This weekend is Mother’s Day, which means the media will be flooded with gooey sentimentality, forgetting that Julia Ward Howe started Mother’s Day as an anti-war protest. Instead of just talking about how we love mothers, how about we “show, don’t tell” this year? Make sure every woman has the right to decide if, when, and under what circumstances she becomes a mother. Then get her the best available health care, before and after giving birth, and make sure she has the resources to provide for them.
Thanks as always to ramara, mettle fatigue, Besame, elenacarlena, NoBlinkers, and the rest of the WOW crew for links & discussion.
Reproductive Rights and Health:
NYT piece about Dr. Willie Parker, a Southern doctor who wrote about his journey from being anti-choice to becoming an abortion provider.
At least 10 Haitian women are pursuing child support after being impregnated by UN peacekeepers, but the UN is refusing to cooperate.
While Texas legislature considered still more anti-choice legislation, protesters donned costumes from The Handmaid’s Tale.
The US has the worst maternal mortality rate in the developed world. Texas is among the worst, the rate having doubled in two years, but this heartbreaking story is from New Jersey.
Delaware Legislature Moves to Guarantee Abortion Access in Trump Era (by Barbara Goldberg).
The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday (May 5) granted an emergency temporary injunction halting a portion of a 20-week abortion ban that was signed into law by Republican Governor Terry Branstad just hours earlier.
Not going to link, but the NYT posted an anti-choice op-ed without mentioning that the author owns a fake “crisis pregnancy center.”
Other Health News:
Sleep Apnea Symptoms in Women Less Likely to Lead to Diagnosis, Treatment (by Ann Harding).
In South Africa, girls and young women have the highest rates of new HIV infections: 100,000 in 2015 alone. The country now has the largest anti-HIV treatment program in the world, and is using those resources to focus on girls and women, particularly pregnant women.
Republicans insist that gender is a non-issue and they’re against “identity politics”— it’s just an amazing coincidence that women would pay more for health insurance under Trumpcare!
Texas is making catastrophic changes in its child welfare system: allowing adoption and foster care agencies to discriminate on the basis of religion or sexual orientation, removing explicit legal protections for LGBT youth, and allowing parents to refuse vaccinations for any reason. The latter item has reignited the firestorm around HPV vaccination, which is used to prevent STD’s linked to cancer, particularly cervical cancer. There is a bizarre belief on the right that HPV vaccination will somehow make their innocent daughters choose to have sex when they wouldn’t otherwise. And an equally bizarre belief that it’s better to let them risk cancer.
Violence:
A man groped a 54-year-old woman in a Daytona bar and left. When she tried to stop him from coming back in, he punched her in the face and she died from her injuries.
Five women are suing Howard University for mishandling their reports of rape.
Amy Goodman interviews Marissa Alexander, who was imprisoned for firing a warning shot at her abuser, and was not allowed to use Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” defense:
Workplace Issues:
Equal pay would reduce poverty by half for families with a woman working outside the home.
Australian Senator Larissa Waters breast-feeds while parliament is in session. World does not end.
Wage theft disproportionally affects women, immigrants, and people of color.
Women in the business world are often deemed “unlikable” for showing the same work-related traits that are admired in men. Women are once again being advised to change themselves to fit the workplace norms and show “transformational leadership.” This may be effective for individuals (it’s hard to know from one article), but the problem remains that the gendered power structure remains intact, with a few women allowed in as exceptions.
Grad instructor Julia Powers writes about her arrest for protesting harassment and unreasonable working conditions at Yale.
Intersectionality:
Black Lives Matter is celebrating Mother’s Day by bailing women out of jail.
Three Muslim girls talk about their experiences with prejudice. The pictures are amazing.
Housing justice is a feminist issue.
A thank-you to immigrant and Muslim mothers who persevere in these troubled times.
In the US, black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. Rewire suggests that part of the solution is having more black health care providers.
Media:
I Love Dick is a new Amazon series that puts a woman in the sympathetic “radical loser” role that’s usually given to a man. Curious to see what the differences are with a woman in this trope.
Fox News, in between harassment scandals, felt the need to inform us that “Most men want a woman who’s nice.”
The magic of being able to say NO.
Good News and Action Items:
Nearly 20,000 women are running for office in Nepal.
You can vote for UltraViolet to benefit from the donations to Credo.
Urge Salvadoran legislators to decriminalize abortion.