A few good resources

For some great pro-choice feminist blogging, check out Feministing and Bush v. Choice.

America: Proud to be an obstacle to global women's rights

That's right, it's freedom-loving Hijab-liberating America that is stalling international women's rights. Why? An anti-choice agenda, of course. Women's rights to their own reproductive systems have long been recognized as human rights, up there with all the other rights based on personal autonomy -- like the right not to be tortured. Countries like China and Romania have violated these rights with devastating results -- China by forcing and coercing abortion and regulating how many children women are allowed to have, and Romania by not allowing women access to family planning services. When we set a precedent where the state can control women's reproductive choices, we get into dangerous territory, as these two examples have shown. Human rights are based on the right to individual autonomy, just as reproductive rights are. If a woman cannot control her own reproductive system, she is hard-pressed to control anything else in her life. As Westerners, it can be easy to ignore the various social inequalities, cultural differences and barriers to access faced by women around the world. Not everyone has Western privilege -- including a lot of people in the Western world and the global north. When tens of thousands of women die every year because of illegal abortion, when many are prosecuted, when women and girls don't have access to basic healthcare, it is simply not acceptable to export our "morality" abroad and stall what could be a very successful event. It is not moral to push a policy that kills women.

It's also valuable to see who our co-conspirators are on this issue. We're in the company of countries like Iran and Somolia in our status as a non-signatory on CEDAW, the primary international women's rights document. Every other developed Western nation -- you know, the places that many people consider "englightened" -- is behind it. The United States' anti-choice emphasis hurts women worldwide. It's immoral. And it's unbelievable that a supposed beacon of "freedom" is willing to infringe on the freedoms and basic rights to life of more than half the world's population.

(also cross-posted at Third Wave Agenda)

The Abstinence-only Cure-all

(cross-posted at Third Wave Agenda)

From Mother Jones magazine, direct quotes from the $170 million-a-year abstinence-only "health" curricula (they'd be funny if they weren't so unbelievably frightening):

"Hold up a beautiful rose. Talk about the petals and how they add color and fragrance to the rose. Hand the rose to a student, telling that student to pull off a petal and pass it on to another student who also pulls off a petal. Continue passing the rose around until there are no more petals. At the end, hold up te rose. Ask: Of what value is the rose now? ... The rose represents someone who participates in casual sex." -- Choosing the Best PATH

"No matter how strong a condom is, it won't protect you from a broken heart." -- A.C. Green's Game Plan

"The first player spins the culinder, points the gun to his/her head, and pulls the trigger. He/she has only a one in six chance of being killed. But if one continues to perform this act, the chamber with the bullet will ultimately fall into position, and the game ends as one of the players dies. Relying on condoms is like playing Russian roulette." --Me, My World, My Future

"Watch what you wear, if you don't aim to please, don't aim to tease." --Sex Respect

"Infertility, isolation, jealousy, poverty, heartbreak, substance abuse, AIDS, pregnancy, cervical cancer, genital herpes, unstable long-term commitments, depression, embarassment, meaningless wedding, sexual violence, personal disappointment, suicide, feelings of being used, loss of honesty, loneliness, loss of personal goals, distrust of others, plevic inflammatory disease, loss of reputation, fear of pregnancy, disappointed parents, loss of self-esteem, leaving high school before graduation... ALL of them can be eliminated by being abstinent until marriage." --Choosing the Best PATH

A letter from the VfC e-board

Dear friends and pro-choice allies,

A recent email sent by the MoveOn Student Action Team posed the question “What defines a generation?” The body of the email sought to answer the question and in doing so wrote, “it is not the attempts of others to destroy our world that makes us who we are, but how we rise to the challenge of rebuilding it.”

Although a few days ago many of us found ourselves staring at our television screens with tears in our eyes and conjuring only the most apocalyptic of visions, it is imperative to acknowledge the overwhelming extent to which we, the American pro-choice majority, rose to the challenges that have surfaced over the past few years. These last years have tested not only our passion for the pursuit of reproductive freedom, but also our dedication, endurance, courage, fortitude and most of all our ability to mobilize an entire nation around this vital issue.

In the last year the members of this movement have done more for the perpetuation of reproductive freedom than many thought possible, especially given the often bleak circumstances under which we worked. We organized 1.15 million people and flawlessly carried out the largest march in the history of this country. We safeguarded the rights of thousands of women by convincing President Bush to order the Department of Justice to stop subpoenaing women’s medical records. We have fought against the unconstitutionality of the so-called “Partial Birth Abortion Ban” in three major lawsuits and have proudly emerged from each courtroom victorious. Most importantly though, we have educated, inspired, organized, and mobilized the American pro-choice majority. We are at the very least 1.15 million people strong. We are intelligent, brave, diverse, dynamic, well-informed and passionate people, and we have both the determination and the capability to tackle anything that is brought before us.

What faces us in the years to come may be the greatest test of this generation of pro-choice activists. And this greatest of tests is accompanied by the greatest responsibilities. If you were never as active as you would have liked to be, if you ever questioned the attack on our rights but never thought to make a change, if you lived through the last four years but never truly answered the question “why am I pro-choice?” now, more than ever, is the time. Indeed we will be tested. However, it can be stated as unequivocal fact, that our generation of activists will rise to the challenges that face us, fulfill our enormous potential as citizens, students and activists, and emerge victorious.

In solidarity,
Ravina, Jill, Sarah, Anne, Maya, and Rachael

a pretty intense discussion about eleanor cooney's "the way it was" has been happening over at my blog, third wave agenda. check out the comments here. cooney herself has even posted!

U.S. says, "Women shouldn't have sexual rights."

Eighty-Five Nations Back Population Agenda

By EDITH M. LEDERER
.c The Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States has refused to join 85 other heads of state and government in signing a statement that endorsed a 10-year-old U.N. plan to ensure every woman's right to education, health care, and choice about having children.

President Bush's administration withheld its signature because the statement included a reference to ``sexual rights.''

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kelly Ryan wrote to organizers of the statement that that the United States was committed to the Cairo plan of 1994 and ``to the empowerment of women and the need to promote women's fullest enjoyment of universal human rights.''

``The United States is unable, however, to endorse the world leaders' statement,'' Ryan said, because it ``includes the concept of `sexual rights,' a term that has no agreed definition in the international community.''

Ryan did not elaborate on the Bush administration's objections to the phrase ``sexual rights,'' but at past U.N. meetings U.S. representatives have spoken out against abortion, gay rights and what they see as the promotion of promiscuity by giving condoms to young people to prevent AIDS.

The statement of new global support for the Cairo plan was given Wednesday to Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette by media mogul Ted Turner, who has lent significant financial support to the world body through his United Nations Foundation.

The 1994 Cairo program, signed by 179 countries, including the United States, says women have the ``right to make decisions concerning reproduction, free of discrimination, coercion and violence as expressed in human rights documents.''

The support statement notes that in 1994 ``the world's governments and civil society committed to an action plan to ensure universal access to reproductive health information and services, uphold fundamental human rights including sexual and reproductive rights, alleviate poverty, secure gender equality, and protect the environment.''

While progress has been made, the statement says the world is facing an exponential increase in HIV/AIDS, a growing gap between rich and poor, persistently high death rates related to pregnancy and childbirth, and inadequate access to family planning services.

The Cairo support statement was signed by leaders of 85 nations including the entire European Union, China, Japan, Indonesia, Pakistan and more than a dozen African countries as well as 22 former world leaders, notably Presidents Carter and Clinton.

The Bush administration responded only on Tuesday to organizers who had asked for the president's support.

While refusing to sign the followup statement, the United States did endorse a platform that specifically mentioned reproductive rights a year after the Cairo plan was adopted. The endorsement came at the 1995 U.N. women's conference in Beijing.

The United States took a leading role in drafting the Beijing document, which states: ``The human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.''

Bush has blocked $34 million in congressionally approved annual assistance to the United Nations Population Fund, alleging the U.N. agency helped China manage programs that involved forced abortions. China calls the charge baseless.

Pro-Choice America

Elections are coming up, and my former employer, the ever-fantastic Women's eNews, has a great electoral map of the state races. Note how quite a few states don't have a single pro-choice candidate running. Scary.

The Way It Was

Eleanor Cooney writes an amazing article for this month's mother jones magazine, which i've pasted into the comments section of this post. read it; it's absolutely gut-wrenching and heart-breaking, but so very important. it details her story of pre-roe illegal abortion, and is a great reminder that we can never go back.

the global gag rule kills women.

some frightening information from the UNFPA:
-350 million people in developing countries lack access to contraception, which resulted in 52 million unplanned pregnancies -- nearly half of which ended in abortion -- worldwide in 2003
-The lack of funding for contraception has resulted in a "disproportionat[e]" number of women being affected by HIV/AIDS in the world's most resource-poor countries
-infection rates among young African women aged 15-24 are two to three times higher than among young men. Married women are often unable to negotiate condom use even when they know their husbands have multiple partners
-Approximately 137 million women worldwide who want to delay another birth or avoid pregnancy do not have access to contraception, while about 64 million women use contraception that is not the most effective available, the report said. Providing contraception to these women could prevent 23 million unplanned births, 22 million abortions and 1.4 million infant deaths
-33% of pregnant women worldwide receive no prenatal care and 60% of births take place outside of hospital settings
-an additional $3.9 billion in annual funding for contraception and family planning could prevent about 142,000 pregnancy-related deaths each year

"In 2004, it is a crime that women still die because they are having babies," UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said.

anti-choice activists are broadening their efforts in blocking women's access to birth control and emergency contraception. this is interesting, given that they supposedly want to decrease the number of abortions, and EC alone could prevent over a million unwanted pregnancies and 800,000 abortions every year. and since when is it ok for someone (like a pharmacist, for example) to flat-out refuse to fulfill the requirements of their job -- i.e., fill prescriptions? denying women the basic right to contraception should be met with outrage; can you imagine what would happen if pharmacists banded together to deny men their viagra prescriptions?

pro-life and pregnant

here's what happens when an anti-choice activists gets pregnant and pursues adoption-- only to find out that "pro-life" groups don't want to help a woman who is pregnant with a mixed-race child.

AN OPEN LETTER TO OFFICIALS OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT REGARDING WHAT'S NEW IN MY REPRODUCTIVE AREA.

Dear Officials of the United States Government,

I thought I would just get in touch and let you know what is going on in my reproductive system and general private area lately. You seem really interested, and I wouldn't want to put you to the trouble of subpoenaing my medical records just to find out what's happening in my uterus.It's summer, so I'm getting my bikini line waxed more frequently. (Ouch!) I had a little urinary-tract infection a while ago, but that seems to have cleared up. Cranberry juice is really something, especially when you're uninsured and can't see the doctor to check out every little searing, stabbing pain. And did you know that yogurt cures yeast infections? If only it cured AIDS, we could patent it and then withhold it from Third World nations.

My last period started on the 8th and ended on the 13th. I think right now I'm ovulating. You know those little midcycle twinges you can get around ovulation? I felt one yesterday. President Bush, Attorney General Ashcroft, I am very pleased to be writing to you at my monthly pinnacle of fertility. The lining of my uterus is thickening, and a mature ovum expectantly awaits fertilization in my fallopian tube. It is a very beautiful time, and this month it is concurrent with the new moon. As the moon waxes, it will gently pull the tide of my menses from me, culminating in my next menstrual period, which I expect to begin on the 6th of next month.

I know it might be hard to believe, but some guys think a woman's natural cycles and secretions are "yucky." Some guys are too squeamish to pick up a box of tampons at the drugstore if you ask them to. The first lady is lucky to have a partner like you, Mr. President, a person who wishes to be intimately involved not only in his wife's reproductive system, but in those of all the other women in America as well.

This is why if I ever get accidentally pregnant, you guys will be the first people I call. We'll all figure it out together, just me, my government, and that man in the polo shirt who hangs out outside my gynecologist's office holding the sign with the fake bloody fetus on it.May God continue to bless America, and my uterus.

Yours,
Emily Weinstein