Thank You Thursday 08/19/2010

Today we'd like to thank....

• the suffragists who worked hard to get the 19th Amendment ratified on August 18, 1920, giving women the right to vote


• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for filing a lawsuit against the high school that removed a girl from the yearbook for wearing a tuxedo in her senior portrait (They removed her name, photo, etc-- she was not mentioned anywhere in the yearbook at all!)


• French pharmaceutical company HRA Pharma for developing the emergency contraceptive EllaOne


• Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approving Ella, giving women in the U.S. another way to prevent unwanted pregnancy

THANK YOU!!!

A Cautious Sigh of Relief for Arizona....

This morning, just hours before Arizona’s now infamous (and blatantly racist) immigration law, SB 1070, was set to go into effect, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton blocked several of the key passages of the law.

· The ruling blocked the SB1070 provision that mandated police officers to check the immigration status of a person detained, stopped, or arrested so long as the police officer had a reasonable suspicion the detainee might be undocumented.

· It is no longer a crime in Arizona to fail to apply for or carry immigrant registration papers.

· In addition, the ruling also delayed parts of the law that would have made it illegal for undocumented workers "to solicit, apply for, or perform work.”

· Lastly, the ruling blocked the (BLATANTLY unconstitutional) passage that “authorized the warrantless arrest of a person” without any reasonable suspicion that the person might be subject to deportation.

Charges were filed against SB1070 by the U.S. Justice Department, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Coalition of Latino Clergy, the Christian Leaders League of United Latin American Citizens, and several Arizona state police officers.

Judge Bolton heard a variety of arguments ranging from unconstitutional racial profiling, the inability to effectively enforce the law, and the preemption of federal supremacy on immigration. In front of a packed courthouse, ACLU attorney Karen Tumlin boldly stated: “[SB1070] treats people of color as suspectes first, rather than citizens.” Although many people in Arizona can rest easier tonight, the fight is by no means over. Many provisions of this law will go into effect at midnight tonight and SB1070 still remains the toughest immigration law on the books.

What’s Next for Arizona.

Rape: A Pre-Existing Condition

Several years ago, Chris Turner was denied health insurance because she had sought treatment for rape. Health insurance agencies told Turner that the anti-AIDS medication her physician had prescribed her and the counseling she took made her uninsurable, even though she tested HIV-negative, The National Women's Law Center reports. She was told to come back in three years, if she was still HIV-free.

The Huffington Post Investigative Fund’s citizen journalism project has uncovered many similar stories, indicating that Turner's situation is not an isolated case. Women have been denied health coverage for conditions resulting from rape, such as sexually transmitted disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, and mental health care that their doctors said was critical for recovery. In one case, a woman received treatment for rape, but was later discovered the insurance company would not pay because they looked through her record and discovered she "had been raped before".

"Insurance discrimination against rape victims will only further discourage them from coming forward to law enforcement and seeking medical help," Sandra Park, staff attorney at the Women's Rights Project with the American Civil Liberties Union told the Huffington Post

This is what gets me," Turner said in a statement (see PDF), "There are so many rape survivors who can't or don't get the help that they need--they have to push down their suffering and pain and just try to survive. I feel like I did the right thing by going on medication and getting counseling. And yet I was punished for doing the right thing to take care of myself and my livelihood."

Photo Credit: Steve Rhodes on flickr.com