Pro-Choice Maryland

From the RCRC (Religious Coaliation for Reproductive Choice):

Each year, 750,000 teens become pregnant in the U.S. These numbers represent a failing system, in large part because education, culture and public policies on sexuality are still based on conservative religious views that put judgment and shame ahead of the dignity, health and wellbeing of our nation’s youth. Consequently, when young women become pregnant, they are often stigmatized and written off. If we truly wish to support families, we must change this paradigm. Take action now to help pregnant and parenting students receive the support they need to succeed.

(Btw, you can remove the "I'm a person of faith" in the beginning of the message if you don't belong to a faith)

From NOW:
Join NOW and our allies on Tuesday March 25th in front of the U.S. Supreme Court as the Court considers two cases involving the birth control benefit in the Affordable Care Act. This case could have far-reaching consequences for millions of Americans and their health care. The two companies involved, Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood, are attempting to use their religious beliefs to justify discrimination against women with their refusal to cover birth control.

Join NOW for an hour of a people's mic and rally before you head to work from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Fighting for women's rights in the perfect way to start your day!

( Details for Rally )

( Directions to Rally )

If you can't make it to the rally (like your lovely community maintainer :P), there's a banner that NOW is creating to display to display outside the Supreme Court to make sure every supporter's voices are heard. You can sign here to put your name on the banner.

Nearly 99 percent of women went ahead with an abortion after voluntarily viewing an ultrasound image of the fetus beforehand, according to a large new U.S. study.

Based on medical records for more than 15,000 women seeking abortion at Los Angeles Planned Parenthood clinics, researchers found that only a small fraction of the women changed their minds after seeing the image.

"This study was motivated in large part by the current political and popular interest in what role ultrasound viewing plays in women's decisions about abortion," said one of the authors, Katrina Kimport at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

( More )

This is one for the "Duh" files

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:
The House Judiciary Committee is debating legislation that could force survivors of sexual violence to tell their horrifying stories to...wait for it...Internal Revenue Service agents.

That's because the bill sponsored by Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) requires women who needed abortion care and are also survivors of sexual violence to prove to IRS auditors that the assault occurred. What?!

If we act now and collect enough signatures to show House leadership that this is not only offensive but also a huge waste of time, we can stop the legislation in its tracks--just like a grassroots outcry stopped efforts to redefine rape in 2011. If we speak out loudly now, we can send a message to politicians that bills like this won't win over women voters, and we can stop this outrageous law in its tracks.

Sign the petition

From NOW:
All women have the right to have the children they want, raise the children they have, and plan their families through safe, legal abortion, and access to contraception, and pre and post-natal care. For those rights to become a reality, women in all communities need to have the resources and the economic, social and political power to make health decisions about their bodies, their sexuality and their reproduction.

Sign the NOW Pledge to protect reproductive rights

From PP:
Birth control is basic, preventive health care that millions of women rely on every day. Over 99 percent of sexually active women use birth control at some point in their lives, for a wide variety of reasons. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies are now required to cover contraception with no out-of-pocket cost, a landmark step for women's health that gives many women access to affordable birth control for the first time.

Now a handful of out-of-touch, mostly male employers want to take that coverage away — and force their own beliefs onto tens of thousands of employees. They think they should have the power to withhold coverage they don't agree with. They want the right to interfere with their employees' personal, private medical decisions — and the Supreme Court could give it to them.

Those private medical decisions go far beyond access to birth control. If the Court rules in favor of these employers, it could pave the way for employers to deny coverage of other basic health care, like vaccines and mental health treatment, based solely on their personal beliefs. Birth control access shouldn't be up to your boss. Add your name to our letter today.

The battleground over abortion is shifting to Tennessee, where campaigns are heating up on a referendum that is a year away.

The referendum, pushed by anti-abortion groups for years, would add an amendment to the state constitution stating, "Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion." The amendment would apply to all abortions, including those stemming from "circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother."

( More )

Please let this referendum fail next year