Anti-Choice Group Hosts Training Program To Teach Republicans How To Talk About Rape

Anti-Choice Group Hosts Training Program To Teach Republicans How To Talk About Rape: Last year, Republicans likely lost two U.S. Senate seats because their candidates claimed “legitimate rape” is a form of contraception and that pregnancies resulting from rape are a “gift from God.” Last week, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) again demonstrated the GOP’s frequent willingness to belittle rape by claiming that former Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) legitimate [...]/p

A déjà vu Congress targets reproductive rights, again

A déjà vu Congress targets reproductive rights, again
"Last year, Republicans spouted off on women lying about rape and our bodies shutting down pregnancy. Republican state legislators contemplated draconian abortion restrictions, and the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives kicked off the legislative session by trying to defund Planned Parenthood.

This year, only a few days into 2013, a Republican has spouted off about women lying about rape and our bodies shutting down pregnancy. States are at it again, and the House has kicked off the legislative session by trying to defund Planned Parenthood.

Happy new year, everyone: The  GOP soul-searching is over, and Republicans are back to square one on reproductive rights."

Republican Congressman Backs Akin’s ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comments: ‘He’s Partly Right’

Republican Congressman Backs Akin’s ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comments: ‘He’s Partly Right’: Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) defended former Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO)’s claim that women who are victims of a “legitimate rape” can’t get pregnant. Speaking to the Marrietta Daily Journal, Gingrey, a doctor who is co-chair of the GOP’s Doctor Caucus, stuck by Akin’s distinction between “legitimate” and “illegitimate rapes”: And in Missouri, Todd Akin … [...]/p

Hobby Lobby Manipulating Employees’ Health Care Plans To Deny Them Access To Birth Control

Hobby Lobby Manipulating Employees’ Health Care Plans To Deny Them Access To Birth Control: The craft store Hobby Lobby has been embroiled in a legal fight against Obamacare’s contraception mandate since September, when the chain’s conservative evangelical owners first sued for the right to deny their employees access to affordable contraceptives. Even though a federal judge ruled last month that Hobby Lobby must follow federal law and provide birth [...]/p

Mississippi Governor: ‘My Goal Of Course Is To Shut Down’ The State’s Last Abortion Clinic

Mississippi Governor: ‘My Goal Of Course Is To Shut Down’ The State’s Last Abortion Clinic: Today marks the deadline for Mississippi’s sole remaining abortion clinic, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, to comply with the restrictive, unnecessary restrictions that the state’s Republican legislators imposed last summer. The new regulations require the clinic’s doctors to secure hospital admitting privileges, but all seven hospitals in the surrounding area have so far denied them. [...]/p

Paul Ryan’s Still Carrying Todd Akin’s Mantle, Will Co-Sponsor New Fetal ‘Personhood’ Bill

Paul Ryan’s Still Carrying Todd Akin’s Mantle, Will Co-Sponsor New Fetal ‘Personhood’ Bill: Long before Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) convinced most of the House Republican caucus to vote to phase out Medicare, and long before former Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) ended his political career by claiming “legitimate rape” is a form of contraception, the two men were partners in pushing anti-woman legislation. Ryan and Akin were original co-sponsors [...]/p

Rep. Paul Ryan Co-Sponsors Fetal Rights Bill -- Again!

Rep. Paul Ryan Co-Sponsors Fetal Rights Bill -- Again!
"This bill is so far out there that Oklahoma called it unconstitutional and a non-starter. You'd have to be a committed pro-life zealot to continue on this path and Paul Ryan really stepped up big in that area."

Pat Robertson Outrage: "Hard-Nosed," "Awful Looking" Women Are Ruining Marriages! | Alternet

Pat Robertson Outrage: "Hard-Nosed," "Awful Looking" Women Are Ruining Marriages! | Alternet
"Radical Christian televangelist Pat Robertson with one of his most offensive statements of all time."

Oklahoma Clinic Forced To Close After State Officials Stripped Funding From Planned Parenthood

Oklahoma Clinic Forced To Close After State Officials Stripped Funding From Planned Parenthood: A Tulsa-area Planned Parenthood clinic will be forced to close its doors at the end of this month because it can no longer afford to maintain operations after state officials slashed its budget. In October, the Oklahoma State Department of Health decided to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood by ending its contract with [...]/p

Why We Can't Shop Our Way to a Better Economy: Stacy Mitchell

Stacy Mitchell is a researcher and writer at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), a national nonprofit organization that challenges corporate consolidation of the economy and champions policies to nurture community-scaled enterprise. Stacy directs two ILSR initiatives on independent business and community banking. Her analysis has helped inspire many grassroots campaigns and provided empirical support for changes to local and state policy. Stacy's articles have appeared in Business Week, The Nation, Grist, Utne Reader, Sojourners, and many daily newspapers. Her book, Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses, was named one of the top ten business books of 2007 by Booklist. In 2006, she helped launch the Portland Independent Business & Community Alliance, which has a membership today of over 400 local businesses and runs Portland's popular "buy local" campaign.

Abortion in America: Here Are the Facts, 40 Years After Roe | Alternet

Abortion in America: Here Are the Facts, 40 Years After Roe | Alternet
"Numbers and realities don't always reflect the rhetoric."

Chris Hedges on the Fiscal Cliff ‘Ruse’ - Truthdig

Chris Hedges on the Fiscal Cliff ‘Ruse’ - Truthdig
"And what exactly is taking place is not a pretty picture, according to Hedges. The Truthdig columnist says the fiscal cliff is really “a massive debt peonage by the 1 percent” that is meant to enslave everyone and everything from citizens and states all the way up to the federal government." 

After Forcing Women To Drop Their Doctors, Texas Gives Them A Faulty List Of Replacements

After Forcing Women To Drop Their Doctors, Texas Gives Them A Faulty List Of Replacements: When Texas intentionally dismantled its women’s health program by refusing to fund Planned Parenthood — the largest women’s health group in the country — the state was essentially telling poor women they would need to find new doctors. Thousands of Texan women are now searching for a new provider, but the state is doing a [...]/p

37 Congressional Republicans Opposed Sandy Relief After Supporting Disaster Aid For Home States

37 Congressional Republicans Opposed Sandy Relief After Supporting Disaster Aid For Home States: While the first vote provided just $9 billion in funds — compared to the $60 billion total requested — 67 Republicans still voted against even this bare-bones package. The majority of those Representatives had, however, supported emergency aid efforts following disasters in their own states.

Republican Lawmakers To Kick Off New Year By Limiting Women’s Reproductive Health

Republican Lawmakers To Kick Off New Year By Limiting Women’s Reproductive Health: State lawmakers will reconvene to kick off their new sessions this week, and Republican legislators are already gearing up for the new abortion restrictions they hope to introduce this year. 2012 was a banner year for attacks on reproductive freedom — according to the Guttmacher Institute, 19 states passed 42 different abortion restrictions last year, [...]/p

Blocking VAWA, The GOP Keeps Up the War on Women | The Nation

Blocking VAWA, The GOP Keeps Up the War on Women | The Nation
"Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Democratic co-sponsor of the Senate bill, said Congress’s failure to act simply means more people suffering. “I still have nightmares from the domestic violence crime scenes I saw as a prosecutor in Vermont,” he said in a statement in December. “The thought that our inaction could lead to more such scenes is tragic"."

112th Congress: Worst Congress Ever

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2012: The Second-Worst Year for Abortion Rights Since Roe | Alternet

2012: The Second-Worst Year for Abortion Rights Since Roe | Alternet
"Think the so-called "War on Women" (really a war on everyone, since family planning, abortion, birth control, and cancer screenings are good for everyone, regardless of gender) is over? Think again, sadly. The reality is that in the state capitols, the steady drive to make it nearly impossible for women to obtain abortions is continuing."

New Year, New Abortion Restrictions

New Year, New Abortion Restrictions
"In Virginia, Governor Bob McDonnell's is trying to avoid a repeat of the transvaginal ultrasound fiasco by certifying the state's latest anti-abortion regulations under the radar."

California Appeals Court Tosses Rape Conviction Because The Woman Was Unmarried

California Appeals Court Tosses Rape Conviction Because The Woman Was Unmarried: A California appeals court, relying on an outdated statute that prohibits someone from pretending to be someone’s husband but not their boyfriend in order to obtain sex, overturned a man’s conviction for rape because the woman he had sex with was unmarried. Under California law, rape occurs when a woman consents to sex “under the [...]/p

Anti-Choice Agenda Resumes Absent National Attention

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The Final Failure of a Failed Congress

The Final Failure of a Failed Congress
"The sun will rise on Thursday morning to shine down upon the end of the 112th Congress, the single most useless do-nothing  assembly of fools and failures in modern American political history. Boehner and his crew of cretins in the House majority are almost singlehandedly responsible for the anemic economic recovery to date, entirely because they decided to sit on their hands rather than do anything - anything! - that might come within a country mile of helping President Obama win re-election.

They sat on a variety of jobs bills. They killed a minimum wage increase. They killed the Buffett Rule, which would have set an infinitesimal tax on millionaires, a bill supported by a huge majority of Americans. Along the way, they killed a bill to provide more transparency in campaign financing. They killed a bill to protect the rights of the disabled because, somehow, they decided it would lead to a takeover of America by the United Nations...and, in one last vile act, they failed to vote on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act that was approved in the Senate by a 2-1 margin back in April."

House GOP Fails to Act on Violence Against Women | Common Dreams

House GOP Fails to Act on Violence Against Women | Common Dreams
"Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Democratic point person on VAWA, condemned the House leadership in astatement calling the failure to take up and pass the Senate's "bipartisan and inclusive" VAWA bill "inexcusable"."

2012 Saw The Second Highest Number Of New Abortion Restrictions

2012 Saw The Second Highest Number Of New Abortion Restrictions: According to the Guttmacher Institute’s annual report on state-level abortion legislation, anti-choice lawmakers enacted the second highest number of new abortion restrictions in 2012 since the organization began tracking the annual data in 1985. This past year, 19 states passed 42 different provisions intended to restrict women’s access to abortion services — second only to [...]/p

2012 was a banner year for anti abortion laws

2012 was a banner year for antiabortion laws
"According to a policy review released by the Guttmacher Institute, 2012 saw the second-highest number of abortion restrictions ever enacted. The ranking comes as little surprise in a year when politicians like Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock became household names, and one of the House’s staunchest antiabortion members got second billing on the Republican presidential ticket.

During the year, 19 states enacted 43 provisions to restrict access to abortion services, whether mandating invasive ultrasounds, blocking health insurance coverage, shuttering women’s health clinics or limiting access to the morning-after pill and contraception. The record for most restrictions was set in 2011 with 92.

The worst offenders? Arizona ranked No. 1, enacting seven antiabortion restrictions, and Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin followed close behind with at least three restrictions each."

Unlike The U.S., Most Countries Offer Birth Control Pills Over The Counter

Unlike The U.S., Most Countries Offer Birth Control Pills Over The Counter: A new study from reproductive health researchers in Oakland, CA finds that the majority of countries ease women’s access to reproductive health services by making birth control pills available over the counter. The United States is one of 45 countries that still require women to obtain a prescription for oral contraceptives. The lead researcher of [...]/p

Virginia Governor Quietly Certifies Restrictive Abortion Clinic Regulations

Virginia Governor Quietly Certifies Restrictive Abortion Clinic Regulations: On the Friday between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) quietly approved new, stringent regulations intended to target abortion clinics. Virginia’s Board of Health adopted the new anti-abortion rules in September, and the governor’s certification is the next step toward making the regulations permanent — and potentially forcing many of the [...]/p

12 Unbelievably Awful Things Fox News Did This Year | Alternet

12 Unbelievably Awful Things Fox News Did This Year | Alternet
"2012 was a dismal year for Fox News. The PR arm of the GOP failed to fulfill its prime directive: advancing the interests of Mitt Romney and the Republican Party. It spent much of the year constructing an alternative reality that left millions of its flock in shock when President Obama won an overwhelming reelection. It refused to accept the facts on the ground and denigrated polls (even its own) when the results conflicted with the fictional narrative it was peddling. And perhaps most painful of all, Fox surrendered its ratings lead to MSNBC. Two-thirds of its primetime lineup (Hannity and Van Susteren) dropped to second place behind the competition on MSNBC (Maddow and O’Donnell). However, Fox’s travails did not occur for lack of effort. It was clearly operating at the top of its capacity to distort and deceive. In the process it unleashed some of the most feverishly biased reporting, even for Fox News. "

PERRspectives: The National Debt? Republicans Built That

PERRspectives: The National Debt? Republicans Built That
"President Bush added $5.1 trillion in red ink to the national ledger. But while the debt has grown by over $5 trillion during Obama's first term, less than $1 trillion can be attributed to new programs he put in place. The rest is the result of the tax revenue loss from the deep recession which began in December 2007 and the continuation of policies inherited from George W. Bush."

Texas Will End Funding For Planned Parenthood Clinics Tomorrow

Texas Will End Funding For Planned Parenthood Clinics Tomorrow: For most of 2012, Texas officials have been working hard to strip funding from the Planned Parenthood clinics in their state. Those officials advanced their anti-choice agenda on Monday, when a visiting judge ruled that Texas may deny funding from Planned Parenthood affiliates in the new year simply because the organization advocates for abortion rights. [...]/p

Michigan Governor Signs Extreme Anti-Abortion Bill Into Law

Michigan Governor Signs Extreme Anti-Abortion Bill Into Law: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) has approved a controversial package of abortion restrictions that will limit abortion access for women who live in rural areas, require doctors to prove that mentally competent women haven’t been “coerced” into their decision to have the procedure, and enact unnecessary, complicated rules for abortion clinics and providers. The governor [...]/p

Citing Citizens United, Federal Appeals Court Blocks Access To Birth Control

Citing Citizens United, Federal Appeals Court Blocks Access To Birth Control: On Friday, a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in an order joined by two conservative Republican appointees, temporarily immunized a company from the Obama Administration’s rules guaranteeing that employer-provided health plans cover birth control. Judge Ilana Rovner, a George H.W. Bush appointee, dissented. The order is brief, [...]/p

The War Against Teachers | Alternet

The War Against Teachers | Alternet
"Right-wing fundamentalists and corporate ideologues are not just waging a war against the rights of unions, workers, students, women, the disabled, low-income groups and poor minorities, but also against those public spheres that provide a vocabulary for connecting values, desires, identities, social relations and institutions to the discourse of social responsibility, ethics, and democracy, if not thinking itself.  Neoliberalism, or unbridled free-market fundamentalism, employs modes of governance, discipline and regulation that are totalizing in their insistence that all aspects of social life be determined, shaped and weighted through market-driven measures. [2] Neoliberalism is not merely an economic doctrine that prioritizes buying and selling, makes the supermarket and mall the temples of public life and defines the obligations of citizenship in strictly consumerist terms. It is also a mode of pedagogy and set of social arrangements that uses education to win consent, produce consumer-based notions of agency and militarize reason in the service of war, profits, power and violence while simultaneously instrumentalizing all forms of knowledge."

5 Ways GOP Tried to Subvert Democracy in 2012 -- And They'll Try Again | Alternet

5 Ways GOP Tried to Subvert Democracy in 2012 -- And They'll Try Again | Alternet
"Creating barriers to voting, demonizing communities of color, attacking voting rights laws and their defenders, unleashing billionaires who financed candidates like an extreme sport, and hiding corporate donors behind opaque front groups—these were the chapters in the Republican Party’s electoral playbook in the 2012 election cycle."

What Could Have Been: The Most Important Bills Blocked by Republicans in 2012 | Alternet

What Could Have Been: The Most Important Bills Blocked by Republicans in 2012 | Alternet
"The bills we could have passed if it wasn't for GOP obstructionism -- from a minimum wage increase to the Buffett Rule."

Hobby Lobby To Deny Contraception To Employees, Ignoring Court Order

Hobby Lobby To Deny Contraception To Employees, Ignoring Court Order: Craft store chain Hobby Lobby announced on Friday that it will ignore the ruling of U.S. courts and refuse to provide copay-free birth control access to its employees. It will do so despite whatever costs it may incur, even if they are higher than the cost of birth control itself. Upon learning that Obamacare required [...]/p

Stephanie, the Mooks and John Fugelsang put the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre under fire

Iowa Court: Bosses Can Fire 'Irresistible' Workers - ABC News

Iowa Court: Bosses Can Fire 'Irresistible' Workers - ABC News
"A dentist acted legally when he fired an assistant that he found attractive simply because he and his wife viewed the woman as a threat to their marriage, the all-male Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday."

Jennifer Granholm’s progressive wish list for 2013

Connecticut School Officials Blast NRA’s Reaction To Newtown

Connecticut School Officials Blast NRA’s Reaction To Newtown: Teachers, school superintends, mayors and police chiefs in Connecticut are rejecting the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) response to the shooting in Newtown, describing the gun lobby’s proposal to equip schools with armed guards and more guns as too simplistic, shameful, and opportunistic. One Connecticut school superintendent dismissed the NRA’s suggestion as “an ill-conceived reaction from [...]/p

Conservative Columnist Doubles Down On Women Are To Blame For Newtown Argument

Conservative Columnist Doubles Down On Women Are To Blame For Newtown Argument: According to anti-feminist Charlotte Allen, a male janitor or “even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys” would have made all the difference in the Newtown massacre, simply because they are male. National Review published Allen’s controversial piece on Wednesday, where she attributed the massacre to Sandy Hook’s female staff and its “feminized setting.” On Friday, [...]/p

NRO's Charlotte Allen: Sandy Hook Tragedy Could Have Been Averted If Men Taught There

NRO's Charlotte Allen: Sandy Hook Tragedy Could Have Been Averted If Men Taught There
"There are stupid right wing things, and then there are really stupid right wing things. An example of stupid would be Charlotte Allen jonesing for Sarah Palin to be the Great Savior of the Republican Party. Yes, that was stupid.

But here's a really stupid thing, something she actually let loose from her keyboard so the Internet could suffer her stupidity right alongside her:"

It’s a Mad, Mad Michigan

It’s a Mad, Mad Michigan
"It is a lot to take in. But, look: Michigan is worth your attention. And it’s worth the fight."

NRA Slammed for Push for Guns in Every School | Common Dreams

NRA Slammed for Push for Guns in Every School | Common Dreams
"The reaction from Newtown, Connecticut to gun control advocates to commentators is clear: putting more guns in schools is not the answer."

The 10 Craziest Quotes From The NRA Press Conference

The 10 Craziest Quotes From The NRA Press Conference: After remaining completely silent in the week following the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, the National Rifle Association (NRA) held a press conference in Washington D.C. on Friday to call for more guns in schools and blame the media for glorifying violence, while demonizing gun owners. Below are the 10 craziest statements from NRA Executive Vice [...]/p

America Provides Far Less Support To Single Parents Than Other Wealthy Countries

America Provides Far Less Support To Single Parents Than Other Wealthy Countries: Out of 17 developed countries, single parents in the US are have the fewest resources and the greatest economic hardship, a new report from Legal Momentum shows. In other countries, parents raising a child alone are offered help from the state and have relative economic stability. But the assessment in the US is different. Not [...]/p

Doctors Warn They Will ‘Suffer Irreparable Harm’ From Georgia’s Restrictive Abortion Ban

Doctors Warn They Will ‘Suffer Irreparable Harm’ From Georgia’s Restrictive Abortion Ban: Three doctors in Georgia are seeking to block their state’s restrictive abortion ban, which outlaws the procedure after 20 weeks of gestation except in very narrow cases of medical emergency. Representing the doctors in an Atlanta court on Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged that — in addition to preventing women from choosing when [...]/p

A Rundown of the Insane Rationales Right-Wingers Are Offering for Why Sandy Hook Happened | Alternet

A Rundown of the Insane Rationales Right-Wingers Are Offering for Why Sandy Hook Happened | Alternet
"Those on the right who would blame the tragedy on anything but guns see women as the problem -- not the heroes"

Michigan Lawmaker Didn’t Read The Anti-Abortion Bill He Voted For, But He’s Confident It’s Not About Women

Michigan Lawmaker Didn’t Read The Anti-Abortion Bill He Voted For, But He’s Confident It’s Not About Women: Michigan lawmakers moved quickly to push an omnibus abortion bill through their lame duck session last week. Despite the massive undertaking that House Bill 5711 represents — the measure combines several of the worst attacks on women’s reproductive freedom into one 45-page piece of legislation — some GOP legislators may not have even bothered to [...]/p

Virginia Republican Legislator Actually Wants To Require Concealed Weapons In Schools

Virginia Republican Legislator Actually Wants To Require Concealed Weapons In Schools: A day after Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) said he would be open to arming school faculty, a state legislator is taking the idea a step further. Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall (R) has submitted a bill that would not only permit faculty to bring concealed guns into schools, but would require schools have armed staff. [...]/p

Top Conservative Publication Attributes Newtown To Feminism: Shooting Occurred Because Women Ran The School

Top Conservative Publication Attributes Newtown To Feminism: Shooting Occurred Because Women Ran The School: If there were less women and more “male aggression” in Sandy Hook Elementary School, the massacre there never would have taken place, according to a contribution to a leading conservative magazine. National Review, whose inhouse editorial suggested Newtown was the price of the Second Amendment, published a piece on Wednesday from anti-feminist Charlotte Allen suggesting [...]/p

Right-Wing Teacher-Arming Hysteria Grows | Alternet

Right-Wing Teacher-Arming Hysteria Grows | Alternet
"The latest high-profile Republican to say he is open to possibly allowing firearms on school grounds is Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who said in the wake of the Newtown, Conn. school shootings that he thinks “that’s a reasonable discussion that ought to be had"."

Bobby Jindal's Ridiculous Birth Control Plot | Alternet

Bobby Jindal's Ridiculous Birth Control Plot | Alternet
"Ah, yes. Because it's Democrats who run around like headless chickens, screaming and wailing about "religious liberty" and how making birth control affordable and accessible to women is just like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor day . It's Democrats who've said that only sluts use or want birth control. It's Democrats who've said that even married couples should not use birth control because the whole point of marriage is to pop out babies in the name of Jesus.

Oh, no, wait. That's actually the Republican Party."

Why You Can Kiss Public Education (and the Middle Class) Goodbye | Alternet

Why You Can Kiss Public Education (and the Middle Class) Goodbye | Alternet
"All around us, our public institutions are disintegrating, and the most important public institution of all – our public education system – will likely be the next to go."

Dear GOP: Ignore the will of the people and you will fail

How an Astounding New Right-Wing Lie About the Economy Is Born | Alternet

How an Astounding New Right-Wing Lie About the Economy Is Born | Alternet
"There's a new economic myth that's now being amplified by the conservative media. It demonizes vital public services and suggests that the poor are doing just fine thanks to the largesse of the country's “makers.” Conservatives are being told that the United States is now spending vast fortunes combatting poverty – more than we dedicate to national defense, Social Security and Medicare.

This new spin is notable not for its mendacity – although it is completely divorced from reality – but because its origins are easily traced, allowing us to see how these kinds of distortions come to be."

President Obama's statement on Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

Day Before Connecticut Shooting Massacre, Michigan Legislature Passed Bill Allowing Guns In Classrooms

Day Before Connecticut Shooting Massacre, Michigan Legislature Passed Bill Allowing Guns In Classrooms: Yesterday, one day before the tragedy in Connecticut where at least 27 people were killed at an elementary school, the Republican-controlled Michigan legislature passed a bill that would allow people to bring guns into schools. Amidst a lameduck session that has spawned a host of right-wing legislation, including a so-called “right-to-work” law and an extreme [...]/p

How Obamacare Will Help Low-Income Mothers Battle Depression

How Obamacare Will Help Low-Income Mothers Battle Depression: At an Urban Institute panel on depression and low-income Americans on Thursday, Marla McDaniel of the Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population pointed out that low-income American mothers are “more likely to have severe depression.” Fortunately, Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion will help offer those low-income mothers the crucial preventative and mental health services they need [...]/p

Anti-Choice Activists Infiltrate Ohio’s Non-Partisan Medical Board

Anti-Choice Activists Infiltrate Ohio’s Non-Partisan Medical Board: The Republican-dominated Ohio Legislature has tried and failed to advance some of the most extreme anti-choice and anti-woman legislation in the country, including a bill to defund Planned Parenthood and the “heartbeat bill” that would have banned abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Having had little success in the state house, radical [...]/p

Prosecutors Ignore 2/3s Of All Sex Abuse Against Native Americans — Eric Cantor Is Keeping It That Way

Prosecutors Ignore 2/3s Of All Sex Abuse Against Native Americans — Eric Cantor Is Keeping It That Way: As Irin Carmon explains in a must read piece at Salon, Native American reservations are virtually law-free zones for women victimized by non-Indian rapists. Eighty percent of Native American rape survivors were attacked by non-Indians, and these crimes are currently beyond the reach of tribal authorities. Meanwhile, federal officials have the theoretical power to prosecute [...]/p

PERRspectives: Texas Cuts to Family Planning Triple State Expenses

PERRspectives: Texas Cuts to Family Planning Triple State Expenses
"When a federal judge ruled in August that Texas can withhold millions of dollars from Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics, GovernorRick Perry proclaimed it a "win for Texas women." As it turns out, Perry's crusade against Planned Parenthood isn't a win for either the women of Texas or the budget of the Lone Star State. Just as experts predicted, each dollar saved in family planning spending will result in almost four dollars in new costs to care for thousands of new mothers and children the budget axe will produce.
As Rick Perry might say, "Oops"."

Calls for Veto as "Anti-Women Super Bill" Heads to Michigan Governor's Desk | Common Dreams

Calls for Veto as "Anti-Women Super Bill" Heads to Michigan Governor's Desk | Common Dreams
"Women's health advocates and pro-choice supporters are livid in Michigan and across the country after the state Senate in Lansing passed HB 5711, an omnibus piece of legislation that its critics are calling an "anti-choice Super Bill," on Wednesday."

Michigan Advances One Of The Nation’s Most Extreme Abortion Bans

Michigan Advances One Of The Nation’s Most Extreme Abortion Bans: The Michigan State Senate passed HB 5711, an omnibus anti-abortion bill that sparked widespread protests over the summer when it was first considered in the House, by a 27-10 vote on Wednesday afternoon. The legislation has been stalled since it passed Michigan’s House in June. The measure represents one of the nation’s most far-reaching abortion [...]/p

Memo to Michigan: Did You Not Hear the Voters on Women's Health? | Common Dreams

Memo to Michigan: Did You Not Hear the Voters on Women's Health? | Common Dreams
"An alarming set of bills is about to move to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's desk as soon as today. Pushed through by lame-duck legislators who are about to leave office, these bills would make Michigan one of the most regressive states in the nation on women's health."

Rick Perry: Outlawing All Access To Abortion Is ‘My Goal’

Rick Perry: Outlawing All Access To Abortion Is ‘My Goal’: At a press conference on Tuesday organized by the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life, Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) reaffirmed that his ultimate legislative objective is to restrict all women’s access to abortion services. Members of Texas Right to Life are currently pushing their state’s legislators to pass a “fetal pain” bill that would ban [...]/p

Violence Against Women Act Must Protect Native American Women

Violence Against Women Act Must Protect Native American Women
"Congressional Republicans headed by Eric Cantor are stalling on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The Senate has already passed a bill that increases protection for Native, LGBT and undocumented immigrant women."

Why Medicaid Cuts Would Hurt Health Care Jobs For Women

Why Medicaid Cuts Would Hurt Health Care Jobs For Women: The U.S. economy is steadily recovering from the recession, with the unemployment rate falling to 7.7 percent last month — the lowest rate since December 2008. And the increasing number of health care jobs continues to outpace job growth in other economic sectors. Through November, the economy has gained about 290,000 health care jobs this [...]/p

Low-Wage Jobs Don’t Just Harm Workers — They Harm Their Children

Low-Wage Jobs Don’t Just Harm Workers — They Harm Their Children: The recent report by the Pew Research Center that births per every 1000 American women kicked off a flurry of concern amongst conservatives that American culture is beginning to undervalue the future. However, that concern ignores the rather dismal job the country’s economy is doing to care for the children Americans are already having, and [...]/p

Cliffs Notes: On the Edge and Over a Barrel | Common Dreams

Cliffs Notes: On the Edge and Over a Barrel | Common Dreams
"Even worse, in all likelihood the fiscal cliff is merely a pretext for further eroding the already-tenuous social safety net in America; it’s a veritable Trojan horse for a good old-fashioned dose of austerity-oriented shock therapy intended to remind us all to keep our place lest we get busted down a notch further on the socioeconomic ladder. It’s a potentially ruinous precipice, we’re told, so you’d better pay close attention if you want your trickle of water to continue coming down the cliff face…

Or at least pay close enough attention so that you won’t ask too many hard questions about the genuine cliffs you should be worried about. You know, minor stuff like the erosion of free will and the continued existence of the species. Here’s but a small sample of the non-trivial cliffs dead ahead:"

Republican Leadership Split on Whether to Protect Native American Women

Republican Leadership Split on Whether to Protect Native American Women: With only three weeks left for Congress to pass the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), one man is standing in its way: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA). The House passed a version of [...]/p

How The People Who Brought You Curves Are Actually Working Against Women’s Health

How The People Who Brought You Curves Are Actually Working Against Women’s Health: And this past election isn’t the only time that Curves and the Heavins have worked against women’s reproductive rights. Gary Heavin pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars for controversial “pregnancy crisis centers” that try to talk women out of abortions and have been accused to providing false information. They also made large donations to abstinence-only education programs — programs which often misinformand make teens more likely to engage in risky behavior and become pregnant.

Michigan Lawmakers Are Trying To Sneak Through Extreme Abortion Restrictions In Lame Duck Session

Michigan Lawmakers Are Trying To Sneak Through Extreme Abortion Restrictions In Lame Duck Session: Women’s health advocates confirm that Michigan lawmakers are likely to revive on Thursday an omnibus anti-abortion bill that sparked widespread protests after it passed the House over the summer, in addition to a host of other restrictive abortion legislation they hope to force through the current lame duck session. As Michigan’s current attempt to pass [...]/p

POLL: Key Voters Rejected Romney Because Of His Far-Right Stance On Women’s Health Issues

POLL: Key Voters Rejected Romney Because Of His Far-Right Stance On Women’s Health Issues: Early exit polling from last month’s presidential election suggested that majorities of voters in key states support legal access to abortion services, and a new poll released today confirms that women’s health issues were a decisive factor in helping voters decide between President Obama and Mitt Romney. Post-election polling conducted by Hart Research Associates and [...]/p

Moms Urge Congress Not to Throw Families Over the Fiscal Cliff | Alternet

Moms Urge Congress Not to Throw Families Over the Fiscal Cliff | Alternet
"Today, as members of Congress negotiate a budget to address the so-called fiscal cliff, families are taking a stand. Women, mothers, and their families are descending on Capitol Hill to deliver teddy bears, petition signatures and personal stories to lawmakers to send the message that moms and kids can’t “bear” more than their fair share.

Wealthy CEOs have joined together in the much-maligned "Campaign to Fix the Debt." to argue for lower taxes on the rich and cuts to the social safety net, but they are being met by a counter-force of ordinary women trying to work and raise families."

Despite Growing Number Of Female Doctors And Lawyers, Women’s Pay Still Lags Behind

Despite Growing Number Of Female Doctors And Lawyers, Women’s Pay Still Lags Behind: Women now make up about one third of the doctors and lawyers in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reports. But for those female employees who expect equal representation in the near future, a discouraging statistic belies the good news: Lady lawyers and doctors still get paid less than their male counterparts for doing [...]/p

Will Kentucky Embrace Ashley Judd’s Progressive Senate Run?

Will Kentucky Embrace Ashley Judd’s Progressive Senate Run?: Rumors that film star Ashley Judd is considering a run for Senate in her native Kentucky are solidifying. Politico reported Tuesday that Judd has spoken to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and a Democratic pollster about a possible challenge to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Judd, an unabashed progressive activist, attended the Democratic National Convention this year [...]/p

Watch: Teacher Infiltrates ALEC Education Meeting, Confronts Members | Alternet

Watch: Teacher Infiltrates ALEC Education Meeting, Confronts Members | Alternet
"Education activist Sabrina Joy Stevens, a former teacher in the Denver school system, tells right-wing, would-be policymakers how their agenda is destructive to education."

Fox News Promotes The 'War On Men' Meme

Fox News Promotes The 'War On Men' Meme
"Just as I predicted a few days ago, the author who claims there’s a war on men is getting lots of sympathetic airtime on Fox News. This morning, Suzanne Venker – never identified as the niece of anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly - visited Fox & Friends where she offered up her totally unqualified and unscientific opinion that the reason marriage rates are down is because “women aren’t women anymore,” as host Alisyn Camerota summarized."

Meet Gubernatorial Candidate Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia’s Todd Akin

Meet Gubernatorial Candidate Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia’s Todd Akin: Virginia’s Republican Party appears poised to nominate state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to be its candidate for governor in 2013 — embracing a man whose extreme political views bear striking resemblance to those of unsuccessful 2012 Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO). With his fervent anti-science, anti-choice, and anti-LGBT, anti-federal government activism, Akin’s extreme positions [...]/p