The Bush administration distributed a memo that would make birth control pills abortion:

According to the HHS draft, “abortion” takes on a very broad meaning: “The Department proposes to define abortion as ‘any of the various procedures — including the prescription and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action — that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation.’”

RH Reality check has a link to the leaked document. The whole thing is ridiculous - the last legs of the Bush administration, trying to redefine “abortion” as any kind of birth control or family planning. Coming soon: woman saying no to sex defined as abortion. As much as that’s Onion-y, I fear it’s what the anti-choicers are really all about - women barefoot & pregnant.

(via Carpetbagger).

Dubya & Co. have been in power long enough to pretty much devastate the economy, and in response, women are reporting that they had abortions in the past year precisely because of the bad economy. Women, being imminently practical, and carrying the burden of most childcare, and being the first and hardest hit by dropping wages, can’t afford to have their babies.

An interesting dilemma for Republicans, no?  So if you want to prevent abortions, maybe it would be a good idea to quit funding tax cuts for the rich.

(via Feministing)

RH Reality Check has put together a nice website of pro-choice information for the 2008 Election.

(via Feministe)

A simple, matter-of-fact article by a retired gynecologist in her 80s talking about what it was like to treat women who had tried to abort themselves or who had been worked on by an abortionist (who was not medically trained) in the days before Roe.

This year, the organizers of Blog for Choice have asked us all why we vote pro-Choice.

I grew up Catholic, as many know, & my first opinion on abortion - once I realized I should have one - was to be Pro Life. I was already against the death penalty, & in this instance, the Church’s rulings - against human beings messing with life & death - seemed consistent to me.

It was only later that I became a feminist and realized that pregnancy is often considered only a woman’s problem, that men are barely even expected to use birth control when they have sex, and that not only do we preach - as a culture - that women have to be sexy, but that it’s bad that they are. There’s a certain ‘head in the sand’ quality to the way we deal with these issues, and when, a few years ago, a pro life friend told me women should just keep their knees together - she wasn’t kidding, either - I’d had enough of the double standard.

So that’s why I vote pro-choice.

If people find others who are blogging for choice, do link to them here.

It’s starting to seem like once a month, a new state tells the Federal Government to stuff it’s abstinence-only sex ed funding. This month it’s New Mexico’s turn.

Eventually maybe the Feds will get the idea, so write to your reps & tell them to “just say no” to “just say no” sex ed.

A Christian pharmacist, Brian Bundy, was fired by Target for not being willing to dispense Plan B contraception to customers. He’s suing.

How odd. I can’t imagine. You don’t do your job & you get fired. What a weird outcome.

Despite the studies, Dubya is pushing for more abstinence-only funding.

I wish Barbara had used birth control the night he was conceived.

The Global Gag Rule, which feminists have been pointing out is bad news especially for the world’s poorest women, isn’t just about abortion. It’s about birth control, and family planning, which the very poorest women often need the most. For those who don’t know, it’s the law that demands that any organization that even mentions abortion lose all its U.S.-backed family planning funding which means they don’t get basic contraception.

Chair Nita Lowey (D-NY) (of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations and Related Programs) added: “In some cases, the largest distribution centers for contraceptives have experienced decreased access for over 50% of the women they serve.”

Besides: it doesn’t make much of a difference in the amount of abortions. What legal abortions provide is women who live another day.

Whether abortion is legal or illegal, rates are about the same. But the “shocking” difference is how dangerous it is to women where it is illegal. At least 67,000 women die each year from unsafe abortions.

I suppose it’s useless to point out that half the countries we’re funding aren’t, um, Christian, and may or may not feel that abortion is immoral.

(source: Feminist Daily News, 11/1)

Seattle, WA was the recent site of a conference for people who are researching birth control options for men, including Vitamin A interceptors, a progestin shot, & an oral contraceptive that’s been proven reversible in monkeys.

Considering how hard it can be to get men to use a condom, which is otherwise simple & private & inexpensive to use, I’m not sure if they’re overshooting the goal.

& Of course, birth control still doesn’t protect against STDs - either the male or female forms.

Well, here’s a bit of good news: the Senate voted to repeal the Global Gag rule. The Global Gag Rule was put in place by Reagan (removed by Clinton & reinstated by Dubya) and prevented the U.S. from funding any organizations that even mentioned abortion as an option when providing services or counseling to women in need.  In legislation introduced by Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA), this restriction was lifted (and people think having women in positions of power doesn’t matter!)

The good news is that the House already passed similar legislation in June and the two versions will be reconciled so that Dubya can veto it, sadly. But at least our legislators are fighting back some on this issue.

Yet another report has come out that abstinence-only education fails our kids; in this case, abstinence-only education has been shown not to prevent HIV infection.

So what I want to know is when we go on the offensive, and start accusing people & agencies who back this bullshit why they want to kill children. Granted, people don’t die of HIV the way they used to, but goddamn, if we can avoid having a kid get a serious, life-long compromised immune system, surely that should be enough reason to get some real sex ed taught, no?

For those of you who have been following the issue of pharmacists deciding not to fill hormone prescriptions due to them following their conscience, US District Court Judge Jeanne Scott of Illionois just ruled in favor of Ethan Vandersand - one such pharmacist, who refused to fill a prescription for emergency contraception.

Despite a 2005 law issued by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) that requires Illinois pharmacists to either dispense or ensure timely access to Plan B upon request, Judge Jeanne Scott ruled that Vandersand was protected under the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act. Wal-Mart and Walgreen Co. — which have both terminated or disciplined employees for refusing to fill Plan B requests — maintain that Illinois’ conscience laws do not apply to pharmacists.

From the Feminist Daily News.

I’m curious if there are any reported instances where a pharmacist refused to fill a prescription for a trans person’s hormones.

It’s downright embarrassing to live in New York these days: six states have said no to the “abstinence only” Federal sex education money, but New York isn’t one of them.

So our kids get basic HIV info - because that’s required - and otherwise “cross your legs & take a cold shower.” Genius.

Another governor - this time Governor Strickland of Ohio - has given the Feds back the abstinence-only strings-attached sex education money.

That’s six states now, & the fifth (Wisconsin) only refused the impractical funding a few weeks ago.

So now there’s the other 44 to work on. Write your governor and tell him to return funding that denies a state the right to teach sex education in the way that we decide is most appropriate for our kids.

The Deputy Assistant Secretary for HHS’ Office of Population Affairs, Eric Keroack, has resigned. & There was much rejoicing because he was not just anti-choice, but anti-contraception.

This Bush government is really just insane. Honestly: putting someone who is against even contraception in charge of the Office of Population Affairs is like putting a wife-beater in charge of the Office of Domestic Violence.

But, that’s one nightmare over.

Republican State Senator Dan Patrick has suggested paying pregnant women $500 so they don’t abort unwanted babies.

Sure. That’ll cover - a box of diapers and some pre-natal vitamins, maybe a vaccination or two if she goes to a sliding scale clinic.

And what’s your plan after that, Senator Patrick?

He is my April Fool this year.

A recent Washington Post article about a book called Cycle Savvy: The Smart Teen’s Guide to the Mysteries of Her Body, discusses the debate going on as to whether or not teenagers should know anything about when they’re more or less likely to become pregnant. Charting your cycles is intricate work that requires diligence, & for that reason alone some people think it’s not a good idea, “since a little information is a dangerous thing,” according to one woman who ended up pregnant as a result of screwing up her own chart-keeping.

I’d argue there might be teens who are more diligent - or maybe even brighter - than her.

But the usual suspects chime in about how sex information only ever encourages girls to have sex. A spokesperson for Concerned Women for America proffers “high ideals,” instead.

Come now: doesn’t that sound like “keep your knees together” all over again?

Say there’s a good pre-screening program for early detection of cervical and breast cancer that’s free to women & partially funded by the state.

Say there’s a governor of said state who, under pressure from anti-choice forces, decides that no matter how good the program, it must be stopped because the screenings are taking place in Planned Parenthood clinics.

Now say that said Planned Parenthood clinics didn’t even provide abortion procedures.

What do you say now? These kinds of politics are idiotic: a functioning, useful program that was saving women’s lives has now been gutted for no goddamn good reason. Missouri Governor Matt Blunt decided to grandstand instead of backing useful services for poor and uninsured women.

The good news is that Louise Slaughter (D, NY) reintroduced the Prevention First Act:

“I am proud to reintroduce this bill which serves as an innovative and comprehensive approach to protecting women’s reproductive health, decreasing the spread of STDs, and reducing the number of unintended pregnancies,” Rep. Slaughter said of the bill in a Senate press release. “If we want to reduce the number of abortions in this country, the methodology is clear — empower women to prevent unintended pregnancies through education and access to contraception.”

Sounds reasonable, but considering yesterday’s news, I’m going to guess it won’t pass. There really are some people in this country who think the only answer is abstinence.