“Hospitals and organizations operated by religious institutions will not have to pay for or provide contraception coverage to their employees, but the insurance companies that offer coverage to those workers will have to do that, White House officials just told reporters during a conference call.”

White House Details Changes To Controversial Contraception Rule

Hmph. Well, it’s frustrating that the administration gave any credence to these bullies in the first place, but at least this way, insurance companies won’t be affected by the oppressive views of a handful of people. 

Now we can only hope that these religious-owned hospitals are reasonable enough to go with employee insurance plans that DO cover contraception. 

dancinemaniac: How come pregnancy is mine and abortion belongs to a lawyer, a psychologist and a priest?

dancinemaniac:

How come pregnancy is mine and abortion belongs to a lawyer, a psychologist and a priest?

thedailywhat: Breaking News of the Day: In light of the massive backlash that ensued following Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood of breast-cancer screening grants, founder and CEO Nancy Brinker has just released a statement on behalf of herself and the charity’s Board of Directors in which she apologizes for Komen’s decision, reiterates that the decision was not politically motivated, and announces the immediate restoration of partnership between the two nonprofits.   “Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer,” Brinker says in the statement. “Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.”  [dallasnews.] Fantastic! And what’s great is, even though now more women can go back to being able to afford cancer screenings, the discourse over the true role of Susan G. Komen’s consumerist brand of cancer “awareness” that this terrible decision ignited can carry on as well. Best of both worlds.

thedailywhat:

Breaking News of the Day: In light of the massive backlash that ensued following Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood of breast-cancer screening grants, founder and CEO Nancy Brinker has just released a statement on behalf of herself and the charity’s Board of Directors in which she apologizes for Komen’s decision, reiterates that the decision was not politically motivated, and announces the immediate restoration of partnership between the two nonprofits.  

“Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer,” Brinker says in the statement. “Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.” 

[dallasnews.]

Fantastic! And what’s great is, even though now more women can go back to being able to afford cancer screenings, the discourse over the true role of Susan G. Komen’s consumerist brand of cancer “awareness” that this terrible decision ignited can carry on as well. Best of both worlds.

feministfilm:

lookuplookup:

So, with all the Susan G. Komen defunding Planned Parenthood garbage going on in current events, I thought I’d throw out the trailer for Pink Ribbons, Inc., a recent documentary focused on the commercialization of breast cancer philanthropy. It screened at TIFF last year & should be entering into theatrical release soon. You can also read Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy by Samantha King, which is likely to be more accessibly by virtue of library lending networks.

The consumer driven “activism” connected with raising funds for breast cancer research is a big old pet peeve of mine and my feelings about it have become increasingly hostile since some of the important people in my life have entered into their own struggles with breast cancer. I hate to get too into stuff like this on Tumblr because of my feelings about Tumblr as a platform for these kinds of discussions, but seriously, fuck the people co-opting the experiences of those who have been impacted by breast cancer and are using those peoples’ lives and struggles and, in some cases, deaths to sell pink garbage.

See also.

hoaxzine:

India’s women given low-cost route to sanitary protection

fuckyeahgenderstudies:

As the article notes, “88% of women in India resort to using ashes, newspapers, dried leaves and even husk sand during their periods, according to a report by market research group AC Nielsen called Sanitatary Protection: Every Woman’s Health Right. As a result of these unhygienic practices, more than 70% of the women suffer from reproductive tract infections, increasing the risk of contracting associated cancers.”

So one man, after discovering his wife had to choose between using old rags and being able to buy milk for her family, took to inventing a low-cost sanitary towel—and sharing the manufacturing process with rural women’s groups to enable them to make money.

The entire system operates on a woman-to-woman basis. Women making the towels spread awareness of the product locally, eventually helping others make the shift to this more hygienic method of control.

“I am trying to create a second white revolution,” says Muruganantham. Setting up 100,000 units, he says, will generate employment for one million women. “No one is bothered about uneducated and illiterate people. Through this model, they can live with dignity.”

I also love this bit:

With no women willing to discuss Muruganantham’s handmade sanitary towels in any depth, he decided to test them himself. Collecting goat’s blood from a butcher shop and treating it chemically to prevent coagulation, he wore a bladder-and-tube contraption and women’s underwear for a week. His homemade uterus would release a small dose of blood whenever pressed.

Click through to read the whole thing.

What an awesome dude!

inothernews: kelly-butter-tarts: ladyatheist: venetianfemininebitch: ladyatheist: Patricia Heaton, star of ABC Family’s “The Middle”, tells the president to go to a racist ass “pro-life” website on the 39th anniversary of Roe v Wade. Now I have a reason to avoid that show like the plague. My first year at Miami, MU Students for Life invited Pro-Choice Miami to watch  documentary about how abortion is secretly black genocide because Margaret Sanger believed in eugenics. When the film was over, they sat there expecting us to have had an epiphany; expecting me, as the only black member of PCM, to thank them for helping me to see the light. What they got was one of the most vicious verbal attacks I’ve ever dealt out. What people like MUSFL and Patricia Heaton don’t understand is that they don’t need to enlighten blacks about their oppression. They hold no secret knowledge that the poor uneducated black folks just can’t understand. What they have is a lack of knowledge and a lack of respect. White women weren’t the only ones who fought for the right to have an abortion. POC were and remain active leaders in the fight for reproductive justice. By perpetuating the myth of black genocide, you are denying black women their agency when it comes to making decisions about their own body and children. The tagline “The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb” (seen on billboards touting the idea of black genocide) proves they have no idea about the reality of being black in America. You don’t have to look into womens’ bodies to see the genocide of black youth. Abortion allows black women to make private decisions about their own body and about the fate of their potential children. Who are you to tell a mother (potential or otherwise) about where her fetus which may or may not one day become a child will face danger? If she chooses that a child would be better off not being brought into the world at this time or that she would be better off not bring a child into the world in this time, that is her choice. You know where black mothers don’t get to make choices? On the street where their children are harassed by citizens and police alike, in schools where their children are told their unintelligent, in stores, in prisons, in airports, and, if people like Patricia Heaton had their way, in their own doctor’s offices. [People other than those who identify as women need and get abortions.] Emphasis is mine. Flawless commentary is flawless. Amazing commentary and Patricia Heaton can go kick rocks. Ugh. Too much gross tonight. I need to go to bed.

inothernews:

kelly-butter-tarts:

ladyatheist:

venetianfemininebitch:

ladyatheist:

Patricia Heaton, star of ABC Family’s “The Middle”, tells the president to go to a racist ass “pro-life” website on the 39th anniversary of Roe v Wade. Now I have a reason to avoid that show like the plague.

My first year at Miami, MU Students for Life invited Pro-Choice Miami to watch  documentary about how abortion is secretly black genocide because Margaret Sanger believed in eugenics. When the film was over, they sat there expecting us to have had an epiphany; expecting me, as the only black member of PCM, to thank them for helping me to see the light. What they got was one of the most vicious verbal attacks I’ve ever dealt out.

What people like MUSFL and Patricia Heaton don’t understand is that they don’t need to enlighten blacks about their oppression. They hold no secret knowledge that the poor uneducated black folks just can’t understand. What they have is a lack of knowledge and a lack of respect. White women weren’t the only ones who fought for the right to have an abortion. POC were and remain active leaders in the fight for reproductive justice. By perpetuating the myth of black genocide, you are denying black women their agency when it comes to making decisions about their own body and children. The tagline “The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb” (seen on billboards touting the idea of black genocide) proves they have no idea about the reality of being black in America. You don’t have to look into womens’ bodies to see the genocide of black youth.

Abortion allows black women to make private decisions about their own body and about the fate of their potential children. Who are you to tell a mother (potential or otherwise) about where her fetus which may or may not one day become a child will face danger? If she chooses that a child would be better off not being brought into the world at this time or that she would be better off not bring a child into the world in this time, that is her choice.

You know where black mothers don’t get to make choices? On the street where their children are harassed by citizens and police alike, in schools where their children are told their unintelligent, in stores, in prisons, in airports, and, if people like Patricia Heaton had their way, in their own doctor’s offices.

[People other than those who identify as women need and get abortions.]

Emphasis is mine. Flawless commentary is flawless.

Amazing commentary and Patricia Heaton can go kick rocks.

Ugh.

Too much gross tonight. I need to go to bed.

“According to The Guttmacher Institute, virtually every state limits who can have abortions and when they can have them. Nineteen states, for example, include fallacies about the procedure in mandatory pre-operative counseling. Among the messages: there is a link between abortion and breast cancer, and women who have abortions have significant long-term mental health problems post-surgery. That neither of these statements is true is apparently irrelevant. Furthermore, 25 states require the woman to wait at least 24 hours between hearing the pre-surgery lecture and actually having an abortion, and 33 offer no Medicaid coverage for the procedure.”

“Anti-Abortion Harassment and Violence Still Stifle Access,” Eleanor J. Bader (via unknowablewoman)

Bleh bluh uuuughajiabluhbluhbluh

(Source: ontheissuesmagazine.com)