In this podcast I speak to one of the Founders of the Forty4Forty movement. A movement aimed at ending harassment outside clinics across this nation.
From their website…
“It has long been the tactic of anti-abortion activists in Wisconsin and around the country to try to scare women out of visiting women’s health and family planning centers through campaigns of harassment and intimidation outside of family planning and abortion clinics. This year is no exception.
The Family Planning Health Services (FPHS) clinic in Wausau and the Madison Surgery Center in Madison have both been targeted by anti-choice protestors who use graphic and misleading photographs and signs, shout slogan, block access, and create a general atmosphere of fear in their attempts to harass patients and staff.
To counter these actions, the Wisconsin Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Foundation have partnered with FPHS to create the Forty 4 Fortypledge campaign. The name is inspired by what the anti-choice movement refers to as “40 Days for Life” which manifests itself in “40 Days of Harassment” as anti-choice demonstrators maintain a constant 40 day presence outside of clinics during which they harass patients, staff, and others approaching the health centers.”
This week I speak to Stacy Falkner of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest. She and I discuss pending legislation in Idaho, Senate Bill 1353. This is the so called Conscience Bill that seeks to redefine what an abortifacient is in Idaho. Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest has opposed this legislation. For more information email Stacy at Stacy.Falkner@ppgnw.org.
In this podcast I speak to 4 teens from Appleton, Wi about the OWL (Our Whole Lives) program that they take part in at their church. We compare it to the sex ed program that they went through at the public schools in Appleton.
Today I spoke to Alexa Kolbi-Molinas from the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project regarding Cochran V. Kentucky. The case of Ina Cochran, and her pregnancy prosecution.
If anyone listening has been prosecuted or threatened with prosecution, or knows anyone who has been prosecuted or threatened with prosecution, for allegedly harming their fetus, they should definitely get in contact with Alexa and the folks at the ACLU. You can email rfp@aclu.org or send a letter to the Reproductive Freedom Project at 125 Broad Street, 18th floor, NY, NY 10004. For more information about the ACLU’s work on pregnancy prosecutions and other reproductive freedom issues, please visit www.aclu.org.
In this podcast I speak to Louise Melling, the Director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, about the Stupak Pitts Amendment and its ramifications on reproductive rights in this country.
“On March 23, 2009, the Center for Reproductive Rights scored a major victory when a federal court ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had put politics before women’s health when it decided to limit over-the-counter access to the emergency contraceptive Plan B to women over 18. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered the FDA to reconsider its decision. It also ordered the FDA to act within 30 days to extend over-the-counter access to 17-year-olds. On April 22, 2009 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it will clear the way for Plan B’s manufacturers’ to make the “morning-after pill” available without a prescription to 17-year-olds.”
On this podcast I speak to Suzanne Novak about the lawsuit. We talk about what was learned, and how this will impact us all going forward.
