Posts Tagged ‘ abortion ’

News from Around the Web

January 24, 2013
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News from Around the Web

There’s lots of women-related news to report. And just when I was excited that two important pieces of legislation were reintroduced, wait until you read about the legislation introduced in New Mexico… On Tuesday, Senators Patrick Leahy and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) reintroduced the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The 112th Congress failed to renew the act which helped victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking access needed services, and it improved the criminal justice system’s ability to investigate and prosecute violent crimes against women. The latest version of the bill removes a proposal to increase visas for immigrant victims of violence, a sticking point for several Republicans in the past. Yesterday, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and Senator Barbara Mikulski  reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act, legislation which will help close the gender-based wage gap. Women make, on average, just .77 cents for every dollar a man makes for equal work. The Paycheck Fairness Act prohibits employer retaliation for sharing salary information with coworkers and increases the compensation women can seek for pay discrimination, allowing them to  pursue back pay and punitive damages. Also yesterday, the Pentagon indicated it would lift its ban on women in combat. According to the Defense [...]

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Today is Blog for Choice Day

January 22, 2013
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Today is Blog for Choice Day

Today, January 22, 2013, is the fortieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, when the Supreme Court ruled that abortion should be legal. Once again on this date, we’re participating in NARAL’s Blog for Choice Day. And this year bloggers are sharing our personal stories about why we’re pro-choice. This year I’m thinking about choice in terms of work. Today women make up approximately half of the workforce. Among married couples where both partners work, wives earn an average of 38 percent of family income, and nearly 40 percent of the women are out-earning their husbands. Some economists predict that in just a few years, more families will be supported by women than by men. Women must have the ability to plan their families if they are going to be able to plan their careers. And if women are contributing such a significant portion of the necessary income to support families, than doesn’t pro-choice mean pro-family? In researching my forthcoming book, I’ve been talking to women all over the country about how they manage careers, family, and marriage. They’re stories are incredible – from getting up at 5 a.m. to make school lunches, in order to get to work by 8, so [...]

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Ignorant Legislator of the Week: Richard Mourdock

October 24, 2012
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Ignorant Legislator of the Week: Richard Mourdock

When we started the Ignorant Legislator of the Week award we didn’t expect it to be a frequent feature. However, another legislator, who will never be pregnant, has weighed in on pregnancy, abortion and rape. In a debate last night, Indiana State Treasurer and Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Richard Mourdock was asked about his views regarding abortion and rape. According to the Associated Press he said, “I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God. And, I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.” According to his campaign website,  Mourdock “is unapologetically pro-life and will work to stop federal funding for abortion.”  It will be interesting to see if he apologizes for his comments when his campaign donations slow down.   Related articles Richard Mourdock under fire for rape remarks GOP Senate Candidate Richard Mourdock Thinks Rape is, ‘Something God Intended’ Ind. GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock: Pregnancy from rape can be ‘something that God intended to happen’ – @washingtonpost

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The GOPs Mixed Message for Mom

September 2, 2012
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The GOPs Mixed Message for Mom

The Republican National Convention concluded earlier this week after Mitt Romney accepted his party’s nomination and not before Republicans made a desperate attempt to court women voters. The convention featured an impressive lineup of female speakers including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and of course, Ann Romney who talked about mothers saying, “You are the best of America. You are the hope of America. Tonight we salute you and sing your praises.” Romney himself mentioned the word “mom” at least ten times in his acceptance speech. But speeches and theatrics can’t overcome GOP policies that are decidedly not female-friendly. Remarkably, we find ourselves agreeing with something New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said in an interview with CBS. Christie told Charlie Rose, “I think it’s condescending to women to say we have to have a different message for women than we have for men.”  We do too. It’s not about saying “mom” a lot. It’s about the policies. Take Ann Romney’s message, which was was more patronizing than condescending. She told us “women sigh more than men,” and “mothers work a little harder.” She told us her husband makes her [...]

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Todd Akin Revisited

August 21, 2012
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Todd Akin Revisited

  Congressman Todd Akin continues to dominate the news cycle following his comments on a St. Louis television program about rape and abortion. When asked about abortion exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape Akin said, “It seems to me first of all from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Here’s a quick roundup of reactions. Over at Salon Joan Walsh wrote Akin a thank you note for exposing his party’s misogyny. Wrote Walsh, “Of course, the far right will keep trying to get its laws into our lady parts. The battle is far from over. But it’s clear Akin crossed a line, and once again reminded women how far right Republicans hone. ” Walsh also appeared on MSNBC’s “NOW along with actress Gabrielle Union. They discussed the importance of women advocating for women’s rights, and the need for access to affordable women’s health care. Union, a rape survivor, said Akin’s comments told rape survivors, “Your experience is not valid.” Walsh added that Republicans, “Play on people’s fear about the independence of women.” You can watch the clip here. President Obama held a press conference yesterday [...]

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News From Around the Web

March 16, 2012
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News From Around the Web

As we head into the weekend, let’s recap some of the news affecting women this week: Governor Mitt Romney, after saying, “Planned Parenthood, we’re going to get rid of that,” told the Chicago Sun Times, “What I want to get rid of is the federal funding of Planned Parenthood,” not the entire organization.   Romney made the original comment while talking about how he would reduce debt. We thought family planning and preventative medicine did lower costs. Rush Limbaugh continues to lose advertisers after his offensive remarks about Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who testified before Congress about the need for contraception. Think Progress reports 142 companies have stated they willl pull ads and ten sponsors remain. Speaking of pulling support, according to the Daily Cartoonist, 57 newspapers pulled the Gary Trudeau Doonesbury strips that address anti-abortion legislation. You can see the cartoons here. A bill in Arizona would allow a business to not provide contraceptive coverage in its health insurance program unless a woman could prove she was using contraception for something other than sex. Because we all know how much employers like it when female employees have babies. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett apparently thinks all the uproar [...]

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Heroine of the Week: Georgia Representative Yasmin Neal

February 23, 2012
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Heroine of the Week: Georgia Representative Yasmin Neal

After a week of men talking about men who are trying to write laws about women, we are happy to announce a new Heroine of the Week. Georgia Representative Yasmin Neal has introduced House Bill HB 1116, which would seek to criminalize vasectomies. Georgia lawmakers are currently considering HB 954, a bill that would outlaw abortion after 20 weeks, instead of the current 26. The difference in time, some doctors say, would force people to make a decision about ending a pregnancy before they were able to complete a full battery of testing. Neal’s bill underscores the absurdity of lawmakers overriding both medical and personal decision making with regard to reproductive rights. HB 1116 seeks to protect the rights of unborn children who are deprived from being born due to vasectomies. The bill states, “It is patently unfair that men can avoid the rewards of unwanted fatherhood by presuming that their judgment over such matters is more valid than the judgment of the General Assembly.” And the bill clearly states, “It is the purpose of the General Assembly to assert an invasive state interest in the reproductive habits of men in this state and substitute the will of the government over [...]

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Ignorant Legislator of the Week: A Three-Way Tie

February 17, 2012
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Ignorant Legislator of the Week: A Three-Way Tie

What a sad state of affairs. There is so much competition for the Ignorant Legislator of the Week Award, we had to call it a three-way tie. Source: google.com via Hello_Ladies on Pinterest   The first award goes to Virginia House Deputy Majority Leader Todd Gilbert. During debates for a bill that will require a woman seeking an abortion to undergo a vaginal ultrasound, Gilbert said about abortions, “the vast majority of these cases are matters of lifestyle convenience.” He went on to say, “It is right and proper for a woman to be fully informed about what she is doing.” For Gilbert, forcing a woman to undergo a medically unnecessary, invasive procedure is “right and proper” in order to protect her from making a grave mistake for convenience sake. Source: blunt.senate.gov via Hello_Ladies on Pinterest   Next, we have Senator Roy Blunt, who  wins the award for creating legislation that would  allow an employer to exclude any health service from the coverage they provide based on any religious beliefs or moral convictions. Blunt’s amendment is a response to the Obama administration mandate  that allows religious-affiliated institutions to opt out of coverage for contraceptives for employees but requires their insurers to offer [...]

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News From Around the Web

February 16, 2012
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News From Around the Web

No time to write this week and so much to discuss. So here’s a round up of news from around the web affecting women. Click the links to learn more. Let’s start with Virginia, where this week the legislation passed two disturbing bills. The first gives a fertilized egg rights. The second forces a woman seeking an abortion to undergo a vaginal ultrasound -an invasive probe that is medically unnecessary. The Washington Post reports on Virginia House Deputy Majority Leader Todd Gilbert who believes “the vast majority” of abortions are just “matters of lifestyle convenience.’’ The Frisky’s Jessica Wakeman writes of the bills, “I’m frightened, quite frightened.” We should all be worried. The war on women wages on in Washington as politicians continue to argue about a woman’s access to contraception  – which, we just want to point out, has nothing to do with creating jobs. In fact, if the GOP and the Catholic Bishops had their way, we could be looking at layoffs at birth control manufacturers such as Merck Pharmaceuticals and Bayer Healthcare. Nor, does it have anything to do with religion despite how some try to spin it. This is about controlling women and maintaining a status quo of [...]

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Heroine of the Week: Constance Johnson

February 10, 2012
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Heroine of the Week: Constance Johnson

Oklahoma State Senator Constance Johnson is our heroine of the week. Johnson proposed an amendment to Senate Bill 1433, that would criminalize some ejaculation. The amendment read, “any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.” Senate Bill 1433 declares personhood starts at conception and that, “The laws of this state shall be interpreted and construed to acknowledge on behalf of the unborn child at every stage of development all rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens and residents of this state.” Johnson wrote in the Guardian that she offered the amendment, “to draw attention to the absurdity, duplicity and lack of balance inherent in the policies of this state in regard to women.” Johnson’s amendment comes less than a month after Virginia State Senator Janet Howell proposed an amendment that would have required men to undergo a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before getting a prescription for erectile dsyfunction drugs. This is why we need more women in office.

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