THIS WEEK IN THE WAR ON WOMEN PROVIDES A WEEKLY SUMMARY OF NEWS ON WOMEN'S ISSUES AND INFORMATION ON CURRENT POLITICAL ACTIONS. WE WELCOME ALL WHO ARE INTERESTED TO JOIN, TO WRITE FOR US, AND TO PROVIDE RELEVANT LINKS AND STORIES.
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As always, I thank the women — and now also a man — of this community who provide articles of interest and related discussion. This week that includes Besame, Sandra LLAP, officebss, BMScott, thurayya, elenacarlena, noweasels, and Tara TASW.
Let’s talk about abortion.
Indiana has passed several new laws affecting abortion. The first requires that doctors file detailed reports of abortion complications when a woman seeks medical services for any reason. For example, a woman may have serious bleeding days after an abortion — or just as likely, may be suffering symptoms of anxiety or depression — or, one might conjecture, any problems with reproductive health — even years after an abortion. Given the myth about abortion increasing the risk of breast cancer, would that be included? Both would be treated the same way and would become part of a national data base. Failure to file such reports could result in up to six months in jail and/or a $1000 fine.
Under the statute, doctors who identify an abortion complication must then report to the state: the patient's age, race and county of residence; the type, date and location of the abortion; a list of each complication and treatment; the date of every visit to every doctor relating to the complication; and any abortion drugs used by the patient and how they were procured.
That same article also discusses a new law extending an existing law that considers a viable fetus as a separate person from the mother if it dies as a result of violence or drunk driving, now considering the fetus a separate person from conception. Could this be applied at some future date to doctors performing abortions?
When I posted this story on Facebook, a friend pointed out that this is very likely unconstitutional, as are so many laws passed in many states that restrict women’s access to safe abortions. But that is the goal, especially now that Antonin Scalia’s seat was stolen from Merrick Garland. The goal is to take a case to the Supreme Court in order to overturn Roe v Wade. State legislatures are not passing unconstitutional laws recklessly; the forces behind these laws want them in the courts.
Of course, women didn’t begin having abortions when they became legal, and will not stop having abortions if they become illegal. In fact, studies comparing abortion rates in countries where it is legal and illegal find no real difference. In fact, complications after illegal abortions are one of the leading causes of maternal deaths around the world. We saw this in Texas, where, after many abortion clinics were forced to close, maternal deaths doubled. Undoubtedly, some of these deaths came after unsafe abortions, in addition to complications of pregnancy and childbirth. (Incidentally, there was some good news from Texas this week — an anonymous donor is giving Planned Parenthood $9 million to open two new clinics in West Texas. Locations for the clinics, and whether they will perform abortions, is still to be decided.)
But I decided to focus on abortion in this diary after reading about the Indiana law immediately after reading about the controversy over The Atlantic hiring Kevin Williamson. After reading several articles about it — including Jessica Valenti in the Guardian, who is very angry about it; and Cathy Young at the Arc, who quotes an angry Amanda Marcotte but doesn’t oppose the hiring because she considers him a compelling writer. So I decided to read something by Williamson and see what I thought. I found an interesting (and well-written) article about Trump and the white working class. I won’t go into detail, but what struck me most was his conviction that economic decline is part of the social breakdown of the family.
Nationalism may speak to a longing for lost national greatness, but in our own time, it speaks at least as strongly to the longing after — the great howling lamentation for — the ideal family that never was lost, because it never was formed. The Mikes of the world may be struggling to make it in the global economy, but what they really are shut out of is the traditional family. The current social regime of illegitimacy, serial monogamy, abortion, and liberal divorce has rendered traditional families optional, at best — the great majority of divorces are initiated by wives, not by husbands — and the welfare state has at least in part supplanted the Mikes in their role as providers, assuming that they have the wherewithal to fill that role in the first place. Traditional avenues for achieving respect, status, and permanence are lost to them.
And later:
If you spend time in hardscrabble, white upstate New York, or eastern Kentucky, or my own native West Texas, and you take an honest look at the welfare dependency, the drug and alcohol addiction, the family anarchy — which is to say, the whelping of human children with all the respect and wisdom of a stray dog — you will come to an awful realization. It wasn’t Beijing. It wasn’t even Washington, as bad as Washington can be. It wasn’t immigrants from Mexico, excessive and problematic as our current immigration levels are. It wasn’t any of that.
. . .
Nothing happened to them. There wasn’t some awful disaster. There wasn’t a war or a famine or a plague or a foreign occupation. Even the economic changes of the past few decades do very little to explain the dysfunction and negligence — and the incomprehensible malice — of poor white America. So the gypsum business in Garbutt ain’t what it used to be. There is more to life in the 21st century than wallboard and cheap sentimentality about how the Man closed the factories down.
So what do I think? He says (and tweeted before closing his Twitter account) despicable things. I think he ultimately blames us women’s libbers for societal dysfunction, with our abortion and divorce and jobs — and perhaps now, our fight against sexual violence. Abortion is at the root of our social and economic problems. He sees the “malice” and “cheap sentimentality” of the Trump supporters, but doesn’t name the root causes. That’s why intellectual conservatives are so frustrating. Should he be at The Atlantic? Well, the problem is, he is there.
International News
Recent stories from India from video volunteers:
Property-for-Her: More Than Just a Room of Her Own
Indian Women's struggle for property rights is an uphill battle even when the law is on their side:
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Despite Death Threats, Domestic Violence Survivor Fights On
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Jannat Bano's story
From Child Bride to Firebrand Women’s Rights Activist
From Brazil
Fed up with being kissed, insulted and even groped on air, female sports journalists in Brazil have launched an anti-harassment campaign with a straightforward request: #DeixaElaTrabalhar, or “Let Her Do Her Job”.
Violence Against Women
Laurie Penny on sexual harassment on the internet.
A San Antonio woman has filed suit against the police officer who conducted a body cavity search that included removing a tampon and dangling it in front of other officers — all on a public street.
According to a letter sent by the superintendent to parents Thursday afternoon, a custodian at Northampton High School has been placed on paid administrative leave after a concerning discovery.
In the letter, which 22News obtained from a viewer, Superintendent John Provost said that members of the maintenance staff discovered what he called "unusual structural modifications to the first floor girls bathroom" at the high school Thursday.
Northampton, MA Police Captain John Cartledge confirmed the contents of the letter, and said the department is investigating.
A bipartisan letter signed by every woman in the Senate and circulated Wednesday slammed the body’s “inaction” on moving sexual assault legislation forward despite successful efforts in the House of Representatives.
Other Stuff
By current Senate rules, a senator is entitled to 12 weeks maternity leave, but cannot then vote. If she chooses not to take leave, she may not bring her baby onto the floor, and must be present on the floor to vote, very difficult if she is nursing. Tammy Duckworth is the first senator to have a baby while in office, and has already said she will not take leave when her baby is born. A small rule change will accommodate her needs. Call your senators to ask them to support Duckworth publicly. The link is for my AZ senators, but I trust my readers to figure it out.
I interviewed one of our candidates for governor for PP Advocates of AZ, and republished the interview here. The questions focused on the issues Planned Parenthood advocates for.