prochoice_maryland | Entries tagged with pro-choice

lynn82md.livejournal.com

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed the Contraceptive Equity Act into law Tuesday, requiring all insurance companies to offer free over-the-counter birth control.

The act will eliminate most co-pays for over-the-counter methods of birth control for insured Maryland residents, as well as vasectomies for men.

Maryland is the first state to require insurance companies to cover emergency contraceptives such as the morning-after pill, which costs between $35 and $60 in most states.

The act also requires people to obtain up to a six-month supply of birth control at a time, eliminates requirements of a prescription for over-the-counter birth control, and ends pre-approval requirements for long-acting reversible contraception such as IUDs.

The Affordable Care Act — commonly known as Obamacare — requires all of its insurance plans to offer free birth control, but many insurance plans only cover a certain type of birth control which may have negative side effects for certain women and not others, while ones that work for them are not covered.

( More )

You can see the full bill in there. This bill makes me proud to be a Marylander :)

lynn82md.livejournal.com

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas grand jury has indicted two anti-abortion activists in a case involving covert videos on fetal tissue procurement talks with Planned Parenthood and found there was no wrongdoing on the part of the health group, a district attorney said on Monday.

The grand jury decision was a result of a probe launched last year under Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, who accused Planned Parenthood of the "gruesome harvesting of baby body parts." No evidence was provided by Texas to back the claim.

The videos released last summer led Texas and several other Republican-controlled states to try to halt funding for local Planned Parenthood operations

( More )

What? You mean they lied! Who knew? *sarcastically* Anyone surprised by this? I'm sure as hell not. However, it's good that they are getting charged for this. Maybe other anti-abortion activists will see this and see that lying doesn't pay off. Also, talk about denial from the Texas govenor

lynn82md.livejournal.com

Sex positive" is, I am pleased to note, a term that has been gaining more attention in recent years. A social and philosophical response to repressed, limited, and often judgmental attitudes toward sex and sexuality, the sex positive movement emphasizes that "good sex" is defined as safe, informed, consensual, and whatever else it also is beyond those things is best left up to the people participating in the act. That's it, and I think that's awesome. As a parent, I am already doing my best to encourage sex positive attitudes in my children, who are 4-years-old and 19 months — despite the fact that they have absolutely no idea what sex is, and I don't have plans to get into what it is with either of them any time soon. No, this is not a contradiction, and it's not hard to do.

What it comes down to is this: Sex positivity rarely exists in a vacuum. It's usually part of a larger life philosophy that believes all people are entitled to happiness and respect. I have found that there are broad areas of overlap between the body positive and fat acceptance movements, feminism, and the LGBT community. As such, there is so much a parent can say to their child that lays the groundwork for them to have happy, healthy, and fulfilling sex lives (when they're ready) that don't necessarily have a thing to do with sex.">

This is a good read for those of you that are parents or will be parents in the future. Of course, I don't think you have to be a parent to teach children these lessons.

lynn82md.livejournal.com

The Supreme Court is refusing to revive an Arkansas law that would have banned abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy if doctors can detect a fetal heartbeat.

The justices did not comment Tuesday in rejecting the state's appeal of lower court rulings that struck down the law. Federal judges called the law inconsistent with Supreme Court rulings that generally tie restrictions to the fetus' viability, not the presence of a heartbeat.

The high court already has an abortion case on its agenda, examining restrictions on Texas abortion clinics that the state says are meant to safeguard women's health. Abortion-rights supporters argue that the restrictions' only aim is to make abortions harder to obtain.

Good

lynn82md.livejournal.com

Support for legal abortion in the U.S. has edged up to its highest level in the past two years, with an Associated Press-GfK poll showing an apparent increase in support among Democrats and Republicans alike over the last year.

Nearly six in 10 Americans — 58 percent — now think abortion should be legal in most or all cases, up from 51 percent who said so at the beginning of the year, according to the AP-GfK survey. It was conducted after three people were killed last month in a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado.

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Note: There is a second page to the article that I didn't put under the cut.

cross posted to

we_r_the_middle

lynn82md.livejournal.com

In December 2014, I had a medical abortion at age 29. When I realized I was pregnant, I hesitated only momentarily in my decision. I thought about my mom, who had me when she was 19, and how hard she worked to provide for me. I thought about how cool of a parent I would be. I thought about all the nice moments a child could bring. Ultimately, however, I determined that I was not ready, financially or emotionally. I discussed this at length with my partner, who agreed that an abortion was the best choice, not just for us, but for me.

( More on that and Planned Parenthood )

lynn82md.livejournal.com

From MoveOn.org
Planned Parenthood supporters all across the country will stand together on September 29 for the first-ever National Pink Out Day. We’re going to demonstrate just how many people across the country are willing to stand up and fight for women’s health and rights—and we’re counting on you to help.

Host your own Pink Out Day Event or sign up for an event near you.

lynn82md.livejournal.com

The campaign, masterminded by 26-year-old anti-abortion crusader and “proud millennial” David Daleiden, is meant to let us in on the fact that abortion is disgusting.

When asked, in an interview with the National Review, what one question he would ask Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, Daleiden replied, “I would ask her if she knows abortion the way Planned Parenthood providers know abortion.” Proud millennial David Daleiden wants to make sure that 57-year-old Cecile Richards, who has given birth to three children and publicly discussed her own abortion, really understands what abortion is.

Daleiden is enacting a very old strategy, akin to standing outside a clinic with a sign informing women that their unborn babies have fingerprints at nine weeks’ gestation. This approach has taken on new life in recent years, as improving ultrasound technology has offered an ever-sharper view of fetal development, leading those in both the anti-abortion and the reproductive-rights movements to argue that a public, moral, and rhetorical reckoning with the carnal implications of abortion is necessary.

The videos are likely to have an impact: not on public opinion about abortion, which rarely changes meaningfully, but perhaps on Planned Parenthood’s funding, and almost certainly on laws made by state legislatures in the parts of America where abortion has already become so inaccessible — thanks to elaborate facility requirements, waiting periods, parental-consent-and-notification laws, earlier gestational cutoffs, and a dwindling number of providers — that it might as well be illegal.

But as a broader strategy, the notion that educating women in the grotesqueries of termination will be a game-changer is absurd. As Richards could tell Daleiden if he asked her his question, women already know what abortion is. We know more about blood, innards, fetuses, and the babies they may become — in short, about life in reproductive bodies — than anti-abortion activists seem to understand.

Disclaimer: This is a snippet from the article. It's not the beginning of the article.

lynn82md.livejournal.com

“We find that the negative emotions experienced at the time of the abortion wane/decrease significantly over 3 years afterwards. Notably, relief remains the most common emotion.”

New research has found that more than 95 percent of women who have received an abortion have no regret about it, feeling that their decision was the right thing for them. Researchers found no difference in mental health outcomes between women who had first-trimester abortions and late-term abortions.

Thirty-five states currently require some for of mandatory counseling for a woman before an abortion can be performed, seven of which require a woman be told of possible psychological responses to abortion, stressing negative emotional responses such as “postabortion traumatic stress disorder”, a term adopted by pro-life supporters but has not been accepted by the American Psychological Association or the American Psychiatric Association, and is basically debunked by this study

lynn82md.livejournal.com

The deepest grief I ever experienced was over the loss of a life that I, myself, ended. I was so traumatized by the entire experience that I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

I had all the symptoms: flashbacks, nightmares, panic attacks. I would obsessively replay the scene in the abortion clinic over and over again in my mind, desperately wanting it to un-happen. I would have sacrificed a limb instead, if I could have. But that wasn't the choice I was given.

My options were to lose a pregnancy or lose my life, and... well, I guess you could say I chose life.

( The rest of the story...trigger warnings for verbal abusive language )

lynn82md.livejournal.com

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

lynn82md.livejournal.com

For more than 20 years, the Center for Reproductive Rights has used the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental human right. Around the world, their attorneys and advocates establish and defend the right of every woman to make her own decisions about her health, family, and future.
By Dionne Scott

Hollywood has long been reluctant to offer realistic depictions of what it’s like to end a pregnancy, despite the fact that roughly 1 in 3 American women will have an abortion before age 45. When it does summon the courage to address the issue at all, Tinseltown has too often distorted the facts or reverted to misogynist stereotypes — like the helpless damsel or the hysterical mistress. That’s not to say we haven’t made progress since 1928’s Road to Ruin, one of the first films to include an abortion storyline. In that film, a teenager gets an abortion and subsequently, as a form of cosmic punishment, is mysteriously burned alive in bed.

From the laughably absurd to the refreshingly frank, here some of the best and worst portrayals of abortion on film and TV.

lynn82md.livejournal.com

As a pro-choice mother of two...Happy Anniversary, Roe! May abortion remain legal and reproductive freedom exist in the U.S' future :)

lynn82md.livejournal.com

First, the Good News :)
Late Wednesday night, Republican Congressional leaders announced that they would be dropping the planned vote for today on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which, if implemented, would have instilled a nationwide ban on all abortions after week 20 of a pregnancy.

The Washington Post reports that the vote was abandoned largely because of the failure of many Republican women to support the proposed bill — led by Reps. Rene Ellmers (R-N.C.) and Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.), who had raised concerns about public fallout with female and younger voters.

Since it was introduced during the first day of the new Congressional session, the bill has been the source of great controversy and public outcry, including from the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, had explained that the bill was necessary to prevent “defenseless children” from being “torturously killed without even basic anesthetic.” Research has shown, however, that a fetus is not able to sense pain until the beginning of the third trimester, or 28 weeks, at the earliest.

Late-term abortion is typically done only in instances such as the discovery of debilitating conditions in the fetus — many of which would make survival outside of the womb impossible — or when the life of the mother is at risk; in fact 99 percent of abortions are conducted before the 21st week of pregnancy.
Yes!!!

( Unfortunately.... )

*Heavily editted since I learned about the bill passing after I posted about asking your rep to say no to the H.R 7

lynn82md.livejournal.com

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.

lynn82md.livejournal.com

Republican lawmakers are raising concerns that the party will alienate young voters and women by voting for an antiabortion bill coming to the House floor next week, on the 42nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.

In a closed-door open-mic session of House Republicans, Rep. Renee Ellmers spoke out against bringing up the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban abortion after 20 weeks, telling the conference that she believes the bill will cost the party support among millennials, according to several sources in the room.

"I have urged leadership to reconsider bringing it up next week.… We got into trouble last year, and I think we need to be careful again; we need to be smart about how we're moving forward," Ellmers said in an interview. "The first vote we take, or the second vote, or the fifth vote, shouldn't be on an issue where we know that millennials—social issues just aren't as important [to them]."

The frustration comes as the GOP retreat on Thursday night hosted demographer Neil Howe, the man credited with coining the term "millennial," and as the party has been discussing how to appeal to young voters.

Other members voiced concerns in the meeting that the bill, which passed the House last year, distracts from the GOP's stated message of creating jobs and spurring economic growth.

Dear GOP,
Please do two things. A-listen to Rep. Ellmers and B-See where it says that the GOP's state message of creating jobs and spurring economic growth? Yeah, what happened to that agenda? Going after healthcare a hundred billion times and reproductive rights wasn't part of the plan. If I had been a republican that voted for you economically, I would be miffed right now that you're doing something exactly the opposite of what you said you would do.

Sincerely,
Me

Cross posted to

we_r_the_middle

lynn82md.livejournal.com

There are plenty of reasons why a woman might not have children. For many, it’s a choice to be childfree. Some are waiting for the right partner. Others might want to be mothers, but have had difficulties starting a family.

But the one thing many women without kids share is an awareness of constant judgment on their non-mom status. In an interview in January’s Allure, Jennifer Aniston addressed the issue head on: “I don’t like [the pressure] that people put on me, on women—that you’ve failed yourself as a female because you haven’t procreated. I don’t think it’s fair,” she said. “You may not have a child come out of your vagina, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t mothering—dogs, friends, friends’ children.”

( Rest of the article )

This is the best statement in the article that articulate my personal feelings about this:
As for the “selfish” label, Notkin says it’s in the eye of the beholder. “One could be called selfish if they have more than four kids, too,” she says. “All decisions that we make about ourselves and our lives are selfish.”
She is absolutely correct on this. The sad reality is that regardless what kind of choice a woman makes, it's going to be seen as her being selfish by someone. If a woman choses to have a child, she's selfish. If she choses to have more than one or whatever magic number you want to use, she's selfish. If a woman aborts a pregnancy, she's selfish. If a woman choses not to have children ever, she's selfish. If a woman choses to give her kid up for adoption, she's selfish. If a woman choses to use contraception, she's selfish. If a woman choses to get sterilized, she's selfish. If a woman choses to have sex, she's selfish. If a woman choses to abstain, she's selfish (see where this is going).

This is a classic example of "You are damned if you do, and damned if you don't". This is why it's imperative that when women make decisions regarding their personal reproductive health that they decide what they want for themselves rather than basing it off of other people's opinions because she's not going to make anyone but herself happy (yes, and that's selfish in of itself which brings me to ask "When have humans ever been 100% not selfish)