Best post on affordable birth control January 28, 2009

This (http://www.feministfinance.com/2009/01/will-affordable-birth-control-be-part.html) is the best blog post on affordable birth control.  Here’s an excerpt:

Let’s stop pretending that an unexpected pregnancy = unmitigated joy (emphasis mine), and let’s stop vilifying women who acknowledge that having a child, if you’re not digging the idea of being a parent and are not relatively solvent to begin with, can be scary or even downright dangerous. The last thing a family on the brink needs is another mouth they know they’re not prepared to feed, and people who refuse to admit that are frankly too myopic to listen to.

Society and Britney Spears December 5, 2008

Full disclosure: I often get called a hypocritical feminist because I adore Britney Spears. But even if I didnt’ love her music, I would see how unfairly society treats her and revels in her downfalls (along with other young, pretty actresses and pop stars). She’s either “fat” or anorexic, she’s “crazy” or a bad mother or a redneck or stupid, all while millions of us buy her albums and listen to her music. I think Salon’s Broadsheet put it best here:

“So, let’s review: Either Britney’s a flabby mommy who can’t lose the baby weight fast enough and has no business showing off her naked gut in public (bad Britney!) or she’s super-trim but bingeing and barfing to get that way (bad Britney!).”

Read more at http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2008/12/02/britney/index.html

Anti-choice pharmacies deny right to birth control October 27, 2008

A pharmacy in Virginia was certified by the anti-choice organization Pharmacists for Life International, which believes that all forms of birth control are morally wrong. Now, I’m pro choice, but can usually see the point of pro life people…abortion is a tough issue. But then we have these crazy groups that want to take away birth control and call it abortificiant and I get so angry. Who are they to turn women with prescriptions away? Who are they to tell us what is wrong and what isn’t? Now, in a city like Fort Worth, someone like myself (lives near many pharmacies, has a car) may not consider this a big deal. So what if a pharmacist refuses to fill my prescription? I can just go down the street where the pharmacist will do his/her job and not shove their politics/religion down my throat. But there are hundreds of thousands of women in America who do not have their own transportation, who cannot afford to pay for transportation to get to an alternative pharmacy, or who live in towns with only one or two pharmacies.  There are women who would be intimidated by a pharmacist telling them their hormonal birth control pills (nuva ring, patch, etc.) are abortificiant and would not seek out another pharmacist. How is it that this group does not realize that this policy will cause more of what they want the least — unintended pregnancies resulting in abortion? This is the most illogical political/moral stance I have ever heard of. Are there any pharmacies in Fort Worth that deny birth control to women? Tell me in the comments.

Read more at: http://www.feministing.com/archives/011792.html (warning, headline NSFW)

Local radio host arrested for domestic violence July 22, 2008

 Update: 105.3 FM is not putting Russ Martin back on the air for the time being. Good decision…Kudos to whoever made that decision.

Local radio talk show host Russ Martin was arrested on Friday after allegedly assaulting his fiance in his Southlake home. At some point during the assault, he pointed a pistol at her. I’m not sure if he’s going to be back on the air at 105.3 FM (especially since he faces up to 20 years in prison), but the station is airing “the Best of Russ Martin” today during his show’s normal time slot. If he is found guilty and the station allows him back on the air it would show extreme disrespect on behalf of the station to all of Tarrant County’s domestic violence victims.

Check out the entire story at http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/775447.html. To contact the station and let them know how you feel about allowing abusers on the radio, call (214) 787-1053 or fill out the e-mail form at http://www.live1053.com/pages/643725.php.

John McCain doesn’t like birth control, either July 16, 2008

FYI, John McCain has a really shoddy voting record concerning birth control…he even voted against a measure to require health insurance to cover it (as most health insurance covers Viagra) and told a reporter he forgot about that vote. So if you don’t like Bush’s stance on birth control (or, our rights to plan our families), you should definitely not vote for McCain. A really great article about this issue is on Jezebel.com…here’s the link:

http://jezebel.com/5025937/planned-parenthood-goes-after-mccain-on-health-insurance-birth-control

Only 188 days left… July 16, 2008

In the most recent Bush administration slap in the face to women, an inter-administration (dept. of health and human services) memo chips away at Roe vs. Wade and women’s health in general by planning to cut off federal funds to states, hospitals and clinics that “discriminate” against employees who refuse to offer birth control or abortions on religious grounds. Now, I have no problem with healthcare providers choosing not to provide abortions because of their religious beliefs, but birth control?  Don’t they know that birth control prevents said abortions from being an issue? Well, not if they think birth control is abortion…seriously, that’s what the rest of the memo says. From Reuters: the memo “proposes to define abortion as ‘any of the various procedures — including the prescription and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action — that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation.”

That’s right, that’s IUD’s, birth control pills, and basically any type of birth control a woman could use except for tube tying. Notice the shocking absence of male-used birth control methods, condoms and vasectomies.

Theology professor connects domestic violence to feminism June 30, 2008

Bruce Ware, a professor of Christian theology at a seminary in Kentucky, spoke from the pulpit of Denton Bible Church recently. His sermon focused on his belief that men abuse their wives because women rebel against the man’s God-given authority and because women “desire to have their own way instead of submitting to their husband’s because of sin. And husbands on their parts, because they’re sinners, now respond to that threat to their authority either by being abusive, which is of course one of the ways men can respond when their authority is challenged–or, more commonly, to become passive, acquiescent, and simply not asserting the leadership they ought to as men in their homes and in churches,” (ethicsdaily.com). Ware also said that women demonstrate that they are Christians by accepting their only roles in life as wife and mother “rather than chafing against it…rather than wanting to be a man, wanting to be in a man’s position, wanting to teach and exercise authority over men.” 

He also blamed this on feminism, of course, because we feminazis can be blamed for all the world’s evils…

What this man is teaching is incredibly dangerous and essentially gives men (who will listen to this rubbish) carte blanche to hurt their wives. Men don’t abuse their wives because of anything their wives do…they abuse their wives because they want control. It is a cycle that begins during the abuser’s childhood and is very hard to break. In many cases there are mental problems or drug and alcohol abuse involved. There are women who do absolutely everything their husbands tell them to do, exactly the way he tells them to do it, and their husbands can still find a reason to hurt them. What does Mr. Ware have to say about women who abuse men? Or parents who abuse children? Or any family member that abuses another family member, genders aside? Because it happens in every way and combination possible and can’t be wrapped up in a gender-based biblical speech. And Ware doesn’t give men enough credit, either…there are plenty of men out there who are equal, loving partners to their wives and it isn’t “because of sin” or because wives wear men down, making them passive, as he suggests. It’s because equality between husbands and wives makes for a more satisfying marriage, and a more satisfying life. And I wonder if this guy has read Galations 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Check out the  entire article at http://ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=10675

For more information about domestic violence, visit www.menstoppingviolence.org, www.safehaventc.org, or www.tcfv.org.