The Assault on Womens Sexual and Reproductive Rights

[femmeInterrupted]

http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/20...asound-debate/

[DMW]

Dear Friend,

There's an urgent new threat to birth control coverage, and all of us have to speak out right away before it gets any traction.

This time, 11 prominent right-wing members of Congress have filed a legal brief in support of Hobby Lobby--the major craft retail chain that is suing the Obama Administration over the requirement that health insurers cover birth control.1 Hobby Lobby's conservative CEO and these members of Congress apparently don't think women can make their own health care decisions--that somehow a woman's boss at work should be the one telling her what to do.

In the past year, conservatives have tried to gut birth control coverage time and time again.2 Even after getting walloped by the women's vote at the ballot box in November, they kept trying.3 But they've failed every time, so now they're trying a new route—the courts. And this strategy might just be the scariest they've tried yet because if they win, it will set an incredibly bad precedent for women's health care and reproductive choice.4 Imagine: a legal decision that says your boss gets to make decisions about your health care, not you. That's scary.

That's why we've partnered with our friends at EMILY's List to send them a message: just stop. Birth control is a personal, medical decision, and it's not up to politicians or employers to dictate how women use it. Republicans need to stop trying to block women's access. If UltraViolet members and EMILY's List members speak out together, they'll hear us loud and clear.

Hobby Lobby is a major crafts retailer in the United States and employs thousands of women across 14 states.5 US companies can't flout the law just because they don't like it. Big corporations and small businesses are run by all sorts of people in our country, many religious, many not. Allowing company management to impose their beliefs on employees is just plain un-American.
If the court sides with them and finds that an employer can choose which type of birth control is available to their employees, it would set a dangerous precedent for other cases and give extremists another opening to attack women's rights and access to health care.6
And now, 11 prominent members of Congress have given this lawsuit greater credibility and asked the courts to set a dangerous precedent for all women. But we know that politicians care about their next election more than virtually anything else, and if we can show them this is a loser with women voters, we can get them to drop their attacks on birth control--and stop them from gaining traction. The more of us that speak out, the louder our voices will be. UltraViolet and EMILY's List members together will hold these politicians accountable make sure they know that if they mess with women, we will fight back and we will win. Please join us in this important campaign.
Sign the petition.
Thanks for speaking out.
Nita, Shaunna, Kat, and Karin, the UltraViolet team


http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign...KZT88&rd=1&t=3


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_2759780.html


http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/0...care-loophole/


Sickening. But viagra is covered by health care and now...the "low T".

[Kobi]

Arkansas has passed the most restrictive abortion law in the United States – a near-ban on the procedure from the 12th week of pregnancy onward.

The state has vetoed the Democratic Governor twice in the last week over two separate bills on abortion. The first one banned most abortions starting in the 20th week of pregnancy. That bill took effect immediately after the final override vote, whereas the 12-week ban would not take effect until this summer.

Abortion rights proponents have already said they will sue to block the 12-week ban from taking effect.

So far, other recent attempts to similarly restrict abortion in other states have fallen short. A so-called fetal pain law banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy was struck down on Wednesday night by a federal judge in Idaho.

The law was based on disputed beliefs held by some physicians and others that the foetus is able to feel pain at 20 weeks and therefore deserves protection from abortions.

In Mississippi, voters rejected a so-called "personhood amendment" at the polls. In Ohio, a similar measure was defeated in the legislature, but they represent a growing trend in conservative states to chip away at abortion rights under the US Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalised abortion until a foetus could viably survive outside the womb. A foetus is generally considered viable at 22 to 24 weeks.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...law-in-US.html

[AmazonWoman1]

There once was an idiot named Nicolae Ceaușescu who ran Romania for a time & had the genius idea to force pregnancies to term.This was covered somewhat in a movie called 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.There were some serious consequences to this ill advised idea.These same unwanted children rose up to overthrow his regime & murder him.If you force women to be unwilling parents it may lead to a high rate of personality disordered people like sociopaths & psychotics.These same people may prove to be your undoing at a later time.So the more ignorant they get the bigger the eventual backlash may be.The pendulum tends to swing back in response to outright bigotry & hatred so we all can hope people start firing these politicians in droves.I know my incumbent of like 20 years just got fired*S*



The movie is available on Netflix streaming

[femmeInterrupted]

Politicians abuse negative stereotypes about those who seek abortion to push their anti-choice legislation

[femmeInterrupted]

http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/20...re-bad-people/

[Kobi]

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — As oil-rich North Dakota moves toward outlawing most abortions, it's in a better position than most states for what could be a long and costly court battle over its restrictions.

Lawmakers on Friday sent the Republican governor two anti-abortion bills, one banning the procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy and another prohibiting women from having the procedure because a fetus has a genetic defect, such as Down syndrome. They would be the most restrictive abortion laws in the U.S

Abortion-rights activists have promised a legal battle over the measures if they become law. But supporters of the bills say their goal is to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion up until a fetus is considered viable, usually at 22 to 24 weeks

Gov. Jack Dalrymple hasn't said anything to indicate he would veto the measures, and the bills have enough support in each chamber for the Republican-controlled Legislature to override him. The Senate overwhelmingly approved the bills Friday, and the House passed them last month. The votes were largely on party lines, with Republicans supporting the measures and Democrats opposing them.

The state's only abortion clinic is in Fargo, and abortion-rights advocates say the measures are meant to shut it down. They urged Dalrymple to veto the bills.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the measures "extreme" and noted that many women don't realize they are pregnant until after six weeks.

Outside of Fargo, the nearest abortion clinics are four hours to the south in Sioux Falls, S.D., and four hours to the southeast in Minneapolis.

North Dakota is one of several states with Republican-controlled Legislatures and GOP governors that is looking at abortion restrictions. Arkansas passed a 12-week ban earlier this month that prohibits most abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected using an abdominal ultrasound. That ban is scheduled to take effect 90 days after the Arkansas Legislature adjourns.

A fetal heartbeat can generally be detected earlier in a pregnancy using a vaginal ultrasound, but Arkansas lawmakers balked at requiring women seeking abortions to have the more invasive imaging technique.

North Dakota's measure doesn't specify how a fetal heartbeat would be detected. Doctors performing an abortion after a heartbeat is detected could face a felony charge punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Women having an abortion would not face charges.

The genetic abnormalities bill also bans abortion based on gender selection. Pennsylvania, Arizona and Oklahoma already have such laws, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion restrictions across the U.S. North Dakota would be the first state to ban abortions based on a genetic defect, according to the institute.

Sen. Margaret Sitte, a Republican from Bismarck, said the bill is meant to ban the destruction of life based on "an arbitrary society standard of being good enough." Some test results pointing to abnormalities are incorrect, she said, and doctors can perform surgeries even before a baby is born to correct some genetic conditions.

http://news.yahoo.com/north-dakota-f...070224321.html