MzNicky at Tennesee Guerilla Women has joined the call to have the pro-lifers motto changed to “The War on Women”. I’m joining up today in this war to keep my reproductive rights. It’s a good thing too because it looks like we’re in for a helluva fight, especially in Ohio.
I have known 4 women who have had abortions and 3 of those women did so because they didn’t like the men who impregnated them (the other had three children under 4 and was single). This has soured my personal view on abortion- especially as a means to birth control[1]. I have said “there are other forms of prevention for educated women”, etc and blah, blah. However, it seems that even those are coming under attack in this War on Women. And Ohio is leading the way in putting women back in kitchen, barefoot and pregnant.
According to Guttmacher Institute
Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Ohio ranked
* 39th in service availability;
* 48th in laws and policies;
* 44th in public funding; and
* 48th overall.Recognizing the personal, social, economic and medical toll associated with unintended pregnancies, the federal government has established a national public health goal to reduce by 40% the proportion of pregnancies that are unintended by 2010. It also has identified family planning as the key to achieving this objective.
States can play a major role in helping women to avoid unintended pregnancy-particularly low-income women, who are more likely than those who are better-off to experience an unintended pregnancy and to rely on publicly supported services for their contraceptive care. Accordingly, the Guttmacher Institute assessed the states (and the District of Columbia) on their efforts to help women obtain contraceptive services and supplies, and to use them consistently and correctly over time. States were scored and ranked on three indicators:
* service availability-how well the states meet existing need for subsidized contraceptive services and supplies;
* laws and policies-whether their laws and policies are likely to facilitate access to contraceptive services and information; and
* public funding-the extent to which they devote their own revenues, and leverage potential federal dollars, to support the delivery of publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies.(Ohio’s Title X)
Sex education policy Worst
Requires contraceptive education statewide NO
Requires abstinence education statewide YES
Requires contraceptive education in school districts with sex education NO
Requires abstinence education in school districts with sex education NO
Rejects federal abstinence-only education funds NO
If you want to know where your own state ranks go here. Maybe you’re lucky enough to live in one of the 47 states that does better than Ohio in preventing unwanted pregnancies (and/or childbirths).
Thanks to CorrenteWire for bringing to light (for me anyway) this story in the Times-Dispatch (Richmond, VA)
SUFFOLK “ A Suffolk woman who lost her unborn baby after suffering a bullet wound to the abdomen was arrested yesterday and charged with shooting herself to “illegally induce an abortion.”
Tammy W. Skinner, 22, originally called police Thursday at 4:11 a.m. on her cell phone from the parking lot of an auto dealership on North Main Street. She reported someone had shot her, said Lt. Debbie George, a Suffolk police spokeswoman.
Skinner was rushed by ambulance to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where doctors listed her in good condition but her fetus was pronounced dead. Doctors had planned to induce labor for Skinner, who police said was seven to nine month’s pregnant, that day.[2]
Suffolk police immediately became suspicious of Skinner’s story: She professed not to recall who had shot her, and investigators discovered her car in the parking lot of the dealership. George would release no further details of the investigation.
Skinner turned herself in to police yesterday afternoon. She is charged with illegally inducing an abortion, a Class 4 felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
I’m not really sure what constitutes “illegally inducing abortion” (other than the obvious) but if this girl did shoot herself then maybe different charges were in order. But they want to get her on felony charges so they could also charge her with using a firearm in commission of one. Looks like trumping up the charges when something a lot more simple would have done just as well. However, I’m suspicious that maybe she didn’t do this to herself. That’s for another post though.
I’m a mother of a 14 year old girl and am trying to instill in her how important it is for her to be sexually responsible. This includes knowing about and how to use birth control and condoms. I know that preaching “just don’t do it” doesn’t work with teenagers the majority of the time. I know that young girls and boys will do it if they get a chance and I don’t want my child to be a mom for many years. I have never told her not to have an abortion, but have let her know it’s best not to get pregnant to begin with. Now we have activist pharmacists that don’t want to dispense birth control pills (aka don’t want to do their job), state legislatures banning abortion outright and women getting charged with deaths they may have not had anything to do with. Should my daughter forever abstain from sex? Or maybe she should just have 15 children, like that chick down in Arkansas?
You may not want to hold sex from your partner, but you can spread the word on W.O.W., don’t let them call themselves soft, fuzzy names anymore. Call “em like we see “em.
[1] I in no way advocate legislating anyone’s reproductive rights or morality, believing the government should stay the hell out of women’s bodies.
[2] Now why would she shoot herself to “illegally induce an abortion” on the same day that she was due to have the baby? Are they all stupid?
Black History Month not important
UpdateIII: Looks like the Canton Rep isn’t going to print my letter afterall. I just got an email from Gail Beck and she says that they don’t cover this particular high school. Oh well. It’s still going to be in the Times Reporter (not that it will make a difference, since no one in my town thinks there should be a Black History Month to begin with.
UpdateII: I just received this email from Little Miss’ history teacher (I’m withholding his name).
Update March 2: The Times Reporter just called me and said they were going to run my letter and that the Canton Repository will also run it (they are owned by the same company). Right on!
According to my daughter’s World Studies teacher (9th grade ) Black History month was not important enough to recognize. His exact words to her:
“The Ohio State Standards does not force me to address that topic and I didn’t think it was that important.”
This statement was in response to her question “Why didn’t we contribute to Black History Month?”(her words to him). My daughter is biracial and is very proud of her black heritage, so much so that she refers to herself simply “African-American” (leaving out the whole white half). And I was furious that this teacher would say such a thing to her. But wait, there’s more.
Little Miss asked another teacher why they didn’t even use one class period to recognize Black History Month. This teacher told her that the elementary schools and middle school did projects for the month, but there wasn’t enough time in high school. My daughter argued that there was enough time to study white history and wasn’t black history just as important to American history as the white? Her questions and arguments were brushed aside. She is in a very small minority in this school and the administration doesn’t seem to respect those few students at all.
She told me that they teach her that black people were slaves, but nothing else about there struggle during that period. They didn’t even discuss Martin Luther King, jr., though he is the most well-known African-American historical figure. There is not so much as a whisper about anyone else that has contributed to black American history. Some of Little Miss’ peers had no idea what Black History Month was, let alone any of the actual history. The ones that did seem to know something had not spent their academic careers in this school district.
I did write a letter to the editor’s of the Canton Repository and the Times Reporter, as well as the principal and World Studies teacher at that school. The following is what I wrote:
Yesterday marked the end of Black History Month in the State of Ohio. Many school districts in the state found reasons to recognize and celebrate America’s black pioneers, however High School did not even offer a single class period to celebrate this month.
My daughter is a freshman attending that school and asked her World Studies teacher why Black History Month was completely ignored when black history is so important to American history. He told her that “The Ohio State Standards does not force me to address this topic and I didn’t think it was that important.” However one whole class period was devoted to study hall because they “had nothing to do that day.” Another teacher told her that in high school they don’t have enough time to devote to Black History Month.
As a parent of a child of African-American heritage I am apalled by this attitude. This school district has a small number of minority children, still there seems to be a complete lack of respect for the importance of the African-American struggle in this country. My daughter, and others like her, would like to hear more about black history than “they were slaves” and “Martin Luther King, Jr. was a catalyst in the struggle for civil rights” (though they did not even pay tribute to that great man). For someone in her school to tell her that her history is “not important” is a slap in the face to all of those great African-Americans that should be honored during this month.
I would just like to say “shame on you!” to High School for finding so much American history “not important”.
Ok, so I could have proofed that a little better before I sent it out, but I had to keep it to 300 words or less for the papers. And I was- am- so angry that this man would look my daughter in the face and tell her that her history isn’t important enough to bother with, not even making an attempt to sugar coat it. It’s no wonder my daughter doesn’t feel like she’s a part of this school. To me this wasn’t just a flippant disregard for African-American history, but a complete and utter lack of respect for my daughter and her genuine need to know her heritage. Luckily for her I’ve made it a point to study it and relate what I know to her (though, as a white woman, I can’t really relate. She does have aunts that help her be a strong black woman).
There are so many things that I worry about every day, but this was low on my list until my daughter brought her issues home to me. I was one of those idiots that thought they taught black history right along side other American history- just because that’s where it belongs. The previous school district where my daughter attended elementary included black history through out the school year. I was naive to think that in all Ohio school systems this was typical. I guess I didn’t think of the small town with few black people. Now I know better. Today I was slapped back into reality.
I’m planning on moving out of this town- soon. If Dh wants to stay he can do it by himself. If you’re a minority and you thought about moving to a nice small town in Tuscarawas County Ohio please think twice. Your kids will benefit more if you just forget this place even exists.
Edited to remove the name of the high school to save Little Miss eternal embarassment.