A deeper wave than this
Today…
…in 1909, the NAACP was founded in New York.
…I learned that February 12, 1909 was specifically chosen as the date for the NAACP founding because it was the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth.
…is National Hug Day. We could all probably use one.
A few things that caught my attention this morning:
This ad was deemed ‘too graphic.’ But new moms say it shows the reality of postpartum. It literally made me tear up, and my babies are 12 and 10. I may never forget the sweet, all-too-brief relief of that warm water.
The New Anti-Trans Culture War Hiding in Plain Sight. A good overview of anti-trans legislation moving in the states and the network of right-wing and TERF orgs behind them. Reading these pieces can start to feel a little Charlie with the red yarn sometimes, but damn it, they are out there.
And on NBC Think, Emma Madden says yes, brands are buying, repackaging and selling feminism back to us – as they do – but wonders if new music and musical artists lend themselves more to commodification. I wonder if she has a point or I’m just distracted by all the damn kids on my lawn.
In the empire of the senses
You're the queen of all you survey
All the cities, all the nations
Everything that falls your way, I say
There is a deeper world than this…
Abortion
Republicans are bringing back a bill to protect "abortion survivors"
Anna North, Vox
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday is hearing testimony on a bill that would put in place requirements for the care of infants born after failed abortions — and could send doctors to prison if they fail to comply. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, sponsored by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), failed in the Senate last year.
Senate Republicans promote anti-abortion message
Sandhya Raman, Roll Call
Two of Trump’s key priorities for Congress are passing this bill and passing legislation that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. Both the GOP and Democrats are expected to continue leveraging their own bills as campaign trail messages.
Planned Parenthood, ACLU sue over Trump abortion coverage rule
Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill
Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union are suing the Trump administration over a new rule requiring insurers to send a separate bill for abortion coverage. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, claims the rule is designed to make insurance companies stop offering coverage for abortion.
The Families Caught in the Middle of the War Over Abortion After a Down Syndrome Diagnosis
Carter Sherman, VICE
Since 2013, four states have enacted bills to ban abortion if someone wants one because of a genetic anomaly such as Down syndrome, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion restrictions. Another four have passed bills that ban abortions specifically in cases of Down syndrome.
Court challenges have paralyzed all but one of those bills. But there’s no sign that these laws will slow down: Of the eight total bans, four were passed in 2019 alone.
States weigh fetal-remains bills amid abortion debate
Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press
A law requiring abortion and medical providers to cremate or bury fetal remains passed the state Senate Tuesday in Utah, one of several states considering similar measures that abortion-rights advocates say stigmatize the procedure. The proposals come after the U.S. Supreme Court last year upheld a similar Indiana law signed by then-Gov. Mike Pence.
More than 2,400 fetuses found at Illinois home to be buried
Michael Tarm, Associated Press
In what’s sure to be a politically charged ceremony, more than 2,400 fetuses found last year at the suburban Chicago home of one of the Midwest’s most prolific abortion doctors will be buried Wednesday in Indiana, a state with some of the nation’s toughest anti-abortion laws. Indiana’s top law enforcement official will preside over the mass burial in South Bend.
Thousands of Fetal Remains Found at a Dead Abortion Doctor's House Are Being Buried
Carter Sherman, VICE
The 2,400-plus fetal remains discovered on the property of a deceased abortion provider will be “memorialized” Wednesday at a graveside service in South Bend, Indiana, Attorney General Curtis T. Hill Jr. announced Monday. Hill also plans to offer remarks at the service. The remains were found in an Illinois house and car belonging to Dr. Ulrich Klopfer, who used to practice at abortion clinics in Indiana, shortly after Klopfer died in September.
A Catholic priest in Rhode Island suggests abortion is more heinous a crime than pedophilia
Scottie Andrew, CNN
A Catholic priest in Rhode Island last week condemned lawmakers who supported the state's abortion bill and said they should be denied communion. Now he is suggesting abortion is more heinous a crime than pedophilia. In an interview with CNN affiliate WJAR, the Rev. Richard Bucci of Sacred Heart Church said that while abuse is a "horrible thing," the comparison between pedophilia and abortion is unfair because he believes more children have been aborted than abused.
Oklahoma bill that would revoke licenses from doctors who perform abortions slammed by activists
Ivan Pereira, ABC News
A bill in Oklahoma that would take away the licenses of physicians who perform abortions is getting slammed from both abortion rights and anti-abortion activists. Last week, the Oklahoma House of Representatives voted 71-21 in favor of House Bill 1182, which would mandate the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision revoke the doctor’s license for a year and fine them at least $500 if they perform the procedure in the state.
Louisiana has passed nearly 100 anti-abortion restrictions since Roe v. Wade
Kate Smith, CBS News
Supreme Court to hear abortion case in March Since abortion was nationally legalized nearly 50 years ago, Louisiana has enacted almost 100 anti-abortion restrictions, more than any other state in the country, according to a new study shared exclusively with CBS News. The study, released by the Guttmacher Institute on Tuesday morning, highlights what some reproductive rights supporters say is a strategy to "regulate abortion out of existence."
LGBTQ
The New Anti-Trans Culture War Hiding in Plain Sight
Sydney Bauer, The New Republic
A series of connections among bills like South Dakota's H.B. 1057 reveals the network of organizations and individuals at the heart of the anti-trans policy landscape and culture wars playing out nationally right now. While many pieces of anti-transgender legislation will never become law, the ones that do could have serious implications beyond the LGBTQ community, especially if a court rules that states have the right to legally create anti-discrimination exemptions through legislation.
Ohio bill would punish doctors who help transgender kids transition
Jackie Borchardt, The Columbus Dispatch
A new Ohio bill seeks to restrict gender-identity medical treatments for transgender youth by penalizing the doctors who prescribe them. Republican Reps. Ron Hood of Ashville and Bill Dean of Xenia plan to introduce the "Protect Vulnerable Children Act" this week.
Ohio Bill Would Criminalize Doctors for Treating Transgender Youth
Trudy Ring, The Advocate Magazine
One day after South Dakota killed a bill that would criminalize doctors who provide gender-transition procedures to minors, Ohio lawmakers say they’ll introduce similar legislation. Two Republican state representatives in Ohio, Ron Hood and Bill Dean, unveiled their bill at a press conference Tuesday and said they’ll introduce it soon.
Study: LGBTQ+ Youth are Four Times More Likely to Attempt Suicide
Desiree Guerrero, Out Magazine
Over the past decade in the United States, there have been significant increases in deaths caused by suicide — particularly among teens and young adults, according to a report released by The Trevor Project last week.
How Out is Out Enough for Gay Candidates Like Pete Buttigieg?
Brian Gaither, The Advocate
The ability to attract the support of sufficient numbers of low-information voters to win an election is the art of modern politics. For LGBTQ+ politicians, in particular, this task presents an especially fraught dilemma. If a gay man wants to win them, or claim to have won them, on the basis of his platform and record alone, his best choice is to say as little as possible about being gay — sometimes to the extreme of saying nothing at all. If he’s running as openly gay candidate who wants people to evaluate that identity as relevant to his candidacy, he has to decide how best to deploy the information to his advantage. However much he chooses to be “out” for the electorate, the bigots in our society blindly committed to their bigotry will never vote for him if they know.
Zaya Wade Just Gave Expert Advice to Anyone Afraid to Come Out as LGBTQ
Brittney McNamara, Teen Vogue
Coming out can be a scary thing, especially in a world where LGBTQ people still face discrimination. But in a video shared by her mom Gabrielle Union, Zaya Wade set the record straight on why coming out can be so important. In the clip of Zaya and dad Dwyane Wade having a conversation, Zaya said living her most authentic life is freeing.
Parenting & Caregiving
Trump budget seeks $1 billion for child care, but expert says that's a 'drop in the bucket'
Megan Leonhardt, CNBC
The White House on Monday rolled out a proposed $4.8 trillion budget that earmarked $1 billion toward increasing affordable child care options for American families. President Donald Trump's proposed fiscal 2021 budget aims to cut down funding for many social programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. But amid the cuts, the Trump administration included a one-time, $1 billion investment to build out a more robust supply of child care options, including programs sponsored by employers.
$1 billion would’ve almost my covered my costs of having two in a downtown DC daycare.
Editorial | Indiana lawmakers should have passed maternal health bill
South Bend Tribune
Given Indiana’s abysmal infant mortality and maternal mortality rates, you might think that a bill aimed at requiring reasonable protections for pregnant women in the workplace — a bill that Gov. Eric Holcomb had deemed a priority — would be an easy win.
You would be wrong.
In contrast, check out what Michigan’s doing to improve maternal and infant health outcomes…
Reproductive Justice
Black Women Keep Dying in Childbirth. This Is How Michigan's Governor Plans to Fix the Crisis.
Keya Vakil, Courier
In Detroit, pregnant Black women are 4.5 times more likely to die compared to their white counterparts. “This is a staggering disparity,” Gov. Whitmer said last month. Determined to reduce those horrifying numbers, last week she introduced a new plan to tackle the state’s maternal and infant mortality crises.
The Sex Education Expert Speaking Up About Medical Racism
Ananya Garg, YES! Magazine
Ericka Hart is changing the face of health education. The sex education expert and professor of Human Sexuality at the Columbia School of Social Work is not one expects to see when she shows up in the classroom or at a speaking engagement. She’s “a millennial,” and she’s a Black, queer, nonbinary, femme. At 28 years old, the breast cancer awareness and representation advocate was diagnosed with breast cancer, and now in her mid- 30s, she is challenging institutionalized racism in the medical industry—known as medical racism.
Birth Control
Utah Bill Would Provide Doctors More Flexibility In Prescribing Contraception To Minors
Kerry Bringhurst, Utah Public Radio
A Utah Republican lawmaker is urging his colleagues to support legislation that would allow low-income female minors to get a contraception prescription without parental consent.
From a Utah Republican?? I know. But don’t get too excited...
Ward said if Utah law is changed under his bill, clinics which do not refer patients to abortion providers could use $2.5 million to provide birth control drugs to young women.
Equal Rights Amendment
Ruth Bader Ginsburg probably just dealt a fatal blow to the Equal Rights Amendment
Ian Millhiser, Vox
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the most important feminist lawyer in American history. Long before she became a judge, she convinced the Supreme Court to hold that gender discrimination can violate the Constitution. She spent many of the following years working to strengthen those protections for women. Yet Ginsburg said on Monday that one of her life’s goals — writing a strong prohibition against gender discrimination into the Constitution — must be put on hold.
It's Not Looking Good for the Rebirth of the Equal Rights Amendment
Ashley Reese, Jezebel
Equal Rights Amendment advocates received a blow from one of the bill’s biggest and most consequential supporters when Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that she believes that the deadline to ratify the ERA as a constitutional amendment has long expired. Instead, she recommends that efforts to codify the ERA start from scratch.
Work & Employment
Today in “new research reveals water is wet”…
Working women with caregiving duties are the most stressed, WebMD finds
Valerie Bolden-Barrett, HR Dive
A WebMD Health Services survey released Feb. 11 found that working mothers with caregiving duties face isolation, loneliness and stress, and want help from their employers to "help them better manage these issues."
Data shows pay transparency could be the No.1 solution to closing the gender pay gap
Courtney Connley, CNBC
New data shows that openly sharing employee salaries could be a top solution to closing the gender pay gap. Right now, at the current rate of change, global gender parity will not be reached for another 99.5 years, according to the World Economic Forum.
Opinion | Mississippi Needs Equal Employment Opportunity for All
Jay Kucia, Jackson Free Press
The truth is that none of the major equal employment opportunity statutes—Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act 1967, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990—protects workers at businesses with fewer than 15 employees.
This means it is generally legal under federal law for small businesses to discriminate against workers based on their gender, religion, national origin, age or disability.