Idaho abortion restrictions are unconstitutional: appeals court

An Idaho law that prohibits abortions of fetuses 20 or more weeks after fertilization is unconstitutional, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday.

The ruling, from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, also struck down an Idaho law that required all second-trimester abortions to occur in a hospital.

Bans on abortion after 20 weeks have been passed in 12 U.S. states since 2010, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights advocacy group. The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure this month that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks. The bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, and Democratic President Barack Obama opposes it.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/29/us-usa-abortion-idUSKBN0OE25O20150529

Know Where Politicians Stand on the Issues (inc. Candidates)

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Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

At OnTheIssues.org, you can find out where every U.S. representative and senator stands on every issue, including their voting records (how they have voted on legislation). As voters, it’s incredibly important that we keep an eye on what our politicians are doing and make informed decisions about who to support.

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California adopts ‘yes means yes’ sex-assault rule

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown announced Sunday that he has signed a bill that makes California the first in the nation to define when “yes means yes” and adopt requirements for colleges to follow when investigating sexual assault reports.

State lawmakers last month approved SB967 by Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, as states and universities across the U.S. are under pressure to change how they handle rape allegations. Campus sexual assault victims and women’s advocacy groups delivered petitions to Brown‘s office on Sept. 16 urging him to sign the bill.

http://news.msn.com/us/california-adopts-yes-means-yes-sex-assault-rule

The US human rights record domestically: Poor

Later On

Joanna Rothkopf reports in Salon:

The United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has recently concluded its 85th Session during which time it considered seven state reports, including one on the United States.

The report praised many progressive steps the U.S. has taken to ensure equality, including the termination of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, the adoption of the Fair Sentencing Act and the adoption of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

However, the number of issues the report raises is pretty abominable. CERD expressed concern over the following problems:

1. Lack of a national human rights institution
2. Persistent racial profiling and illegal surveillance
3. Prevalence and under-reporting of racist hate speech and hate crimes
4. Disparate impact of environmental pollution in low income and minority communities
5. Restrictive voter identification laws leading to unequal right to vote
6. Criminalization of homelessness when homeless people are…

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Abusive Acid Attacks Against Women & Children, and an Organization Trying To Help

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A beautiful blog called KindnessBlog.com recently posted an article and pictures of a mother and daughter from Iran who were attacked with acid by the mother’s abusive husband.

I decided to blog about the article because despite suffering a cruel attack in which acid was poured on their faces, hands and bodies, leading to severe pain and disfigurement, the daughter and mother are clearly glad to still have each other. This is captured through one of the pictures in which the daughter kisses her mother. They are survivors, and that is inspiring.

Also inspiring is an organization called Acid Survivors Trust International. Here’s a bit about them from their website:

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Lady Parts Justice

On July 15, Ladypartsjustice.com becomes the first #NSFW comedy and information hub exposing the creepy anti-choice laws that keep infesting our country.

Join us for the kick-off at 8:30pm, July 15 for our coast to coast live streaming celebration right here at ladypartsjustice.com. Lizz Winstead will host with performances from some of our favorite Lady Parts Justice leaguers like Leah Bonemma, Jean Grae, Sally Kohn and so many special guests! Plus we will go to Austin, Texas to visit with our friends at Whole Woman’s Health and hear a message from some of our Los Angeles based comedians!

http://www.ladypartsjustice.com/

How the Antifeminist Backlash is Backfiring

The Conservative War on Women Ramps Up, Women Lose More Rights

From an email from CredoAction:

What We Expect of Women

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Image from http://www.ehow.com

The Guardian has the best article on the Elliot Rodger shooting that I’ve read so far. It is a careful examination of the man and his motives, as well as how society’s attitudes towards women no doubt played a role in the injury and murder of his victims. We’re all asking why this happened, and this article draws attention to what I consider the most crucial aspects of the crime and Rodger’s personality (from TheGuardian.com):

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Women on Twitter Starting a National Conversation About Misogyny

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Photo from http://www.onepageafrica.com

It’s too bad that it has taken tragedy after tragedy for America to start acknowledging and talking as a nation about the consequences of rampant and overlooked misogyny. Just because American women aren’t forced to  cover themselves from head to toe in public doesn’t mean that there is no sexism in this country.

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