Last week, the Institute of Medicine, an independent medical authority, recommended that birth control – more specifically, the full range of FDA approved contraceptives – be among the services covered by new insurance plans under the national health care reform law. If the recommendation is endorsed, birth control would be covered in all new plans without a co-pay, as would yearly preventative, primary care visits for women. It’s about time.
I'm nearly 50. I'm tremendously fortunate. I live in a safe neighborhood, I am comfortable, and I have the privilege of a terrific education and opportunities in life. I am not timid — I have spent much of my life suing states for violating women's rights. But when I think about Women's History Month, I think about the ways in which all too often, as I walk on the streets, I put my head down, how I feel the street is not my place. And I think about how little I and other women talk about this.
I'm nearly 50. I'm tremendously fortunate. I live in a safe neighborhood, I am comfortable, and I have the privilege of a terrific education and opportunities in life. I am not timid — I have spent much of my life suing states for violating women's rights. But when I think about Women's History Month, I think about the ways in which all too often, as I walk on the streets, I put my head down, how I feel the street is not my place. And I think about how little I and other women talk about this.
I've just read the statement the president issued for the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that the right of privacy encompasses the decision of a woman to end a pregnancy. The statement includes many important sentiments. But, to me, it is most striking for what it fails to say: nowhere does the statement mention the word “abortion.”
I've just read the statement the president issued for the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that the right of privacy encompasses the decision of a woman to end a pregnancy. The statement includes many important sentiments. But, to me, it is most striking for what it fails to say: nowhere does the statement mention the word “abortion.”
On Friday, the ACLU joined with Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights in challenging a law that requires a teen to notify a parent or go to court before having an abortion. It is critical that laws like this don't go unchallenged. I know from my own experience how bad these laws can be.
"Of course you have the right to build a mosque, but it is insensitive to build it there."
This is the newest version of the call from critics of the proposed Islamic center in downtown New York City. The sentiment may at first blush seem sensitive: it recognizes the trauma of 9/11, the sacred nature of Ground Zero and the constitutional right to religious freedom. But the sentiment that the Islamic center can be built — just elsewhere — inevitably reflects a prejudice and intolerance that is in fact inconsistent with religious freedom.
By now, you've caught wind of the fact that, during this weekend's Super Bowl, CBS plans to air an ad featuring University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother talking about the circumstances of Tim's birth. Focus on the Family has sponsored the ad, and the underlying message is reported to be anti-abortion (no one has actually seen the ad).
This week, we mark the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that significantly expanded the ability of women across the country to decide whether and when to become a parent. We also stand at the beginning of a new decade and at a moment that calls for reflection.
I'm back in New York after an action-packed, anti-Stupak day at the capitol. It was exhilarating — buses from all over, from Mississippi and Wisconsin and Maine; an overflow crowd at the noon rally (did you catch I said overflow!); and a parade of representatives and senators – Sens. Boxer and Murray, and Reps. DeGette, Nadler, Maloney, Capps, Lowey, Edwards, Harman, Slaughter, and DeLauro among others.
