Reproductive Rights Prof Blog

National Zoo's Panda Won't Give Birth

NBC News: Zoo's Giant Panda Will Not Give Birth:

The Smithsonian National Zoo's female giant panda Mei Xiang will not give birth to a cub this year, zoo officials announced Wednesday.Zoo officials said they believe Mei Xiang lost a developing fetus or experienced a false pregnancy, both of which are common among giant pandas.

Welcome to the Blogosphere, Nan Hunter!

Nan Hunter (Georgetown Law) has launched a brand new blog, Hunter of Justice.  It will offer a generally legal take on sexuality and gender issues.  Here's an excerpt from one of her first entries:

The politics of counting, or, Numbers never lie ... except when they do

Press reports have been building all week about the Census Bureau’s announcement that it will not count same-sex couples legally married in California or Massachusetts (or in other countries) as “married.” The San Jose Mercury News broke the story, which was picked up by the Washington Post, and the AP story ran in the Times and who knows where else. Now People for the American Way has started a petition campaign calling on the Bureau to change its policy. It's fascinating to me what legs this story has -- the issue isn't new (see below), but it's newly visible because it's being driven as a spin-off of the California drama.

Officials justify the decision as required by the Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA), which limits recognition of “marriage” to different-sex couples for purposes of all federal laws and agency actions. See the Bureau’s analysis, originally posted regarding the 2000 census: http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/samesex.html

Sales Drop for Cervical Cancer Vaccine Gardasil

The Wall Street Journal: Merck Buffeted by Analyst Report, by Avery Johnson:

Merck & Co.'s shares dropped 4.8% after an analyst report questioned whether sales of the cervical-cancer vaccine Gardasil have met Wall Street estimates for the second quarter.

UBS pharmaceuticals analyst Roopesh Patel cut his rating on the Whitehouse Station, N.J., drug maker, saying U.S. Gardasil sales may have fallen about $50 million short of expectations.

Barack Obama Explains the Meaning of Life

Political Punch (ABC News blogs), by Jake Tapper:

At a town hall meeting in Kaukauna, Wisc., Thursday afternoon, amidst questions about health care and the economy, a young man said he had a question for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, and Obama should "please be as intellectual or spiritual as you would like."

"Well this is a lot of pressure," Obama said to laugher.

"My question is: what does life mean to you?" the young man asked....

Rare pregnancy of weedy sea dragon at Georgia aquarium

Yes, this blog usually focuses on human reproduction.  But I do love the weedy sea dragon.  Plus, isn't it cool that male sea dragons (and seahorses) are the ones who give birth? 

Associated Press: Rare pregnancy of weedy sea dragon at US aquarium:

ATLANTA: The Georgia Aquarium is celebrating a rare occurrence: a weedy sea dragon at the aquarium is pregnant.

It is only the third time ever that such a creature has been pregnant at a U.S. aquarium, aquarium officials said.

Sea dragons are one of the very few species — along with sea horses and pipe fish — in which the male carries the eggs, said Kerry Gladish, a biologist at the aquarium.

Invitation to Join ProChoice Professionals on LinkedIn

From Justin Diedrich:

LinkedIn is an online social networking site where professionals can meet and share CVs, post jobs, and connect with other like-minded individuals.  I started a group called ProChoice Professionals to try and bring together some of the many pro-choicers from so many different medical & non-medical groups. 

My goals in creating this conglomerate are to:

• Help increase awareness of reproductive rights
• Increase cohesion and networking in the many facets of the pro-choice community
• Provide a venue for pro-choice professionals to network
• And, really, to get the word out – there are so many of us!  The Pro-Choice community is everywhere! 

There are already almost 200 members from around the world—NAF, NARAL, PPFA, IPAS, media groups, lawyers, academics, activists, students and self-identified ProChoice individuals! 

I wanted to extend an invitation to readers of this blog.  When you sign on, you create a profile and will have access to all of the other profiles of our group members.  It's a great way to see potential job applicants, colleagues and find people that may help out your research projects. 

To send your request to join the group, just click here.  If you don't use LinkedIn, when you click you will be asked to create a profile.  And you can make your profile as private or as public as you wish. 

Please let me know if you have any questions.  And please, feel free to extend this invitation to any pro-choice list-serve, friend, or colleague you think would be interested.

Thanks for your support!

Justin Diedrich, MD
Family Planning Research Coordinator
San Francisco General Hospital
The Bixby Center, UCSF

Inventor Who Helped Make Abortions Safer Dies

L.A. Times: Harvey Karman, 84; invented device for safer, easier abortions, by Elaine Woo:

Harvey Karman, a flamboyant psychologist whose invention made a key contribution to women's reproductive health, particularly by making abortions simpler, cheaper and less painful, died May 6 at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara. He was 84.

The cause was a stroke, said his son Kenneth, of Los Angeles.

Activist, inventor, educator and rogue, Karman was drawn to the plight of women facing unwanted pregnancy in the 1950s, when abortion was illegal. While training in psychology at UCLA, he started an underground abortion referral service and eventually performed abortions himself, for which he was convicted and sent to state prison for 2 1/2 years.

In the early 1970s he developed a soft, flexible tube, or cannula, for a device that was widely adopted in the United States and developing countries to perform early abortions. He freely demonstrated its use for doctors and other medical professionals and in 1972 was part of a humanitarian mission to terminate the pregnancies of 1,500 Bangladesh women and girls who had been raped by Pakistani soldiers. His cannula is still widely used today.

Thanks to My Research Assistants!

Thanks to my wonderful research assistants this semester for their invaluable help performing research for this blog:  Mul Kim (3L), Olivia Lieber (2L), and Christina Tenuta (1L). 

A special thanks and congratulations to Mul, who graduated today and who has been helping me with the blog since its launch on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade last year.  Good luck, Mul!

Why I Vote Pro-Choice

I am blogging for choice today in honor of Roe's 35th Anniversary.  Why do I vote pro-choice?  Because pro-choice candidates, by working for reproductive justice and fighting for women's access to the full array of reproductive health services -- from comprehensive sexuality education to contraception to STD treatment and prevention to abortion to prenatal care -- are working to ensure women's equality across the board.  Having access to affordable reproductive health services, and being able to decide freely whether and when to have children, is especially critical for low-income women to be able to participate fully and equally in society.  I will never vote for a candidate who does not understand these basic truths.

Here is the entry I wrote when I blogged for choice on this day last year: 

In celebration of the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I join pro-choice bloggers in writing about why I am pro-choice.  Becoming a pro-choice advocate was, for me, a natural extension of being a feminist and believing in women's rights.  A woman who cannot control her own reproduction can never achieve full equality and autonomy.  More than a third of all women in the United States will have an abortion by the time they are 45. Some of these women will terminate wanted pregnancies, because their own life or health is at risk. because of a grave fetal anomaly, or because they cannot afford another child.  Most, however, will find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy.  It has become in vogue among even pro-choice politicians to talk about abortion as a tragedy. Certainly, unwanted pregnancy is a tragedy.  Ideally, all unwanted pregnancies would be prevented through contraception or abstinence. Abortion is often the result of tragic events -- including rape -- and misguided policies -- including the failure to ensure adequate access to contraception and to provide sufficient financial support to poor women who want to bear children.  But abortion will always be needed. Contraception will fail, women will be raped, awkward teenagers new to sex and lovers in the heat of passion will forgo a condom.   

In all likelihood, you know a woman who has had an abortion.  Women who decide what to do about an unwanted pregnancy make weighty moral decisions.  They bear the responsibility for those decisions.  As pro-choice people, we do no good by talking about abortion as shameful and wrong.  Instead, we should recognize women's autonomy in making this fraught, moral decision, just as we recognize the autonomy of people to make equally weighty decisions in countless other situations.  In 2003, in commemoration of Roe's 30th anniversary, I wrote a moral defense of abortion, in an article that remains just as relevant today.  You can read it at: Caitlin Borgmann & Catherine Weiss, Beyond Acopalypse & Apology, A Moral Defense of Abortion, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, vol. 35, p. 40 (Jan./Feb. 2003).

Reproductive Rights Prof Blog Is One Year Old

It's not just the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade...

 

        ...it's also the first anniversary of this blog!

Thanks to my research assistants!

As the semester draws to a close, I want to thank my research assistants, CUNY Law students Mul Kim (3L) and Olivia Lieber (2L), for their invaluable assistance performing research for this blog.  Thanks also to Amanda Allen (3L).

"Truly Bad Movie Meme"

OK, Ann Bartow has tagged me for the Truly Bad Movie Meme, and I am ready to rise (sink?) to the occasion.  I just watched 12 Monkeys on DVD last night, and that was probably bad enough to qualify, but I think I have a few worse ones.  For me, the movies that make the grade are the ones that I couldn’t even bear to sit all the way through (so if they miraculously became marvelous half way through, I confess I never found out).

One  of these is Northfork.  Being from Montana, I was initially intrigued by the background plot, which is the building of the Hungry Horse Dam, and its flooding of a town, not far from where I grew up.  But, alas, while a great movie could have been made from that premise, I found Northfork simply pretentious and, worse, dull.  After a while, I just could not stand the sight of the four weird angels that kept appearing in what I guess was supposed to be a dreamlike way.

But Dogville was also a real dog of a movie, probably more so.  Again, I may be influenced by my Montana roots, but how could a movie be based in the Rocky Mountains and not only fail to show the stunning beauty of that setting (at least the cinematography in Northfork was hauntingly beautiful), but actually fail to use any real setting at all?  There were just chalk outlines on the ground, and the actors pretended to turn knobs and open doors that were not there.  I kept hoping that this was a weird introduction and that a real movie would soon begin, but sadly it did not.

Wow… I have to say that when I initially discovered Ann had tagged me, I felt the vaguely sinking sensation I got as a kid receiving a chain letter.  But griping about bad movies is strangely cathartic.  Thanks, Ann!  (And thanks to my husband for reminding me of these awful movies.)  I tag Paul Caron.

Man Accused of Forcing Miscarriage

Via the Associated Press:

APPLETON, Wis. (AP) -- Darshana Patel told authorities she was suspicious as she watched her boyfriend stir a smoothie at an ice cream store. When he offered it to her, she noticed powder on the cup's rim, and the pregnant woman feigned illness and didn't drink it.

According to a criminal complaint, the woman says she sent the powder to a laboratory and it turned out to be mifepristone, the abortion pill also known as RU-486.

The test results came too late: She had already suffered two miscarriages in less than a year.

On Thursday, Manishkumar M. Patel, 34, of Appleton, was accused of slipping the drug to the woman without her knowledge. He was charged with seven felonies and two misdemeanors, including attempted first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child, stalking, burglary and two counts of violating a restraining order. The nine charges carry a maximum penalty of 99 1/2 years in prison and a $92,000 fine.

Catherine Roraback, Lawyer in Griswold v. Connecticut, Dies at 87

Via the New York Times:

Catherine Roraback, a lawyer who pressed the Connecticut case that eventually led the United States Supreme Court to rule that laws banning the use of contraceptives were unconstitutional, a precursor to its Roe v. Wade decision on abortions, died on Wednesday in Salisbury, Conn. She was 87.

Her death was confirmed by a cousin, Andrew Roraback.

Ms. Roraback was the lead lawyer in several other controversial cases in her 50-year career, including the 1971 trial of the Black Panther leader Bobby Seale in the killing of another party member.

In the early 1960s, Ms. Roraback represented Estelle Griswold, then the executive director of Planned Parenthood in Connecticut, and Dr. Charles Buxton, the chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Yale University’s School of Medicine, as their case rose through the state courts.

In 1965 in Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court ruled that the constitutional right to privacy encompasses the right of married couples to use contraception.  In 1972, this right was extended to unmarried persons in Eisenstadt v. Baird.  One year later, the Court decided Roe v. Wade. 

Read more about Catherine Roraback at the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame website.

Nominated: Best New York-Based Blawger

I have been nominated for "best New York-based blawger" in a contest by Sui Generis, a New York law blog.  The contest is being held via an on-line poll that runs until midnight on Wednesday, October 24.  If you like this blog, I hope you'll cast your vote for me.

Sexual Freedom Coming to Philadelphia October 6th, 2007

The Woodhull Freedom Foundation announces:

Woodhull's Sexual Freedom Forum

What IS Sexual Freedom? And, more importantly, why should I care about it?

Register NOW and join a group of nationally renowned speakers and local organizers - experienced sexual freedom activists and trainers - and learn how to create social and political change.

This fabulous forum offers a full day of discussions and skill-building/problem-solving sessions featuring some of the best known leaders in the social change movement.

Saturday, October 6th 2007
Registration: 9:30 am
Forum: 10:00 am - 4:30 pm

For more information, visit the Woodhull Freedom Foundation Website.

Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program Is Accepting Applications

The Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program (WLPPFP) welcomes applications to its U.S. Program as well as to the Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) Fellowship Program.  From the WLPPFP website:

Since 1983, the Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program (WLPPFP) has enabled recent law graduates with a special interest in women's rights to work in Washington, DC, with organizations involved in legal and public policy issues affecting women. Those selected for participation are assigned to a placement organization that employs the Fellows for one year, including women's rights groups, civil rights groups, governmental agencies, and Georgetown University Law Center clinics working on women's issues.

The application deadline for WLPPFP is Friday, November 2, and for the LAWA Program is Friday, November 30.

Verizon Reverses Itself on Abortion Messages

Adam Liptak reports for the New York Times:

Reversing course, Verizon Wireless announced today that it would allow an abortion rights group to send text messages to its supporters on Verizon’s mobile network....

Last week, Verizon rejected a request from the abortion rights group Naral Pro-Choice America for a five-digit “short code.” Such codes allow people interested in hearing from businesses, politicians and advocacy groups to sign up to receive text messages.

Verizon is one of the two largest mobile carriers. The other leading carriers had all accepted Naral’s request for the code.

In turning down the request last week, Verizon told Naral that it “does not accept issue-oriented (abortion, war, etc.) programs — only basic, general politician-related programs (Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, etc.).”

Today, Mr. Nelson called that “an incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy” that “was designed to ward against communications such as anonymous hate messaging and adult materials sent to children.” The policy, Mr. Nelson said, had been developed “before text messaging protections such as spam filters adequately protected customers from unwanted messages.”

But the program requested by Naral would have sent messages only to people who had asked to receive  them.

Nancy Keenan, Naral’s president, expressed satisfaction today. “The fight to defeat corporate censorship was won,” she said. But Ms. Keenan added that her group “would like to see Verizon make its new policy public.”

Veto Risk Seen in Compromise on Child Health

Via The New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 — Senate and House negotiators said Sunday that they had agreed on a framework for a compromise bill that would provide health insurance to four million uninsured children while relaxing some of the limits on eligibility imposed by the Bush administration.

The compromise, which resembles a bill passed by the Senate with bipartisan support, sets the stage for a battle with President Bush, who has denounced similar legislation as a step “down the path to government-run health care for every American.”

Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said Sunday, “The House and the Senate still appear to be far away from legislation that we would find acceptable.”

Republicans will come under political pressure to support the compromise. But if the president vetoes it, he will probably have enough votes in the House to sustain his veto, Republicans say.

The compromise would increase tobacco taxes to finance health insurance for more children.

Law Students for Reproductive Justice

The former Law Students for Choice is now Law Students for Reproductive Justice.  From the LSRJ website:

Law Students for Choice is now Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ).  The organization’s new name more accurately reflects the spirit of its intersectional perspectives, inclusive values, and collaborative strategies, as well as the substance of its work.  Jill Adams, LSRJ Executive Director says, “After years of consideration and conversation, we are thrilled for our exterior to fully embody our interior. This change will be echoed on over 60 campuses throughout the US and Canada where LSRJ educates, organizes, and supports law students to ensure that a new generation of legal advocates is prepared to protect and expand reproductive rights as basic civil and human rights.

Albania's sworn 'virgins': Women give up sex to live as men

From the Chicago Tribune (8/22):

When the Albanian journalist and author Elvira Dones was traveling in the mountains of northern Albania, she asked for directions from someone she thought was a man walking his mule through a village, rifle on shoulder.

After the exchange, her guide whispered, "That is one of them."

Dones had just met an adherent of an ancient northern Albanian tradition in which women take an oath of lifelong virginity in exchange for the right to live as men. The process is not surgical. Rather, sworn virgins cut their hair and wear baggy men's clothes and take up manly livelihoods as shepherds or truck drivers or even political leaders. And those around them treat them as men.

Via Our Bodies, Our Blog.

Wash. Post: "New Bush Policies Limit Reach of Child Insurance Plan"

Via yesterday's Washington Post:

The Bush administration, engaged in a battle with Congress over whether a popular children's health insurance program should be expanded, has announced new policies that will make it harder for states to insure all but the lowest-income children.

New administrative hurdles, which state health officials were told about late last week, are aimed at preventing parents with private insurance for their children from availing of the government-subsidized State Children's Health Insurance Program. But Democrats and children's advocates said that the announcement will jeopardize coverage for children whose parents work at jobs that do not provide employer-paid insurance.

Listen to an NPR segment by Julie Rovner.

Happy Birthday to Paul Caron

Happy birthday to Paul Caron, editor-in-chief of the Law Professor Blogs network and editor of the famous TaxProf Blog.

(I don't think there are 50 candles on that cupcake, though!)

Support Joy of Resistance This Thursday

This Thursday, July 26, between 3 and 6 PM, Joy of Resistance: Multicultural Feminist Radio @ WBAI (99.5 FM) will offer a 5-CD set of recordings from The SisterSong Conference: "Let's Talk About Sex!"--as part of WBAI's Summer Fundraiser. The program will be hosted by Maretta Short and Fran Luck.

In June, the largest gathering ever of Women of Color coming together to organize around sexuality and reproductive issues took place in Chicago-the SisterSong Conference: "Let's Talk About Sex". According to
Loretta Ross, National Coordinator for SisterSong "This was the largest women of color gathering in reproductive justice history--women of color and our allies came to this conference to formulate a plan for a
pro-sex, pro-choice, pro-family reproductive justice movement that is organized by women of color and based on our needs."

Joy of Resistance was able to locate a complete set of recordings of this historic conference--the next best thing to having been there -- and for a $100 pledge of support for the station, listeners will receive a gift of this 5-CD package.

Welcome to Guest Editor Julie Goldscheid

I will be away for a few weeks.  My colleague, Julie Goldscheid, has generously agreed to edit the blog in my absence.  Professor Goldscheid is an associate professor at CUNY Law School.  Before becoming a law professor, she was General Counsel at Safe Horizon, an organization that provides support, prevents violence, and promotes justice for victims of crime and abuse, and before that she served as the Acting Legal Director of the NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund/Legal Momentum.  Professor Goldscheid coordinated and co-authored the amicus brief of organizations representing teen victims of abuse in Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood, decided by the Supreme Court in 2006.

--Caitlin Borgmann

Acknowledgement

Many thanks to Eve Rips, who will be entering her senior year at Stanford University this fall, for helping out with the Reproductive Rights Prof blog this summer.  Eve is studying philosophy and political science at Stanford and doing an honors thesis in ethics in society.

Fundamental Mormons seek recognition for polygamy

Reuters reported last week:

The attorneys general of Utah and Arizona said in separate interviews they had no intention of prosecuting polygamists unless they commit other crimes such as taking underage brides -- a practice authorities said was rampant in a Utah-Arizona border community run by Warren Jeffs before his arrest in August.

"We are not going to go out there and persecute people for their beliefs," said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.

Via Concurring Opinions.

Natalie Angier on Sperm

Natalie Angier writes in Sleek, Fast and Focused: The Cells That Make Dad Dad (in today's New York Times):

We are fast approaching Father’s Day, the festive occasion on which we plague Dad with yet another necktie or collect phone call and just generally strive to remind the big guy of the central verity of paternity — that it’s a lot more fun to become a father than to be one. “I won’t lie to you,” said the great Homer Simpson. “Fatherhood isn’t easy like motherhood.” Yet in our insistence that men are more than elaborately engineered gamete vectors, we neglect the marvels of their elaborately engineered gametes. As the scientists who study male germ cells will readily attest, sperm are some of the most extraordinary cells of the body, a triumph of efficient packaging, sleek design and superspecialization. Human sperm are extremely compact, and they’ve been stripped of a normal cell’s protein-making machinery; but when cast into the forbidding environment of the female reproductive tract, they will learn on the job and change their search strategies and swim strokes as needed.

For Mother's Day, Angier wrote about the X Chromosome.

Justice Ginsburg Again Bemoans Court's Lack of Regard for Women's Equality

Poor, lonely Justice Ginsburg.  In today's Washington Post, Robert Barnes reports on Justice Ginsburg's frustration with the Supreme Court's decision yesterday making it more difficult for workers to sue for unequal pay:

The decision moved Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to read a dissent from the bench, a usually rare practice that she has now employed twice in the past six weeks to criticize the majority for opinions that she said undermine women's rights.

Speaking for the three other dissenting justices, Ginsburg's voice was as precise and emotionless as if she were reading a banking decision, but the words were stinging.  "In our view, the court does not comprehend, or is indifferent to, the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination," she said.

Last month, Ginsburg rebuked the same five-justice majority for upholding the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act and for language in the opinion that she said reflected "ancient notions about women's place in the family and under the Constitution -- ideas that have long since been discredited."

Read the decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.  Read Justice Ginsburg's dissent in Gonzales v. Carhart (addressing the federal abortion ban).

Linda McClain on The Channelling Function of Family Law

Linda C. McClain (Hofstra) has posted Love, Marriage, and the Baby Carriage: Revisiting the Channelling Function of Family Law on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This Article revisits a significant idea at the core of contemporary debates in family law: the channelling function of family law. This idea is that a basic purpose of family law is to support fundamental social institutions, like marriage and parenthood, and to steer people into participating in them. Family law scholar Carl Schneider helpfully invited attention to this familiar idea in an essay published fifteen years ago. Challenges to the conventional sequence (expressed in the childhood rhyme) of love-marriage-baby carriage posed by changing social practices, rights claims made by various groups within society that lead to legislative change and judicial rulings, by technological developments in the area of reproduction, and by changes in family law toward a more functional definition of family changes provide a valuable opportunity to revisit Schneider's notion of the channelling function of family law and, in particular, how it relates to other important functions of family law. As this sequence of love-marriage-baby carriage is being altered and challenged in perhaps unprecedented ways, the question arises whether the core of ideas that Schneider identifies with the social institutions of marriage and parenthood still retains force, or whether the core is being redefined. At the heart of many contemporary debates about the state of the family — and family law — is the question of how to assess challenges to this expected sequence of love, marriage, and the baby carriage. The debate over same-sex marriage visibly raises this issue, as does debate over the question, Who is a legal parent?

The Article begins with several examples of current social practices that scramble the sequence of love, marriage, and baby carriage, and considers how such practices both recognize and resist the conventional sequence. It then illustrates how the notion of marriage and parenthood as social institutions and the channelling function feature in several recent judicial opinions addressing challenges to state marriage laws brought by same-sex couples or defining the boundaries of legal parenthood. It points out parallels between these judicial opinions and arguments made in public debates over marriage about the channelling function and the role of marriage in ordering — or managing — heterosexuality. It also highlights how the various functions of family law are in evident tension in some of these opinions. The Article concludes with several reflections about the continuing relevance of the concept of the channelling function in light of challenges to the conventional sequence of love, marriage, and the baby carriage.

Kenya: Muslim religious leaders join the fight against female genital mutilation

Via WLUML (Women Living Under Muslim Laws) (4/25/07):

The decision by Muslim religious leaders in northeastern Kenya to talk about the dangers of female genital mutilation (FGM) during Friday prayers has turned into a significant campaign against the practice. (IRIN)

"We have managed to educate people and convince many parents, including those with strong traditional beliefs, that circumcising girls is not a requirement in Islam," said Sheikh Harun Rashid of Isiolo Rahma Mosque. "Our first assignment was to inform the parents that the holy book [Quran] teaches that the painful act is not an obligation; it is a tradition and not a religious obligation," he told IRIN in Isiolo.

The campaign, which started in a small way 10 years ago, is now spearheaded by the Muslim Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya. It still relies heavily on teachings delivered during Friday prayers, to reach the large Muslim populations in northeastern Kenya.

Nestlé Flouts WHO-Ratified Code Prohibiting Marketing of Infant Formula Directly to Mothers

Via the Guardian Unlimited (UK):

Thirty years after a boycott of Nestlé products was launched to highlight its unethical marketing of baby formula in developing countries, baby formula manufacturers are still failing in their responsibilities towards the world's poorest mothers and babies, Save the Children claims today.

It says around 1.4 million children die each year of illnesses such as diarrhoea that could have been prevented if they were being breastfed. But - despite the dangers of mixing infant formula with dirty water and using unsterile bottles - food companies continue to use aggressive marketing techniques to keep their share of a multi-million pound market.

Happy Mother's Day

Save the Children has issued the 2007 Mothers' Index: The Best and Worst Places to be a Mother:

The eighth annual Mothers' Index helps document conditions for mothers and children in 140 countries - 41 developed nations and 99 in the developing world - and shows where mothers fare best and where they face the greatest hardships.  All countries for which sufficient data were available are included in the Index. Below are the countries that ranked highest and lowest on the list.

Top three: Sweden, Iceland, and Norway.  Bottom three: Yemen, Sierra Leone, Niger.  The United States is ranked 26th.

Take action in honor of Mother's Day:

• ACLU, In Honor of Mother's Day, Urge Your Senators to Support Ratification of CEDAW.
• NOW, Honor the Mothers and Caregivers in Your Life.

NY Times: "Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus"

From Thursday's New York Times, Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus, by Amy Harmon:

Until this year, only pregnant women 35 and older were routinely tested to see if their fetuses had the extra chromosome that causes Down syndrome. As a result many couples were given the diagnosis only at birth. But under a new recommendation from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, doctors have begun to offer a new, safer screening procedure to all pregnant women, regardless of age.

About 90 percent of pregnant women who are given a Down syndrome diagnosis have chosen to have an abortion.

Convinced that more couples would choose to continue their pregnancies if they better appreciated what it meant to raise a child with Down syndrome, a growing group of parents is seeking to insert their own positive perspectives into a decision often dominated by daunting medical statistics and doctors who feel obligated to describe the difficulties of life with a disabled child.

National Women’s Law Center Launches New Blog

From the NWLC's press release:

Today the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) is launching a multi-issue blog to provide updates and commentary on pressing women’s rights issues. The blog, Womenstake.org, will promote and inform timely discussions of a broad range of issues affecting women including family economic security, education, employment, health care and much more.

Check out the blog, Womenstake.org.

Alessandra Stanley: The New Modern Woman, Ambitious and Feeble

In Saturday's New York Times, Alessandra Stanley, in a review of Gray's Anatomy, comments:

Sex isnt the problem with the new series; its the subjugation. Addison looks up her old friend from medical school whose perfect marriage has just ended and finds herself enmeshed with two other mature, reputable professionals: a fertility specialist and a psychotherapist. All three women are lovelorn, sex-starved and prone to public displays of disaffection.

On Greys Anatomy at least two female characters, Christina (Sandra Oh) and Dr. Bailey (Chandra Wilson) have confidence, big egos and an ability to keep their sorrows to themselves most of the time. The female leads on the new series are fragile and pitiable, and its a worrisome imbalance. The HBO series Sex and the City made light of female insecurity and let its flighty heroines come out ahead. Here even the most successful women are left behind in life.

"[T]oday's heroines," Stanley concludes, "have to be weak, needy and oversexed to be liked by women and desired by men."

Amnesty Int'l: U.S. Authorities fail to protect Indigenous women from shocking rates of rape

Via Amnesty International (4/24/07):

Native American and Alaska Native women in the United States suffer disproportionately high levels of rape and sexual violence, yet the federal government has created substantial barriers to accessing justice, Amnesty International (AI) asserted in a 113-page report released today. Justice Department figures indicate that American Indian and Alaska Native women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than women in the United States in general; more than one in three Native women will be raped in their lifetimes.

The United States government has created a complex maze of tribal, state and federal jurisdictions that often allows perpetrators to rape with impunity -- and in some cases effectively creates jurisdictional vacuums that encourage assaults. It is necessary to establish the location of the crime and the identity of the perpetrator to determine which authorities have jurisdiction, during which critical time is lost. This leads to inadequate investigations or a failure to respond.

Read the full press release.

New Guide for Reproductive Health Advocates

The Center for Reproductive Rights has released "Gaining Ground: A Tool for Advancing Reproductive Rights Law Reform." Here is a summary: 

Women’s equality and status in society are directly linked to their enjoyment of reproductive rights. Around the world, human rights law and international commitments require governments to reform laws and policies that deny women these rights. Advocates play a crucial role in shaping reforms and ensuring that they translate into genuine progress for women. In th