feminist blogs in english

I don't know how many of you are sports fans (of any kind), but I am. Baseball is my favorite. Football is up there. I even take part in fantasy leagues for both sports. So I love stories like these: Japan's Eri Yoshida is trying to become the first woman to play professional baseball in the United States. She's already the first in Japan. And she's just 18 years old.

Then there's this: Natalie Randolph was just named the head coach of a high school football team in D.C. She isn't the first, per se, but this is so rare that most people wouldn't even consider the possibility of a woman being head coach of a high school football team. She sounds well-qualified: She was a "wide receiver for the D.C. Divas women's pro football team and a standout sprinter and hurdler at the University of Virginia. She has experience coaching boys, having been an assistant football coach for Washington's H.D. Woodson High School in 2006 and 2007." And she's just 29 years old. (Another story here.)

And while I'm not really a racing fan, this is cool, too: Four women will start in today's IndyCar Series race, the season opener. They are Danica Patrick, Milka Duno, Simona de Silvestro and Ana Beatriz Figueiredo. This is a first; previously, three women had started in the same race. Congrats and well wishes to all of these women.

In other reading:

• The Guardian: "In pursuit of flexible working." Yes please.
• The Abortioneers: "Sad Times," about the unsafe, unsanitary clinic in Pennsylvania that was closed.
• Slate: "Black Death: The selective crusade against black women's abortions." From the article: "But there's something odd about the billboards. The child who appears beside the text is fully born. Abortion doesn't kill such children. What kills them, all too often, is shooting."
• The Washington Post: "D.C. to be first U.S. city to give away free female condoms to fight HIV/AIDS." This is a great idea.
• The New York Times: "The world's best countries for women."
• The Economist: "The war on baby girls: Gendercide."
• Feminists for Choice: "A woman that deserves a year-long celebration." (It's Margaret Fuller!)
• CBS News: "Trouble for Mitt Romney? Mass. Health Plan Covers Abortion"
• Gender Across Borders: "Who Defines “Family Values?"
• Time Magazine: "Sexual Assaults on Female Soldiers: Don't Ask, Don't Tell." I hate that these women are fighting for our country, and our country doesn't fight for them.
• Hurriyet Daily News: "Afghan women’s rights trampled despite new law."
• Merced Sun Star: "UAE's model behavior on women's rights."
• AP: "Minority births on track to outnumber white births."
• Quad-City Times: "Iowa House bans guns after domestic abuse convictions."
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Study finds median wealth for single black women at $5."
• New York Times: "Panel Urges New Look at Caesarean Guidelines."
• Salon: "How lesbians 'ruined' prom."
• The Scavenger: "Sex not specified: Australia leads the way with legal document."
• RH Reality Check: "Banning Abortion: The First Step Toward Theocracy."

At the Denver Motherhood conference, I’m listening now to a talk by Wendy Kramer, co-founder and Director of the Donor Sibling Registry.  Here’s an excerpt from the organization’s “About Us” statement:

The Donor Sibling Registry (DSR) was founded in 2000 to assist individuals conceived as a result of sperm, egg or embryo donation that are seeking to make mutually desired contact with others with whom they share genetic ties.  Without any outside support, the DSR has single-handedly pioneered a national discussion about the donor conception industry and families, with it’s many media appearances and interviews. DSR advocates for the right to honesty and transparency for donor kids, and for social acceptance, legal rights and valuing the diversity of all families.

The DSR’s core value is honesty, with the conviction that people have the fundamental right to information about their biological origins and identities. The donor conception industry is largely a for-profit enterprise, and after the “product” has been purchased, most doctors, clinics and cryobanks have not engaged in discussions and activities acknowledging the humanity and rights of the donor-conceived. It is our mission to bring these concepts to the attention of the public arena for discussion, as has been done in many European countries.

More information is here.

Ms. Kramer predicts that anonymous sperm donation eventually will be eliminated in the United States.  She is also critical of the fertility industry’s failure to study health histories of egg donors.

She referenced a study of 750 donor-conceived children (52% of those surveyed were not affiliated with the Donor Sibling Registry).  70% of respondents say they wished their known parent had used a non-anonymous donor.

-Bridget Crawford

So, I live in BK and work in Manhattan. That means that every morning and every night, I spend about 30 minutes riding the NYC subway -an hour total on a daily basis.

Now. Usually I don't mind this part of my day. I scrunch up tight in packed trains with my fellow commuters, willing to weather the occasional bump and jostle to get to work at a reasonable hour. I jam to my customized "commute" playlists. I read from my book-of-the-moment. I play mindless video games on my iphone (jellycar holla!).

Anyway, apparently, thanks to a new ad campaign launching this month on NYC subways, I will be adding "I am forced to read some f'ed up anti-choice ads" to my regular subway repoirtoire.

Metro US is reporting that, starting this week, the New York City subway system will be home of a massive ad campaign bankrolled by the San Diego-based anti-choice organization "Abortion Changes You".

More images and info on the ads after the jump.

The article warns that

The 2,000 ads, which straphangers will see in nearly every subway station beginning tomorrow [this week], depict either a woman saying, "I thought life would be the way it was before," or a man saying, "I often wonder if there was something I could have done to help her."

I call bullshit, and I'm not the only one. Samantha Levine of NARAL Pro-Choice New York is all over this one:

"The campaign suggests that feelings of sadness and self-harm are the universal experiences for someone who had an abortion. And there's no evidence to suggest that that's true. The organization behind these ads has an agenda. They aren't seeking to help women -- they're seeking to get abortion banned."

I totally agree. I'm all for validating and honoring the experience of women who have had an abortion. But there are already TONS of really great support systems for women who have had abortions that are equipped to address a RANGE of post-abortion emotions and outcomes- glee, relief, guilt, sadness, loss, pride, no reaction at all, or a million other possibilities. When an ad campaign chooses to ignore these very real experiences of women who have had abortions, you have to assume that they have an agenda other than helping real women.

So, "Abortion Changes You" ad campaign, I have a question for you: If you care about women so much, why push such an anti-woman agenda? I think that the hidden-agenda-cloaked-in-faux-concern-for-women trend needed to end with the Aughts, yet somehow, the bizarre and twisted logic behind showing women you care about them by cutting off their access to healthcare mysteriously, miraculously, persists in all its annoyingness. Unfortunately, these ads are only the latest to join the crowded ranks of people and initiatives who couch their anti-woman agendas in messaging about "concern" for women and families (Georgia Right to Life, and Howard Stern are two recent ones that come to mind).

Aside from all that, the pictures from the group's website are pretty funny when you think about the fact that all the models are fake and just had these words plastered over their faux-concerned images:

I'm sorry your wife gets depressed, Brett Favre, but that's no excuse to take away other women's autonomy.

Listen, if you thought you were doing your job, you were absolutely right! You're a model, and you're looking real melancholy in this generic print ad. So...congrats on that!

In sum, I'll take a cue from Maya who wrote on twitter "yes, abortion change you- it makes you not pregnant anymore!" Also, you know what else changes you? Being FORCED to carry a pregnancy to term against your will! Now that's an ad campaign I wouldn't mind seeing on my morning commute.

After removing the word "reckless," this appalling bill has been signed by Governer Gary Herbert in Utah. The language of the bill was edited but originally proposed that "reckless and unintentional" death of a fetus would be criminalized, as in, a miscarriage.

Gov. Gary Herbert signed into law Monday a bill that would allow a woman who arranges an illegal abortion to be charged with criminal homicide.

The new law is in response to a case last year where a 17-year-old pregnant girl paid a man $150 to beat her in hopes of inducing a miscarriage. A judge ruled there was no law on Utah's books allowing the mother to be charged with a crime.

This language isn't really much better. Instead of recognizing that it could only be the most oppressive circumstances that would lead a young woman to have someone beat her in hopes of inducing a miscarriage, and therefore creating legislation that protects young women, they legislate against women.

Representative Bart Stupak, formerly an obscure Member of Congress who rose to notoriety when he introduced the anti-choice Stupak Amendment to health reform, is being challenged in the Democratic primary in Michigan. From TPM:

Connie Saltonstall, a former commissioner in Charlevoix County, told me this evening she's challenging Stupak over his refusal to allow health care reform to move forward without abortion language attached.

Saltonstall told me her "two passions" are health care reform and choice. And after spending the last 20 years voting for Stupak, Saltonstall said he managed to run afoul of both of them.

I don't know much about Saltonstall yet except that she is, in her own words to RH Reality Check, "Without a doubt pro-choice." That's already a big improvement over Stupak, who has been urged by the DCCC to run for re-election.

I'm sure we'll hear a lot more about Saltonstall soon. I hope she turns out to be a great candidate with a range of socially just positions, and that folks in Michigan help her create a positive campaign that can successfully unseat this anti-choice zealot.

Now is a great time, when the campaign is just getting underway, for folks in Michigan who want to help shape the agenda of their next Congressperson to learn more and get involved.

Courtner Joslin (UC Davis) has posted to SSRN her encyclopedia entry, “Legal Regulation of Pregnancy and Childbirth.”  Here is the abstract:

This piece, a short entry in The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion, examines the legal regulation of pregnant women. In particular, the article discusses whether and under what circumstances the state can force pregnant women to undergo unwanted medical treatments or physically restrain or punish pregnant women for engaging in otherwise legal conduct when the state believes that these interventions are necessary to protect the fetus from potential harms.

The full piece is available here.

-Bridget Crawford

When Angie Jackson live tweeted her abortion she was speaking about what women have been told must remain private, secret, and yes, shameful. I support women telling their own stories without judgment or stigma. I want a culture where women can talk comfortably about their abortions, even if it is still a difficult choice for some, where women's choices aren't judged. Speaking openly about abortion helps to create this world.

In a piece published yesterday at Salon, former Executive Director of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island Mary Ann Sorrentino argues Jackson's choice and the procedure she underwent shouldn't be talked about in public. Sorrentino attempts to make a generational argument, claiming pre-Roe feminists understand how bad illegal abortion was and how hard they fought for it, and know their aim was to gain a private right. The author spins the legal right to privacy argument into a condemnation of uppity women who give voice to their own abortion experiences - this private procedure shouldn't be talked about so flagrantly.

Sorrentino's argument has nothing to do with generational divisions. It's an argument that women shouldn't speak their truth in public.

Sorrentino suggests Jackson is irresponsible for not choosing sterilization. Not wanting to carry another pregnancy to term does not equal wanting or being able to have a tubal ligation. But I get the sense Sorrentino has limits on what she considers morally acceptable, and tying your tubes when you decide not to have more kids but still want to have cis hetero sex is apparently the responsible choice.

Sorrentino says Jackson caused the rest of the universe "anguish" and calls her public tweets an "abuse of reproductive rights" - as if abortion is always a severely painful decision that must be kept secret, or you're doing it wrong. She accuses Jackson of having "bad judgment." Sorrentino makes sure to point out Jackson has the right to speak publicly about her abortion, but it's just not the proper thing to do.

Sorrentino's piece reads like she's telling Jackson to be ladylike, to be a "good girl." There are certain things a woman just shouldn't speak about in public. This isn't the feminism of a previous generation - it's an argument that the divides between public and private should be maintained, with women's experiences kept in the private sphere. It's an argument for silence, for stigma, and for an appropriate way of being a lady.

This goes against the approach to destigmatizing abortion that I learned from pre-Roe organizers. The Redstockings Abortion Speakout in 1969 began a traditional of women telling their abortion stories publicly to humanize the procedure, to bring it into the public sphere, and to remove shame. These women didn't listen when they were told their stories should be kept private. Jackson used new technology to share the experience as it was happening, a new twist on an old consciousness raising technique.

Jackson's live tweeting of her abortion actually has its roots in pre-Roe work for abortion access. Sorrentino's argument has its roots in anti-feminist understandings of the appropriate place for women's decisions and experiences - out of sight.

To hear Angie Jackson's reasons for sharing her abortion experience in her own words check out this CNN interview:

Full transcript here.

Today is the U.S. National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers.

In a different world, doctors who provide abortions would just be regular doctors. In this one, they — along with the nurses, administrative staff, and volunteers who work along side them — are uniquely courageous. For providing routine medical care, abortion providers face harassment, ostracization, protesters, threats, violence, and as with Dr. George Tiller, even murder. Giving up their jobs would be far, far easier than doing them.

But legalization of abortion is absolutely nothing without access. Just like those who try to frighten them out of their work, abortion providers know this. And so they continue, even in the face of danger. They do the best they can, in spite of the restrictions they must adhere to and the roadblocks thrown in their patients’ way, to ensure that everyone has a right to their own body, and that no one is forced to carry a pregnancy to term when they cannot or do not want to. Abortion providers are, quite frankly, heroes.

If you know someone who works in an abortion clinic, take them out to dinner, buy them some flowers, or just sit them down and tell them that you appreciate what they do. If there’s a clinic that performs abortions near you, drop in and say a quick thanks. And if you’re online reading this right now, head on over to the National Abortion Federation website, and write a note of appreciation.

If you’re able, today would also be an excellent day to financially support those organizations that make abortion access possible. The National Abortion Federation (NAF) is a professional association of abortion providers in the United States and Canada, that offers training for abortion providers and referrals for patients. The National Network of Abortion Funds helps women with limited funds to afford their abortions. And Medical Students for Choice work to destigmatize abortion care and make it a regular part of medical training. They would all be worthy of any donation you could give.

Today, March 10, is the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers. The many health care professionals who make abortion access a reality by providing counseling, scheduling appointments, and assisting with or performing abortions are doing necessary work despite immense stigma and hatred, and they have my heartfelt thanks.

Today is also the anniversary of the 1993 assassination of Dr. David Gunn, the first abortion provider killed in the U.S. because of his job. This past year we lost another provider, Dr. George Tiller, to antiabortion violence. The threat of violence is constant for many providers and, in a year when a provider was assassinated for the first time in over a decade, that threat is on everyone's minds. Yet doctors, nurses, therapists, and other clinic staff keep going to work, because they know the legal right to abortion means nothing if everyone is too afraid to perform the procedure.

The National Abortion Federation (where I work part time) is collecting names, messages, and photos showing appreciation for abortion providers. Head on over to there site to express your thanks and support.

Today is National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers. (Good post from last year about this day here.)

Thank you to the doctors, nurses, physicians assistants, other medical staff, escorts, volunteers, clinic workers, abortion providers in-training, counselors, security and everyone else involved in giving women full access to comprehensive reproductive health care. I can't imagine what some (all?) of you go through every single day, and I believe you continue to do it because you believe in what you're doing. Thank you for that.

Thank you for respecting and trusting women.

Thank you to those who have been injured because of their job, and to those who lost their lives because of their job. From Wikipedia:

Murders
In the U.S., violence directed toward abortion providers has killed at least eight people, including four doctors, two clinic employees, a security guard, and a clinic escort.

• March 10, 1993: Dr. David Gunn of Pensacola, Florida was fatally shot during a protest. He had been the subject of wanted-style posters distributed by Operation Rescue in the summer of 1992. Michael F. Griffin was found guilty of Dr. Gunn's murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
• August 21, 1993 Dr. George Patterson, was shot and killed in Mobile, Alabama, but it is uncertain whether his death was the direct result of his profession or rather a robbery.
• July 29, 1994: Dr. John Britton and James Barrett, a clinic escort, were both shot to death outside of another facility in Pensacola. Rev. Paul Jennings Hill was charged with the killings. Hill received a death sentence and was executed September 3, 2003.
• December 30, 1994: Two receptionists, Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols, were killed in two clinic attacks in Brookline, Massachusetts. John Salvi, who prior to his arrest was distributing pamphlets from Human Life International, was arrested and confessed to the killings. He died in prison and guards found his body under his bed with a plastic garbage bag tied around his head. Salvi had also confessed to a non-lethal attack in Norfolk, Virginia days before the Brookline killings.
• January 29, 1998: Robert Sanderson, an off-duty police officer who worked as a security guard at an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, was killed when his workplace was bombed. Eric Robert Rudolph, who was also responsible for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing, was charged with the crime and received two life sentences as a result.
• October 23, 1998: Dr. Barnett Slepian was shot to death at his home in Amherst, New York. His was the last in a series of similar shootings against providers in Canada and northern New York state which were all likely committed by James Kopp. Kopp was convicted of Dr. Slepian's murder after finally being apprehended in France in 2001.
• May 31, 2009: Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed as he served as an usher at his church in Wichita, Kansas.

Attempted murder, assault, and threats
According to statistics gathered by the National Abortion Federation (NAF), an organization of abortion providers, since 1977 in the United States and Canada, there have been 17 attempted murders, 383 death threats, 153 incidents of assault or battery, and 3 kidnappings committed against abortion providers. Attempted murders in the U.S. included:

• August 19, 1993: Dr. George Tiller was shot outside of an abortion facility in Wichita, Kansas. Shelley Shannon was charged with the crime and received an 11-year prison sentence (20 years were later added for arson and acid attacks on clinics).
• July 29, 1994: June Barret was shot in the same attack which claimed the lives of James Barrett, her husband, and Dr. John Britton.
• December 30, 1994: Five individuals were wounded in the shootings which killed Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols.
• October 28, 1997: Dr. David Gandell of Rochester, New York was injured by flying glass when a shot was fired through the window of his home.
• January 29, 1998: Emily Lyons, a nurse, was severely injured, and lost an eye, in the bombing which also killed Robert Sanderson.

Anthrax threats
The first hoax letters claiming to contain anthrax were mailed to U.S. clinics in October 1998, a few days after the Slepian shooting; since then, there have been 655 such bioterror threats made against abortion providers. None of the "anthrax" in these cases was real.

• November 2001: After the genuine 2001 anthrax attacks, Clayton Waagner mailed hoax letters containing a white powder to 554 clinics. On December 3, 2003, Waagner was convicted of 51 charges relating to the anthrax scare.

Arson, bombing, and property crime
According to NAF, since 1977 in the United States and Canada, property crimes committed against abortion providers have included 41 bombings, 173 arsons, 91 attempted bombings or arsons, 619 bomb threats, 1630 incidents of trespassing, 1264 incidents of vandalism, and 100 attacks with butyric acid ("stink bombs"). The first clinic arson occurred in Oregon in March 1976 and the first bombing occurred in February 1978 in Ohio. More recent incidents have included:

• December 25, 1984: An abortion clinic and two physicians' offices in Pensacola, Florida were bombed in the early morning of Christmas Day by a quartet of young people (Matt Goldsby, Jimmy Simmons, Kathy Simmons, Kaye Wiggins) who later called the bombings "a gift to Jesus on his birthday."
• October 1999: Martin Uphoff set fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, causing US $100 worth of damage. He was later sentenced to 60 months in prison.
• May 28, 2000: An arson at a clinic in Concord, New Hampshire on resulted in damage estimated at US $20,000. The case remains unsolved.
• September 30, 2000: A Catholic priest drove his car into the Northern Illinois Health Clinic after learning that the FDA had approved the drug RU-486. He pulled out an ax before being shot at by a security guard.
• June 11, 2001: An unsolved bombing at a clinic in Tacoma, Washington destroyed a wall, resulting in US$6000 in damages.
• July 4, 2005: A clinic Palm Beach, Florida was the target of an arson. The case remains open.
• December 12, 2005: Patricia Hughes and Jeremy Dunahoe threw a Molotov cocktail at a clinic in Shreveport, Louisiana. The device missed the building and no damage was caused. In August 2006, Hughes was sentenced to six years in prison, and Dunahoe to one year. Hughes claimed the bomb was a “memorial lamp” for an abortion she had had there.
• September 13, 2006 David McMenemy of Rochester Hills, Michigan crashed his car into the Edgerton Women's Care Center in Davenport, Iowa. He then doused the lobby in gasoline and then started a fire. McMenemy committed these acts in the belief that the center was performing abortions, however Edgerton is not an abortion clinic.
• April 25, 2007: A package left at a women's health clinic in Austin, Texas contained an explosive device capable of inflicting serious injury or death. A bomb squad detonated the device after evacuating the building. Paul Ross Evans (who had a criminal record for armed robbery and theft) was found guilty of the crime.
• May 9, 2007: An unidentified person deliberately set fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
• December 6, 2007: Chad Altman and Sergio Baca were arrested for the arson of Dr. Curtis Boyd's clinic in Albuquerque. Altman’s girlfriend had scheduled an appointment for an abortion at the clinic.
• January 22, 2009 Matthew L. Derosia, 32, who was reported to have had a history of mental illness rammed a SUV into the front entrance of a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Try to stay safe out there, everyone. We need you!