1990s. Previously she was mayor of a provincial town. In her teens and early 20s she was a male sex worker. Needless to say, she was a major force behind the legalization of prostitution. (Actually, I do think I know the reason abortion never got made legal, but if I write about that here there’d be no point in finishing my post!)