Kathy Spillar's Posts

Vote Like Your Life Depends on It. Because It Does.

This Friday marks the 91st anniversary of women’s suffrage in the U.S. Yes, many of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers lived in a time when they weren’t allowed to vote. And for African Americans, the right to vote didn’t truly come into full effect until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But now, armed with that [...]

Watch “Gloria,” Support Ms.!

In the terrific new HBO documentary running this week, Gloria: In Her Own Words, we see some priceless early footage of Ms. cofounder Gloria Steinem in the first New York offices of the magazine–a cramped space in which editors seemed to be working elbow-to-elbow. But the dormitory-like conditions just seemed to add to the sisterhood [...]

Don’t Lionize Coburn Yet

The debt-ceiling debate has done little good for the U.S. Congress’ reputation in the eyes of Americans (or the world), but there’s one senator for whom it was political manna from heaven: Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn. The arch-conservative’s return to bipartisan debt-negotiation group the Gang of Six prompted a media lovefest: “Mr. Coburn has many [...]

Sex, Lies and Hush Money

By Katherine Spillar This is the story of an illicit sexual relationship between a powerful U.S. senator and his female campaign treasurer, and of the equally powerful male political figures who allegedly helped cover it up. It’s a story where so-called family values and religiosity meet abuse of power. And it’s the story of a [...]

Kansas Abortion Doctor Targeted by Extremists–Sound Familiar?

“Are doctors who are willing to provide [abortions] still just on their own, with their face on WANTED posters … waiting to see what happens next?… How do we as a country react?” Rachel Maddow posed that question last week as she reported from Kansas on the escalating campaign of threats, harassment and terror against [...]

Remember Roe v. Wade–and Stop the Violence

We mark the 38th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision tomorrow, and celebrate how it affirmed that women should have power over their own bodies–but we are also alarmed at the rising tide of anti-abortion violence in the U.S. Following the 2008 elections, and with little hope of a quick reversal of Roe v. [...]

Bishops, Keep Your Hands Off Health Care!

Is this a theocracy or a democracy? As Congress is working feverishly to pass health-care reform, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is once again trying to kill it. We’re having deja vu here. As Ms. reported in our current Winter 2010 issue, the bishops  swooped in during House negotiations over a reform bill last [...]