The show-me state
By 
Is the Republican Party going to embrace social democracy as the Seamless Garment of Life Party? Why don’t we check in with the first state to announce if would enact a total abortion ban after Dobbs was fired into the country’s temple:
Women in Missouri die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth at higher rates than women in just six other states. And Black mothers in the state are four times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related issues, higher than the nationwide average.
Yet Missouri is not among the many states that are seeking to take advantage of an offer from the federal government to pay for extended health care for postpartum mothers. Currently, Missouri provides coverage to low-income mothers during pregnancy and up to 60 days after childbirth.
In an effort to improve maternal health and address racial disparities, the American Rescue Plan Act, which Congress approved last year, allows states to extend their postpartum Medicaid coverage up to a year after birth. The new option is available to states for five years, starting April 1 of this year.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 19 states so far are planning to take advantage of the 12-month extension; 12 states, including Kansas, have legislation pending to draw down the extra funds; and four states have adopted limited coverage extensions.
Remember when Missouri voters said via referendum that they wanted to accept the Medicaid expansion and the Republicans who run the state told them to eat shit? [Gibert Gottfried voice] The Party of Life! Besides, there’s too busy trying to get women with non-viable pregnancies killed to provide healthcare to the poor:
Women are going to hospitals with a life-threatening nonviable ectopic pregnancy but the doctors can’t do anything about it until her vitals start crashing, which the doctors hope is enough of a “medical emergency” to satisfy Missouri’s Republican AG. https://t.co/KYTvdZcG5O https://t.co/PCwqr6WAsb pic.twitter.com/uUJOYxG9SQ— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) June 29, 2022
Credit where credit is due, let us cite Ross Douthat:
At the same time the pro-life movement’s many critics regard it as not merely conservative but as an embodiment of reaction at its worst — punitive and cruel and patriarchal, piling burdens on poor women and doing nothing to relieve them, putting unborn life ahead of the lives and health of women while pretending to hold them equal.
Ross, you can wrap up the column right there because that’s a bull’s eye! 10/10 no notes.
…But Sam Alito assured me that his opinion would have no consequences beyond the narrow issue of abortion and not threaten any other reproductive or autonomy interests!
Rape victims who receive care at Saint Luke’s 16 health centers in Missouri will no longer have access to Plan B. The hospital system fears that emergency contraception will violate the state’s abortion ban, which is both draconian and ambiguous. https://t.co/eMeCkJWkol pic.twitter.com/B8zJcSNKZq— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 29, 2022
…Paul on the Douthat formula, which applies to all “but surely the Republican Party is going to become something radically different now because [sounds of a foghorn in the distance]” columns and stories:
(1) Describe the right wing position on an issue accurately.
(2) Note that all decent people find this description horrifying.
(3) Argue that if the right wing doesn’t want to be thought of as evil and cruel, it needs to do X, Y, and Z in regard to this issue.
(4) Fail to mention that the odds of this happening are zero.
(5) Cha-ching!