Repro Rights Roundup: Afternoon-Style

Amie Newman

A Lame Duck Congress lives up to its name when it comes to fair pay, William Saletan tells women we should compromise our bodily autonomy because two guys have decided it's a good idea, contraception should be covered for women in the U.S. and more..

A Lame Duck Congress lives up to its name when it comes to fair pay, William Saletan tells women we should compromise our bodily autonomy because two guys have decided it’s a good idea, contraception should be covered for women in the U.S. and more…

  • William Saletan has today’s lessons (for pro-choicers this time) from the recent Princeton University conference which brought together pro-lifers and anti-choice advocates in an effort to uncover common ground (loaded phrase, I know). Please go read it for yourself but I’m having a hard time getting past his suggestion that all women on the face of the earth should offer up control over our bodily autonomy in order to entertain an idea created by two men – what he’s titled the “Garrow-Gushee” compromise – in regards to 2nd trimester abortion legality (or illegality).
  • Fair pay for ourselves and our daughters? The GOP says no – every single one of them. They blocked a vote today to debate the Paycheck Fairness Act even though the House had already passed a version of the bill. Womens’s groups vow to press on but, as Speaker Pelosi tweeted earlier today, women deserve better. 
  • The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the all male organization which decided to hold hostage access to health care for millions of men, women and children so that women and girls around the country – of all faiths – don’t have access to legal abortion has elected its new president. Surprise – it’s the arch-conservative New York Archbishops Timothy J. Dolan. Dolan has vowed to continue the USCCB’s march against health reform if any access to abortion is permitted.
  • The Center for Reproductive Rights delivered a statement yesterday to the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Preventive Services for Women calling for contraception to be covered under all insurance plans as part of the new health reform law. Calling access to contraception a “fundamental human right” the Center’s counsel, Aram Schvey, said that alarmingly high rates of unintended pregnancy as a result of inadequate access to contraception, as well as racial disparities in contraception access and use are public health failures and human rights concerns. Read the full remarks. 
  • The March of Dimes released its newest report on the rates of premature births around the country. Though rates in most states have declined, the United States’ overall score remains at a dismal “D” since rates did not decline nearly enough to meet the Healthy People 2010 goal. Premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin says much more needs to be done to improve the situation for newborns in the U.S. but the March of Dimes report finds that, for the first time in three decades, the overall rate has declined.