If fetal pain is a thing then all deliveries should require general anesthesia

Dr. Jen Gunter

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Using the junk science of supposed fetal pain before 24 weeks many lawmakers have enacted laws designed to stop second trimester abortion. There are now 17 states with 20-22 week bans (many of the laws use incorrect terminology and count gestational age from fertilization, which is of course not how we do it in medicine). These states have either outlawed later term abortions outright or taken a more circuitous route by requiring “anesthesia,” as no physician really knows what that means it leaves women needing those procedures in a terrible limbo. While the procedure is not technically illegal no one knows how to comply with the law.

If fetal pain really exists in the way that anti-choice lawmakers think then why stop at abortion? Why not also protect wanted pregnancies from the painful horrors of birth? A fetus delivering vaginally has its head squeezed in a vice (the pelvic…

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Internet Troll Runs for President: The Sad, Strange Campaign of Austin Petersen

The Old Dominion Libertarian

One of the things Libertarians pride themselves on is that our nomination is a competitive and open process. Literally anybody can run for President, so long as they’re constitutionally eligible and a member of the party.

The downside of that is…. well: anybody can run for President.

anybody1 This means that alongside the serious contenders to be the nominee, as well as sincere message-candidates aiming to shape the debate, we usually have a parade of delusional vanity campaigns trying to weasel their way into 15 minutes in the spotlight.

Typically, these candidates are harmless eccentrics, easily ignored by most in the party. Some years, however, there’s a candidate who manages to stand out… and not in a good way….


For those lucky enough to not know, Austin Wade Petersen (“three E’s” – he is very particular about that) is a 35-year-old resident of Missouri and, as we’ve previously described him, a…

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