Category Archives: Reproductive Rights

Feminist Law Prof Caitlin Borgmann Presents: The Reproductive Rights Prof Blog!

Check it out here! She was the State Strategies Coordinator for the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project from 1997-2002, and really knows her stuff.

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The Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger

Volume I: The Woman Rebel, 1900-1928 The birth control crusader, feminist, and reformer Margaret Sanger was one of the most controversial and compelling figures inthe twentieth century. This first volume of The Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger documents the critical … Continue reading

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More Roe Anniversary Activism

Happy Birthday Roe! Looking for another way to commemorate the day? Donate to your local abortion fund. The Hyde Amendment is 30 years old, which means for 30 years poor women seeking abortions have had to scrape together whatever funds … Continue reading

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Susan Frelich Appleton, “Gender, Abortion, and Travel After Roe’s End”

Susan Frelich Appleton‘s abtract: This essay responds to Professor Richard Fallon’s 2006 Childress Lecture at St. Louis University School of Law, If Roe Were Overruled: Abortion and the Constitution in a Post-Roe World. Professor Fallon’s paper exposes as fallacies four … Continue reading

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Ellen Goodman, “Roadblock to abortion compromise”

Here is an excerpt from Goodman’s recent column: It’s not an accident that one of the first bills in the Senate with a new Democratic majority was the Prevention First Act, a wide-ranging family-planning initiative. Rep. Louise Slaughter will follow … Continue reading

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Will “Macho Dems” Protect Reproductive Freedoms?

The NYT’s latest “week in review” column is entitled “The Invasion of the Alpha Male Democrat.” Here is one chilling excerpt: “Presidential politics, but also the rest of national political leadership, has a lot to do with the understandable desire … Continue reading

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The Zaporozhye

The Zaporozhye is a musical condom. Insert bad joke about karaoke or lipsync here. See also.

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Molly M. Ginty on Toxic Chemicals and Females

Molly M. Ginty has posted a two part series at Women’s eNews about the effects of environmental pollution on females and reproduction: Female Troubles for Wildlife Raise Human Worries and Hereditary Toxins Spur Scientific Concerns. Below is an excerpt from … Continue reading

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Let’s Hear It for Abstinence-Only Education!

Because it’s really such wonderful public policy in a country in which more than 90% of the people have premarital sex . . . and that number hasn’t really changed in more than five decades. – David S. Cohen

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30 Years Is Enough

Looking for worthy causes to help during this holiday season? Right up there with the best is your local abortion fund. These funds provide money for low-income women to obtain abortions. In the first few years after Roe v. Wade, … Continue reading

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Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Congratulations to Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney. She and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, are expecting a child in late spring. While of course it’s wonderful that they are, presumably, happy and excited to build … Continue reading

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The U.S. Department of Labor is seeking public comments about the Family and Medical Leave Act

The official “request for comments” here says in pertinent part: The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, Public Law 103-3, 107 Stat. 6 (29 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.) (the “FMLA” or the “Act”) was enacted on February 5, 1993 … Continue reading

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NARAL Poll: “Choice is a Winning Issue”

According to NARAL: NARAL Pro-Choice America ran independent-expenditure campaigns aimed at persuading and motivating pro-choice women voters in six targeted congressional districts – Arizona’s 1st, Arizona’s 5th, Arizona’s 8th, Iowa’s 1st, Pennsylvania’s 7th, and Pennsylvania’s 8th.   Five of these … Continue reading

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“The number of American teenage girls who are becoming pregnant has dropped dramatically since 1990, and researchers say an increase in the use of condoms among teens may be the reason why.”

That’s the first sentence of this article, “Contraception Driving U.S. Decline In Teen Pregnancies” which goes on to report: The finding suggests that teens are increasingly turning to contraception as a means of avoiding early pregnancy, even as conservative groups … Continue reading

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Live Free Or Die, But Not Of Cervical Cancer

New Hampshire to offer girls free cancer vaccine: New Hampshire announced plans Wednesday to become the first state to offer the new cervical-cancer vaccine free to all girls. Beginning in January, the vaccine against the human papilloma virus, or HPV, … Continue reading

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Abortion on Prime Time

Two young doctors not in a relationship have a one night stand, and she gets pregnant. What are the odds that, whatever they decide to do about the pregnancy, abortion wouldn’t be considered, even if just in passing, as an … Continue reading

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“Pronto” Condoms

According to this article: Researchers at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction found that men who reported erection loss in association with condom use also reported more unprotected intercourse with women and were less likely … Continue reading

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Eric Keroack

Think the Bush Administration is going to tame its extremism in this lame duck period or over the next two years? Think again, at least with respect to its policies on women. Earlier this month, Bush appointed Eric Keroack to … Continue reading

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Women Sold Out For Political Gain in Nicaragua

Nicaragua Eliminates Last Exception to Strict Anti-Abortion Law: … Abortion has been illegal in Nicaragua for more than a century, and most women who decide to end unwanted pregnancies seek procedures at underground clinics. But the new law strikes out … Continue reading

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Motherless in Nicaragua

Today, Nicaragua’s complete abortion ban is expected to be signed into law. Already, women are dying, leaving behind kids and families because of the ban. Think that wouldn’t be the case in the United States if Roe v. Wade were … Continue reading

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Update From NARAL Pro-Choice America

Molly W. Jackson of NARAL Pro-Choice America writes:     I just wanted to pass along this report and share with you some of the misinformation that is floating around regarding, among other things,  how choice played in the ’06 … Continue reading

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The “Plan B” Contraceptive Can Be Purchased Online at Drugstore.com

See this site. Via Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon. Educational information about Plan B is available here. The Barr Pharmaceuticals (makers of Plan B) site is here. Prevous posts about Plan B here and here.

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The Chief and “Partial Birth Abortion”

I may be in the minority here, but I still am holding out hope that Chief Justice Roberts joins Justices Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer (and maybe Kennedy?) in striking down the federal “partial birth abortion” statute. Ever since he … Continue reading

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Parental Notification Ballot Initiatives Defeated

Lost in this week’s excitement over all the other good news from the elections, I overlooked some ballot initiative good news as well. From Women’s eNews: “In Oregon and California, voters defeated measures that would have required doctors to notify … Continue reading

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Death of CIANA?

While the new Democratically-controlled Congress isn’t as pro-choice as we might hope, the change in the guard should spell the end for the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. The law, which, among other things, criminalizes anyone other than a parent … Continue reading

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So Now The U.S. Senate Will Be Lead By A Democrat Who Opposes Abortion

And via this NYT article we learn that upon hearing that Britney Spears had filed for divorce Harry Reid said: “She loses a little weight, and now she’s getting all cocky about things.”He added,”Britney has gotten her mojo back.”Ugh. Thanks … Continue reading

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HPV Vaccination Recommended For Women Up To Age 26

According to this article, some doctors are failing to inform young women up to age 26 that they should be vaccinated, and some insurance companies are refusing to cover the cost. Information from the CDC about this issue is available … Continue reading

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Abortion Supreme Court Oral Argument

Lyle Denniston has a summary of the oral argument before the Supreme Court here. It appears that Justice Kennedy, who wrote a virulently anti-abortion dissent in Stenberg v. Carhart, may be more amenable to striking down the law this time. … Continue reading

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“Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood” Before The Supreme Court Today

Good overview with links at Our Bodies, Our Blog. Background and legal documents are available here or here. In related and very happy news, y’all no doubt already know that that South Dakota voters voted to overturn that state’s abortion … Continue reading

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I’m the one wearing the yellow shirt!

This is a picture of the March For Women’s Lives that took place on April 25, 2004 in Washington DC. I attended with a wonderful group of feminist law students. I found this photo at a website called “I’m Not … Continue reading

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Abortion in Poland

According to this “Todayonline” article: … Abortion is only allowed in Poland in cases of rape, incest, danger to the mother’s life or irreversible malformation of the foetus. Breaking the law carries a two-year jail term. Recently the ultra-Catholic far … Continue reading

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The Lancet Has Posted Its Series On Sexual And Reproductive Health Online

The series homepage is here. Registration (free) enables online access to the six constituent articles. Here is the summary for the first article, entitled “Sexual and reproductive health: a matter of life and death“: Despite the call for universal access … Continue reading

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Privacy and Abortion

It’s been fashionable for a long time to decry the reasoning behind Roe v. Wade as insufficiently focused on women’s equality and too much focused on privacy. After all, the Supreme Court justified denying public funding for poor women’s abortions … Continue reading

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Betrayal By the Supposedly Liberal Dudes of Nicaragua

Read Heart’s post: “War on Women in Nicaragua: Left and Right Unite in Total Ban on Abortion” I think we face the same possibility here in the United States. I hope I am wrong. Every time I see Harry Reid … Continue reading

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Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, and South Dakota

An essay by Jennifer Baumgardner in The Nation describes the challenges facing Planned Parenthood. Here is a short excerpt: … And yet, there is a gap between Planned Parenthood’s reach and its grip: its ability to make politicians bend to … Continue reading

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Condoms4Life

The text of this post was written by the Condoms4Life organization: The Condoms4Life campaign, a campaign of Catholics for a Free Choice, is circulating a letter in which we ask Pope Benedict to lift the ban on condoms. This letter … Continue reading

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Life of a Doctor Who Performed Abortions “Pre-Roe”

Aspazia at Mad Melancholic Feminista has a post up about a research project she undertook about the life of William Jennings Bryan Henrie, a Pre-Roe abortion-performing doctor from Grove, Oklahoma. You can read about the series on the interviews she … Continue reading

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Feminists Can Too Be Funny

U.K. feminist blogger Witchy-woo wrote about a woman in England who was unable to obtain the “morning after” pill because her pharmacist declined to provide it, asserting that”it was against his religious beliefs.”Witchy-woo’s post is at her blog: Well I’ll … Continue reading

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“Desperately Seeking Susan”

Great NYT Op-Ed today by Stacy Schiff, challenging the view that Susan B. Anthony was opposed to abortion, or would be today. Below is an except: …In her personal life Anthony was clear in her conviction that women were not … Continue reading

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Forced Sterilizations in SC

A local politician, Charleston SC City Councilor Larry Shirley, recently made this public pronouncement, which he later characterized as “starting a dialogue about reducing crime”: “We pick up stray animals and spay them. These mothers need to be spayed if … Continue reading

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Sex Toys in Texas

Don’t dare call them dildos! And in related news… it was cert. denied in Acosta v. Texas, which asked the Court to consider “whether a Texas prohibition on the sale of sex toys is unconstituional on Due Process grounds, especially … Continue reading

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Upcoming SCOTUS Abortion Cases

The Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report on Abortion-Related Cases in the New Supreme Court Term: The docket for the U.S. Supreme Court term beginning Monday is scheduled to include a Department of Justice appeal to uphold a federal law … Continue reading

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Judicial Bypass Resources

This post is copied from the wonderful Reproductive Rights Blog in an effort to circulate it as widely as possible, but that blog deserves all the credit for collecting and initially publishing this information, which after a bit of spot … Continue reading

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National Summit to Ensure the Health and Humanity of Pregnant and Birthing Women, January 18–21, 2007 in Atlanta

National Advocates for Pregnant Women and numerous co-sponsors invite you to attend the National Summit to Ensure the Health and Humanity of Pregnant and Birthing Women, Thursday, January 18– Sunday, January 21, 2007 at the Hilton Airport Atlanta, Atlanta GA … Continue reading

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“Abortion Clinic Days”

The blog “Abortion Clinic Days” isn’t updated frequently, but the writing is really compelling and provocative, so check it out if you can.

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The New York Court of Appeals Hears Challenge to NY’s Women’s Health and Wellness Act of 2003

New York’s Women’s Health and Wellness Act, which went into effect on January 1, 2003, makes preventive health care services and treatment more available women by requiring insurance plans to cover things like osteoporosis exams, prescription contraceptives, and breast and … Continue reading

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Tenth Cir. Upheld Imprecise Abortion Statute

Tha case is Nova Health Systems v. Edmondson, 05-5085 (10th Cir., Aug. 25, 2006). The law blog Decision of the Day reported: In a big abortion decision, the Tenth Circuit affirms the denial of a preliminary injunction against enforcement of … Continue reading

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Plan B, a.k.a. The Morning After Pill, Cleared by the FDA For OTC Sales To Those Over 18 Years Old

NYT story here. See also this post and embedded links.

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Plan B can prevent pregnancy and, therefore, abortion.

Educational information about Plan B is available here and here. The Barr Pharmaceuticals (makers of Plan B) site is here. A recent NYT article about Plan B is here. Ellen Goodman’s column criticizing the FDA’s decision to make Plan B … Continue reading

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Rethinking the Ova, the Sperm and the Metaphors of Reproduction

All the way back in 1992 Discover published a story called The Aggressive Egg, which discussed the work of anthropologist Emily Martin. Below is an excerpt: …As she began her background studies, Martin was surprised to find that popular literature, … Continue reading

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