Mexico Supreme Court Will Uphold Legal Abortion Law in Mexico City … A few days ago we reported in the daily Roundup that the conservative federal government in Mexico was filing a challenge to the one-year-old Mexico City law that legalizes the choice to have an abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.  Word came yesterday that the Mexico Supreme Court will uphold the Mexico City law:

Eight of the 11 Supreme Court justices said during deliberations
that they would vote against declaring the law unconstitutional. Eight
votes would be needed to strike it down, but only three judges have
spoken in favor of doing so. The justices were expected to take a
formal vote within the next couple of days.

"To affirm that there
is an absolute constitutional protection of life in gestation would
lead to the violation of the fundamental rights of women," said Justice
Sergio Valls.

No Confusing McCain’s Record on Abortion … Chicago Tribune reporter Eric Zorn revisits a story reported here by Scott Swenson this past Monday that perhaps did not receive the attention it deserves.  John McCain launched a new ad featuring former Hillary Clinton supporter Debra Batoshevich.  Bartoshevich, a pro-choice voter, was asked in a press conference how she could support anti-choice McCain to which answered, "Going back to 1999, John McCain did an interview with the San Francisco
Chronicle saying that overturning Roe vs. Wade would not make any
sense, because, then, women would have to have illegal abortions."  Zorn appropriately describes this as a very "illlustrative" momment.  There is quite a bit of confusion about where John McCain stands on reproductive health issues, even among supporters appearing in TV ads for him:

What there is to explore is confusion, specifically the sort of confusion Bartoshevich revealed.

"A lot of women, because they see him as a maverick, assume [McCain] is
a moderate" on abortion, Emily’s List President Ellen Malcolm told me
during a conference call with reporters Wednesday morning. They see him
occasionally "taking on the establishment," and extrapolate from that a
"constellation" of liberal views he does not, in fact hold, Malcolm
said.

Zorn has compiled an index of articles that lay out John McCain’s unequivocal anti-choice stance.  NARAL began addressing this problem as soon as McCain became the presumptive nominee a few months ago with their Meet the Real McCain campaign. National Public Radio ran a story on the widespread misperceptions way back in February:

The misperception is interesting, considering that McCain has not
attempted to keep his pro-life views a secret. Here’s how he put it on
an appearance last year on NBC’s Meet the Press:

"I have stated time after time after time that Roe v Wade
was a bad decision, that I support a woman — the rights of the unborn —
that I have fought for human rights and human dignity throughout my
entire political career," McCain said. "To me, it’s an issue of human
rights and human dignity."

Planned Parenthood made a video in which they asked people on the street about John McCain’s record as compared to George Bush’s that is quite revealing:

Pennsylvania Using Ab-only Funds For After-School Classes in Addition to Comprehensive Sex Ed … Pennsylvania has found a way around the federal restrictions on abstinence-only funds, they are teaching abstinence-only classes only after school. During the day students receive comprehensive sex ed schooling.

But a department spokesperson emphasizes abstinence is only one part of a comprehensive sex education.

"Sex
education is just that," Claudine Battisti said Wednesday. "[We]
educate youth obviously on STDs, pregnancy, contraception… you know,
anything related to what you would think of in terms of sex education –
including abstaining from sex."

Pennsylvania has not distributed any federal abstinence-only money since Governor Ed Rendell took office.

Battisti tells CBS 21 the department would make the federal money
available to agencies and schools who seek it out, but that those
agencies will be responsible for matching every federal dollar they
receive.

"And I want to be very clear," Battisti said. "These
are federal dollars. There is a criteria where you must make a match.
The state will not make that match."

Joe Fay is the executive
director of the Pennsylvania Coalition to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. His
organization is concerned about abstinence-only programs that do not
include information about birth control and other safe-sex practices.

"It’s not the abstinence we’re opposed to," Fay said. "It’s the ‘only.’"