abortion rights

While I never thought I'd be declaring someone who doesn't like Bart Stupak anything but a friend, Randy Neugebauer's "baby killer" accusation this Monday on the House floor to Stupak earns him a raging douchebag award, which he gets to share with Senators Stupak and Nelson, and the Tea Party brigade.

The Super Bowl, with its male posturing, scantily-clad cheerleaders, and rampant corporate sponsorships, has never been exactly a feminist's dream come true. This year, however, there is one more reason to throw your remote at the screen and run for cover, and it comes in the form of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. And his mother. And the Focus on the Family anti-choice commercial they'll be starring in during the game.

Word came yesterday: The University of Notre Dame has hired Brian Kelly away from the University of Cincinnati to be its new football coach. Kelly, a pro-choice Catholic with extraordinary coaching skill and success, takes the job just six months after the a strong segment of the Notre Dame community protested President Obama's commencement address at the premiere Catholic university, citing Obama's pro-choice beliefs as its point of discontent.

 

The healthcare debate this week has certainly been a lot of fingerpointing. In an effort to quash false rumors surrounding Obama's new healthcare plan (please let's never discuss the phrase "death panels" again), the White House went so far as to launch a "reality check" website. But one issue that's missing from the White House site is abortion. Despite the lack of an official White House debunk, the public dialogue on abortion has been just as packed with misinformation and exaggeration as the rest of the national conversation about healthcare reform.

Conservative websites are running with the National Right to Life group's headline that healthcare reform will be biggest expansion of abortion rights since Roe v. Wade. "Condition Red!" flashes the National Right to Life website.

That idea is aided by misleading statements from mainstream politicians. Representative John Boehner (R-Ohio) penned a piece in the National Review spelling out his take on Obama's healthcare plan:

"Fact: The bill as currently written will allow the federal government to classify abortion as an "essential benefit" — a health-care right that would be guaranteed to all Americans. This will make it illegal for health-care providers nationwide — even Catholic and religious-based hospitals with missions that reflect a fundamental moral objection to the killing of the unborn — to provide anything less than abortion on demand for anyone who seeks it."

But when the Denver Post ran a health care fact check, they showed that Boehner's "fact" is actually false. The Post explains that Obama's current health care plan does not override the federal law that bans Medicaid from paying for abortions except in cases involving rape, incest or when the mother's life is in danger. An amendment pushed by Lois Capps (D-CA) allows public and private healthcare plans to cover abortions in other cases, but they can't use federal dollars.

While I identify as a sea creature ally more than a Femme Shark, the Femme Sharks are, nonetheless, one of my very very favorite organizations in the world. Created as a way to redefine and reclaim what 'femme' can mean especially as it pertains to and centers women of color, the Femme Sharks are fierce, in your face, and unapologetic in their love and their activism. If you are in the San Franscisco area, I highly encourage you to make it out to the rally and show some femme sharks some loving!

FEMME SHARKS VS. THE WALK FOR LIFE SAT 1/24/09 SF 10:30