Anti-Choice Virginia Attorney General Tries to Increase Regulation of Abortion Clinics

Anti-Choice Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued an opinion Monday that gives the Virginia Board of Health the power to implement hospital-like regulations on women’s health clinics that provide abortion procedures.

According to the Washington Post, “In his seven months in office, Cuccinelli has sued the federal government over new health-care rules; waded into the national immigration debate, saying law enforcement can ask about immigration status; and launched an investigation into whether a former University of Virginia professor and climate scientist manipulated data to reach his conclusions about global warming.” Add abortion to the list and this guy is has taken on every right-wing issue in the book! These are the same anti-abortion regulations Cuccinelli failed to implement as a state senator. However, now that he suddenly has the “unbiased” authority of attorney general, he thinks he can bypass the actual lawmaking process to get his anti-woman policies through!

If the Virginia Board of Health moves to enforce Cuccinelli’s legal opinion (which is thankfully unlikely because a majority were appointed by VA’s former governor, a Democrat), 17 of VA’s 21 clinics might close because they would not be able to afford to make the required changes.

South Carolina has already implemented similar regulations to women’s health clinics in their state. Target Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP laws, are used by anti-s to drive up the cost of abortion through intentionally burdensome regulations in an attempt to cut off women’s constitutionally protected reproductive rights. According to the National Abortion Federation, 34 states already have some type of TRAP law on the books. It’s important that activists stay vigilant in their state legislatures to ensure that our constitutional reproductive rights are not circumvented through these purely political policies that seek to regulate only one type of procedure, abortion, above all else.

In other news, SC still hates women

If you're tired of hearing me complain about South Carolina, join the club. I would welcome the chance to shower the Palmetto State with praise as a champion for women's rights and opportunity. Alas, SC has other plans. Even the good news seems to come with a price. For example, The SC House recently voted against a provision in the proposed state budget that would have ended health insurance abortion coverage for victims of rape or incest. You might think that such a ban would be a no-brainer but, with a margin of defeat by only three votes, it makes you wonder if SC legislators have a brain at all? Take these two little nuggets of oppression and ignorance from the SC General Assembly in just the past week:

Eliminating the state's entire HIV/AIDS budget: An estimated 14,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in South Carolina, ranked eighth in the nation in new AIDS cases. The proposed budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year would eliminate all money for the state's HIV/AIDS prevention and drug assistance programs. As The State paper reports, "The cut would mean the 2,055 people enrolled in the Drug Assistance Program would no longer get help in paying for their medication and could face dire health consequences." What dire health consequences you might ask? Death for starters.

24-Hour Waiting Periods and Referrals to Fake Clinics: This one is a double whammy. After much debate and many failed attempts, the SC Senate finally passed a bill that will require women seeking an abortion to wait 24 hours after receiving an ultrasound. Many states across the country have successfully passed similar legislation that adds an undue burden and expense to women seeking an abortion and speaks to the misguided notion that women take choice lightly and flippantly decide to terminate a pregnancy.

What's particularly egregious is the support of so-called crisis pregnancy centers (CPC). The waiting period begins after the patient receives information about the procedure or receives an ultrasound. If the patient elects to receive an ultrasound she is referred to a so-called crisis pregnancy resource center for an ultrasound.

This news is equally laughable and terrifying. These fake clinics are not staffed by medically trained professionals and employ delay tactics and intimidation to deceive women from receiving comprehensive medical care. A Congressional investigation of CPCs revealed that 87% provided false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion and grossly misrepresent the medical risk of abortion by telling women that having an abortion could increase the risk of breast cancer, result in sterility and lead to suicide and "post-abortion syndrome."

By passing legislation that not only supports these fake clinics but will now refer women to receive these "services," SC legislators are implicitly endorsing the deceitful tactics and lies of fake clinics and have turned their backs on the women of SC and scientifically proven strategies to reduce unwanted pregnancies.

Want a reason not to flee the state? The House must still vote on the 24-hour waiting period bill and the elimination of all HIV/AIDS funds is only in the proposed budget and still requires a vote, as well. Translation? There is still time to speak out against these measures. Call your representatives, write a letter to your local paper and organize your neighbors against these horrendous policies in Columbia. Speak out against the disproportionate affect that these policies will have on low-income residents and those who are underinsured or uninsured. You must stay, stand up and fight back! And if they still won't listen to us? Perhaps we'll just run for office ourselves.

SC Activists March for Responsible Reproductive Health Policies

Tell Them, a grassroots e-advocacy network in South Carolina, held their first ever Virtual March to advocate for reponsible reproductive health policies by the SC legislature. Tell Them organized over 3,500 marchers and sent over 2,500 emails to decision makers across the state. Below is a guest post by Emma Davidson, of TellThem!

Why am I passionate about responsible reproductive health policies? In my mind, there is no more pressing issue for South Carolina than reproductive health.

South Carolina statistics read like a laundry list of reproductive health problems. We currently have the 3rd highest rates of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea in the country, and 9th highest rates of AIDS cases. In fact the Centers for Disease Control has called South Carolina one of the Top 10 HIV “hot spots” in the country.

The teenagers of South Carolina are even more prone to reckless behavior. Over 60% of high school seniors in our state have had sex- and 15-24 year olds account for nearly half of the new STI cases statewide. 3 out of every 10 young women will become pregnant before they turn 20, and the births to these women cost South Carolina taxpayers over $150 million each year.

These are just a few of the reasons why I work so passionately towards bringing positive change to our state through responsible reproductive health policies. I firmly believe that in order to solve these problems, the people of South Carolina must call on their elected officials to increase access to clinics and doctors, require comprehensive sex education in public schools, and ensure confidential relationships between patients and their doctors.

However, one of the bright spots surrounding this issue are the numbers of people who are passionate and work so tirelessly to create better lives for the women and young people of this state. In less than 1 week, we were able to gather nearly 500 people together to stand up for reproductive health- and we’ve only just begun. Keep it up- join Tell Them’s Virtual March. And if you already have, get your collegues, friends and families to join up. We need every voice we can get, and together we’ll accomplish great things.

Disgusting Display of Misogyny for the Day

Here's a little scenario for you. Tania and I are cruising through the town of Greenville, SC, on our way to meet with some folks at Furman College.

We reach a stoplight, and I hear Tania say "Oh no, that's disgusting." I look up, and on the rear window of the SUV right in front of us is this horrifying vinyl sticker, pictured at the right.

It made my stomach turn. We sat there, staring in abject horror, and finally the light changed. When we got stopped at another stop light, we pulled up NEXT to the SUV this time.

Driving the car was a man. Seated next to him in the passenger's seat was a woman. "Don't you know you're a participant in your own oppression?" I rhetorically asked as we pulled away.

Take away message - Feminism is certainly not dead. There's a reason we're organizing in the South. Even if sometimes it makes my heart sink with disgust, it's vital that we remember the importance of getting up every day and LIVING OUR POLITICS. There is always - always - something to organize around, and we need your help doing it.

Want to start a campus group? Are you a feminist in NC, SC, or GA and want Val and Tania to come by while we're in the area? Email campusteam@feminist.org. No matter where you are, in what climate, we are more than happy to help you get started. Drop us a line!

Finding Feminists in South Carolina

Today, Tania and I embarked upon our first foray of visits into South Carolina. We hit up a few schools in Spartanburg - Converse College and Wofford College. We had some great meetings with enthusiastic faculty lined up, and we packed our bags with some extra information about our upcoming Women of Color Conference and campus program - just in case.

Part of our job as organizers is to root around and dig up the feminists that we know are out there - the question is, where do we find them? I wish I could tell you tales of glory, filled with triumphant marches across campus followed by masses of "This is what a FEMINIST looks like" tshirt wearers. You know, wherein we sweep into a campus and find those fiery personalities ready to revolutionize the politics of their communities forever...!

Unfortunately, rarely is our job this glorious, or that easy. Most of the time, our organizing involves endless online research, countless phone calls, and ongoing email conversations. Sometimes the most frustrating thing is that we continually put ourselves out there, and we don't always see any result.

But I have to say, being on the ground makes all the difference. Knocking on doors, meeting people, engaging in conversation, and working with the individual vibe of every campus is easily the best part of our job! It makes the piles of prep work, not to mention the getting lost, long days, and hours of driving well worth it.

This was proved for us today. After we finished our scheduled visits at Converse, we decided to poke around and drop in on other friendly departments. Heck, we're trying to get folks out to Atlanta for the conference (hint hint, if you haven't registered yet, brighten our day and do so now?? pretty please?) and we were hoping to launch a feminist group on Converse's campus. We figured we had nothing to lose!

So after dropping some materials off at the English department, we found the History and Politics department located on the same floor. There was only one door in the department partially open. The professor welcomed us into her office and as Tania was explaining the campus program, conference, and what we were trying to do at Converse, I started to look at the floor-to-ceiling bookcases. Titles like: Women in the New Deal. The Creation of Patriarchy. A Feminist History. Feminism and Domesticity. A bumper sticker: "Women belong in the House. And the Senate. And the Oval Office."

Hark! Could it be? A feminist! "It looks like we're in good company!" I said.

We lucked out. Tucked away in a corner of this academic building was a treasure trove of feminism! The professor was more than happy to help us spread the word about the conference, and was totally stoked at the idea of a feminist activist group getting started on campus. Just like that, we made an invaluable contact with someone who we couldn't have found, had we not stumbled into her office and had the guts to just say "Hi, Professor. We're here from the Feminist Majority Foundation, and we wanted to speak with you about some upcoming opportunities for Converse students and faculty...do you have just a minute to talk with us?"

Moral of the story: There are feminists everywhere. You just have to get out there and find them!

Photo credit: flickr.com/Rich Anderson

Palmetto Pride?

I often struggle with my relationship with dear South Carolina. As both a University of South Carolina alumni and a feminist activist it was never hard to find reasons to fight in the Palmetto state. So it comes as no surprise to hear of former chairman of the state elections commission, Rusty DePass, racist comments about First Lady Michelle Obama.

Clearly in jest, you say? Silly me. How could I have missed the hilarity of your ignorance.

Sadly, comments much like the ones from ol' Rusty can easily be heard in South Carolina. There is so much to fight against that I am often torn between the need to stay and fight back and the refreshing sigh of relief to finally be in an area that "gets it."

There are many great organizations in South Carolina and across the South that are working to fight back against long standing hatred and ignorance. I can only hope that one day the Rusty Depasses of the world will be the exception and not the norm.

Rumblings in the Palmetto State

It looks like things are shaking up in South Carolina!

It appears the bill requiring a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion may not make it through the Senate before the session comes to a close this week! Could this finally be a win for women in South Carolina?

And do I dare to hope that Carolina's failing schools may finally get some much needed funding? With threats to veto the $350 million in stimulus funds intended to help address SC's failing schools and sky-rocketing unemployment (second highest in the nation), Governor Mark Sanford just may find himself in the court room with an unlikely foe. Chapin High School senior, Casey Edwards, who previously filed suit against Sanford in April, is ready to take Governor Sanford back to the state Supreme Court if he decides to veto the stimulus money. Way to take it to the man, Casey!



Update: Gov. Sanford used his veto pen yesterday on the budget and it looks like things may be heading to the state Supreme Court. Get ready for the fireworks!