Pro-Choice Maryland

I saw and snagged this from ontd_political. By the way, this is going to piss you off.

In a town in western Ireland, where castle ruins pepper green landscapes, there's a six-foot stone wall that once surrounded a place called the Home. Between 1925 and 1961, thousands of "fallen women" and their "illegitimate" children passed through the Home, run by the Bon Secours nuns in Tuam.

Many of the women, after paying a penance of indentured servitude for their out-of-wedlock pregnancy, left the Home for work and lives in other parts of Ireland and beyond. Some of their children were not so fortunate.

More than five decades after the Home was closed and destroyed — where a housing development and children's playground now stands — what happened to nearly 800 of those abandoned children has now emerged: Their bodies were piled into a massive septic tank sitting in the back of the structure and forgotten, with neither gravestones nor coffins.

( More )

I got this from both Planned Parenthood and NOW, though I will share what NOW sent me:
There is a chance that the bipartisan, inclusive Senate-passed Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (S. 47) could pass the House of Representatives tomorrow.

But, the completely unacceptable substitute VAWA, being pushed by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash) as the sponsor, will be brought to the floor for a vote first. If the substitute fails, House members will then be able to vote yea or nay on the Senate-passed bill. We think we have the votes to defeat the substitute and pass the inclusive Senate bill, but we must have your help! We are so close now, with 201 co-sponsors and 19 House Republicans who signed a letter asking Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to allow the Senate bill to have a floor vote.

Please contact your House member, whether Democrat or Republican, and implore them to vote for the Senate-approved VAWA. The Senate version contains program improvements essential to bring protection and support to violence survivors who have not had access to services in the past.

Please make a call and send an email message right away, and don't forget to let them know that you are a voter in their district. Since we have only a few hours to reach House members, your calls and email messages must be sent today and early Thursday morning.

( More about the background of the subsitute and calling your house member )

To take action with Planned Parenthood on this issue, go here

From Planned Parenthood:
It's been 40 years since Roe v. Wade made abortion legal in this country.

Forty years of protecting every woman's fundamental right to make the most personal medical decisions.

Forty years of ensuring that abortion remains a safe and legal procedure for a woman to consider, if she needs it.

And, it's been 40 years of facing a vocal minority of politicians and others who continue to insist on interfering with a woman's decisions about her own health.

That's why, as the 40th anniversary approaches on Tuesday, those of us who trust women, who value their health and rights, have something to say — and we hope you'll join us: Roe is here for good.

( A Little Bit More )

From NOW:
Join NOW President Terry O'Neill on Tuesday, Jan. 22, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that recognized women's fundamental right to abortion. NOW affirms that women's access to the full range of reproductive health services -- including safe, legal and affordable abortion care and birth control -- is integral to women's ability to participate equally in our society.

This year our annual candlelight vigil will feature engaging speakers, including:
» Ellie Smeal, Feminist Majority President
» Kimberly Inez McGurie, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
» Allison Stouffer, DC NOW

If you're in the D.C. area, we hope you'll join the NOW Action Center outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Jan. 22. Bring your Keep Abortion Legal and NOW rounds and battery-operated candles (note: traditional candles are not allowed outside the Court). NOW will also have some signs and battery-operated votives on hand.

( Details )

This is a Academy award nominated documentary film that features stories from women who had abortions before Roe vs. Wade was established, individuals that helped a woman seek an abortion, and doctors who risked imprisonment as well as their licenses removed if they provided an abortion.

Btw, be aware when you read the comments on that link. Some of them are rage inducing

I got this snippet from the middle of the article. It's very long, but I think it's an interesting article even though some parts make me roll my eyes.

Last summer, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld this expanded interpretation of the chemical-endangerment law, ruling that the dictionary definition of “child” includes “unborn child,” an interpretation that will be challenged when the state’s Supreme Court considers Kimbrough’s case in the coming months. But the implications of that ruling go far beyond Alabama. Critics like Ketteringham argue that Alabama’s chemical-endangerment law offers a back door into what has become known as the “fetal personhood” argument.

Personhood USA, an organization based in Colorado, was founded in 2008 by Keith Mason after he became frustrated by the mainstream anti-abortion movement’s incremental approach of restricting the availability of legal abortion. “From my perspective, I saw a movement that was largely dying or dead and had a lack of enthusiasm from younger people and from people who had been in the fight for so many years,” he told me. “Something had to change. Personhood is that rallying point, because it’s the crux of the issue.” His movement seeks to establish the fetus’s right to live as equal to that of the mother’s.

Personhood advocates regard fetal rights as a civil rights issue, and they often compare themselves to abolitionists. “I think it would be unequal protection to give the woman a pass when anyone else who injects drugs into a child would be prosecuted,” Ben DuPré, director of Personhood Alabama, said. “What it boils down to is, aren’t these little children persons?”

The goal of Personhood USA is to establish that a fully rights-endowed person is created when sperm meets egg. To that end, it has introduced initiatives and measures in legislatures in 22 states. Though none of these measures have become law, some, like Proposition 26 in Mississippi, have made it to a ballot referendum, and other measures have passed legislative chambers in North Dakota, Montana and Oklahoma. The problem with those measures, from a legal perspective, says Lynn Paltrow, executive director of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, is that “there is no way to treat fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses as separate constitutional persons without subtracting pregnant women from the community of constitutional persons.”

What is everyone's thoughts on this?

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Getting a legal abortion is much safer than giving birth, suggests a new U.S. study published Monday.

Researchers found that women were about 14 times more likely to die during or after giving birth to a live baby than to die from complications of an abortion.

( More from the article for the linkphobic )

I know this is going to be the "duh" file for many people. I had gotten this from one of my friends on Facebook, who amazingly got it from a Fox's New site.