The Kermit Gosnell Case: Verdicts
On the tenth day of deliberations, a jury of Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s peers—including eight African-Americans—rejected the defense’s premise that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s case against Gosnell was a “racist, elitist prosecution.” At 2:45pm yesterday, Sheriff Jewell Williams walked into the courtroom donning a small sheriff’s star on his blazer...
Continue ReadingPA House Passes Anti-Abortion Health Exchange Bill
Pennsylvania may be down to 49th in job growth, but that didn’t stop the state House of Representatives from taking on one of the social issues with which they’re most comfortable yesterday: Abortion. House Bill 818 is designed to make sure that when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act kicks in, health plans on Pennsylvania’s insurance exchange...
Continue ReadingPhilly Passes Resolution Calling for Reproductive Healthcare Funding
Last night, Philadelphia became the third U.S. city to pass a resolution calling for federal and state funding of reproductive healthcare services, including abortion. From the resolution: “Resolution calling upon President Obama, the US Congress, Governor Corbett, and the Pennsylvania General Assembly to maintain existing public funding for comprehensive reproductive...
Continue ReadingPennsylvania Ranked Third in Annual Pro-life List
Americans United for Life, a DC-based anti-abortion lobbying and advocacy group, just released their annual “Life List.” Pennsylvania ranks third place, sandwiched between Oklahoma and Arkansas. Sounds about right. Pennsylvania has been ranked third every year on the list since 2010. In 2009, it took first place. AUL is a key architect of the anti-abortion...
Continue ReadingVirginia: the Latest State to Exploit Philadelphia’s Gosnell Abortion Tragedy
While Kermit Gosnell — if convicted, one of the nation’s only known serial baby-murderers — sits in a cell awaiting trial in March, his name has been everywhere. Ever since the grand jury presentment detailing his alleged crimes of infant murder, illegal late-term abortions, drug trafficking and associated offenses was published in January of 2011, anti-choice...
Continue ReadingPro-Choice Pennsylvanians Declare Victory
Women’s healthcare and politics. So confusing! While the pros and cons of chalking up getting rid of affordable basic gynecological care for women in an attempt to restrict access to abortion and contraception were discussed non-stop in the months leading up the election, the issue was barely mentioned in the debates. Then came the reports that abortion wasn’t...
Continue Reading10 Questions Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan Need to be Asked About Women’s Health Care
In the first presidential debate, women’s health care was the only thing more ignored than moderator Jim Lehrer. Funny, since it was one of the biggest talking points in both campaigns all year. Last week, abortion was briefly addressed by Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan, though framed in terms of the candidates’...
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Tonight: Filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman Holds Screening to Recall the Days of Back-Alley Abortions in America
It was 1961 when Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman, then a student at Stanford University in Northern California, nearly died from complications after undergoing an illegal, back-alley abortion in Reno, Nev. “At that time, birth control was illegal except for married women. I wasn’t married … so we just took our chances,” recalls...
Continue ReadingTom Smith’s Rape Gaffe Offers Insight into Conservative Domination
With each repeated Republican Party rape gaffe, the public is offered a little more insight into the way several party leaders and candidates think about women’s rights. Just yesterday, for example, the virtually unknown U.S. Senate candidate here in Pennsylvania, Tom Smith, compared rape to having a child out of wedlock. “I lived something similar to that...
Continue Reading‘Legitimate Rape’ Fantasies Nothing New for Conservatives
U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, the GOP Senate candidate and frontrunner in Missouri, set off a media and partisan firestorm yesterday after making claims in which he noted women who are raped have a natural defense against getting pregnant from said rape. In his explanation, he referred to something as “legitimate rape,” and used pseudo science to claim that, “the...
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