Reproductive Rights
No Health Care for Half of Humanity
- Category: Reproductive Rights
By Lina Thorne
Women everywhere are shocked and appalled by the passage late last Saturday night of the “Stupak Amendment” to the House health insurance reform bill, which further strips us of our right to abortion, and thus, our right to make the most fundamental decisions that affect our lives.
Many progressive activists had argued for the past 10 months that while it would take time for President Obama to fix the problems of the ongoing war and torture, focusing our efforts on supporting his domestic agenda of providing expanded health insurance coverage was in our best interests. “Wait on the war; give him time.” Given that this agenda was supposedly progressive enough to ignore bloodshed, women and those who care about women are reeling by the way we were just “thrown under the bus.”
Do Catholic Bishops Run the United States Government?
- Category: Reproductive Rights
Last week, with the aid of some 60 Democrats, women's rights were effectively negated by the US Congress as the House passed the Stupak amendment to HR 3962, the Affordable Health Care Act of 2009.
More in-depth analysis of how we got here is forthcoming. But one thing is clear: The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) apparently is running the US government, aided by a cadre of "faith-based advocacy groups," the House Democratic leadership, the White House and members of the Senate.
If you didn't know that before, be clear about it. Know it now.
Oklahoma Abortion Law to Put Patients' Details Online
- Category: Reproductive Rights
By Chris McGreal .jpg)
Women seeking abortions in Oklahoma are to be forced to reveal an array of personal information, such as the state of their relationships, how many children they have and their race, which will be posted on an official website.
Abortion rights groups say the new law is intended to intimidate women because, although it does not require them to reveal their names, other information to be made public will sometimes be enough to identify them.
The "Law and Order" Abortion Disaster and The Wasteland of TV
- Category: Reproductive Rights
The folks at NBC's long-running legal franchise Law & Order must have thought they'd garner headlines and praise for their "balanced, thought-provoking " take on abortion last Friday, an episode called "Dignity" based on the murder of an abortion provider.
But balanced it was not: an episode that was meant to focus on the prosecution of a cold-blooded murder ended up putting women's rights on trial--and viewers picked up on its slant right away.
The Second Assassination of Dr. George Tiller
- Category: Reproductive Rights
By Toby O’Ryan
I don’t regularly watch the TV show Law & Order, but when I saw that it was planning a show modeled on the killing last May of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion lunatic, I thought I’d tune in. The article announcing this made the point that very few shows that directly deal with this topic actually get onto TV.
Perhaps foolishly, I hoped for something that might have shed even a little light on what had happened to Dr. George Tiller and why.
Christian Fascist "G.A.P." Descends Upon Berkeley: Opposition Confronts Them
- Category: Reproductive Rights
Based on a report from World Can’t Wait, San Francisco chapter
An ugly assault on women and reproductive rights is happening right now at the University of California, Berkeley. A Christian fundamentalist and Christian fascist road show calling itself the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
) arrived at Sproul Plaza early Monday morning to stage what it calls its "Genocide Awareness Project (GAP)."
They state their mission is to "create debate" and "our main purpose is to disciple others to save lives." They appear from their websites to be a well-funded national campaign that is going to be traveling to campuses across the country; they see historically progressive (and pro-choice) UC Berkeley as especially crucial ground to take.
Confronting the Anti’s, Defending Women’s Rights in Louisville
- Category: Reproductive Rights
By Lina Thorne
A couple of us from World Can’t Wait hooked up with others we met in Omaha to help escort women into the abortion clinic in Louisville, KY this past Saturday. This is one of only two clinics in the state, and one of the only clinics for the entire region. Women seeking abortions at this clinic have often traveled for a hundred-plus miles.
We had met some of the regular volunteer escorts while defending Dr. Carhart’s clinic and learned from them that without national mobilizations or notoriously violent groups like Operation Rescue, Louisville is besieged on a weekly basis by pushing, shoving, yelling, screaming anti-abortion activists. The five days a week that the clinic is open, there is a presence of “sidewalk counselors,” who have unimpeded access to the clients. There is no real police presence; only an off-duty officer hired by the clinic, and the clinic’s clients (whether they are seeking abortions or just getting a pap smear) have to run a gauntlet from wherever they park their cars to the clinic entrance.
Letter from Debra Sweet to Nebraska Clinic Defenders
- Category: Reproductive Rights
By Debra Sweet
Brave Nebraskans and women and men from around the country who joined us in Bellevue to stand up for Dr. Carhart and women's lives:
We in World Can't Wait met many of you for the first time this past weekend while standing in support of Dr. Carhart in Nebraska. We were proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you at the clinic, and wanted to introduce ourselves and invite you to stay in touch about the struggle to defend abortion rights as well as the larger mission of World Can't Wait.
Doctor Carhart is a Hero: A Report From Nebraska
- Category: Reproductive Rights
By Lina Thorne
News reports and our own counts indicated the pro-choice gathering of support for the new "target number 1" for the anti-abortion movement, Dr. LeRoy Carhart, outnumbered the "protesters" by 2:1. This was an overwhelmingly positive day of disciplined, fearless resistance against the reactionary and violent Operation Rescue mobilization, and exactly what needed to happen. Check out CNN's coverage, and these quotes from our side:
Michelle Fadeley drove from the Chicago area to support Carhart. "Someone who is willing to put his own life on the line to save thousands of other women's lives is truly a hero," said Fadeley, who works for a local Illinois chapter of the National Organization for Women.
Anthony Hardwick of Omaha clutched a sign that read "Women are not an incubator."
"What it means to me is that women are not solely for the purpose of procreation. They're not little vessels for men to plant their seeds in," he said.
Forces That Killed Tiller Move on to Dr Carhart, His Clinic
- Category: Reproductive Rights
By Kevin Gosztola
In Bellevue, Nebraska, pro-choice and pro-women advocates have gathered to support Dr. Carhart and his abortion clinic, as right wing forces begin to escalate a campaign against him.
Nearly 100 people from across the United States, from over 16 states in the US, are in Nebraska to defend Dr. Carhart and his clinic from the anti-abortion movement that has recently designated Dr. Carhart and his clinic as target #1. They are moving to Bellevue Nebraska, site of Dr. Carhart's clinic, because the previous number one target, Dr. George Tiller, was murdered.
Because humanity & the planet come first...
Reproductive Rights