Office by Alex Penny
(Source: plannedparenthood)
Canada’s teen birth and abortion rate drops by 36.9 per cent
Better access to contraception, higher quality sex education and shifting social norms have contributed to a 36.9 per cent decline in Canada’s teen birth and abortion rate between 1996 and 2006, according to a report released today by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada.
America’s emphasis on abstinence-only sex ed “tends to result in a higher percentage of teens becoming pregnant,” as does the country’s lack of universal health care. Poverty is another factor.
Among the four countries compared for 2006, Canada boasted the lowest teen birth and abortion rate per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 (27.9), followed by Sweden (31.4), England/Wales (60.3), and the United States (61.2).
(via joegressivism)
It’s no surprise that women (at least those in the US and Europe) have it much better now than ever before. The question is what to make out of the current backward rush toward the “good old days” when, for example, a husband could never be accused of raping his wife. Are the proponents of the hundreds of bills affecting women’s health and sexuality just crackpots? Or are they following deeply held, legitimate beliefs that the freedom of women to direct their own sexual lives destabilizes society?
There is no doubt that the beliefs of Anthony Comstock or Sen. Rick Santorum, for that matter, can be genuine. Judging by the examples above, they also can lay claim to historical precedent. But the fact that something was done before does not make it legitimate. The “good old days” never existed. In fact, it is the fear-driven desire of men to control female sexuality and reproduction that should be corralled by the law, not reproductive choices.
Read this!!!!!
(via stfuconservatives)
Thank you Dr. George Tiller. Thank you for your service to women in their most desperate times. Your dedication will never be forgotten.
RIP
(via stfuconservatives)
Hypatia of Alexandria
I love how the school threatened to suspend the girl while refusing to address the audist bullies who bullied her and other girls for using American Sign Language.
Go fuck yourself, Stonybrook School.
Via ABC News:
School officials have threatened a hearing-impaired girl with suspension if she uses sign language to talk to her friends on the school bus, the girl’s parents say.
Danica Lesko and her parents say sign language is the only way to for the 12-year-old to communicate, especially while riding to school on a noisy bus.
But officials at Stonybrook School — which is not a school for the hearing-impaired — and district officials in Branchburg, N.J., apparently believe signing is a safety hazard. They have sent a letter to the Lesko family ordering Danica to stop using sign language on the school bus or risk a three-day suspension.
The March 30 letter from her principal that said Danica was “doing sign language after being told it wasn’t allowed on the bus.”
The Leskos may file a lawsuit over the sign language ban, claiming officials are violating Danica’s civil rights and violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“She has a hearing problem, and now she’s being punished for using sign language,” Mary Ann Lesko, Danica’s mother, told The Star-Ledger of Newark. “It’s absurd.”
Danica’s parents told the paper that other students who rode to school with their daughter made fun of her, and refused to stay in their seats as they teased other girls who were using sign language. They said school officials are singling out Danica and not addressing those who should really be reprimanded.
Schools Officials: Safety First
In a statement released through the school district’s attorney, David Rubin, the Branchburg Board of Education refused to discuss the details of Danica’s case, saying only that its version of events differs from the parents’ version.
However, the board insisted it has not violated anyone’s rights and is only trying to protect other students who must ride on the school bus.
“The Board is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to all students with disabilities, and is satisfied that there has been no violation of that policy in this case,” officials said in the statement. “The Board is also committed to assuring the safety of all students who travel on District buses, and will continue to take appropriate steps to accomplish that goal.”
One deaf-rights advocate said Danica’s parents have a strong basis for a lawsuit because sign language could be a considered a foreign language, and school officials could be violating the girl’s First Amendment right to communicate.
“Why should there be a ban?” asked Charlotte Karras, outreach coordinator for the Edison, N.J.-based Alliance for Disabled in Action. “It’s a violation of her communication rights. She’s said it’s the only way she can communicate with her friends … It’s [the ban] against the ADA and violates the First Amendment and her family can file a discrimination suit citing the Americans With Disabilities Act.”
Karras said her organization would be willing to help the Leskos with any legal action.
Danica’s parents say she began losing her hearing last November, when a classmate allegedly shot a bottle rocket near her ear. They have already sued the Branchburg School District over that incident.
wtf… a safety hazard? why, because folks are fuckin with her? and this AFTER a kid at the school fucked up her hearing in the first place?
Maybe if the bus monitors and and teachers told them lil muhfuckas to cut the shit it wouldn’t have happened in first place. and now they need to
tellmake those little assholestostfu and leave her alone.fuck is wrong with people.
Absolutely fucking ridiculous.
This is fucking absurd.
Sign language DEFINITELY counts as a language protected under our first amendment rights. I love the school’s evasive “well our version of the events differ from theirs” hand-wave over this.
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Sugar Association lawyer Dan Callister • Praising the Food and Drug Administration’s rejection of an attempt by the Corn Refiners Association to rename the recently-controversial “high fructose corn syrup” to something a tad less innocuous — “corn sugar” to be specific. Let’s face it — when giant agricultural industry groups fight in public, everyone wins. (via shortformblog)(via stfuconservatives)
(Source: maddiwadi, via stfuconservatives)
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The Revolution Will Not Be Polite: The Issue of Nice versus Good (Social Justice League)
I’ve been thinking about niceness a lot lately. I’m not sure it’s as beneficial as I used to think it was.
(via meganwest)
(Source: kiriamaya, via stfuconservatives)
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Meira Levinson talking about her new book No Citizen Left Behind. (via bostonreview)
Wow. Just, wow. Quote of the week.
(via motherjones)
(via stfuconservatives)
“The Way It Was”: Abortion in the US before Roe v. Wade.
I was thinking about this article and this is really one of my favourite articles ever. Really powerful.
Reblogging for the same reason ^
I want to print out this article and personally hand it to every “til abortion ends” loser giving up soda and candy bars until we WAHHH STOP KILLING BABIES. Abortion has always existed and will always exist.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120209142805AA3UFNZ
This is why we need to teach evolution in schools. One of many, many reasons. I remember as a young, impressionable teen reading an article in a magazine (Seventeen? Teen Glamour? something like that) that was a bunch of “questions we’re wondering!!!!” from the editors (THE EDITORS) and one of them was “If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” Even at that age I was like NOPE NOT HOW THAT WORKS TRY AGAIN
