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Strollerderby
Yesterday was the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. You probably know what that was, but I’ll bet that’s only because Sarah Palin made some rather clever comments about ewoks in marking that date. Come on, a week ago today, how many of you would have correctly answered an open ended question like “what is the 19th amendment to the constitution?” I’m not sure I could have done it, and I’m a former lawyer and an “A” student. I wouldn’t have been alone, either–most of us think the right to vote comes from the Bill of Rights. (A majority of us also can’t identify which century the American Revolution took place in.)
Perhaps if it had been a multiple choice question: What is the 19th Amendment to the Constitution?
a. the one that says we can bear arms.
b. the one that says we can arm bears.
c. um…maybe something about Panama?
d. the one giving women the right to vote.
as long as you didn’t add a realistic sounding e, such as “the one giving black people the right to vote,” I’d have nailed that one on a quiz. But I”m ashamed to say that before yesterday, I might easily have failed to give the right answer to an open question, and if you asked it backwards—which amendment to the constitution gave women the right to vote? I know I’d have failed. And that’s shameful. 90 years. 90 years. Within the last century, during both of my grandmothers’ lifetimes, people were arguing about whether or not women should be allowed to vote. It’s astonishing. The 19th amendment should be tattoo’d on the inside of my arm, or at least on the inside of my skull. 90 years.
So of course I took advantage of this opportunity to teach my kids something important about rights, women’s issues and the importance of the franchise, right?
Well, no. Not exactly, no. Um, no. Continue reading »
The United Kingdom’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence wants to test all pregnant women to see if they’ve been smoking. Any woman who tests positive for smoking will be offered help and counseling on how to stop.
Woah. That’s a sticky wicket. Midwives in Britain are protesting the move, saying it will make pregnant smokers feel guilty. Which on the one hand is true, and on the other hand, maybe they should?
Sister Margaret McBride
The life of a woman is hanging in the balance. She’s suffering from pulmonary hypertension, a condition that “limits the ability of the heart and lungs to function and is made worse, possibly even fatal, by pregnancy.” The medical staff and ethics committee at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, AZ determine it’s best to terminate the pregnancy in order to save her life. If the woman were to die, her unborn child would die with her, so that seems like a sound, albeit unfortunate, decision. Not so, according to the Catholic Church, who’ve excommunicated Sister Margaret McBride for agreeing with the hospital ethics committee and allowing the abortion. That’s right: the Church believes a woman should die rather than terminate a pregnancy.
According to the Washington Post, “hospital officials defended McBride’s actions but confirmed that she has been reassigned from her job as vice president of mission integration at the hospital.” Susan Pfister, vice president of St. Joseph’s, said the facility “adheres to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services but that the directives do not answer all questions.”
Bishop Thomas Olmstead of the Phoenix Archdiocese responded to the case by saying, “The Catholic Church will continue to defend life and proclaim the evil of abortion without compromise, and must act to correct even her own members if they fail in this duty.”
Bioethicist Jacob M. Appel, in this piece on The Huffington Post, describes Olmstead as a “stone-hearted and intransigent figure,” who “gained notoriety for refusing communion to a ten-year-old autistic child who could not swallow and later spearheaded an effort to incorporate local church parishes individually in order to shield the Phoenix archdiocese from suits by sex-abuse victims.” In his headline, Appel asks if women are still safe in Catholic hospitals, which he notes comprise one-third of all medical institutions in this country. Would you trust your health to a tyrant like Olmstead? Continue reading »
When the winter Olympics come to Vancouver next week, it’ll be bittersweet for female ski jumpers.
Despite their best effort to get the International Olympics Committee to change their position, 15 women jumpers will not be allowed to compete in ski jumping or Nordic combined — the only two Winter Olympic sports without a women’s division.
What’s curious, though, is why women who want to jump are being left out of the competition.
In March 2009, Samantha Burton, 29, went to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital while experiencing signs of pre-term labor while 25 weeks pregnant.
Her doctors prescribed 15 weeks of bed rest, but Burton explained that was impossible: She had two small children and a job. She then asked for a second opinion. She got one, but it wasn’t from a physician.
Burton’s doctor came back into her room with an attorney in tow and handed her a phone. She spoke to Leon Circuit Judge C. Cooper, who — without reviewing her medical records or even allowing her to speak to a legal advocate — ordered her to stay where she was and submit to “any and all medical treatments” her doctor’s deemed necessary. Burton asked to change hospitals, but was told it wasn’t in the best interest of her child.
Those treatments included an emergency c-section three days later, where Burton’s baby was delivered stillborn.
The 20 supposedly “
pro-choice” Democrats who jumped the aisle to support the Stupak Amendment in the House health reform bill will receive coathangers as an early Christmas gift from angry abortion-rights activists. No doubt the gifts will be received with all the love that went into sending them.
Credo Action (an activist network tied to the Credo Mobile cell phone company) is running an Internet campaign to deliver signed petitions along with piles of coathangers to the “pro-choice” congress-critters (all men) who voted for the amendment, which activists say restricts abortion access. Continue reading »
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