Tag Archives: politics

Margaret Thatcher, Feminist Icon?

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Eleanor

PA Photos /Landov; via NPR.

I lived for several years in Great Britain and at one time or another, I had a conversation with several British-born friends about Margaret Thatcher. If you haven’t been keeping up with the news, the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom (and first elected female leader of a G-8 western power), Margaret Thatcher died yesterday.

Thatcher is the ultimate divisive feminist icon: she shattered the glass ceiling for women around the world, but she quite avidly did not believe in feminism herself. However, she first ran for a seat in the House of Commons in 1951, before she was married (and still Margaret Roberts) – a mindblowing undertaking in retrospect. Yet her political principles, by and large, were not in line with feminist ones. Many American conservatives herald her as a icon; many Britons and Europeans were glad to see notices of her death. Margaret Thatcher was a polarizing icon, to say the least.

So, Feronians, what do you think? Is Margaret Thatcher is a feminist icon? Should she be?

Pledge-a-Picketer: Show Them We’re Here, No Matter What!

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Firdaus

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If you’ve been to a Planned Parenthood health center, it’s likely that you’ve crossed paths with protesters. While the frequency and duration of the protests varies from health center to health center, many patients find them to be very disrespectful and irritating. Further, staff at many affiliates across the country deal with harassment, including hate-mail, harassing phone calls, and in some cases, protesters have picketed outside the personal homes of our doctors and administrators. When I see them, I tend to look through them. I do not instigate interaction, I just take it in stride. We’re Planned Parenthood, the leading provider of reproductive health care in the country: not everyone agrees with unrestricted access to affordable services. I get it, and while I don’t agree with the protesters’ sentiments, it does not dissuade me from donning my nametag and providing quality care every week.

However, there are some folks out there who are sick and tired of the harassment, and they’ve come up with a very clever campaign to counter the intentions of those picketing demagogues.

A friend of mine works for Planned Parenthood of Rocky Mountains, and they’ve initiated a “Pledge-a-Picketer” event, in which people can donate to the organization by “sponsoring” a picketer. Each time a donation is made, a yellow ribbon is tied outside to show the protesters just how much money they’re raising by being there. The hope, of course, would be to raise awareness about the cruelty and harassment our patients and staff encounter every day as they attempt to conduct things like pap smears, picking up birth control, and conducting safe and legal abortions.

Genious, I say! Genious! Further, this sponsorship campaign has made its way to Reddit, and is gaining speed and momentum. You too can donate to this campaign, and show the protesters that we’re here, and we’re not going anywhere (click on donate button on right sidebar).

Have you dealt with protesters outside one of our Health Centers? Would you donate to this cause?

Controversial Ballot Measure Passed Requiring Condoms in Porn

Posted on November 14, 2012 by E.G. Hanna

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People in Los Angeles voted last week to pass a ballot measure mandating that condoms are used in adult films. Measure B, titled the Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act, requires condoms to be used during all vaginal and anal intercourse in order to protect adult actors from the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

The adult film industry is unhappy with the outcome of the election, arguing that the measure is unnecessary. Performers are required to have frequent STI testing and can be entered in a database accessible by the entire industry to ensure they are banned from performing.

The attitude taken by many in the industry is that condom use makes the films less appealing, saying that past company-internal condom mandates have resulted in decreased sales. If porn is a fantasy, then condom use is an unwanted dose of reality.

Personally, I wonder if part of the reason why condoms are unappealing in porn is because so many people are unaccustomed to them? If porn is the ultimate sexual fantasy (to many, at least), and condoms aren’t a part of that fantasy, perhaps that helps to make them less attractive. If condoms were to become a routine part of porn, I believe they will become normalized and therefore less unattractive. That’s my theory, anyway. Regardless, I believe if people are given the choice between porn with condoms or no porn, people will choose porn–and so if a mandate is enacted throughout the industry then sales will not be impacted to a severe degree. Overall I’m in favor of the ban, because testing rules in the industry only detect sexually transmitted infections after they already occur. Why put actor’s lives and careers at risk when we could prevent infections in the first place?

The new law won’t be enforced immediately, in part because the adult film industry plans to fight the measure, threatening to potentially move their work to another city. A move would cost Los Angeles a tremendous amount of money in tax revenues. It remains to be seen whether the condom mandate will last (or even begin), but it will be interesting to see the long-term effects.

What do you think, porn-watching Feronians? Does condom use in a porn movie decrease your enjoyment? Tell me what you think of the ban in the comments.

Contraceptive Coverage is Here … Mostly

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Guest Post

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This guest post provided by our Medical Director.

A hard-fought day is finally here! Today, mandatory 100% coverage of a number of women’s preventive services, including the frustratingly controversial contraception provision, will go into place for many women. If you have an insurance plan written on or after today, it will now have to cover the following women’s preventive services with no copay:

Well women visits
HPV DNA testing
STI – including HIV – counseling
Breastfeeding support, supplies and counseling
Domestic violence screening
Contraception and contraceptive counseling

These are in addition to all the other preventive services that must already be covered. Not everyone will instantly have coverage today, though. First, you must already have insurance, and then you might have coverage right away if your insurance plan chooses. You might not have coverage until your plan renews. And if you work for a religious employer, you will probably have to wait another year as they have until August 2013 to implement the regulation. But woman are gaining ground.

However, there are still threats to contraceptive coverage. Two weeks ago, a federal judge dismissed a suit filed on behalf of seven states (Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas) who claimed that the contraception mandate violated their religious freedom because (I’m going to just directly quote from the Huffington Post, because the argument is convoluted):

“The states claimed that the contraception mandate violates religious freedom rights under the First Amendment by only carving out an exemption for those religious organizations that primarily serve and employ people of their own faiths. A Catholic charity, the attorney generals contended, would have to stop serving people of other religions in order to avoid having to pay for its employees’ birth control, and then those unserved people would have to turn to the state for assistance.”

And there are still two dozen other suits from religiously affiliated institutions such as universities that are pending. One of these was recently dismissed, but there are many more to come. And this past Friday, the birth control mandate suffered its first court loss in Colorado. But for the most part, for now, the contraception mandate is safe and we can celebrate one more step in the right direction for reducing the health disparities between men and women.

This Week In: Abortion

Posted on May 10, 2012 by E.G. Hanna

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“The Republican-led Arizona legislature has now taken measures to cut off Planned Parenthood’s access to taxpayer money funneled through the state for non-abortion services.” Use of taxpayer money for abortion was already illegal, but apparently that wasn’t good enough – now Planned Parenthood will receive no funding. It is unclear at this time exactly how this will affect its services, but it is certain that this inhibits its ability to provide health care services at a reasonable cost. For people – especially women – in Arizona without health insurance, this is a direct hit to their ability to receive lifesaving cancer screenings, STD prevention and treatment, and affordable birth control.

Utah now requires a 72 hour waiting period before an abortion. Previously, there was a 24-hour waiting period but, as of Tuesday, it has expanded to three full days. I’ll be honest: waiting period laws make me angrier than any other abortion law. There’s no pretense of protecting fetuses here; it’s all about “protecting” fragile women from their emotionally burdened lady brains. As if women need the government to remind them to think about their decision, to take it seriously! It’s insulting. The real kicker here is that there’s no loophole for non-viable fetuses, so women are forced to carry a pregnancy that could not and will not result in a live birth for three extra days which, frankly, is just plain cruel.

Wisconsin’s Planned Parenthood suspends non-surgical abortions. There is a new law in effect that “requires women visit a doctor at least three times before having a drug-induced abortion, forces physicians to determine whether a woman is being coerced into having an abortion, and prohibits women and doctors from using web cams during the procedure.” Three times? How unnecessary. In case you’re wondering about the web cam thing, they are referring to the possibility of a doctor counseling the woman about her medication via webcam – a good option when there is are a limited number of abortion providers in your state. Aside from the obvious problems here, like interfering with the relationship between the patient and her doctor and limiting a woman’s access to abortion, this poses an issue for women unique to this law – insisting that women have a surgical rather than a medical abortion. There are pros and cons to both methods (look for an upcoming post about abortion options!), but some women prefer the medical because it is more private and less physically invasive. Losing this option may make their abortion experience even more difficult for Wisconsin women.

If you live in Arizona, Utah or Wisconsin, consider contacting your representatives to let them know you’re unhappy with their shenanigans. If you want to do something about anti-choice activities in your area, contact your local representatives or sign up at Planned Parenthood Action Network to keep up to date. (Please note that our “action” site is provided by our C4, or political advocacy, arm.)

Plan B at the Pharmacy: Legality Doesn’t Equal Access

Posted on April 3, 2012 by E.G. Hanna

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Some years ago, way back before Plan B became available without a prescription, we called in a patient’s prescription to a pharmacy. Because Plan B is something you must take within a fairly small time period for it to be effective, we liked to avoid making people come back in for an office visit.

So once they came in for their visit, we’d write the prescription for a full year – as in Plan B with multiple refills. This way if a condom broke on you again weeks or months later, you could just go grab it with no fuss, no muss, and no waiting in a doctor’s office.

Shortly after leaving the Plan B prescription on the pharmacy’s machine, we got a phone call from an indignant pharmacist. She couldn’t believe we’d wrote it with refills. “It’s supposed to be for an emergency only!” she said. Our response: “It’s for more than one emergency.” We refused to change the prescription.

Years later, some pharmacists are still trying to tamper with your access to emergency contraception. We’ve all seen the stories in the news about the so-called “conscience clauses,” laws giving pharmacists the rights to refuse to fill an Rx if it’s against their beliefs, but it appears that some pharmacists may have turned to outright lying.

MSNBC is reporting the results of a study showing that pharmacists give different answers about the availability of Plan B, depending on if they think they are talking to a doctor or a 17-year-old. Researchers called pharmacies across five states, first identifying as a 17-year-old girl asking if they could buy Plan B, and then posing as a doctor who asked if their 17-year-old patient could buy it. They found that “[t]here was a huge disparity between the answers given to the teens and those offered to the physicians, with 19 percent of the 17-year-olds being told that they couldn’t get it under any circumstances, compared with only 3 percent of the physicians.”

I keep waiting for the days when people will finally get it: Plan B is a perfectly safe and legal medication that prevents a pregnancy. Teen pregnancy is bad. Therefore, teens should have access to Plan B. But in a sociopolitical climate where birth control for adult women is actually considered controversial, I think I’ll be waiting a long time.

I have a lot of respect for pharmacists; creating and maintaining what is essentially a medication encyclopedia inside your brain is not an easy task. But letting your personal beliefs interfere with a woman (17 or not) getting her legal medication is clearly ridiculous. What this study shows is that it’s not enough to fight legal battles; Plan B being legal won’t help prevent pregnancy if no one will sell it to you. Just like with abortion rights and birth control, we have to fight a battle for legality and then fight again for access.

But until society gets its act together and quits trying to interfere with your personal life, don’t take any crap: know the law, understand that Plan B is available without prescription to anyone 17 and over, and if your local pharmacist gives you any trouble, come see us. We will help you.

The Birth Control Black Market

Posted on March 28, 2012 by E.G. Hanna

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Amidst all the hoopla about birth control access in the media recently, the Huffington Post reported that some people have resorted to buying their prescription birth control off of Craigslist: “The online marketplace is filled with ads for discounted birth control, including many types of contraceptive pills as well as the NuvaRing…Lisa sold her two unopened packages of the NuvaRing for $75 earlier this week. Without insurance, each one can cost as much as $80.”

You know, I almost don’t hate this. Women, sick of seeing their reproductive independence held financially out of their reach, helping each other out by selling their extra birth control online. A mini-black market rising in response to a failure of the system to meet their needs.

Ultimately, of course, this is very dangerous; if you are a buyer, then you don’t know if the medication you purchase has been tampered with, or left in extreme heat and no longer effective, for example. If you are a seller, you don’t know if the person to whom you are selling the medication has medical conditions that could make the pill unsafe for them, and who’s to say you won’t be held liable?

Selling birth control through Craigslist is illegal, though to my knowledge no one has been prosecuted. And I sincerely hope no one is, because it isn’t their fault. If women have to resort to buying birth control through Craigslist of all places, is that not a sure sign that our current healthcare system is failing women in a major way?

President Obama’s healthcare plan will make birth control more accessible for millions of women…unless he’s voted out with this election, in which case all of his healthcare plans will surely be thrown out. But hey, maybe politicians in this country will stop pretending that birth control is controversial or immoral and stop attacking women’s sexual health for the sake of distracting us all from the real issues! But until hell freezes over, you can try your local health department, free clinic, or your friendly Planned Parenthood for affordable birth control.

Feronians, have you ever had to obtain your birth control through not-so-legit methods? Would you buy your birth control through Craigslist?

Fired for Using Contraception? Maybe in Arizona!

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Firdaus

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Just when you thought the contraceptive coverage mandate through the Affordable Care Act had been settled, Arizona’s war on women continues in the form of House Bill 2625. This creative, slimy, and downright privacy-violating bill proposes that women who choose to purchase contraception through their employer’s health insurance must provide medical evidence that the contraception is used for some other medical condition besides preventing pregnancy. The bill would also allow an employer to legally fire a woman for using contraception as birth control if it is against the moral values of the employer.

Lawmakers continue to discriminate against women by proposing legislation that specifically targets their ability to plan their pregnancies. Again, I cannot believe that in 2012, lawmakers have the audacity to propose such blatant misogyny. As I have stated before, if women cannot plan their pregnancies they cannot plan their lives.

I am very concerned about this, Feronians. These anti-women’s health/safety/autonomy measures continue popping up around the country, from proposals to define “life” as beginning at conception (therefore outlawing all abortion and hormonal contraception), to mandating unnecessary ultrasound procedures before abortions, to de-funding all of Title X programs (see Texas), to now making it legally possible for women to lose their jobs for planning their pregnancies. What are we going to do about this blatant discrimination within our borders?

Well, November is just around the corner, and with it, the ability to vote out these conservative bigots who continue to put the lives of women on the chopping block.

I’ll be voting in November. Advocates of women are watching.

Interview with Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Eleanor

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Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day and we’re so pleased to have a special treat for you here on the Feronia Project.

On Tuesday, Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida was lucky enough to have the fabulous Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, speak at our 46th Anniversary Annual Dinner. She also took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to speak with us at The Feronia Project about the challenges facing Planned Parenthood, how the internet is changing sexual health education, and some of her must-reads. (And if you didn’t see her on the Daily Show last night – you absolutely must!)

Eleanor: What are the upcoming challenges you see Planned Parenthood facing, both locally and nationally? How are you working to solve these issues?

Cecile Richards, PPFA President: Everyone’s seen what’s been going on with Congress and the state legislatures and the constant attacks on birth control and reproductive health care. Those are very real challenges and very real fights.

We couldn’t solve it without social media; a great example is the hundreds of people that came out to the state Capitol in Virginia after finding out about the rally through social media and put politicians there on notice that they cannot put their politics before women’s health.

Eleanor: So, how can mothers introduce to their daughters and sons the importance of standing up for women’s health and women’s rights?

Cecile Richards: A great way to start is by introducing older teenagers to Planned Parenthood. Parents may not feel comfortable talking about sex with their children, but Planned Parenthood is an easy, safe place to refer them so that they can get their questions answered. As long as parents and their children can have that open dialogue and conversation, it’s a great way to talk about women’s rights and women’s health. Some of our best young activists started supporting Planned Parenthood as patients.

Eleanor: As a blog, we’d like to know – how do you see blogs like The Feronia Project, which talks about sexual health and reproductive justice, fitting into the way Planned Parenthood gives accurate sexual education information? And how does Planned Parenthood use social media and the internet to reach those who need its services?

Cecile Richards: The single biggest way that Planned Parenthood patients get their information now is online. And it’s only becoming more important – traffic to our online site has exploded in the last two months. The topics that young people have questions on are changing and social media and blogs allow people to have a conversation about those topics, in real time, and get their questions answered immediately.

3 million patients visit our Planned Parenthood health centers every year; in February 2012 alone, 4 million came online and visited Planned Parenthood’s website and social media sites. Based on those numbers, we’re projecting that 40 million people will reach out to Planned Parenthood online as a trusted sexual health provider this year.

Eleanor: In what way is Planned Parenthood bringing to light the positive stories that happen in our health centers every day? We’re more than abortions and STD diagnoses, after all.

Cecile Richards: You know, I think a key way that we do that is through social media and our website. We’ve shared stories like Close to the Heart: Stories of Planned Parenthood Breast Care Patients, and the wonderful “I Have a Say” videos on YouTube, all showing how Planned Parenthood helps women every day. During the birth control debate, we actually gave some of these stories to members of Congress to illustrate that not only do people use birth control for contraception, they also use it for a myriad of other reasons in reproductive health.

Eleanor: What are some ways that youth could show their support of Planned Parenthood – with their phones, tablets, or computers?

Cecile Richards: The most important thing is like our pages on Facebook and Twitter and re-share Planned Parenthood content with your friends. However, some of the best content is created outside of Planned Parenthood; while Planned Parenthood can create content themselves, one of the best ways that people can advocate for Planned Parenthood is by taking the license to use what Planned Parenthood has available and getting their own content to go viral. I’ve been particularly impressed with the Tumblr site Planned Parenthood Saved Me as a great example of this.

Eleanor: What can we do in Southwest & Central Florida to stand with Planned Parenthood?

Cecile Richards: You’re doing it. I’m amazed [by] being here – all the lobbying you do in the Florida Legislature and standing strong for Planned Parenthood, The SOURCE Theatre, the numerous opportunities to get involved.

The most important way we all can stand with Planned Parenthood is to vote and cast an informed vote; [you should] really look at what the candidates are saying and vote for who represents your views.

Eleanor: On a lighter note, we’re big readers here at The Feronia Project. What’s a book you would recommend to our Feronia Project followers as a “must-read?”

Cecile Richards: I have two great reads. One is How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America by Cristina Page; she’s a great writer and it’s a great exploration of the topic. One slightly different recommendation is The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, a dark apocalyptic look at what it would be like if women had no rights. It’s a provocative book and shows just what it could be like if the attacks on women’s rights continue – and more than one person has told me that we’re living it right now.

Cecile Richards is a nationally respected leader in the field of women’s health and reproductive rights. As president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Ms. Richards leads a national organization that works for a healthier and safer world for women and teens.

This Week In: Politics and My Increasing Frustration

Posted on March 6, 2012 by E.G. Hanna

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No, I’m not actually an anarchist. And I’ll probably end up voting for Obama again, just to avoid having a president who will take away our birth control and make safe abortions illegal. But sometimes I look at our political system and the culture in which we must struggle for our rights and our health and just think … damn.

• So March is Women’s History Month and the Obama administration issued a Proclamation about it. I read through it, finding “promoting workplace flexibility, striving to bring more women into math and science professions, and fighting for equal pay for equal work,” OK; “combating violence against women,” OK; “equal role in peace-building” OK … wait a minute. No mention of reproductive health? Birth control? Abortion? Any mention of the issues all over the headlines every day recently? At my most generous, that’s … an odd oversight. Cynical me thinks that this is a meaningless proclamation designed to be as inoffensive as possible to avoid any controversy (which, to Democrats, means making Republicans mad). Do women’s reproductive health choices only matter when the administration is trying to pass a healthcare bill? I hope not. I was also bothered by this phrase: “While we have made great strides toward equality, we cannot rest until our mothers, sisters, and daughters assume their rightful place as full participants in a secure, prosperous, and just society.” Um, this nation has many women citizens fully capable of working towards equality – why is that phrased like the country is full of dudes who just happen to be related to women? Perhaps it was phrased that way because most of his administration is made up of men…oh snap.

• So, not only were women not included in the Congress panel on contraception, but the one woman who was invited (by the Democrats, of course) was not allowed to speak because her name was allegedly submitted too late … sure. Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student, came to testify about the importance of birth control to women’s health and success. Even though she wasn’t even allowed to speak, she has still been subjected to media harassment. She’s been called a slut and a prostitute for admitting to needing birth control just like millions of American women. I’m not linking to a page because, frankly, I don’t want to give a certain someone more media attention, but Google if you must. But, in case you were under the impression that conservatives don’t think you’re a whore for being a sexual human being who uses contraception, sorry.

If you’d like to support Sandra Fluke, you can reach her on Twitter @sandrafluke. Have you guys been keeping up on the birth control stuff in the news? What are your thoughts?