California NOW

New Film Exposes Family Court Crisis for Mothers, Children

Kathleen Russell and the Center for Judicial Excellence have released a film on the crisis for mothers and their children in the family courts. Although it centers specifically around the Marin County courts, it is reflective of a nationwide problem. This is the 12-minute trailer of the 42-minute documentary Family Court Crisis: Our Children At Risk.

See more clips of the film here and understand, if you don't already, that this is a serious crisis: perfectly fit mothers lose custody of their children to abusive men regularly in our family court system. You can find out more about this issue, and what you can do about it, on our newly updated Family Law Page.

Pastor Sarah

Just in case people think that Pastors don't support Reproductive Justice and women's right to have domain over her own body, here is Reverend Sarah Halverson; graduate of Chapman University and Claremont School of Theology, she is now working on a PhD in the New Testament.  Her ministry is Senior Pastor of Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa California.   Tune into her sermon podcasts! 

Thank you Rev Sarah for speaking at the Roe event at the Circle of Orange and all the great work you do for Social Justice.  (it's dark because we are in an alley at night, commemorating back-alley abortions)

SexInfo-- Only A Text Message Away!

Do you know what to do when a condom breaks? If you need advice, just send a text message to the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and you'll receive this response: "u may b at risk 4 STDs+HIV women can also be prEgnant SouthEast Keith@Armstrong 671-7000 M-F8-5, W8-12. City Clinic 356 7th St 487-5500 MWF 8-4 TuTh 1-4." Messages from the new program, SexInfo, run the gamut from advice for young women who suspect they're pregnant ( "it's ur choice what 2 do testing+morningafterpill up to 5 days aftr sex") to resources for coping with sexual abuse (no matter if it's ur b-friend g-friend uncle neighbor, u don't deserve 2B hurt or touched how u don't want).

SexInfo is part of a larger trend promoting the use of technology by educators and public health professionals to provide sex education to teenagers. A report by Nielsen found that 35% of children ages eight to 12 own cell phones and that 20% use text messaging. What an amazing program! Real questions, real answers, private and secure---way to go San Francisco!

Daughters of Charity?

Access to healthcare is an issue that looms large for the California transgender community, and it infuriated me to hear Charlene Hastings's story. Hastings, a San Francisco resident, contacted the Seton Medical Center, a Catholic hospital in Daly City, about a possible breast augmentation. "God made you a man," she was told. Seton refused to perform the surgery on the grounds that it was not "medically necessary" (also the company line on abortion), yet the hospital gladly enlarges the breasts of non-trans women. Hastings sued the hospital last month in the San Francisco Superior Court; state law allows religiously-affiliated hospitals to refuse to provide abortions, but there's no specific provision allowing them to deny services to transgender people.

Seton's parent company, the Daughters of Charity (oh, please), owns several healthcare facilities throughout the state. I think it's time to get on the phone and tell Bernadette Smith, the hospital's president and CEO, that such blatant discrimination is not only repulsive, but illegal---and certainly not charitable. For more information about transgender legal issues in California, check out the great work of the Transgendered Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), both in San Francisco. And Charlene--kudos to you for being loud and proud!

Media Action: Anti-Choicers Lie, KFRC and KCBS Put it on the Air

Anti-choicers are running these ads in the Bay Area that tout lies and contain gross inaccuracies. And Bay Area radio stations KFRC and KCBS are airing them anyway, as are stations in other states.

The ads include this gem: "Roe vs. Wade says you can choose to have an abortion for virtually any reason, at any time, right up through the 9th month." Do you think they are actually that stupid, or they are intentionally trying to deceive the public? These stations should never have put these ads on our public airwaves. Let's get them off the airwaves.

Take a listen to the ads. Then take action. Email KFRC and KCBS and let them know that you do not support them accepting advertising dollars for factually inaccurate and misleading radio spots.

Photo from IndyMedia Ireland

Roe Rally ~ Orange California

Mandy Benson, President of California NOW, speaking at a great demonstration celebrating 35 years of Reproductive Justice; sponsored by OC NOW, January 22, Circle of Orange.

Do You Buy For Equality?

Last Friday, President Bush outlined the basic principals of his proposed economic stimulus package. In an effort to jumpstart consumer spending, Bush included in the proposal a one-time massive tax rebate. It seems like everyone, Bush included, is avoiding the "R" word (recession), but if the economic status of American women and children is any indicator (which it almost always is), we're in trouble.

We'll see what comes out in the wash when Congressional democrats have their say, but in the meantime, if you decide to do your part and spend, spend, spend, put your money behind your values. The Human Rights Campaign has come out with their 2008 "Buying for Equality" guide, grading companies from Exxon to Mattel on their commitment to LGBT equity. If you want Wheaties for breakfast, check out General Mills (they got a 100). Sending a package? Not with FedEx (they received a 55). How about a vacation? Stay away from Royal Caribbean cruises! Take the family to Busch Gardens instead. The worst of the worst, fittingly, is Nestle Purina, parent company of dog food brand Alpo. No more Friskies!

Black History Month & Heroes!

After reflecting over the birthday of one of my most inspiring heroes this week, I am pleased to hear about the exciting news....

First, Denise Simmons, our country's first black, lesbian mayor, was elected this week to serve Cambridge, Massachusetts. Congratulations!

Additionally, Oakland East Bay NOW is putting on a presentation for Black History Month featuring Betty Reid Soskin, Black social activist of the 50's and California Woman of the Year award winner in 1995!

Soskin's on-going career as a cultural anthropologist and writer began in Berkeley where she initiated the overhaul of a a drug and crime-infested neighborhood and continues today as history librarian at the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, the site of the Kaiser shipyards that brought thousands of women, white and of color, to assist in the heretofore male-only occupation of shipbuilding memorialized in the "We Can Do It!" poster. She was honored in 2006 by the National Women's History Project as one of their "Builders of Communities and Dreams" in helping to make women's history authentic by persuading Park developers to acknowledge the role of Black neighborhoods surrounding the Richmond site which had been bulldozed after the war.

The 86-year-old Soskin will relate what it was like for Black Americans growing up in the East Bay from 1927, when she arrived with her family from Louisiana as victims of a Katrina-like hurricane, which destroyed their home and business. Many years later she married into the pioneer Reid family that had escaped from slavery to the haven of California during the Civil War, later working in their Berkeley music store when her husband fell ill. She, like many Black Americans like her, faced a lifetime of racial prejudice leading to a mid-life crisis, an experience which, she says, opened up new avenues to recovery---singing, painting and creating music--resulting in her recognition that there is a universality shared with everyone else on the planet.

The event will take place in Rosie the Riveter Park on Saturday, February 2, from 2-4 pm near  the Rockridge Library. Among co-sponsors are the California Women's Agenda, Oakland League of
Women Voters and San Francisco NOW.

How I Celebrate Roe v. Wade

  Each year, I look at the anniversary of Roe v. Wade as the time to renew my commitment to defending choice.  As most of us are well aware, it has long been under attack and the only reason abortion rights remain is because of our vigilant work. 

For those of us born after 1/22/73, we cannot fully understand what the world looked like without legalized abortion.  We can, however, recognize the precarious position it occupies today.   Even when legal, abortion access is often amazingly complicated.  The vast majority of counties in the country do not have providers, anti-choice protesters consistently try to physically prohibit clinic entrance, threats and violence are used to intimidate clinic staff and volunteers, and in states across the country there are constant attempts to pass legislation to limit access to abortion.   

On this, the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, consider what you can do to help ensure safe and legal access to abortion.  Today I volunteered to provide rides for women who need to get to their abortion appointments and on Saturday I will do my weekly clinic defense.  What did you do today?  What will you do tomorrow?  Will you join me in pledging to ensure safe and legal access to reproductive rights in 2008? 

Commemorating 35 Years of Roe

National NOW press release:

Today marks the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that recognized a woman's constitutional right to abortion. The National Organization for Women is determined to not go back to the days when women suffered from health complications after giving birth to 10, 12, or 15 children, often dying in childbirth. Or they died from illegal abortions in back alleys or dirty motel rooms, or were left injured and infertile after botched illegal abortions. Our mothers and grandmothers had no self-determination when it came to pregnancy and childbearing, and we are determined that our daughters will never have that experience.

"It is no surprise that majority of people in this country agree with the core decision of Roe, but in the last 35 years the anti-choice groups have grown more vicious, lashing out against the landmark Supreme Court decision as part of their on-going campaign to eviscerate it," says NOW President Kim Gandy. "We have endured more than three decades of challenges and roadblocks from a well-funded opposition, and our rights are more tenuous than ever -- so now, more than ever, we have to fight to keep Roe alive," said Gandy.

Read the rest of the press release here.