A lot of the discussion surrounding women’s health and reproductive rights can certainly be boiled down to trust…both the lack of trust and mistrust in women. Hearings like the one last week and bills like the one in Virginia are symptomatic of a larger issue that Congresswoman DeLauro is noticing.
I've been on both sides of the reproductive rights debate – the side that thinks reproduction is not a right or a decision but a God-given duty; and the side that thinks birth control and abortions ought to be available to whoever the hell wants 'em, regardless of age (within reason) or reason (within reason). I've spent my entire adult life on the latter side of the issue.
Indiana GOP Rep. Bob Morris has claimed that the girls Scouts are “bent on promoting communism, lesbianism and subverting “traditional American family values,”" according to MSNBC.com. I will say that I am not a huge fan of their aborted-fetus flavored cookies, but I am quite partial to Lesbian Lemon Wafer.
Would you chose external gestation if you could? What do artificial wombs mean for reproductive rights - including abortion, equality and the role of women in society? The moral, ethical, legal and societal consequences are profound and we are unprepared for them.
After a year of signing laws and regulations decried by medical professionals as unnecessary and costly intrusions into the doctor-patient relationship, Bob McDonnell has suddenly found religion on medical evidence. At least a little bit. He now says he will not sign mandatory trans-vaginal ultrasounds into law. But he'll restrict women's rights other ways.
Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum took his single-track, anti-abortion thinking to a very dangerous level this weekend when he suggested the government should not pay for prenatal tests because they encourage abortion.
As the realities of Virginia's mandated trans-vaginal ultrasound legislation become clear, members of the far right rape apology squad have gone into action, claiming that coerced ultrasound can not be rape. A rape survivor sees the issue differently.
