Em-URGE-ing Voices

Posts Categorized: nick

What Obama Failed to Mention in the State of the Union Address

President Obama had his State of the Union address earlier this week and tackled a lot of pressing issues at the top of the agenda. However, despite a bill that eliminated abortion coverage in insurance passing in the House just a few hours before, there was no mention of reproductive rights. Anti-choice legislation on the state level is passing at an alarming rate, yet it’s not considered a hot topic worthy of being addressed. On the other hand, Obama is receiving praise for his speech that highlighted workplace rights for women. “Today, women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. A woman deserves equal pay for equal work. She deserves… Read more »

Make Roe Real: A World Without Roe

Thank you to the world of Roe. It’s been 41 years since the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision, making abortions legal in the United States. When talking about Roe, it’s important to remember we are all making efforts to not only make Roe real, but keep Roe a reality. A way to do that is to reflect on what society would look like in a world without the important SCOTUS decision. Lawmakers and legislators around the country are slowly bringing down the pillars to safe and legal abortions. Though it’s legal, anti-choice groups are doing everything they can to restrict access and to put up as many barriers as possible to it. If they continue winning these legislative victories, the court decision might be stripped of all its power… Read more »

Harassment – Coming to an Abortion Clinic Near You!

As if shutting down reproductive health clinics throughout the country with ridiculous restrictions and TRAP laws, anti-choice activists are making it even more difficult for people to exercise their freedom of choice. This past Wednesday, the US Supreme Courth began the hearings to the McCullen v. Coakley case. The Massachusetts buffer zone law creates a 35-feet bubble between protesters and the health clinic. Eleanor McCullen, an avid sidewalk “counselor” argues that first amendment rights are being violated when they are denied their right to practice freedom of speech wherever they choose. Well Eleanor, there’s a huge difference between free speech and hate speech. The current law seems to be a fair balance where anti-choice protesters are allowed to vocalize their message, just 35 feet away. The buffer zone provides a… Read more »

The Other “F” Word: Enough Mansplanation

“Feminism: a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche The use of language and the connotation attached to words we use can be quite divisive. The word feminism, in itself, has become a word many men are turned off by. Gender, sexual orientation, and race have a default image response to the oppressed group, but we never examine the other half of the equation—the privileged group. I definitely benefit from male privilege myself. I still have trouble checking my privilege and acknowledging my faults, but we are all still venturing in our own feminist journeys and there’s still a lot to learn along the way, especially for me.

“Hey Mrs. Carter”: Navigating Beyonce’s Feminism

The queen Beyonce unexpectedly dropped a new album and it has been a holiday gift for all. Her 17 music videos and 14 tracks on her self-titled album has had feminists chiming in on her new songs with messages of empowerment, positive sexuality, and changing what it means to be a feminist of color. We must first understand that Beyonce’s feminism, like most,  is not perfect and has a lot of growth, as do all the work done in the reproductive justice movement. Constantly criticizing each other can be detrimental, but we must give credit where it’s due and reinforce constructive criticism.

Student Leaders at the University of Texas are Taking Campus Safety into their Own Hands

Students on college campuses around the country are preparing for finals which means lots of caffeine, minimal amounts of sleep, and long nights at the school library. Drowning in finals myself, I sometimes don’t leave the 24-hour school library until late at night. Walking back to my car in pitch darkness and half awake, I walk past a myriad of other sleep-deprived students who all have to walk almost a mile or more back to their apartments. What seems like a typical college finals night for many university students might be a dangerous venture back home. The University of Texas, spans over five blocks each way with over 50,000 students in attendance. With such a huge campus, it’s easy for students to end up walking a huge distance, often times… Read more »

Immigration and Reproductive Justice: Fighting for Family Rights

This has been an exhausting and draining week for many UT-Austin students, myself being one. National headlines covered the Texas University’s Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) student organization that hosted a “Catch an Illegal Immigrant Game.” This game involved volunteers wearing pins with “illegal” on them and if students “caught” them and brought them back to a YCT member, they would receive a $25 gift card. Their goal was to create a dialogue about immigration…right.

Twerking, Auto-Tune, and the “Bitch”: Lily Allen’s Feminism

Lily Allen, the quirky artist based out of the UK is back after a long hiatus with a new single entitled “Hard Out Here” and she’s back with a vengeance. Allen’s new hit deals with the sexism and misogyny in mainstream media and isn’t afraid to take jabs at rising artists. Her satirical video alludes to Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke’s videos and performances, but does her satire justify her mimicking the sexist and racist acts of those artists?

3 Ways You Can Help Texas Right Now

This week has been a roller coaster ride in Texas. First, on Monday, District Judge Lee Yeakel found certain requirements under HB5 to be unconstitutional including the requirement of admitting privileges. But yesterday evening the 5th Circuit Court of a Appeals blocked Judge Yeakel’s injunction on the law, which means that even though the admitting privileges are currently considered unconstitutional by the courts, they will still go into effect – starting today – until the Court has made the a permanent ruling on the provision. Basically, it’s really bad news. Clinics are already being forced to cancel appointments and experts believe this decision will close one-third of abortion clinics in the state. Things are looking bad for abortion access in Texas right now, but this fight will be a long… Read more »