Never done
Today…
is the birthday of environmentalist and Silent Spring author Rachel Carson (1907–1964)
is the birthday of Victoria Early Matthews (1861–1907), journalist, suffragist, social worker, outspoken women’s and civil rights activist, everything. She did all. the. things. She co-founded national organizations, led anti-lynching campaigns, established a home to support young Black girls and women, I could go on all day, but I’m already so late.
is National Grape Popsicle Day. You can 100% taste that, can’t you.
You have two. Share with your sister….
Abortion
'AKA Jane Roe' and the Dangers of Making People Figureheads
Princess Weekes | The Mary Sue
Norma McCorvey was a person, not a figurehead, and when there are attempts to frame progressive movements around one “perfect victim,” all they do is set a standards that are unfair. Abortion rights are bigger than any singular person, even Jane Roe herself.
Another Egregious Attack on Reproductive Health by Trump Administration
Anu Kumar | Ms.
In a letter to the UN, the acting administrator for USAID has asked for all references to sexual and reproductive health to be removed from the UN’s Global Humanitarian Response Plan. Why? Because, he claims, the UN is using the pandemic to advance access to abortion by including it as an “essential” health service.
Abortion Clinic Protests Are Still Happening in the Pandemic: ‘They Accost Patients Face to Face’
Carter Sherman | VICE
Workers at abortion clinics across the country told VICE that protesters are still showing up at their doors. They often ignore the CDC guidelines meant to keep people safe from COVID-19, such as staying six feet apart from one another and wearing masks, these workers said. Clinics have also told the National Abortion Federation that they’re now facing increasing online harassment and receiving more mail from abortion opponents.
Ohio
Ohio Abortion Laws May Have Caused Rise in Later Terminations as Women Struggle to Access Treatment Quickly
Kashmira Gander | Newsweek
Laws that restrict access to abortions in Ohio may have sparked a rise in later-term terminations as women struggled to quickly access the procedure, researchers believe.
Oklahoma
Abortion Providers in Oklahoma Are Now At Risk of Being Sued for the ‘Wrongful Death’ of a Fetus
Carter Sherman | VICE
Doctors who perform abortions in Oklahoma are now facing the threat of “wrongful death” lawsuits because Republican legislators in the state believe women are being coerced into abortions. Under the law, abortion providers can be sued if if the woman is given false information or if the abortion causes the woman “physical or psychological harm” that she didn’t foresee or wasn’t given information about prior to the procedure.
Texas
Abortion rights groups drop suit over abortion ordinances
ABC News
Two reproductive rights groups have dropped their lawsuit against seven small East Texas towns that had declared abortion-rights organizations “criminal organizations” in anti-abortion ordinances that prohibit them from operating within city limits.
LGBTQ
Pride is more than a parade
Samantha Allen | Crosscut
We have known for a while that June would look different this year, giving us plenty of time to adjust our expectations. And as the weeks of self-isolation ticked by, I decided that I should quit mourning the loss of an in-person parade and use 2020 to reassess what I want out of Pride in the first place.
Changing Shape
Allison Behringer | KCRW-FM (Santa Monica, CA)
It wasn't until 2015 that a study about eating disorder prevalence asked participants whether they identified as cis or transgender. The study found that 2% of cis women and less than 1% of cisgender men had been diagnosed with eating disorders — this is on par with eating disorder rates in other studies. But for trans participants — they found that 16% reported that they had been diagnosed with an eating disorder. That’s 8 times the rate of cis women.
Justices Let Trans Woman's Widow Sub Into Bias Case
Jimmy Hoover | Law360
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the widow of Aimee Stephens, a transgender woman who died earlier this month, to take her place in a major LGBTQ rights case on workplace discrimination to be decided in the coming weeks.
A study examined the death certificates of LGBTQ teen suicide victims. This is what they found.
Alex Bollinger | LGBTQ Nation
LGBTQ youth who die by suicide are more likely to have been bullied, according to a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics. LGBTQ youth are both more likely to be bullied and more likely to report suicidal thoughts and behaviors than cisgender, heterosexual youth.
MedPage Today: Bullying Preceded Many LGBTQ Youth Suicides
Metro Weekly: Transgender youth more vulnerable to depression and suicidal feelings
UPI: LGBTQ teens 5 times more likely to be bullied before suicide, study finds
U.S. News & World Report: Too Often, Bullying Has Lethal Consequences for LGBT Teens
What It’s Like Being an LGBTQ+ POC Journalist and How I Found Solace in Writing
Emy Rodriguez Flores | Redbook
With most jobs and positions I've held, I've been the only brown LGBTQ+ face. The same (toxic) hesitations my family would spew, I would go on to experience from other writers and editors who either failed to realize their privilege or just didn't care. Here's are a few things I've learned over the years…
Tell you one thing I’ve learned over the past few years: do not write off Redbook, Self, People, Marie Claire, all those magazines in the bathroom at your mom’s house. Not unlike Teen Vogue, they can surprise you, too.
Along With Pain, The Joy of Stealth
Meredith Talusan | them.
Reflections on how the internet has changed the nature of coming out as trans, and why trans people have the right to figure themselves out on our own terms.
LGBTQ people need queer spaces. The coronavirus has locked them out.
Katelyn Burns | Vox
Having a space where LGBTQ people can simply exist in their own skin and experience, without judgment or pressure to hide for the benefit of cisgender, heterosexual people, can be enormously beneficial. But in recent months, queer and trans people have been feeling the loss of affirming LGBTQ spaces since cities and states began shutting down nonessential public spaces in mid-March.
Pregnancy & Parenting
Birthing Black babies during a pandemic
JR Valrey | San Francisco Bay View
“Disparities in maternal health, mortality and morbidity was an issue before COVID-19 and is potentially exacerbated by the pandemic. We are already starting to see that African American, Indigenous and Latina women have died in childbirth as a result of either complications of COVID-19 or negligent and disparate care as a result of reduced in-person visits, even when the patient was at high risk.”
Planned parenthood: in a divorce, who gets custody of the embryos?
Nona Willis Aronowitz | VICE
According to estimates by reproductive endocrinologists, there may be about a million frozen embryos in the U.S. There have been court battles over the fate of frozen embryos since the 1990s. But if the last few years are any indication, many more will become mired in divorce court.
Reproductive Health & Justice
Using Telehealth For Birth Control During The Pandemic Might Make It More Accessible Post-COVID
Jennifer Gerson | Bustle
While many aspects of life will eventually return to normal post-lockdown, more people will seek out care through telehealth than before, predicts Dr. Nathaniel DeNicola, ACOG’s chair of telehealth. That won’t just help contraception access; other parts of your annual OB-GYN checkup might be doable from your phone. Nurx began offering STI testing in 2019, as well as herpes treatment and PrEP prescriptions.
Work & Money
Without affordable childcare, working mothers are struggling more than ever to balance family and career during the coronavirus
Shauna Shames | Business Insider
Shauna Shames is an associate professor of political science at Rutgers and the mom of a young child. While isolating at home due to the coronavirus, Shames says she's lucky if she can get in just a few hours of work each day on top of caring for her toddler. Many women are finding themselves in the same dilemma, which Shames explains is indicative of issues with the American childcare system more so than the COVID-19 pandemic.
What you need to know about taking maternity leave during a global pandemic
Motherly
Let's make figuring out what protections, benefits and work leave you might be eligible for a little easier. We asked Elizabeth Gedmark, Vice President of A Better Balance: The Work & Family Legal Center, to answer pressing questions about maternity leave and protections for pregnant workers during the pandemic.
Colorado Lawmakers Are Back At The Capitol With A New Agenda Set By The Coronavirus Pandemic
Bente Birkeland, Andrew Kenney | Colorado Public Radio
While lawmakers have abandoned efforts to pass a sweeping, statewide paid family leave bill this session, Democrats say they will work on a much more limited proposal along those lines: a bill that would require businesses to allow employees to accrue a minimum of 48 hours of paid sick leave.
More, More, More
'Mrs. America' and the Feminist History We Forgot
Jessica Mason | The Mary Sue
Gloria Steinem has called the National Women’s Conference of 1977 “the most important event nobody knows about,” but it’s not the only piece of our feminist history we’ve forgotten. History is written by the winners, and it wasn’t the feminists that won in the struggle to ratify the ERA and expand women’s rights.
Boise mayor's transition reports aim to create a 'more equitable city for everyone'
Joey Prechtl | KTVB-TV (Boise, ID)
More than 70 citizens came up with 350 recommendations they'd like to see from McLean's administration, including: What the mayor's COVID-19 response should look like; Increasing the minimum wage within the city; Providing citywide free internet; Offering free contraception, abortion and reproductive health care; Establishing a sex education curriculum in the Boise School District from pre-k to 12th grade.
Well, hello, Boise!