Oklahomans for Reproductive Justice
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cosby--sweater Don't Let 'em Waste Your Time -
crumeniferus CRUMENIFERUS -
sandraholla sex & the ivory tower -
infinitejessie Infinite Jessie -
swellshark approximate sunlight
In the end, it also comes down to something Melissa McEwan wrote here at Shakesville:
‘Of course is to say nothing of the zoning laws that allowed a fertilizer plant to exist in such close proximity to residences and schools. Many residents say they saw it coming, and, naturally, because we live in a garbage culture full of victim-blaming and tasking individuals with solutions for systemic problems, there is already a lot of “why didn’t they move?” where “this plant was irresponsible and deregulation is a fucking nightmare” should be.’
Anyone who lives in a space where they are the political minority and they talk to someone who agrees with their politics but lives in a place where those politics are in the majority have heard the “why don’t you just move?” as if that is a viable or useful response. It is an excuse that refuses to take into account at all people’s lived experiences, their desires to be near family or friends, the pressing issue of finding a new job in a new place, or people’s complete inability economically to just pick up and move (to be able to do that is a privilege). It is a conversation killer and, as McEwan wrote, victim-blaming.
Friends and followers, I am part of the wonderful organizing committee that is bringing you Take Root: Red State Perspectives on Reproductive Justice on February 15th and 16th, 2013. The conference will be a meeting of activists, writers, bloggers, organizers, students, providers, and community members across the country to talk about the reproductive justice front lines in the challenging environment of red and conservative states.
This year we’re happy to feature Loretta Ross, founder and the National Coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective as our keynote speaker. Loretta has been a leader and an inspiration for reproductive justice organizing for the last 25 years and is generally just a phenomenal speaker and person.
In addition, we’ll hear from folks from National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Flyover Feminism, COLOR, OK4RJ, and many more!
Best of all, young people from states like Oklahoma and our neighboring states will be leading vital discussions at this conference that reflects our needs, analysis, expertise, and ideas as part of this movement. Last year over 200 people came and we’re preparing for even more!
YOU CAN REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE HERE
You can also donate to sponsor a panel or help a student attend the conference here (be sure to write “Take Root” where it asks for the purpose of your donation)
Reblog, share widely, talk about it with your friends! It’s going to be a fantastic event, you won’t want to miss it.
I have driven probably 10,000 miles on I-35 in my lifetime and it’s inspired a lot of my blog posts. A lot of people find the long stretches of highway in red states across flat prairie really boring, but I confront my own fears nowhere better. Lately when driving I’ve just felt an intense pride in the people who work and live here despite what coasties and other misguided/wrong folk might say about us. So I figured this was as good an opportunity as any to highlight a couple of TOTALLY AMAZING things that people are doing in red states along this highway (even if the city they’re in isn’t).
Let’s start with the southern point: Texas! The Keystone XL Pipeline, a system of pipelines carrying crude oil from tar sands in Canada to multiple US cities, is a pretty awful, environment-tribal sovereignty-water supply-destroying endeavor. Have you heard about the fantastic Texas folks opposing its construction?
from the article:
Planned Parenthood said the new rules will force 48,000 women to look for health care elsewhere.
“Once and for all, we implore Texas to put politics aside and put women’s health first,” said Kenneth Lambrecht, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas. “It is shocking that state officials would rather end low-income women’s access to family planning and preventive health services altogether than allow Planned Parenthood to provide these vital health services.”
RH Reality Check Texas reporter Andrea Grimes searches, in vain, for a pap smear among the providers the state of Texas says should be available to provide one. Watch and listen and read the rest of our reporting on the Texas Women’s Health Program here.
from rhrealitycheck.org -
Federal district court judge Lee Yeakel agreed and blocked the rule from going into effect. But the Fifth Circuit did not and in lifting the injunction blocking the rule, held that Texas has broad authority to regulate its state health program and as part of that regulation can include discriminate against entities the court said promoted a “pro-abortion point of view.”
On Sunday, the Texas Tribune reported that a growing number of people in that state seeking abortions are looking to Mexico for chemical abortifacients in the form of a potent medication – not prescribed on its own in the U.S. to terminate pregnancies – called misoprostol. According to the Tribune article, the World Health Organization has stated that even on its own, the drug can be an effective method for medically inducing abortion when used properly. Unfortunately, the proper method for the use of misoprostol to induce abortion is not widely known in the border communities affected, which results in a variety of health risks.
From an access perspective, the recent uptick in such a practice seems to be the logical result of recent cuts and restrictions on public health services, including reproductive health and domestic violence services, in the state of Texas. Other states – especially red border states – can learn from this story in the fight for reproductive justice. It may seem far-fetched to prepare to distribute facts on proper use of misoprostol to possible affected communities, but if state TRAP legislation continues to pass, such education may be necessary to prevent injury or illness. Ideally, community reaction to such a trend will be mostly to increase knowledge of and access to safe, legal, affordable, and discreet abortion services through hotlines and abortion funds.
The people using misoprostol, also widely used in Mexico due to poor reproductive health access, are mostly poor Latino-Americans living in sparsely-populated areas near the southern border of the United States. This story will probably not be widely covered because it has yet to affect urban middle-class white Americans, and I sincerely hope that the big state to the south can stave off further increases in the practice. I highly recommend reading the original article from the Tribune and checking in on Robin Marty’s coverage of the story.
Pearl is making two pizzas tonight, just try and stop her
Y’ALL. Molly Jo is doin her thang so you’ve got me this Friday! WAHOO. I’m really jazzed to let you know about news I’d like to call What The Actual Fuck.
I spend a lot of time making caps of Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor <3___<3
Across the ole Red River (where our Denton friends live HAYYYY) just outside Bryan, TX there’s a sleepaway camp for highschoolers training to become pro-life activists. If that sounds too gross to read about directly (sort of like looking into the sun) I can basically tell you this: pro-lifers are getting the idea earlier and earlier that to show your “compassion” to people with unwanted pregnancies, it’s important to believe that they have no idea what’s going on and have no idea what an abortion is or what it does.
I’d like to describe Andrea Grimes and this post by using one of her favorite words: BALLER.
RH Reality Check set out to test the WHP’s non-Planned Parenthood provider listings over the past week and found that while initial searches of TexasWomensHealth.org turn up what appear to be hundreds of available providers, many of them don’t provide any kind of contraceptive care, don’t take Medicaid Women’s Health Program clients, or are simply misleading duplicate listings.
In Austin, for example, many WHP clients visit the Downtown Austin Clinic for contraceptives and cancer screenings. What if a resident of the 78702 zip code who formerly relied on Planned Parenthood had to suddenly find a new doctor?
We searched for providers within 30 miles of 78702, which turned up 137 doctors and clinics — initially, a very promising number. But once we weeded out the duplicates, we were left with just 49 individual providers, including those like the Austin Endoscopy Center. When we called to try to make a gynecological appointment there, we were understandably turned down: “This is a colon cancer center,” the operator told us. No women’s health care there.
Several times, locations listed on the Texas WHP website weren’t taking new Medicaid clients, were only taking those within a limited age range, or simply did not accept Medicaid Women’s Health Program patients. The People’s Community Clinic, which serves low-income and uninsured clients, told us they were only taking adolescents or pregnant women—and pregnant women are, by definition, excluded from the WHP.
The Austin Regional Clinic, which has several locations in Austin, looked promising until we were told, repeatedly, that they don’t accept Medicaid WHP clients—neither does the similarly situated Austin Diagnostic Clinic.
Ultimately, we were able to find nine providers within a 30-mile radius of our selected zip code that accepted the WHP and were taking new patients—some could see a patient for an annual exam as soon as the following day. Provided, of course, that clients are able to travel. The Lone Star Circle Of Care, which also focuses on under-served populations, had appointments in neighboring cities.
But for a WHP enrollee who may not have a car or who can’t afford to take a day or a half-day off from work, it may be a matter of having to make the difficult decision of choosing between several hours’ worth of pay—which could mean making rent or buying baby formula—or getting her annual exam.
And if Planned Parenthood is excluded from the WHP in Texas, there’s a good chance that WHP patients wouldn’t have the good luck we had in finding nine available providers if, as a George Washington University study predicts, existing providers simply will not be able to fill in the gaps left by Planned Parenthood.
[NB: More people than just cis women are affected by these draconian changes to the WHP.]
Please signal boost!
any texans out there?
