Pro-Choice Maryland

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

I know I never made an offical statement about it, but talking about reproductive rights in other states and countries is allowed in this community...even if the focus is mostly in Maryland. However, as I learned gradually, Maryland isn't exactly a hot spot for issues when it comes to reproductive rights like it is in other states and on a national level. Of course, I've always had it as a guideline that it's fine to talk about reproductive rights in other states and countries. In fact, I encourage it heavily especially if you're from a state or country that still has issues with reproductive rights.

From PP:
After weeks of debate and an enormous outcry from Planned Parenthood supporters nationwide, the Senate rejected the Blunt Amendment, a measure that would have allowed any employer to deny women who work for them insurance coverage for birth control. The message is clear: birth control is basic health care, and your medical decisions should be between you and your doctor.

This is a huge victory for women's health, and your senators were an important part of that victory. Please, take a moment right now to thank your senators for voting to defend access to affordable birth control.

For people that live outside of Maryland, you can go here to see how your senators voted for and send them a message of thanks or outrage.

PORTSMOUTH, Virginia (Reuters) - Virginia lawmakers took a step toward outlawing abortion on Tuesday by approving "personhood" legislation that grants individual rights to an embryo from the moment of conception.

The Republican-controlled House of Delegates voted 66-32 in favor of defining the word person under state law to include unborn children "from the moment of conception until birth at every stage of biological development."

The measure now heads to the Senate, which is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats but with Republican Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling wielding the tie-breaking vote.

Republican Delegate Bob Marshall, an abortion opponent who introduced the legislation, said the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States would not have been rendered if Texas state law had regarded the unborn as a person "in the full sense."

"So this is a first step, a necessary step, but it's not sufficient to directly challenge Roe," Marshall said in a phone interview.

Virginia's approach differs from failed attempts to define a fertilized egg as a legal person in Colorado in 2008 and 2010 and in Mississippi in 2011.

Virginia's effort avoids involving a constitutional amendment like those states, instead seeking changes throughout the legal code, said Elizabeth Nash, public policy associate at the Washington-based Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproductive health issues.

But she said the intent is the same, with the measure ultimately aimed at banning abortion, contraception and infertility treatment.

Pro-choice Virginians...you have my sympathy.

( But, I have more! )

NARAL has set up a page to let you know if your representive voted for the "Protect Life Act""Let Women Die" bill or not. Then, depending if they voted to pass the bill or not, you can send them a message thanking them for not voting on the bill or you can yell at them for voting for it.

I'm happy to say that my representive, Steny Hoyer, voted against the bill. So, I'm going to message him to give him my thanks.

One of the messed up things about this bill being passed is that of 251 people that voted to pass this bill, SIXTEEN of them were women. It just boggles my mind.

The other messed up thing is that two of the 251 people that voted for this bill was from Maryland :/ So, if any of you has those two Maryland congressmen as your representives, give them hell.

So, to the 251 people that voted for this bill, how the hell was this supposed to create jobs? After all, that's why the majority of people voted for you. To fix the economy. Not make and pass legistration like this that could threaten women's lives. Again, how was this bill pro-life? I thought some of you supported abortion if a woman's life is in danger. If she dies, guess what? The fetus dies TOO! There won't be one life loss, but TWO!

From Alternet: Rachel Maddow Talks to Victim of Anti-Choice Bullying Who's Bravely Fighting Back
Score one for Team Pro-Choice! Todd Stave, the landlord who owns the property in which abortion provider LeRoy Carhart operates his practice, became the subject of some particularly egregious anti-choice bullying recently. Protesters posted his personal information online, asking individuals to call Stave and urge him to stop renting to Dr. Carhart. Even worse, they set up shop outside his daughter's middle school during back-to-school night, flying a banner that read "Todd Stave: Please Stop the Child Killing" and included his phone number.

Rather than be intimidated or back down from this bullying, Stave chose to give anti-choicers a taste of their own medicine. He started taking down the names and phone numbers of the people who called him in protest and had volunteers call those people back to "thank them for their thoughts and tell them, 'No, he will not be shutting Dr. Carhart down,'" Rachel Maddow reported last night. (Legally, he couldn't do that even if he wanted to.) Stave also set up a website that responds to anti-abortion protesters and offers resources for victims of their bullying.

Here's Stave's Voice of Choice

Please remember to vote in the Maryland primary today on September 14th and the general election on November 2nd!

To know where the Maryland candidates stand on reproductive rights, go here.

To know NARAL MD PAC's voting guide, go here

The Baltimore City Council OKs legislation forcing crisis centers to notify if they won't provide abortion or birth-control referrals. The mayor can veto the law.

Crisis pregnancy centers that don't offer abortions or birth-control referrals would have to post notices saying they exclude those options under legislation approved Monday night by the Baltimore City Council.

The measure, which must still get a final ruling from the city's mayor, is thought to be the first of its kind in the nation.

"The passage of this piece of legislation may serve as serious encouragement to those who would like to see our organizations saddled with more laws and restrictions" said Carol A. Clews, executive director of the Center for Pregnancy Concerns, a nonprofit anti-abortion organization that receives donations from religious groups and has operated in Baltimore for 30 years.

So, how do you like the taste of your own medicine? You know...since people like you wanted to do the same thing to organizations like Planned Parenthood?