In clinics nationwide, young women — mostly poor women — are lured into so-called "crisis pregnancy centers" which falsely advertise themselves as health clinics, but which are anything but. These crisis pregnancy centers are often set up and run by Catholic churches, which, for obvious reasons, doesn't bode well for any woman seeking information about contraception or terminating a pregnancy. Instead of offering counseling about a woman’s choices, these CPCs steer women towards a right-wing, anti-choice agenda, using Jesus and guilt as weapons.
Melinda Gates anointed herself as the new saviour of women's and children's health, and the press ate it up in both pictures and words. A truly Hollywood event, except this is not entertainment. This is women's lives.
Unhappy that the new TRAP law mandating unnecessary clinic regulations isn't having as much impact as anti-choice lawmakers hoped, the anti-choice Virginia State Attorney General Cuccinelli is refusing to approve the medical boards recommendations.
Few will ever hear of Amber Reeves, a pregnant truck driver who was fired after requesting accommodations in her work duties. She couldn’t perform her regular duties, so her employer terminated her. Unglamorous and unprotected by the law, pregnant women in labor-intensive jobs often find themselves in this kind of predicament.
The recent Huffington Post article by Sister Mary Ann Walsh of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops tells us quite a bit about the veracity of the USCCB’s claims that religious freedom is under attack in the United States.
Judge Jordan will allow the new standards for doctors who perform more than 10 abortions a month to go into effect, but will block the doctors from being punished for not meeting them at this time.
The current buzz within the abortion rights movement seems to be that we need to take a lesson from the gay rights movement – that people need to start “coming out” with their abortion stories. But we should remember with all of the culture change that the LGBTQ community has seen, stigma and violence are still perpetrated every day.
