The latest recording in this series covers the city's former maternity hospital.
Showing posts with label women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women. Show all posts
Six of the Best 585
"Gould had long carved out an alternative viewpoint to that of Kinnock and Smith, putting forward arguments that were to look much wiser in retrospect than many were prepared to credit at the time." Alwyn Turner on Bryan Gould, who contested the Labour leadership with John Smith in 1992.
Niall Meehan on Morris Fraser, child abuse, corruption and collusion in Britain and Northern Ireland.
Toni Airaksinen says you shouldn't report your professors' microaggressions.
The Hwicce of Rutland? Caitlin Green speculates on a possible Anglo-Saxon kingdom.
"Every paradise is lost. That’s kind of the point. Loss is the diagnostic feature of every paradise ever lived or imagined. But for five miraculous years and 120,000 miraculous words Gerald Durrell sustained a vision of paradise with joy in every day and every page." Simon Barnes praises My Family and Other Animals.
Nancy Banks-Smith on Helen and The Archers
The wonderful Nancy Banks-Smith has written a piece on The Archers for the Guardian. I assume it will be in tomorrow's G2.
She begins:
My grandmother – now, we’re going back a bit – used to describe pregnancy delicately as "being confined". It’s a phrase that suits Helen very well. Ever since she became pregnant, she has been a wraithlike presence, a pale face at the window of Blossom Hill Cottage, lank-haired and wearing the charity-shop clothes her husband, Rob, prefers, making occasional disconcerting distressed forays into an oblivious Ambridge. Wilkie Collins would have spat on his hands and whistled.
This sorry situation burst into flames recently when a toad-in-the-hole caught fire. Who Torched the Toad escalated into a full-scale fight, with Helen showing a flash of spirit, Rob hitting her and five-year-old Henry, entering into the spirit of things, shoving a small school friend called Xanthe. Though, frankly, I think any child called Xanthe is just asking to be shoved.
Mary Wollstonecraft's grave at Old St Pancras church
Before I went to Round the Horne I had some time to spend in London.
The first place I went to was Old St Pancras, the little country church that stands in the shadow of the railway station. I was pleased to find it is now open to the public every day.
As it was International Women's Day I sought out the grave of Mary Wollstonecraft. She was buried in the churchyard there along with her husband William Godwin and his second wife.
Her remains were moved by her grandson Percy Florence Shelley to his family tomb in St Peter's Church, Bournemouth,
Six of the Best 576
Michael Wilson argues that we must defend free speech on campus.
"She began by saying 'You all know me in here…' (I didn’t), I was thrown to discover that the first guest speaker at a Labour Party pressure group was a member of the Socialist Workers Party." Labour member Joe Cox attends a Momentum meeting and finds it is not for him.
Jennifer Wilkinson on the prison memoirs of the suffragette Constance Lytton.
"The exact location and nature of Ravenserodd is open to some debate, but it is often believed to have been located to the east of the present-day Spurn Point and was said in the fourteenth-century Chronica Monasterii de Melsa to have been 'distant from the mainland a space of one mile and more'." Caitlin Green explores the lost settlements of the Lincolnshire coast.
Thom Hickey reminds us of the forgotten talent of Helen Shapiro.
The Olney Pancake Race
From the Olney Pancake Race website:
On Shrove Tuesday every year the ladies of Olney, Buckinghamshire compete in the world famous Pancake Race, a tradition which dates back to 1445. The 2016 race will be held on Tuesday 9th February. The race starts at 11:55am.
Children from Olney schools also take part in their own races. Olney competes every year against the women of Liberal, Kansas, USA. This is a friendly competition in its 67th year in 2016.My photograph shows the sign on the churchyard wall in Olney that marks the finishing point of the race,
The Liberal Democrats and all-women shortlists
I remember at a conference a few years ago attending a session on the future of the profession. The panel turned out to consist of four middle-aged men in suits,
Rather to my surprise, the wrongness of this hit me with the sort of force that hearing racist language did when I was a teenager.
Yes, I have had my consciousnesses raised.
Because of this I wrote some a couple of year ago that I am now attracted to the idea of all-women shortlists.
But I see two problems with the proposals to be discussed at the Liberal Democrat spring conference in York. You can find them in a blog post by Mark Pack.
The first is practical: would the proposals make a difference if they were implemented?
In 2010 we had women candidates fighting a raft of promising seats but failed to gain them. In 2015 we had them fighting seats vacated by sitting Lib Dem MPs and didn't win those either.
Do we have a clear enough idea of the seats we can realistically hope to gain, and therefore should place women candidates, in 2020?
The second problem I see lies in the proposal that we should "support diverse candidates with extra training and mentoring".
I suspect that what such candidates need is not training and mentoring so much as practical help with things like funding and child care.
No doubt we could all benefit from training and mentoring, but to single out diverse candidates as being in particular need of them risks reinforcing stereotypes rather than overcoming them.
Six of the Best 554
 |
| Photo: Andreas Trepte |
Ian Cummins endorses a study suggesting that Work Capability Assessments are linked with an increase in suicides.
"It is no coincidence that the notion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights is spreading globally at the exact moment that old boundaries are collapsing in the era of the digital revolution, mass migration, and international commodity markets." Mark Gevisser explains why repressive states are losing the battle against sexual freedom.
Dr Anna Arrowsmith says we are using the term 'mansplaining' incorrectly.
Dan Brown tells us about the status of the curlew in the UK and the work that needs to be done to safeguard the future of this wonderful bird.
The trap streets mentioned in Doctor Who the other week really are a thing. Londonist will tell you all about them.
Women Put an Average of 168 Chemicals on Their Bodies Each Day, Consumer Group Says
'American women put an average of 168 chemicals on their bodies each day, according to a nonprofit group, but two senators say federal regulations on personal care products have barely changed since the 1930s.
Senators Dianne Feinstein, D-California, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, introduced an amendment to the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act that would give the Food and Drug Administration more power and oversight to regulate the chemicals men and women slather on their bodies every day. They’re calling it the Personal Care Products Safety Act.
“From shampoo to lotion, the use of personal care products is widespread, however, there are very few protections in place to ensure their safety,” Feinstein said in a statement.'
Read more...
A Definitive Article on Mississippi's Initiative 26
It was at this point that I intended to feature a Mother Jones article on what the implications of Initiative 26 would be in respect to birth control. However, thanks to a dear reader I can put before you a far more definitive source, not just on the subject of birth control, but of the implications as a whole that this bizarre and extreme proposal would conjure up.
Rather than embed the video in question, a video I might add, that by its (simple) nature is reminiscent of another, simple message for simple people, that featured many years ago in the next door state of Alabama. But this is but a digression.
No, rather than the featured video, have a look at this one, again linked from the article, but one I would have thought that gives a far starker warning to just what 'Personhood' actually means in real terms in the States that have already enacted this legislation.
The intrusion, by hospitals, prosecutors and law enforcement is absolutely staggering, so much so that I had to replay the clip again to have it confirmed that such nightmare scenarios had indeed come to pass.
Of all the clips that I have ever watched that warn of the effects of religious extremism, nothing but nothing comes close to this one. And this I remind you, is in a country where having a social conscience (socialism) is seen as one step removed from the totalitarianism of a Stalinist state.
I don't know what analogy would best describe what is depicted in these few short minutes, but whatever anyone might choose, they would have to end in, totalitarian state.
The events that are happening in these states is truly frightening, so much so, viewing of this clip should be made mandatory.
Vote No on 26, Mississippi - Here is why
On November 8th, 2011 in the General Election for Mississippi, there will be three Ballot Initiatives to vote on. 26 - to redefine "person" in our constitution, 27 - to require voter ID (ie disenfranchise voters) and 31 - to restrict the use of eminent domain. The full, actual text of 26 is below. Vote No on 26, Mississippi!
I've put a lot of thought into this initiative. I've tried to keep this updated with the most recent developments. There is a lot of information, so please bear with me and read this through. Where I have supporting documentation, there are links within the text that are blue and underlined.
First, a video.
Rather than embed the video in question, a video I might add, that by its (simple) nature is reminiscent of another, simple message for simple people, that featured many years ago in the next door state of Alabama. But this is but a digression.
No, rather than the featured video, have a look at this one, again linked from the article, but one I would have thought that gives a far starker warning to just what 'Personhood' actually means in real terms in the States that have already enacted this legislation.
The intrusion, by hospitals, prosecutors and law enforcement is absolutely staggering, so much so that I had to replay the clip again to have it confirmed that such nightmare scenarios had indeed come to pass.
Of all the clips that I have ever watched that warn of the effects of religious extremism, nothing but nothing comes close to this one. And this I remind you, is in a country where having a social conscience (socialism) is seen as one step removed from the totalitarianism of a Stalinist state.
I don't know what analogy would best describe what is depicted in these few short minutes, but whatever anyone might choose, they would have to end in, totalitarian state.
The events that are happening in these states is truly frightening, so much so, viewing of this clip should be made mandatory.
The "Personhood" initiative only defines the word "person" in the Mississippi constitution as "every human being from the moment of fertilization." If you think this is an anti-abortion bill, think again. It says nothing about outlawing abortion. It says nothing about outlawing the morning after pill. It says nothing about anything else. All results of the bill will have to be figured out by the police arresting people and the courts deciding what the change to the definition of person means. It might not even outlaw abortion. It might have lots of other, perhaps unintended, consequences.
For instance :
Birth control pills and IUD pregnancy prevention methods would be outlawed by the 'personhood amendment' (because they prevent a fertilized egg - which would instantly become a fully legal 'person' - from attaching to the uterine wall as a rare third stage effect, but it still happens), further increasing these numbers. The "yes" group claims otherwise, even though their own board member, Dr. McMillan says, "I painfully agree that birth control pills do in fact cause abortions." (see the 'lies exposed' link further down for more details)
I have come to believe that the wording of i26 actually targets IVF to put it out of business.
Drinking and smoking during pregnancy would go from just being risky to becoming criminal negligence. Women who have miscarriages would have to endure investigation for possible criminal charges, from negligence up to and including murder. You think not? There is already legal precedent - 15 year old Rennie Gibbs was charged in Mississippi with Depraved Heart Murder in December, 2006 after a miscarriage. (see pregnant women who lose babies face murder chargesA commitment to pre-embryonic personhood would require us to investigate these miscarriages to ensure that no foul play was involved in the loss of these persons. This does not necessarily mean that all women experiencing miscarriages would be prosecuted; however, our legal framework requires an investigation when there has been a loss of life.26 leaves no exception for rape. more
Mississippi: Personhood Status For Fertilised Egg
Update: Rachel Madow conceived in rape tour.
These people are insane, and the article is a testimony to that insanity.
But the proposed Initiative 26 is much more than affording full legal rights to, and declaring 'personhood' status to a fertilised egg, it would effectively outlaw all other forms of contraception other than the purely barrier methods, condoms and diaphragms.
Mississippi has the highest infant mortality rate of any state in the nation. It also has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy nationwide
And in a country that is visibly coming apart at the seams, the priority in Mississippi are the rights of a fertilised egg. Mississippi did have another priority, but they have already addressed that issue, by imposing a state-wide ban on the sale of vibrators. You think I jest? clicky or: Violators will face up to a year in prison and a fine of less than $10,000. clicky
I don't have a 'stuff you couldn't make up' tag, perhaps I should initiate one. I do have a 'batshit crazy' tag, but that doesn't do justice to stuff like this; 'batshit dangerous' perhaps, might be nearer the mark.
Daily Kos has this: Occupy My Uterus. My Ass! Fertilized Eggs Are NOT People!
These people are insane, and the article is a testimony to that insanity.
But the proposed Initiative 26 is much more than affording full legal rights to, and declaring 'personhood' status to a fertilised egg, it would effectively outlaw all other forms of contraception other than the purely barrier methods, condoms and diaphragms.
Mississippi has the highest infant mortality rate of any state in the nation. It also has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy nationwide
And in a country that is visibly coming apart at the seams, the priority in Mississippi are the rights of a fertilised egg. Mississippi did have another priority, but they have already addressed that issue, by imposing a state-wide ban on the sale of vibrators. You think I jest? clicky or: Violators will face up to a year in prison and a fine of less than $10,000. clicky
I don't have a 'stuff you couldn't make up' tag, perhaps I should initiate one. I do have a 'batshit crazy' tag, but that doesn't do justice to stuff like this; 'batshit dangerous' perhaps, might be nearer the mark.
Daily Kos has this: Occupy My Uterus. My Ass! Fertilized Eggs Are NOT People!
Legal Rights for Fertilized Eggs? How a Terrifying Law Could Lead to Jail-time for Miscarriages, Birth Control Bans, and the End of Legal Abortion
Mississippi could well be the first state to pass a "personhood law," once considered too extreme for mainstream anti-choicers.
By Irin Carmon
October 26, 2011
Dr. Freda Bush has a warm, motherly smile. In her office just outside Jackson, Miss., she smiles as she hands me a brochure that calls abortion the genocide of African-Americans, and again, sweetly, as she explains why an abortion ban should not include exceptions for rape or incest victims. The smile turns into a chuckle as she recounts what the daughter of one rape victim told her: “My momma says I’m a blessing. Now, she still don’t care for the guy who raped her! But she’s glad she let me live.”
Bush is smiling, too, in the video she made to support as restrictive an abortion ban as any state has voted on, Initiative 26, or the Personhood Amendment, which faces Mississippi voters on Nov. 8. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re rich or poor, black or white, or even if your father was a rapist!” she trills. But Initiative 26, which would change the definition of “person” in the Mississippi state Constitution to “include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the equivalent thereof,” is more than just an absolute ban on abortion and a barely veiled shot at Roe v. Wade — although it is both. By its own logic, the initiative would almost certainly ban common forms of birth control like the IUD and the morning-after pill, call into question the legality of the common birth-control pill, and even open the door to investigating women who have suffered miscarriages.
Personhood amendments were once considered too radical for the mainstream pro-life movement, but in the most conservative state in the country, with an energized, church-mobilized grass roots, Mississippi could well be the first state to pass one. Initiative 26 even has the state’s top Democrats behind it.
And in Bush, it even has a respectable medical face. Last month, Bush led a press conference of fellow gynecologists to try to refute the “scare tactics” of the opposition, which includes even the solidly conservative Mississippi State Medical Association. (The group feared 26 would “place in jeopardy a physician who tries to save a woman’s life.”) In one of several “Yes on 26″ videos in which she stars, Bush says unequivocally, “Amendment 26 will not ban contraception.”
But when we spoke, Bush was far less sure. And if her smiling face carries the day, the debate over even basic access to birth control could be heading to similar votes in every state legislature, and extremists have their dream case to take to a Supreme Court where the Roe majority teeters precariously.
That’s partly because the Personhood movement hopes to do nothing less than reclassify everyday, routine birth control as abortion. The medical definition of pregnancy is when a fertilized egg successfully implants in the uterine wall. If this initiative passes, and fertilized eggs on their own have full legal rights, anything that could potentially block that implantation – something a woman’s body does naturally all the time – could be considered murder. Scientists say hormonal birth-control pills and the morning-after pill work primarily by preventing fertilization in the first place, but the outside possibility, never documented, that an egg could be fertilized anyway and blocked is enough for some pro-lifers.
Indeed, at least one pro-Personhood doctor in Mississippi, Beverly McMillan, refused to prescribe the pill before retiring last year, writing, “I painfully agree that birth control pills do in fact cause abortions.” Bush does prescribe the pill, but says, “There’s good science on both sides … I think there’s more science to support conception not occurring.” Given that the Personhood Amendment is so vague, I asked her, what would stop the alleged “good science” on one side from prevailing and banning even the pill?
Bush paused. “I could say that is not the intent,” she said. “I don’t have an answer for that particular [case], how it would be settled, but I do know this is simple.” Which part is simple? “The amendment is simple,” she said. “You can play the ‘what if’ game, but if you keep it simple, this is a person who deserves life.” What about the IUD, which she refuses to prescribe for moral reasons, and which McMillan told me the Personhood Amendment would ban? “I’m not the authority on what would and would not be banned.” No – Bush simply plays one on TV. And if her amendment passes, only condoms, diaphragms and natural family planning — the rhythm method – would be guaranteed in Mississippi.
Bush also says in the commercial that the amendment wouldn’t “criminalize mothers and investigate them when they have miscarriages.” And yet if the willful destruction of an embryo is a murder, then that makes a miscarried woman’s body a potential crime scene or child welfare investigation. What about women whose miscarriages were suspected to be deliberate or due to their own negligence? One Personhood opponent, Michele Johansen, told me she wondered whether she could have been investigated for miscarrying a wanted, five-week pregnancy, because she rode a roller coaster. (Her doctor ultimately told her they were unrelated.)
The boilerplate Personhood response, echoed by both McMillan and Bush, is that no woman was prosecuted for miscarriage before Roe v. Wade, so why start now? Of course, there was no Personhood amendment at the time, nor much knowledge of embryonic development. And in countries with absolute abortion bans, like El Salvador, women are regularly investigated and jailed when found to have induced miscarriages.
Pressed, Bush said, “Look at the numbers of women who were injuring themselves [pre-Roe] in an attempt to have an abortion. It was not 53 million,” the estimated number of abortions since Roe v. Wade.
“I don’t have all the answers,” she said, “but those questions that are there do not justify allowing nine out of 10 of the abortions that are being done that are not for the hard cases,” she said.
But a Colorado-based Personhood activist, Ed Hanks, is more than willing to publicly take things to their logical conclusion. He wrote on the Personhood Mississippi Facebook page that after abortion is banned, “the penalties have to be the same [for a women as well as doctors], as they would have to intentionally commit a known felony in order to kill their child. Society isn’t comfortable with this yet because abortion has been ‘normalized’ — as the Personhood message penetrates, then society will understand why women need to be punished just as surely as they understand why there can be no exceptions for rape/incest.”
Personhood represents an unapologetic and arguably more ideologically consistent form of the anti-choice movement. It aims squarely for Roe v. Wade by seizing on language from former Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun – the author of the Roe decision — during the hearings that the case would “collapse” if “this suggestion of personhood is established … for the fetus.”
Similar ballot measures have failed twice in Colorado, where an evangelical pastor and a Catholic lawyer started the Personhood movement, but Mississippi is no Colorado. It’s the most conservative state in the nation. Planned Parenthood (which doesn’t even provide abortions in its one clinic here) and the ACLU are dirty words. Where there were once seven abortion clinics in the state, the one remaining flies in a doctor from out of state. As for supporting life, Mississippi’s infant mortality rate is the worst of any state in the nation. The number of babies who die as infants in Mississippi is double the number of abortions annually. It also has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy nationwide, alongside a child welfare system that remains dangerously broken.
Even so, if Initiative 26 passes, it would embolden similar efforts in Ohio, South Dakota, Florida and other states, currently trying to get a Personhood amendment on the ballot in 2012. And though there have been no reliable public polls, insiders on both sides believe it is headed for approval. “This thing will pass if people don’t understand what it really means,” says Oxford-based attorney and Initiative 26 opponent Forrest Jenkins. The Personhood movement “can either convince people that birth control is abortion or they can convince people that it’s not really true and we’re just being silly.” (Indeed, when I asked one college student who described himself as pro-life about the birth-control implications, he said, “I thought that was just gossip.”) Unfortunately for opponents, talking about sweeping and nuanced implications takes a lot more words than “stop killing babies.”
Mindful of anti-abortion sentiment in the state, even the local pro-choice opposition has taken to referring to all these implications – like banning birth-control pills — as “unintended consequences” of the initiative. But as my conversations in Mississippi with pro-Initiative 26 doctors made clear, for many Personhood supporters, these effects are anything but unintended. They’re part of the plan.
I had barely arrived in Mississippi when I was declared a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” by the grass-roots wing of the movement. Les Riley, the self-described “tractor salesman with 10 kids and no money” who got Personhood on the ballot, stopped responding to my messages, so I’d posted interview requests on the Personhood Mississippi Facebook page, disclosing that I was pro-choice but committed to giving them a fair hearing.
“This is just a reminder of some of the ‘Neutral and Fair’ mainstream media that are trying to lure us into debate, argument, and confrontation,” Wiley S. Pinkerton wrote on the same page, not long after. “They are coming to this site hoping to catch us without the full armor of God.”
Of course, even if I’d wanted to, the chances of catching any of them without “the armor of God” seemed remote. The Personhood movement in Mississippi is openly theocratic. Riley has written that “for years, the pro-life movement and the religious right has allowed the charge [of being “religiously motivated”] to make them run for cover. I think we should embrace it.” Riley, in fact, had already enthusiastically embraced Christian secessionist and neo-Confederate groups as part of his coalition. (Thenational media play his personal history received by the time of my visit this month might explain some of the hostility to the press.)
Last summer, a more mainstream face, Brad Prewitt – a lobbyist and former high-level staffer for U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran – took over the campaign at the request of the American Family Association, which, like Prewitt, is based in Tupelo. (Riley continues to actively campaign, though he isn’t listed on the official Yes on 26 site. Prewitt promised an interview several times, but never came through.) Prewitt, too, publicly described the conceptual origin of Personhood being “the Bible, Genesis,” and declared, “Mississippi is still a God-fearing
At several public forums organized by the secretary of state to discuss ballot initiatives, resident Scott Murray’s statement was typical: “I know there is an issue with pregnancies, unmarried pregnancies, but I tell you the greatest prevention is God, and we’ve got to return to God.” So was Stephen Hannabass’ assertion that “we’ve got to repent. We’ve got to come before God and beg for mercy for our state and for our country.” Continue into insanity.
Amy Goodman Democracy Now: Colleagues of Slain Kansas Abortion Doctor George Tiller Continue His Fight for Reproductive Rights
If you ever wondered why I take such an interest in this issue, well first and foremost, I honestly believe that it should be every woman's right to choose whether she carries a foetus to term or not.
I consider the social/economic implications of a woman or girl being forced to carry a pregnancy to term. And those social/economic consequences are by no means trivial, but I'm sure I don't have elaborate on those.
Lastly, and least it must be said, (for now) is the imposition of a biblical morality that has no place in a modern society. There are rich and powerful factions that are working to such ends, the ultimate goal of these extremists being the establishment of the Theocratic States of America, or some such, who want to rule America under biblical law.
Not only that, the social/economic class that wants to impose this morality, is invariably so far removed and above those, who would have the will of the sanctimonious imposed on it. Which as you can well imagine, is about as far away from a democracy as you can get. An occidental Iran if you will. Women's reproductive rights only being the thin end and start of this particular brand of totalitarianism.
Plenty more in the sidebar under the various tags.
Update and an endorsement I guess, of what I've just been rattling on about.
I consider the social/economic implications of a woman or girl being forced to carry a pregnancy to term. And those social/economic consequences are by no means trivial, but I'm sure I don't have elaborate on those.
Lastly, and least it must be said, (for now) is the imposition of a biblical morality that has no place in a modern society. There are rich and powerful factions that are working to such ends, the ultimate goal of these extremists being the establishment of the Theocratic States of America, or some such, who want to rule America under biblical law.
Not only that, the social/economic class that wants to impose this morality, is invariably so far removed and above those, who would have the will of the sanctimonious imposed on it. Which as you can well imagine, is about as far away from a democracy as you can get. An occidental Iran if you will. Women's reproductive rights only being the thin end and start of this particular brand of totalitarianism.
Plenty more in the sidebar under the various tags.
Update and an endorsement I guess, of what I've just been rattling on about.
Attack of the Theocrats! How the Religious Right Harms Us All - and What We Can Do About It
Advance copies now available
Also available for Kindle at Amazon and Nook at Barnes&Noble
Publication Date: February 15, 2012
At no time in American history has the United States had such a high percentage of theocratic members of Congress-those who expressly endorse religious bias in law. Just as ominously, at no other time have religious fundamentalists effectively had veto power over one of the country's two major political parties. As Sean Faircloth argues, this has led to the crumbling of the country's most cherished founding principle-the wall separating church and state-and presages yet even more crumbling. Faircloth, a former politician and current executive director of the Secular Coalition for America, moves beyond the symbolism to explore the many ways federal and state legal codes privilege religion in law. He goes on to demonstrate how religious bias in law harms all Americans-financially, militarily, physically, socially, and educationally. Sounding a much-needed alarm for all who care about the future direction of the country, Faircloth offers an inspiring vision for returning America to its secular roots Reviews RDF
Colleagues of Slain Kansas Abortion Doctor George Tiller Continue His Fight for Reproductive Rights
A federal judge has blocked the impact of one of the laws aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood, ordering Kansas to restore federal family planning funds to a clinic that claims it suffered "collateral damage" from the law because it would be forced to close, leaving 650 mostly low-income patients without access to reproductive healthcare services. Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, and the unaffiliated Dodge City clinic, are challenging a law requiring the state to first allocate Title X funds to public health departments and hospitals, which leaves no funds for specialty family planning clinics. This is just the latest development in Kansas, which saw the murder of one of its staunchest supporters of women’s access to abortion: Dr. George Tiller. For more, we are joined by Julie Burkhart, who worked for eight years with Tiller before he was killed in 2009. She is the founder and director of the Trust Women Foundation and PAC, which focuses on protecting women’s access to reproductive healthcare, as well as the rights of the physicians who provide these services.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re broadcasting from Kansas City, right on the border between Kansas and Missouri, an area that is ground zero in the push to reduce women’s access to reproductive services, and specifically abortion.
The music you just heard was from Kansas City native, by the way, Charlie Parker.
After the passage of Roe v. Wade, Kansas had 27 abortion providers. Now it has three. All three of those clinics were targeted by a barrage of bills that passed during the last legislative session in Kansas. This was the session that saw the rise of Republican Governor Sam Brownback after Democrat Kathleen Sebelius left to become President Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Well, just yesterday, a federal judge blocked the impact of one of the laws aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood. He ordered Kansas to restore federal family planning funds to a clinic that claims it suffered "collateral damage" from the law because it would be forced to close, leaving 650 mostly low-income patients without access to reproductive healthcare services. Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri and the unaffiliated Dodge City clinic are challenging a law requiring the state to first allocate Title X funds to public health departments and hospitals, which leaves no funds for specialty family planning clinics. They argue that under the Supremacy Clause, Kansas cannot impose further restrictions on a federal program. Congress created Title X of the Public Health Services Act to promote family planning services to low-income patients, because it found the lack of access to birth control services exacerbates poverty.
This is just the latest development in Kansas, which saw the assassination in 2009 of one of its staunchest supporters of women’s access to abortion: Dr. George Tiller. The 67-year-old doctor was shot as he attended services at his Wichita, Kansas, church. In a related development, an ethics panel recommended last week that former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline have his state law license suspended over his conduct during criminal investigations of abortion providers, including Dr. Tiller, saying he was "motivated by dishonesty and selfishness."
For more, we’re joined by Julie Burkhart. She worked for eight years with Dr. George Tiller before he was killed in 2009. She’s founder and director of the Trust Women Foundation and PAC, which focuses on protecting women’s access to reproductive healthcare, as well as the rights of the physicians who provide these services.
Even today, our condolences on losing your friend, Dr. Tiller. You were with him days before he was killed in 2009? Transcript
Not All Head banging Extremists Are Muslim Watch Headbanging Jewish Extremists In Action Against Little Girls
I wouldn't have any problem matching this lot of fucked up demented Jews with this lot of fucked up demented Arabs. Read first.
If a similar situation were to occur, and it were the Jerusalem school that was on fire, I could just see this lot as taking it as a sign from God, and who would know what the outcome might be.
I hate fucking religion, and all its repressed, sanctimonious, intolerant, motherfucking followers. A disgrace to rational thought and a disgrace to our species, the fucking lot of them.
Due to a re-tweet I have just had my twitter space invaded by one of their ilk, closet queen and suppressed raving fag, Tony Bennett, who seemingly couldn't wait to get the news out of a book about some gay man who died in 1996.
I've left him alone of late, well fuck him, he's back on my list of twats, and right at the top. Fucking cunt!
Anyway, back to the post. If you really want to see how batshit fucking insane orthodox Jews are, go to Pigs In Space, and The Rabbis Too and follow the video link.
You could not make it up. Not in a million years.
Respect people's religious beliefs? don't make me piss blood!! Fucking idiots!
If a similar situation were to occur, and it were the Jerusalem school that was on fire, I could just see this lot as taking it as a sign from God, and who would know what the outcome might be.
I hate fucking religion, and all its repressed, sanctimonious, intolerant, motherfucking followers. A disgrace to rational thought and a disgrace to our species, the fucking lot of them.
Due to a re-tweet I have just had my twitter space invaded by one of their ilk, closet queen and suppressed raving fag, Tony Bennett, who seemingly couldn't wait to get the news out of a book about some gay man who died in 1996.
I've left him alone of late, well fuck him, he's back on my list of twats, and right at the top. Fucking cunt!
Anyway, back to the post. If you really want to see how batshit fucking insane orthodox Jews are, go to Pigs In Space, and The Rabbis Too and follow the video link.
You could not make it up. Not in a million years.
Respect people's religious beliefs? don't make me piss blood!! Fucking idiots!
Ultra-Orthodox Jews picket girls' schoolh/t RDF
10 October 2011
In a town on the outskirts of Jerusalem school runs have become the focal point for an ugly struggle over land and power.
Groups of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters have been picketing a new girls' school.
They say their religious sense of modesty is offended by the sight of the girls and their families passing their homes on their way to school, even though the families themselves are also from an orthodox community.
The BBC's Kevin Connolly reports from Beit Shemesh. watch
