For fuck sakes....

From the petition by the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR):
A 10-year-old girl in Paraguay is pregnant—the result of rape by her stepfather. As doctors weigh the best options for her health, we ask that Paraguay’s Health Minister keep the full range of reproductive health care available to her—including safe, legal abortion. Sign the petition today.

I got this petition from CRR from this article

From NARAL:
The new Congress is about to vote on an extreme abortion ban in the House. This could be the biggest congressional fight about an abortion ban in over a decade.

Abortion is a personal decision that should be left up to women and their families – not politicians.

We have to show the new Congress that the majority of Americans want them to focus on the economy and jobs, not taking away abortion access.

Make sure your member of Congress hears from you. Tell your representative to stop this attack on abortion.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday halted the implementation of new abortion restrictions in the state that supporters said are aimed at protecting women's health and critics said are really measures designed to shutter clinics.

Oklahoma is one of several Republican-stronghold states that have adopted similar restrictions on abortion clinics in the last year, prompting legal battles at the state and federal court level.

The Oklahoma court said it will delay the implementation of the measures that began this month "until the constitutionality of the Act is fully and finally litigated."

( more )

Mod's Note: I'm sorry if things have been quiet here lately. I began noticing I wasn't getting email alerts from Planned Parenthood and NARAL, which the last time I got anything from them was in August. So, I signed up again to get email alerts. I'm also pregnant again and I'm about a week to three weeks away from giving birth to my second kid.

This is similar to the last post with supporting legislation that would fix the Hobby Lobby ruling. However, this action comes from the RCRC (Reproductive Coaliation for Reproductive Choice).

From RCRC:
The Supreme Court's ruling in Hobby Lobby v. Burwell wrongly opened the door for business owners to impose their religious beliefs on their employees, thereby restricting access to contraceptive coverage. This ruling undid our nation’s rich history of protecting individual religious liberty, twisting it from a shield that should protect everyone into a sword that gives more rights to a powerful few. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that RCRC and our allies are already fighting back. The Protect Women's Health from Corporate Interference Act, introduced by Senators Patty Murray and Mark Udall, and Representatives Louise Slaughter, Diana DeGette, and Jerrold Nadler, would fix the Hobby Lobby decision by enacting language that would prevent for-profit corporations from using to religion to selectively comply with the Affordable Care Act. The Senate could vote on this bill as early as Wednesday!

While these bills unfortunately maintain the language that allows some non-profit organizations to deny their employees access to no-cost contraception, they are still critically needed to counter the horrible Supreme Court ruling that allows bosses to impose their religion on their employees.

It is critical that we flood Capitol Hill offices with messages from people of faith that support this legislation, so Congress knows that the proponents of discrimination don’t represent the entire religious community.

Please Take Action Now!

The Supreme Court has been making horrible decisions lately. Frankly, I hope these decisions bite them and the supporters in the ass.

First one: WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously struck down a Massachusetts law that barred protests, counseling and other speech near abortion clinics.

“A painted line on the sidewalk is easy to enforce, but the prime objective of the First Amendment is not efficiency,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote in a majority opinion that was joined by the court’s four-member liberal wing.

The law, enacted in 2007, created 35-foot buffer zones around entrances to abortion clinics. State officials said the law was a response to a history of harassment and violence at abortion clinics in Massachusetts, including a shooting rampage at two facilities in 1994.
What is so hillarious is that the Supreme Court has a huge buffer zone itself. If you ever protested in front of the Supreme Court before, you aren't allowed to be on the steps. You have to be off the steps when you protest. I mean...it has a 35 foot buffer zone that this clinic was trying to get. Yet, I haven't heard any one tried to get this buffer zone in front of the Supreme Court taken down because it violated their freedom of speech.

( More personal thought )

Then the second, more fucked up one (imo): WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that requiring family-owned corporations to pay for insurance coverage for contraception under the Affordable Care Act violated a federal law protecting religious freedom. It was, a dissent said, “a decision of startling breadth.”

The 5-to-4 ruling, which applied to two companies owned by Christian families, opened the door to many challenges from corporations over laws that they claim violate their religious liberty.
I really hope this ruling comes back and bites supporters in the ass. It would suck for these people if they had relatives denied certain medical services like blood transfusions and meds for mental illness because it went against their relatives' employer's beliefs. Worst, if their relative or friend's employer was against any medical intervention. An employer has no place in their employee's health, whether if it's reproductive or general. However, I hope this costs the republicans their power in the House between this election and the one in 2016.

Mississippi lawmakers took steps to become the latest U.S. state to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy by passing a measure on Thursday that seeks to further restrict access to the procedure.

Legislation approved by the state's House of Representatives in a 89-22 vote asserts that a fetus can feel pain by 20 weeks of gestation, halfway through a full-term pregnancy, and that the state has a duty to protect the unborn child.

Abortions would be legal after 20 weeks only if a woman's life was in danger, according to the measure. Physicians who defied the law could lose their medical license.

( More )

Mississippi recorded 2,176 abortions in 2012, the latest year for which the state Department of Health made figures available. Eleven of the abortions occurred between the 16th and 20th weeks of gestation, and two after 20 weeks.

"People in Mississippi need to be demanding why they're considering legislation that has little impact on the state and is wasting taxpayer dollars," Derzis said. "This is grandstanding at its worst."

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the House of Representives passed H.R.7 (AKA the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act."). This bill would potentially eliminate abortion coverage in the private and public insurance markets. If that's not bad enough, the bill allows the IRS to decide whether a woman has been raped or if her pregnancy is dangerous to her health.

Here's more about the bill from NOW:
( A snippet from the bill )

In order to see how your representive voted, go here. Then, after you have seen how your representive voted, either thank them or "spank" them. Hopefully, this bill dies in the senate.

P.S-For us pro-choice Marylanders, our representive voted NO!!! Thank him for voting against this bill :)

From Ultraviolet:

Richard Black, a candidate for Congress in Virginia, thinks that spousal rape should not be a crime.

( Under cut for trigger warnings of victim blaming and rape )

To National Republican Campaign Committee:
It is dangerous to allow Congressional candidates to condone marital rape, which is a very serious instance of domestic violence. We are calling on you to denounce Richard Black's comments and demand that he apologize."

Things like this are a major reason why the Republican party is slowing digging themselves a grave. Get the fuck away from these douches! I would feel the same way towards any candidate, of any party and political persuasion that harbored this sick view.