What Happens When There is No Contraception

The New York Times has a harrowing story about women in Venezuela who cannot access contraception. A raging economic recession has made condoms, IUDs, and other birth control products prohibitively expensive for many poorer women; at the same time, the cost of raising a family has also spiraled out of control. Many women have resorted to shady back alley abortion attempts (it is still illegal in the country), but unsurprisingly these are exceptionally dangerous.

If you're a conservative, maybe the fact that it's Venezuela and you can nyah-nyah about it since Chavez is of course AOC's role model for Americana will make the story resonate more. But let's be clear -- America is not as far off from this as we'd imagine ourselves to be. The legality of abortion is on the very brink, and cases like Hobby Lobby threaten contraceptive access as well -- again, especially for poorer women. It may be that in a few years, the main difference between America and Venezuela is that we have proportionally fewer women in the sort of abject poverty that is comparable to that found in the South American country -- but for those who do find themselves in that situation, this story could easily become a U.S. story as well.

That Can Be Arranged

From White People Mourning Romney, we get this poor fellow:

I shouldn't laugh. And I shouldn't make fun. But all I could think of when I saw this was "have we got a health care mandate for you!"

Contraception and reproductive health: it's not just for liberals!

Tip Off

Last week, I noted the most amazing thing about the Rush Limbaugh "slut" saga is that the GOP could barely manage a peep against him. Now TPM is advertising a "tipping point", as "GOPers Start To Turn On Rush Limbaugh." Forgive me, but I just don't see it.

The only two politicians they cite who really can be said to have "condemned" Limbaugh are Carly Fiorina (who I already mentioned) and Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) (locked in a tight battle with Elizabeth Warren). Beyond that? It's basically nothing. John Boehner murmers that Limbaugh's comments were "inappropriate" -- roughly as offensive as a Democratic fundraising letter. Rick Santorum called the statement "absurd" but observed that "an entertainer can be absurd". Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) (who in a sense is responsible for this whole mess) barely managed to sneak in a word against Limbaugh as he tried desperately to play the victim. And Mitt Romney? "It's not the language I would have used." Feel the outrage!

No, there's no tipping going on amongst the GOP. They're still as much in thrall of Rush as ever.

GOP Can Barely Make a Peep About Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute" after she testified before Congress about the cost of birth control, and said that she should film her sexual activity and "post the videos online so we can all watch."

People are shocked. I am not. This is Rush Limbaugh. You know what you're getting, and what you're getting a misogynist jackass. Anyone who is surprised by this is someone who wants to pretend that Rush Limbaugh is something that he's not.

But there is something else that Rush Limbaugh is: an important player in the conservative movement. A "giant", as Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) put it. The Republican Party is effectively unable to criticize him -- they're in thrall to him.

And so we see just how muted the GOP can be when one of its leading lights calls his political opponents "sluts": they say virtually nothing. Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) demurs when asked if Limbaugh should apologize, instead offering a bland "it was inappropriate" (just as inappropriate, in Boehner's view, as Democrats raising money off the remark. Why, exactly, that is "inappropriate" behavior on the part of the Democratic Party at all -- much less to the same degree as calling a woman a "prostitute" just because she uses birth control -- is left unsaid).

Other conservative organizations are demonstrating the same cowardice. Rae Chornenky, president of the National Federation of Republican Women, "doesn't want to discuss [it]", calling it "a sideshow." Alci Maldonado of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly tried to change the subject to the (spurious) freedom of religion argument, and Frances Rice, chairwoman of the National Black Republican Association, refused to comment on Limbaugh's statement at all. Failed GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina managed to call the language "insulting" and "incendiary", for which she was called to the carpet by Red State editor Erick Erickson, who said Fiorina "just [does] not get it" -- "it" being that Limbaugh was being sarcastic (women -- no sense of humor, amiright?).

For the most part, it seems that the modern GOP can be divided into two categories. People who agree with Limbaugh that the vast, vast majority of women are sluts and prostitutes whose sexual activity should be a matter of public record. And people who don't agree, but are too afraid to challenge the emerging orthodoxy within their party's base.

Magic Pills of Darkness

New Hampshire State Rep. Jeanine Notter (R) has a novel argument for why health insurance shouldn't cover birth control: It causes prostate cancer.

In case we're unclear: Birth control? Almost exclusively taken by women (e.g., the pill, IUDs, Nuvaring, etc.). Prostate cancer? Only occur in men, because men, unlike women, have prostates. So unless those be some magic pills women be popping, the odds that birth control causes prostate cancer is very, very slim.

Dead Dictator's Society Roundup

Gaddafi is dead! But other things are happening as well:

* * *

Spencer Ackerman has advance copies of all the headlines that will flow from Gaddafi's death.

Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) slashes back at the GOP for tying him to fringe anti-Semites in the Occupy Wall Street movement. The consensus amongst non-partisan observers is that anti-Semitic incidents in the movement are marginal (though obviously disturbing and quite sick).

Rich Santorum boldly stands against contraception.

Reflecting on the police shooting of a young Black man who proverbially "did everything right", E.J. Graff worries that her own son will be next.

Deborah Orr is a charming mix of nasty and dumb, but unfortunately this canard of "chosenness" as Jewish supremacism hardly is limited to her.

There's nothing more American than being a second-class citizen. Today, gay and lesbian Americans are the most American of all.

Cleanup Roundup

We're moving next week, and so the slow process of cleaning and organizing our apartment begins.

* * *

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) may be one of my all-time favorite Republican crazies. Here, he frets that women who have access to free birth control will never birth again. Ain't no pregnancy like an involuntary pregnancy!

Lithuanian mayor runs over luxury car parked in a bike lane with a tank. Bring him stateside.

FYI: Black family life in the antebellum south really sucked.

The other day, Jon Chait raised a specter of hope regarding the debt compromise, arguing that the "default" cuts in defense spending will cause lobbyists to work feverishly to avert them via revenue increases. Today, Matt Yglesias puts the kiboosh on it.

Eating while Black.

Frankly, I think Jennifer Rubin's Norway post scarcely makes the top ten reasons she should be axed from the WaPo. Alas, the ombudsman disagrees.

More On Drug Enforcement

Pun definitely intended.

As the Supreme Court considers whether (poorly warranted) suspected possession of ibuprofen justifies the strip-search of a 13 year old girl in school, and on the heels of the ruling that teenage drug use is so terrifying that we have to ban gibberish phrases to keep the monster at bay, a Fairfax County (VA) student got suspended for two weeks and may face expulsion after she was caught popping her birth control pill during lunch. Drugs + Sex = a county that either needs to learn how to roll with flexible circumstances, or have a rock thrown at its head.

The student did learn some useful information though. If she had showed up to school high on heroin, she would only have been suspended five days. Live and learn, I guess.

Palin on Contraception

As the media continues to dig deep in order to find out what Sarah Palin thinks about, well, anything, the LA Times hits upon a surprising revelation: Sarah Palin supports contraceptive education.

In a widely quoted 2006 survey she answered during her gubernatorial campaign, Palin said she supported abstinence-until-marriage programs. But weeks later, she proclaimed herself "pro-contraception" and said condoms ought to be discussed in schools alongside abstinence.

"I'm pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues," she said during a debate in Juneau.
[...]
Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella said the governor stands by her 2006 statement, supporting sex education that covers both abstinence and contraception.
[...]
Palin's statements date to her 2006 gubernatorial run. In July of that year, she completed a candidate questionnaire that asked, would she support funding for abstinence-until-marriage programs instead of "explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?"

Palin wrote, "Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support."

But in August of that year, Palin was asked during a KTOO radio debate if "explicit" programs include those that discuss condoms. Palin said no and called discussions of condoms "relatively benign."

"Explicit means explicit," she said. "No, I'm pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues. So I am not anti-contraception. But, yeah, abstinence is another alternative that should be discussed with kids. I don't have a problem with that. That doesn't scare me, so it's something I would support also."

Amazingly, this puts her considerably to the left of both John McCain and the Republican Party platform. But it is good to hear, and since I haven't exactly been Palin's biggest fan*, I felt it was worth pointing out. (H/T: Jim Lindgren).

* If anything, I've been understating how much I dislike this woman. I've been weighing this whole weekend writing a post entitled "Why I Hate Sarah Palin" -- and while there are many politicians I dislike, some quite strongly, there are very few politicians I would say I "hate". But Governor Palin's willingness to lie shamelessly on camera over and over again (the bridge to nowhere "opposition") and, more importantly, the way she seems to positively revel in attacking her opponents, are precisely the sort of things which inevitably set me off. Palin's speeches crest at her lows -- when she's at her most biting, her most vicious, her most mean-spirited, and her most cruel. That is the type of politics that made me decide long ago I never wanted to go into politics. It might make her effective. But to me, it also makes her loathsome.

Civil Rights Roundup: 08/29/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

The backers of the Arizona initiative seeking to ban affirmative action got a reprieve today, as a judge is willing to give them more time to prove they received the requisite number of valid signatures to get on the ballot.

A suit against American contractor KBR alleges that 12 Nepalese workers were held in slavery in Iraq. They were later kidnapped by insurgents, and all but one was executed.

The Mexican Supreme Court has upheld Mexico City's relatively liberal abortion laws, making it a rare pro-choice foothold in largely anti-abortion Latin America.

Gainesville, Florida voters will have a chance to decide whether to keep civil rights protections for GLBT residents.

California is now adopting guidelines for what to do if gay prisoners want to marry.

To acquire Plan B, you might need a plan b, c, and d.

A UCLA professor on that university's admissions committee is resigning in protest. Professor Tim Groseclose wanted to find out if the school was admitting minority students with lower qualifications, presumably in violation of California's Proposition 209. But UCLA refused to release the data Groseclose said he needed. The professor actually claims to support affirmative action, but is angered by the lack of transparency.

The Black elite is taking special pride in Obama's rise, seeing it as reflective of their own hard work and experience.

It seems like the news is focusing on other issues today....

Civil Rights Roundup: 8/22/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

Ward Connerly's petition to ban affirmative action in Arizona has been thrown out, after election officials found that he fell far short in obtaining the number of valid signatures required to put the measure to a vote.

A federal judge stayed the execution of a Texas inmate, ruling that the state grossly erred in refusing to determine whether he was mentally competent to be put to death.

Washington Post: "Civil Rights Panel Faulted on Hiring Choice." The "choice" was to hire voter suppression artist Hans Von Spakovsky (as I wrote yesterday: "The technical term for this is 'sick %&@$ing joke").

ICE is scrapping its self-deportation program. Finally.

The ACLU is suing to overturn Alabama regulations which only allow ex-felons to be re-enfranchised if they can pay off all accumulated court costs, fines, restitution, and other costs associated with their sentence.

A group of Maine men have agreed to stay away from local Native Americans they are accused of harassing.

EMILY's List has released some interesting polling data on the opinions of women voters.

The Mayor of Phoenix blasted Congress for not mending "incoherent" immigration policies, which don't keep illegal immigrants out, don't give them true opportunity, and certainly don't stem the rising tide of hate and prejudice directed against Latinos of all backgrounds.

The Florida Parole Commission will remain all-White after a failed effort to add a Black voice to the board.

The HHS Department is issuing regulations which could dramatically restrict women's contraceptive access under the guise of "conscience protections" for doctors.

And finally, for an abbreviated Friday round-up, it's the 50th anniversary of Ben's Chili Bowl! And actually, given Ben's role as a gathering point for Black leaders during the civil rights movement, it's actually related to this roundup. Not to mention its delicious (some friends and I went there for dinner this week).

Civil Rights Roundup: 08/11/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

A nice article about attempting to register ex-felons to vote.

Self-deportation has few takers. Really?

The Boston Globe: Being multi-lingual is a good thing, not a threat to American values.

The Santaria, a religion which has been at the center of more than a few free exercise cases over the past several decades, are being targeted by Florida officials again.

The changing demographics of a historically Black school district (Hispanics are rising in prominence) is creating tension in Texas.

The Houston Chronicle has a good article about how today's students' activism is less about protests and more about action.

The Chronicle also accurately lays out the consequences of the Bush administration's proposed conscience exemption to contraceptive distribution.

Religion clause expert Marci Hamiliton has a critique up of Judge Michael McConnell's recent Colorado free exercise case, about which I blogged upon here.

AlterNet (which I suspect may be too optimistic) claims that the movement to abolish SuperMax prisons and solitary confinement is gaining ground.

Wounded and homeless vets are at a significant risk of disenfranchisement.

A New York Times editorial by the Connecticut Secretary of State also urges the VA to do more to help veterans get registered to vote.

It's nice to know that tradition still exists in some parts of America. In this case, the tradition of hard-core Christian anti-Semitism.

"Say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud!" turned 40 this past weekend.

The incomparable Patricia Williams has a stellar article in New York Magazine talking about how we "don't talk about" race.

Contemplations on being mixed race in America.

Civil Rights Roundup: 07/31/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

The Bush administration proposal to force hospitals and clinics to exempt employees who don't want to dispense birth control is gearing up to be a huge fight.

A report by the anti-immigrant Center for Immigration Studies credits the drop in illegal immigration population to stepped up enforcement.

The WaPo urges that Texas hold off on executing a Mexican citizen until Congress has time to address the international treaty concerns that made his case controversial in the first place.

ICE has released more information about its can't miss self-deportation program.

A Colorado man has been arrested for killing a transgender woman. Look for the trans-panic defense coming soon.

The Boston Globe has an editorial urging Congress to dig deeper into what went wrong with the Bush administration's Justice Department.

Should we make the right to vote explicit in the constitution?

CNN quoting Steve Sailer in the "Black in America" series (for any other proposition other than "there are still White racists around") may not have been the wisest choice.

Activists protesting public housing demolitions in New Orleans are being held on criminal charges, including (originally) terrorism. That charge has been dropped, others are still pending.

The 11th Circuit holds that, notwithstanding its anti-discrimination rules, the University of Florida must recognize a fraternity that requires its members to be Christian.

Florida Hispanics continue to protest racial profiling in their communities.

Anti-affirmative action proposals are on the ballot in Colorado, Arizona, and Nebraska.

The Deseret News reports on a election reform hearing (the very one that made yesterday's roundup late, as it happens) that got good reviews from voter advocates and civil rights groups.

The SCLC: New Orleans is "one of the most racist communities in this country."

Finally, condolences to the family of Sammy Davis, Jr., who just died. DUH! He died in 1990. I don't know why it came up in my search of daily news sources. Bizarre. Way to make me look like expose me as a moron, Google News.

Civil Rights Roundup: 07/22/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

The ACLU is seeking to overturn Alabama's voter disenfranchisement law.

The Boston Globe calls on the state to restrict unequal retirement plans that pay women less than men.

Online adoption business discriminates against gay couples.

John McCain: Anti-contraception.

16 years after "the year of the women", women still account for less than 25% of legislators. PS: Barbara Mikulski, still a BAMF.

Research shows: discrimination still quite present in the lending and credit industries.

The Houston Chronicle is livid over how immigrants were treated after a raid on a meatpacking plant.

Is California ready to vote for a gay-rights governor (Arnold, apparently, doesn't count).

A Michigan report says that obese workers are as effective as thin ones. Michigan bans weight discrimination.

A tremendous backlog still exists for testing rape evidence.

As troop levels drop, Democrats are getting more aggressive about repealing DADT.

A South Carolina town is looking to initiate its own crackdown on illegal immigrants. Th bill failed the council by one vote -- one councilman said he had a hang up about the law's "English only" policy.

7th Circuit: termination due to infertility treatments is sex discrimination. The case is Hall v. Nalco Co..

Is my (barely paid) internship exploiting me?

Keep Cool

One of Feministing's new community bloggers posted a story about how she and her friend attempted to buy a pregnancy test. Both were 15, and both rapidly found out that it was a lot harder than the movie Juno made it out to be.

Kudos to them, though, for working together, for knowing their rights when challenged, and for keeping their cool in front of a hostile clerk who decided it was her role to cast judgment on the two young women rather than do her job.

Birth Control Pills are the New Abortions

Mitt Romney--quietly--is signaling that he opposes not just abortion, but the birth control pill. It's frustrating that any and all positions a Republican takes against a woman's reproductive freedom are grouped under a generic "Republicans are pro-life" metric, because by all rights people should know just how far the GOP base is pushing its candidates out of the mainstream here.

Meanwhile, Jill at Feministe points out the media is seriously falling down on the job when it reports on the efficacy of the pill. Referring to a quote given by an anti-abortion activist which nakedly asserts that the pill "doesn't work," she comments:

It is a medical fact that birth control pills do work. And they work astoundingly well. If you use them as directed, they’re 99.7 - 99.9 percent effective. Even the typical use rates are pretty good — BC is 92 percent effective even when women don’t use it perfectly. So this isn’t a matter of personal opinion. There simply isn’t data out there backing up the statement that birth control pills “don’t work.”

When reporting a story like this, the news media does have an obligation to present both sides, and so I certainly don’t fault them for including the anti-choice view. But they also have an obligation to inform the public and not promote false information. If someone is quoted as saying, “Yesterday, the President visited Togo,” when in fact yesterday the President was in Russia, the reporter has an obligation to point out the president’s actual location.... And if someone is quoted as saying, “Birth control pills don’t work” when in fact birth control pills work quite well, a good reporter will refuse to perpetuate untruths, and will instead allow the quote to stand next to the actual facts.

Facts are stubborn things--unless they're ignored.