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From On The Issues Magazine

Women of color increasingly feel empowered and emboldened to defend their rights to make healthy decisions about their bodies. This sentiment was in clear evidence at the fifth national membership meeting of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective in Washington, D.C. in early November, as participants not only talked the talk, but walked their talk straight to Capitol Hill.

From On The Issues Magazine

Recently, I went to the Kentucky Social Forum, and spent time talking with a co-worker and friend from the Astrea Lesbian Foundation for Justice about movement building and a progressive agenda. In our conversation, I kept coming back to economic injustice and violence.

For 19 years I worked at the Women's Project in Little Rock, Arkansas, a town where in the 1980s there was no fuzziness in identifying sexism and racism. There was no liberal veneer covering them. It was a wonderful place to work for social change.

Last June women throughout Quito, Ecuador looked up at the iconic statue of the Virgin Mary at El Panecillo, visible from every corner of the valley, to see a stark banner hanging from her skirts. It said: "Safe Abortion" followed by a cell phone number. The hotline was organized by local young activists, in collaboration with the Dutch organization Women on Waves, as a resource for women who sought a safe termination to an unwanted pregnancy in a country that outlawed the procedure. In the first two hours of its existence, the hotline received 79 calls.

There is one place where the definition of gender remains binary - in the womb. When it comes to sonograms, amniocentesis and standard pre-natal testing, there are no nuances. Here, the pronouncement, "It's a girl," can translate into fierce and instant parental rejection. The fact is that when the issue is "sex selection abortion," the same sex is always being selected -- female.

We mourn his death and celebrate his life.  I'll write more in the next few days.

Meanwhile, join in the conversation at Daily Kos.

from On The Issues Magazine

Women on Waves, an organization that uses a ship to help women in countries where abortion is illegal, recently secured a major victory from the European Court of Human Rights. The court ruled in early February 2009 that Portugal violated Women on Waves' freedom of expression when it ordered two warships to blockade the boat's entry into the Portuguese harbor in 2004.

Women on Waves is a Dutch organization led by Dr. Rebecca Gomperts. Its ship sails to countries where abortion is illegal and transports women to international waters, 12 miles off the coast, where national laws do not apply and it is legal to provide safe medical abortions.

Of the five missions sailed in the past decade, Portugal was arguably the most successful because enough momentum was generated during the heated campaign to sway voters on shore to liberalize the abortion law. Abortion within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy has since been legalized in Portugal. This latest triumph in the courts suggests that Dr. Gomperts has identified a space of limitless potential in her use of the offshore, for both international abortion rights, and indeed for related struggles for social justice.

For example, in 2006, South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds signed a bill that would ban abortion in all instances, including rape and incest, an antediluvian condition presently in existence in only four countries on earth: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Malta, and Oman. His mission was to instigate a lawsuit that could potentially challenge Roe v. Wade in a conservatively stocked U.S.Supreme Court. Rather than sue, Planned Parenthood of South Dakota collected the signatures to refer the law to a ballot vote by the population under a referendum procedure in that state. While in debate, Cecilia Fire-Thunder, the first female chief of the Ogala Sioux tribe, announced that if the anti-abortion provision became law, she would build an abortion clinic on Sioux land -- land outside of the jurisdiction of state. She began gathering signatures and donations for the effort. The people of South Dakota voted against the referred law by a 55-44 margin. But in the interim, the Sioux removed Chief Fire Thunder from office, suggesting that her claim was outside of the limits of her authority. Her action was significant, however, in that she, like Gomperts, identified an "offshore" space that could be occupied and used as a legal platform from which to challenge law, using direct action.

Following suit, several provocative and revolutionary ideas arise. Could embassies of countries where abortion is legal provide RU-486 to residents in countries that prohibit its use? How subject to international navigation laws are intrastate rivers -- could a riverboat function similarly to Gomperts's ship? Could the same apply to rivers that cut through U.S. states like Mississippi, which has extensive restrictions on abortion access?

Pirate radio found its home in offshore havens, could similarly housed radio broadcasts be used to broadcast the accurate dosage of Cytotec, a drug frequently used in Latin American and other countries for self-abortion? If every abortion provider added an Internet abortion pill service to its website, would antiquated and dangerous laws be relegated into obscurity?

Dr. Gomperts innovative use of space, science, and especially law, has much to inspire a global activist community. The recent attention by the European Court opens Pandora's Box further by categorizing Portugal's action as a violation of the freedom of expression. With the codification of international human rights law still in its relative infancy, the question must be explored: where else might abortion rights fit into its codes?

February 18, 2009

Tonight on ABC News at 10 p.m. a program called "What Would You Do?" will air. The aim of the show is to measure the responses by real customers in a pharmacy waiting area who overhear an actress, playing a teen seeking birth control, being denied contraception by the actor pharmacist for "moral" reasons.

ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper interviewed the executive director of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, who facilitates the "adoption" of frozen embryos, and questioned why those against embryonic stem cell research are supportive of IVF technology when the majority of embryos used in the process do not result in a live birth.

Despite assumptions that Obama would place restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, limiting federal funding to cell lines made from discarded embryos at fertility clinics, the decision of what embryos will be used in research will largely be left to the National Institutes of Health: (via Washington Post).

Huffington Post writer Kirsten Moore responds to a column written by William Saletan which said that women need to take more responsibility in using contraception in order to prevent abortion, saying Saletan is pointing his finger at women and failing to compassionately understand why they need more education and a better sense of self-ownership.

Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon.com agrees, taking Saletan to task for an interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews, and arguing that his desire to lecture women about birth control is an attempt to find "common ground" with misogynistic conservatives who want to lecture women about sex in general.

Sex education advocate Shelby Knox writes about New York's lack of statewide standards that leaves sex education up to individual teachers, noting that the Healthy Teens Act would create a grant program to fund comprehensive sex education but may very well be vetoed by the governor due to dire financial straits: (via RH Reality Check).  

Today is National Woman and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and groups are organizing in New York City in order to draw attention to the alarming rates of HIV among women in NYC, where 1 in 3 who have the disease are female and 90 percent of HIV-positive women are either Black or Latina: (via Newsday).

President Barack Obama has created a new post within the administration for an ambassador of international women's issues, and appointed Melanne Verveer to fill the position under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: (via AP/Google).

The Australian government has decided to repeal their own version of the global gag rule, which prevented overseas aid from being used for abortion advice, and to allocate an additional $9.5 million for family planning services over the next four years: (via Reuters).

President Obama has lifted stringent restrictions on embryonic stem cell research put in place by the Bush administration, saying that his administration is working to "make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology": (via NY Times).

Yesterday was International Women's Day and an opinion piece in USA Today written by a UN commissioner celebrates the ability of women to better themselves despite widespread discrimination.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is pushing for the Senate to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a treaty that was implemented by the U.N. in 1979 but never ratified by the U.S., though some liberals are wary of ratifying CEDAW if Republicans add too many restrictions: (via Chicago Tribune).

An RH Reality Check article highlights some of the sex-shaming and gender stereotype-reinforcing language included in taxpayer funded abstinence-only sex education.

The Georgia bill that would limit the number of embryos that can be created and implemented in IVF fertility treatment looks unlikely to reach a vote this legislative session, though a similar bill is expected to be reintroduced next year: (via AP/Augusta Chronicle).

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has appointed a former board member of Planned Parenthood of Alaska to the state Supreme Court: (via AP/Google).

On Friday, the Wicker amendment to strip United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) of $50 million of funding was defeated in the Senate 55 to 39: (via RH Reality Check).

(Apparently without my even knowing it, since I don't believe in me, Satan.)  :-)

Democrats boycotted an Arizona House Health and Human Services Committee meeting that endorsed a Republican-led measure that would require pre-abortion waiting periods, "mandatory disclosures", and strengthen parental rights laws, as well as allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill emergency contraception for personal reasons: (via KOLD.com).

A recently released study commissioned by the Texas Freedom Network found that 94 percent of Texas public school districts are teaching abstinence-only until marriage sex education that contains factual errors and misleading information about condoms and presents sex as shameful and immoral: (MySanAntonio.com).

The Pittsburg School District, which serves 31,000 students, voted 8 to 1 to expand their abstinence-only sex education to a comprehensive approach that will teach about contraception: (via MSNBC).

Cristina Page writes a tongue-in-cheek article on the Huffington Post about a hypothetical world where anti-abortion groups such as the Family Research Council admit their moral agenda to keep women from having sex with contraception trumps their dedication to abortion reduction.

In a 7 to 2 majority led by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg the Supreme Court ruled that criminals with a misdemeanor charge relating to domestic violence cannot legally possess firearms, a clarification for states that do not have specific misdemeanor charges for domestic violence: (via CNN.com).

An elementary school teacher in the Boston area has discussed the recent news of a domestic violence incident between pop stars Chris Brown and Rihanna with students and has noticed some disturbing truths about how the students view abusive relationships and engage in victim-blaming: (via The Boston Globe).

Republican state Senator Dave Schultheis from Colorado was the sole no vote on a bill that would require pregnant women to take HIV tests, unless they opt out, saying that HIV is caused by promiscuity and government should not remove the consequences of poor behavior, causing outrage by state Democrats: (via RH Reality Check).
Responding to the controversy over his statements the Senator said he hopes that babies are born with AIDS so that their mothers feel guilty about their actions and that people begin to see the negative consequences of promiscuity: (via Rocky Mountain News).