It’s Friday. Let’s take a look at some closer-to-home political stories.
Arizona abortion rights supporters gather on July 3 in Phoenix to deliver petition signatures to get an abortion rights measure on the state’s general election ballot.
There’s a fight over whether an Arizona voters’ guide should say “unborn human being” or “fetus.” On Medicaid retention, Oregon tops the list (Texas is at the bottom). Fresno gets guaranteed basic income. Vermont farmers struggle with a second year of flooding.
Decision Points focuses on national and international news. But we also plan to deliver a weekly roundup of local or regional news with a political dimension – something unusual or interesting, or that may illustrate a broader national trend.
Our guiding principle will be that part of the definition of politics is how a society organizes itself to allocate finite or even scarce resources, manage internal disagreements, and blunt external threats.
Arizona Fights Over Abortion Wording
Republican lawmakers in Arizona approved a voter information pamphlet that uses the phrase “unborn human being” in the description of a ballot measure that would create greater access to abortion.
Now they’re in a pitched legal battle with supporters of the measure, who argue that’s loaded partisan language and want the term “fetus” used instead, the Arizona Mirror’s Gloria Rebecca Gomez reported this week.
- The measure, which backers hope to have on the ballot in November, would lift the state’s current ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. That ban has no exceptions for victims of rape or incest, Gomez reported.
- If the measure passes, it would give women in the state access to the procedure up to the point of fetal viability, generally considered to be 24 weeks of pregnancy.
- “The measure also includes exceptions beyond that point if a health care provider deems an abortion necessary to safeguard the life, physical or mental health of their patient,” the Mirror said.
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling that ended the half-century-old federal guarantee of access to abortion, the fight over the procedure has become a state-by-state battle that may be reshaping American politics. Democrats hope the issue will continue to be rocket fuel for their party and have worked to get abortion rights on the ballot across the country. Some Republican-governed states have moved to impose new restrictions on access to abortion.
Oregon Tops Medicaid Retention
Oregon retained a higher share of its residents on Medicaid than any other state throughout a national “unwinding” – the process of removing people no longer eligible for the program or for procedural reasons like not completing the paperwork needed to renew their status, Lynne Terry reported for the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
- A study by Georgetown University found about 4 out of 5 people in Oregon retained their Medicaid, Terry reported. The next highest retention rate was 71% in Arizona.
- At the bottom was Pennsylvania, with a 5% rate, and Texas, which retained barely 4%.
The national reassessment came with the end of a pandemic-era policy that offered states financial assistance in return for keeping people on Medicaid. Some states were more aggressive than others about disenrolling people, others to keep people covered.
Free Money in Fresno
Residents of Fresno County, California, are participating in a newly launched “guaranteed basic income” anti-poverty program, which will give monthly $500 payments to 150 families, Melissa Montalvo reported for The Fresno Bee.
This is a national political story in disguise. America is increasingly experimenting with GBI. A recent study found recipients were more likely to get health care and increased their spending on things like food, housing, and transportation, as well as financial support for others. They also worked an average of 1.3 hours per week less than others, though this could have been to seek job training or other educational opportunities, or to provide more child care.
Vermont Farmers Struggle With More Devastating Flooding
My home state’s farmers are grappling with a second straight year of extensive flooding, with rainfall from remnants of Hurricane Beryl potentially costing some of them hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Jack McGuire of Seven Days.
- “Farms often plant in floodplain fields where the soil is fertile, water for irrigation is plentiful and development is rarer,” McGuire noted.
- “If floodwater touches edible crops, they must be discarded because of potential contamination from sewage, heavy metals, or pathogens,” McGuire reported.
This is first and foremost a story of human struggle, but you can make out the economics and politics of it: How will the farmers adapt? Can state and federal governments help, and for how long?
If the status quo is unsustainable, what will replace it?
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