pregnancy
GRITtv: Loretta Ross & Lynn Paltrow: Conspiracy Tactics
"The Democratic base would be less angry at our leadership if they would really stand up for something," notes Loretta Ross of SisterSong, "Democrats need to stop flinching every time someone says the word 'abortion'." Democrats are on the defensive, and meanwhile anti-choice activists are ramping up their efforts to deny women the right to an abortion, not just in the South, where the "Freedom Rides for Life" that we detailed here at GRITtv in our "Conspiracy Tactics" series began, but across the country. Loretta joins us in studio along with Lynn Paltrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women to discuss the state of the reproductive justice movement: what are the latest tactics from the anti-choicers, what can be done to fight back, and why we need to not be afraid of the word abortion.
Email this pageGRITtv: The F Word: Good for Oklahoma, How About Goldman?
Democrats in D.C. are going about this regulation thing all wrong. Want to get Republican buy-in? Give Republicans the kind of regulation they like. As usual in U.S. politics, the states provide the road map. Take Arizona. There, the party of small government's just released police to stop people on suspicion. Want to break GOP resistance to financial regulation? Release the SEC to spot-check Wall Street. Anyone who looks suspiciously likely to be hawking synthetic derivatives? Slap ‘em in detention until their lawyers can prove they're innocent. It’s all in the interests of crime prevention. Oklahoma's state legislature just overrode the governor's veto of two laws related to pregnancy and abortion. Personal privacy's nice but even good people sometimes make bad decisions, said legislators. Now women who'd like to terminate a pregnancy will be subjected to mandatory vaginal scans and forced to view fetal porn videos. Want to reduce credit default swaps? Before they make another risky bet, let’s force traders to slap on a gown, step in those stirrups, and subject themselves to a mandatory scan of their stock portfolios, while watching American Casino or Plunder or listening to the live, panicked heartbeat of manipulated mortgage owners. Regulators need to remember that even the die-hardest conservative's OK with some regulation. If it's good enough for the women of Oklahoma, it's good enough for Wall Street. Right? The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Support us by signing up for our podcast, and follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Reproductive Rights as Human Rights
Jan. 22 is the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that finally recognized a woman's right to her own reproductive choices. With the election of a prochoice Democrat last November, many assumed that we might finally have some breathing room around the issue of abortion. Instead, we've seen Stupak and Nelson trying to use the health care reform bills to restrict rights even further, and clinics around the country have seen increased aggression, culminating in the brutal murder of Dr. George Tiller. To fill us in on the abortion wars, we spoke to Silvia Henriquez, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, author Carole Joffe and Lynn Paltrow, Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women.
GRITtv: The Other Side of Choice: Giving Birth in America
The Bellevue Hospital Natural Birth center in Manhattan, one of the few centers that cater not to the wealthy but to poor women, closed this month amid controversy. With the ongoing debate about health care reform and costs, decisions about childbirth are getting lost in the shuffle. We discuss the closing of the birth center and the medicalization of childbirth with Katherine Abelson, midwife at the Brooklyn Birthing Center, Elan McAllister, doula and president and founder of Choices in Childbirth, and Debra Pascali-Bonaro, doula and director and producer of Orgasmic Birth.
GRITtv: The F Word: Being Female Is Not A Preexisting Condition
We all know by now that private insurers make their profits by denying people's claims when they get sick. But how about denying claims and refusing coverage to people who are perfectly healthy? Insurance companies routinely discriminate against women; when they provide coverage at all, they charge women more than men. It should be shameful but mostly it's not. Don't like it? The good folks at RH Reality Check have a launched a campaign: BEING FEMALE IS NOT A PRE-EXISTING CONDITION. Thanks to SEIU and RH Reality Check for the data.
GRITtv: Breakthrough TV
Babies, with months of advance notice, sometimes get born in crazy places: the backs of cabs, elevators, manger floors, all over. But when out of control immigration laws come into contact with pregnant women, the result isn't a funny anecdote. Breakthrough tv brings us the story of Juana Villegas.
