Whee! Now Let's Get On With It.

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Y'all, I am SO RELIEVED. My nerves thank you. Stupid Akin and Mourdock lost their stupid races, and so did stupid Romney. We get to keep expanded health insurance coverage (no pre-existing condition exclusions for me or Desembarazarme!) and copay-free contraception (my neighbor is looking into IUDs as we speak!), we sent many of the frightening rape apologists home, and we don't have to fear uber-conservatives being appointed to the Supreme Court in the next four years (the Arizona 18-week ban is rising through the appeals process right now, eek!).

Note I'm breathing a sigh of relief, not whooping for joy. To me this election represents a pause in the current onslaught -- a shutting-down (ha) of the presumption that anti-choice and anti-justice ideas have momentum -- but not progress in itself. Last night's votes did bring unexpected joy: we got to see several states protect marriage equality (Maine Maryland Minnesota Washington), one state elect the first openly-gay US senator ever (Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin), and one state elect an all-woman Congressional delegation for the first time ever (New Hampshire). But when it comes to the overall status of reproductive justice, I'm still feeling tentative.

We haven't accomplished progress in one night, but maybe now we can forget about those clowns and their circus and get back to work. I don't want to get TOO excited (GOP-controlled House of Representatives) but maybe Obama really will push for some serious advances now, like progressives have hoped all along, feeling so frustrated. Maybe we'll find a way to expand health insurance to ALL people, maybe EC will be available over-the-counter for everyone (and regular oral contraceptive pills too, please!), maybe provider "conscience" will be taken seriously and will also protect those who conscientiously DO provide, and maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe we can combine all our strength and push someone to do something about the Hyde Amendment (update: hey look, Abortion Gang explains!).

It's time, right?

Now...does anyone want to email Barack?

Otherwise I'm just gonna copy/paste this blog post that I just spitballed, and you'll have the embarrassment of being represented by an email written with way too many parenthetical expressions and words in all-caps. The clock is ticking!

xoxoxoxoxoxo,
Placenta Sandwich

35 Years of Suppression Should Not Go Unnoticed

Last Friday marked the 35th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment. You all probably know what it is, but for any that do not, the Hyde Amendment is a provision started by Former Congressman Henry Hyde that is added as an attachment to appropriations bills. This provision prohibits any federal funds from funding abortion services with exceptions for rape, incest, or danger to the life of the mother/pregnant person. In 1976 Henry Hyde proposed this amendment and Congress approved it in response to Roe v. Wade, and it has been reauthorized every year since.

There are many people that believe there is a war on the poor, and they are doing something about it. And you know what, I'm starting to think they might be on to something.

There is a problem with how how our political system treats the poor, uninsured, disenfranchised people in this country. We need to start a revolution. We need to make a plan to not let crotchety, conservative, windbags (and I'm looking at you Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin) rule our lives and the lives of all women. Let's show them that 35 years of the Hyde Amendment hasn't defeated us or weakened our resolve. Let's keep fighting until every woman has the option of exercising her freedom of choice.