Posts Tagged: abortion
Abortion Doulas Provide Much-needed Support
Abortion doulas! What are they, why do I love them, and where can you find one? To understand the role of an abortion doula, we should start with what a doula is generally. According to ATX Doulas, a doula service based in Austin Texas, a doula “is someone who provides continuous emotional and physical support … before, during, and after birth.” Doulas can be trained in relaxation techniques, prenatal activities to ease birth, initial breastfeeding, and can act as an advocate for their client at their birth location (be it home, hospital, or birth center). There are several organizations that offer doula training and certification, such as DONA International and Ancient Song Doula Services. While birth doulas may be the most popular type of doula (as evidenced by google search),… Read more »
The Zika Virus, Disabilities, and Pro-Choice Activism
Earlier this month, a poll taken by Harvard officials indicated a slight shift in favor of abortions in response to the Zika virus. An estimated 59% of Americans favor abortion after 24 weeks if medical records indicate that the unborn fetus has the Zika virus and has a risk of developing major birth defects. As many medical professionals try to find a cure for the Zika virus, abortion politics and the prospect of disabilities from the virus are becoming interwoven. The fear that unborn fetuses will contract the Zika virus has produced a fear of abnormalities plaguing the human race. Disabilities usually causes a shift in public opinion since it questions the morality of what makes a person and whether people with disabilities are viable. While pro-choice people might want to… Read more »
WTF Texas?! Anti-choice group tasked with providing healthcare
At the beginning of August, I was alarmed to read that the State of Texas had awarded a little over $1.6 million to an anti-choice extremist group (surprise!). Anti-choice proponent, Carol Everett, heads the Heidi Group, a group that does not provide healthcare services, but does support anti-choice clinics and agendas. This award came from a large pool of money that the state has allocated to fund the Healthy Texas Women Program, Texas’ version of Medicaid. The program is intended to provide Texans aged 15-44 with comprehensive whole health check-ups, contraceptives, and diabetes and cholesterol treatment and monitoring. Cool beans, got it, everything makes some type of sense now; Texas is working with healthcare providers across the state to ensure Texans have quality health care. Great! …Except for the small… Read more »
Out on the Steps: Lessons Learned While #WaitingForLyle
The Supreme Court has always been my favorite branch of government. They get to wear cool robes. They’re all really smart. Their work has always seemed quasi-secretive yet life-changingly important. When I was told that part of my URGE intern duties would include waiting for the Whole Women’s Health decision on the steps of SCOTUS, I was thrilled. I was less thrilled when I spent two days on the steps #waitingforlyle in typical Washington, DC summer weather. There were more people there than I’d thought there would be, the majority of whom were anti-choice protestors, and the part of me that hates confrontation demanded to know why I had placed myself in this situation. I stood for a few hours, feeling less anxious as the crowd grew larger. I don’t… Read more »
Alabama’s SB 205: a New Spin on TRAP Laws?
As of 2014, Alabama has five abortion clinics. Today, the House Health Committee is having a public hearing on Senate Bill 205, which could force clinics to relocate or ultimately shut down, further decreasing our already limited access to abortion providers. SB 205 would prohibit the renewal of licenses for abortion clinics within 2,000 feet of a school—the same distance required of sex offenders. Not only does this distance and the association with sex crimes make obtaining an abortion seem like an illicit act—Senator Paul Sanford, who proposed the bill, even stated that if they can limit a pedophile’s proximity to a school, they should be able to do the same with the clinics—but it also comes across like yet another law imposed in the hopes of shutting down clinics… Read more »
Alabama Debates Anti-Choice Amendment
While most of Alabama has spent the past few weeks following the sexual misconduct scandal surrounding Governor Bentley, the Alabama House of Representatives quietly began debating a resolution that would add an amendment to the state constitution claiming that life begins at conception. The bill was sponsored by Decatur representative, Ed Henry, with five speakers acting on his behalf during the March 23 meeting of the Health Committee, who took no vote on the subject. According to the ACLU, such an amendment could spell the end for all abortion clinics and medications in the state, as well as removing existing exceptions to abortion laws based on rape or incest. Perhaps the biggest thing working against the law is that many forms of contraception, including birth control products like Plan B,… Read more »
States are Continually Attacking Abortion Access
Since Texas’s anti-abortion bill, HB2 made it to the Supreme Court, many other states have followed suit with similar anti-choice legislation. Louisiana has recently tried enforcing legislation from a 2014 clinic regulation law that would close all but 1 of the abortion-providing clinics in the state. However, the Supreme Court blocked the law until the courts reach a decision about HB2. Although some clinics have already had to cease operation due to this law. On March 2nd, Oklahoma joined in on the frenzy and passed a bill that would require anti-abortion curriculum to be taught at all of the state’s public high schools. This goes beyond abstinence-only education, and goes as far as asserting the “evils” of abortion. It’s important to note that Oklahoma doesn’t have any sort of required… Read more »
Thoughts on Kim Kardashian’s Nude Selfie and Reproductive Justice
This week Kim Kardashian West posted a selfie online in which she was naked with black bars covering her breasts and vagina. Of course, slut-shamers everywhere saw this as a chance to attack Kim and reiterate their belief that she is a bad example for young girls, her daughter, etc. Several celebrities took to Twitter to shame Kim also, people who call themselves feminists told Kim she is bad for women and children. Which seems pretty counter-productive to me. There are a lot of issues feminists have to worry about and fight to change — Kim’s nude selfie is not and should not be anywhere on that list. It’s her body, and therefore her decision to share or not share.Thankfully, Kim took to Twitter and her website to clap back at… Read more »
My Personal is Political (But Not Too Personal)
I’m a very private person. Like, exceedingly private. People describe me as reserved, even if I’m feeling really social. If I took one of those online personality quizzes, I’d get the “silent but judging you” result, but you’d never know because I’d never share it on Facebook. Being a proud introvert can make being a woman who writes about reproductive justice difficult. Because if you take a look around the vast world of feminist blogging, you’ll notice that sharing intimate details of our daily lives is assumed to be a prerequisite to getting exposure. This approach rests on the faulty logic that to convince someone that being a woman in society can be difficult, uncomfortable, and demoralizing we have to expose personal experiences. Being a feminist blogger shouldn’t require that… Read more »
Three Takeaways from the Biggest Abortion Case of Our Generation
This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about the Texas HB2 case, Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt. HB2 is a bill in the Texas legislature that would further restrict abortion access in the state. If put into full effect, this bill will close down all but ten clinics. Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt can change the way abortion cases and reproductive justice is handled state by state from here on out. This precedent could revolutionize reproductive justice and the law. Here are three takeaways from the case thus far. Three Women Occupying Seats on the Supreme Court is Revolutionary This is the first time the… Read more »
