When taking away abortion rights, anti-choicers hide behind the fig leaf of rationalization that there will be exceptions when a pregnancy is life-threatening. As we’ve been warning all along, those promised “exceptions” don’t hold up in reality.
A Tennessee woman with dangerously high blood pressure and signs of kidney failure had to endure a 6-hour ambulance ride to get an abortion in North Carolina — even though the fetus wasn’t expected to survive in any case.
A Texas woman had a miscarriage during a wanted pregnancy. She was forced to wait until sepsis brought her to the brink of death before doctors could intervene to save her life.
A Missouri woman was denied an abortion for a life-threatening pregnancy, and called a state senator for help. He sent her to an anti-abortion “clinic.”
As always, this diary is a group effort. Thanks to mettle fatigue, elenacarlena, SandraLLAP, officebss, Getting1, and the WOW crew for links and discussion.
Reproductive Rights:
Anti-abortion “men’s march” in Boston draws hundreds.
Although he’s denied it, a leaked audio shows that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is open to restricting in vitro fertilization procedures.
Other countries have reduced stillbirth rates: why not the U.S.?
Clinics offer free vasectomies, citing a surge in demand.
Trial begins for Polish woman for giving abortion pills to abuse victim.
Pulmonologists are having difficulty advising women when a pregnancy endangers their health.
Violence and Harassment:
Mia Landsem, whose ex spread an intimate photo of her online, now spends hours each day helping others get images removed.
The right is still trying to find ways to blame women for the Uvalde shooting, and for male violence in general.
In Britain, a damning report finds systemic racism and misogyny on the Metropolitan Police Force, including credible allegations of sexual assault and DV by officers still on the force. The report was commissioned after the infamous murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, and the Met’s subsequent failure to address how he’d been allowed to serve in the first place.
Health:
Among patients with cancer, women are more likely than men to feel dissatisfied with their care.
Hair straightening chemicals may increase women's risk of uterine cancer, study finds. This is a no-win situation for Black women; some employers will discriminate based on the notion that natural hair “doesn’t look professional.”
Media:
Films like Don’t Worry Darling and Blonde have revived the debate on what makes a feminist film.
Two of the biggest online dating sites are run by women. The media coverage of these female CEOS is noticeably different than their male colleagues, emphasizing their youth and attractiveness, or framing the creation of Bumble as “feminist revenge.”
Top 10 experimental feminist books: Bringing historical women to life, exploring mythical cities or telling a life through a 1,000-page internal monologue – these are form-breaking feminist books.
The Today Show recently featured Dr. Jess Wade, Wikipedia’s most prolific writer on women in science.
Uncategorizable:
Self-described “public health activist” Alexandra M. Hunt put up a poorly-thought-out tweet thread about a 2018 study that found 28% of men under 30 hadn’t had sex in the past year. She basically blamed this for male problems from depression to violence (never considering that causality might work the other way around, or that men might be having less sex because women now feel safer saying no). Some of her suggestions were good, including better sex education, but then she asserted that there was a “right” to sex. (She did specify “consensual,” but the fact remains that such a “right” would result in someone else having a “duty” to provide it.) Dave Futrelle has a really good discussion on the problems with this approach. (Update: It appears that Ms. Hunt did listen to the criticism, and backed off from the “right to sex” framing, but not from the notion that men having less sex is a bad thing and a cause of violence.)
Good news:
Austin woman’s painting raises $22,000 for Uvalde playground equipment.