Love in the time of coronavirus
Today…
is day one of “distance learning” at casa de los Perrones, and woe be to anyone who tells the children that technically this week is considered spring break and technically there are no academic expectations until next Monday.
is Clean Out Your Closet Week. May as well.
If we could have a weekly web series of these two meeting up at deli for a nice bowl of soup, news chat and war stories - that, I would watch.
This would be an excellent time to tell your friends and colleagues to subscribe.
Abortion
Pelosi, Trump strike deal on coronavirus response package
Scott Wong & Mike Lillis | The Hill
To get there, they had to iron out a small handful of stubborn wrinkles that threatened to sink the entire package — disagreements that were finally resolved late Friday evening. Republicans, for instance, had insisted on the inclusion of language, known as the Hyde Amendment, explicitly barring the use of federal funds for abortions. Democrats conceded and threw it in.
In Coronavirus Funding Talks, Trump's Anti-Abortion Extremism Is Laid Bare
Paige Alexandria | Rewire.News
The Trump administration apparently held a coronavirus aid package hostage in order to push its radical anti-abortion agenda. It was cynical and dangerous.
Republicans Are Sneaking Abortion Restrictions into the Coronavirus Bill
Marie Solis | VICE
As lawmakers neared a deal on a coronavirus rescue package that would include paid sick leave and free virus testing, a few roadblocks emerged. Among them: Republican attempts to wedge anti-choice restrictions into the House's relief bill, turning—if momentarily—a public health crisis into an abortion debate.
For the ‘Beyoncé of Abortion Storytelling,’ the Fight Is Just Beginning
Rebecca Gale | Harper's Bazaar
Renee Bracey Sherman has worked with hundreds of people to share their abortion stories and now serves as founder and executive director of We Testify, an organization dedicated to helping people do just that without shame or fear of stigma. The goal is that as abortion stories become more common, more human, and more recognizable, the shame and stigma surrounding abortion will begin to fade.
What the Equal Rights Amendment Means to Abortion Providers
Lauren Young | Rewire.News
Rewire.News spoke to four providers, as well as a physician who performs abortions, about their takes on the ERA from the frontlines of their work.
Giving birth can be transformative. Having an abortion can be transformative, too
Dominika Seidman | Salon
Giving birth can be transformative. Having an abortion can be transformative. If we don't give people the opportunity to pursue the decision that is right for them, we're compounding their trauma and creating new obstacles to recovery and wellness. Our job as doctors who provide abortion care—whether we meet patients at a shelter, clinic, hospital or anywhere else—is to provide them the care that is right for them, with compassion and free from judgment.
How a Crop of New Movies Are Changing the Narrative About Abortion
Suyin Haynes | Time Magazine
As several U.S. states undergo their own battles over abortion laws in the courts, a number of new independent films are taking a more quotidian, and decidedly human, approach to depicting the procedure and the decisions that lead up to it.
My sincere sympathies to movies premiering right now. I imagine there are endless legal and whatever reasons why these can’t be pivoted directly to streaming services, and it’s a shame…
A Deeply Personal Movie With a Pointed Political Message
David Sims | The Atlantic
Never Rarely Sometimes Always follows a teenager’s attempt to terminate her pregnancy in a sober, artful story that never feels like a polemic.
Bust: "Never Rarely Sometimes Always" And The State Of Abortion In America
Jezebel: Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always Director: Eliza Hittman on Her Tense, Minimalist Abortion Film
L.A. Times: Abortion is still a taboo movie topic. 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always' fights to do it justice
New York Times: ‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ Review: A Woman’s Heroic Journey
NPR: In 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always,' A Teenager With A Choice
LGBTQ
3 Abortion Providers On Tailoring Their Services To Trans Patients
Jo Yurcaba |Bustle
Abortion care is known as a "women's issue." The pro-choice movement uses slogans like "her body, her choice," and abortion clinics often have "women" in their names. Gendered language, however — paired with the widespread discrimination transgender people face in health care — means many trans and non-binary people avoid seeking care altogether. No statistics are available on how many trans people receive abortions annually, but the number is thought to be relatively small.
Let's Talk Queer Self-Care in a Pandemic
Kate Sosin | NewNowNext
For LGBTQ people in particular, a pandemic will present unique challenges, according to experts. In an open letter, more than 100 organizations outlined the ways that LGBTQ people are at increased susceptibility to COVID-19.
Study finds that Caitlyn Jenner made people less transphobic
Alex Bollinger | LGBTQ Nation
A new paper by University of Kansas researchers is based on a survey of 1400 people who followed news of Caitlyn Jenner’s transition in 2015. The researchers found that older transphobic people were less likely to say that Jenner’s transition was a sign of “negative social trends” than younger transphobic people. And older transphobic people were more likely to support pro-transgender policies if they saw her story in a positive light, which means that even people who hold transphobic views were still willing to support pro-trans policies because of her story.
Alabama nonprofit linked to Roy Moore asks Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 gay marriage decision
John Riley | Metro Weekly
The Foundation for Moral Law, an Alabama conservative nonprofit group that was once headed by former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore and now led by his wife, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
Kentucky's Largest City Embraces LGBTQ-Owned Businesses
Neal Broverman | The Advocate Magazine
The city of Louisville, the biggest city in Kentucky, passed an ordinance earlier this month making it easier for LGBTQ-owned businesses to nab city contracts and procurement opportunities. The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce lobbied for the ordinance, which will offer NGLCC-certified business enterprises a foot in the door when it comes to obtaining more work through the city.
Parenting & Caregiving
Moms are bearing the brunt of childcare during the Coronavirus—and it's time to discuss it
Danielle Campoamor | HelloGiggles
And outside of healthcare workers are moms, who prior to the Coronavirus outbreak, were already taking on the majority of the child-rearing and household responsibilities despite more and more of us working outside the home. Now we are the ones who are bearing the brunt of this health crisis and the necessary precautions and accommodations that have followed.
‘We don’t have a plan’: Coronavirus adds pressure to caregivers sandwiched between seniors and kids
Bethany Ao | Philadelphia Inquirer
Experts say that sandwich generation caregivers are in a uniquely difficult situation. Their parents or grandparents are often in the group most at risk for coronavirus-related illness, and there’s reason to think that kids, though not likely to suffer severe consequences from infection, may be helping amplify transmission.
How coronavirus hits women
Elizabeth Ralph | POLITICO
As we all hunker down to weather the coronavirus pandemic, let’s remember that women are going to bear a large share of the load. When it comes to infection and death rates, the disease appears to be affecting men more than women. Men have a higher death rate from COVID-19, and slightly more men than women appear to be infected right now. But the social and economic disruption caused by the virus will likely hit women hard.
Reproductive Health & Justice
What Planned Parenthood Is Doing To Prep For Coronavirus
Emma McGowan | Bustle
For people who are showing symptoms of COVID-19 — fever, cough, or shortness of breath — and who usually go to Planned Parenthood for primary care, Upadhya asks that they contact their local health department first and follow the steps they recommend. That’s partly because while some Planned Parenthood clinics do have tests for coronavirus, not all do. Your health department can help ensure you get the care you need without risking the health of others.
Pregnant People Turning to Home Births During COVID-19 Pandemic
Emily Shugerman | The Daily Beast
As concern about the new coronavirus spreads, a growing number of women are considering birthing outside the hospital, according to midwives, doulas and birth center workers across the country. A fear of contamination—as well as hospital overcrowding, supply shortages, and increasingly tough restrictions on visitors—is leading more and more women to consider having their birth at home.
The women's self-care industry only "empowers" the wealthy and white—and it's time for a major change
Mara Santilli | HelloGiggles
Many women—especially those of minority racial, ethnic, sexual, and gender identities—are being left out of the women’s self-care and empowerment conversation because they’re busy working multiple jobs just to support themselves. Automatically, they are excluded due to their lack of privilege.
HIV/AIDS Is Not ‘A Gay Disease’: The Persistent Myth That Eclipses the Disease’s Impact on Black Women
David Johns | The Root
It’s 2020, and the perception still persists that HIV/AIDS is a “gay” disease. But the reality is different: Nearly a quarter of new HIV infections are women, and about 59 percent of those infected are straight black women. That means black women are at higher risk for acquiring HIV than any other demographic of women—and that’s even before accounting for black trans women, who are at high risk of infection but aren’t included in those numbers.
Courts & Judiciary
Progressive groups urge Supreme Court to broadcast arguments during coronavirus closure
Tucker Higgins, CNBC
On Friday, 11 national progressive and civil rights groups representing millions of members urged the top court not to let that happen. The coalition is pressing the justices to broadcast all of its arguments live to the public while the building remains closed to spectators.
A Conservative Agenda Unleashed on the Federal Courts
Rebecca R. Ruiz, Robert Gebeloff, Steve Eder & Ben Protess | New York Times
As Mr. Trump seeks re-election, his rightward overhaul of the federal judiciary — in particular, the highly influential appeals courts — has been invoked as one of his most enduring accomplishments. While individual nominees have drawn scrutiny, The New York Times conducted a deep examination of all 51 new appellate judges to obtain a collective portrait of the Trump-populated bench.
Workplace Equality
Parlow Cone takes over at US Soccer at critical juncture
Anne Peterson | Associated Press
New U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone’s first challenge will be to confront the fallout over the federation’s widely condemned legal stance in the gender discrimination lawsuit filed by the women’s national team.
An Important Year for Women's Sports, Paused By Coronavirus
Talya Minsberg | New York Times
This was set to be a groundbreaking year for women’s sports. But that was all before game-by-game cancellations turned into a flood of proclamations that “due to an abundance of caution” over coronavirus risks, this season would be canceled, that venue shut down, this competition postponed.
Get outside today if you can….