As we consider the potential implications of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, one open question is how states will enforce the abortion bans that are expected in at least twenty-six states. History suggests that the prospective anti-abortion laws will ensue a war on abortion drugs and are likely to echo the “War on Drugs;” they will not eliminate the behavior that is outlawed, but will, through biased, targeted enforcement, disproportionately harm poor people and people of color.
That abortion bans would resemble the War on Drugs is not merely metaphorical; more than half of abortions today are carried out using a two-pill treatment that terminates pregnancies up to ten weeks. Early in the Biden Administration, regulations requiring abortion pills to be taken in a clinic or doctor’s office were lifted. A number of states allow the pills to be delivered by mail after a consultation with a healthcare professional, which in many cases can be done through tele-health. Abortion opponents are already moving to make the medication inaccessible in anti-abortion states.
As the decades-long War on Drugs makes obvious, law enforcement does not render drugs unavailable. Rather, the drug war made it easy for the criminal justice system to target certain communities—particularly the poor and people of color. And disparities in the way in which drug policies are enforced infect every stage of the system—the decision to arrest, the decision whether to charge and which charges to bring, the trial process, and sentencing. Wealthy and white individuals rarely face serious drug charges—if any drug charges—for the same behaviors that would be charged to a poor individual, a person of color, or someone who falls into both categories.
There is every reason to expect similar systematic bias in the enforcement of abortion bans. We know this because although rare, states have actually prosecuted women for experiencing a miscarriage or stillbirth. Those cases reveal a clear pattern of racial and class bias. One study found that 59% of defendants were women of color, and 71% could not afford a lawyer. Though some of the most egregious instances of criminalizing pregnancy have sparked national outrage, the practice is widespread and becoming more common. Prosecutions have occurred in at least 44 states; of 1,600 recorded cases, three fourths occurred in the last 15 years.
ANN ARBOR, MI – While many were focused on Hillary Clinton’s response to the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump in her visit to the University of Michigan, the former Democratic presidential nominee was interested in tackling subjects that spanned the globe.
Clinton returned to Ann Arbor for the second time since her 2016 presidential election defeat to Donald Trump Thursday, Oct. 10.
In the nearly 90-minute discussion inside Rackham Auditorium, Clinton touched on many topics, including women’s rights to the United States’ lack of response to the protests and unrest in Hong Kong.
Here are five additional highlights expanding on Clinton’s visit to UM Thursday via the Weiser Diplomacy Center. Read more…
The Handmaid’s Tale” costume is now the ultimate symbol of women’s rights
The Handmaid’s Tale” costume is now the ultimate symbol of women’s rights
The ongoing TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale has done much to remind us of the astonishing pertinence of Margaret Atwood’s novel—which was first published in 1985 and is soon to be followed by a sequel: The Testaments. In particular, it has brought the costume of the handmaids, carefully described by Atwood in the book, to the attention of a new generation of thinkers
In the novel, the red cloak and dress worn with a white bonnet, are together described as a modesty costume In Gilead the repressive American regime in which the main protagonist Offred is forced to live it is intended to function as a sign of female subservience Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner made up to $135 million while working for free But as the #resistsister hashtag chosen by production house Hulu to market the series suggests the modesty costume despite its intended function as a symbol of subservience has remarkable potency when removed from its Gileadean context and redeployed as a symbol of female agency and the defiance of oppression.
As abortion bans multiply, increasingly diverse voices are calling to protect women’s rights
As abortion bans multiply, increasingly diverse voices are calling to protect women’s rights
The 200-plus people rallying inside Iowa’s State Capitol Tuesday found creative and colorful ways to express their outrage over politicians’ increasingly successful efforts to control women’s bodies. Theirs was one of five Stop the Ban rallies across Iowa and more than 450 across America Already this year legislators in different states have passed 16 curbs on abortion said Erin Davison-Rippey, state executive director of Planned Parenthood of Iowa. Alabama’s new law bans all abortions except when a woman’s health is at serious risk. Under it, performing an abortion is a felony punishable by life or up to 99 years Under a bill passed in Missouri and awaiting the governor’s signature doctors who perform abortions could be sentenced to prison for anywhere between five and 15 years. They could lose their licenses for not performing a fetal heartbeat test. Davis-Rippey said one in three 25 million women of reproductive age now lives in a state where abortion could be outlawed if Roe v. Wade were overturned Those laws are in direct defiance of the wishes of 73% of Americans Davison-Rippey said. Iowa’s courts saved Iowans from the fetal heartbeat abortion ban that was passed and signed into law last year by Gov Kim Reynolds .
Her Crime? Defending Women’s Rights in Iran
Her Crime? Defending Women’s Rights in Iran
In their perverse way dictatorships know full well they’re doing wrong when they imprison dissidents. They betray this by the absurdity of the accusations they make against their critics as if trying to conceal the real intent of their persecution.
The result of course is the opposite the silenced dissenter emerges as the righteous accuser the tyrant as crook The latest proof of this is the new prison sentence handed down against Nasrin Sotoudeh, the Iranian human rights lawyer in jail since June on charges of colluding against the system and insulting the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
She had already been convicted in absentia, of belonging to a human rights organization and stoking corruption and prostitution an apparent reference to her defense of women arrested on charges of removing the mandatory Muslim head scarf. A few years earlier Ms. Sotoudeh had been imprisoned for activities against national security and propaganda against the regime It does not require a lot of investigating to discern that Ms. Sotoudeh is guilty of none of the above. She is a lawyer who has represented abused children and mothers activists and journalists. In doing so she has lawfully and peacefully insisted that the theocracy at the helm of Iran abide by the rule of law and the human rights obligations
Iran: Shocking 33 year prison term and 148 lashes for women’s rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh
Iran: Shocking 33-year prison term and 148 lashes for women’s rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh
The sentencing of prominent Iranian human rights lawyer and women’s rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh to 33 years in prison and 148 lashes in a new case against her is an outrageous injustice said Amnesty International today.
The sentence, reported on her husband Reza Khandan’s Facebook page on 11 March, brings her total sentence after two grossly unfair trials to 38 years in prison. In September 2016, she had been sentenced in her absence to five years in prison in a separate case. It is absolutely shocking that Nasrin Sotoudeh is facing nearly four decades in jail and 148 lashes for her peaceful human rights work, including her defence of women protesting against Iran’s degrading forced hijab (veiling) laws. Nasrin Sotoudeh must be released immediately and unconditionally and this obscene sentence quashed without delay said Philip Luther
Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director.
Nasrin Sotoudeh has dedicated her life to defending women’s rights and speaking out against the death penalty – it is utterly outrageous that Iran’s authorities are punishing her for her human rights work. Her conviction and sentence consolidate Iran’s reputation as a cruel oppressor of women’s rights.
The protection of women’s rights begins with childhood
To solve the crisis of violence against women we need to look to boys’ experience of childhood in South Africa.
Behaviour disorders that lead to violence in later life are already present at the age of 10. This is not to say that all boys who experience abuse become violent. But if we want to heal our communities we must turn our attention to cycles of abuse that begin at a very early age.
GroundUp reported on Wednesday that in Diepsloot, a township north of Johannesburg, sexual and gender-based violence is a pervasive issue.
In a 2014 survey, 76% of those questioned said they or someone close to them had been a victim of violence in the home or from an intimate partner. Domestic violence was the most prevalent problem, followed by rape and other forms of sexual violence (37%).
In a separate study from 2016 in Diepsloot, more than half of the men questioned said that they had either raped or beaten a woman during the past year.
The same study found a strong correlation between men’s own exposure to violence and their use of violence: “Men experiencing child abuse were five times as likely to use recent violence against women… The majority of men interviewed experienced at least one type of physical or sexual childhood abuse. More than one third had been raped or molested as a child.”
It is therefore crucial that the persistent nature of violence is recognised. If we want to improve safety of women, we must begin with the protection and safety of all children from harm as a matter of priority.
Poor mental, physical health linked to childhood violence
The 2017 Optimus Study on the prevalence of sexual abuse among children in South Africa found similar prevalences of lifetime experience of sexual abuse for girls and boys. The data shows that boys need as much protection as girls (though their needs are different) – but this is only slowly being recognised. Violence in families, whether against children or witnessed by children, has serious developmental consequences and may result in the intergenerational transmission of violent behaviour.
Read more…
The big gains for women’s rights in the Middle East explained
Saudi Arabia, under the initiative of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, gave women in the kingdom the right to drive.
Saudi Arabia has been the only country in the world to ban women from driving — an internationally recognized symbol of unequal status. Along with the ability to drive has come new rights and freedoms: the ability to join the military, work in intelligence services and attend sporting events and concerts. A senior cleric even commented that women should not be required to wear the abaya.
Saudi Arabia is in good company. Across the Middle East and North Africa, countries have been upgrading women’s rights. Since 2011, nearly every country in North Africa has adopted a gender quota, in which parties are required to nominate a minimum percentage of women as candidates for office, to increase women’s representation in politics. In Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Yemen and Morocco, women can now pass on citizenship to their children, and Lebanon may soon join this list. The region has seen the widespread repeal of laws letting rapists escape punishment if they marry their victims. And nine countries adopted laws against domestic violence.
Why are Middle Eastern countries advancing women’s rights — and why have they lagged for so long? Many observers have blamed women’s inequality on religion, specifically Islam. Our research finds that these explanations are too simplistic, as we will explain.
Religious explanations fall short.
Some observers argue that women’s inequality in Muslim-majority countries, particularly in places like Saudi Arabia, is because of Islam — implying that reform will come only if more liberal interpretations emerge or these nations secularize. Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris find that gender inequality is more prevalent in societies where Islam is the dominant faith. Muslims living in the West appear to hold more patriarchal views than non-Muslims, suggesting that inequality adheres to the religion’s teachings or values.
UK Supreme Court backs N Ireland women’s right to abortion
Non-legally binding ruling says victims of rape or those with serious health risks have right to terminate pregnancies.
The government of the United Kingdom is facing intense pressure to reform abortion laws in Northern Ireland after Supreme Court judges described them as incompatible with human rights legislation.
In a majority opinion, the judges decided that women who had been raped, or whose unborn children suffered a fatal foetal abnormality, had the right to terminate their pregnancies.
But the judges’ considered opinion is not legally binding, and the focus is now on politicians to decide the next step.
Non-legally binding ruling says victims of rape or those with serious health risks have right to terminate pregnancies.The government of the United Kingdom is facing intense pressure to reform abortion laws in Northern Ireland after Supreme Court judges described them as incompatible with human rights legislation.In a majority opinion, the judges decided that women who had been raped, or whose unborn children suffered a fatal foetal abnormality, had the right to terminate their pregnancies.But the judges’ considered opinion is not legally binding, and the focus is now on politicians to decide the next step.Non-legally binding ruling says victims of rape or those with serious health risks have right to terminate pregnancies.The government of the United Kingdom is facing intense pressure to reform abortion laws in Northern Ireland after Supreme Court judges described them as incompatible with human rights legislation.In a majority opinion, the judges decided that women who had been raped, or whose unborn children suffered a fatal foetal abnormality, had the right to terminate their pregnancies.But the judges’ considered opinion is not legally binding, and the focus is now on politicians to decide the next step.
Women’s Rights Are Human Rights, and Women Have the Right to Equality in Sport
Today, on the United Nations (UN) International Day of Sport For Development and Peace, we are reminded of the unifying power of sport and its role in sending a message of peace and equality for all. The field of play offers a powerful platform for social change — for dismantling barriers and building bridges, and for bringing people together regardless of race, nationality or gender. Yet, discrimination against women persists in many areas, including in the athletic arena, even as attitudes around gender-based stereotypes continue to evolve.
As an Olympian myself — and as a broadcaster who started covering the Olympics at age 17 — I have seen firsthand how participation and access to sports can help to close the gender gap.
Sports can and do have a positive influence on the advancement of gender equality. Not only does the field of play provide a platform upon which to build a better world, it also allows for a space where we can promote gender equality, giving girls and women equal opportunities to benefit from sport. There is no better venue for this than the Olympics. Every country competing must follow the same rules and play on the same field – and having the opportunity to represent your country and meet strong, talented women from around the world opens up your perspectives. The Olympics become an equalizer within women’s sports.
Playing sports empowers female athletes with the skills and confidence to survive and thrive in the world today, on and off the field. Individual and team sports have the power to transcend the boundaries of gender, religion, race and nationality. They promote health and wellness, self-confidence, decision-making and social skills, and, above all, perseverance. Women in sport smash gender stereotypes, providing inspiring role models for all girls, and portraying gender equality.
Opening Up Opportunities
While we’ve come a long way in leveling the playing field in terms of gender equality, it wasn’t always this way. When I competed in the Rome 1960 Summer Olympic Games, and in the Tokyo 1964 Summer Olympic Games, the opportunities and resources available to female athletes were extremely limited. Women competed for less than one-third of the medals. The first women’s Olympic team sport — volleyball — was only added in Tokyo — forget the marathon, forget basketball and soccer, and never mind how the press portrayed female Olympic athletes at that time. It was not until 1972, with the passage of Title IX, which I proudly helped champion, that things began to change.