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Now that we’ve had some time to reflect on the 2010 election, many of us are wondering where women’s health stands. First off, there were some bright spots in the 2010 election. For example, the defeat of Amendment 62 in Colorado, which, if enacted, would have had dramatic consequences for state anti-choice activity nationwide. Amendment 62, which was voted down, would have extended legal and constitutional rights to fertilized eggs, therefore outlawing abortion and even some forms of contraception. This scary anti-choice ballot initiative was defeated by a 3:1 margin.
There were lots of mixed feelings in the days following the election, some good, some disappointing, but one thing is very clear. Despite the few bright spots, it is obvious that the House of Representatives is now in the hands of dangerous anti-choice politicians. Politicians who oppose women’s health and the right to reproductive health care including birth control. Politicians who want to outlaw abortion, even in cases of rape, incest, and harm to the health of the woman. Politicians who specifically want to defund Planned Parenthood, leaving low-income women without basic women’s health care.
Though the 2010 election was a referendum on the economy and government, the results are truly alarming when it comes to women’s health. We have a tough fight on our hands with anti-choice House leaders like John Boehner, who will only be egged on by Tea Party extreminists, and conservative pundits like Sarah Palin.
But make no mistake about it, Planned Parenthood is here for the communities we serve, no matter what, and we are going to stand our ground. We will continue to deliver high-quality care and sex education to every community we serve. We've been here since 1924 and we will never stop caring for women or fighting for their rights.
Planned Parenthood supporters, it is time to get to work! We need your support to keep our doors open, to keep our communities healthy.
Please take a moment to sign the open letter to the members of Congress who want to gut women’s reproductive rights and health services.
And while you're on-line, be sure to sign up to get the latest advocacy updates from PPRSR.
Together, we will make ensure women now and for generations to come have access to reproductive health care and rights.
28 Nisan 2012 Cumartesi
Blog for Choice 2011
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It's almost time for the 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. To commemorate the day, NARAL is sponsoring the sixth annual Blog for Choice Day to get people reading and talking about reproductive rights. In wake of the recent decision by Congress to repeal health care reform, reproductive choice is starting to become less and less available.
I've participated privately over the years, updating my Livejournal and Facebook, with my thoughts on the day and sometimes talking about my experiences of becoming a feminist and how pro-choice became a part of my persona. I'd like to share this with all of you and encourage you to share your stories about why you're pro-choice.
Back in middle school, I got involved in an abusive relationship with a male friend of mine. It was the worst experience ever. I felt like I was walking on egg shells, hoping that I could make it through the day without a bruise or feeling like dirt. I was depressed and felt like nobody could help me. Abusive relationships weren't talked about much then - that would come later in high school. Nobody imagined that I was harboring this secret, a secret so bad that it nearly killed me. One afternoon he tried to choke me when I upset him and slapped him across the face for grabbing at me. After pinning me down, he finally let go after he saw that I was scared as hell. That's when I knew I had to tell someone.
I started high school a few weeks after that horrific day and eventually told my counselor. The physical abuse stopped but he continued to stalk me and taunt me in school. When I started telling people he knew, he got really angry and came to my house one day when I was alone. He pushed past my door and threatened to rape me. I shouted so loud to get out that he finally did. When I knew he was finally gone, I bolted the door, went into my room, crawled into a ball and just cried for over an hour. I should have been thankful that I was safe but I kept thinking what if he did rape me, what if I got pregnant, even resorting to thoughts of suicide.
Ever since that day I started digging more and more into subjects like abusive relationships, rape, and reproductive choice. If I came from a conservative family, I may have been expected to carry to term if I indeed become pregnant. My life would be so different now if I had become pregnant at fourteen, especially if it was by a violent assault.
Being pro-choice is not just about having abortions; it's about having control over your body and destiny.
I've participated privately over the years, updating my Livejournal and Facebook, with my thoughts on the day and sometimes talking about my experiences of becoming a feminist and how pro-choice became a part of my persona. I'd like to share this with all of you and encourage you to share your stories about why you're pro-choice.
Back in middle school, I got involved in an abusive relationship with a male friend of mine. It was the worst experience ever. I felt like I was walking on egg shells, hoping that I could make it through the day without a bruise or feeling like dirt. I was depressed and felt like nobody could help me. Abusive relationships weren't talked about much then - that would come later in high school. Nobody imagined that I was harboring this secret, a secret so bad that it nearly killed me. One afternoon he tried to choke me when I upset him and slapped him across the face for grabbing at me. After pinning me down, he finally let go after he saw that I was scared as hell. That's when I knew I had to tell someone.
I started high school a few weeks after that horrific day and eventually told my counselor. The physical abuse stopped but he continued to stalk me and taunt me in school. When I started telling people he knew, he got really angry and came to my house one day when I was alone. He pushed past my door and threatened to rape me. I shouted so loud to get out that he finally did. When I knew he was finally gone, I bolted the door, went into my room, crawled into a ball and just cried for over an hour. I should have been thankful that I was safe but I kept thinking what if he did rape me, what if I got pregnant, even resorting to thoughts of suicide.
Ever since that day I started digging more and more into subjects like abusive relationships, rape, and reproductive choice. If I came from a conservative family, I may have been expected to carry to term if I indeed become pregnant. My life would be so different now if I had become pregnant at fourteen, especially if it was by a violent assault.
Being pro-choice is not just about having abortions; it's about having control over your body and destiny.
GYT!
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Interject the GYT Campaign! The Get Yourself Tested Campaign is targeted to college-age youth to encourage people to talk openly about getting tested for STDs with their health care providers, partners and even friends and acquaintances. Since young people have higher risks for contracting STDs, and rates continue to increase among the 15-24 age group, GYT and STD awareness are highly important on college campuses and among groups that fall in this age range.
STDs are 100% preventable and as we are working toward increased awareness for prevention, we cannot forget awareness for testing. You owe it to yourself to take care of yourself, and getting tested for STDs is another basic aspect of staying healthy and knowing yourself. Once someone becomes sexually active in any way, including oral sex or even mutual masturbation, getting tested should be incorporated in routine health checkups, or more often as needed.
Those of us with the most knowledge and awareness surrounding these matters become the spokespersons for such campaigns. If you want to get the word out in your community or on campus, you can organize an event as simple as tabling with information. If you want to try something different, you can expand to tabling at another event like a health fair or speaking engagement or even a drag show!
Last year, a step team at Buffalo State College performed a step routine just for the GYT campaign in the student union on campus. Another effective method of getting the word out is “guerilla” posting – gather flyers, tape, stapler and push-pins, then go around campus posting GYT messages like those on the GYT website (www.gytnow.org) wherever you can!
Jeri
VOX Student Intern
We’re well into April, or as we know it, National STD Awareness Month. You may already know that many STDs may have no symptoms, and that untreated STDs can lead to other health problems like infertility and cancer. Statistics show that of sexually active youth, about half contract an STD by age 25, about half of all new STD cases are among people age 25 and younger, and only a minority of people report using protection during oral sex.
Interject the GYT Campaign! The Get Yourself Tested Campaign is targeted to college-age youth to encourage people to talk openly about getting tested for STDs with their health care providers, partners and even friends and acquaintances. Since young people have higher risks for contracting STDs, and rates continue to increase among the 15-24 age group, GYT and STD awareness are highly important on college campuses and among groups that fall in this age range.
STDs are 100% preventable and as we are working toward increased awareness for prevention, we cannot forget awareness for testing. You owe it to yourself to take care of yourself, and getting tested for STDs is another basic aspect of staying healthy and knowing yourself. Once someone becomes sexually active in any way, including oral sex or even mutual masturbation, getting tested should be incorporated in routine health checkups, or more often as needed.
Those of us with the most knowledge and awareness surrounding these matters become the spokespersons for such campaigns. If you want to get the word out in your community or on campus, you can organize an event as simple as tabling with information. If you want to try something different, you can expand to tabling at another event like a health fair or speaking engagement or even a drag show!
Last year, a step team at Buffalo State College performed a step routine just for the GYT campaign in the student union on campus. Another effective method of getting the word out is “guerilla” posting – gather flyers, tape, stapler and push-pins, then go around campus posting GYT messages like those on the GYT website (www.gytnow.org) wherever you can!
Jeri
VOX Student Intern
College Week of Action: a recap
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Last week was the first College Week of Action, an effort spearheaded by Planned Parenthood along with Family Planning Advocates of New York. The purpose of the College Week of Action this year was to get college age people to advocate for and support the Reproductive Health Act (RHA). The Reproductive Health Act is a comprehensive policy designed to protect personal decisions regarding reproductive health and implements a different perspective regarding abortion.
Three years before Roe v. Wade, New York State took a progressive step as one of the first states to decriminalize abortion. The current law framing abortion outside of criminal contexts has not been integrated into overarching New York State Law, however, so it has no security and abortion is still a crime in the penal code. Furthermore, the current law neglects the idea of the fundamental right to make private medical decisions as well as how abortion care is provided. In this context, New York has lagged behind – current laws are technically unconstitutional, and it is the only state that still regulates abortion as a crime.
Even considering the current outdated and narrowly-defined law, New York State can make another progressive step with the Reproductive Health Act. RHA not only guarantees the right to use or refuse contraception for everyone, but also ensures the right to abortion in the case of endangered health and takes abortion out of the penal code which means abortion would be treated as a matter of health – exactly what it is.
Seven other states have already passed laws like the Reproductive Health Act. At the same time though, several states passed abortion restrictions within the last year and over 450 bills restricting or banning abortion have come to several different state legislatures, each threatening Roe v. Wade. If this law is passed in New York, reproductive rights would be protected even if Roe v. Wade were overturned.
For more information about RHA, check out these sites:
NYCLU
NARAL Pro-Choice New York
NOW NYC
Jeri
VOX Student Intern
Three years before Roe v. Wade, New York State took a progressive step as one of the first states to decriminalize abortion. The current law framing abortion outside of criminal contexts has not been integrated into overarching New York State Law, however, so it has no security and abortion is still a crime in the penal code. Furthermore, the current law neglects the idea of the fundamental right to make private medical decisions as well as how abortion care is provided. In this context, New York has lagged behind – current laws are technically unconstitutional, and it is the only state that still regulates abortion as a crime.
Even considering the current outdated and narrowly-defined law, New York State can make another progressive step with the Reproductive Health Act. RHA not only guarantees the right to use or refuse contraception for everyone, but also ensures the right to abortion in the case of endangered health and takes abortion out of the penal code which means abortion would be treated as a matter of health – exactly what it is.
Seven other states have already passed laws like the Reproductive Health Act. At the same time though, several states passed abortion restrictions within the last year and over 450 bills restricting or banning abortion have come to several different state legislatures, each threatening Roe v. Wade. If this law is passed in New York, reproductive rights would be protected even if Roe v. Wade were overturned.
For more information about RHA, check out these sites:
NYCLU
NARAL Pro-Choice New York
NOW NYC
Jeri
VOX Student Intern
27 Nisan 2012 Cuma
Body of Missing Actor Found!
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This afternoon Vancouver police reveal that a body has been discovered and they believed it may be the body of missing "Growing Pains" actor Andrew Koenig. CNN.com is now confirming that the body is indeed that of Koenig. Koenig has been missing since Valentine's Day and sources reveal the body was discovered in Vancouver's Stanley Park, which so happens to be an area that Vancouver police were heavily searching in the days since Koenig's disappearance. Koenig's family and friends decided to do their own search of the area and that is when the body was found. Koenig's father "Star Trek" actor Walter Koenig revealed in a press conference that his son "took his own life".
Koenig's disappearance was first reported after the actor missed a return flight to Los Angeles, after visiting with friends in Canada. He was said to have been in a depressed state leading up to his disappearance and stopped taking anti-depressant medications a little over a year ago.
This afternoon Vancouver police reveal that a body has been discovered and they believed it may be the body of missing "Growing Pains" actor Andrew Koenig. CNN.com is now confirming that the body is indeed that of Koenig. Koenig has been missing since Valentine's Day and sources reveal the body was discovered in Vancouver's Stanley Park, which so happens to be an area that Vancouver police were heavily searching in the days since Koenig's disappearance. Koenig's family and friends decided to do their own search of the area and that is when the body was found. Koenig's father "Star Trek" actor Walter Koenig revealed in a press conference that his son "took his own life".
Koenig's disappearance was first reported after the actor missed a return flight to Los Angeles, after visiting with friends in Canada. He was said to have been in a depressed state leading up to his disappearance and stopped taking anti-depressant medications a little over a year ago.
Simon Cowell Pops the Question
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Rumors have been swirling for some time that "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell is engaged to his girlfriend of about a year, Mezhgan Hussainy. Cowell himself has denied said rumors, but Hussainy recently spilled the beans that Cowell did, in fact, propose and that the two are now officially engaged.
The pair met several years ago while they were both working on "Idol" - she as the head make-up artist, and he as a judge. They became a couple after Cowell's previous relationship ended. The two are already living together, and Hussainy has hinted that the wedding will take place soon - probably within the year.
Rumors have been swirling for some time that "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell is engaged to his girlfriend of about a year, Mezhgan Hussainy. Cowell himself has denied said rumors, but Hussainy recently spilled the beans that Cowell did, in fact, propose and that the two are now officially engaged.The pair met several years ago while they were both working on "Idol" - she as the head make-up artist, and he as a judge. They became a couple after Cowell's previous relationship ended. The two are already living together, and Hussainy has hinted that the wedding will take place soon - probably within the year.
Backstreet Boys Cruise 2010
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The Backstreet Boys have announced via their Twitter that they will be embarking on a fan appreciation cruise! It will begin on December 9 and last four days, leaving South Florida and stopping at several exotic ports along the way. The boy band will perform an intimate show and host a Q&A, Photo Session, Deck Party, and Beach Party. The pre-sale for tickets starts March 15, with fan club members getting first dibs.
The Backstreet Boys have announced via their Twitter that they will be embarking on a fan appreciation cruise! It will begin on December 9 and last four days, leaving South Florida and stopping at several exotic ports along the way. The boy band will perform an intimate show and host a Q&A, Photo Session, Deck Party, and Beach Party. The pre-sale for tickets starts March 15, with fan club members getting first dibs.
"Dancing With the Stars" Cast Announced
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The cast for the new season of "Dancing With the Stars" has been announced! The show will air on March 22, featuring this star-studded lineup:
Kate Gosselin (mother of 8)
Nicole Scherzinger (Pussycat Doll)
Aiden Turner ("All My Children" soap star)
Chad Ochocinco (Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver)
Buzz Aldrin (the second person to walk on the moon)
Erin Andrew (ESPN sportscaster)
Neicy Nash ("Reno 911" comedian)
Evan Lysacek (figure skating gold medalist)
Jake Pavelka (the latest "Bachelor")
Pamela Anderson ("Baywatch" babe and home-movie star)
Shannen Doherty ("Beverly Hills 90210" star and world-famous bad girl)
The cast for the new season of "Dancing With the Stars" has been announced! The show will air on March 22, featuring this star-studded lineup:Kate Gosselin (mother of 8)
Nicole Scherzinger (Pussycat Doll)
Aiden Turner ("All My Children" soap star)
Chad Ochocinco (Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver)
Buzz Aldrin (the second person to walk on the moon)
Erin Andrew (ESPN sportscaster)
Neicy Nash ("Reno 911" comedian)
Evan Lysacek (figure skating gold medalist)
Jake Pavelka (the latest "Bachelor")
Pamela Anderson ("Baywatch" babe and home-movie star)
Shannen Doherty ("Beverly Hills 90210" star and world-famous bad girl)
Willy Wonka's Real-Life Golden Ticket Contest
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"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is coming to life (sort of) as Nestle is launching a new line of Wonka chocolate, Wonka Exceptionals, which will feature a golden ticket contest. However, instead of winning a twisted tour of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, the winner will instead win a trip around the world worth $12,500!
Just like the story, there will be five tickets available. Each winner will be allowed three guests and will receive $12,500 to buy chocolate from all over the world, with a maximum of four consecutive destinations. Other prizes will also be available, including movie certificates, airline vouchers, Ticketmaster gift cards, and free chocolate.
Veruca Salts of the world, better get moving!
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is coming to life (sort of) as Nestle is launching a new line of Wonka chocolate, Wonka Exceptionals, which will feature a golden ticket contest. However, instead of winning a twisted tour of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, the winner will instead win a trip around the world worth $12,500!Just like the story, there will be five tickets available. Each winner will be allowed three guests and will receive $12,500 to buy chocolate from all over the world, with a maximum of four consecutive destinations. Other prizes will also be available, including movie certificates, airline vouchers, Ticketmaster gift cards, and free chocolate.
Veruca Salts of the world, better get moving!
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