Advice for Komen: Try Pink and Purple Ribbons
February 7, 2012 by Ben Atherton-Zeman · 3 Comments
The Susan G. Komen Foundation lost support from donors last week after the organization announced that it would cut funding to Planned Parenthood. Its apology on Friday was lauded by some, but viewed with skepticism by many others, who pointed out that Komen hadn’t actually promised to refund Planned Parenthood. The damage has been done [...]
Abortion Is 14 Times Safer Than Childbirth (No Surprise)
February 3, 2012 by Carol King · 5 Comments
This week the world was stunned by the announcement that the much-lauded, seemingly apolitical and altruistic Susan G. Komen for the Cure cut off funding for breast cancer screenings for poor women at Planned Parenthood health centers. Even though Komen is now backing off the decision, the curtain has been pulled back to reveal the [...]
Just Another Business Decision for Komen
February 1, 2012 by Lori Baralt · 11 Comments
In the midst of the many attacks against Planned Parenthood and abortion rights over the past year, the news that Komen for the Cure was halting future funding of breast cancer screening and breast health education to Planned Parenthood affiliates has still managed to create shock waves in women’s health advocacy circles. Many feel hurt [...]
Komen and the Dangers of Corporate-Funded Causes
February 1, 2012 by Mara Einstein · 7 Comments
Breast-cancer charity Susan G. Komen’s decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood–an organization that provides subsidized breast cancer exams for lower-income women–leaves me scratching my head. Komen claims to be withholding funds because of new criteria barring it from providing grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state or federal authorities. In and [...]
The Sound of Silence: Where Is the Anti-Choice Outcry Over North Carolina’s Forced Sterilization of Women of Color?
January 27, 2012 by Pamela Merritt · 12 Comments
A task force in North Carolina recently ruled that survivors of that state’s eugenics program should be paid $50,000 each in financial compensation. Eugenics is often defined as the science of “improving” a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of “desirable” heritable characteristics. The practice of eugenics was not limited to Nazi Germany nor [...]
Things That Make You Go Aaargh: Reproductive Rights Edition
November 20, 2011 by Holly L. Derr · 2 Comments
Was it Thomas Jefferson who said “eternal vigilance is the price of freedom” or Mad Eye Moody? Oh that’s right, it was actually a woman–suffragist and anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells–though she rarely gets credit for it. I evoke her fightin’ spirit here and beg your patience as I point out a few bits of [...]
The Real Story of Margaret Sanger
November 2, 2011 by Ellen Chesler · 4 Comments
Birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger is back in the news this week thanks to GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, who claimed on national television that Planned Parenthood, the visionary global movement she founded nearly a century ago, is really about one thing only: “preventing black babies from being born.” Cain’s outrageous and false accusation is [...]
Don’t Ms.: Chocolate Gala, Art Objectifying Men and More!
November 1, 2011 by Sarah Richardson · Leave a Comment
Rarely does activism get this hedonistic. This week, support women’s rights by drinking chocolate martinis, gazing at the male form or hearing from the likes of Laurie Anderson and Valerie Plame Wilson. Minneapolis: Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota’s Celebrate! gala is back for its 10th year, with radio talk show host Jearlyn Steele [...]
Mississippi Blues
October 26, 2011 by Holly L. Derr · 8 Comments
Folks, we’ve got a situation in Mississippi. In September, the state’s Supreme Court decided to allow a so-called “personhood” amendment to appear on the ballot this November 8. In addition to electing a governor, a secretary of state, an attorney general and members of the state legislature, voters will be asked to decide whether to [...]
I Am a Person; My Eggs Are Not
September 21, 2011 by Holly L. Derr · 19 Comments
It’s official: The Mississippi Supreme Court has denied an ACLU challenge and ruled, 7-2, to let the “Personhood Amendment” be listed on the state ballot in November. The amendment to Mississippi’s Constitutional would: define the word ‘person’ or ‘persons’ … to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent [...]
