This week in the War on Women

The bad and the ugly:

• The "pro-lifers" say it's not about punishing women. But, like everything they spew, that's bullshit:
  

  Rennie Gibbs is accused of murder, but the crime she is alleged to have committed does not sound like an ordinary killing. Yet she faces life in prison in Mississippi over the death of her unborn child.

  Gibbs became pregnant aged 15, but lost the baby in December 2006 in a stillbirth when she was 36 weeks into the pregnancy. When prosecutors discovered that she had a cocaine habit ? though there is no evidence that drug abuse had anything to do with the baby's death ? they charged her with the "depraved-heart murder" of her child, which carries a mandatory life sentence.

  Gibbs is the first woman in Mississippi to be charged with murder relating to the loss of her unborn baby. But her case is by no means isolated. Across the US more and more prosecutions are being brought that seek to turn pregnant women into criminals.

• Speaking of bullshit, Louisiana joins the list of states that are so concerned about providing women with information about abortion. Not real information, of course; just more of the same made-up propaganda. But remember, it's for their own good.
• New Hampshire cares about women about too.
• Guess who's still an asshole this week?
• Rep. Steve King (R-Of course) sneaks abortion restrictions into a rural funding bill. And makes up numbers.
• Hey, look, it's a Republican jobs plan! Oh, no, wait, it's just more of the same anti-woman crap:
  

  Today, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio introduced the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA) with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). This legislation would help states enforce laws requiring that parents be notified before their child has an abortion.

  
  So, uh, when are they going to start focusing on that jobs, jobs, jobs thing?
• Here's one more reason we need to certify the repeal of DADT immediately: so gay soldiers won't be blackmailed into performing sexual favors out of fear of being kicked out of the military.
• Charts and facts to piss you off. My personal favorite?
  

  Working moms pick up more child care and household duties than working dads?about 80 minutes more every day. Meanwhile, dads enjoy nearly 50 more minutes of watching TV and other leisure activities on a daily basis.

• As Meteor Blades reported, the assault on Planned Parenthood is starting to take its toll.
• And Kansas is about to become the abortion-free state. Way to go, Kansas.
• This is why we can't have nice things:
  

  Yesterday marked Juneteeth, a day that commemorates the end of slavery in America, but a group of anti-choice activists is exploiting that dark chapter in American history to push their political agenda. The conservative Radiance Foundation, which is behind several other offensive anti-abortion media campaigns, takes advantage of the day marking emancipation to roll out billboards in African American neighborhoods in Atlanta and elsewhere, which read in giant letters, ?The 13th Amendment Freed Us. Abortion Enslaves Us? ...

  Another version of the billboard declares, ?Abortion Makes Three Fifths Human Seem Overly Generous? ? a reference to a clause in the original version of the Constitution which counted slaves as three-fifths of a person. ?Roe v. Wade has made a mockery of Civil Rights history by offering destruction and bondage instead of possibility and freedom,? a spokesperson for the group said in a press release.

• The terrorist organization Operation Rescue is now collecting data on every abortion provider in the country. I'm sure when they pass that along to some "lone wolf" like Scott Roeder, who decides to take justice into his own hands, Operation Rescue will be quick to release a statement of condemnation. You know, after the fact.
• Maybe this judge belongs in jail instead of on the bench of the Wisconsin Supreme Court:
  

  Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser allegedly grabbed fellow Justice Ann Walsh Bradley around the neck in an argument in her chambers last week, according to several knowledgeable sources.

  (h/t stcrois cheesehead)

• In case you missed it, the Supreme Court ruled that Wal-Mart's systematic discrimination against women is just a coincidence. Women are the majority of Wal-Mart's workforce, but gosh darn it, it turns out the only employees worth promoting are men. Don't you just hate when that happens?

Now, let's have some good news:

• The silver lining of the Supreme Court's Wal-Mart decision? The Equal Rights Amendment has been re-introduced in Congress:
  

  In response to the ruling, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) re-introduced the Equal Rights Amendment, a bill that affirms the equal application of the U.S. Constitution to both women and men by declaring ?equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.? Although the ERA applies to government action and not discrimination by Walmart, ratifying the ERA would serve an important reminder that gender discrimination has no place in American society.

  It's time. In fact, it's long past time.

• Turns out there's an easy fix for getting rid of Blue Dogs and moderate Democrats: Elect more women.
• Remember that jilted boyfriend in New Mexico who put up billboards accusing his ex of murdering their unborn baby? Yeah, well, a judge has told him to take down his heinous billboards:
  

  The billboard shows Fultz holding the outline of an infant. The text reads, ?This Would Have Been A Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our Child!?

  Fultz?s ex-girlfriend has taken him to court for harassment and violation of privacy. A domestic court official had recommended the billboard be removed.

  This guy's lawyer insists his right to accuse his ex-girlfriend of murder is so important, he's prepared to go to jail for it. Anyone have a problem with that? Yeah, I didn't think so.

• Speaking of heinous billboards, here's another victory:
  

  Earlier this month, the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles announced it would be putting up a new anti-abortion rights billboard campaign targeting Latinas in Los Angeles. The billboard said in both English and Spanish that ?the most dangerous place for a Latino is in the womb.? However, due to a concerted effort among reproductive rights advocates, the billboards are coming down.

• Sorry, Indiana, but your mission to deprive your citizens of health care has hit a roadblock:
  

  Medicaid patients in Indiana again can visit Planned Parenthood after a federal judge Friday put on hold a law cutting off the health provider?s funding.

  U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ruled that the defunding law violates federal Medicaid rules and ?will exact a devastating financial toll on PPIN and hinder its ability to continue serving patients? general health needs.?

• Hey, what do you know? Legalized abortion means better health for women.
• Cartoon of the week.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/IXyzhifxlBk/-This-week-in-the-War-on-Women

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