I only read it for the articles.
Today…
is Nurses Day, so I’m shouting out my sister, a registered nurse who works overnights at an ER in Los Angeles and is coming off a 7-day stretch this morning. Can you imagine. Every word of that makes my back hurt.
is the first day of spring. It almost feels insulting. Everything is absurd right now.
I learned Playboy Magazine Is Closing Down, Probably for Good. I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole, but let’s say I neither mourn nor cheer this news. “I only read it for the articles” wasn’t total bullshit. Right now, the lead article is Alicia Garza writing on voting rights, race and power dynamics.
was the birthday of labor organizer and suffragist Margaret Foley (1875-1957). Called the “Grand Heckler” – had me at hello, Maggie! – for her habit of confronting anti-suffrage speakers. In 1910, she took to a hot air balloon, making a solo flight while tossing suffrage literature over Lawrence, Massachusetts.
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when you share this newsletter with your friends and colleagues.
Abortion
The Coronavirus Is Making the Case for Abortion Via Telemedicine
Becca Andrews | Mother Jones
Telemedicine—in which doctors administer medication via webcam and a remotely-controlled drawer—has become an easy target for anti-abortion legislators who try to claim it is dangerous and limits physician oversight. But the coronavirus pandemichighlights precisely why access to medication abortion through telemedicine is so crucial. And now, abortion providers and advocates are calling for states to suspend bans on telemedicine in cases of medication abortion.
State Lawmakers Aren't Letting the Coronavirus Stop Their Crusade Against Abortion Rights
Imani Gandy | Rewire.News
The president and governors across the country are declaring states of emergency as the coronavirus spreads. And still, state-level Republicans are jamming through anti-abortion bills.
Trump ban on fetal tissue research blocks coronavirus treatment effort
Amy Goldstein | Washington Post
A senior scientist at a government biomedical research laboratory has been thwarted in his efforts to conduct experiments on possible treatments for the new coronavirus because of the Trump administration’s restrictions on research with human fetal tissue.
How Abortion Politics Finally Swallowed Dan Lipinski
David Karol, Chloe Thurston | The Daily Beast
With his narrow loss in Tuesday’s Illinois primaries, eight-term Chicago-area congressman Dan Lipinski, one of the last pro-life Democrats on Capitol Hill, became the most recent casualty of the partisan divide on abortion in the U.S.
‘We 100% Plan to Stay Open’: Abortion Providers Say They Will Continue Services During Pandemic
Emma Coleman | Route Fifty
“Abortion is not something you can put off for a few months,” said Brigid Leahy, the senior director of public policy for Planned Parenthood Illinois. “We do not want to delay that care because the longer you delay, the more it increases risk and cost. It’s important that patients don’t postpone necessary healthcare.”
Idaho bill outlawing abortion if Roe is reversed goes to governor
Keith Ridler | Associated Press
Legislation making abortion a crime in Idaho should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing the procedure is headed to the governor’s desk on Wednesday. The House voted 49-18 to approve the measure that includes exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. Under the measure, the criminal punishment would be a felony and apply to the person performing the abortion, not the woman. Doctors could have their licenses suspended or revoked.
It’s Open Season on Abortion Access, and Missouri Is Leading the Charge
Liz Miller | Riverfront Times
While abortion bans are being proposed and signed into law across the country, in Missouri, little by little, anti-abortion legislation has chipped away at access through regulations — ones that critics say are medically unnecessary. This has left groups such as NARAL with their backs against the wall, but the fight isn't over. In fact, abortion could be a crucial issue in the upcoming Missouri gubernatorial race, perhaps for the first time ever.
‘Long Time Coming’: Abortion Is No Longer a Crime in New Zealand
Jamie Ross | The Daily Beast
Abortion is no longer illegal in New Zealand after lawmakers passed a historic bill Wednesday that treats the procedure as a health issue. Until the vote, abortion in the country was regulated by a criminal law that forced women to prove to a doctor that their pregnancy presented a danger to their physical or mental health before they could get the procedure. Now any woman who is up to 20 weeks pregnant can get an abortion, and those over 20 weeks can get one if approved by a health practitioner.
Time: New Zealand Passes Landmark Law to Decriminalize Abortion
New York Times: New Zealand Eases Abortion Restrictions
Birth Control
Bayer asks Illinois top court to toss Essure cases by 160 out-of-state women
Nate Raymond | Reuters
Bayer AG on Wednesday urged Illinois’ top court to dismiss claims by 160 out-of-state women who claim it failed to warn of the dangers associated with its Essure birth control device, saying the cases could not be pursued in the state. The Illinois Supreme Court considered whether to allow the cases to proceed against Bayer during arguments held in Springfield that were streamed online so members of the public unable to attend due to the COVID-19 outbreak could watch.
Group to extend birth control ahead of potential baby boom
Associated Press
Maine’s provider of family planning services is taking steps to make sure patients don’t see an interruption in birth control prescriptions while much of the state enters shut-down mode. Maine Family Planning has 18 clinics in the state and serves thousands of residents. The nonprofit said Tuesday it’s extending birth control services for three months.
LGBTQ
How Social Distancing Could Lead to a Spike In White Nationalism
EJ Dickson | Rolling Stone
Anti-extremism experts are “quite concerned” about hateful rhetoric spiking in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — not just because of a rise in anti-Asian sentiment related to the virus, but also due to people in self-quarantine being more exposed to extremist movements online. According to Southern Poverty Law Center's annual report, while the number of hate groups has dropped slightly over the past year, from an all-time high of 1,020 in 2018 to 940 in 2019, the number of anti-LGBTQ groups in particular, though, has risen by nearly 44 percent.
Campus, dorms closed for coronavirus, leaving some LGBTQ students with nowhere to go
Katelyn Burns | Vox
Ultimately, the level of support parents offer their LGBTQ kids dictates the decision-making process for how LGBTQ students handle their campuses shutting down in the wake of the pandemic. While many students are able to find alternative housing, some are forced to go back into the closet in order to move home with their parents.
Idaho’s legislature hasn’t addressed the coronavirus. But it has passed 2 anti-trans bills this week.
Katelyn Burns | Vox
Monday evening, the state Senate passed a bill banning gender changes on birth certificates issued in the state. The bill had already passed the state House of Representatives and will now head to Little’s desk for either a signature or a veto. The bill is one of three anti-trans proposals under consideration in the state, including a ban on allowing trans girls to compete in girls’ sports passed Monday and a proposal to make treating trans youth for gender dysphoria a felony that is under consideration in the legislature.
Trans Judge Candidate Wins, Anti-LGBTQ Congressman Loses in Illinois
Trudy Ring | The Advocate
Several LGBTQ and ally candidates had success in the Illinois primary Tuesday, with four out judicial candidates winning, including the state’s first transgender elected official, and a pro-LGBTQ progressive defeating one of Congress’s most conservative Democrats. The judicial candidates all won races to serve on the Cook County Circuit Court; Cook, the state’s most populous county, includes Chicago.
Reproductive Health & Justice
Coronavirus Isolation Is Not A Safe Option For Anyone Facing Domestic Violence
Elly Belle | Refinery29
Social distancing and staying at home can present serious challenge for people living with abusive partners, family members, or others. For many, this pandemic could means a rise in intimate partner violence or domestic abuse — whether it means verbal, emotional abuse, or physical violence.
Reproductive Health Telemedicine Proves Vital During COVID-19 Outbreak
Sarah Lloyd | Rewire.News
As COVID-19 spreads throughout the United States, online birth control and emergency contraception prescribers are seeing an increase in patients, and reproductive health care via telemedicine has become critical.
Workplace Equality
The Coronavirus Is a Disaster for Feminism
Helen Lewis | The Atlantic
For those with caring responsibilities, an infectious-disease outbreak is unlikely to give them time to write King Lear or develop a theory of optics. A pandemic magnifies all existing inequalities (even as politicians insist this is not the time to talk about anything other than the immediate crisis). Working from home in a white-collar job is easier; employees with salaries and benefits will be better protected; self-isolation is less taxing in a spacious house than a cramped apartment. But one of the most striking effects of the coronavirus will be to send many couples back to the 1950s. Across the world, women’s independence will be a silent victim of the pandemic.
Working moms among the hardest hit by coronavirus pandemic
Kate Smith | CBS News
As homeschooling, business closures and working from home become the new normal in America, experts warn one group is already feeling the economic pain of the coronavirus more than anyone else: women, particularly working mothers.
Coronavirus pandemic sheds light on the problem with underpaying women
Heather Marcoux | Motherly
The pandemic is highlighting the precarious financial situations of many mothers and the consequences of building an economy on the labor of underpaid women. It's also highlighting just how many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck—about 23 million people can't miss a pay period and might soon.