Showing posts with label Reproductive Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reproductive Health. Show all posts

Monday, January 11, 2016

Havoc and Chaos: January 10, 2016::End of the day round-up

Trump campaign style harkens back to George Wallace in 1968 (VIDEO)
Maddow in her usual style brought many good comparisons between Trump and Wallace. Trump is a novice politically, Wallace was a master, marking the "beginning" of the Southern Strategy.
South Carolina Bill Targets Viagra to Get People Talking About Anti-Choice Laws
South Carolina’s legislative sessions begin next week, and on the agenda in the Republican-dominated house could be a much talked about pre-filed bill regarding men’s reproductive health.

State Rep. Mia McLeod (D-Richland) pre-filed a bill in December mandating that men seeking medication for erectile dysfunction jump through the same legal hoops as women seeking basic reproductive health care, including abortion care.

“Oh, I don’t think it’ll pass,” McLeod told South Carolina’s NBC affiliate, WCBD. “I really just want to broaden the discussion and get people thinking about and talking about some of the issues that women face who are seeking legal abortion services in this state.”
WATCH: @realBenCarson confronted at Staten Island town hall: "Do you think I chose to be gay?"
If it wasn't for Carson's prior idiotic statements, I could possibly pass this off as a "caught off guard moment". BUT,,,
"Because a lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight -- and when they come out, they're gay. So, did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question."
his "history" of stupidity runs deep and as a candidate he should be "prepared". It is moments like these when the true colors begin to fly!
10+ Independent Online News Sources and Why America Needs More of Them

Lumosity to Pay $2 Million to Settle FTC Deceptive Advertising Charges for Its “Brain Training” Program
The creators and marketers of the Lumosity “brain training” program have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges alleging that they deceived consumers with unfounded claims that Lumosity games can help users perform better at work and in school, and reduce or delay cognitive impairment associated with age and other serious health conditions.

As part of the settlement, Lumos Labs, the company behind Lumosity, will pay $2 million in redress and will notify subscribers of the FTC action and provide them with an easy way to cancel their auto-renewal to avoid future billing.

“Lumosity preyed on consumers’ fears about age-related cognitive decline, suggesting their games could stave off memory loss, dementia, and even Alzheimer’s disease,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “But Lumosity simply did not have the science to back up its ads.”
Projection much,,,

Why Don’t More Scientists Believe in Creation?
Also, most people go through the public school system, and they hear from an early age just evolution. They never hear, and they are not taught even to consider, an alternative hypothesis. So they are taught from an early age to suppress the truth, and so this is just the fruit of an educational system that ignores the opposition.

Also, by and large, they just don’t read our literature. They’re ignorant. Now, sadly, the professing Christians who hold evolution (for example, the BioLogos community) also seem to practice the same thing. In the few interactions I’ve had with their scholars, whether it’s theologians or scientists, they are clueless about anything scholarly that we’ve written. I’ll ask them, “Name the last young earth creationist scholarly book you’ve read.” The response: “I don’t know.” Have you read Coming to Grips with Genesis? No. Have you read Earth’s Catastrophic Past? No. So why don’t more people accept this? Because they’re totally ignorant of what we’ve printed. And they don't want to consider it.

And so to me that’s the answer to the question, “Why don’t more people believe it?” They never consider it; a lot of them probably don’t want to consider it because this obviously strikes at the very heart of their worldview, and Romans 1 says that it’s not just that there’s some indirect “Oh, I might have to think about Christianity.” No, the things of God are clearly seen from what has been made, so the creation issue strikes at the heart of their cherished beliefs, and they have to suppress it.
It’s practically impossible to define “GMOs”
Debates rage over what to do about genetically modified organisms, but we rarely stop to ask a more basic question: Do GMOs really exist? It’s an important question, because no one in this debate can tell you precisely what a GMO is. I’ve come to the conclusion that “GMO” is a cultural construct. It’s a metaphor we use to talk about a set of ideas. It doesn’t map neatly onto any clear category in the physical world.

GMOs, like other cultural constructs — think of gender, or race — do have a basis in reality, of course: We can roughly define “male” or “Asian,” but when we try to regulate these divisions, all kinds of problems crop up. And definitions of “GMOs” are much messier — “nerd” might be a roughly equivalent category. You know what a nerd is, but things would break down fast if you were required to label and regulate all the nerds. The definition of a nerd depends on the context; it depends on who’s asking. Same with GMOs.

As one researcher put it, “It is theoretically and practically impossible to precisely specify a supposed common denominator for all these [GMO] products.”
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Like porn, GMOs defy strict definition because, like porn, GMOs are a cultural construct with borders that shift with the times. Perhaps the most accurate definition of GMO is social and contextual: Organisms breed in a way that people find threatening. Before GMOs, people objected to cross-pollinating flowers, on the grounds that gardeners were playing God. If that were a concern today we’d surely consider these engineered flowers GMOs. This cultural definition doesn’t make for firm borders, but there is a fuzzy collection of attributes — a gestalt — that we can all comprehend.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Bend the Arc: SCOTUS Hobby Lobby Decision Chips Away at Women’s Rights, Undermines Religious Liberty | Bend the Arc

A very interesting point to consider,,,

“This decision plays into the false and insidious narrative that religious liberty is a battle between religious people and the so-called godless,” said Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice. “The Jewish community—and the other faith groups who signed onto the amicus brief—are evidence that that narrative is in fact false. What the Roberts court has left us with is a system in which a corporation can claim a religious belief that has power and rights beyond an individual’s. It’s a dangerous precedent, especially for America’s religious minorities and people of no religious tradition.”

The brief cited America’s religious diversity as one of many reasons that private for-profit employers should not have the right to impose their religious convictions on their staff. Less than half (48%) of Americans identify as Protestant, and less than a quarter (22%) identify as Catholic; six percent identify as Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, or another faith, and nearly one in five (19.6%) do not affiliate with any religion. Workplaces are particularly diverse places, with approximately half of American workers having contact with people from different beliefs and identities at the workplace.

At a time when women make up more than half of the workforce, the ruling also further denies women equal rights in the workplace. “By setting women’s reproductive health care apart from all other forms of health care the Roberts’ Court has legally enshrined a new kind of gender-based inequality where only women are specifically subject to interference from their employer when it comes to personal medical choices,” continued Cotler. “We hope that the President will explore ways to ensure that women who will otherwise be denied reproductive health care by their employers are not left without coverage.”


Bend the Arc: SCOTUS Hobby Lobby Decision Chips Away at Women’s Rights, Undermines Religious Liberty | Bend the Arc

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Michigan Lawmakers Introduce Radical 'Heartbeat' Bills To Ban Almost All Abortions | ThinkProgress

Mentioned in the previous post,,,
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A group of 16 male lawmakers in Michigan have introduced a package of bills that would criminalize abortions after a fetal heartbeat can first be detected. So-called “fetal heartbeat” measures, which can outlaw the procedure as early as five or six weeks, represent the most radical type of abortion ban that’s ever been approved on a state level.

House Bill 5643, House Bill 5644, and House Bill 5645 were introduced as companion measures this week. The first measure requires doctors to find the fetal heartbeat and offer women a chance to listen to it before proceeding with an abortion; the second two would ban the procedure altogether after that point, and level a $50,000 fine against doctors who violate that rule.

In order to detect a fetal heartbeat at the earliest stage, doctors typically need to use an invasive transvaginal probe — something that has sparked outrage in the past, as women’s health advocates have decried mandatory probes as state-sponsored rape.

The leading anti-choice group in the state, Right to Life of Michigan, has declined to throw its weight behind the second two bills. A spokesperson for the group told Michigan Radio that they support the conversation about “the fact that this is an actual baby with a heartbeat,” but they do not believe a six-week abortion ban would hold up in court.

Michigan Lawmakers Introduce Radical 'Heartbeat' Bills To Ban Almost All Abortions | ThinkProgress

UPDATE::Democrats Fight To Repeal Michigan's New 'Rape Insurance' Law | ThinkProgress

This story UPDATED
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A group of Michigan lawmakers have introduced a measure to roll back a controversial abortion restriction that went into effect this past spring. The new law requires women in the state to purchase a separate insurance policy for abortion coverage, even in cases of rape or incest.

The measure has been widely derided as “rape insurance,” since it essentially forces victims of sexual assault to pay out-of-pocket for an abortion procedure unless they thought ahead and purchased a separate insurance rider. During the legislative fight over the bill, State Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D) disclosed her own experience with sexual assault to explain why she was opposed to the proposed law. Now, Whitmer continues to fight back.

“This law hurts all women,” Whitmer said at a press conference this week to announce the repeal effort, which she is spearheading. “Not just women who are victims of incest or rape, or who experience the gut-wrenching effect of a miscarriage, but every single woman or man who has to make the decision about whether or not to pre-purchase abortion rider insurance for the women who are covered by their insurance, including their daughters.”

Whitmer also called the law “one of the most misogynistic laws I’ve ever seen.”

[,,,]
The lawmakers who introduced the repeal effort acknowledged that it’s unlikely they’ll succeed in the Michigan legislature, which is dominated by abortion opponents. Indeed, now that they’ve successfully restricted women’s abortion coverage, conservative lawmakers continue to introduce other stringent anti-choice measures. Earlier this month, a group of 16 male politicians introduced a radical “heartbeat” measure that would criminalize nearly all abortions.

Democrats Fight To Repeal Michigan's New 'Rape Insurance' Law | ThinkProgress

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Glenn Grothman Tried To Remove Woman's Life Exception From Abortion Ban, Make Women Report 'Forcible Rape' Before Obtaining Care | Right Wing Watch

Glenn Grothman, a Republican Wisconsin state senator who is currently running for the US House seat being vacated by Rep. Tom Petri, says he opposes equal pay measures because he thinks “money is more important for men,” believes women’s equality amounts to a “war on men,” and once tried to classify single parenting as child abuse.

It comes as no surprise, then, to learn that Grothman has some Todd-Akin-style anti-choice politics in his past. While serving as a state assemblyman in 1997, Grothman tried – and failed – to remove language from a “partial birth” abortion ban that would have granted an exception for abortions that would save the life of a pregnant woman. That is, Grothman wanted to make it a felony punishable by life in prison for a doctor to save a woman's life by performing a certain kind of abortion.

Grothman sponsored another, successful bill in 1996 that forced women seeking abortions to undergo a 24-hour waiting period, at the time among the longest in the country, and to require doctors to read an anti-choice script to women seeking abortions. When the state senate added a rape and incest exemption to the bill, Grothman arranged to limit the exemption to cases of what he called “forcible rape” and added language that forced the rape survivor to file a police report before being allowed to skip the waiting period.

Glenn Grothman Tried To Remove Woman's Life Exception From Abortion Ban, Make Women Report 'Forcible Rape' Before Obtaining Care | Right Wing Watch

Sunday, January 19, 2014

VICTORY! Federal Court Strikes Down Demeaning North Carolina Ultrasound Law - ACLU of North Carolina -

On Friday a victory of sorts was attained in North Carolina,,,

A federal district judge today struck down a North Carolina law requiring abortion providers to show a woman an ultrasound and describe the images in detail four hours before having an abortion, even if the woman objects.

The court ruled that key provisions of the law violate doctors’ free speech rights. The law was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of North Carolina, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

“Today's court ruling protects the rights of women and their doctors from the ideological agenda of extremist lawmakers,” said Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina. “If these unconstitutional measures had gone into effect, doctors would have been prevented from using their best medical judgment to provide patients with care based on their specific individual needs. This law represented an egregious government intrusion into individuals’ private medical decisions, and we are very pleased that it will not go into effect.”

VICTORY! Federal Court Strikes Down Demeaning North Carolina Ultrasound Law - ACLU of North Carolina -

See also: 
Federal Court Permanently Strikes Down Coercive North Carolina Ultrasound Law as Unconstitutional
Today’s decision represents a robust affirmation of the First Amendment rights of physicians, making clear that politicians cannot use physicians as mouthpieces for their political agenda and interfere with patients’ personal decision making.”

“Politicians don’t know better than doctors how to practice medicine, and they don’t know better than women how to navigate the often complicated personal circumstances surrounding a pregnancy.

“That has not stopped politicians in North Carolina from interfering with the medical judgment of doctors and the personal decision making of women, and it is a shame we have to rely on the courts to do so instead.

“The court’s ruling makes clear that politicians cannot use physicians as mouthpieces for their political agenda, and reaffirms the constitutional right of every woman to decide for herself whether to continue or end a pregnancy.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Prominent abortion researcher: We face our own harrassment - Salon.com

A different look at the issue of abortion and reproductive health,,,

For the last decade or so, Tracy Weitz has been one of the most prominent abortion researchers in the United States.

As director of the University of California at San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), part of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, she has co-authored seven studies in major journals in the past year alone, on topics ranging from how low-income women pay for abortions to why some women who want an abortion delay until it is too late.

NM: As researchers, what kind of hurdles and antagonism do you face?

TW: There’s definitely a difference between the social scientists who do the research and the MDs who actually do abortions. Abortion doctors have had assassinations, barricades and constant protesters. As researchers, our safety hasn’t really been in question.

Most of the harassment comes at the level of trying to discount our academic reputation — suggesting that anyone who does abortion-related research who believes that abortion should be legal shouldn’t be trusted. That somehow our science is tainted, that we haven’t used good methods. That’s why we have a strong interest in being published in the peer-reviewed literature. We think that the science should be open to scrutiny. It should be put through the same kind of rigor that other clinical or social research is.

[,,,]
NM: What has been your most eye-opening finding?

TW: The study has really exposed how hard it is to be a parent in this country. It is a huge economic investment. And if you don’t have the economic resources to be a parent, there’s nothing to help you.

Data from the study is also helping to answer other questions for which we have no good research until now — for example, how women feel about mandatory ultrasounds before an abortion and what factors contribute to some women feeling regret afterwards.

Prominent abortion researcher: We face our own harrassment - Salon.com