Urgent update about Mississippi clinic

We are writing to update you on the day to day struggle to keep the only abortion clinic in Mississippi, open and its doctors and workers safe. We are making progress, but we still need your help.

Last week, we told you of the imperative need to improve the clinic’s security system to help prevent invasions – the clinic had just been invaded by a anti-abortion extremist who got as far as the waiting room before being stopped. That won’t happen again.

Thanks to the generosity of many of you, we were able to fund improvements to clinics security system to stop hostile intruders. Believe me the clinic administrators, staff, and doctors are very grateful. But we must do more.

Continue reading “Urgent update about Mississippi clinic”

Help free Iranian feminists

Shirin Ebadi

Iran steps up arrests of women’s rights and human rights activists. This past weekend, on the one year anniversary of the disputed June 2009 elections, Narges Mohammadi, a feminist and vice-president for Nobel Peace Prize Laureate’s human rights organization, was arrested. No information is known about where she is being held or the charges against her. Continue reading “Help free Iranian feminists”

Day Two of Women Deliver: Ellie Smeal, Rachel Leigh Cook, Ali Larter

At Day 2 of the three-day international conference Women Deliver 2010 in Washington, D.C., Ms. Bloggers are there on the scene. The conference intends to hammer home the point that maternal and reproductive health is a global priority.

Want to do something to help? You can click here to urge President Obama to keep the U.S.’s promise to ensure women everywhere universal access to reproductive-health services, family planning, and basic education by 2015. Continue reading “Day Two of Women Deliver: Ellie Smeal, Rachel Leigh Cook, Ali Larter”

Day One of Women Deliver: Melinda Gates, Ban-Ki Moon, Hillary Clinton

The three-day international conference Women Deliver 2010 opened in Washington, D.C., Monday morning, and the Ms. Blog was there on the scene. The conference intends to hammer home the point that maternal and reproductive health is a global priority.

Want to do something to help? You can click here to urge President Obama to keep the U.S.’s promise to ensure women everywhere universal access to reproductive-health services, family planning, and basic education by 2015. Continue reading “Day One of Women Deliver: Melinda Gates, Ban-Ki Moon, Hillary Clinton”

The Pill Turns 50

Without feminism, it would have been just another contraceptive

By Elaine Tyler May, originally posted on Ms. magazine

Fifty years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the oral contraceptive. As we mark that momentous anniversary, women have much to celebrate. The Pill changed the lives of millions of women and became one of the most successful pharmaceutical products of all time. Continue reading “The Pill Turns 50”

Saving Mothers’ Lives

photo by etwood via Flickr Creative Commons

photo by etwood via Flickr Creative CommonsBy Congresswoman Lois Capps

As we celebrate Mother’s Day with our mothers, daughters, and sisters, it is important that we remember the mothers around the world we have lost.  Every single year several hundred thousand girls and women across the world die from pregnancy-related causes.  Ninety nine percent of deaths associated with pregnancy and childbirth occur in the developing world, and the overwhelming majority is preventable. Continue reading “Saving Mothers’ Lives”

Not Just Boys: Catholic Church Abuse of Women + Girls

Originally posted on Ms. blog by Angela Bonavoglia

It was indeed outrageous that the Reverend Raniero Cantalamessa, with the Pope in eyeshot, compared the public outcry over the Catholic Church priest abuse scandal to homicidal anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany. Continue reading “Not Just Boys: Catholic Church Abuse of Women + Girls”

Unbelievable: Stupak Hijacking Health Care Reform Again!!

News broke late Friday night that Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) was brokering a deal with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to ban all abortion coverage in the health-care reform bill.

You may be feeling deja vu. Backed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Stupak pulled the same trick–an 11th hour meeting with Pelosi–to get his ban into the first House bill.

The current health-care bill already complies with the 1976 Hyde Amendment outlawing federal funding of abortion. Stupak wants to go a step further and ban participating insurers from ANY abortion coverage.

Here’s what we know:

Clearly, the fate of the bill is still up in the air.

Here’s what we can do (from the Feminist Majority):

Let Congress and the White House hear loud and clear right now this historic weekend – NO DEALS with Stupak or the Catholic Bishops. Our pro-choice House Leaders are standing strong. Keep them strong.

Call President Barack Obama at 202-456-1111, the comments line, or 202-456-1414, the switchboard.

Call your Representative AND Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer at the Capitol switch board, 202-225-3121 or 202-224-3121. And send an email.

Call your Representative and House leadership NOW. Women are watching and will NOT go backwards.

The vote is very close. Every vote counts. Millions of women’s lives are on the line. Pass health care. No last minute deals. Stop Stupak!

Check back here for more updates.

Ms. Magazine Launches the New Ms. Blog

On this International Women’s Day, March 8th, Ms. magazine—the flagship feminist publication—launches the Ms. Blog, showcasing the sharp writing and informed opinions of a community of feminist bloggers from around the nation and the globe.

The Ms. Blog will be a hub for exchange, collaboration and discussion, introducing fresh perspectives on national and global politics, culture, media, health, law and life.

The range, diversity and quality of bloggers is already exceptional: In the months leading up to this historic launch, Ms. was inundated with blogging offers from academics, activists and journalists. There are contributors from seven countries and counting, and the overall contributors’ roster ranges from well-known names to up-and-coming writers and thinkers. We at Ms. are thrilled about the prospects of intercultural and intergenerational exchange.

Among the bloggers who have signed on to this exciting new project are novelist Diana Abu-Jaber, sexuality author Hanne Blank, L.A. journalist and scholar Lynell George, health activist/author Paula Kamen, masculinity critic/scholar Michael Kimmel, environmental journalist Sonia Shah, feminist writer Deborah Siegel, political scientist Shira Tarrant, media scholar Ebony Utley, memoirist Aimee Liu, Chicana activist and “mommyblogger” Veronica Arreola, Moroccan feminist scholar Fatima Sadiqi, gender and global development expert Lina Abirafeh (reporting from Haiti), Iraqi activist Yanar Mohammed, Muslim feminist Melody Moezzi, Chicana author Michele Serros and law professor Pamela Bridgewater.

Recognizing that no aspect of life is immune from gender politics, the Ms. Blog will address the intersectionality of gender with race, class, nationality and sexuality. And although there will be personal talk on the Ms. Blog, it will always be with the recognition that the personal is political.

A Unisex Vaccine Against Cancer

Originally posted on Huffington Post by Kathy Spillar, Ms. magazine Executive Editor

By this time, few adults in the U.S. haven’t heard of the “cervical cancer vaccine” Gardasil, which has been well-publicized and recommended for routine administration to girls and women ages 9 to 26. But how many know that Gardasil–which attacks four strains of the sexually transmitted HPV (human papillomavirus)–is not just for women? And that it guards against cancers other than cervical? Continue reading “A Unisex Vaccine Against Cancer”

Bishops and Pawns

Originally Posted on Huffington Post by Kathy Spillar, Ms. magazine Executive Editor

As health care reform is being debated today at the White House between Democrats and Republicans, who better to weigh in than … Catholic bishops? Continue reading “Bishops and Pawns”

The Brave Life of Abortion Provider Susan Hill

Written by Michel Kort,

When Susan Hill was operated on for breast cancer several years ago, she didn’t recognize the name nurses called out as she emerged from anesthesia.

“That’s because I was admitted under an alias,” she recalled last year, shortly after her longtime friend Dr. George Tiller was murdered by an anti-abortion extremist. The alias was necessary because a threat against Hill’s life had popped up on the Internet the day before her surgery. Continue reading “The Brave Life of Abortion Provider Susan Hill”

Tell CNN to Stop Promoting Sex Segregation in Public Schools

On Dec. 9th, 2009 CNN American Morning, presented a disappointing, one sided, and not scientifically based segment about the value of single-sex classes in public schools. Tell CNN to stop promoting sex segregation in public schools. Continue reading “Tell CNN to Stop Promoting Sex Segregation in Public Schools”

Feminists Rally on Capitol Hill Against Stupak/Pitts

Hundreds of feminist activists from around the country gathered today on Capitol Hill to rally against the anti-abortion Stupak/Pitts amendment to the health insurance reform bill. The lobby day was presented by the Stop Stupak Coalition, which is also sponsoring a week of action that started Monday. The coalition includes 53 partners that form “a broad group of advocacy organizations from the progressive and women’s health communities.”

Make sure to watch Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal’s rally speach and other rally videos!

>

Support eh ERA banner