Morning Roundup: Jacksonville Mayoral Candidate Jokes About Bombing Abortion Clinics

South Dakota wants to require a crisis pregnancy center visit before an abortion, racist billboards appear in Manhattan, Oklahoma and Missouri advance bills banning abortion at 20 weeks, and a Jacksonville mayoral canditate jokes about bombing clinics, but said it was ok, the audience was Catholic.

South Dakota moves forward with a bill requiring a woman to visit a crisis pregnancy center before an abortion, racist billboards appear in Manhattan, Oklahoma and Missouri advance bills banning abortion at 20 weeks, and a Jacksonville mayoral canditate joked about bombing clinics, but said it was ok, because his audience was Catholic.

  • The South Dakota House has passed a bill requiring women to visit crisis pregnancy centers for “counseling” by an anti-choice activist before being able to terminate a pregnancy. Aside from mandating “harassment, propaganda and coercion,” the bill is also unconstitutional, and the state will need to spend mass amounts of money to defend it in court.
  • The racist anti-choice billboard campaign has reached Manhattan, and New Yorkers aren’t too happy about it. Picturing a little African-American girl, the ad reads, “The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.” One man was so disgusted he called the city’s 311 hotline to report it.
  • Oklahoma is moving forward on an abortion ban at 20 weeks (based on the false notion of “fetal pain”), as is Missouri, based on viability.
  • A Jacksonville, Florida, mayoral candidate joked about bombing abortion clinics, but said it was appropriate, because he did so in front of a Catholic audience, who was “110% pro-life.” (Does he also make racist jokes when no people of color are around?) While bragging about how anti-choice he is, he said,
  • the only thing he wouldn’t do was bomb an abortion clinic, then the law-and-order advocate added, with a laugh, “but it may cross my mind.”
    The Mandarin crowd applauded.

    Catholics, and anti-abortion activists in the area had differing reactions. Most said the “joke” was not funny, but one attendee said, “”There’s no reason to get so serious about the whole thing.”

Feb 22