New Studies Find 2 Parts of Abortion Pill Can Be Taken Together

Women can take the two components of the so-called "abortion pill" simultaneously, rather than 24 hours apart, as is typically done, a new study found.

And a second study found the drug is safe for late first-trimester abortions.

Both studies are published in the April issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

The first study found that giving mifepristone and misoprostol vaginally at the same time is at least as effective for abortion as spacing the doses 24 hours apart.

"It really gets down to convenience for the woman," said study author Dr. Mitchell Creinin, director of gynecologic specialties at the University of Pittsburgh. "We used to have a world where women who wanted to have medications for abortion would have to go through a process over multiple days. It (simultaneous dosing) gives women flexibility. It doesn't mean they need to do it this way, but it opens up a time window."

These studies are extremely important for women, because we all know that The Reich's assault on reproductive freedom has in fact restricted access to safe, legal abortions. These findings allow women who do not have access to surgical abortion (for an array of reasons) to have another option--an option all women should have.

Ugandan Lesbian Seeks Asylum For Fear of Her Life

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (AP) -- Olivia Nabulwala says her family in Uganda was so angry and ashamed to learn she was a lesbian that her relatives hurled insults at her, pummeled her and, finally, stripped her and held her down while a stranger raped her.

"I hated myself from that day," she said in a sworn statement. "I disliked my family for subjecting me to such torture, and yet they felt this was a good punishment for me."

Persecution based on sexual orientation has been grounds for asylum in the U.S. since the 1990s, but such cases are still rare. Most involve gay men persecuted by their government. There are few cases involving women, who are more likely to be persecuted by family members, said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, a gay rights group that represents immigrants.

Immigration Equality, based in New York, said that last year it won 18 asylum cases for gay men and transgender women from the Congo, Algeria, Jamaica, Russia, Egypt, Peru, Bangladesh, Venezuela and Colombia. It said it lost two such asylum cases.

Among some recent cases: A man who said he was beaten by Mexican police and threatened because he is gay won asylum in January. Another Mexican man was granted asylum in a 2000 appeals court ruling that extended protection to transvestites.

In 1990, a gay Cuban who said he was abused by government officials in his homeland won asylum in the first significant ruling of its kind in the U.S. That ruling became the basis for then-Attorney General Janet Reno's 1994 order allowing gays from other countries to seek asylum for persecution based on sexual orientation.

"For women, it's developed quite slowly," she added. "Around the world, women face harm, often severe harm, from the nearest and not so dearest."

"I was forced to have sex with a total stranger, which was very nasty, while my aunts watched in laughter," she says. "Afterwards, they all left me lying there in a lot of pain."

An immigration judge in Minnesota, where she now lives, said he did not doubt Nabulwala had suffered in Uganda because of her sexual orientation. But he ruled that the rape was a "private family mistreatment," and not sponsored or authorized by the government.

However, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the judge used the wrong legal standard, and ordered the case sent back for further proceedings on whether the Ugandan government was unwilling or unable to control the abuse, as Nabulwala contends.

The Catholic Cave-In

NEW YORK (AP) -- A planned Holy Week exhibition of a nude, anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ was canceled Friday amid complaints from Catholics, including Cardinal Edward Egan.

The "My Sweet Lord" display was shut down by the hotel that houses the Lab Gallery in Manhattan, said Matt Semler, the gallery's creative director. Semler said he resigned after officials at the Roger Smith Hotel shut down the show.

The 6-foot sculpture was the victim of "a strong-arming from people who haven't seen the show, seen what we're doing," Semler said. "They jumped to conclusions completely contrary to our intentions."

But word of the confectionary Christ infuriated Catholics, including Egan, who described it as "a sickening display."

Again, the holier than thou have layed down their judgment. On art, on freedom of expression, on the rights of us all. Are we in China? Are we not allowed to hold different views without being bullied into submission or silence?

Friday Top Ten Tracks

1. Crystal--Fleetwood Mac

2. Karma Police--Radiohead

3. Jane Says--Janes Addiction

4. Striptease--Hawksley Workman

5. Changes--David Bowie

6. Hurricane--Bob Dylan

7. Friday I'm In Love--The Cure

8. Black Grease--The Black Angels

9. While My Guitar Gently Weeps--George Harrison

10. Eclipse--Pink Floyd

Jesus melts in your mouth, not in your hand.

NEW YORK-The Easter season unveiling of an anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ, dubbed “My Sweet Lord” by its creator, has infuriated Catholics preparing to observe some of their holiest days of the year.

“This is one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever,” said Bill Donohue, head of the Catholic League, a watchdog group.

I would argue that priests sexually molesting children and those involved in the cover-up is the worst assault on Christian sensibility.

How about worrying about something that actually freaking matters, like violence against women or famine or war or HIV or child soldiers or global warming or child abuse.

It's a darn piece of chocolate. Eat up ya'll. Isn' that what you do every Sunday, with the symbolic eating of Christ's body and the drinking of his blood?

Does Anyone Have a Light?

He's a favorite guest speaker at meetings of the National Right to Life Committee. He's on the medical advisory council for the notorious Leslee Unruh's National Abstinence Clearinghouse, whence he expounds on such topics as the physical and emotional consequences of premarital sex.

He has said that "pre-marital sex is really modern germ warfare," that "sexual activity is a war zone," and that women "die emotionally" from having abortions.

That's right folks. It's the Bu$h appointee to the Office of Family Planning, Dr. Eric Keroake, who is an anti-birth control, abstinence-only robot who is the full-time medical director for A Woman's Concern, a chain of Boston area crisis pregnancy centers, where he spreads all the usual lies about abortion and was one of the "experts" who determined that federally funded abstinence education programs must mention contraceptives only in relation to their failure rates and promote abstinence until marriage.

The buzz is he plans to resign. I think I need a cigarette.

Schafly States Married Women Can't Be Raped.

Old Bag Phyllis Schafly's appearance at Bates College yesterday has stirred hysteria amongst women's rights advocates.

Last night at Bates College, Phyllis Schlafly gave a lecture titled, "Conservatism vs. Feminism: The Great Debate" where at one point she contended that a woman can't get raped by her husband: "By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don't think you can call it rape."

Sure you can. I said NO.

And actually, by getting married I'm consenting to marriage not violation.

For nearly two hours, she belittled the feminist movement as "teaching women to be victims," decried intellectual men as "liberal slobs" and argued that feminism "is incompatible with marriage and motherhood."

Bag-O-Bones Scafly also asserted women should not be permitted to do jobs traditionally held by men, such as firefighter, soldier or construction worker, because of their "inherent physical inferiority."

FYI: During the 1970s and 1980s, Schlafly played an integral role in defeating the proposed Equal Rights Amendment.

TX Lawmaker Offers A Choice: Abortion or $500. That's What He Calls Choice???

Texas lawmaker offers choice: Abortion or $500

• Proposed law would pay $500 to women who choose adoption
• Critics say plan would violate laws against buying babies
• Lawmaker also is a conservative radio talk show host

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas (Reuters) -- A Texas legislator has proposed that pregnant women considering abortion be offered $500 not to end their pregnancies.

Republican State Sen. Dan Patrick, who also is a conservative radio talk show host, said Friday the money might persuade the women to go ahead and have babies, then give them up for adoption.

He said during a legislative conference in New Braunfels, 45 miles south of Austin, there were 75,000 abortions in Texas last year.

"If this incentive would give pause and change the mind of 5 percent of those women, that's 3,000 lives. That's almost as many people as we've lost in Iraq," Patrick said.Patrick has filed legislation to make the payment state law, but the legislature has not voted on it.

His proposal calls for giving any woman going to an abortion clinic the $500 option, to be paid no more than 30 days after the baby is born and given up for adoption.

Critics say the proposal would violate Texas and federal laws against buying babies, which Patrick rejected as "the typical ridiculous criticism.

"Heather Paffe, political director of Planned Parenthood of Texas, said Patrick's proposal "is very cynical and insulting to women and their families."

"It's insulting to think women would make that kind of decision so easily," she said.

FL House Council Passes 24 Hour Waiting Period

TALLAHASSEE — Women who want an abortion in Florida would be forced to wait at least 24 hours before a physician could perform the procedure, under a provision approved by a House council Tuesday.

The provision, tacked onto a bill intended to tighten parental notification requirements for minors seeking abortions, would require a 24-hour waiting period between the time a woman discusses the procedure with her doctor and the time it's performed. It would not apply to women with medical emergencies.

The waiting period drew fire Tuesday from women's advocacy groups such as Planned Parenthood, which said it is "uncalled for" and has no place in a bill about parental notification.

"These women have thought through their decision before they walk through the clinic doors," said Staci Fox, who represented the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates at Tuesday's council meeting. "It's inappropriate and uncalled for."

Rep. Anthony Traviesa, R-Tampa, who sponsored the bill (HB 1497), said he's been visited by women in his legislative district who say delay is needed to give them time to "digest" information about alternatives.

Traviesa said many of the women he's spoken with are going into the clinics under "very stressful" situations, and that he's heard from women whose boyfriends told them "not to come out" of the clinic until the procedure was complete.

"That is not an environment or a situation conducive to a health decision for a woman," Traviesa said. "This would prevent that from being able to occur."

But critics say the requirement could have life-threatening consequences, by creating "a barrier to earlier, therefore safer, abortion care." And women in rural areas would be forced to take time off from work and travel lengthy distances several times before the procedure could be performed.

"Mandatory delays impose additional burdens for a woman, especially if she lives in a rural area and has to travel a significant distance to reach a health-care provider," Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America said in statement Tuesday. "Politicians should not interfere in personal, private medical decisions that are between a woman and her doctor."

Twenty-one other states, including Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama, already require a 24-hour waiting period. Three other states have approved other, shorter wait times, according to NARAL's Web site.

In Florida, women receive three to four hours of counseling before receiving an abortion, Fox said.

Voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2004 authorizing the legislature to require parental notification for girls younger than 18. The law allows judges to waive the notification.

Under the bill approved Tuesday, courts would be required to appoint a guardian ad litem for girls seeking a waiver. Before grating a waiver, judges would also be required to consider whether the girl is mature enough to make a decision about an abortion; whether she is well-informed; her ability to explain the "medical consequences of terminating her pregnancy;" her age; intelligence; and emotional development. Judges would also have to consider whether anyone else influenced the girl's decision.

Union Pacific wins contraceptive ruling

Union Pacific Railroad's policy of not covering contraceptives in its health plan didn't discriminate against women, the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.

The railroad prevailed on appeal because its policy does not cover any contraceptives for men or women, so the court agreed Union Pacific did not violate the federal Civil Rights Act.

"Union Pacific's health plans do not cover any contraception used by women such as birth control, sponges, diaphragms, intrauterine devices or tubal ligations or any contraception used by men such as condoms and vasectomies," the court panel said in its 2-1 ruling. "Therefore, the coverage provided to women is not less favorable than that provided to men."

A federal judge in Omaha ruled in June 2005 that Union Pacific discriminated against women by denying them coverage of contraceptives. The lawsuit, backed by Planned Parenthood, alleges the policy violates the federal Civil Rights Act.

One of the three appeals court judges filed a dissenting opinion because he believes Union Pacific's plan does discriminate. That dissent could fortify an appeal of Thursday's ruling, and the issue may be addressed by Congress.

U.S. Judge Kermit Bye said Union Pacific's policy affects only women because men cannot become pregnant, and that makes the railroad's policy discriminatory even though it is officially gender neutral.

Bye pointed out that Union Pacific's health plan covers some preventive medications used only by men. But he said the plan fails to cover contraception, which can be considered preventive care for women.

"Women are uniquely and specifically disadvantaged by Union Pacific's failure to cover prescription contraception," Bye wrote.

Union Pacific spokesman James Barnes said the railroad was pleased with the court ruling because it validated UP's policy.

"However, independently we decided to provide the coverage and have no plans to take it away," Barnes said.

The railroad added contraceptive coverage after the lower court ruled against Union Pacific in 2005.

The plaintiffs' attorney Roberta Riley said she was disappointed with the ruling.

"It's a big shove backward for women's health," Riley said.

The lead plaintiffs in the class-action were two Union Pacific employees: 27-year-old Brandi Standridge, a trainman and engineer from Pocatello, Idaho, and 34-year-old Kenya Phillips, an engineer who lives near Kansas City, Mo.

Riley said contraceptives are part of basic and essential health care for women. She has said that without contraception the average woman would become pregnant between 12 and 15 times in her lifetime.

And in this case, fairness was an issue, Riley said, because Union Pacific offered a generous health plan that would cover drugs such as Rogaine for hair loss and Viagra for erectile disfunction but not birth control pills.

Riley said the plaintiffs have not decided whether to appeal Thursday's ruling from the 8th Circuit Court, which is the highest court to rule on the issue so far.

But regardless of whether the court case moves forward, Riley said groups concerned about contraceptives may try to persuade federal lawmakers to act.

"We certainly think this is a very strong call to action for Congress," Riley said.

Riley told the appeals court in November the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said contraception is one of the top 10 public health accomplishments of the 20th century because it saves women's lives.

Omaha-based Union Pacific Corp. operates Union Pacific Railroad. It is the largest railroad in North America, covering 23 states.

Mississippi passes what-if abortion bill

JACKSON, Miss. - The governor signed a bill Thursday that would criminalize abortion in the event that the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the 1973 decision that legalized the procedure.

The measure, signed by Gov. Haley Barbour, would ban nearly all abortions in the state if the court were to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In that event, anyone performing an illegal abortion in Mississippi would face one to 10 years in prison.

The bill also tightens consent laws for minors and requires abortion providers to perform a sonogram and give the pregnant woman an opportunity to listen to a fetal heartbeat.

The only exceptions to the state ban would be in cases of rape or if the pregnancy threatened the woman's life. The bill has no exception for pregnancies caused by incest.

Thanks for my baby, Daddy.

Proponents of the bill say the ultimate goal is to one day challenge Roe v. Wade. Anti-abortion activists and some lawmakers believe that with the recent appointments of new, conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade could be overturned.

Mississippi is one of many states revisiting the abortion debate. South Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill that would require women to view ultrasound images of their fetuses.

Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) in North Carolina

“[A]ll condoms are defective and have slots and holes in them.” (Alamance Pregnancy Services, Burlington)

“[Abortion is] horrifying, ruins your life, devastating.” (Birthright of Winston-Salem, Winston-Salem)

These aren’t facts, though two different counselors at different so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs) right here in North Carolina tell women they are. For years, NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina has worked to expose CPCs, which mislead pregnant women with scare tactics designed to dissuade them from choosing abortion.

And now, thanks to an article in Time Magazine, we have a unique opportunity to show what goes on at these unlicensed and unregulated organizations.

Continue reading "Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) in North Carolina"

Sure it's available, but is it accessible?

Connecticut State Rep. Deborah Heinrich (D-Madison) has been a strong advocate for emergency contraception for rape victims in Connecticut. Yesterday, in a press conference that preceded hearings on the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Act, shared with the press and her colleagues that she had been a victim of rape and wanted to ensure that other rape victims would not have to live with the fear of pregnancy following rape because some hospitals refused to carry emergency contraception.

BOO South Carolina!

On Thursday, South Carolina legislators ratified a constitutional amendment officially banning gay marriage.

More “protection” for pregnant teens

A new bill would require Florida doctors to call the police on pregnant teens—under the rhetoric of protecting them, of course.

Abortion providers would also be required to collect a DNA sample from girls under 16 who end a pregnancy, as well as from the aborted fetus.

The bill’s architects say it’s aimed at protecting young girls from sexual abusers, including family members. The DNA could help police identify the person who impregnated the girl, and help prosecutors convict him of sexual abuse.

“If she’s the victim of some sort of crime, then we are going to stop that and we are going to go after (the abuser),” said Sen. Ronda Storms, one of the sponsors of the bill.

Never mind that her privacy is being violated and that the bill’s intention is to scare young women away from seeking care.

“This bill will scare young girls and their parents from seeking health care at the time they need the care the most,” said Lillian Tamayo, president of the Planned Parenthood chapter in South Florida.

“If you are a 15-year-old and in love, and you get pregnant, and you know that going to the doctor may result in having your 15-year-old boyfriend thrown in jail, what is the likelihood you are going to seek care?” asked Tamayo. “It criminalizes sexual activity among minors.”

Right…which really is the point, after all.

Missouri governor cuts cancer-screening funds

Missouri's governor has rescinded a years-long contract with Planned Parenthood to fund cervical and breast cancer screening to low-income women because "Patients should not have to go to an abortion clinic to access lifesaving tests," Blunt said in a written statement.

Except for the fact that the affected clinics don't even provide abortions. They do, however, provide cervical and breast cancer screenings -- about 1,500 a year.

Blunt's timing is awful. Missouri is one of several states considering a bill to make the HPV vaccine (which prevents some types of cervical cancer) a school-entry requirement.

If they want to defuse some of the tension over the HPV vaccine, they should seriously step up the public funding for cervical cancer screenings and regular reproductive health care for low-income women.

Fool Me Once McCain At It Again

Senator John McCain stumbled his way through a recent interview when the subject of contraception came up. The whole clumsy mess is after the jump.

Continue reading "McCain: "Stumped" on contraception"

What a tool.

Link-A-Dink

If you suck it, you must fuck it.
A court in South Australia has ruled that a man can't rape and have consensual sex with a woman in same sexual encounter. I guess now Australia and Maryland have something in common.

The REAL Act, which would require federally-funded sex ed to be comprehensive and medically accurate, was introduced in the House and Senate.

The L.A. Times follows up their recent story on state funding of crisis-pregnancy centers with a piece today on how anti-choicers are making more effort to reach out to black women.

Bush has nominated Richard Honaker, a Wyoming lawyer who's written some truly awful anti-choice legislation, to a U.S. District Court judgeship.

The Catholic Chuch is pushing the limits of Mexican law in fighting the liberalization of abortion rights in Mexico City.

HPV vaccine legislation failed in Florida, is California, Colorado and Georgia. Plus, the Texas legislature moved one step closer to overturning Gov. Rick Perry's mandatory vaccination order. In light of all this, I have a piece at the Guardian's Comment Is Free about the HPV backlash.

The Supreme Court decides not to review a sexual harassment case.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland yanks funding for abstinence-only education, and a blogger critiques the news coverage.

The National Partnership for Women and Families is calling on the Justice Department to review its policies and practices to ensure it's not penalizing employees for being pregnant or taking parental leave.

This is a truly awful story from Florida about street harassment turning into full-on assault.
A woman was walking down the street, and chose to ignore the catcalls some asshole was yelling at her as he drove past. Apparently he thought he was so entitled to her attention that he turned the truck around and ran her over. In other words, "that's what you get for ignoring me, bitch."

Check out this latest video of a purity ball in Colorado. Hymens in tow.

The Associated Press reports that prices for the birth control pills are doubling and tripling at student health centers on college campuses.

Sen. Dan Patrick, a Republican talk-radio host from Houston and opponent of women's repro rights, is proposing a bill that would pay women $500 for giving their babies up for adoption rather than having abortions. Reminds me of those bastards that offered women of color to consent to sterilization.

Conservatives panic over teaching teenage girls about their bodies.

Are pro-choice cartoons being shut out of editorial pages?

Conservative Baptist leader Albert Mohler wants to test for homosexuality in utero.

South Carolina forces women to see ultrasound before abortion

A bill approved in the South Carolina House this week would force women to see a fetal ultrasound before they have abortions.

After three hours of passionate debate, the House voted 91-23 to require women to sign a statement swearing they had seen an ultrasound image of their fetus before getting an abortion.

And if you had any doubt that this law was about punishing women, and somehow making them “face” their transgression, check this out:

Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, railed against Republicans for opposing his amendment to exempt victims of rape and incest from the required ultrasound viewing.

This logic goes to show that this isn’t about making sure women are informed—it’s about punishing them. So women who were raped shouldn’t have to have their noses rubbed in their pregnancies and be punished any further--that’s just for the “bad” women who wanted to have sex. Eh.

Fool-Me-Once McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned

The man who once called Jerry Fallwell and the lot "evil-doers" is now bending over for his vote. After a speech at Fallwell's high atop the holy mountain college last year, he is now reaching out again...for the vote. Screw off McCain. You were once considered the ONLY rational Republican we had, now you had to go and take your mask off. Now you are attempting to play both sides. Pick a side bitch and have the ovaries to stand by it.

Mind you, McCain is on record supporting Roe in the past. Don't be fooled as we all were before, on his supposed moderate views, cause when it comes down to it: he's a lying Goon hypocrite...or as Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating states: "McCain is the "only candidate who is a true-blue, Ronald Reagan conservative." Certainly something to keep in mind when thinking of women's rights, the economy, the disintegration of the middle-class, etc...Let's not forget that Reagan coined the term "Welfare Queen" when speaking of black women having multiple babies. Reagan enforced the "Global Gag Rule". Just don't get me started on why being compared to Reagan is nothing to smile about.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, looking to improve his standing with the party's conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.

"I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned," the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.

McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who "strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench."

The landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade gave women the right to choose an abortion to terminate a pregnancy. The Supreme Court has narrowly upheld the decision, with the presence of an increasing number of more conservative justices on the court raising the possibility that abortion rights would be limited.

Social conservatives are a critical voting bloc in the GOP presidential primaries.

McCain's campaign also announced early Sunday that he had been endorsed by former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, who had been considering his own bid for the White House, and former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, who failed in his bid for the Republican nomination in 1996.

Keating told the crowd that McCain is the "only candidate who is a true-blue, Ronald Reagan conservative."

McCain later attended an evening rally promoting an abstinence program. He told the crowd of more than 1,000 teens and parents that young people have pressures far different from the ones he faced while growing up. "Sometimes I've made the wrong choice," McCain said.

He also talked about his experience as a prisoner of war during Vietnam, and described some of the torture he suffered. His captors "wanted to make us do things that we otherwise wouldn't do," including confessing to war crimes, McCain said.

He and fellow prisoners were beat up for practicing their religion, but they continued to do it. "Sometimes it is very difficult to do the right thing," he said.

McCain has strong name recognition and the largest network of supporters in South Carolina. That backing comes in part from his staunch support for the Iraq war, something on which he focused a day earlier in Iowa. But it's the same state that dealt a crushing blow to his presidential aspirations in 2000.

McCain is trying to build support among conservatives after a recent rebuke from Christian leader James Dobson, who said he wouldn't back McCain's presidential bid. Conservatives question McCain's opposition to a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. He opposes same-sex marriage, but says it should be regulated by the states.

Bu$h Attacks Women's Health Yet Again

In an appalling move made by the Bu$h MISadministration, the Office of Women's Health, a division within the FDA, had its budget slashed by 30 percent. The Office of Women's Health produces valuable health information and funds research to ensure that women receive the most appropriate drug doses and treatments. As you may remember, this was the office at the center of the debate to allow Plan B emergency contraception (EC) to be available over the counter. Why did this happen?

According to the Washington Post: "Women's health advocates inside and outside the agency suspect they are witnessing, at least in part, a long-anticipated payback for the trouble the office stirred during the prolonged debate over nonprescription sales of Plan B. Taking a position that chafed the administration's conservative base, the office had stood up for scientific research that had backed the safety and appropriateness of such sales." This incident is the just the latest attack on women's health and safety by the Bu$h MISadministration.

Help refugee women forced into marriage gain asylum

"Li" is a young woman who fled China after her parents paid off their debts by selling her to an abusive man. Li objected to this arrangement, but was unable to break off the marriage or to pay back the money.

Li fled to the U.S. and sought asylum, but the immigration agency rejected her claim and ordered her deported back to China, asserting that her plight was just a "personal problem."
Last year a federal Court of Appeal found Li eligible for asylum, recognizing that young Chinese women sold into marriage, where such sales are valid and enforceable by the government, should qualify as refugees.

Now, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering reversing this decision, claiming that hundreds of millions of women in arranged marriages will seek asylum in the U.S. - a totally unfounded claim which has been refuted again and again. The DOJ is currently deciding whether to ask the US Supreme Court to intervene and order Li deported back to her persecutor in China.

Please TAKE ACTION:

click here now to contact Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and urge him to uphold the decision that human beings cannot be bought and sold, and that forced marriage is a valid basis for granting asylum. Tell the Department of Justice not to seek Supreme Court reversal of the Second Circuit's decision in Li's case.

Girls Who Said 'Vagina' During Monologues Suspended

VAGINA, VAGINA, VAGINA!!!




CROSS RIVER, N.Y. -- A public high school has suspended three 16-year-old girls who disobeyed officials by saying the word "vagina" during a reading from "The Vagina Monologues."

Their defiant stand is being applauded by the author of the well-known feminist play, who said Tuesday that the school should be celebrating, rather than punishing, the three juniors.

"Don't we want our children to resist authority when it's not appropriate and wise?" said author Eve Ensler.

The three honor students, Megan Reback, Elan Stahl and Hannah Levinson, included the word because "we knew it was the right thing to do. Since we're comfortable saying it, we should make other people comfortable saying it," Levinson said.

The excerpt from "Monologues" was read Friday night, among various readings at an event sponsored by the literary magazine at John Jay High School in Cross River, a New York City suburb. Among the other readings was a student's original work and the football coach quoting Shakespeare.

The girls took turns reading the excerpt until they came to the word, then said it together.

"My short skirt is a liberation flag in the women's army," they read. "I declare these streets, any streets, my vagina's country."

The suspension has prompted allegations of censorship. But Principal Richard Leprine said Tuesday that the girls were punished not because of what they said but because they disobeyed orders not to say it.

In a statement, Leprine said that because the event was open to the community, including children, the word "vagina" was not appropriate. He said the girls had been told when they auditioned that they could not use the word.

Reback said Tuesday that no one in the audience was younger than high school age. "What did we do that was so wrong?" she asked. "We were insubordinate, but the reason we were insubordinate was that we talked about our body."

The principal said that the school respects students' right to freedom of expression. "That right, however, is not unfettered.

"When a student is told by faculty members not to present specified material because of the composition of the audience and they agree to do so, it is expected that the commitment will be honored and the directive will be followed," Leprine said. "When a student chooses not to follow the directive, consequences follow."

Bob Lichtenfeld, superintendent of the Katonah-Lewisboro school district, which includes John Jay, said, "If the high school students wanted to put on a production of 'The Vagina Monologues,' they probably wouldn't have had any opposition. As long as the intended audience knows what to expect, we don't have a problem with it."

Ensler said the girls were right for "standing up for art and against censorship."

"The school's position is absurd, a throwback to the Dark Ages," she said. "So what, if children were to hear the word? Would that be terrible? We're not talking about plutonium here, or acid rain, a word that destroys lives. It's a body part!"

She said she called the girls to support them because "the school put them in an impossible position."

The girls said they had the support of their parents. "To me, they were reciting literature in an educational forum and they did it with grace and dignity," said Dana Stahl, Elan Stahl's mother.

The girls will all serve one-day, in-school suspensions, beginning Wednesday.

"The Vagina Monologues," presented as various women's thoughts about sexual subjects, has become a phenomenon since its Off-Broadway opening in 1996. All-star readings are common and on "V-Day" each year, usually Feb. 14, local volunteers, college students and a few high schools produce benefit performances of the play to raise funds to battle violence against women. The "V-Day" Internet site says there were more than 2,700 such events last year.

Performances occasionally provoke controversy.

Conservative Catholics criticized the University of Notre Dame's decision to allow a performance on campus last April. This year, student planners couldn't get an academic sponsor.

Last month, a board member of a central Kentucky historic theater quit after objecting to the theater's marquee advertising "The Vagina Monologues."

Pic of the day

The Unkindest Cut

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has inflicted pain, illness and death for 2,000 years. Today, nearly 140 million women and girls globally have endured this so-called cultural tradition. The pain lasts, intensifies, recurs: at the cutting, at sexual contact, at childbirth. And that's if the woman doesn't die first, as 35 percent do, from such immediate or long-term complications as fistulas. Those who survive suffer emotional trauma as drastic as the physical pain.

Sometimes euphemized as "female circumcision," FGM is defined by the World Health Organization as procedures removing the entirety or parts of the external female genitalia. Attributed to various faiths but transcending religious/social/ethnic traditions, FGM is prevalent in Somalia, where approximately 98 percent of women undergo cutting, often by untrained practitioners. It's also common in some other African countries, and sporadically practiced in the Middle East.

Less known is that FGM was common in the United States and United Kingdom until the 1950s, prescribed as a cure for such "female deviancies" as lesbianism, masturbation, nymphomania and even epilepsy. In 1996, after decades of feminist lobbying, Congress passed legislation making it crime to perform FGM on a minor.

But some immigrant populations are reviving the practice. It's estimated that in one year, nearly 200,000 women in the U.S. will be cut, plus 22,000 in the U.K. Laws must be strengthened, and better enforced (in the U.S., those performing FGM can receive a maximum of five years' imprisonment and/or a fine). Furthermore, women in these communities sometimes defend the procedure, so there is need for support and education about FGM's health-destroying, even fatal, effects.

For decades, Ghanaian activist Efua Dorkenoo, founder of FORWARD (Foundation for Women's Health Research & Development), a London-based NGO, has campaigned to eradicate FGM. Awarded an Order of the British Empire in 1994, her greatest success has been in the U.K., where a law prohibits FGM and has greatly increased awareness among health professionals. Following Dorkenoo's lead, nurse Comfort Momoh—chair of London's Black Women's Health and

Family Support—counsels survivors. She warns that it is delicate, yet critical, to address immigrant communities about the procedure, while using language understood in their cultures. Momoh compiled Female Genital Mutilation, a book of information and personal stories. "[M]y friends...said that they did not want to play with me because I was not done; or that I was unclean," wrote one anonymous Somali woman, "so I put pressure on my mother to have myself done."

Attitudes are changing about FGM, especially on the African continent. But there's a long way to go—including in the U.S. This past November, Khalid Adem, an Ethiopian immigrant in Lawrenceville, Ga., was convicted of having scissored off his 2-year-old daughter's clitoris in 2001. Although federal law bans FGM, many states lack laws addressing it directly. Georgia legislators, prodded by the girl's mother and women's groups, passed an anti-mutilation law in 2005. But since that law hadn't existed when his daughter was cut, Adem was convicted of aggravated battery and cruelty to children, and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. It is believed to be the first such criminal case in the United States

Stop a woman from being executed by stoning!

On Saturday, January 27, 2007, Iran's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Delara Darabi for a second time. Delara, who is now 20 years old, faces death by public hanging for a murder that took place when she was 17 years old. According to newspaper and court reports, after murdering a woman related to Delara, Delara's 19 year old boyfriend, Amir Hossein, convinced Delara to admit responsibility for the murder to protect him from execution. Apparently, both teenagers believed that because Delara was under the age of 18, she could not be sentenced to death. This belief proved to be devastatingly false.

With complete disregard for its obligations under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and despite overwhelming evidence of Delara's innocence, as well as the teenager's repeated denials about having had any role in the commission of the crime, a court in the city of Rasht found the girl-child guilty of murder based solely on her initial claim of responsibility and sentenced her to death by hanging. Since that ruling, the Islamic regime has repeatedly demonstrated patent disregard for its promises to the international community and to the rights of Iranian children by upholding Delara's death sentence.

Until recently, Delara had proven to be a remarkably poised young prisoner with an amazing talent for painting and drawing. She had used her gift to compile a diary of her pain as a child prisoner on death row. From the dark confines of her prison cell, Delara produced an impressive collection of paintings that speak of the horrors of prison, of torture, of beatings, of hopelessness, loneliness, and the loss of a child's innocence. They are haunting images of injustice and brutality. They are the stories of the innocent women and children of Iran, shackled by the injustices of a brutal regime. They are a teenager's diary of crimes against humanity committed by the very government that should serve as her protector, but is, instead, her jailer and her executioner.

In retaliation to exposing their horrifying crimes, the officials of the Islamic regime took away the only remaining outlet of Delara's pain: They confiscated her painting materials. When Delara used coal and whatever else she could find to paint her pain on the walls of her prison, they subjected the young artist -- nicknamed "prisoner of colors" -- to brutal forms of emotional and physical abuse. They banned her from painting altogether, and they prevented her from having any visitors or contacting her lawyer except for twice a month briefly by phone. Their abuse proved too much for young Delara, who, true to her sensitive disposition as an artist, wears her pain woefully close to the surface of her skin.

On January 20, 2007, Delara attempted suicide by cutting her wrists.

Fortunately, her cell-mate noticed the incident and called for help. Delara's emaciated body was rushed to the hospital, where, by what can only be deemed a miracle, doctors were able to revive her and bring her back to life. As of the date of this letter, Delara remains in critical condition and weighs only 35 kilos. Her family and those close to her case are extremely worried about her health, both physically and emotionally.

The silent screams of innocent girls like Delara must be acknowledged by each and every one of us. We MUST express our outrage, voice our anger, and show our support to those who can not speak for themselves. Anything less would be less than human, less than American, and most certainly, less than Persian.

As humans with a conscious and a heart, we owe this to young Delara and to every innocent life that is subjected to the brutalities of an evil regime. We owe this to the daughters of Cyrus the Great. We owe this to humanity .

Please express your outrage and stand up for the rights of a girl-child who can not stand up for herself by signing this petition:

Petition: SIGN NOW!

YOUR SILENCE ONLY SERVES AS A REINFORCEMENT OF DELARA'S DEATH SENTENCE.

Here is a look at a woman preparing for her death by stoning.

Abortion Rally in Tally!

During the November election last year, the people of South Dakota rejected a proposed abortion ban in their state. While running for governor in Florida, Charlie Crist said that he would sign a similar bill into law if given the chance. Given the fact that state legislatures all over the country are rushing to outlaw abortion (including our neighbor Georgia), we consider this a serious threat that requires a serious response from the women of Florida!Nine other states have proposed total or near total abortion bans already this legislative session.

Join us in telling Florida Governor Charlie Crist that we won't be next! We are gathering petition signatures from people across the state to bring to Tallahassee on Friday, April 13. Our petition warns Crist and other Florida politicians not to touch our abortion rights, and it demands that women have access to abortion and contraception as a matter of basic justice—no restrictions, no judgments, no apologies—just birth control when we want it.

SIGN THE PETITION!
www.gainesvillenow.org

Kroger pharmacist refused 'morning after' pill

ATLANTA - Kroger Co. said Friday it was reiterating its drug policies to all of its pharmacists after a Georgia woman claimed she was denied the so-called “morning after” pill at one of the company’s stores.

The Cincinnati-based grocery chain said if its pharmacists object to fulfilling a request, the store must “make accommodations to have that prescription filled for our customer.”
“We believe that medication is a private patient matter,” said Meghan Glynn, a Kroger spokeswoman. “Our role as a pharmacy operator is to furnish medication in accordance with the doctor’s prescription or as requested by a patient.”

Abortion rights activists in Georgia planned to announce a statewide campaign Friday to raise awareness about the contraceptive. It planned to focus on the story of Carrie Baker, who said a Kroger pharmacist in her hometown of Rome, Ga., would not give her the contraceptive.
Sold as Plan B, emergency contraception is a high dose of the drug found in many regular birth-control pills. It can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

Girls 17 and younger still need a prescription to buy the drug, which the FDA made available over-the-counter to adults in August.

Supporters of the drug say widespread availability will cut down on unwanted pregnancies and abortions.

Critics argue it encourages promiscuity and unprotected sex and some consider it related to abortion, although it is different from the abortion pill RU-486.
Major pharmacy chains such as CVS Corp., Rite-Aid Corp. and Walgreen Co. also have pledge to ensure that customers can buy Plan B, even if one employee declines to provide service for reasons of conscience.

Coming Soon!

Listen folks. Obviously, I have been unable these past months to blog. I miss it very much. But...I am now able to devote more time to blogging the lies and hypocracy of the Reich.
Beginning tomorrow, there will be some fresh postings to consider, dialogue to share with your friends, and hopefully something will infuriate you.
Thanks for all your patience during this time, it's truly meant alot to me.
Please check back soon!

I'm Back!

After a much needed hiatus, I am back to blog. I have since moved, began a new job, wrote a book and am curently attempting to get my blog up and running as it once was. Thanks to all your lovely comments and PLEASE visit back. I know it's been a while. I also know some of you have my blog bookmarked. Check back soon, I am not gone I promise!