Wednesday, January 03, 2024

Save The Child! Um… Ah…

Not quite, Nebraska is one the state of the states that jumped on the ban abortion bandwagon when it passed its own abortion law.

NPR reported that,
The Nebraska Legislature on Friday approved a 12-week abortion ban and restrictions on gender-affirming care for people younger than 19 in a move so contentious that lawmakers on both sides have said they may be unable to work together in the future.

Conservative lawmakers called in a visibly ill colleague so they would have enough votes to end a filibuster and pass a bill with both measures. Republican Gov. Jim Pillen, who pushed for the bill, has promised to sign it into law.

The mood in the Nebraska Capitol has been volatile since lawmakers on Tuesday advanced by a single vote the hybrid measure that ties together restrictions that Republicans have pursued across the U.S. One lawmaker, Omaha state Sen. Megan Hunt, disclosed in March that her teenage son is transgender and said Friday that she now plans to leave the state.
But once the child is born they are thrown under the bus. They are on their own.
Nebraska’s Republican governor on Friday reiterated his rejection of $18 million in federal funding to help feed children who might otherwise go hungry while school is out.

Nebraska will not participate in the 2024 Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children — or Summer EBT — program, Gov. Jim Pillen said in a written statement. That statement came as advocates for children and low-income families held a news conference outside the Governor’s Mansion in Lincoln to call on Pillen to change his mind before the Jan. 1 deadline to sign up for the program.

The program — part of federal assistance made available during the COVID-19 pandemic — would provide pre-loaded EBT cards to families whose children are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches at school. Those families would receive $40 per eligible child per month over the summer. The cards can be used to buy groceries, similar to how SNAP benefits are used.

[…]

Neighboring Iowa is also opting out of the program, with Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds announcing that decision last week and saying, “An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.”
Do you know one of the reasons why child are obese? It from not eating nutritional foods, it is from eating processed foods. Eating fresh fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed meats promote healthy bodies.
Pillen insisted Friday that the state would continue to help food-insecure children through the Summer Food Service Program, which provides meals and snacks at various sites when school is not in session. Providing on-site services also allows providers to spot and report issues like malnutrition, neglect and abuse in children, he said.

But critics say not all families have access to the on-site programs — particularly in Nebraska’s vast rural stretches, where sites can be many miles away from a struggling family.

“No kid ever said, ‘I want to be born into a family that struggles,’” said Jenni Benson, president of the Nebraska State Education Association — the state’s largest teachers union. “Why would we even question that people and children deserve food?”
This shows you that the abortion bans are not about saving the children but it is more about power and control and satisfyingly their evangelical base.

1 comment:

  1. The Republican Party should call itself the Party of Birth since it abandons "Life" after the birth of children. Between the articles about Nebraska and Iowa, for me, those states will remain "Fly Over States!" I'd be nuts to drive through them.

    ReplyDelete