Komen VP Karen Handel, who was the primary source of blame for the Planned Parenthood debacle along with Nancy Brinker, steps down.

Now that the Susan G. Komen Foundation has reversed its policy decision and decided to continue supporting Planned Parenthood, the chips continue to fall. Today finds the vice president of Komen resigning over the brouhaha.

Many who were vehemently against Komen’s move to stop granting money to Planned Parenthood pointed the finger at Karen Handel, a former Georgia politician known to be pro-life who had joined the organization as vice president of public policy.  Handel has now decided to leave.

Her resignation letter, published in full by Gothamist, includes the following: Continue reading »

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The country remains split on whether abortion should be legal.

Sunday marks the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the momentous Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the United Sates.

After nearly four decades, the abortion debate still rages on with the country essentially split on whether women should have the right to terminate their own pregnancies.  A Gallup Poll conducted in May 2011 found that, “… Americans are closely divided between those calling themselves ‘pro-choice’ and those who are ‘pro-life,’ now 49% and 45%.” Continue reading »

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Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar think Rick Santorum is the next best candidate to Jesus Christ.

I admittedly have not paid too much attention to the candidates currently stumping for president. The horror of Mormon Mitt Romney the robot actually becoming POTUS is simply too much to bear.

I should point out I am a recovering Mormon who spent nearly a decade covering Mitt Romney for Fox news.  He has a home in Utah and was in my hometown of Salt Lake City for several years as head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, the team who coordinated the 2002 Winter Games in Utah.

That said, I think Romney would be preferable to Rick Santorum who gave the candidates a surprising run for their money (Romney’s bottomless pockets in particular) in yesterday’s Iowa Caucuses. As The Huffington Post reports, Santorum “once considered a fringe candidate, the Christian conservative former Pennsylvania senator has come from nowhere to take the lead in the first race of the Republican race.”

Santorum’s secret weapon? The Duggars? The stars of 19 Kids and Counting on TLC pounded the pavement with Santorum over the weekend. The family appeared at a rally at a pizza place and Jim Bob is quoted as saying, “I’m asking families, Christians all over American to get behind Rick Santorum for the next president of the United States.” He continued, “Republicans are not going to find a perfect candidate, unless it’s Jesus Christ.” Continue reading »

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Okay, so I honestly don’t know what I would do in this horrifying and heartbreaking situation — Stacie Crimm, 41, had been told she couldn’t have children and was thrilled to find out she was pregnant, only to learn a few months later that she had cancer. She decided to refuse chemotherapy to save her baby, later born 10 weeks premature.

Stacie fell into a coma and died three days after the birth. Dottie Mae Crimm went home with her uncle, Stacie’s brother, seen in the (awkward?) exclusive Today Show video below.  Continue reading »

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Should students at a school that receives public funding get credit for attending a political rally?

When I was a kid, politics in school were relegated to class elections and vaguely uninformed discussions during social studies (i.e. kids repeating what their parents said at the dinner table the night before). Teachers never really let on what they believed politically. As it should be, I think, considering how impressionable kids can be.

I get that private schools can do their own thing. Same thing for parochial schools. Still, it makes me a little sick to my stomach to read that a Catholic school in Winnipeg is awarding students with community service credit for participating in anti-abortion vigils, according to Jezebel.

The Winnipeg Free Press reported that kids who stood outside of a local women’s hospital with the Campaign Life Coalition will have their “work” count towards their community service requirements.

So, let me get this straight — make women who are exercising their legal right to an abortion feel uncomfortable by judging them with your presence and you’ve served your community? Ugh.
Continue reading »

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Let's hope the "Summer of Mercy 2.0" is peaceful.

Several prominent anti-abortion groups have dubbed this the “‘Summer of Mercy 2.0,’ a reprise of demonstrations 20 years ago, when thousands took part and hundreds were arrested at [George] Tiller’s Kansas clinic, which was then the focal point of the antiabortion movement.”  Dr. George Tiller was killed in 2009 by anti-abortion activists while he attended church.  Tiller was one of the very few doctors in the U.S. willing to provide late-term abortions.  Tiller mentored Dr. LeRoy Carhart, who “travels from his home in Nebraska almost every week to perform abortions at a clinic in Germantown, MD,” the Washington Post reports.

Carhart “began working in Germantown after Nebraska made it illegal last year to perform most abortions beyond 20 weeks of gestation,” according to the Post.  He chose Maryland, they say, “because it has some of the least-restrictive abortion laws in the nation, is centrally located on the East Coast and because Germantown is accessible from three airports.”  Beginning this Saturday, “Protesters plan to hold street rallies and prayer vigils… in a continuing attempt to stop him.”  Let’s hope there are no weapons involved. Continue reading »

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Are federally subsidized pap smears really worth shutting down the government?

Keep your laws off of our bodies. Is that not clear enough? Should I say it louder?

What is it about male lawmakers and their insistence that they know what’s best for women to the extent that they’re willing to shut down the entire government of the United States over the issue?

Our country is on the verge of having our government close for business, and now word comes that it’s about subsidized Pap smears. Does that mean that there’s someone, or a group of people, who are pro-cancer? Really?

Continue reading »

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