Sexism Sells The Women’s Media Center compiled a must-see and must-share video condensing some of the hateful, sexist remarks made in the main stream media during this campaign season, almost always aimed at Hillary Clinton. The WMC is also compiling a petition you should consider signing telling the meida that sexism may sell for them but "we’re not buying it."

Unmasking McCain Arriana Huffington wrote yesterday about the needed effort to expose the real John McCain to independent voters over the coming months, particularly when it comes to his views on reproductive rights. She cites a Planned Parenthood poll (PDF) that reveals:

Over half of all women in these states have no idea what McCain’s
positions are on reproductive health. Forty-nine percent of women in
battleground states who currently favor McCain are pro-choice.
Twenty-three percent of them believe McCain agrees with them on choice.

The good news is that 36% of pro-choice McCain supporters became very skeptical of the candidate after hearing McCain’s abysmal record of supporting the reproductive health rights and choices of women. Huffington goes on to say that a concerted voter education effort is needed to expose the real McCain beneath the ‘maverick’ mask and begins helping that effort by summarizing some of McCains more revealing votes and thoughts on the issues.

Global AIDS Policy An important op-ed appeared in yesterday’s Boston Globe warning Congress not to ignore lessons learned on the front lines of the battle against HIV/AIDS in Africa. The President’s Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is up for reauthorization with funding at $50 billion. While the added funding is welcome one major aspect of the plan remains fatally flawed. Prevention and treatment cannot be provided at clinics with family-planning services, "because of
conservatives’ concern that such services might provide or advise on
abortions."

Conservatives have erroneously made "family planning" synonymous with "abortion" and thus politicized a crucial aspect of HIV/AIDS prevention. For our $50 billion to be sucessful at all funding must be given to family planning clinics, as the Globe piece correctly argues:

Research has repeatedly shown that integration of HIV services within
the context of women’s health could save the lives of hundreds of
thousands of women and, if pregnant, their newborns. The entry point to
the healthcare system for many African women is the family-planning
clinic. Timely access to messages on HIV prevention and life-saving
treatments can slow the AIDS pandemic.

Abortion as a Human Right Two attorneys from the Center for Reproductive Rights have published a 45 page paper, "Abortion as a Human Right – International and Regional Standards," in the most recent edition of the Human Rights Law Review. You can read the abstract at Oxford Law Journal’s website, a fee is required to access the full text of the paper, however.