The Escalation of Anti-Abortion Violence Ten Years After Dr. George Tiller’s Murder

The Escalation of Anti-Abortion Violence Ten Years After Dr. George Tiller’s Murder

By Jill Heaviside & Rosann Mariappuram. First published on Rewire.News

As we mark the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, it is incredible to think that, just over a month ago, Republican Sen. Ben Sasse was really asking how “the pro-life position is in any way violent.”

Violence has been a central tenet of the anti-abortion movement since before the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. As activists have sought control over the reproductive freedom of millions of people—particularly women of color, low-income women and families, and queer, gender-nonconforming, and transgender communities—they have used violence as a tactic of control, abuse, and fear across the United States.

Dr. Tiller was Wichita’s only abortion provider for 40 years and was known for his deep commitment to trusting women and their families’ reproductive health decisions. Because of his work, Dr. Tiller was a target of many anti-abortion groups; before he was killed, he survived a clinic bombing and a prior shooting.

Dr. Tiller’s murder wasn’t an isolated incident. Anti-abortion extremists have killed at least 11 people since the 1990s. Their violent history includes the first recorded murder of an abortion provider, Dr. David Gunn, in 1993, and the 2015 shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, which claimed three lives and injured nine people.

SIA Legal Team + If/When/How Unite As Pro-Choice Counter To Anti-Women Federalist Society

MERGER OF SIA LEGAL TEAM AND IF/WHEN/HOW REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE LAWYERS UNIT ANNOUNCED MARCH 13, 2019

SIA Legal Team + If/When/How Unite As Pro-Choice Counter To Anti-Women Federalist Society

Two powerful groups fighting for women’s reproductive rights have joined forces under the If/When/How name. Their goal? Creating a national network to push back against restrictive abortion legislation in every state, helping those ‘whose rights are being trampled.’

The merger of SIA Legal Team and If/When/How—two existing pro-choice groups that already shape policy, file lawsuits, and inform lawyers around reproductive rights issues — launched today March 13. To date, most legal work in the reproductive rights arena has focused on protecting clinics and providers. Executive director Jill Adams says the new organization will also focus on providing a network of attorneys for everyday people facing reproductive rights challenges.

Ryan Magers Madison County, Alabama

Examples of new lawsuits include that of Alabama man Ryan Magers of Madison County, Alabama, who recently filed suit on behalf of an aborted fetus, claiming that his girlfriend had a medication abortion against his wishes in February 2017. In the law suit, filed in January, Magers filed a petition to serve as the “personal representative” of the aborted fetus’ estate.

Next, Magers sued the clinic that performed the abortion, the Alabama Women’s Center for Reproductive Alternatives in Huntsville, on behalf of himself and “Baby Roe,” as the fetus is referred to in court documents.

On March 5, Madison County Probate Judge Frank Barger granted Magers’ petition to represent the estate in a decision his attorney, Brent Helms, said broke new legal ground.

NARAL President Ilyse Hogue called the decision a “very scary case”. “This is the logical consequence of all anti-abortion activity,” tweeted Erin Matson, founder of Reproaction. “Fetuses are treated like people and women and people who can become pregnant are not.”

Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen Named Head Of Planned Parenthood

Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen Named Head Of Planned Parenthood

Baltimore health commissioner Dr. Leana Wen has been named the new head of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Growing up poor in California as a Chinese refugee, Dr. Wen, her little sister and mother received ongoing health care from Planned Parenthood.

Wen is a prodigy who enrolled at Cal State University at age 13, graduating at 18 with a degree in biochemistry. She attended Washington University in St. Louis for medical school and was a fellow at Harvard. Dr. Wen also studied public health at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

Before taking the health commissioner position in Baltimore, Dr. Wen forked as an emergency room doctor at George Washington University, where she was also a professor.

Dr. Wen says she is leaving a job she loves in Baltimore because of growing attacks by the Trump administration and other conservatives on Planned Parenthood and women’s reproductive health rights.

“I see how the single, biggest health catastrophe of our times is the threat to women’s health,” Wen said. “I am deeply troubled by how women’s health issues are singled out, stigmatized and attacked.”

Planned Parenthood’s need for an articulate and fierce public voice is filled by the outspoken commissioner who is widely known for her newspaper op-eds and TV appearances, writes The Baltimore Sun.

US Supreme Court: Does Regulating 'Fake' Women's Health Centers Confine Religious Freedom?

US Supreme Court: Does Regulating 'Fake' Women's Health Centers Confine Religious Freedom?

Given all the regulations that Republican state governments have put on Planned Parenthood -- including the width of their hallways and the size of closets (restrictions that render existing facilities not qualifying to operate) -- it's mind-boggling to see them go before the Supreme Court and argue that fake pregnancy counseling centers are legit and cannot be subject to state laws because they are run by Christians. Any attempt to govern them by laws is an illegal attack on their religious freedoms. 

The test of these perceived freedoms is now before the US Supreme Court, in the first abortion-related case of the Trump administration. 

Any Woman Can is part of a nationwide network of over 3,000 “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs) established by evangelical Christians to dissuade women from having abortions.  Presenting themselves as women's health centers that support women when Planned Parenthood closes down, unable to meet state laws, these so-called clients typically have no licensed medical professionals on staff. 

The Any Woman Can website says it offers a comprehensive overview of health care options open to women. This is a blatant lie. Other members of this network are Pregnancy Care Clinics and Informed Choices, also arguing before the Supreme Court On Tuesday.

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards Announces Search To Replace Her in 2018

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards Announces Search To Replace Her in 2018

Cecile Richards sent spasms of concern through the hearts of progressive women, announcing that she will leave her position as president of Planned Parenthood later this year. As The Trump Administration launches a full frontal assault against Planned Parenthood 45 years after the Supreme Court affirmed a woman's right to abortion, a new leader will step into the limelight. 

The New York Times writes that the move is well timed for her to promote a new memoir: "Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead — My Life Story" due out in April. 

Richards says she's not running for any office and plans on pouring herself into the midterm elections, fund-raising, campaigning for Democrats and advising the record number of women candidates. 

"She has really helped put a face on the position," explained Democratic Senator Patty Murray, adding that Richards is "unfazed by the horrendous, awful, negative attacks." Tapped to lead Planned Parenthood in 2006, Richards was then deputy chief of staff to Representative Nancy Pelosi from California. Under her leadership, Planned Parenthood's base of volunteers and suporters has grown from 2.5 million to 11 million. Since Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton, Planned Parenthood has added 700,000 new donors. 

Living in New York, Richards was also effective in winning over billionaire donors like Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York and a major supporter of Planned Parenthood. 

Mary Alice Carter Leads New Equity Forward, Monitoring Women's Reproductive Health Care Rights At HHS

Mary Alice Carter Leads New Equity Forward, Monitoring Women's Reproductive Health Care Rights At HHS

Hearings opened for on Jan. 9 for HHS nominee Alex Azar to replace Tom Price as HHS Secretary. Women's health groups launched a full-scale confrontation around women's reproductive health -- clearly under assault by the Trump administration. The issues go far beyond abortion rights and into contraception. Trump has stacked HHS with women who don't believe in birth control. 

A new group Equity Forward will be acting as a watchdog focused on reproductive health care at the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Mary Alice Carter, the executive director of Equity Forward, which officially launched Friday, said the nonpartisan group will hold accountable organizations and individuals they argue limit access to reproductive health care.

Harvey Weinstein Stiffed Planned Parenthood With No Dough For $100,000 Painting

Harvey Weinstein Stiffed Planned Parenthood With No Dough For $100,000 Painting

Scumbag Harvey Weinstein has more in common with Donald Trump every day. Harvey was center stage, pledging $100,000 for a Cecily Brown paining at Planned Parenthood's 100th anniversary May 2017 gala in New York -- with Hillary Clinton as the honored guest.

Like Trump, Harvey gets his big butt in the photo ops and claims the headline but never delivers the dough. What a disgrace!

PP is working to find a new home for the painting at Weinstein's bid. I'll bet I know who that person is -- someone criticized by the Bernie women behind the Detroit women's conference -- for her white privilege, even though she is devoted for decades to art education and classes for America's poor, inner-city children and now prison reform. I'll tell you --whether I'm right or wrong.

Listen Up Dems: Repressive Societies Prioritize Controlling Women's Reproduction

Listen Up Dems: Repressive Societies Prioritize Controlling Women's Reproduction

Anne of Carversville has tracked the Republican War on Women in-depth since 2007. The assault on women has gained huge momentum under Trump, and this 2007 essay written by Steven Conn, now the W.E Smith Professor of History at Miami University, is more relevant today than ever. 

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico lit a bonfire among Democrats when he said earlier in August that abortion rights shouldn't be a "litmus test" for Democrats. 

Abortion rights activists including myself erupted, imploring leaders like Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, to remain defiant with the Democratic Party. Richards couldn’t be clearer on how wrong she thinks Luján is, telling Politico.“It’s a shocking sort of misunderstanding of actually where the country is … which is overwhelmingly supportive of abortion rights and also, who are the ground troops that kind of fuel the election of candidates.” 

Three No Nonsense, No Boys Club Theatrics Republican Women Shut Down Republican Healthcare Bill

Three No Nonsense, No Boys Club Theatrics Republican Women Shut Down Republican Healthcare Bill

Republicans can box up yesterday's collapse of the healthcare bill however, they wish. Reality is that after Trump's inauguration, when back-room healthcare, overturn Obamacare strategy launched in the Senate, it was noteworthy that not one of the five women senators was part of the negotiations. Two of those women senators -- Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) sit on the Senate healthcare committee and Collins had actually drafted her own healthcare plan, in consultation with other senators, of course. 

One can argue that the third Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito (W Va) was dragged to the party. I'm in two West Va. Facebook groups, and the organized appeal to Capito from her constituents was breathtaking. The level of professionalism in social media video-making was awesome. West Va. doctors and nurses came home from 12-15 hr. shifts and made a video in the kitchen before going to bed. Voters were concise and informed with facts. The level of emotions remained constrained, as voters laid out the facts for Capito. 

These scenes were playing out all over America, but it was the three women senators -- Collins, Murkowski and Capito who brought down the Senate yesterday, and there is no reason to believe they will relent. 

California Said No More Women Will Bleed To Death In Childbirth. The Results Are Dramatic

California Said No More Women Will Bleed To Death In Childbirth. The Results Are Dramatic

Maternal deaths in America are climbing steadily, making us an outlier against the rest of the developed world. The US is only one of 13 countries with maternal death rate increases since 1990. We stand in the company of North Korea and Zimbabwe. 

The reasons for steep rises in maternal deaths in America are several. There have been changes in how maternal deaths are reported. Efforts to correct this under-reporting are a minor reason for the current increase. While it's impossible to prove casuality conclusively, the war against Planned Parenthood has closed many women's health clinics, giving poor and middle class women no access to contraception or maternal care. 

The Republican argument that other women's health care centers will take Planned Parenthood patients is just not correct. An apparent majority of these centers don't accept Medicaid and large numbers do not offer contraception, believing that it goes against religious principles. 

Maternal death rates in Texas have soared, making the state the worst in the developed world with a doubling of deaths over a two-year-period. As lawmakers closed Planned Parenthood locations all over the state, the Texas Observer writes that lawmakers could care less if women are dying in pregnancy for lack of medical care. 

California Said No More Women Will Bleed To Death In Childbirth. The Results Are Dramatic

California Said No More Women Will Bleed To Death In Childbirth. The Results Are Dramatic

Maternal deaths in America are climbing steadily, making us an outlier against the rest of the developed world. The US is only one of 13 countries with maternal death rate increases since 1990. We stand in the company of North Korea and Zimbabwe. 

Between 2000 and 2014, maternal deaths soared by 27 percent to 24 per 100,000 in America.. That rate is three times the rate of the United Kingdom and about eight times that of Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, writes Vox. 

The reasons for steep rises in maternal deaths in America are several. There have been changes in how maternal deaths are reported. Efforts to correct this under-reporting are a minor reason for the current increase. While it's impossible to prove casuality conclusively, the war against Planned Parenthood has closed many women's health clinics, giving poor and middle class women no access to contraception or maternal care. 

Ivanka Trump's Quiet Complicity May Be 'Complicated' But It's Deadly For Women In America

Ivanka Trump's Quiet Complicity May Be 'Complicated' But It's Deadly For Women In America

American women -- and educated women worldwide -- worldwide would respect Ivanka Trump far more if she even signaled support for core women's issues around women's health. Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have no trouble standing for Planned Parenthood. Why can't Ivanka Trump defer to her father as president -- which she must -- yet offer support to the majority of American women at the same time. President Trump is working the will of only a limited portion of the American public.  If Ivanka wants to be taken seriously in her advisory role, she must find a way to quietly signal her lack of support for certain policies in the Trump administration.

At present, the First Daughter is nothing more than dad's great enabler, a prop at her father's side quietly endorsing his every action with her profound silence. 

Texas Leads Developed World In Maternal Mortality As Handmaid Activists Bow Meekly In Ohio Statehouse

Texas Leads Developed World In Maternal Mortality As Handmaid Activists Bow Meekly In Ohio Statehouse

Powerful! This is a scene from last week's June 13 protest of Senate Bill 145, a proposed abortion ban of the most common method for second-trimester abortions, at the Ohio statehouse. 

Gone are the pink Planned Parenthood tees, as reproductive health activists now wear long red cloaks and white bonnets in a nod to Margaret Atwood's dystopian feminist classic 'The Handmaid's Tale', now playing on Hulu. 

Michael Premo, Chief of Staff for the Ohio Senate Democrats Tweeted his own photo, with the message: "Just another day at the Statehouse".

Alaska Rep Senator Lisa Murkowski Reaffirms Vote Against Any Plan That Defunds Planned Parenthood

Alaska Rep Senator Lisa Murkowski Reaffirms Vote Against Any Plan That Defunds Planned Parenthood

Alaska's Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is one of the most important swing votes in the health care debate, making her position on Planned Parenthood potentially pivotal to the shape of the final bill. Murkowski is one of two Republican women -- joined by Maine's Sen. Susan Collins -- who are folding firm on the argument that defunding Planned Parenthood will de facto end any possibility of her supporting a Republican-sponsored healthcare alternative to Obamacare. 

Seattle Storm Women's Basketball Steps Up For Planned Parenthood In New Relationship

Seattle Storm Women's Basketball Steps Up For Planned Parenthood In New Relationship

The ownership group of the Storm, Force 10, is planning a “Stand With Planned Parenthood” rally on July 18 in KeyArena’s West Plaza, along with continuing efforts to aid fund-raising for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands. Five dollars from the sale of each ticket for the game that day between the Storm and the Chicago Sky will be donated to the chapter. The Storm, one of the few professional teams owned by women, will also host a fund-raising auction.

There will be blowback, of course, but Seattle is a progressive city and even 50% of Trump voters polled and interviewed after the inauguration said that they did not want Planned Parenthood to be defunded.

Allison Janney & 'Mom' Co-creator Gemma Baker Deliver $250,000 Contribution To Cecile Richards Of Planned Parenthood

Allison Janney & 'Mom' Co-creator Gemma Baker Deliver $250,000 Contribution To Cecile Richards Of Planned Parenthood

Vanity Fair writer Richard Lawson described Allison Janney as the "queen of television" with her seven Primetime Emmys, tying with Ed Asner for the second-most Emmys awarded to a single actor. Cloris Leachman holds the record with eight. 

Janney's hit CBS comedy 'Mom' was just renewed for a fifth season, as the actor completes her filming while appearing on Broadway in the first-ever Broadway revival of John Guare's iconic 'Six Degrees of Separation'. 

Lawson's Tuesday piece got bested, though, with a great feminist act that caused Janney and 'Mom' co-creator Gemma Baker to take the $250,000 Emmy promo budget for 'Mom' -- and her securing an eighth Emmy to tie Leachman -- and donate it to Planned Parenthood. 

“We don’t NOT want to be considered for Emmys,” Janney hastened to explain. “But we decided to use the money instead to support Planned Parenthood.”

Gabriela Hearst Launches Luxury Sweater Worth $50,000 To Planned Parenthood

Gabriela Hearst Launches Luxury Sweater Worth $50,000 To Planned Parenthood

Designer Gabriela Hearst is standing with Planned Parenthood, launching pre-sales on a merino wool sweater intarsia'd that unifies a ram's head and ovaries. Vogue explains that Hearst originally conceived the sweater as her entry into the Woolmark Prize competition, which took place in Paris on January 21, the same day as global Women's Marches. Note that Hearst won the prize. 

Hearst developed her Planned Parenthood support strategy when she realized the outline of a ram's head looks remarkably similar to a woman's reproductive system. “I liked that they’re both symbols of strength,” Hearst said.

“Planned Parenthood right now needs all the help it can get, and all the attention it can get,” Hearst told Vogue. For me, it’s not only about my body my choice, it’s about our overall health. They take care of our cancer screenings. They take care of so many things. And when the government is making a direct attack on women’s health… first of all, it’s appalling. And we have to do something.”

$500 of each $699 sweater will go to Planned Parenthood, and Hearst is making 100 of them. “That’s $50,000,” she underscores, with a plea for women of financial means to get out their wallets.

Hillary Clinton Slams Trump Administration's Assault On Women's Reproductive Health

Hillary Clinton Slams Trump Administration's Assault On Women's Reproductive Health

Hillary Clinton, speaking at the 100th anniversary gala honoring Planned Parenthood on Tuesday, slammed "groups of men" in Washington, DC who are deciding the future of women's health protections. Everyone in the room knew she was talking about the men of the Trump administration and now the anti-women lieutenants like Teresa Manning and Charmaine Yoest, hired to rollback women's health advancements over the last 50 years. 

NBC's Andrea Mitchell Says She's Never Seen Such A Lying White House In Her Long Career

NBC's Andrea Mitchell Says She's Never Seen Such A Lying White House In Her Long Career

Veteran reporter Andrea Mitchell, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of MSNBC's 'Andrea Mitchell Reports' spares no words in her new interview for The Global Politico weekly podcast on world affairs in the Trump era.

Mitchell has covered every US president since Jimmy Carter and she declares that Trump is the most hostile to the press she's ever seen. Same for telling the truth, says the 70-year-old breast cancer survivor who outpaces reporters half her age. Mitchell is pushing back hard against a White House staff using the briefing room as a daily disinformation machine. Both the president and secretary of state are making every attempt to undermine the ability of reporters to do their job, says Mitchell. 

More 'Nasty Women News'

Petra Collins, Hari Nef, Lena Dunham: From Gucci to Planned Parenthood Via Lenny Letter

Petra Collins, Hari Nef, Ali Micheal

Petra Collins, Hari Nef, Lena Dunham: From Gucci to Planned Parenthood Via Lenny Letter

Petra's commitment to body sovereignty was on display in this October 2012 Planned Parenthood video 'You Don't Own Me', published as a motivator to American women to vote in the 2012 presidential election.

In January 2016, Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter published 'Hypervisibility', in which Hari Nef reflects "on being a visible member of a marginalized community."  A year later, Nef joined a '100 Years' Planned Parenthood tribute narration cast that includes Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, America Ferrera, Constance Wu, Mindy Kaling and many more. Kirsten Lepore handled the animation; Abrams and musician Jack Antonoff contributed music.

The film '100 Years', The History of 100 Years of Women's Health Care at Planned Parenthood, was produced by Dunham and J.J. Abrams . 

“This film reminds us of the tremendous progress that’s been made for women’s health and rights just days before the new president is inaugurated — and at a moment when extreme politicians are trying to defund and shut down Planned Parenthood,” Dunham wrote in a note for Lenny Letter.

Lena Dunham, Hari Nef