Karen Santorum & Contraception: "Rick Is Not Anti-Women & Not Opposed To Contraception" (Video)

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Pro-Life & Pro-Choice Women Voters Slam Stupak & Obama

Pro-Choice & Pro-Life Groups Slam Obama Order On Abortion Funding


Pro-Choice and Pro-Life groups on Sunday strongly denounced a deal by Pro-Life Democrats and President Obama to ensure limits on taxpayer money for abortion services, outlined in a Senate health insurance overhaul now on the verge House approval.

Abortion Rights supporters chastised the president, saying he caved on his principles by agreeing to issue an executive order that strengthens limits on abortion. Abortion opponents, on the other hand, said Obama's pending order does nothing to prohibit spending on abortion services as provided in the Senate bill.

The National Organization for Women issued a statement that it is "incensed" Obama agreed to the deal sought by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and other lawmakers who argued that the Senate health care overhaul allowed public funding for abortions. The lawmakers had been the key votes to stopping passage of the massive government plan.



"Through this order, the President has announced he will lend the weight of his office and the entire executive branch to the Anti-Abortion measures included in the Senate bill, which the House is now prepared to pass," reads a statement from NOW.

"President Obama campaigned as a Pro-Choice president, but his actions today suggest that his commitment to reproductive health care is shaky at best. ... We see now that we have our work cut out for us far beyond what we ever anticipated. The message we have received today is that it is acceptable to negotiate health care on the backs of Women, and we couldn't disagree more," the group said.

The National Right to Life Committee argued that seven objectionable Pro-Abortion provisions in the Senate bill are unchanged.



"The executive order promised by President Obama was issued for political effect. It changes nothing. It does not correct any of the serious pro-abortion provisions in the bill. The president cannot amend a bill by issuing an order, and the federal courts will enforce what the law says," the group said.

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Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund President Marjorie Dannenfelser said the group was revoking its "Defender of Life" award to Stupak, which was to be awarded at its Wednesday night gala.

"We were planning to honor Congressman Stupak for his efforts to keep abortion-funding out of health care reform. We will no longer be doing so," Dannenfelser said. "Let me be clear: any representative, including Rep. Stupak, who votes for this health care bill can no longer call themselves 'pro-life.'"

Stupak, who led Democratic lawmakers opposed to the Senate bill, made an announcement of a deal Sunday afternoon, surrounded by a handful of Democratic lawmakers who had held out their "yes" votes in exchange for a guarantee of no public funding for abortion.

The arrangement appeared to cement passage of the massive insurance overhaul as House lawmakers later approved the rules for debate in a 224-206 vote, moving the House one step closer to passage.

"I'm pleased to announce that we have an agreement, and it's with the help of the president and the speaker we were able to come to an agreement to protect the sanctity of life in the health care reform. There will be no public funding for abortion in this legislation," Stupak said.

The White House issued its own statement about the executive order.

The president "will be issuing an executive order after the passage of the health insurance reform law that will reaffirm its consistency with longstanding restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion," reads the statement from White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer.

"While the legislation as written maintains current law, the executive order provides additional safeguards to ensure that the status quo is upheld and enforced, and that the health care legislation's restrictions against the public funding of abortions cannot be circumvented," the statement reads.

Opponents say an executive order does not have the force of law that legislation would provide.

"That is not the rule of law. That's the rule of man. One man can sign an executive order and one man can repeal that again, the president of the United States," said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., appearing on "Fox News Sunday" before the deal was announced.

House Minority Leader John Boehner said an executive order "can direct members of the executive branch, it cannot direct the private sector."

"Because of Roe v. Wade, courts have interpreted the decision as a statutory mandate that the government must provide federal funding for elective abortion in through federal programs. In other words, no executive order or regulation can override a statutory mandate unless Congress passes a law that prohibits federal funding from being used in this manner," Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement.

Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., added that pro-life Democrats should be alarmed by a promise coming from a politician with a 100 percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America.

"This puts the fate of the unborn in the hands of the most pro-abortion president in history," he said.

Stupak had frustrated Democratic liberals who said they were fine with the language in the Senate health care that stipulated taxpayer money for abortions not be used by private insurance plans operating in a new insurance marketplace.

Opponents of the Senate bill, however, had wanted more rigorous language like that which had passed the House in November under the "Stupak amendment." Stupak said statutory language would've been preferable but would not pass the Senate.

Stupak's concerns seemed to have been allayed by the executive order even though the Senate bill creates a tricky accounting technique to separate out federal subsidies for premiums on plans that allow abortion coverage and those that do not.

Planned Parenthood argued that while it opposed the president's decision to issue an order, the abortion service provider was glad the president didn't order a ban on private health insurance coverage for abortion, as it claimed Stupak's amendment would've done.

"We regret that a pro-choice president of a pro-choice nation was forced to sign an executive order that further codifies the proposed anti-choice language in the health care reform bill," the group said in a statement. "We are grateful that it does not include the Stupak abortion ban."

Health insurance provided by government-run exchanges is not set to go into effect until 2014, after the 2012 election. Stupak said he was confident the executive order would not be rescinded by Obama.

The president "said there will be no federal dollars for abortion. The president has put his commitment in writing," Stupak said. "This is a very extensive order, he does not plan on rescinding it."

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White House, Bart Stupak Reach Anti-Abortion Funding Agreement




The White House and anti-abortion Democrats have reached an agreement to defuse the controversy over abortion in the health reform bill — planning a series of steps that will secure the support of Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak and other Democrats to give party leaders the votes they need to pass reform, sources tell POLITICO.

Under the agreement, President Barack Obama would sign an executive order ensuring that no federal funding will go to pay for abortion under the health reform plans. In addition, Stupak will get to state his concerns about abortion funding in the bill during a colloquy on the House floor during the debate.

And then, Stupak and several other Democratic holdouts over abortion will sign on to the bill, the sources said. The agreement would almost certainly give House Speaker Nancy Pelosi the 216 votes she needs to secure an historic health reform vote by day’s end — capping a yearlong drive to achieve Obama’s signature legislative goal.

Stupak himself told reporters in the Capitol that he remains opposed to the bill at this time. "I'm a 'no' vote. There is no agreement. Until there is an agreement I'm a 'no' vote," Stupak said, but he said the negotiations on a final agreement are continuing.

Asked how many votes hang in the balance, Stupak said, “enough” — meaning enough to save or kill the bill.

But Rep. Alan Mollohan, who is one of the votes in question, told POLITICO that the language in the agreement has already been essentially cleared. Mollohan said it is only a matter of time for "the follow-through steps" to be implemented.

The small cavalcade of victories for Democratic leaders appeared to put them in position to enact the health care law while allowing more politically vulnerable lawmakers off the hook.

Earlier Sunday, Democratic leaders expressed growing confidence that they would have the votes needed to pass a sweeping health reform measure by day’s end — even as the No. 2 House leader acknowledged Democrats are still a few votes shy of a majority.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Democrats are “low single digits” away from getting the 216 votes needed to pass the bill.

“We're going to get the votes, low single digits certainly, but we're going to get the votes, and we’re going to have the votes this afternoon,” Hoyer (Md.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” "There are still members looking at it, trying to make up their minds [but], we think 216-plus votes when we call the roll."

But Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) insisted the Democrats were already there, saying Sunday would be an historic day, and said: “We have the votes now, as we speak,” he said.

Democrats hope to secure the votes of a trio of veteran Blue Dogs — Rep. Loretta Sanchez of California and retiring Reps. Marion Berry (Ark.) and John Tanner (Tenn.) — as well as a handful of anti-abortion Democrats who could break from Stupak to back the bill.

Already, Stupak’s phalanx of Anti-Abortion hard-liners has been breaking apart, with Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur announcing Sunday that she will support the health care bill. Retiring Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.), who had concerns about the bill not related to abortion, also announced Sunday that he will vote for the bill.

A round of late-night negotiations held the promise of further cracking Stupak's coalition with a proposed executive order that would reinforce the bill's ban on federal subsidies for the purchase of insurance plans that cover abortion.




The talks, led by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), were expected to continue deep into the night after a rare and wild Saturday House session that featured a visit from Obama to a Democratic Caucus meeting and a frenzied tea party-style protest against the bill and Democratic leaders on the Capitol grounds.

"It is time to pass health care reform for America, and I am confident that you are going to do it tomorrow," Obama said in an address broadcast nationwide from deep inside the underground Capitol Visitor Center. "Don't do it for me. Don't do it for Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid . Do it for the American people. They're the ones looking for action right now."

Pass or fail, Sunday's votes will be the culmination of a tortuous yearlong legislative saga. Democrats believe they will deliver on a decades-overdue promise, and Republicans believe Democrats are setting themselves up for a rout come November. At this point, Louisiana Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao is the only Republican who could back the bill — and, though he voted for the initial House bill, that seems like a long shot.

At the same time Obama spoke, several stories above the caucus bunker, thousands of protesters massed at the southeastern edge of the Capitol grounds. Several Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. Steve King of Iowa, used a bullhorn to whip up the crowd in opposition to the health care bill and the Democratic leaders who are pursuing its enactment. They derisively chanted Pelosi's first name, yelling "Nan-cy, Nan-cy, Nan-cy" in unison, as if attending a New York Mets game.

Despite the protesters, Obama's Saturday afternoon pep talk came amid good news for Democratic vote-counters, who predicted they would get the 216 votes needed to send the bulk of the health care overhaul to the president on Sunday.

In addition to expanding health insurance access to nearly every American, the measure would end insurers' ability to deny coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions. Democrats, backed by a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office, say their combined bills will also produce a surplus of $138 billion over the next decade and $1.2 trillion over the following 10 years.

In the final push to clear the underbrush for Sunday's votes, Democratic leaders killed a controversial plan to avoid a direct vote on the Senate's bill, opting instead to vote separately on both that bill and the House's fixes.


Sources: Fox News, MSNBC, National Right to Life Committee, National Women's Organization, TIME, Simon & Schuster, Youtube

Myriam Merlet, Women's Movement Leader Dies In Haiti Earthquake

"I felt the need to find out who I was and where my soul was. I chose to be a Haitian woman."
Myriam Merlet



Women's Movement Mourns Death Of 3 Haitian Leaders


One returned to her Haitian roots, to give voice to women, honor their stories and shape their futures.

Another urged women to pack a courtroom in Haiti, where she succeeded in getting a guilty verdict against a man who battered his wife.

A third joined the others and helped change the law to make rape, long a political weapon in Haiti, a punishable crime.

Myriam Merlet, Magalie Marcelin and Anne Marie Coriolan, founders of three of the country's most important advocacy organizations working on behalf of women and girls, are confirmed dead -- victims of last week's 7.0 earthquake.

And their deaths have left members of the women's movement, Haitian and otherwise, reeling.

"Words are missing for me. I lost a large chunk of my personal, political and social life," Carolle Charles wrote in an e-mail to colleagues. The Haitian-born sociology professor at Baruch College in New York is chair of Dwa Fanm (meaning "Women's Rights" in Creole), a Brooklyn-based advocacy group. These women "were my friends, my colleagues and my associates. I cannot envision going to Haiti without seeing them."

Myriam Merlet was until recently the chief of staff of Haiti's Ministry for Gender and the Rights of Women, established in 1995, and still served as a top adviser. She died after being trapped beneath her collapsed Port-au-Prince home, Charles said. She was 53.

Merlet, an author as well as an activist, fled Haiti in the 1970s. She studied in Canada, steeping herself in economics, women's issues, feminist theory and political sociology.

In the mid-1980s, she returned to her homeland. In "Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance," published in 2001, she contributed an essay, "The More People Dream," in which she described what brought her back.

"While I was abroad I felt the need to find out who I was and where my soul was. I chose to be a Haitian woman," she wrote. "We're a country in which three-fourths of the people can't read and don't eat properly. I'm an integral part of the situation. I am not in Canada in a black ghetto, or an extraterrestrial from outer space. I am a Haitian woman. I don't mean to say that I am responsible for the problems. But still, as a Haitian woman, I must make an effort so that all together we can extricate ourselves from them."

She was a founder of Enfofamn, an organization that raises awareness about women through media, collects stories and works to honor their names. Among her efforts, she set out to get streets named after Haitian women who came before her, Charles said.

Dubbed a "Vagina Warrior," she was remembered Tuesday by her friend Eve Ensler, the award-winning playwright and force behind V-Day, a global movement to end Violence against Women and Girls.

"She was very bold," said Ensler, who at Merlet's insistence brought her play "The Vagina Monologues" to Haiti and helped establish safe houses for women in Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitien. "She had an incredible vision of what was possible for Haitian women, and she lifted their spirits. ... And we had such a wonderful time. I remember her dancing in the streets of New Orleans and just being so alive."

Magalie Marcelin, a lawyer and actress who appeared in films and on stage, established Kay Fanm, a women's rights organization that deals with domestic violence, offers services and shelter to women and makes microcredits, or loans, available to women working in markets, said Charles, the chair of Dwa Fanm.

Charles remembered a visit to Haiti about two years ago when Marcelin, believed to be in her mid-50s, called seeking help. Hoping to deflect the political clout of a defendant in court, she asked for women to come out in droves and pack the courtroom. Charles watched as the man on trial was convicted for battering his wife.

Her death has been reported through various media outlets, and was confirmed to CNN by Carribbean Radio Television based in Port-au-Prince. Her own daughter helped dig her body out from rubble in the aftermath of the quake, Charles said she learned when she got the call from Marcelin's cousin.

In an interview last year with the Haitian Times, Marcelin spoke of the image of a drum that adorned public awareness stickers.

"It's very symbolic in the Haitian cultural imagination," Marcelin said, according to the Haitian Times report. "The sound of the drum is the sound of freedom, it's the sound of slaves breaking with slavery."

With Merlet, Anne Marie Coriolan, 53, served as a top adviser to the women's rights ministry.

Coriolan, who died when her boyfriend's home collapsed, was the founder of Solidarite Fanm Ayisyen (Solidarity with Haitian Women, or SOFA), which Charles described as an advocacy and services organization.

Her daughter, Wani Thelusmon Coriolan, said in Haiti children bear only their father's surname, but her mother insisted on keeping her maiden name and making sure her two children shared it, too.

"She said my dad was not the only one who created me. She was involved, too," her 24-year-old daughter, who lives and is studying in Montreal, Quebec, said with a laugh.

Even though Wani and her brother no longer live in Haiti (he is in Paris, France), she said her mother was determined to make sure they were proud of their homeland.

"She loved her country. She never stopped believing in Haiti. She said that when you have a dream you have to fight for it," Wani said. "She wanted women to have equal rights. She wanted women to hold their heads high."

Coriolan was a political organizer who helped bring rape -- "an instrument of terror and war," Charles said -- to the forefront of Haitian courts.

Before 2005, rapes in Haiti were treated as nothing more than "crimes of passion," Charles explained. That changed because of the collective efforts of these women activists -- and others they inspired.

With the three leaders gone, there is concern about the future of Haiti's women and girls. Even with all that's been achieved, the struggle for equality and against violence remains enormous.

The chaos that's taken over the devastated nation heightens those worries, said Taina Bien-Aimé, the executive director of Equality Now, a human rights organization dedicated to women.

Before the disaster struck last week, a survey of Haitian women and girls showed an estimated 72 percent had been raped, according to study done by Kay Fanm. And at least 40 percent of the women surveyed were victims of domestic violence, Bien-Aimé said.

And humanitarian emergencies have been linked to increased violence and exploitation in the past, she said.

"From where we stand," Bien-Aimé wrote in an e-mail, "the most critical and urgent issue is what, if any, contingencies the relief/humanitarian agencies are putting in place not only to ensure that women have easy access to food, water and medical care, but to guarantee their protection."

Concerned women in the New York area plan to gather Wednesday to strategize their next steps, Ensler said.

And while they will certainly keep mourning, she and the others are hopeful that Haitian women, inspired by these fallen heros and leaders, will forge ahead -- keeping their fight and legacies alive.



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Sources: CNN, Democracy Now, Youtube, Google Maps

Sen. Kay Hagan Explains Why HC Reform Remains A Hotbed Issue For Women...Health Care Reform Watch

Hagan: Women need reform


This week, a woman from North Carolina sent U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan an email about her personal experience with health care.

The woman, Hagan recalled this morning on the Senate floor, told of how she was diagnosed with breast cancer at 27 years old, Barb Barrett reports. She had a 16-month-old son, and an abusive husband.

The woman wanted to leave the marriage, but couldn’t because she was tethered to her husband’s employer-based health care, Hagan said. She described how the woman looked to other health insurance options, but was told repeatedly that she couldn’t get coverage because she had a preexisting condition.

"For seven years, this woman stayed in an abusive relationship because she had to have health insurance for herself and her child," Hagan said in her speech. "Unfortunately, women across America face similar challenges."

—————

She pointed out that in eight states and the District of Columbia, health insurance companies can still deny coverage by labeling domestic violence as a preexisting condition.

She told of how her adult daughter had been quoted insurance prices at a higher rate than she would have had she been a man — a legal practice in most states.

And Hagan said that in many health plans, women are not offered preventative coverage for tests such as mammograms and pap smears.

Hagan joined other female Democratic senators this week to explain how the health reform bills in Congress would impact women. The bills prohibit preexisting condition and prevent insurance companies from discriminating against women, Hagan said.

"Women across America can not afford inaction any longer," she said.



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Sources: Under The Dome, C-Span, Youtube, Wikipedia, Google Maps

Michelle Obama: "Current US Health Care System Is Unacceptable"...Women's Issue Too

(First lady Michelle Obama says the current state of health care in the U.S. is "Unacceptable" and women have an important role to play in changing that.)



(Is the First Lady Pres. Obama's secret weapon?)

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First Lady Michelle Obama: Reform is Women's issue


On the rare day when President Barack Obama had no public events scheduled, first lady Michelle Obama had the stage to herself on the health care front, pitching insurance reform as a women's issue in her strongest statements on the contentious debate so far.

Straying frequently from her prepared remarks to speak off the cuff, Obama said that in the health insurance debate, women and families are "the face of the fight."

Using personal stories from her own life — her daughter Sasha's meningitis scare, her father's struggle with multiple sclerosis — Obama said that women are "disproportionately affected by this issue because of the roles we play in our families."

"Women are affected because of the jobs we do in this economy ... Women are more likely to work part-time, or work in small businesses, jobs that don't always provide health insurance," she said. "Women are affected because in many states, insurance companies can still discriminate because of gender."

Obama, a former hospital administrator, said her husband's plan would help "achieve true equality for women."

The first lady echoed many of the points the president has made, calling his approach "a pretty reasonable plan," that would result in "good medicine and good economics."

"Under this plan, insurance companies will no longer be able to drop your coverage when you get too sick, or refuse to pay for the care you need, or set a cap on the amount of coverage you can get," she said. "And it will limit how much they can charge you for out-of-pocket expenses. Because getting sick in this country shouldn't mean that you bankrupt."

The speech marked Obama’s most high-profile foray into promoting her husband’s top legislative priority, which was sharply controversial over the summer. The White House clearly hopes that some of Michelle Obama’s personal popularity can help build public support for the reforms.

At her speech at the Old Executive Office building next to the White House, Michelle Obama was joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who said, quoting Ronald Reagan, said that the status quo was unacceptable and that the time for reform is now.

"If victory were not so close, people would be a little calmer, [but] the legislative process is underway," she said. "We can have health insurance reform this year."

Sebelius blamed insurance companies for charging women more for premiums, a theme Obama touched on as well.

Recent polls show that women under 50 are more likely to support the president's approach to health insurance reform.

Three women at the event talked about juggling health scares with high premiums. Obama said that "more than half of women report putting off needed medical care because they can't afford it."

"This current situation is unacceptable. No one in this country should be treated this way. It’s not fair. It’s not right. These are hard working folks we're talking about," Obama said, casting the debate in moral terms. "This is a ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ kind of problem. None of us are exempt. Ever."

Obama said that "now more than ever it is time to act," telling the audience activists and supporters that it’s time to stake their claim.

"We can't watch the debate take on a life of its own, we have to channel our passions into change," she said. "... we have to be fired up and ready to go."



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Sources: Politico, AP, MSNBC, Yahoo News, Youtube, Google Maps

All Women Rock! - A Series on Unique Women...Part II....Bea Arthur R.I.P.

Who can forget Bea Arthur's unique, sarcastic, gravely sounding voice? Somehow we all just knew that when she opened her mouth, we had a tongue lashing coming to us.

The voice of logic that was obviously her trademark. The voice suddenly silenced last Saturday due to Cancer.

In the 70's my mother looked forward to watching "Maude" (her favorite TV show during that time) each week.

Maude represented a strong woman who stood up without fear of repercussion for whatever issue she believed in. Better yet Bea was Maude!

Due to the era in which she grew up and by not wanting to appear confrontational, my mother was often either afraid or too self-conscious about speaking up. Thus Maude became her female hero.

In "Golden Girls" Bea played the role of sensible, serious "Dorothy". Dorothy who was her mother's semi-caretaker.

Again my mother identified with Bea (somewhat), in that she too was my grandmother's caretaker.

Bea Arthur (real name Bernice Frankel) from NYC, a Champion for Women's Rights, dead at 86. Gone but never, ever to be forgotten.

Even though I was a child when Maude was a hit sitcom, that voice will resonate in my memory through out eternity.

Perhaps one day I'll finally get to meet Bea just to say thanks for helping my mother become a stronger woman, even if only in her mind.

Bea Arthur, R.I.P. my sister.

In the episode of "Maude" below, Bea discusses the issue of choosing to have an Abortion with her sitcom husband, Walter and daughter, Carol. Including such a topic in the show's script was a real milestone for television in the 1970's.



Sources: MSNBC, LA Times, Museum of Broadcast Communications, Wikipedia, Flickr, Youtube