The Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP laws, tend to capture fewer headlines than other types of abortion restrictions, largely because they’re complicated pieces of legislation that may not seem outrageous on the surface. But women’s health advocates warn they actually represent one of the most serious threats to reproductive rights in the nation. This is an effective anti-choice tactic because … Read More
UNC Facing Backlash For Its Treatment of Sexual Assault Victims
To mark the start of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill student paper has a message for their university over its disciplinary system, which handles sexual assault with the seriousness of a minor infraction. Since the school received national attention for threatening to expel a college sophomore who spoke publicly about her rape, later suspending the proceeding, the … Read More
The Onion Address the CNN-Ohio Rape Thing
College Basketball Star Heroically Overcomes Tragic Rape He Committed
So Sad What Happened To Those Rapists
When the guilty verdict was announced in the Steubenville rape case on Sunday, journalists had to figure out how they would frame the story. Perhaps because of the lack of details about the unnamed 16-year-old “Jane Doe” victim, the collective media narrative became centered on her assailants. Stories about the case relied far too heavily on the public details about the defendants, 17-year-old Trent … Read More
UNC Handling Rape Issues Badly
The University of North Carolina is allowing revenge against one of their students, a rape survivor, who reported on their failed administrative policies on sexual assault. After the initial report, she discussed her experience with The Daily Tarheel: “It’s incredibly clear that those people had no idea what sexual assault is, what consent is,” said Landen Gambill, a sophomore whose assault … Read More
Raping Women Twice
It was just over one year ago when I wrote about how the Virginia legislature were attempting to pass a bill requiring women who want to have an abortion to submit to a mandatory transvaginal ultrasound — an unnecessary medical procedure involving the insertion of a medical probe into a woman's vagina. The hope was that having such an intrusive procedure (which, … Read More
Senate Passes VAWA
First Read: The Senate approved legislation to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act on Tuesday over the objections of a handful of Republicans. Democrats were joined by several Republican senators in voting to renew the landmark gender and domestic violence law, which lapsed at the end of 2012 after lawmakers in the last Congress failed to reach agreement on a … Read More
Violence Against Women Act Is Unfair To Men, Say Conservatives
Of all the astonishingly bad reasons conservatives oppose reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, concern for men is probably the worst. Make that definitely the worst. Via Sahil Kapur at TPM: Claiming that the reauthorization would expand the definition of domestic violence to include “emotional distress,” Heritage [Action] declared that the “expansive and vague language will increase fraud and false allegations, for … Read More
It Never Ends
Tennessee Senator Jim Tracy introduced an ultrasound bill yesterday. This, in and of itself, is not particularly newsworthy since ultrasound bills have become all the rage in the last couple years. What is newsworthy is just how far Forced Birthers will go to ensure that women who choose to have an abortion are traumatized by the experience. If women don’t want … Read More
News From The Fetus Front: Maybe Fetuses Aren’t “Persons”
(1) A New Mexico bill introduced Wednesday would force rape victims to carry their pregnancies to term during their sexual assault trial or be charged with “tampering with evidence.” If a woman ended her pregnancy after being raped, both she and her doctor would be charged with a third degree felony under HB 206: Tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating … Read More
G.I. Jane
A lot of people might miss this, but I think this is kind of a big deal: The U.S. military is ending its policy of excluding women from combat and will open combat jobs and direct combat units to female troops, CNN has learned. Multiple officials confirm to CNN that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will make the announcement tomorrow and notify … Read More
GOP Needs To Send Out Memo To Republicans: “Stop Talking About Rape”
From the "They Just Can't Help Themselves" file, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's intrepid Jim Galloway informs us that U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), an OB-GYN, went out of his way in a local newspaper interview to express sympathy for the "legitimate rape" comments of his former colleague Todd Akin: And in Missouri, Todd Akin was asked by a local news source about rape … Read More
Don’t Let The Door Hit Your Ass On The Way Out
Gay-hater and founder and former head of the National Organization for Marriage, Maggie Gallagher, having found one outlet to publish her stupid columns, is packing it in, so that no outlet will publish her stupid columns. On the way out, she leaves us with these gems: Every life is precious. It is better to care for your children than to kill them. I can't … Read More
The Judge Should Run For Senate
From the AP … A Southern California judge is being publicly admonished for saying a rape victim "didn't put up a fight" during her assault and that if someone doesn't want sexual intercourse, the body "will not permit that to happen."
Wingnuts Go Apocalyptic Over Latest Obama Ad
Here's the ad: A young attractive woman (actress Lena Dunham) talks about her "first time"….. the first time she voted for Obama. It's cute, and a little edgy (and not too original) Well, conservatives are clutching the pearls and clearing the shelves at Fainting Couches R' Us (and just as they were recovering from Obama's use of the word bullshiter, … Read More