Ellen Marshall blogged earlier today about the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA), and Nancy Keenan of NARAL did as well. (See also: Feministing.) It went through a vote yesterday in the House in a way that left us wondering if it was a purely political stunt. As Ellen pointed out, by passing the bill with slightly different language than the Senate version, House conservatives appeared to have killed their own initiative. There was little presumed chance that the Senate would be able to return to it in time to approve it before this session of Congress ended, and failure to act would have left it dead until next session.
There has been a lot of news lately about declining birth rates and changes in population in various countries.Pro-population groups have used this opportunity to predict doom and gloom if people don’t start having more babies.Taking that approach, a demographer named Andrew Pollard discussed “Societal Suicide: The Profound Demographic Impact of Contraception” at the Contraception is Not the Answer conference. In contrast to the friendly, cheerful demeanor of the other speakers, Pollard sounded angry and vehement.He made some of the most outrageous statements I heard during the entire conference, which you can listen to in the audio clips at the end of this post.
[img_assist|nid=598|title=Special Series|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67]Last week, while American anti-contraception activists gathered in Chicago to discuss how contraception (a.k.a. the "taproot" of abortion) is destroying America, a group of African health ministers and other African Union leaders met in Maputo, Mozambique to discuss how ensuring women's access to contraception and related sexual and reproductive health services might help Save Africa. Apparently, the African Union has not gotten the memo about how contraception is NOT the answer. But, in the great tradition of the Pro-Life Action League, it's time to take a closer look...
Jen Heitel Yakush is Public Policy Associate at SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the Untied States
In early June 2006, just over 200 organizations launched No More Money in an effort to stop funding for harmful and ideologically driven abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. The list of supporting organizations, representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia, has now reached close to 300 and ranges from HIV/AIDS organizations to pro-choice organizations, from organizations committed to GLBT rights to organizations committed to disability rights, and from education organizations to medical, scientific, and public health organizations. The Campaign exists because over $1 billion has thus far been spent on these programs. The medical community has never supported these programs and polling consistently shows that the American public agrees that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs are failing our nation's young people and thatgovernment funding spent on these ideologically driven programs is a waste of valuable resources and the wrong direction for health education.
I’m confused. On Tuesday supporters of limiting access to abortion – which a majority of the House of Representatives are – did not take the opportunity to make it a federal crime to take a minor to another state to have an abortion. The House (which already passed a version of this bill in April 2005) could have taken up the bill the Senate passed in July of this year, passed it and then sent it onto the President for signature.Slam dunk – it would have been law.
[img_assist|nid=598|title=Special Series|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67]Joe Scheidler of Pro Life Action League is getting a little defensive about our special series and online advertising campaign addressing his recent conference entitled Contraception Is Not The Answer. In the very first sentence of his Action News Hotline he claimed that "More than 250 Pro-Life stalwarts, one pro-abortion spy, Tyler LePard, and several members of the press attended the first-ever national anti-contraception conference in Chicago Friday and Saturday."
Dr. Carmen Angélica Valenzuela, a pediatrician, is senior program officer in the International Department at Catholics for a Free Choice and a commissioner of the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women & Children.
Amnesty International has come under fire from the Catholic hierarchy in the U.S. and the U.K. as it considers whether to include access to abortion in the list of rights that it supports. Many other organizations and individuals have long made the case that access to safe abortion services is a basic human right, one that saves thousands of women's lives and protects the health of many, many more. While the U.S., Canada and New Zealand have voted in favor, members in other nations are in the process of consulting and voting on the proposal. While the final decision won't be made until the end of next year, this debate is long overdue.
On February 10, 1990-the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison in South Africa-I was kidnapped by the Guatemalan government's notorious G-2 intelligence unit. For eight days, I was bound, beaten and physically and psychologically tortured in an attempt to gain information about the guerilla movement that I simply did not have. Like many of my medical colleagues, I had supported the opposition in Guatemala, providing medical supplies and emergency assistance to those who opposed the regime. I am proud to this day of the work we did.
Going into the anti-contraception conference in Chicago, I wasn't sure what to expect. I wanted to blend in, so I packed clothes that I deemed to be slightly formal, but wouldn't stand out. I wanted to look conservative and professional, but not too much like I'm from Washington, DC. Oh, and I needed to hide my tattoos and piercings, which involved wearing long-sleeve shirts and not opening my mouth too wide (which was an additional barrier to speaking up when I heard outrageous statements). I put on my cross necklace, wore skirts and plain tops, and ventured into the belly of the beast.
Since many anti-abortion groups have shied away from taking on contraception, I thought only radical extremists would gather to oppose something that is used by the majority of Americans. To my surprise, that was not the case.
In case you missed it, NewsHour did a segment on the South Dakota anti-abortion law that voters will considered in a ballot initiative this fall. It's from March of this year.
South Dakota is not the end of the fight, Michelman reminded us. This is the first step in a long struggle, but it's not hopeless because of conversations like this.