Boys and men get to be called boys and men, but girls and women don’t get to be called girls and women. Who made that rule I wonder? And why are so many people obeying it?

JL via The Spectator in A Week in the War on Women:

Young Scot is a publicly funded organisation which received a £975,000 grant from Scottish Government last year for various projects, one of which is the provision of information for young people.

Young Scot has produced advice about menstruation but there is no mention of ‘girls’ or ‘women’ in the text. Instead, it makes vague references to “Those of us that have both our ovaries and a womb” and “

… Read the rest

Eilis O’Hanlon in the Independent (Ireland):

The coalition now known as Trans Equality Together launched last Monday with the stated aim of ensuring “trans and non-binary people are equal, safe and valued”.

By Thursday, it had secured the signatures of such august bodies as the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Amnesty Ireland and the National Women’s Council on a letter denouncing RTÉ for daring to host a debate on Liveline with women who refuse to bend to the notion that anyone with a penis must be automatically accepted as a woman if they say they are one.

So that’s what equal, safe and valued mean? That women are not allowed to say men are not women?

I don’t have … Read the rest

Emily Tamkin in The New Statesman on the overturning of Roe:

I could reiterate that the laws that will now go into effect in many states banning abortion in most cases will disproportionately impact poor people, and people of colour, who do not necessarily have the financial resources or the time to go out of their home state to seek an abortion. Or I could say that, though the impact will be greatest in states where abortion will be outlawed, the whole country will be affected; a burden will now be put on providers in states where abortion remains legal, and women in those states, too, will probably find it harder to schedule an abortion.

People, people, women. Why … Read the rest

Another win for theocracy:

The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of a former high school football coach from Washington state in a case about religious freedom and prayer in public schools. In a 6 to 3 decision delivered by Justice Gorsuch, the conservative supermajority decided in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that coach Joseph Kennedy’s Christian prayers after the games were protected by freedom of speech and freedom of religion under the First Amendment. “The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike,” Gorsuch wrote.

But of course an adult in authority over teenagers is not just exercising freedom of speech and religion by … Read the rest

The tweet has since been deleted but the screenshots live on.

A former friend of Ivanka Trump has taken to social media to claim that she supported her in getting an abortion when she was younger.

In the since-deleted tweet, Lauren Santo Domingo, a high school friend of Ivanka’s, claimed to have taken Ivanka, first daughter of former President Donald Trump and former senior White House Adviser, to get the alleged abortion.

…

“Ivanka Trump you are noticeably quiet today,” Domingo’s tweet read.

“The high school friends who took you to get an abortion are not.”

Pass the brioche.… Read the rest

The horrors are rolling in.

Abortion for *lethal* fetal anomalies is now *illegal* in Ohio
 
I’m a high-risk obstetrician here. I diagnose birth defects
 
So some point soon I may look someone in the eyes & say that they, against their will, will carry to term, undergo delivery & then have their child die

— David N Hackney MD, FACOG (@DavidNHackney) June 27, 2022

Got that? In Ohio it’s now ILLEGAL to end a pregnancy that will produce a baby that can’t survive.

Here is how today’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe impacts Arkansans.

Arkansas’s abortion ban (in effect today) allows no exception for rape. It allows no exception for incest. It allows no exception for a lethal fetal condition.

… Read the rest

Another Savita Halappanavar, although this one survived – just barely, and no thanks to the Catholic hospital that tried to kill her.

I've shared this with others over the years:

I had a miscarriage in 2010. I had zero say over my own body & nearly bled to death over a cluster of cells w/a heartbeat in a Catholic-run hospital. It was disgusting how the nurses & doctors treated the situation.

— Marina Towers (@VileVioletkitty) June 25, 2022

I recommend reading the whole thing. There are a lot of details, so it’s a long thread. I’ll share just some.

We booked an ultrasound at Westlake Hospital the next day. The only Hospital the insurance allowed me to go to.

The

… Read the rest

Game on.

JULIE BINDEL will sue council which banned her talk at a library https://t.co/MYYraWDgbB via @MailOnline

— Julie Bindel (@bindelj) June 26, 2022

Julie in The Mail:

My planned talk was cancelled on the ludicrous grounds that my views on transgender rights are ‘at odds’ with civic policy. Without speaking to me, or bothering to discover what I actually believe, the council decided to deny me the right to speak on their premises.

So I am going to sue them. On behalf of every woman who is being told to shut up and stay quiet, during the worst misogynist backlash I have witnessed in my lifetime, I’m taking the council to court.

They’ll hear very soon from my

… Read the rest

Well I’ll be darned, here’s one that doesn’t go all coy about mentioning the W-people. Of course that could be because they’re asking for donations, so it’s not in their interest to piss off the people they’re asking to donate.

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Sackbut at Miscellany Room.

I attended a Rally for Reproductive Rights near the Alabama state capitol today. I missed the first part, but caught most of it. It was well attended; I’m no good at estimating crowds, but I think there were 300-400 people there.

There were lots of signs, at least 50, some of them rather clever. Lots of gender neutral language. I noticed 3-4 signs that mentioned “women”; one mentioned “female” in contrast to “men”. Maybe 3-4 signs were explicitly about trans people, including “abortion is not just a cis issue”.

There were members of a local abortion clinic escort group providing informal security. I know a number of these people, and I … Read the rest

MSNBC generously gives us four men talking about abortion rights. I guess there just aren’t that many women in the world?

“The entire issue of bodily autonomy right now is very much tied into the Christian nationalist vision of America,” @imarajones talks to @MichaelSteele about the “political agenda” behind the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. pic.twitter.com/cqKJWbD83S

— AYMAN (@AymanMSNBC) June 26, 2022

… Read the rest

Sonia Sodha on the ruling:

It leaves abortion rights to the states, meaning abortion is now illegal or soon-to-be illegal in 22 states in all or most circumstances, including, in some states, in cases of rape. It comes in the wake of already reduced access to abortion in many of those states as a result of practical restrictions on the operation of abortion clinics. It is a dramatic rollback of women’s rights in one of the world’s richest countries, which prides itself on its protection of individual liberties.

Richest and in some ways most advanced…and in others most regressive, by a huge margin.

It has been estimated that maternal mortality will increase by 20% in places with a ban.

… Read the rest

A law professor at UC Irvine contradicts Alito:

Black women’s sexual subordination and forced pregnancies were foundational to slavery. If cotton was euphemistically king, Black women’s wealth-maximizing forced reproduction was queen.

Because those forced pregnancies were worth a lot of money – money for the enslaver, of course, not for the slave.

Ending the forced sexual and reproductive servitude of Black girls and women was a critical part of the passage of the 13th and 14th Amendments. The overturning of Roe v. Wade reveals the Supreme Court’s neglectful reading of the amendments that abolished slavery and guaranteed all people equal protection under the law. It means the erasure of Black women from the Constitution.

Mandated, forced or compulsory pregnancy

… Read the rest

The Times on Alito’s long patient campaign to make women prisoners of their own bodies again:

Mr. Alito became interested in constitutional law during college largely because he disagreed with the Supreme Court at the time on criminal procedure, the establishment clause and reapportionment, he has written. The court in the 1960s issued rulings on those topics that conservatives disliked, including protecting the rights of suspects in police custody, limiting prayer in public schools, and requiring electoral districts to have roughly equal populations.

More prayer and fewer rights for other people, that’s what he wanted, along with less ability for the fewer-rights people to fight back via the ballot box. I guess that’s “conservatism”? More power and … Read the rest

Brave new world.

UNDER HIS EYE, BLESSED DAY, ETC. pic.twitter.com/FB5b4VwvON

— liambrunetti (@liambrunetti) June 26, 2022

… Read the rest

They deserve it because…what? They think women get to own their own bodies just like the real people?

Don't be shy about delighting in the leftist tears today. You deserve to feel this joy and they deserve to feel this despair. So rub it in their face, by all means. Have fun with it. This is a great day.

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 24, 2022

Seinfeld jokes fit well.

https://twitter.com/OriginalRecipeG/status/1540457013918011393… Read the rest

There are some oddities in the Nottingham Council axes Julie Bindel’s talk at the library story.

Council chiefs cancelled a talk by Julie Bindel, the feminist writer, on protecting women from male violence because it contradicts their position on trans rights.

The talk was scheduled at (and by) the library. Do city councils generally oversee items like what talks libraries are allowed to present? Do they generally veto decisions of that kind, on the grounds that they don’t like the speaker’s ideas?

It doesn’t sound right to me. I’m not an expert in city government but I live in a city and I did work for a city department for several years. It’s my impression that city departments do their … Read the rest

Even the National Women’s Law Center refuses to say it.

Interesting trick, being a national women’s law center while refusing to mention women.

https://twitter.com/nwlc/status/1540669950276280323

Blah blah blah do this do that but above all DON’T MENTION WOMEN.

https://twitter.com/nwlc/status/1540398281703956483

No sign of women in that one – you, our, we, our, our, we, we, you – but no women.

President Biden just announced that his administration will defend people's right to access mifepristone and travel across state lines to access care.

Ensuring people can access abortion care through this chaos will require all of us doing everything possible to support access. https://t.co/iZ7kQzhEU2

— National Women's Law Center (@nwlc) June 24, 2022

People people. Sssshhhhh don’t mention women.

One tiny stumble – … Read the rest

Obama does it.

Today, the Supreme Court not only reversed nearly 50 years of precedent, it relegated the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues—attacking the essential freedoms of millions of Americans.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 24, 2022

Someone – Americans – but no women.

Today, the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade, opening the door to statewide bans that disproportionately harm Black people. pic.twitter.com/qfx1exf4dT

— Movement 4 Black Lives (@Mvmnt4BlkLives) June 24, 2022

People.

You you you our we you:

SCOTUS may have just ended our constitutional right to abortion, but know this: Abortion is health care, and you deserve to control your body and your future, no matter what.

… Read the rest

Planned Parenthood also not helping. Pinned tweet:

BREAKING: The Supreme Court just overturned Roe v. Wade, ending our constitutional right to abortion. We know you may be feeling a lot of things right now — hurt, anger, confusion. Whatever you feel is OK. We’re here with you — and we’ll never stop fighting for you.

— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) June 24, 2022

You, you, you, you. Who? Who are you?

Women. Women, of course, but it doesn’t do to say so.… Read the rest