*Trigger Warning: references to rape* I am not as surprised as I want to be about Todd Akin’s comments suggesting that women rarely become pregnant from rape because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” I’m just not shocked that Akin was ignorant enough to claim that “legitimate rape” rarely leads to pregnancy. To

Recently Jonathon Merrit from the Atlantic said he is boycotting boycott. He insists that we shouldn’t base our purchasing decisions on the belief system of a company or organization. He was referring to the recent phenomenon of people publicly decrying Chick-fil-A and stating that they will no longer support the business because of its President’s statement that the chain supports

We’re not the first ones to comment on Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s  numerous opinions on abortion. This MSNBC article, for example, takes you through Mitt’s positions at various times in his career and points out that, “the problem with Romney isn’t that he changes his mind, it’s that he changes his story.” But this week, Erin and I thought

Mid-summer can be a challenging time for the passionate activist. Otherwise avid groups of protesters might be distracted by the nice sun and abundant opportunities for frolicking. (Even the most serious of activists will sometimes be lost to a good frolick.) So, instead of saying “Give up your summer to devote your existence to canvassing,” – although that’s not an

Condoleezza Rice has explicitly said she’s not vying to be Romney’s VP choice. “I don’t see myself in any way in elective office,” Rice said to “CBS This Morning.” Does that stop the media from broad and wild speculation? Of course not. What else would the 24-hour-news-cycle-organizations occupy their time with if they didn’t speculate like Ufologists at Area 51?

Having ready and affordable access to contraception and abortion is an integral part of creating a healthy society for women and families. We have talked about that on this blog – it’s one of our established arguments and part of the central mission of Trust Women as an organization. But, we haven’t had as much time to talk about motherhood,

According to a 12-minute sermon by Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, a regular guest on Sean Hannity’s show, women have “no love.” He said women have created a “shameless society.” He said that most women can’t use logic and that they can’t handle power. And, he claimed that one of the greatest mistakes in U.S. history was granting women the right

Earlier I addressed Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant’s intentionally harmful choice of words when referring to the pro-choice movement. He said that the Left’s “one mission in life is to abort children, is to kill children in the womb.” Well, it looks like this comment was only the beginning of a trend among anti-choice leaders. Their trend being: Let’s create irrational

Normally Red State Round Up is devoted to deconstructing problematic anti-choice legislation in primarily conservative states. We reflect on the content of the proposed harmful bills and how they would affect women and families within the state. This week, I would like to address one politician from the state of Mississippi and his callous, misguided and downright damning language. Phil

“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” has, of late, been rocking my world. Admittedly, I can be over-enthusiastic – especially in regards to political comedy. But, I’m sure I am not alone in fist-pumping over the hilarious and pointed coverage on anti-choice legislation. “The Daily Show” has had exceptional coverage of women’s issues with a particular focus recently on anti-choice

Memes – images, videos or even ideas that are passed electronically from one Internet user to another – are quick to spread and also quick to fizzle. They inundate social networks. The success of memes can be dependent on timeliness, but  they often seem to drop out of nowhere riding a shifting cultural mood or commenting on an existing one.

This is the second part of a two-part series where I examined first how abortion has been portrayed in contemporary films, and in this post how October Baby addresses it. What October Baby lacks for in quality, it makes up for in heavy handedness. The stiff acting and bland writing would normally just make October Baby a dull movie. But,

In light of the release of the movie October Baby, a flick about a woman who survived a failed late-term abortion attempt and as an adult is dealing with health problems, I want to address how pregnancy has been dealt with in films. This is a two-part post. The first will deal with how pregnancy and “choice” has been dealt with

Kansas Governor Brownback hadn’t read the now 71-page piece of legislation egregiously dubbed the “Women’s Right to Know Act” and the “No-Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” but that didn’t stop him from declaring he would sign it into law if it arrived on his desk. Being a “pro-life” governor, his eager willingness to approve any anti-choice legislation echoes the GOP’s

The abortion debate is too much for the funny pages according to several newspapers across the country. Garry Trudeau, creator and writer of the liberal comic strip Doonesbury, decided to address the abortion debate in his most recent story arc. In it, a woman seeking an abortion is directed to the “shame room” and she is called a “slut” by

When Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a “slut” for testifying for women’s right to free and accessible birth control, he was putting a bull-horn to the lurking and unspoken discomfort the ultra-conservative have with women’s sexuality. Fluke wanted to represent women in a hearing that could determine whether or not birth control would be covered by their health insurance. Because

Here begins a weekly column on reproductive rights and other women’s issues from a female-identified contributor. Clearly there is an underrepresentation of women and women’s issues in the media. Turn on the television, check into the radio and if you get the chance to hear about women’s issues they will usually be voiced by a man. We don’t need studies