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Looks like HB 1, the Fetal Personhood Bill, is not going through this season.
According to this article in the Washington Examiner, Virginia Republicans don’t have sufficient votes to advance HB 1, the bill that would declare fertilized eggs as having full personhood. If they can’t get it out of committee and into the General Assembly, it won’t be a problem this year. It will have ‘died in committee’, by legislative parlance.
The cutoff date for the advancement vote is November 29th, this Thursday. We’ll know by then if the personhood bill is going to be part of the 2013 fight.
For more info on bills going to legislature, here are bills in the areas of: Elections, Education, Employment and Public Benefits, Taxes and Finance, Prisoners and Crime, LGBTQ Concerns, and Reproductive Rights and Related Issues.
fuckyeahfeminism: Ten Things You Should Know About International Women's Rights
spectra:kmeguer:squishie:chesthairalert:emmadavey:thequietworld | missworld | earlyfrost:
1. One in three women die or are seriously injured as a result of gender-based violence. Violence against women results in more deaths among women ages 15 to 44 than the total number of women who die because of war, malaria and cancer.
2. An estimated four million women and girls are bought and sold worldwide each year, either into marriage, prostitution or slavery.
3. One out of every six American women have been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. An estimated 60 percent of all rapes are not reported to the police.
4. Approximately 96 million young women in developing countries still cannot read or write. Globally, girls account for 55 percent of children not in school.
5. Nearly 75 percent of those displaced by violent conflict are women. Displacement leaves women without access to health care, proper nutrition or education. Displaced women face a higher threat of gender-based terrorism and violence.
6. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda resulted in hundreds of thousands of violent sexual assaults, resulting in an estimated 250,000 women falling victim to HIV/AIDS. While many women awaiting treatment died, their perpetrators receive antiretroviral therapies in prison.
7. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that actually denies women the right to vote by law. In other parts of the world, where women are legally allowed to vote, many women still struggle to exercise their rights. For example, in Afghanistan, some women were denied the right to vote in 2009 because the country lacked the necessary amount of female staff members to provide enough polls for women.
8. With its rate of violence, sexual assault and inadequate health care, Afghanistan remains the most dangerous place in the world for women to live.
9. In 1974, Isabel Peron became the world’s first woman president, when she was elected President of Argentina. Around the world, 68 women have served as head of state in their country (not including monarchies). Currently, 38 women serve as head of government around the world. In 1997, Ireland became the first country to succeed power from one female president to another.
10. African nations have more women in parliament than most western nations. Rwanda ranks number one in world rankings for the highest representation of women at 49 percent.
(via lickystickypickyme, source)
Active RVA: The Virginia Board of Health has just removed the amendments to TRAP.
The Virginia Board of Health has just removed the amendments to TRAP.I just heard that the Virginia Board of Health removed the amendments to its Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers, namely the grandfather clause that would allow existing clinics to be exempt from the new standards. The original regulations will come up for vote a second time on Friday, September 14th.
For some background: Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers are relatively new (they’ve been bouncing around for more than a year) regulations that apply new rules to abortion clinics. These regs are ostensibly to make abortion safer, but are actually intended to restrict abortion access by shutting down clinics; many of the regulations have to do with architectural details and other minutiae of no import.
Massive public pressure, including three major demonstrations and presence at the vote, led the Board of Health to amend the regulations to allow existing Virginia clinics to continue functioning, exempt from the new rules. Exempting existing clinics would spare them the expense of retrofitting and keep them open; without the amendment, the state was slated to lose all but two or three of its clinics.
When the regulations were approved by the Board, with the amendment, it was sent to the office of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli, who is extremely anti-abortion, claimed that the Board had no legal right to amend the regulations, and sent them back. Before he did, though, he appointed the extremely anti-abortion John Seeds to the Board, to slant the vote in his favor.
The Board agreed to vote again- plus its new anti-abortion member-, and has apparently removed the amendment so that the entire process has to start over again. The public will have to pressure the Board to even consider the amendment, again.
Please RSVP to the BoH meeting this September, to pressure the Board on the voting day. If you’re out of town, organizers have arranged relatively inexpensive hotel accommodations near the meeting site, and at least one person is willing to host out of town supporters the night before the protest.
This is a tactic to kill momentum and end abortion in Virginia- the AG and anti-abortion members of the Board want to keep rolling back the gains of abortion rights proponents until we all run out of energy and stop resisting.
“ Virginia Republicans who helped pass a law requiring women to get an ultrasound before an abortion found their political Facebook pages flooded this week with the kind of information normally reserved for the ob/gyn. ”
Another Amazing Pro-Choice Argument I Ran Across on the Internets
[T]he proscription of abortion has never resulted in its complete abolition … The only results of proscription have been illegal abortions that usually result in the death of the would-be mother from [hemorrhaging] or, at best, permanent [sterility]. Until the advent of the pill in 1960, married women did not have access to effective birth control (unmarried women won that right in 1972, courtesy of “Eisenstadt v. Baird”). Medicines can alter the efficacy of the pill. Despite women’s best intentions (and those of their partners), unintended pregnancy is always a possibility. There’s no morality whatsoever in [compelling] a woman to submit to unsafe surgical practices (assuming that Plan B has also been proscribed under said circumstances). No woman who doesn’t wish to become a mother should be sacrificed to prove some kind of so-called moral point. If legal abortion takes away the potential for human life, illegal abortion kills both extant and potential human life. There is no moral safety net for the “pro-life” movement.
I have made typo corrections in brackets, but did not make any substantive changes to the original post. - sweetcommie
(Source: Slate)
![youatemytailor:
angel-cake:
prolongedeyecontact:
Inconvenience? You hear that people capable of getting pregnant? This is all merely an inconvenience:
Normal, frequent or expectable temporary side effects of pregnancy:
exhaustion (weariness common from first weeks)
altered appetite and senses of taste and smell
nausea and vomiting (50% of women, first trimester)
heartburn and indigestion
constipation
weight gain
dizziness and light-headedness
bloating, swelling, fluid retention
hemmorhoids
abdominal cramps
yeast infections
congested, bloody nose
acne and mild skin disorders
skin discoloration (chloasma, face and abdomen)
mild to severe backache and strain
increased headaches
difficulty sleeping, and discomfort while sleeping
increased urination and incontinence
bleeding gums
pica
breast pain and discharge
swelling of joints, leg cramps, joint pain
difficulty sitting, standing in later pregnancy
inability to take regular medications
shortness of breath
higher blood pressure
hair loss
tendency to anemia
curtailment of ability to participate in some sports and activities
infection including from serious and potentially fatal disease(pregnant women are immune suppressed compared with non-pregnant women, andare more susceptible to fungal and certain other diseases)
extreme pain on delivery
hormonal mood changes, including normal post-partum depression
continued post-partum exhaustion and recovery period (exacerbated if a c-section — major surgery — is required, sometimes taking up to a full year to fully recover)
Normal, expectable, or frequent PERMANENT side effects of pregnancy:
stretch marks (worse in younger women)
loose skin
permanent weight gain or redistribution
abdominal and vaginal muscle weakness
pelvic floor disorder (occurring in as many as 35% of middle-aged former child-bearers and 50% of elderly former child-bearers, associated with urinary and rectal incontinence, discomfort and reduced quality of life)
changes to breasts
varicose veins
scarring from episiotomy or c-section
other permanent aesthetic changes to the body (all of these are downplayed by women, because the culture values youth and beauty)
increased proclivity for hemmorhoids
loss of dental and bone calcium (cavities and osteoporosis)
Occasional complications and side effects:
spousal/partner abuse
hyperemesis gravidarum
temporary and permanent injury to back
severe scarring requiring later surgery (especially after additional pregnancies)
dropped (prolapsed) uterus (especially after additional pregnancies, and other pelvic floor weaknesses — 11% of women, including cystocele, rectocele, and enterocele)
pre-eclampsia (edema and hypertension, the most common complication of pregnancy, associated with eclampsia, and affecting 7 - 10% of pregnancies)
eclampsia (convulsions, coma during pregnancy or labor, high risk of death)
gestational diabetes
placenta previa
anemia (which can be life-threatening)
thrombocytopenic purpura
severe cramping
embolism (blood clots)
medical disability requiring full bed rest (frequently ordered during part of many pregnancies varying from days to months for health of either mother or baby)
diastasis recti, also torn abdominal muscles
mitral valve stenosis (most common cardiac complication)
serious infection and disease (e.g. increased risk of tuberculosis)
hormonal imbalance
ectopic pregnancy (risk of death)
broken bones (ribcage, “tail bone”)
hemorrhage and
numerous other complications of delivery
refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease
aggravation of pre-pregnancy diseases and conditions (e.g. epilepsy is present in .5% of pregnant women, and the pregnancy alters drug metabolism and treatment prospects all the while it increases the number and frequency of seizures)
severe post-partum depression and psychosis
research now indicates a possible link between ovarian cancer and female fertility treatments, including “egg harvesting” from infertile women and donors
research also now indicates correlations between lower breast cancer survival rates and proximity in time to onset of cancer of last pregnancy
research also indicates a correlation between having six or more pregnancies and a risk of coronary and cardiovascular disease
Less common (but serious) complications:
peripartum cardiomyopathy
cardiopulmonary arrest
magnesium toxicity
severe hypoxemia/acidosis
massive embolism
increased intracranial pressure, brainstem infarction
molar pregnancy, gestational trophoblastic disease (like a pregnancy-induced cancer)
malignant arrhythmia
circulatory collapse
placental abruption
obstetric fistula
More permanent side effects:
future infertility
permanent disability
death.
In addition, there’s the risk of losing one’s job and, by extension, home; pregnancy/childbirth triggering traumatic experiences due to rape, molestation, or partner/spousal abuse; body or gender dysphoria; missing or dropping out of school; the potential trauma of choosing adoption; suffering from pregnancy related job discrimination; the economic toll of pregnancy and raising a child; and not being able to continue taking important medications or exacerbating pre-existing conditions.
Here’s some statistics:
358,000 people die annually from pregnancy related complications.
20% of people who die during pregnancy are murder victims.
The risk of maternal mortality is highest for adolescents under 15 years old.
Complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among adolescents in most developing countries.
A person’s lifetime risk of maternal death – the probability that a 15-year-old will eventually die from a maternal cause – is 1 in 4300 in developed countries, versus 1 in 120 in developing countries.
A pregnant person has a 35.6% greater risk of being a victim of violence than a non-pregnant person. The estimated prevalence of violence against people during pregnancy ranges from four percent to eight percent.
40% of all pregnant people have some complications during pregnancy or childbirth. About 15% have complications that are potentially life-threatening.
Tl;dr So in case that wasn’t clear: pregnancy is always life threatening and never merely an “inconvenience”.
[ETA: I wish beyond all belief this edit wasn’t necessary, but I guess it is. This post isn’t meant to vilify pregnancy or the people who choose it. As I’ve said in a reply and an ask, pregnancy is always a valid reproductive choice for those who choose it. As a prochoicer, I support all reproductive choices including birthing ones like advocating for the choice to have VBACs, home births, and the right to say no to unwanted c-sections. I will fight as hard for those rights as I do for the right to an abortion. I don’t think birth is bad for those that want to do it, but some of us would literally rather die. This isn’t meant as a scare tactic against fellow people who can get pregnant. This is about the flippant manner in which cis men like to dismiss people’s concerns that pregnancy is more than an “inconvenience.” The last time I checked people don’t regularly die from inconveniences. For more see: this reply and this ask, which I also made rebloggable on request.]
people like joe, who are never going to carry a baby, do not get to talk about ‘inconvenience’ to uteruses. YOU carry it.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ludn9tsDQx1r3bzxoo1_500.png)
Inconvenience? You hear that people capable of getting pregnant? This is all merely an inconvenience:
Normal, frequent or expectable temporary side effects of pregnancy:
- exhaustion (weariness common from first weeks)
- altered appetite and senses of taste and smell
- nausea and vomiting (50% of women, first trimester)
- heartburn and indigestion
- constipation
- weight gain
- dizziness and light-headedness
- bloating, swelling, fluid retention
- hemmorhoids
- abdominal cramps
- yeast infections
- congested, bloody nose
- acne and mild skin disorders
- skin discoloration (chloasma, face and abdomen)
- mild to severe backache and strain
- increased headaches
- difficulty sleeping, and discomfort while sleeping
- increased urination and incontinence
- bleeding gums
- pica
- breast pain and discharge
- swelling of joints, leg cramps, joint pain
- difficulty sitting, standing in later pregnancy
- inability to take regular medications
- shortness of breath
- higher blood pressure
- hair loss
- tendency to anemia
- curtailment of ability to participate in some sports and activities
- infection including from serious and potentially fatal disease
(pregnant women are immune suppressed compared with non-pregnant women, and
are more susceptible to fungal and certain other diseases)- extreme pain on delivery
- hormonal mood changes, including normal post-partum depression
- continued post-partum exhaustion and recovery period (exacerbated if a c-section — major surgery — is required, sometimes taking up to a full year to fully recover)
Normal, expectable, or frequent PERMANENT side effects of pregnancy:
- stretch marks (worse in younger women)
- loose skin
- permanent weight gain or redistribution
- abdominal and vaginal muscle weakness
- pelvic floor disorder (occurring in as many as 35% of middle-aged former child-bearers and 50% of elderly former child-bearers, associated with urinary and rectal incontinence, discomfort and reduced quality of life)
- changes to breasts
- varicose veins
- scarring from episiotomy or c-section
- other permanent aesthetic changes to the body (all of these are downplayed by women, because the culture values youth and beauty)
- increased proclivity for hemmorhoids
- loss of dental and bone calcium (cavities and osteoporosis)
Occasional complications and side effects:
- spousal/partner abuse
- hyperemesis gravidarum
- temporary and permanent injury to back
- severe scarring requiring later surgery (especially after additional pregnancies)
- dropped (prolapsed) uterus (especially after additional pregnancies, and other pelvic floor weaknesses — 11% of women, including cystocele, rectocele, and enterocele)
- pre-eclampsia (edema and hypertension, the most common complication of pregnancy, associated with eclampsia, and affecting 7 - 10% of pregnancies)
- eclampsia (convulsions, coma during pregnancy or labor, high risk of death)
- gestational diabetes
- placenta previa
- anemia (which can be life-threatening)
- thrombocytopenic purpura
- severe cramping
- embolism (blood clots)
- medical disability requiring full bed rest (frequently ordered during part of many pregnancies varying from days to months for health of either mother or baby)
- diastasis recti, also torn abdominal muscles
- mitral valve stenosis (most common cardiac complication)
- serious infection and disease (e.g. increased risk of tuberculosis)
- hormonal imbalance
- ectopic pregnancy (risk of death)
- broken bones (ribcage, “tail bone”)
- hemorrhage and
- numerous other complications of delivery
- refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease
- aggravation of pre-pregnancy diseases and conditions (e.g. epilepsy is present in .5% of pregnant women, and the pregnancy alters drug metabolism and treatment prospects all the while it increases the number and frequency of seizures)
- severe post-partum depression and psychosis
- research now indicates a possible link between ovarian cancer and female fertility treatments, including “egg harvesting” from infertile women and donors
- research also now indicates correlations between lower breast cancer survival rates and proximity in time to onset of cancer of last pregnancy
- research also indicates a correlation between having six or more pregnancies and a risk of coronary and cardiovascular disease
Less common (but serious) complications:
- peripartum cardiomyopathy
- cardiopulmonary arrest
- magnesium toxicity
- severe hypoxemia/acidosis
- massive embolism
- increased intracranial pressure, brainstem infarction
- molar pregnancy, gestational trophoblastic disease (like a pregnancy-induced cancer)
- malignant arrhythmia
- circulatory collapse
- placental abruption
- obstetric fistula
More permanent side effects:
- future infertility
- permanent disability
- death.
In addition, there’s the risk of losing one’s job and, by extension, home; pregnancy/childbirth triggering traumatic experiences due to rape, molestation, or partner/spousal abuse; body or gender dysphoria; missing or dropping out of school; the potential trauma of choosing adoption; suffering from pregnancy related job discrimination; the economic toll of pregnancy and raising a child; and not being able to continue taking important medications or exacerbating pre-existing conditions.
Here’s some statistics:
- 358,000 people die annually from pregnancy related complications.
- 20% of people who die during pregnancy are murder victims.
- The risk of maternal mortality is highest for adolescents under 15 years old.
- Complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among adolescents in most developing countries.
- A person’s lifetime risk of maternal death – the probability that a 15-year-old will eventually die from a maternal cause – is 1 in 4300 in developed countries, versus 1 in 120 in developing countries.
- A pregnant person has a 35.6% greater risk of being a victim of violence than a non-pregnant person. The estimated prevalence of violence against people during pregnancy ranges from four percent to eight percent.
- 40% of all pregnant people have some complications during pregnancy or childbirth. About 15% have complications that are potentially life-threatening.
Tl;dr So in case that wasn’t clear: pregnancy is always life threatening and never merely an “inconvenience”.
[ETA: I wish beyond all belief this edit wasn’t necessary, but I guess it is. This post isn’t meant to vilify pregnancy or the people who choose it. As I’ve said in a reply and an ask, pregnancy is always a valid reproductive choice for those who choose it. As a prochoicer, I support all reproductive choices including birthing ones like advocating for the choice to have VBACs, home births, and the right to say no to unwanted c-sections. I will fight as hard for those rights as I do for the right to an abortion. I don’t think birth is bad for those that want to do it, but some of us would literally rather die. This isn’t meant as a scare tactic against fellow people who can get pregnant. This is about the flippant manner in which cis men like to dismiss people’s concerns that pregnancy is more than an “inconvenience.” The last time I checked people don’t regularly die from inconveniences. For more see: this reply and this ask, which I also made rebloggable on request.]
people like joe, who are never going to carry a baby, do not get to talk about ‘inconvenience’ to uteruses. YOU carry it.
The Hyde Amendment at 35: Lessons for Activists
The original Hyde Amendment proposal was unabashedly extreme, with no exceptions whatsoever, not even to save a woman’s life. Its sponsors were completely transparent about their goals. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) said in 1976, “I certainly would like to prevent, if I could legally, anybody from having an abortion, a rich woman, a middle-class woman, or a poor woman. Unfortunately, the only vehicle available is the [Medicaid] bill.”
Fight the gender binary, free womyn
I thought maybe someone would jump in and stop the madness, but it just keeps getting worse.
“ If we are convinced that diversity matters, we need to work a lot harder at overturning cultural stereotypes, and try in every way we can to ensure that girls believe the full spectrum of opportunities is open to them. We must identify and promote new role models to alter the resolutely passive and decorative young women who represent “success” as girls encounter it each day through their TV screens, and ensure that work-experience placements offer them the full breadth of opportunities. Only then can we be sure that their aspirations are not limited and thereby their choices implicitly curtailed. ”
Where is Physics Barbie? (via scipsy)
“Resolutely passive and decorative young women” is my new favorite insult.
