World Witch Day
Today…
is not World Witch Day. It’s World Wish Day. I misread. But because it’s World Wish Day, I’m going with it.
is Denim Day. Unpopular take: I’ve been wearing jeans almost every day in the Alla This. I have a few pairs that are very soft and comfy, and I like having pockets.
was the birthday of Lillian B. Horace (1880-1965), a Black author, teacher, librarian – and badass. She self-published her first novel in 1916. She never had kids, and divorced twice, her marriages “strained by her professional and personal ambitions.” Mm hm. I see you, Lillian. A hat tip to women who have no time for it.
Lastly, a McSweeney’s piece that brought me so much joy yesterday, and more accurately, painfully described my recent experience than anything I’ve seen.
Emails from My Children’s School Before 8:00 AM During the Covid-19 Crisis
And now if you’ll excuse me. I learned from the 5th grade newsletter – an attachment – that it’s Spirit Week. Today is Workout Wednesday as well as Teacher Appreciation Day, so I need to remind the child to put on workout clothes and make a “¡Gracias!” sign, then take pictures and send along for the school’s Insta. Plus I think we have math.
Abortion
Abortion providers say they're experiencing a "post-Roe" world. Others say it's worse.
Kate Smith | CBS News
As the coronavirus' death toll continues to grow, another public health crisis is emerging. At least eight states have restricted abortion as part of directives banning "non-essential" medical procedures. For advocates on both sides of the issue, the experience offered a preview of a world without the landmark Supreme Court ruling.
LGBTQ
LGBTQ Pols to Talk Pandemic's Effect on Community in Online Town Hall
Trudy Ring |The Advocate Magazine
Out elected officials from around the nation will take part Thursday in a National LGTBQ Town Hall focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the community. California State Sen. Scott Wiener and New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman will host the event, which will stream live at 6 p.m. ET on Zoom and on Wiener and Hoylman’s Facebook pages.
Why Using Estrogen to Fight Coronavirus Raises Alarms for Trans Women
Ana Valens | The Daily Dot
Scientists in Los Angeles and Long Island, New York, theorize that administering progesterone and estrogen in cisgender men could help them fight COVID-19. [But] health risks, collateral damage, supply chain issues and double standards are all afoot if researchers decide estrogen is the COVID-19 miracle drug of choice.
LGBTQ teens are cut off from support networks in quarantine, so they're building community online instead
Canela Lopez | INSIDER
Both the Human Rights Campaign and The Trevor Project predict separation from a queer "chosen family" at school could have a significant negative impact on the mental health of LGBTQ youth — as prolonged quarantines could also mean higher exposure to triggers like familial abuse from unsupportive guardians.
Amid Pandemic, Trump Officials Target LGBTQ Health Care Rights
Casey Quinlan | National Memo
The Trump administration is finalizing its rewrite of a provision in the ACA that would harm LGBTQ people's access to health care, even in the middle of a pandemic. Section 1557 of the ACA prohibits health care discrimination based on sex and gender identity. According to Politico, a Trump-administration rewrite of the rule has been circulated at the Justice Department, which means the final version could be released publicly soon.
Idaho's New Anti-Trans Athlete Law: 'It's Hard to Imagine a More Invasive Thing'
Ray Levy-Uyeda | Rewire.News
The goal of anti-trans legislation, experts say, is not equity but rather to codify discriminatory and invasive practices founded on nonscientific reasoning and personal prejudice. Anti-trans legislation burdens trans student-athletes with having to assert the legitimacy of their embodied experiences.
Gender Affirming Surgeries Are Being Delayed or Cancelled Because of the Coronavirus Pandemic
Dan Clarendon | Teen Vogue
On March 13, the American College of Surgeons recommended hospitals minimize, postpone, or cancel all scheduled elective surgeries because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As many hospitals took that advice and shed certain procedures from the books, many transgender people were left with devastating setbacks as gender-affirming surgeries were canceled or indefinitely postponed as the question of which procedures are “elective” looms.
Pregnancy & Parenting
Prenatal Care May Look Very Different After Coronavirus
Emily Goligoski | The New York Times
In addition to rethinking in-person visit schedules, the coronavirus could motivate the creation of a central set of resources on prenatal care. And doctors have suggested that postnatal care schedules may change from in-person appointments six weeks after delivery to televisits two to three weeks post-birth to check in with parents in this high-anxiety period. It’s a change that could stick and lead to better postpartum experiences for parents and babies.
COVID-19 highlights the disparities in pregnancy care — including harmful restrictions to abortion
Jennifer Almanza | MinnPost
In our clinic, nothing is the same as we try to minimize patient exposure, follow stay-at-home orders, and do our part to flatten the curve of COVD-19. What hasn’t changed are the cracks in our health care system and the low value we place on the reproductive rights of individuals and families that continue to be restricted, and under political attack.
Rural Moms Already Have No Place to Go. The Coronavirus Will Make the Problem Worse.
Katy B. Kozhimannil | U.S. News & World Report
Both during and after the current crisis, access to care in rural communities should be viewed as a vital measure of the resilience and capacity of the U.S. health care system. While urban communities are facing COVID-19 tragedy on an unimaginable scale and are scrambling to increase the ventilators and ICU beds available, a heavy toll also is inevitable in rural communities where there are very few ICU beds or ventilators. Many rural communities have no hospitals at all.
Reproductive Health & Justice
The Coronavirus Lockdown Has Big Implications For Coil & Implant Removal
Alice Broster | Forbes
Your contraceptive coil may still be effective throughout the pandemic lockdown, even if it’s due to get removed. There’s enough going on without worrying about whether your contraception will fail you. However, guidelines suggest you have no reason to worry.
Can You Save Your Birth Control Pills for After Quarantine?
Beth Skwarecki | Lifehacker
Your old pill packs will still be good to use, as long as they’re still full (no missing pills) and they haven’t passed their expiration date.
Supreme Court
How We Can Fix the Supreme Court’s Illegitimate Conservative Majority
Marie Aberger | Rewire.News
It’s not enough for our leaders to propose policies that protect reproductive health and LGBTQ rights. They also need a plan to protect those policies from Supreme Court conservatives.
The birth control wars return to the Supreme Court. And this time, conservatives likely have the votes.
Ian Millhiser | Vox
Next Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear a pair of cases, Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania and Trump v. Pennsylvania, which could write the final chapter in a multi-year struggle over whether employers with religious objections to birth control may deny insurance coverage of contraceptives to their employees.
Work & Money
Family Care for All
Ann Neumann | The Baffler
Entire segments of the labor force went untouched by emergency bailouts and social insurance. One of the largest such groups consists of domestic care laborers: home health care workers, disability aides, nannies, housekeepers, and cleaners. They are the workers who scrub our toilets, fold our laundry, and care for our children and aging parents. They are often paid in cash and for the most part work without basic labor protections.
Now More Than Ever We Need To Talk About How Lack Of Equality At Home Affects Women At Work
Tami M. Forman | Forbes
We are way past the point where we should be finding a truly modern way to identify and advance the best and brightest. Because the ways we’ve been using – who stays the latest, who works the hardest, who gets there first – advantages men over women. And because talent is evenly distributed but equality is not, the current system advantages even mediocre men over wildly talented women.
That’s just basic KPI…
A Woman’s Worth in a Pandemic
Melissa Gira Grant | The New Republic
The women at [the “reopen”] protests don’t just want a haircut; they want the woman who likely cuts their hair to get back to work. Doing her job may put her at risk of contracting a lethal virus, and not doing it may mean she can’t pay the rent—but then again, the work was never all that secure. Whether intended or not, the protests have made service work’s precarious, feminine face more impossible to ignore, as the virus itself has.
More, More, More
Just a kind, lovely story that makes me miss Big Nana. Also fascinated by her reference to “boundaries” in the context of family. The last time I told my mother about a friend who established such “boundaries” – a few years ago – she grounded me.
What It's Like To Quarantine With My Old-School Abuela
Maya Georgi | Refinery29
It helps to remember that her opinions are skewed by outdated belief systems and to remind myself I’m not a failure — I’m a strong, autonomous woman helping redefine societal norms. I try to remember that in her mind, she is trying to protect, not hurt me.
Trump wants to use coronavirus aid as leverage to force blue states to change immigration policies
Katelyn Burns | Vox
In remarks to reporters at a White House event with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump said he’d be willing to give economic aid to Democratically controlled state governments, but he wants them to do something for him first— bend their sanctuary city policies to align with the administration’s desired policy.
Like so much of his 💩, it could be a trial balloon, it could be rolled out by Friday, it could never be mentioned again. Nonetheless, this legitimately horrifies me. “Oh sure, I’ve got the cash and medicine you need, but, first… I’m gonna need you to hand over your brown people.” And I know, they rejoice in the cruelty and the chaos. Still. God damn.