Let the whores die!

Consider a 13-year-old girl. She will most likely be sexually active. Sexually active Americans have a better than 50 percent chance of contracting the human papillomavirus over their lifetime. HPV is the most common of the sexually transmitted diseases. It is also the No. 1 cause of cervical cancer, which kills half a million American women a year. Two companies have developed a vaccine that protects against HPV's deadliest strains. The vaccine virtually eliminates a woman's chance of contracting HPV, thus drastically cutting her chances of developing cervical cancer. I would not hesitate to inoculate my daughter the moment the vaccine becomes available, regardless of her age. The vaccine won't dictate whether she becomes sexually active sooner. Anyone who believes so is a bag-o-douche. Sparing her death seems to me a greater moral imperative than fretting over her sex life.

Empirical studies have shown that virginity pledgers do NOT have lower rates of pregnancy or STD's. In fact, they are at a higher risk for STD's because not only are they being taught in schools that contraception and condoms don't work, but they also engage in more risky behavior, such as anal sex. They are also less likely to know their STD status, thus raising the chances of long-term health risks as well as spreading infection to others unknowingly. This is extremely concerning, since a recent study published in the April issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health revealed that 88% of so called "virginity" pledgers have sex before marriage.

The Food and Drug Administration will decide by June whether to approve the vaccine. I'm not hopeful, given recent history of agencies that serve as an extension of the Bush administration's neo-puritan view of the world. Two years ago the FDA's advisory committee voted 23-4 in favor of making the morning-after contraceptive pill available over the counter. The FDA's staff had reached similarly supportive conclusions.

For the first time in history, the FDA -- reflecting religious conservatives' lechery for sham morality -- rejected those recommendations, ostensibly because it was worried that adolescents would have more sex if they had access to the pill. Conservatives are raising the same objections to the HPV vaccine. Imagine when we hear moral objections to an HIV vaccine.

The Ridiculous Reich would rather let their daughters die from cancer.
It seems very much like a ritualistic sacrifice.
Except, the Ridiculous Reich will find out quickly that their pure daughters aren't even virgins.

I Always Hated Dominos

The Center For Reproductive Rights has been closely tracking the Wire Hanger state's triggered domino effect. Many states are rubbing their hands with glee as they feverishly write legislation aimed at banning abortion in their state.

If you think the Wire Hanger state is an isolated incident that doesn't really concern you, think again.
Next, it'll be YOUR state and YOUR backyard.

How does your state look?

Women's Rights Are Human Rights

"Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children."

Article 16, unanimous proclamation of the United Nations’ International Conference on Human Rights, Teheran, 1968.

"The human body, whether that of woman or man, is inviolable and respect for it is a fundamental element of human dignity and freedom."

Article 11, proclamation of the UN World Conference of the International Women’s Year, Mexico City, 1975.

"Reproductive rights embrace certain human rights that are already recognized in national laws, international human rights documents and other relevant consensus documents. These rights rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health."

Paragraph 7.3, Programme of Action,UN International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 1994.

"The human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence."

Paragraph 96, Platform for Action, UN Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995.

Get Out Of Here Common Sense!

Fantasy Island, Or As I Like To Call It: Sanity Island

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle (R) on Wednesday signed into law a bill (HB 1242) that repeals a current law requiring women seeking abortion to be state residents, the AP/Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports.

Thank you, Governor. While your law says non-state residents can obtain abortions, Ohio is currently attempting to pass legislation that criminalizes women crossing state lines.
Ohio is becoming as primitive as the Wire Hanger State, formerly known as South Dakota.

The measure also allows women to undergo the procedure in clinics and physicians' offices outside of hospitals (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 4/13).

In addition, the law inserts into state law a paragraph clarifying a woman's right to abort a "nonviable" fetus and her right to undergo an abortion to save her life.

Pick A Side, Yellow Belly

New York City Mayor Bloomberg criticized pro-choice supporters who support anti-choice opponents in elections at a NARAL Pro-Choice New York event on Thursday.

He stated "Reproductive choice is a fundamental human right, and we can never take it for granted," adding, "On this issue, you're either with us or against us."

Bloomberg's comments "signaled a condemnation" of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other abortion-rights supporters who are supporting candidates who oppose abortion rights.

Sen. Schumer heads the The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and recruited Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey (D) to run against Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.)
Some Democrats say that supporting Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey is the only way to beat Sen. Santorum, who opposes abortion rights.

Casey has stated he is anti-choice.

This is one of the maddening issues that eventually cost the democrats the 2004 elections. Pick a side and stick to it! Separate yourselves, quit trying to appear as if you are similar to the Goons of the People. We need to see a candidate who has solid beliefs SEPARATE from his/her candidate and will strongly defend them. No back-tracking, no skirting the issue, no attempts at "I am just like you".

Excuse me, if I wanted someone similar to the Goons of the People...I would vote republican.

South Dakota Abortion Task Force Revealed

Before Governor Rounds signed the abortion ban into law, an abortion task force was enlisted by the 2005 Legislative session.

A report was written. No one knows who wrote it. But one was written.

According to Dr. Marty Allison, "on the night before the last task force meeting, all of the members were sent copies of the report. The authors were not identified. Many members of the task force were unaware that a report was being written, and had no input as to what information would be included in it".

Allison, who was chairwoman of the task force, and anti-choice I might add, informs the nation of the truth of what occurred at the meetings. The recommendations given by the task force were completely biased, unrepresentative and tranparently subjective.

And let's not miss: Allison realized early into the meetings that there was a pre-determined outcome sought based on who was appointed. "The committee was “heavily weighted” with pro-life advocates".

Now, does that come as a surprise?
Are you telling me that anti-choice government officials wanting a certain outcome to "validate" future legislation appointed people they knew would deliberately omit pertinent information, write biased findings secretly, or "allow little room for discussion, tabling amendments as soon as they were proposed or immediately voting them down".

Sounds like the perfect bunch of equal representation.

Allison explains of the task force's findings “It should have been scientifically-based and objective. Instead it was very subjective and biased,” Allison said. “In reality, it was the personal opinion of a select few of the members, and it included false information not reflective, in my opinion, of the testimony we heard.”

Wait a second, Dr.
Are you telling me that Dr. Allen Unruh's editorial in the Dakota Voice on 12/05 is false?
Dr. Unruh, co-founder of the Abstinence Clearinghouse?
That when he says "It is all based on science" is arguable? Arguable because as Allison states "Testimonies of experts and witnesses who supported legalized abortions were not included in the report". So...who's science is he referring to?
And the wording he chose to describe women who testified as "women who have been victims of abortion" is subjective and biased?
That when he says "The task force was never intended to be stacked with a majority of those who consider themselves pro-choice. That would have put the wolves in charge of guarding the henhouse" is projecting subjective, preconceived, biased ideas?

I will agree with you Dr. Allen. In fact, I will go further: Dr. Unruh is a bag-o-douche and will therefor be referred to as Dr. bag-o-douche.

Here are some excerpts from Dr. Allen:

• Testimonies of experts and witnesses who supported legalized abortions were not included in the report, but Allison said that the task force did hear such testimony.

Hhm, how exactly does that support Dr. bag-o-douche's claims that both sides were represented equally? And based on science? Perhaps, but it was skewed and biased science.

• “That type of information was not in there. Rape and incest victims’ testimony was not included in the report. It didn’t correlate with the views of the authors, so they didn’t include it,” Allison said.

Hhm...can we say pre-determined? Can we say biased, subjective?

• “There was a lot of information omitted. And there was a footnote that said exceptions–like with rape and incest victims–were not considered. That’s false. We heard testimony and it was discussed.”

Hhm...again, pre-determined? Why lie about the testimony about rape and incest? Why lie and say it wasn't considered?...unless you had a PRE-DETERMINED OUTCOME to find.

Dr. bag-o-douche had this to say in his editorial, which I will gladly respond to:

"Most abortion decisions are made out of fear, panic, and most often some form of coercion. Planned Parenthood by its own admission provides no doctor with any degree to counsel young women. They have lay counselors trained only to sell abortions"

Ok, let's begin with his first claim. I have never seen the evidence that "most" abortion decisions are made by "some form of coersion". Is he basing this on the testimony of the sheep gathered from his Abstinence Clearinghouse? Coersion is bound to happen, but I will argue teeth and nail that this hardly happens "most" of the time.

Moving on.....correct. Planned Parenthood does not provide counselors with degrees. Just as your "crisis pregnancy centers" don't, nor your Abstinence Clearinghouse. But I suppose that is ok. It's always ok if you and your goons do it.

And lastly, publix sells food. Libraries have books. Gas stations pump gas. Abortion clinics provide abortions. I'm confused as to what you don't get. That's how it works..are you sure you're a doctor, Dr. bag-o-douche? So..yes, abortion clinics "sell" abortions. But I do love the word you picked, it was quite...predictable.

I have a word for you Dr. bag-o-douche: bend over.

Unique Dangers Faced by Women Activists

Many human rights advocates in repressive countries are targeted and harassed by those in power for exposing rights abuses. Female advocates, however, are especially vulnerable to such threats because women who speak out against injustice often challenge attitudes about the role of women and girls in their societies.

Beginning this month, Human Rights First is focusing a spotlight on women human rights defenders – as a way to give them an additional measure of protection. HRF's web site outlines the unique challenges women defenders face from sexual harassment and violence to forced psychiatric treatment.

Take, for instance, the case of Lydia Cacho Ribeiro. Ribeiro faces up to four years in prison for implicating prominent businessmen in a child pornography ring in Mexico. Transcripts of taped conversations suggest that the prosecution was initiated solely to harass and silence Ribeiro for her work promoting the rights of women and children.

Human Rights First will continue to bring to attention cases of women activists who are attacked because of their gender.

Interested? Please visit: http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/defenders/hrd_women/hrd_women.asp

Naral's Latest Action Alerts

Freedom=Choice and Choice=Freedom
The Freedom of Choice Act, introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), will secure the right to choose by establishing a federal law that will guarantee reproductive freedom for future generations of American women. Since Roe v. Wade, a woman's right to choose has been systematically eroded by anti-choice legislators in many states. In fact, more than 450 anti-choice measures have been enacted in the states since 1995, essentially rolling back this fundamental right for many women.

It’s time we had a law on the books that would protect women’s rights even if President Bush and his anti-choice colleagues in Congress continue to dismantle Roe v. Wade!

Gracias, mijas:
President Bush recently nominated Andrew von Eschenbach to be FDA commissioner, giving us a unique opportunity to finally end the FDA's politically motivated delays in approving the morning-after pill for over-the-counter sales.

Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) have declared that they will block von Eschenbach's nomination until the agency decides whether to approve Plan B -- for over-the-counter sales.

Liar, Liar pants on fire!
The anti-choice movement has a stealth strategy for blocking women’s access to abortion care. Known as “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs), many of these anti-choice, fake “clinics” mislead women into believing they offer comprehensive reproductive health care, when in fact their sole purpose is to dissuade women from exercising their right to choose.

It should be no surprise that CPCs have found an avid supporter in President Bush.
But did you know that his administration has given these fake clinics well over $60 million in your taxpayer dollars?

It’s time for Congress to step in and hold these fake “clinics” accountable and protect women from false advertising.

I pay for insurance, now give me my pills!
It’s common sense that women should have ready access to their doctor-prescribed birth control. Unfortunately, the anti-choice movement, spearheaded by groups like Pharmacists for Life, disagrees.

According to Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life, birth control pills are out of bounds while Viagra prescriptions are not. She won’t fill prescriptions for the morning-after pill and has lectured women about daily birth control pills. Yet she readily fills Viagra prescriptions and has claimed, "I helped a whole lot of old married men get lucky."

Ms. bag-o-douche: I thought old men were out of the reproductive years? How does that fit into your "no sex outside of procreation" ideology?
Wow, how gender discriminate can you be?
Repeat after me...hypocrite. That's h-y-p....otherwise known as: bag-o-douche.

I want Congress to change all that. The bipartisan Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act would ensure that every woman in every state can get her prescription for birth control filled, whether or not an individual pharmacist has an objection.

It really is who you know

Since 2001, more than 2,200 women have been murdered in Guatemala. The brutality is marked by rape and mutilation. But the Guatemalan government has failed to take action. Only 12 people have been successfully prosecuted for these crimes in the last five years.

Since 1993, more than 370 women have been mutiliated, raped and murdered in Ciudad Juarez, mexico. Amnesty International continues to fight for justice to this day.

Families have been lied to. Justice has not been served.

Linda Loaiza of Venezuela is still waiting for justice. And it may never happen.
Although she had been repeatedly raped and tortured; found in a state of severe malnutrition, with her earlobes destroyed, a nipple cut out, cigarette burns all over her body, multiple cranial fractures, and bruises and cuts on her face and genital area....her predator was found guilty only of severe assault and deprivation of liberty. Her torturer is the son of a prominent man in Venezuela.

Ms. Loaiza’s case was deferred by the Venezuelan justice system more than 30 times; 60 judges declined to prosecute the man accused of torturing her. More than three years later, Linda had to go on a 13-day hunger strike on the courthouse steps before the case finally went to trial, but on October 21, 2004, Carrera Almoina and his father (who was accused of obstructing justice) were acquitted of all charges. The judge cited a “lack of evidence” and, astonishingly, ordered an investigation of Loaiza, her father, and sister for involvement in prostitution. This verdict was eventually thrown out and the case retried.

But alas! 6 years.

This decision is not only so absurd, it is pure hate. Hate of women.

An international campign spear-headed by the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere to show Linda support is:
http://www.justiceforlinda.org/

Better Take Your Vitamin C, Or Pay The Price Of Murder!

South Dakota, like many other states has adopted numerous laws that seek to establish the unborn as full legal persons. For example, South Dakota has a feticide statute that makes the killing of an "unborn child" at any stage of prenatal development fetal homicide, manslaughter, or vehicular homicide as well as a law that requires doctors to tell women that an abortion ends the life of “a whole, separate, unique living human being.” The new law banning virtually all abortions states that it is based on the conclusion “that life begins at the time of conception,” and that “each human being is totally unique immediately at fertilization.”

If the unborn are legal persons, as numerous South Dakota laws assert, then a pregnant woman who has an abortion can be prosecuted as a murderer under already existing homicide laws.

Farfetched? Not at all. Prosecutors all over the country have been experimenting with this approach for years. In South Carolina, Regina McKnight is serving a 12-year sentence for homicide by child abuse. Why? Because she suffered an unintentional stillbirth. The prosecutors said she caused the stillbirth by using cocaine despite evidence that Ms. McKnight's stillbirth was caused by an infection.

Thus far, South Carolina is the only state whose courts have upheld the legitimacy of such prosecutions. But in fact, women in states across the country, including South Dakota, have already been arrested as child abusers or murderers—without any new legislation authorizing such arrests.

In Oklahoma, Teresa Hernandez is sitting in jail on first-degree murder charges for having suffered an unintentional stillbirth. In Utah, a woman was charged with murder based on the claim that she caused a stillbirth by refusing to have a c-section earlier in her pregnancy.

If women are now being arrested as murderers for having suffered unintentional stillbirths, one should assume that in South Dakota's post-Roe world intentional abortions would be punished just as seriously.

And we all know that South Dakota views places such as El Salvador (where there is no exception-not even to save the life of the mother) as a fetal utopia.
What's next? Adopting El Salvadore's brilliant tactic of providing state-sponsored Vagina Inspectors?

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/03/08/south_dakotas_new_murderers.php

Rapists Win Alright...So Does Idiocy

If a woman or girl is raped and subsequently has an abortion, the rapist wins. At least that is what Paula Westwood believes.

Paula Westwood, executive director of Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati, [argues] that men win and women lose when a child of rape is aborted.

"What has happened is, men know, 'Well, if I happen to rape a woman, I can have her get an abortion,' and then even if he goes to prison he's free of all responsibility," she says. "If (victims of rape) can carry the child to term, they're free from any guilt from an abortion and they're also freer because the man really has no hold on them, because even though the man fathered the child the woman has some victory over it."

Um, I'm sorry Ms. bag-o-douche...please explain to me how a man "happens" to rape a woman? In fact, please draw me a picture.
And why would she assume that EVERY woman feels guilt over aborting a rape-child? I would argue that this is hardly the majority.
More disturbing is her blatant ignorance and disregard about rape and the emotional/psychological trauma that occurs thereafter. "Rape trauma" affects SO many victims, regardless if a pregnancy occurs...
Perhaps her violent nightmares, her mistrust of half the population, and her constant over-the-shoulder glances are just figments of her imagination and he really DOESN'T have a hold on her. Perhaps her fear confines her to her house.
He has control mentally, Ms. bag-o-douche.

Step on the state crack, break the Reich's back...

As might have been expected, the passage of the draconian abortion ban in South Dakota is fueling similar efforts in other states. There is even concern that Ohio House Bill 228, pending since 2005, may now have a chance of passage.
HB 228 not only would make it a felony for a woman to have an abortion, but equally would criminalize her and anyone who assisted her if she crossed the state line to seek an abortion elsewhere.

An adult woman can NOT cross state lines? Sounds alot like false imprisonment to me.

The only exception to the proposed Ohio ban is an abortion performed to save a woman's life, but the bill's primary sponsor, Rep. Tom Brinkman, explains that the exception to save a woman's life is just for show anyway.

"It's a fallacy perpetrated by the Planned Parenthood people," Brinkman says. "My doctors tell me they're never in that type of dilemma."

Really? NEVER happens?
"My doctors"? Who are they, wonderful Evangelical doctors like former Bush-appointed FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee member Dr. Hager? Or perhaps doctors from the truly un-biased Heritage Foundation? Or perhaps Dr. Uruh, the South Dakota Abortion Task Force member and co-founder of the Abstinence Clearinghouse who insists there was equal representation on the force?...meaning 2 of the 17 members were pro-choice.

So what would Brinkman say to a young girl pregnant by her uncle?--since there is no rape or incest exception?

"I would just tell that 13 year old -- I know they're (going) through a traumatic situation -- number one, it's not the baby's fault," he says. "Number two, we should have adoption choices available."

Thanks for pretending to care, Mr. bag-o-douche.

In case you sleep under a rock: Governor Rounds decalres South Dakota as pro-life.

“I have signed House Bill 1215 into law. It is An Act to establish certain legislative findings, to reinstate the prohibition against certain acts causing the termination of an unborn human life, to prescribe a penalty therefore, and to provide for the implementation of such provisions under certain circumstances.

HB 1215 passed South Dakota’s legislature with bi-partisan sponsorship and strong bi-partisan support in both houses. Its purpose is to eliminate most abortions in South Dakota. It does allow doctors to perform abortions in order to save the life of the mother. It does not prohibit the taking of contraceptive drugs before a pregnancy is determined, such as in the case of rape or incest.

In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society. The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them.

Because this new law is a direct challenge to the Roe versus Wade interpretation of the Constitution, I expect this law will be taken to court and prevented from going into effect this July. That challenge will likely take years to be settled and it may ultimately be decided by the United States Supreme Court. Our existing laws regulating abortions will remain in effect.

The reversal of a Supreme Court opinion is possible. For example, in 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the Plessy versus Fergusoncase that a state could require racial segregation in public facilities if the facilities offered to different races were equal. However, fifty-eight years later, the Supreme Court reconsidered that opinion and reversed itself in Brown versus Board of Education. It proclaimed that separate could not produce equal. The 1954 Court realized that the earlier interpretation of our Constitution was wrong.

HB 1215 will give the United States Supreme Court a similar opportunity to reconsider an earlier opinion.

While this is a state and national issue, I want to emphasize that whatever the courts decide, South Dakotans will continue to care about both the unborn child and mother. If we are pro-life, we must recognize the need to take care of women who are faced with a difficult pregnancy. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy, we cannot protect the innocent child, unless we protect and care for the mother. We must help each mother to see the value of the gift that is a child, and nurture the mother for her own sake and for the sake of her child.

Our state is committed to helping greater numbers of pregnant woman who will allow their babies to grow inside them and be born. In both the private and public sector in South Dakota, we have healthcare options, economic assistance before and after birth, adoption services, and, most importantly, people who want to help pregnant women, young mothers and their children.
There are also many people in South Dakota who will continue to help those women who have had abortions in the past. We want those women to know that we care about them, too.”

What do you call a woman who has an abortion?

Your wife, your mother, your sister, your daughter . . . A woman you love, or what Covenant News calls just another murderous mom?

Reproductive Rights Hero and Zero of the Month

Naral has published its Hero and Zero of the month. Please note that the Reich's hold on Colorado Governor Owens is firm. Governor bag-o-douche continues to force his anti-woman ideology onto women of Colorado. Rape survivors, sir? Rape survivors couldn't control being raped, so you decide to control whether they will become pregnant?
Perhaps you are the rapist, Governor bag-o-douche.

HERO: Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath makes contraceptive equity the law in his stateMontana Attorney General Mike McGrath recently ruled that Montana insurance companies must cover prescription birth control equally with other prescriptions, like Viagra. For his courage and sound leadership, he has earned this month's hero award! Kudos to NARAL Pro-Choice Montana for all its hard work on this vital issue, and most of all, thanks to Attorney General Mike McGrath for standing up for the values of freedom, fairness, and privacy.

Click here to learn more about this major victory.

ZERO: Colorado Governor Bill Owens vetoes a bill to prevent unintended pregnancyWith the help of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado, the state legislature recently passed a bill that would have prevented unintended pregnancy by allowing pharmacists to provide women the "morning-after" pill without a prescription. But anti-choice Gov. Owens, who called the legislation "irresponsible," vetoed the bill. Last year, Owens vetoed a bill to provide rape survivors with access to the morning-after pill. For continuing to put anti-choice politics before women's health, Gov. Owens is this month's zero.

Florida's most vulnerable teens in danger

The Florida of Planned Parenthood Affiliates sent out an urgent action today, urging all Florida residents to contact their Representative TODAY to urge them to vote NO on HB 1527.

The Parental Notification law went into effect less than a year ago and already Representative John Stargel (R-Lakeland) is attempting to dismantle the judicial bypass process making it more difficult for our most vulnerable young women, desperate young women who can't confide in a parent, to have access to the courts.

The Florida House of Representatives is going to VOTE on Represenataive John Stargel's Bill (HB 1527) tomorrow.

THE SOLE INTENT OF HB 1527 IS TO DISMANTLE THE JUDICIAL BYPASS SYSTEM OF THE PARENTAL NOTIFICATION LAW IN FLORIDA!

Call your Representative NOW!

And tell them to VOTE NO on HB 1527 because:
Over 96% of young women are notifying their parents prior to having an abortion. In the first 6 months, only 162 young women--less than 5%-- of the 3,500 minors seeking abortions went to court seeking a judicial waiver. (Each year about 16,000 minors get pregnant and about 7,000 seek abortions.)

This means that the Parental Notification law is basically designed for the other 4% of girls who may not have the same conducive living environment as these other 96% of girls do.
The government can NOT mandate good communication in families and this law does nothing of the kind.

Only the most vulnerable young women seek judicial waiver--and for good reason. Some of these young women are victims of rape or abuse and go to court to prove it is in their best interest not to inform their parents.

There is no justifiable reason to change the law!

The facts about HB 1527:

o This bill requires doctors in life-threatening emergency situations to notify the parent first and save their daughters life second.
o This bill significantly delays access to safe health care by increasing the amount of time the court has to hear a case and issue a final opinion from 48 hours to 28 days providing no protections for young women’s health.

Each year in Florida there are 50,000 teen pregnancies and Florida ranks 6th in the country in the number of teen pregnancies. Our focus should be on reducing the need for abortion by preventing unintended teen pregnancies through education, information, and health care.

What if the doctor can't reach the parents?
And...why is a minor's life less important and less valuable than a fetus?
Why does the Ridiculous Reich insist that fetal rights trump a woman's life?

Columnist Dishes Dangerous Logic About Rape

A recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal promotes the idea that men are essentially violent and women just have to learn to deal with it.

Um, ok.

In the April 14 Wall Street Journal opinion piece headlined, "Ladies, You Should Know Better: How feminism wages war on common sense", Naomi Schaefer Riley declares women "moronic" for "engaging in behavior" that makes them rape-magnets.

So, I'm moronic for walking down the street? I'm moronic for thinking that I can just eat my dinner without it meaning I am going to have sex with you? I'm moronic for letting a friend over to study? I'm moronic for accepting a drink my new boyfriend made for me?

Do tell, woman-hater. Ms. bag-o-douche proceeds to blame victims, not the perpetrator. For example: When discussing the recent rape and subsequent death of a New York student, Ms. bag-o-douche explains: "Ms. St. Guillen was last seen in a bar, alone and drinking at 3 a.m. on the Lower East Side of Manhattan," Shaefer Riley writes, and "more than a few of us have been thinking that a 24-year-old woman should know better."

You stupid, stupid, dead girl. How dare you be alone? How dare you drink? Aahh, the sheer stupidity of that moronic dead girl. You should know better then to be alone, cause you are a rape- magnet you fool.
While it's certainly important and essential for women (and men) to evaluate our social behavior with an eye toward safety, staying sober and staying home does not inoculate women against sexual violence. Ask any woman whose home was broken into and raped thereafter. You stupid moron, you.

The moral of her story: Women who go out to bars in the city ask for rape. Strippers who work bachelor parties ask for rape. College students who get plastered ask for rape. And men who rape? It's not worth holding them accountable for their behavior.

The contention that men are essentially violent and women just have to learn to deal is a useless strategy for sexual assault prevention. In fact, it's downright dangerous, perpetuating the regressive idea that men can commit abusive, criminal acts with impunity and the only thing women can do to cope is to avoid alcohol, parties and miniskirts. It's a depressing view of the world that offers women no hope of societal change, only fear and disempowerment.

Want tax credit? Donate to fake "crisis pregnancy centers"!

Donors to so-called crisis pregnancy centers that try to dissuade women from obtaining abortions may soon be eligible for a tax credit in Missouri, The Associated Press reported April 13. The Missouri state House voted 125-32 to approve a bill that would give the credit--which could be used on income taxes and some types of business taxes--to such centers last week. The measure would authorize a tax credit worth half the value of donations between $100 and $50,000, and would be limited to $2 million annually. The bill will now move to the state Senate for consideration.

Missouri "Teen Endagerment Act"

While I support abstinence sex education, I emphasize that this education should be inclusive within comprehensive sex education. NO scientific, empirical evidence supports the claims of the Ridiculous Reich's stance that abstinence-only education reduces the rates of teen pregnancy, STI's or abortion rates. On the contrary, evidence proves it in fact does NOT work.
Also, sneaky snakes are at work: This bill is so obviously ideologically driven. So, the "lifelong monogomous marriage between a man and a woman" transparently eliminates an entire group of people: Gays and lesbians. When these abstinence-only classes are taught, they teach that we are to wait until marriage. But how funny that gays can not marry. So, they must not have sex. EVER. Unless they are lucky enough to live in Massachusetts.
So, what these loons hope...gays will be celibate until they have allowed Jesus to save their retched, sodomizing souls.
By the way, I wasn't aware sodomy was a homosexual-only activity. I guarantee the homophobs who insist sodomy is evil are the ones who are bangin prostitutes in the arse.
*************************

The Missouri House on Tuesday voted 92-61 to preliminarily approve a bill (HB 1075) that would require students attending public schools to obtain permission slips from their parents or legal guardians before attending sex education classes, the AP/Belleville News Democrat reports.

The measure also would ban abortion providers from providing any instruction or class materials for sex education courses (Franck, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4/25).

Sex education classes also would have to advocate for "lifelong monogamous marriage between a man and a woman" and state that "at conception, an unborn child's life begins."

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Cynthia Davis (R), originally would have eliminated a state requirement that school districts that have sex education classes include sexually transmitted infection and contraception information, replacing it with a requirement that schools inform students that information on STIs and contraception is available from their physicians. However, the contraception and STI requirement was reinstated in the bill through an amendment introduced by state Rep. Ryan Silvey (R) (Hoover, Kansas City Star, 4/26).

AZ Governor vetos bill designed to strangle minors attempting Judical Bypass

I wonder: Where is Rep. Allen's test to prove a girl IS, in fact, mature enough to bear that child? All these tests designed to "prove maturity" are only utilized when a girl seeks an abortion. But doesn't anyone ever stop and think that if you are questioning her ability to decide this on her own, why are you blindly trusting her to be a mother? No one sits down and gives minor's the third degree when they CHOSE to bear a child. There is no standing before a judge to plead your case about why you think you are mature enough, you certainly don't need to prove that you are financially able, and you are never asked if you have obtained your parents permission to do so!
If she is so immature about deciding to have an abortion, why is she suddently so mature enough to care for a child?
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Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) on Tuesday vetoed a bill (HB 2776) that would have amended the state's existing parental consent law to more strictly define the circumstances under which minors can gain judicial bypass to obtain an abortion, the AP/Arizona Republic reports (Davenport, AP/Arizona Republic, 4/25).

The measure, sponsored by state Rep. John Allen (R), would have required minors to prove their maturity using certain qualifications. Some examples of evidence that judges would have been able to take into consideration included the minor's age, work experience, history of personal finances and reaction to learning about the pregnancy (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 3/9).

In her veto letter, Napolitano wrote that a 2003 decision by the Arizona Court of Appeals already had outlined the legal standard of proof needed to obtain judicial bypass (AP/Arizona Republic, 4/25). In addition, she wrote that lawmakers should pass bills that fund programs that care for children such as vaccination programs and health insurance programs instead of only abortion-related legislation.

"Unfortunately, to date, the Legislature has not seen fit to provide in its budget the funding I've sought for these programs," Napolitano wrote, adding, "I stand ready to work with the Legislature to develop these and other measures aimed at caring for the children of teenage pregnancies and discouraging such pregnancies from occurring at all" (Fischer, Arizona Daily Star, 4/25).

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=36870

Roll Call Examines Approval of South Dakota Abortion Ban's Effect on State Politics

Roll Call on Wednesday examined the approval of a bill last month that bans abortion in South Dakota except to save the life of the woman.

According to Roll Call, the bill has been the state's "biggest political earthquake in a quarter century," with abortion-rights supporters "apparently benefiting" from its impact more than abortion-rights opponents. The South Dakota Democratic Party, which before the ban "seemed nearly moribund in nonfederal races," has "leapt back to life, ... fielding" candidates in 90% of the state legislative races, Roll Call reports. In addition, two "credible Democratic candidates," Jack Billion and Dennis Wiese, are running against each other in a primary to challenge Gov. Mike Rounds (R) in the November elections, according to Roll Call.

However, "[n]o one is ready to consign the [state Republican Party] to minority status in South Dakota," with Rounds' approval rate still at about 60% and Republicans holding 51 of 70 state House seats and 25 of 35 state Senate seats, Roll Call reports.

Some political analysts say that Democrats could fill more than one-third of the seats in both chambers of the state Legislature after the election, giving them more power on appropriations and other bills requiring two-thirds majorities, and abortion-rights supporters from both parties "could coalesce into a de facto majority," according to Roll Call (Jacobson, Roll Call, 4/26).
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=36869

PATH Project: Providing Access for Teen Health

The ACLU of Florida has set up a new website for minors needing legal services for judicial bypass, as required by the Parental Notification law.
Their mission states: "The Path Project serves as an information and advocacy center for minors facing difficult pregnancy choices. We help teens under the age of 18 navigate the courts so that they can make decisions about their own reproductive health care."

If you are a teenager and thinking about having an abortion, we want you to know your rights.

*If you are not able to tell your parent or guardian about your decision to have an abortion, click here to find out how to ask for a court order so you don't have to tell a parent.

*You have a right to a lawyer to help you through the process. There is no charge for the lawyer. The court procedure is free and confidential.

*If you're under the age of 18 and plan to have an abortion, and want more information about this process or getting an attorney for no cost, call our toll free helpine: (877) FLA-PATH or 877-352-7284.

For more info or assistance: http://www.pathproject.net

"Satan is clinging to our sexual organs"

Sometimes I truly wonder what the heck is going on in this country. I don't know what's most horrifying...Rev. Moon's cave man opinion of women? The fact that millions of people believe and practice this nut case's prescriptions? The huge sums of money he gives our right wingers (including George W. Bu$h)? The money his ministers of lunacy get from our tax dollars?
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Rev. Moon's Conjugal Visitations
By John Gorenfeld, AlterNet.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/34072/

We all know the Religious Reich wants to tell us what we can't do in the bedroom, but no one asks what they want us to do instead.

A few excerpts of Rev. CaveMan Moon's utter brilliance:

• "After the act of love," read the instructions from the Rev. Moon's conservative Family Federation, "both spouses should wipe their sexual areas with the Holy Handkerchief. Hang the handkerchief[s] to dry naturally and keep them eternally. They must be kept individually labeled and should never be laundered and mixed up."
• Women are a "line of prostitutes," who should be punished for selfishness. "The concave organ [vagina] should be sealed with concrete."
• "The women are the problem in history," he said in 2004. "Women who don't want to have children should cut away their breasts, bottoms and love organ because the purpose for those was first for the children. If they don't fulfill that purpose, then they are not needed."
• "Woman's sexual organ is like the open mouth of a snake filled with poison," he said in 1996.
• The goal of getting involved in politics and social services, say his clerics, is to cleanse Satan from humanity's bloodline. Meanwhile, under George W. Bush's Healthy Marriage Initiative and abstinence-only grants, his pastors have won nearly $1 million in public funding.
• Moon's abstinence-only education group Free Teens USA, is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services.
• Jerry Falwell's still in business thanks to a $3.5 million bailout from Moon in 1995. Or Tim LaHaye of the Council For National Policy, who took money to serve on the board of a group rehabilitating Moon's image, once wrote a letter addressing Moon as "the Master."

Keep in mind that this loonbag's reach isn't limited: "Moon, the first President Bush said, is "the man with the vision" whose newspaper "restores sanity to Washington."

Another Religious Reich Wingnut

Here was the question posed to Andrew Wilkow (radio talk show host):

~You find yourself in a blazing fertility clinic - the fire is ferocious. In one corner there is a two year old girl. In another, there is a petri dish with five fertilized blastula in it. You can rescue one or the other, but not both. Which do you rescue, the girl or the petri dish?"

We just love Mike Stark, who takes this stuff to the streets. He called Andrew Wilkow's radio talk show and put the question to him, and Wilkow's head did, in fact, explode. He was reduced to a sputtering rage, screaming that he would not, in fact, save the two year-old child. Mike hung right in there with him and the results are predictably hilarious.

You can just feel Wilkow's listeners flipping the channel and saying "fuck that noise, that guy's insane."

Listen to the hilarious audio:
http://www.callingallwingnuts.com/2006/03/02/wilkow-when-in-doubt-shout/

Sound the Alarm: Fake "Clinic" Cons 17-Year-Old Girl

An Indiana mother recently accompanied her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend to one of Indiana's Planned Parenthood clinics, but they unwittingly walked into a so-called "crisis pregnancy center" run by an anti-abortion group, one that shared a parking lot with the real Planned Parenthood clinic and was designed expressly to lure Planned Parenthood patients and deceive them.

The group took down the girl's confidential personal information and told her to come back for her appointment, which they said would be in their "other office" (the real Planned Parenthood office nearby). When she arrived for her appointment, not only did the Planned Parenthood staff have no record of her, but the police were there.

The "crisis pregnancy center" had called them, claiming that a minor was being forced to have an abortion against her will. The "crisis pregnancy center" staff then proceeded to wage a campaign of intimidation and harassment over the following days, showing up at the girl's home and calling her father's workplace. Planned Parenthood's clinic director reports that the girl was "scared to death to leave her house." They even went to her school and urged classmates to pressure her not to have an abortion.

The anti-choice movement is setting up these "crisis pregnancy centers" across the country. Some of them have neutral-sounding names and run ads that falsely promise the full range of reproductive health services, but they dispense anti-choice propaganda and intimidation instead. And according to a recent article in The New York Times, there are currently more of these centers in the U.S. than there are actual abortion providers. What's more, these centers have received $60 million in government grants. They're being funded by our tax dollars.

A bill has just been introduced in Congress to stop the fraudulent practices of fake clinics, but it desperately needs more support.

Tell your representative to take a stand: anti-choice extremists must not get away with this any longer!

Go to: http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/fake

FDA faces more questions on Plan B

The FDA faces more questions on Plan B Attorneys for a New York women's group plan to grill Food and Drug Administration officials this week about their failure to decide whether an emergency contraceptive pill called Plan B may be sold without a prescription.

Former FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford, Dr. Janet Woodcock, deputy operations commissioner, and Dr. Steven Galson, director of the FDA's drug evaluation center, are to testify in court-ordered depositions to be taken by attorneys for the Manhattan-based Center for Reproductive Rights Wednesday through Friday in Washington, D.C., and Rockville, Md.

The women's group seeks to force approval of over-the-counter sales of Plan B, which can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours after unprotected intercourse.

Simon Heller, one of the attorneys, plans to quiz Woodcock on a March 23, 2004, staff memo suggesting she was concerned Plan B might lead to teenage promiscuity.

The FDA is only supposed to consider the safety and efficacy of drugs.

In the memo released by the FDA, Dr. Curtis Rosebraugh, an agency medical officer, wrote: "As an example, she [Woodcock] stated that we could not anticipate, or prevent extreme promiscuous behaviors such as the medication taking on an 'urban legend' status that would lead adolescents to form sex-based cults centered around the use of Plan B."

Rosebraugh indicated he found no reason to bar nonprescription sales of Plan B.

"This was the level of scientific discourse," Heller said in an interview, referring to concerns attributed to Woodcock. "I find it very odd that these people who are supposed to be responsible scientists and doctors are making up wacky reasons."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Franklin Amanat, who represents the FDA, had no comment. FDA spokeswoman Susan Bro said, "It is against FDA policy to comment on pending litigation."

Conservative groups contend Plan B causes abortions and have lobbied against nonprescription sales. The manufacturer, Barr Laboratories of Pomona, N.Y., says it simply prevents pregnancy.

The FDA rejected Barr's application for Plan B nonprescription sales in May 2004. On May 6, 2004, Galson, now head of the FDA drug center, wrote in a memo: "Some staff have expressed the concern that this decision is based on non-medical implications of teen sexual behavior ... These issues are beyond the scope of our drug approval process, and I have not considered them in this decision."

In January 2005, the Center for Reproductive Rights sued the FDA in federal court in Brooklyn on behalf of two advocacy organizations and nine women from a group called the Morning-After Pill Conspiracy. The lawsuit alleges the FDA ignored a statutory deadline for a Plan B decision.

Last August, the FDA said it needed more time to consider a revised application from Barr to allow Plan B sales without a prescription to women 16 and older but with a prescription to girls 15 and younger. Dr. Susan F. Wood, the FDA's top women's health officer, then resigned in protest over the repeated delays.

In September, Dr. Frank Davidoff, editor emeritus of the Annals of Internal Medicine, resigned as consultant to the FDA's Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee - also over the Plan B issue. Davidoff served on the panel when it recommended over-the-counter sales of Plan B in 2003 - advice the FDA, in a rare move, did not follow.

In November, the Government Accountability Office said the FDA decided not to approve nonprescription sales of Plan B even before agency medical officers finished reviewing it. A group including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had requested the investigation of the FDA's handling of Plan B.

Man Indicted For Attack On Alabama Women's Clinic

A federal grand jury has indicted a man on charges of attacking an abortion clinic in Tuscaloosa.

Authorities say a car slammed into the front of the West Alabama Women's Center on January 19th. No was inside the building at the time, but a door and a wall were damaged.

Prosecutors say 43-year-old Dalton Ray Skinner of Tuscaloosa is charged with damaging a reproductive health clinic.

He could be sentenced to one year in prison and fined as much as 100-thousand dollars if convicted.

Officers from Tuscaloosa and Hale counties arrested Skinner.

http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=4823521&nav=8fap

Viagra Has A Higher Death Rate than RU486

The Washington Monthly wrote a brief article showing the death rate for RU486 and Viagra:

How dangerous is the "abortion pill"? Actually, it's not clear if it's killed anyone at all, but what if the worst is true and it turns out to be the culprit in all of the recent deaths in which it's been implicated?

Kerry Howley reports:
If Mifepristone turns out to be the cause of death in all five possible cases, (as one was ruled out completely) the pill's mortality rate will be under one in 100,000. Between 1988 and 1997 (before the abortion pill was approved) the mortality rate from legal induced abortion, according to the Centers for Disease Control, was 0.7 per 100,000.

....The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals cites a mortality rate of five per 100,000 for Viagra, the erectile dysfunction drug, and as Dr. Paul Blumenthal, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, puts it, "That's a risk men are willing to take to have erections."

How long do you think a conservative congressman would stay in office if he seriously spearheaded an effort to ban Viagra? Six months?

Again, even if that all 5 deaths proved to be linked to RU-486, the rate would be under 1 to 100,000. Viagra has a 5 to 100,000 rate.

Yet no one is crying to have Viagra yanked.

BTW: Viagra is prescribed to men far outside of reproductive age. Yet the "no sex outside of procreation" crew isn't speaking out about it or asking it be banned from use.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_04/008624.php

Hangers for a cause

The Mills Chapter of Choice USA held a Bring Your Own Wire Hanger party in the Student Union on Tuesday, April 4, 2006.

About 20 students attended the event to attach red ribbons, bearing the names of women who had died from illegal abortions, to wire hangers.

The hangers will be sent to South Dakota governor, Mike Rounds, in response to the legislation he signed last month that made nearly all abortions in his state illegal.

A table was set up for each step in the ribbon attaching process; there was a table for cutting the ribbons, a table for writing names on the ribbons, and a table for attaching the ribbons with hot glue to the wire hangers.

http://www.millsweekly.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/04/10/4437024b6416d

Hawaii Approves Additional Laws Protecting Reproductive Rights

Lawmakers in Hawaii recently passed legislation expanding abortion protections, aiming to keep abortion legal in Hawaii no matter what happens nationally. Hawaii legalized abortion in 1970, before Roe v. Wade, and privacy regarding reproductive choice is protected under the Hawaii State Constitution. The current legislation updates the 1970 law in two ways: it removes the requirement that women obtaining abortions in the state be residents of at least 90 days; and further clarifies that abortions may be performed in clinics and doctors’ offices outside of hospitals. Health regulations regarding abortion procedures and licensing remain in effect, reports The Hawaii Channel.

The Hawaii House and Senate passed the measure earlier this month, and it was sent to Governor Linda Lingle. She has a history of pro-choice positions, and is not expected to veto the law.

Its good to know that at least the rich daughters of the abstinence movement will have somewhere to get an abortion no matter what happens.

A Rightwing Utopia: Pro-Life Nation

Search warrants for vaginas, women chained to beds in intensive care units for the crime of abortion, laws that protect the fetus even when the life of the woman is at risk, women imprisoned for 30 to 50 years for the crime of abortion, the complete criminalization of abortion -- it sounds like the Handmaiden's Tale.

But it's reality in El Salvador today, a utopian nation in the eyes of South Dakota lawmakers and rightwingers everywhere.

If lawmakers succeed in defining abortion as murder, El Salvador is the logical outcome.

This Sunday's New York Times Magazine will have the story: Pro-Life Nation. You can hear an interview with the author at the link below. Try not to listen to it late at night, or you'll be rewarded with bone chilling freakin' nightmares.

Our crazed womb policing lawmakers need to be deluged with copies of this story. Better yet, every woman in America should hear about it, maybe then some of the mothers, daughters, sisters, wives and girlfriends of the womb police will finally start kicking some womb police ass. Talk about sleeping with the enemy!

Forensic Vagina Specialist (audio)
This Sunday's New York Times Magazine cover story will be a profile of a nation 8 years into the complete and total criminalization of abortion. No rape clause, no life of the mother clause. Nothing.
Air America's Rachel Maddow (if you don't listen to her you don't know what you're missing) interviews one of my favorite journalists Jack Hitt on his cover story (click orange buttons to listen or download).

What you find is a nation in a near-Handmaid's Tale dystopia where a mother of three is imprisoned for 30 years, where a woman must wait until her ectopic pregnancy bursts in her fallopian tubes to get surgery, where the mother of a pregnant woman can be prosecuted for giving aid and comfort to her daughter before, during or after an illegal abortion.

The title of this post? The folks who check vaginas for evidence of an abortion procedure. It's real.

But it can't happen here. The world is not a crazed place. And the Holocaust is a figment of your fanatical leftwing imagination.