Dare To Be A Feminist

by JOHN PARKINSON,

ABC News Blogs

Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wisc., who joined Pelosi in introducing the [Violence Against Women] legislation, said, “Violence against women is as American as apple pie.”

“Domestic violence has been a thread throughout my personal life — up to and including being a child repeatedly sexually assaulted, up to and including being an adult who’s been raped.”

“This law has helped ensure that more victims report domestic violence to the police, that the rate of non-fatal intimate partner violence against women has been decreased by 53 percent, in that period of time,” she said. “Rape crisis centers have been able to keep their doors open [and] law enforcement and victims’ services providers are working together to better meet the needs of victims.”

“Unfortunately violence is not limited to just Democrats or just Republicans or just blacks or just whites,” Moore, the Democratic Co-Chair of the Congressional Women’s Caucus, said. “It’s not limited to heterosexual relationships, but there are relationships of all kinds that are exposed to domestic violence.”

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by HAPPY IN NM, Daily Kos

When I was going through my divorce, my daughter and I went to LA for my mother's 70th birthday celebration. While we were gone, my husband closed our business. The office had been emptied of everything. He also took whatever money was in the business account, which was the only account we had. I had nothing, except a place to live until the bills came due. I also had one 6 year old daughter who was inclined to eat periodically. My parents were living exclusively on Social Security, so they could offer little financial help. With few choices and much trepidation  [MORE]

"the data in this survey reveals that the prevalence of domestic violence, especially when combined with gender-skewed safety education, means that such violence prevails because we are too busy providing reasons such as “it’s a tough economy” that “explain” violence rather than flat out condemn it." By my friend Alessia.

by JOAN WALSH, salon.com

The Tea Party tried to turn the group into the New Black Panther Party, and instead inspired an ongoing backlash

On Thursday I’ll be speaking at Planned Parenthood of Chicago’s annual gala, and I’m honored. (Tickets are available here.) I’ve always supported Planned Parenthood, but I think the group has helped change the political debate in this country in tangible ways over the last year or so, and I’m excited to talk about where we go from here.

We also have to thank the Tea Party, of course. My MSNBC colleague Chris Hayes joked on Monday that Tea Party extremists “thought they could turn Planned Parenthood into the New Black Panthers” – that Fox News boogeyman – but they were wrong. When they pushed to defund Planned Parenthood, they touched off a grass-roots uprising to defend not only the organization, but women’s health and freedom. It flared up again when Susan G. Komen defunded Planned Parenthood, and Komen had to reverse itself. 

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by Paul Guequierre, Human Rights Campaign

We’re another day closer to tax day. If you haven’t filed your tax returns yet, it’s time to get on it. As you get the forms ready, we’ll shed a little more light on the unfair tax burden LGBT taxpayers face. All week we’ve said the lack of marriage equality is the reason for the tax disparity. It is clear that repealing DOMA and making marriage equality a reality in all 50 states is the solution. The anti-equality leadership in Congress needs to hear from us.

To personalize our tax struggles, every day leading up to tax day we will also release a fact of the day on unfair taxation. We encourage you to use Facebook and Twitter to spread the message. Wednesday we told you an average retired same-sex couple will be denied more than $8,000 a year in Social Security survivor benefits upon the death of the higher-earning spouse after retirement. Yesterday we told you same-sex partners and spouses of Armed Forces members are denied military benefits that straight couples receive.

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by LON NEWMAN,

Family Planning Health Services

via RH Reality Check

1. The teen birth rate is down.
2. The abortion rate is down
3. Access to family planning improves maternal and child health.
4. Sex education increases knowledge and decreases risks.
5. Condoms work.
6. Contraception works.
7. Emergency Contraception (Plan B- One Step ™) works by preventing pregnancy. It does not cause an abortion.
8. Access to a full range of contraceptives decreases the risks of sexual behaviors without increasing risky sexual behavior.
9. Abstinence works while people remain abstinent. When they’re not, it doesn’t.
10. Family planning clinics are not in business because of the high profit margin.

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This list is still a work in progress.

National Organization for Women

Stop Anti-Abortion Rights Teen Endangerment Act in Congress

TAKE ACTION NOW:
A House floor vote is coming soon on the dangerous anti-abortion rights Teen Endangerment Act, which could criminalize helping a teenage woman access legal abortion care outside of her home state. Tell your representative to vote NO on the "Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act" (H.R. 2299). [MORE]

Huff Post Politics

No Special Rights PAC, a new anti-gay group, has laid down roots in Maine, where its two founders are hoping to combat a pro-equality push that has led to a same-sex marriage ballot initiative being put to a vote in November.

Paul Madore and Mike Heath, longtime opponents of gay rights and pro-gay initiatives who founded the group, made a public push this month at the University of Maine during Pride Week, where they distributed a "truth pledge" that, among other goals, seeks to rebrand gay marriage as "Sodomy-Based Marriage."

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