When Resisting is Your Full Time Job
WORKING FOR A CAUSE: Much thanks to Glamour for a beautiful article on the beautiful people who devote so much of their lives to helping others at clinics—in this case a Planned Parenthood location. It’s the same story that’s told hundreds of different ways in independent clinics and Planned Parenthood facilities alike, all over the country. The care they give their patients and each other is truly inspiring. Maybe you don’t live through all of the struggles that these people do, or get to experience their camaraderie and support, but you can help to ease their struggles and to be a part of that support by doing something for the staffers at a clinic near you. It can be as simple as writing a thank you note. As they say in the article “our whole ethos is, We’re in this together.”
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The GOP Should Get Elite Daily News Alerts
TRUTH ABOUT CONSEQUENCES: Nut-job lawmakers who pass laws that restrict access to abortion love to say that they’re doing it for the sake of women’s health. The facts say something else. A study from the Center for Reproductive rights shows that the states with most restrictions on abortions have worse records when it comes to women’s health. The report says “Women denied abortion care are at increased risk of experiencing poverty, physical health impairments, and intimate partner violence.” Supportive policies lead to lower poverty rates and better health and safety for mothers and children. Of course, this was a scientific study, and the whole point was that these abortion restrictions fly in the face of science… not to mention common sense.
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Netflix and Destigmatize Abortion
CHANNELING CHANGE: Reality TV may be an oxymoron, but TV does reflect—and influence—real life. And that includes abortion, or at least it has included abortion for the past 55 years, since 1962 when the topic was first mentioned on TV in a show called The Defenders. Our Shero Gretchen Sissel from The University of California San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health research group, has created a database that tracks every time abortion was portrayed or discussed in American TV and movies, . Out in the real world, we’re working to destigmatize abortion everywhere, including in all forms of media. We need to point out when storylines even inadvertently reference conservative myths about abortion. Then both TV and reality will be better places.
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States Willing to Punish Women for Some Things Also Super Into Punishing Women for Other Things
DRINK CHOICES: Patriarchy much? Surprise, surprise—those laws regulating pregnant women’s alcohol consumption are really all about the “regulating women” part. A new study (AGAIN with the science!) concludes that states that punish pregnant women who drink alcohol more harshly also have more abortion restrictions. The number of states that have policies punishing pregnant women who consume alcohol went from just one in 1974 to 43 by 2013. And the laws are getting harsher, especially in states like Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin that severely restrict abortion access. In short—it’s more about reducing reproductive autonomy than it is about reducing fetal harm.
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“Controversy” is a Kardashian Scandal, This TN Judge’s Action Were Straight Up F*cked
FLAWED JUDGMENT: We told you about TENNESSEE Judge Sam Benningfield, who concocted a program to reduce jail sentences for inmates who agreed to undergoing birth control implants or vasectomies. That just REEKED of the eugenics movement of the early 20th century that tried to exercise control over who could have children. We’re glad to say that the program has been rescinded before any procedures could be performed. Anti-choice freaks like to tie Planned Parenthood founder and birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger to eugenics, although Sanger opposed state control of reproductive choices. Well, this judge tried to impose them from the bench—IN 2017! It’s no coincidence that this plot was hatched in a state like Tennessee that severely restricts abortion rights. Choice means being able to choose to have children OR not to. And in either case, it’s up to the individual—not to Tennessee or any of its judges!
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#ExposeFakeClinics
United AF! It’s no surprise that pro-choice organizations are working together to fight anti-choice legislation from the grassroots up. Check out this badass article that features our hacktivist #ExposeFakeClinics allies, The Abortion Access Hackathon, and talks about the incredible work being done by the National Abortion Federation, the National Network of Abortion Funds, and clinic escorts who are literally on the ground fighting for abortion access every day.
