This is more of a placeholder than a thought-out note, but reading about
- (a) today’s Supreme Court oral arguments in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin (can New Jersey regulate deceptive advertising by anti-abortion clinics?) (Yes, I know there are broader civil liberties issues here raised by the breadth of the subpoenas (see Mother Jones article for a quick summary) but we know (a) the larger effect of the decision and (b) why the conservatives on the Court were interested in this case.)
- (b) the 2nd Circuit’s decision yesteray allowing “crisis pregnancy centers” to sell “abortion reversal” treatments (Nat’l Inst. of Family & Life Advocates et al v. Letitia James (2d Cir. Dec. 1, 2025), and
- (c) the various “we can sell conversion therapy” cases (too upsetting for me to dig up the links right now….),
in the continued backdrop of the efforts to (a) raise “commercial speech” to levels of protection accorded political speech, and (b) our country’s continued adherence to treating healthcare as a commodity ….
… I can’t help but see some weird SF futures. Like Edgar Pangborn’s Davy but without the post-apocalypse. Or with the wacky aburdities of Rudy Rucker’s futures written in the law.