Truly a day to celebrate
Today…
is Power to Decide’s Thanks Birth Control Day! #ThxBirthControl, every month I don’t fuss with cramps or a period (are you kidding? for what), every day I am not throwing a birthday party for a 3rd, 4th, 5th child, every day I do not have to think about it.
is Push Button Phone Day, marking the day they were first introduced by Bell Systems in 1963. I was just talking about these with the 13yo, as he’s been playing a band called Lemon Demon on repeat recently, and they have a song called Touch-Tone Telephone. It took him a minute to answer, “touch tone, as compared to what,” but he got there.
If you’re anywhere around my age, you really do have to listen for a minute. He’s tired of hearing me say it, but this whole album is screaming early ‘80s cassettes, Oingo Boingo, Mexican Radio, maybe a little Scritti Politti. Tell me this isn’t the love child of “Dead Man’s Party” and the bass line from “Steppin’ Out.” You can’t.
Abortion
Teen Vogue | How Mississippi's 15-Week Abortion Ban Could Challenge Roe v. Wade | Jessica Madris
In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court will decide whether to hear a case regarding Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is the first abortion case scheduled for conference that Justice Amy Coney Barrett will weigh in on and the first abortion case that will come before a now 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Court.
Rewire News Group | More Anti-Choice Women Were Elected to Congress Than Ever Before | Erin Matson
The number of anti-abortion women in the House of Representatives is set to double, going from 13 seats to as many as 30, pending election results in three districts. All of the women are Republican.
HuffPost | The Historic Number Of GOP Women Elected To Congress Has Left Some Feminists Torn | Alanna Vagianos
Massachusetts
CommonWealth | Senate amendment reinforces a woman's right to privacy | Jamie Eldridge, Harriette L. Chandler
New Mexico
NM Political Report | Reproductive activist recalls time before Roe v. Wade: ‘It was the scarlet A’ | Susan Dunlap
Ohio
Cleveland.com | Coalition of anti-abortion groups yanks endorsement of Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted | Laura Hancock
LGBTQ
The Advocate | American Indian/Alaskan Native LGBTQ+ Youth Face High Suicide Risk | Mey Rude
American Indian and Alaskan Native LGBTQ+ youth are 2.5 more likely to report a suicide attempt within the past year compared to their LGBTQ+ peers.
The American Independent | Meet the LGBTQ congressman who could be the next assistant House speaker | Casey Quinlan
This week, House Democrats are poised to choose their leadership for the 117th Congress. One of the contenders for assistant speaker, Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), would be the first openly gay person to hold that leadership role.
Ms. | Trans Rights Up for Debate in Statehouses Across the Country in 2021 | Oliver Haug
Statehouse wins, combined with this summer’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, have had LGBTQ activists across the country celebrating. But meanwhile, several statehouses are setting out to deny the rights of transgender people in their 2021 sessions.
DiversityInc | Meet 6 Transgender and Gender-Nonbinary Politicians Who Broke Ground in 2020 | Olivia Riggio
NBC | Anti-transgender hate crimes soared 20 percent in 2019 | Dan Avery
Released this week, the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report indicates that, last year, 227 hate-crime incidents were motivated by gender-identity bias. That’s up 20% from 2018, when 189 such incidents were reported.
Out Magazine | Trump's Million MAGA March Was a Homophobic Failure | Donald Padgett
Saturday’s Million MAGA March in Washington D.C. fell about 990,000 people short of their attendance goal, but the few actually who did show up made up for the lack of a crowd with extra doses of bigotry and homophobia.
YES! Magazine | Unions and LGBTQ Workers Could Be a Powerful Marriage | Aimée-Josiane Twagirumukiza
As a Black nonbinary, lesbian, and immigrant worker, I’ve longed to find a piece of the labor movement that centers all my parts. I think unions could be key in transforming the labor movement by strategically organizing LGBTQ workers into their ranks.
Washington Post | Joe Biden plans to advance transgender rights. But advocates are preparing for the backlash. | Emily Wax-Thibodeaux, Samantha Schmidt
“As far as political problems go, they are far bigger than Trump… Trump’s exit won’t erode them for us.”
Alabama
Scalawag | The first Black drag queen in North Alabama and other untold stories of the Queer South | Sarah Prager
New York
The Daily Beast | Inside New York’s Groundbreaking Transgender Surgery Center | Kevin Fallon
Pregnancy & Parenting
Essence | Pregnant Mothers Are Contracting COVID-19 And Dying | Donna M. Owens
Black women in Congress are sounding the alarm about a new CDC report that reveals shockingly high numbers of pregnant women contracting the COVID-19 virus, with dozens of cases proving fatal.
Forbes | Fewer Babies Have Been Born Prematurely During The Pandemic, Studies Find | Alice Broster
Hospitals and clinics have had to undergo serious changes throughout the pandemic in order to keep patients as safe as possible and researchers have said that this may be the reason that more parents are carrying to full term.
The 19th | Pregnant people haven’t been included in promising COVID vaccine trials | Shefali Luthra
Vaccine trials have had promising results, but a lack of testing makes it unclear if they'll be safe for pregnant people.
New York
The Imprint | New York City Probes Hospitals Drug Testing of New Mothers | Michael Fitzgerald
New York City’s Commission on Human Rights has launched an investigation into whether hospitals are targeting Black and Latino pregnant mothers and newborns for drug testing, an inquiry that will assess whether they are being subject to racial bias and discrimination.
Reproductive Health & Justice
TheBody.com | As the Trump Era Ends, HIV Activists Need to Go Big or Go Home | Kenyon Farrow
I would argue that it’s not the time to just try and restore federal governance to its previous state prior to 2016. The time is now for us to push for more—in public health, in health care, and in research and regulatory regimes.
The Daily Texan | UT School of Nursing professor develops anti-racist toolkit for health care educators | Kevin Vu
Danica Sumpter, a Black woman and clinical assistant professor at the UT School of Nursing, currently developing a toolkit for anti-racist teaching to provide resources, education and training to future health care workers to combat institutionalized racism in the field.
PRI | Marie Stopes International name change will ‘put a focus on the future’ of reproductive choice, CEO says | Amanda McGowan
Marie Stopes International announced that they are changing their name to MSI Reproductive Choices. That's because their namesake, Marie Stopes, was a birth control pioneer in early 1900s England, but was also a supporter of eugenics, a now-discredited movement to improve the human race through selective reproduction.
Work & Money
Jezebel | Women Are Being Impoverished by Pandemic, Will Reverberate for Generations | Emily Alford
As the covid-19 crisis continues to ravage America unfettered by any meaningful government assistance or intervention, women—particularly low-income mothers and especially women of color—remain among the groups most affected by unemployment and lack of childcare.
Ms. Magazine | Charting a Future of Child Care Post COVID-19 and Beyond |
Alejandra Y. Castillo, Victoria DeFrancesco SotoWashington Post | How to support working parents during a pandemic: Lessons from Quebec | Kendra Hurley
Live Science | Why women make way less than men do in more religious places | Stephanie Pappas
New research finds that the wage gap is 8 percentage points wider in the five most religious states than in the five most secular, with women making 18% less than men in the least religious states and 26% less in the most religious. What's more, the gender gap is projected to vanish in 28 years in the most secular states, compared with a stunning 109 years in the most religious.
USA Today | As COVID-19 rages, millennials make up growing share of 'sandwich generation,' caring for kids and parents | Paul Davidson
With the oldest millennials turning 40 next year, that group already has started to age into the financially-crunched predicament as their boomer parents reach their 60s and 70s. The pandemic, however, has tipped more millennials into a juggling act of caregiving, and at younger ages.
Next Avenue | Working Daughters Balancing Elder Care Are at Their Breaking Point | Liz O'Donnell
Working Mother | Why Every Job Listing Should Be “Part-Time, Full-Time, Job Share or Flexible Working” | Quinn Fish
In the 21st century, we shouldn't have to explain why every company benefits from attracting a more diverse pool of talent.
Georgia
WMAZ-TV (Macon, GA) | Crucial Conversations: How can we secure equal pay for women of color? | Eryn Rogers
Women across the country have fought to be paid equally to white men. However, minority women aren't even paid equally to white women.
More, More, More
Glamour | When Ivanka Trump Tries to Rebrand, Don’t Forget She Sold You Out | Jenny Singer
Ivanka is a powerful woman, yet she has consistently used that power to help block wage-equality efforts and our right to choose.
Harvard Gazette | Does food have a gender? | Colleen Walsh
A culinary historian and a chef explore the social and cultural connections.
HuffPost | Only Woman On Federal Death Row Seeks Reprieve From Trump As Execution Date Nears | Melissa Jeltsen
Lawyers for Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row, filed a petition on Monday evening asking President Donald Trump to delay their client’s execution until they are well enough to prepare her clemency application. Both of Montgomery’s lead lawyers are sick with the coronavirus after visiting their client multiple times at a federal women’s medical prison in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Hill | ACLU files injunction to end 'torturous' conditions of first female death row inmate in decades | Jordan Williams
Indiana Public Media | ACLU Files Injunction To Block Transfer Of Female Inmate Facing Execution | George Hale
The Tennessean | Death row inmate Lisa Montgomery’s fate hinges on two Tennessee attorneys
Jezebel | Oh Look, Someone Who Wants to Tell Me About 'Manly Men' | Marie Solis
Harry Styles sent right-wing media personalities into a tizzy last week when Vogue dropped its December issue, which features the singer clad in a ruffled blue gown. Naturally, panic about traditional masculinity and gender presentation has been the focus of these meltdowns, though of course conservatives wouldn’t put it in those terms.
Vogue | Playtime With Harry Styles | Hamish Bowles