During his “We Saw Your Boobs” song Seth MacFarlane listed off women who’s breasts he’d seen in their movies. As if this isn’t grotesque enough four of the instances he listed were scenes of rape or the character was raped during the movie.
- Hilary Swank in Boys Don’t Cry.
- Jodie Foster in The Accused.
- Jessica Chastain in Lawless.
- Charlize Theron in Monster.
![keepyourbsoutofmyuterus:
From Akin’s new website that features a giant fetus picture.
h/t @daveweigel on the “your.”
And as somuchdependsupon wrote, “‘ill-conceived.’ Is that a pun?”
[UPDATE: looks like the giant fetus picture is gone. Has Akin lost the fetus vote ALREADY?]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m94jb0waJH1qhb2nco1_500.png)
From Akin’s new website that features a giant fetus picture.
h/t @daveweigel on the “your.”
And as somuchdependsupon wrote, “‘ill-conceived.’ Is that a pun?”
[UPDATE: looks like the giant fetus picture is gone. Has Akin lost the fetus vote ALREADY?]
Republican Senators John McCain, Scott Brown, and Susan Collins all support an effort by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, to expand abortion access for military women who are raped. But despite bipartisan support in the Senate, Shaheen’s proposal may not make it into the final version of the 2013 defense authorization bill—because House Republicans oppose it.
If Shaheen’s measure passes, military families will finally have the same access to abortion that other federal employees already receive. Unlike the rest of the federal government, the Department of Defense currently only provides abortion coverage if the life of the mother is at stake. Under current law, if a State Department employee is raped, her government health insurance plan will pay for an abortion if she wants one. But if an Army medic serving in Afghanistan is raped and becomes pregnant, she can’t use her military health plan to pay for an abortion. If she does decide to get an abortion, she will have to pay for it with her own money. And if she can’t prove she was raped—which is difficult before an investigation is completed—she may have to look for services off base, which can be dangerous or impossible in many parts of the world.
“We have more than 200,000 women serving on active duty in our military,” Shaheen tells Mother Jones. “They should have the same rights to affordable reproductive health services as all of the civilians who they protect.”
That appears likely. A GOP staffer “familiar with defense issues” told Army Times last week that the Shaheen amendment “stands little chance of surviving” when the House and Senate meet to work out their differences on the defense bill. “Historically, social provisions that are not reflected in both bills heading into conference don’t survive,” the staffer said—conceding that the House version of the defense bill will not include anything like Shaheen’s proposal.
Shaheen says the story of a young woman stationed in Korea who was raped by a fellow soldier demonstrates why this law needs to be changed. The woman’s military health insurance wouldn’t cover an abortion, and she could not find a safe place to have one off base. In the end, she lost her job, and later had a miscarriage. “This is somebody who wanted to make the military her career, and she was ultimately forced out because of a situation that was not of her making,” Shaheen says. ”Most of the women affected here are enlisted women who are making about $18,000 a year. They’re young, they don’t have access to a lot of resources. Many of them are overseas.”
Current Pentagon policy is more restrictive than the 1976 Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds from being used to provide abortion services except in the case of rape, incest, or if the woman’s life is endangered. The DOD enacted its stricter, life-of-the-mother-only limit on abortions in 1979. In 1988, the law was tightened again—Congress now forbids women from using their own money to pay for abortions in military health centers unless they are a victim of rape or incest, or if their life is at risk.
The military reported 471 rapes of servicemembers in 2011 alone. The true number is likely far higher—the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office estimates that only about 13.5 percent of all rapes and sexual assaults in the military are actually reported. The Women’s Health and Rights Program at the Center for American Progress estimates that several hundred women in the military become pregnant as a result of rape each year.
But despite numerous reform efforts over the past several decades, including failed proposals in 2010 and 2011,the Pentagon’s strict anti-abortion policies endure today.
Support the troops!!!
(Minus the raped, pregnant ones, obviously.)
I’d like to describe Andrea Grimes and this post by using one of her favorite words: BALLER.
RH Reality Check set out to test the WHP’s non-Planned Parenthood provider listings over the past week and found that while initial searches of TexasWomensHealth.org turn up what appear to be hundreds of available providers, many of them don’t provide any kind of contraceptive care, don’t take Medicaid Women’s Health Program clients, or are simply misleading duplicate listings.
In Austin, for example, many WHP clients visit the Downtown Austin Clinic for contraceptives and cancer screenings. What if a resident of the 78702 zip code who formerly relied on Planned Parenthood had to suddenly find a new doctor?
We searched for providers within 30 miles of 78702, which turned up 137 doctors and clinics — initially, a very promising number. But once we weeded out the duplicates, we were left with just 49 individual providers, including those like the Austin Endoscopy Center. When we called to try to make a gynecological appointment there, we were understandably turned down: “This is a colon cancer center,” the operator told us. No women’s health care there.
Several times, locations listed on the Texas WHP website weren’t taking new Medicaid clients, were only taking those within a limited age range, or simply did not accept Medicaid Women’s Health Program patients. The People’s Community Clinic, which serves low-income and uninsured clients, told us they were only taking adolescents or pregnant women—and pregnant women are, by definition, excluded from the WHP.
The Austin Regional Clinic, which has several locations in Austin, looked promising until we were told, repeatedly, that they don’t accept Medicaid WHP clients—neither does the similarly situated Austin Diagnostic Clinic.
Ultimately, we were able to find nine providers within a 30-mile radius of our selected zip code that accepted the WHP and were taking new patients—some could see a patient for an annual exam as soon as the following day. Provided, of course, that clients are able to travel. The Lone Star Circle Of Care, which also focuses on under-served populations, had appointments in neighboring cities.
But for a WHP enrollee who may not have a car or who can’t afford to take a day or a half-day off from work, it may be a matter of having to make the difficult decision of choosing between several hours’ worth of pay—which could mean making rent or buying baby formula—or getting her annual exam.
And if Planned Parenthood is excluded from the WHP in Texas, there’s a good chance that WHP patients wouldn’t have the good luck we had in finding nine available providers if, as a George Washington University study predicts, existing providers simply will not be able to fill in the gaps left by Planned Parenthood.
[NB: More people than just cis women are affected by these draconian changes to the WHP.]
This is part of a decades-long pattern of domestic terrorism against abortion care and providers. Looking forward to the MSM ignoring this case like ALL THE OTHERS.
Investigators are still trying to determine what caused a fire at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic — the second suspicious fire at a Georgia reproductive clinic this week. No one was injured in the Wednesday morning fire that started on the third floor of the Cobb County clinic, which anti-abortion advocates regularly protest, according to local news reports. […]
On Sunday, a fire was reported at another clinic in Gwinnett County. In addition to the recent fires, women’s health clinics reported break-ins and stolen computer equipment in March after the Georgia legislature approved a restrictive bill preventing abortions after 20 weeks. Clinic workers said the thefts were attempts to intimidate doctors who perform abortions and fought against the bill. “They’re treating us like terrorists,” Richard Zane, whose Atlanta Women’s Health Center was burglarized, told a local Patch site.
Gov. Nathan Deal signed the 20-week ban, which has no exemption for cases of rape or incest, into law earlier this month.
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton of D.C. received 89 percent of the vote in her last election, yet anti-choice lawmakers refused to allow her to testify on a bill that specifically targets women in D.C.
This is another Sandra Fluke moment.
Oh, look, DC women being used as a political pawn by fucking assholes WHO DON’T LIVE HERE.
I PAY MY FUCKING TAXES, I WANT MY FUCKING REPRESENTATION.
Stay classy, Republicans. Stay classy.
KYBOOMU has been profiled on Ms. Magazine’s blog and I’m thrilled. I’d love for you all to read it. But what I truly dig about the post is the list of other repro rights blog that Avital (the author) included:
- Team Uterati, founded in 2012 by Imani Gandy (Angry Black Lady), aims to provide comprehensive up-to-date information about anti-choice, anti-women’s health and anti-reproductive rights legislative measures in various states. Gandy started Team Uterati as a “community-based organizing tool for feminists fighting for equal rights and reproductive justice.” The project, which is the first of its kind on the Internet, also contains a continually growing Wiki with resources, articles, databases and a forum.
- Abortion Gang: Abortion Gang’s website says it best: “We are unapologetic activists for reproductive justice.” The site discusses reproductive health and justice, and reminds us again and again that the personal truly is political.
- Bebinn: A collection of pro-choice information, rants and unrelated gifs, “for all your pro-choice needs!”
- Care2: An array of comprehensive coverage under the heading “Dispatches from the War on Women.”
- Huffington Post – Laura Bassett: HuffPo’s politics writer tackles both state and national reproductive rights news in a concise, easy-to-understand fashion.
- Prolonged Eye Contact: With articles and commentary on abortion and reproductive rights, this site, according to Jessica Luther, “is REALLY phenomenal at being inclusive in how they talk about repro rights.”
- Rabble: “Radically pro-choice” site that offers the tagline, “It’s pro-choice or NO choice.”
- Radical Doula: Almost defying categorization, Radical Doula is site run by activist Miriam Zoila Pérez, and connects the dots between reproductive rights, birth activism, doula work, LGBT issues, immigrant rights and racial justice.
- Reproductive Rights Prof Blog: This website keeps tabs on reproductive rights issues from legal and academic perspectives.
- RH Reality Check: The one-stop shop for breaking news and opinion on sexual and reproductive health and rights, with updates throughout the day.
- Shakesville: At Melissa McEwan’s one-stop shop for progressive and feminist news, bloggers Misty Clifton and Shark Fu have done a great job of keeping the Shakesville community informed and aware of various reproductive rights news.
The amazing @Momentumcon Closing Session: Sex in America. I can’t say enough about Dr. Joycelyn Elders and Esther Perel. Their speeches were so inspiring.
