It's Friday, n'at
Today…
in 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated. And I had missed the news that the Manhattan DA is reexamining this case in light of the new Netflix documentary. (Which I also missed. My TV viewing these days is sparse, and entirely tween-led.)
National Caregivers Day. The CDC has a new report looking at caregiver health, and it’s… about what you’d expect. 1 in 5 say their own health is poor, and it’s worse in states that didn’t expand Medicaid under the ACA.
International Mother Language Day. To celebrate, I will be speaking in Sarcasm with a heavy yinzer accent.
A couple deeply subjective highlights…
WBUR: Massachusetts Suffragette And Birth Control Trailblazer Gets Her Due In A New Documentary.
“In one of her most audacious moves, Ames, who was born in 1878, carved a wooden penis, then trotted it out on Commonwealth Avenue to demonstrate proper condom use.” I am here for that kind of time and commitment, and a special heart for the phrase “trotted it out.”
“Ames also found the inequities of child rearing highly problematic. She criticized her husband’s inaction and wrote to her mother that ‘marriage has added to my burdens.’” Gurl.
Washington Post: Warren wants Bloomberg to release women from nondisclosure agreements. It’s not that simple.
Not okay: NDAs “can also be used to protect those women, [ethics expert Melanie] Sloan said. Fair or not, if you need to get another job, being out there accusing your former employer of sexual harassment isn’t always the best look.”
Do not miss the growing labor rights movement in the tech world. They are speaking up, they are unionizing, they have just about had it. Riot Games' Proposed $10M Settlement Withdrawn by New Counsel in Gender Discrimination Suit
Below, my 2020 Halloween costume. (Will need hand-carved wooden penis.)
Abortion
California Asks Federal Judge to Block New Abortion Funding Rule
Maria Dinzeo, Courthouse News Service
On March 4, Title X clinics will be compelled to physically and financially sever abortion from the rest of their services under a rule issued by the Health and Human Services Department. On Thursday, California and a woman’s health clinic asked a federal judge to stave off the new regulations, arguing that the effect would imperil the healthcare of thousands of low-income women who rely on these clinics.
Florida Legislature passes abortion parental consent bill
Brendan Farrington, AP
Girls under the age of 18 will have to get a parent’s permission before having an abortion under a bill passed by the Florida Legislature on Thursday that Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign. The House voted 75-43 largely along party lines for the legislation that expands a current law that requires a girl’s parents are notified before she can have an abortion.
Abortion measure clears Kentucky House committee
Bruce Schreiner, AP
A proposed ballot measure aimed at amending Kentucky’s Constitution to ensure it doesn’t offer protections for abortion rights was advanced by a House committee on Thursday. The proposed constitutional amendment cleared the Republican-led committee after a presentation by abortion-rights supporters was cut short to allow a vote. The committee chairman, Rep. Kevin Bratcher, said the panel was nearly out of time after a discussion on an unrelated bill lasted nearly two hours.
Appeals court keeps block on Mississippi 6-week abortion ban
Emily Wagster Pettus, AP
A federal appeals court is keeping a block on a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions at about six weeks — a stage when many women may not even know they are pregnant. A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made the decision Thursday, agreeing with a district court judge who blocked it from taking effect in 2019, soon after it was signed by then-Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican.
LGBTQ
Solace Is an App That Helps Trans People Transition
Harron Walker, VICE
After entering some basic information—their name, their pronouns, and their location by state—the user is presented with some common transition “goals,” as Solace terms them. These include all of the major transition milestones like beginning hormone replacement therapy and updating the name and gender marker on one’s passport, as well as seemingly mundane (but surprisingly difficult) tasks like buying the right bra.
Trans Murders Are Continuing Into 2020
David Artavia, The Advocate
According to data from the FBI, nearly one in five hate crimes in the U.S. are motivated by anti-LGBTQ bias. Of that number, 60 percent targeted gay men. Transgender women of color were most likely to be murdered as part of a hate crime.
Birth Control
How Do Couples Share the Cost of Birth Control?
Morgan Ome, The Atlantic
The burden of many of the most common contraceptive methods falls on women. Some heterosexual couples try to fix that imbalance financially.
Kentucky Bill Creates Sweeping Religious, Ethical Exemptions In Health Care
Josh James, WUKY-FM
Kentucky health care workers who refuse to take part in procedures or dispense medications on ethical or religious grounds would be granted legal protections under legislation opponents are calling "extreme." As written, Senate Bill 90 would afford legal protections to a wide range of employees working in health care-related fields, from physicians to insurers.
Sex ed, birth control debated
Stephen Mills, Times Argus
Vermont officials here are grappling with a student sexual health curriculum and whether to mandate access to birth control in schools. The Legislature is taking testimony to both craft a policy around a sexual health curriculum and what a policy on providing contraception should include – only condoms, or other implantable devices and the pill for female students.
Reproductive Health & Justice
Identity politics isn’t hurting liberalism. It’s saving it.
Zack Beauchamp, Vox
What critics lambaste as an attack on liberalism is actually its best form: the logical extension of liberalism’s core commitment to social equality and democracy, adapted to address modern sources of inequality. A liberalism that rejects identity politics is a liberalism for the powerful, one that relegates the interests of marginalized groups to second-class status.
States Step up Funding for Planned Parenthood Clinics
Susan Haigh, AP
Several states have begun picking up the tab for family planning services at clinics run by Planned Parenthood, which last year quit a $260 million federal funding program over a Trump administration rule prohibiting clinics from referring women for abortions.
11 Black Social Justice Organizations To Support Every Month
Tiffany Lashai Curtis, HelloGiggles
If you identify as an ally, to put your money or your time into the organizations that are working to eradicate the many injustices that Black people still face. And if you’re not sure where to start, ahead are 11 social justice organizations to support this month, and every month.
Lawmakers React To Report of Widespread Non-Consensual Pelvic Exams
Molly Longman, Refinery29
Medical professionals and legislators are demanding accountability after a report by The New York Times found that medical schools and students were performing pelvic exams on unconscious patients without consent. In an article published this week, the newspaper interviewed sources who confirmed that the practice is happening at medical institutions across the nation.
Nome, Alaska Sued by Woman Who Says Rape Wasn't Investigated
The New York Times
A former police dispatcher in a small Alaska town filed a lawsuit Thursday, alleging her colleagues in the Nome Police Department didn’t investigate after she filed a rape report. Clarice Hardy’s lawsuit claims the inaction was “part of the city’s systemic and ongoing failure to protect Alaska Native woman from sexual abuse and assault.”
Only a few reproductive justice bills pass in New Mexico's 2020 legislative session
Susan Dunlap, NM Political Report
Of the 12 reproductive justice bills prefiled or introduced in this year’s legislative session, only two made it to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk.
Workplace Equality
The False Prophets of the Childcare Revolution
Elliot Haspel, The New Republic
Business groups and executive types love to talk about the importance of childcare. Yet nowhere in the aforementioned reports—or any other industry report—is a suggestion that business help pick up the tab, through taxation, for services it acknowledges directly impacts its profits. There are certainly laudable recommendations in these documents, and it’s undeniable that vocal business support has made it easier for lawmakers to pass modest early childhood funding increases. In the big picture, though, corporate executives and their lobbyists are more than happy to advocate for cuts to their already low tax rates, further squeezing tight state budgets and taking away money that could otherwise be used for birth-to-five early care and education.
80% Of Americans Support Paid Family And Medical Leave, Yet Less Than 20% Have Access
Mary Beth Ferrante, Forbes
It seems like momentum is building for a national paid family leave policy. In the first six weeks of the year, the Ways and Means Committee held another hearing on paid family and medical leave and even President Trump called for support for a paid family leave policy during his State of The Union. Talking about paid family leave at this level seems like progress, but are we any closer to covering the 80% of Americans that still do not have any access to paid family leave?
More CEOs are under pressure to do better by the world. But it's complicated.
Jeanne Sahadi, CNN
Corporate CEOs and boards are under increasing pressure from investors and others to do better by the planet and everyone living on it. That means doing all of the following and more: Go green. Do business more ethically, humanely and sustainably. Treat employees well and pay them fairly. Diversify the workplace and boardroom. Improve data security. Do more to help the towns and cities where you operate. And, while you're at it, keep growing profits.
Bloomberg Claims He Pays Women Equally. Company Data Says Otherwise.
Maxwell Tani, Daily Beast
Michael Bloomberg claimed during Wednesday night’s contentious Democratic primary debate that women at his company “get paid exactly the same as men.” But data from parts of his massive media empire suggest the opposite.
"I’d like to do that piece of meat": The sexism allegations against Bloomberg, explained
Anna North, Vox
Nondisclosure agreements, lawsuits, and allegations of sexist comments could be big issues for his campaign.
Nondisclosure and secrecy laws protect Bloomberg - not the women who sued him
Elizabeth C. Tippett, The Conversation
NDAs have been blamed for keeping women silent about sexual harassment and assault in the workplace, particularly in the #MeToo era.
5 Things to Know About Fighting Workplace Discrimination, From Someone Who’s Been Through It
Diana Falzone, Good Housekeeping
After suing Fox News for gender and disability discrimination, Diana Falzone was forced to be silent. Now, she's ready to speak up.
American women seek more than $66M in damages from US Soccer
Ronald Blum, AP
Players on the U.S. women's national team are seeking more than $66 million in damages as part of their gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The damages were included in slew of papers filed Thursday night in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles ahead of a trial scheduled to start May 5.
New Hampshire Lawmakers Reprimanded for Skipping Anti-Harassment Training
Holly Ramer, U.S. News & World Report
Seven Republican members of the New Hampshire House were publicly reprimanded Thursday for failing to attend mandatory training on sexual harassment prevention in a contentious session that lasted far longer than the two-hour course.