This week's entries are largely about ongoing stories. They include two protests, in Nairobi and in Saudi Arabia, against two very different forms of injustice.
So let's get on with it.
Reproductive Health
Different aspects of reproductive health come up this week. First, medical news: The definition of full-term pregnancy has been changed from 37 - 42 weeks to 39 - 41 weeks. Doctors have found that children born before 39 weeks show more problems than was formerly thought, and hope that this change will stop women from scheduling births by caesarean or induction until 39 weeks.
http://www.usatoday.com/...
In Texas there was good news and bad news, as a judge called aspects of the new restrictions on abortion unconstitutional and forbade implementation of the section that required doctors at clinics that perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Later in the week, however, this was reversed by an appeals court. Planned Parenthood plans to continue its opposition.
The provision requiring doctors to prescribe medication abortions according to FDA recommendations was also found unconstitutional, and this finding was upheld under appeal. Doctors are permitted to adjust the dose to each individual patient, including off-label dosages which have been found safer and more effective since the original approval.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
http://www.therepublic.com/...
And the ACLU has taken the case of a UPS employee who was not given lighter work when she was pregnant, though her regular work required heavy lifting, and though UPS made such accommodation for other medical reasons. This worker ended up having to take unpaid leave, and is fighting this in court. There is a petition attached for a proposed law to keep this from happening in future.
https://www.aclu.org/...
https://secure2.convio.net/...
Violence against Women, Rape, Justice
First a story I had not known about. Kirstin "Blaise" Lobato has been in a Nevada prison since 2006, when she was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter of a homeless man in Las Vegas in 2001. Earlier in 2001 she was the victim of an attempted rape, and defended herself by cutting the man's penis. She had talked to a number of people about this incident. She moved back home after that. About two months later, a homeless man was beaten, stabbed, and castrated, dying as a result of this horrible attack.
Her story of her attack, given to police after her probation officer had alerted them to the instance of penis-cutting, was taken as a confession, and she was arrested. This confession was the only thing tying her to the crime; other evidence was ignored, including DNA of an unknown man at the scene, a man's bloody footprint, Kirstin's alibi, and a woman the victim had raped a few weeks before his death. Witnesses that Kirstin had told of her attack before the man was killed were not allowed to testify.
Her case is supported by the Innocence Project and other organizations dealing with wrongful convictions.
http://www.injustice-anywhere.org/...
Justice for Liz, the 16-year-old who was gang raped in Kenya so viciously that she is in a wheelchair as a result, and whose accused rapists were sentenced to cut the grass around the police station, continues to seek justice in the case, and the case in now under investigation by Kenyan authorities.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/...
A protest was held in Nairobi, where hundreds came out to protest for justice in this case. I heard this on NPR; the story pointed out the split between modern, urban Kenya, and rural communities, including the one where Liz and her mother live.
http://www.npr.org/...
And in the continuing seeking of justice for Daisy Colville in Maryville, here is a parents' letter you can sign:
http://act.weareultraviolet.org/...
Women and Culture
Women from all parts of Saudi Arabia went for a drive on October 26. Which was illegal. Although not specifically forbidden by law, drivers licenses are not given to women, who can be arrested for driving. Some women submitted video of themselves driving, and many more left phone messages telling of their experiences. There may have been as many as 60 taking part in the protest.
No women were arrested, though five women were stopped in the capital.
Al-Meeman, an assistant spokesman for that city's police department, explained that the women weren't taken to police stations. Instead, they were kept in their vehicles until their male guardians arrived, at which point the women were released after signing pledges not to drive again.
Here are two stories about the protest:
http://www.cnn.com/...
http://www.theguardian.com/...
Once again, Daily Kos is a source for stories about little-known women. Here are two, one from ancient Greece (mistress to Pericles, no less) and one about a women who was part of the Manhattan project:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
And here's Grad School Barbie - just what the world was missing...
http://joannarenteria.com/...