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Population Institute grades states based on women’s reproductive rights
If you could grade your state when it comes to its reproductive rights record, would it even pass?
That’s what the Population Institute set to find out. Despite the Affordable Care Act’s significant impact on women, America lags behind when it comes to ensuring women’s reproductive rights are protected. Half of all pregnancies in this country are unintended, and our teen pregnancy rate is higher than most developed countries. Family planning clinics have become the Republican Party’s new punching bag, while ludicrous laws regulating everything from water fountains to the size of janitor closets are being used to shut down clinics, under the guise of “safety.” Because nothing makes me feel more protected than knowing that brooms are stored comfortably.
Thanks to the GOP’s quest to take away women’s right to bodily autonomy, many states in America are failing when it comes to women’s health. The Population Institute, a non-profit organization that specializes in reproductive health, gave the United States a C- grade in its latest report. That means if America was a student, it would probably need to be grounded by its parents.
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99% of women who had an abortion don’t regret it.
Many anti-abortion advocates argue many women regret their abortions because of post-abortion syndrome, an alleged post-traumatic stress disorder which affects those who have terminated a pregnancy. However, according to a new study from the University of California, San Francisco, as many as 99% of respondents who underwent the procedure reported it “was the right decision.” In fact, any negative emotions were a result of external factors, not internal ones.
The Supreme Court has voted to keep Texas abortion clinics open
Pro-choice activists are celebrating today: The Supreme Court announced that it will allow nine Texas abortion clinics to remain open until the justices can hear an appeal ordering them to close. Unfortunately, this is only a partial victory and maintains a troubling situation for Texas women.
The pro-choice movement scores a major win in Arkansas
In February 2013, Arkansas passed the strictest abortion ban in the country, a bill that made it illegal for women to receive an abortion after 12 weeks if doctors could detect a heartbeat. Two doctors challenged the bill in the lower courts, which prevented it from ever going into effect. But its supporters were fighting to have it reinstated.
Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown says abortion shouldn’t be his party’s “litmus test”
- Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Rep. Ben Ray Luján sparked controversy on Tuesday after declaring that the party wouldn’t make holding pro-choice views a “litmus test” for Democratic candidates.
- Though many pro-choice Democrats decried Luján’s comments as marginalizing women’s rights, his controversial stance was reinforced on Sunday by the head of one of the country’s most liberal states: Jerry Brown, the Democratic governor of California.
- In an interview Sunday on Meet the Press, Brown said that the Democrats’ litmus test should not be abortion or women’s rights, but rather how a candidate treats “the common man.” Read more. (8/6/2017 2:01 PM)
1 in 3 women will have an abortion — and these stickers are fighting the stigma
This week, activists on 75 college campuses created a “pop-up” sticker project, in collaboration with the 1 in 3 campaign, campaign director Julia Reticker-Flynn told Mic. The stickers, which included women’s real stories of abortion in English and Spanish, were posted in
high-traffic spaces on their campuses to spark personal dialogues about the role abortion plays in women’s lives. But not everyone was OK with the stickers.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, more statewide abortions restrictions have been passed over the past four years than ever before. These restrictions make getting an abortion nearly impossible, especially for low-income women, who are overwhelmingly women of color.
There have been 282 abortion restrictions enacted in the U.S. since 2010, 51 of them in the first half of 2015 alone.
Although Roe v. Wade legalized abortion more than 40 years ago, the battle for reproductive rights is more active than ever. In addition to increased legislative attacks and the battle over Planned Parenthood in 2015, politicians and organizations are trying harder than ever to curb women’s reproductive rights. But there have been some empowering developments, as well.
Mississippi school named after confederate leader to be renamed in Obama’s honor
A small public elementary school in Mississippi announced it would make a big change in 2018 by changing its name to honor former President Barack Obama. And while this is a nice gesture on its own, it becomes even more significant when you consider the school is currently named after Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Read more.