Read the week's best commentary from bloggers at Feministing, Slate's "XX Factor" and more.
ABORTION ACCESS:
"'No Duh' Study of the Day: Women Denied Abortions Have Less Positive Life Outlook," Maya Dusenbery, Feministing: Dusenbery writes about new findings from Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health's ongoing Turnaway Study, which "has previously found that women who wanted an abortion but weren't able to get one had worse physical health, were three times more likely to be living in poverty, and had a harder time escaping an abusive relationship down the road." According to Dusenbery, the researchers "asked respondents who'd either just gotten an abortion or just missed the cut-off to get one about their personal hopes and dreams for the next year," which often "were related to their education and employment, as well as less concrete but equally important aspirations like 'wanting to be happier, to be less stressed, or to be healthier.'" The researchers found that while the majority "of the women in both groups had a pretty pos[i]tive outlook," those "who'd been able to get the abortion they sought were both significantly more likely to have aspirational goals and to have achieved them a year later" (Dusenbery, Feministing," 12/11).
CONTRACEPTION:
"Got a Pharmacy Slut-Shaming Problem? Reddit Can Help," Christina Cauterucci, Slate's "XX Factor": Cauterucci writes about a thread in the TwoXChromosomes subreddit where participants are sharing and responding to stories of being stigmatized at pharmacies for accessing reproductive health products, such as birth control or pregnancy tests. For example, Cauterucci highlights a story shared by one poster detailing how the pharmacist at her local CVS made a point to announce loudly that she was filling the poster's prescription for birth control every time the poster picked up her supply. The story spurred comments from attorneys and pharmacy staff, who told the original poster "that the pharmacist's behavior constituted a HIPAA violation" and "advis[ed] her to report the employee to CVS and the state pharmacy board," Cauterucci writes. She adds that at least two posters on the subreddit said "they saw tangible results after reporting this type of incident to the drugstore's corporate leadership" (Cauterucci, "XX Factor," Slate, 12/14).
What others are saying about contraception:
~ "Symposium: Adjudicating 'Substantial' Burdens," John Bursch, SCOTUSblog.
~ "Symposium: Contraceptive Mandate Cases -- Why the Supreme Court Will Instruct Lower Federal Courts To Stop Second-Guessing Religious Beliefs," Bursch, SCOTUSblog.
ANTIABORTION-RIGHTS MOVEMENT:
"Terrifying: Spike in Threats and Intimidation on Women's Clinics, Activists and Doctors by Extremist Anti-Choicers," Amanda Marcotte, Salon: Although abortion-rights opponents have tried to portray the Colorado clinic shooting "as an anomaly," it is actually "part of a larger pattern of violence and harassment, going on not just in the United States but throughout the Americas, aimed at terrorizing and silencing those who fight for women to have sexual and reproductive autonomy," Marcotte writes. Marcotte notes that though the Colorado shooter "seems to have been inspired" by a series of misleading videos released this summer targeting Planned Parenthood, antiabortion-rights harassment even prior to the videos' release "took a turn towards very personalized threats and intimidation techniques." Marcotte cites research showing that 20% of clinics "had experienced severe violence ... in 2014," an article describing the "lengths doctors have to take to stay safe" and federal lawmakers' efforts in 2011 and 2013 to defund Planned Parenthood. Marcotte writes that "none of these attacks were really about abortion," explaining that the term "'[a]bortion' is, as it always has been, just a proxy word for a general hostility towards women being able to have sex on their own terms without being punished." Citing a new report on "the uptick in harassment and intimidation in Latin America toward pro-choice activists," Marcotte points to the similarities between the surveillance tactics used by abortion-rights opponents there and in the U.S. She notes that the uptick in such tactics is a response to women's increasing independence, writing, "It's all about that urge to monitor and control, and sadly some people who have those urges tip into outright violence when their targets resist their efforts to dominate them" (Marcotte, Salon, 12/11).
What others are saying about the antiabortion-rights movement:
~ "Ohio Slams Planned Parenthood for Disposing Fetal Tissue. Are We Supposed To Be Shocked?" Jennifer Conti, Slate's "XX Factor."
~ "The Hateful Rhetoric Must Stop," Christine Charbonneau, Huffington Post blogs.
~ "Abortion, Adoption and the Destruction of Family and Parental Rights," Mira Riben, Huffington Post blogs.
~ "Defunding Planned Parenthood Is Just Another Form of Racism," Emma Akpan, Bustle.
SEXUALITY EDUCATION:
"Grow Up, America: Kids Need Real Sex Education in Schools -- Including Proper Condom Use," Mary Williams, Salon: Williams writes about a new CDC report that found "'fewer than half of high schools and only a fifth of middle schools teach all 16 topics recommended by [CDC] as essential components of sexual health education.'" The report found that this lack of education led to "a rise in risky behavior," she adds, noting that fewer teens in 2015 than in 2003 said they used a condom the last time they had sex and nearly the same percentage -- 22% -- said they "'drank alcohol or used drugs the last time they had sex.'" Williams continues, "Unshockingly, the choice of which 16 CDC recommended topics do get any coverage at all in school has a lot to do with whether or not they relate to actual sexual behavior." She explains that "the most widely taught topic is 'Benefits of being sexually abstinent,'" while "'How to correctly use a condom'" was the least taught topic. Williams cites statistics on how young people "'ages 15-24 account for nearly half of the 20 million new cases of [STIs] each year,'" and research showing that "states with no sex education or abstinence only curriculums have the highest rate of teen pregnancies, while 'teenagers who received some type of comprehensive sex education were 60 percent less likely to get pregnant or get someone else pregnant.'" Williams concludes by stating, "We are failing [children] if we're not preparing [them] early ... to have healthy, respectful, responsible relationships. And it's delusional -- and dangerous -- to perpetuate the notion that keeping them ignorant will keep them innocent" (Williams, Salon, 12/11).
LGBT:
"Attorneys Challenge Transgender Exclusion in Americans With Disabilities Act," Jessica Mason Pieklo, RH Reality Check: "A federal district court in Pennsylvania heard arguments last week in the first-ever case to challenge the transgender exclusion in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)," Mason Pieklo writes. She explains that although the law, which prohibits "discrimination on the basis of disability," has been amended several times, the provisions excluding "'transvestism, transsexualism, pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism, [and] gender identity disorders'" from protection has never been removed. According to Mason Pieklo, the case heard last week involves a transgender woman, Kate Lynn Blatt, who alleges in the lawsuit that her employer "discriminated against her based on her sex in violation Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and ... refused to reasonably accommodate Blat[t] ... when the store denied her use of an appropriate restroom and the ability to wear a name tag with her correct name." Mason Pieklo notes that while the court has yet to rule on the case, the Department of Justice filed a statement in support of Blatt's lawsuit, stating "that transgender people should be able to pursue ADA claims 'because a growing body of scientific evidence suggests' that being transgender may have a physical origin" (Mason Pieklo, RH Reality Check, 12/14).
