A Message to Defeat CA Prop. 4!

Dear feminist activist,

We're emailing you together for the first time, because the situation is critical. Never before have all of us - leaders of the National Organization for Women (NOW) , NARAL Pro-Choice America (NARAL) , Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), and Feminist Majority Foundation - joined together to ask for your immediate help.

Our message is urgent. We must defeat Proposition 4 in California. Right now polls show we are down by just two points - 46-44 percent - so we can still turn it around. This draconian, deceptive so-called parental notification ballot measure will endanger teens, especially vulnerable teens. Please donate today so we can make the final push we need to win.

We have twice defeated such a measure in California. But this time, the proposal is far more dangerous and deceptive. It is reputed to be the most deceptive measure on the 2008 California ballot, and we can't let them fool the voters into hurting at-risk teens.

You can be sure that if we lose this anti-abortion measure in California, it will sweep the nation. Scared, pregnant teens who cannot go to their parents may feel forced to take matters into their own hands, seeking back-alley abortions, or even considering suicide. This law puts these vulnerable young women in danger. That's why we've joined together to ask for your help.

We must act now, before it's too late. Please join us by donating now to help us defeat Prop 4.

The Knights of Columbus just put in an additional $175,000 to pass Prop 4. We must match the Knights of Columbus and then some, to make our final ad buy for the No on Prop 4, Protect Teen Safety TV ad campaign.

Together, we can stop this dangerous ballot measure in its tracks. We're counting on you for our last crucial media buy. We don't have a moment to lose.
If we don't stand up for teen safety, who will? Please donate right now .

For Women's Lives,

Eleanor Smeal,
Feminist Majority Foundation

Kim Gandy,
National Organization for Women

Cecile Richards,
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA)

Nancy Keenan,
NARAL Pro-Choice America (NARAL)


P.S. We promise every dollar will go immediately toward No on Prop 4 media ad buy. Please donate now before it's too late.

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McCain-Palin Ticket will Make Criminals Out of Women

There is only 1 week left until Election Day and now more than ever a woman's right to choose is in jeopardy!



Please send this video to any undecided voters or John McCain supporters that you know and re-post widely!! If we don't step up to protect women's lives who will?

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From A-Z’s to the Birds & the Bees

In the U.S. President Bush proposes that funding for abstinence-only programs reach $270 million by 2009 (could January come any sooner?). This is an enormous amount of taxpayer funds to support programs that have been scientifically proven ineffective. To date 16 states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming) have declined funding for such programs, yet the government’s position on the issue remains the same: abstinence-only education is here to stay.

Meanwhile in the UK, the British government is bringing sex education to schools starting as soon as kindergarten! That’s right - along with learning how to read, write, and share, kindergartens in the UK will be introduced to reproduction as part of their science curriculum. Requirements as to what the lessons will specifically entail haven’t been released yet, but we do know that schools will be asked to cover age-appropriate discussions on relationships and contraception in their lesson plans. By 11 students will be taught about developing respectful relationships and how risky sexual behavior can lead to STDs and unplanned pregnancies.

I could not be more thrilled at this prospect! The sooner we begin introducing comprehensive sex education the better off we will all be! Sex is a natural part of life and everyone has a right to live a safe sexually fulfilling life at any age. This isn’t to say that I’m an advocate of kindergarteners having sex (Um no!) but I think we all too often forget that young women have the right to control their bodies and get the information necessary to make safe and healthy decisions. By remaining silent on the topic or, worse yet, delivering inaccurate information (abstinence-only programs teach that condoms don’t prevent HIV, touching someone’s genitals can cause pregnancy, having an abortion will make you infertile) we are putting young women at incredible risk. In a time when teen pregnancy rates are on the rise and the economy is in shambles, we cannot afford to waste another minute or dollar on ineffective and inaccurate abstinence-only programs.

What will it take to get government mandated comprehensive sex education in the U.S.?

For more info check out: http://www.aclu.org/reproductiverights/sexed/12604res20080612.html

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Domestic Violence Awareness Month

I wish I’d known sooner that October was Domestic Violence Awareness month, but it’s better late than ever.

What does Barack have to say about this issue?

"We'll stop treating this as just a woman's issue, and start recognizing that when a woman is attacked, that abuse scars not only the victim, but her loves ones, sending currents of violence that ripples across our society."

Well said. Domestic violence isn’t just a woman’s issue and we have to stop treating it that way. So many solutions are centered around what a woman can do to end violence (don’t walk home late at night alone, don’t dress slutty, don’t drink too much, etc.) when they should really be focused on what we need to do to change the culture we live in that condones this violence.

What especially angers me about domestic violence is the enormous amount of victim blaming that is centered on the wives (not that victim blaming is exclusive to domestic violence – it’s not – it’s rampant in all sorts of violence against women). People always ask, why didn’t she just leave? Well, it’s not that easy. The circumstances surrounding each situation are so complex and different and asking why someone didn’t leave is incredibly insensitive, not to mention condescending. The better question is why couldn’t she leave; what made it so difficult to leave that she risked her life by staying?

Raising awareness just one month out of the year won’t end domestic violence. We need to raise hell about this issue every single day and we need a President who will make ending violence against women a national priority.

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Pro-Life Pharmacies Endanger Women's Health

You’d think birth control pills and condoms would be staple pharmacy items, but it looks like this may no longer be the case – at least not in Virginia where a pharmacy opening next Tuesday in a Chantilly shopping center will carry neither, not to mention the “morning after pill,” cigarettes, or pornographic magazines.

Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy, the pharmacy in question, has declared that it will be a pro-life business that does not provide these items on the basis of morality. They also argue that birth control and condoms can endanger a woman’s health and cause abortion. As it turns out this logic is completely off base. Birth control methods actually promote health by protecting women and men from contracting STDs and HIV / AIDS and from having unplanned pregnancies that ultimately reduce the need for abortion.

Refusing to stock these essential health care items places the political agenda of the pro-life movement squarely before a woman’s right to health. NARAL Pro-Choice America’s Virginia branch has asked opponents to boycott the store saying, “Birth control is basic health care for women.”

Ain’t that the truth! A pharmacist’s job is to look after its customer’s well being - not become an obstacle to their health.

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Palin no longer a feminist (was she ever?)

One day she is a "role model for women," the next she is "a direct counterpoint to the liberal feminist agenda for America" . . .



Looks like John McCain has finally given up on his Palin feminist branding technique - not that it worked much anyway!

P.S. Someone should tell Johnny Boy (and Sarah Palin for that matter) that if it hadn't been for the "liberal feminist agenda" the possibility of a female vice presidential candidate wouldn't have even been possible.

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Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things

On Friday Jocelyne Voltaire, a Queens Village resident, was sure her luck was out. She’d lost her oldest son, a Marine, in Iraq, she was unable to pay her skyrocketing mortgage payments, and was scheduled to lose her home – a home where she raised her four children in for 20 years – that very day. As her house was being put up on an auction block, CodePink received word of her story via a video on the American News Project and Jocelyne’s story quickly changed. After sending out an urgent call to supporters, CodePink raised over $10,000 within the hour! By 11am the mortgage bankers stopped the auction with a promise of $15,000. By the end of the day 650 donors had raised over $30,000 with money still pouring in!

It is the generosity of these ordinary people that got Jocelyne back on her feet. In these hard financial times, countless people just like Jocelyne are falling victim to the crippling economy and losing their homes, not to mention their sons and daughters overseas. Unfortunately, most of these people are not as lucky as Jocelyne was and many are finding themselves with no place to turn. It’s time for the government to step in and bail out these Main Street Americans, not Wall Street!

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Palin a role model for women?

I wonder how this young girl felt when McCain told American that Sarah Palin is a role model for women . . .



This ad literally brought tears to my eyes and drove home one of the many reasons why Sarah Palin does not belong anywhere near the White House.

We also have a choice in who we elect in November so make the right one.

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A Role Model for Women . . .

Puh-lease!

When McCain said in tonight’s debate that Sarah Palin is a “role model for women” I wanted to ripe my TV off the wall! Seriously? Seriously?

Would a role model for women . . .

• Force a woman to carry a fetus to term even in cases of rape or incest?
• Make a woman pay for her own rape kit?
• Oppose the Violence Against Women Act?
• Endorse ineffective abstinence-only programs in schools?
• Promote the teaching of creationism?
• Oppose the Fair Pay Act?
• Ban marriage between same sex couples?

Sarah Palin believes all of these things, yet still claims she is a feminist. Does anyone else see a problem here? Um, hello? She may be a woman but her policies are completely anti-woman and her rallying cries of shattering the glass ceiling are insulting and make me want to throw up! She is not a role model for women and she is not a feminist! John McCain please stop trying to fool female voters! It won’t work!

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Sun, Sand . . . Digits?

When I saw this story in the Daily Mail I was shocked. I realize that girls are exploring their sexuality at younger and younger ages these days, but this is an invitation for trouble. It turns out that teenage girls in Australia are turning heads at the beach by painting their phone numbers on their backs while sunbathing to meet boys.



This new trend frightens me on many levels. First of all, these girls are willingly and deliberately objectifying their bodies to attract boys in a most unsafe way. Making a billboard of your half-naked body at a public beach opens the door for anyone - boys, men, predators, rapists, etc. – to get your private contact information. This is incredibly dangerous. These girls are minors – some as young as 14 years old – who are inviting strangers to check out their body and take down their number if they like what they see. And what if your phone number gets in the hands of a predator or rapist and something goes awfully wrong and a young girls is assaulted. Will people turn around and say she deserved it? We need to stop this trend in its tracks now before more young girls are put in danger.

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Condom Dresses? Yes, condom dresses.

Who knew that condoms could make such fierce dresses? Maybe if teenage girls saw these they would stock up!


Halter condom dress.

Purple condom dress.

(This one's my fav!)

Rainbow condom dress.

Who knew! Imagine someone showing up to high school prom in one of these!

Which one's your fav?

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Get Your Condoms!

It took a so-called “pregnancy pact” and nearly 20 pregnant teens, but last night Gloucester, MA’s school board voted unanimously to allow contraceptives to be distributed in the high school’s heath center. There’s only one small catch – parental consent. And let’s face it - that can be a big catch if parents aren’t too careful. I understand not wanting your children to have sex, but if teens want to have sex they’re going to no matter what their parents tell them. Maybe having condoms at school would give parents the opportunity to have the awkward sex talk at home sooner rather than later. Why the school offered pregnancy tests, but not condoms to begin with is a mystery to me. If you’re offering pregnancy testing at school that means you suspect students are having sex. If you suspect students are having sex, why wouldn’t you offer condoms to not only avoid pregnancy in the first place but HIV and STDs too? Regardless, this is great news. Let’s hope the next trend in American high schools is not more teen mothers, but lots and lots of condoms and open and honest sex education at school and home.

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Seriously?

On my way home from work I saw this in big bold letters on the street:

GOD BLESS MCCAIN

I wanted to scream!

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Make it Work Ladies

For the first time in Project Runway history the women have come out on top! This year the ladies – Korto, Leanne, and Kenley – will rule the runway at Bryant Park to determine this season’s winner. With only one female contestant winner (Chloe, Season 2) in the past four seasons, this victory is sweet.

May the best woman win!

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Shopping for Change

I came across this cool new campaign while skimming through the latest Marie Clare at the gym. It’s called the Girls m.powerment campaign and it’s an initiative of mark, a network of young women who sell exclusive make-up, skin, body care, and fragrance products, as well as accessories. One of the company’s latest accessories is the “Have a Heart Necklace” whose full net proceeds will go to ending the cycle of dating abuse and violence. The necklace was designed by Lauren Conrad of MTV’s hit reality TV show the Hills.

Join the movement to empower young women everywhere now by purchasing your very own heart necklace.

The campaign is being managed by the Avon Foundation which also has campaigns for breast cancer, domestic violence, and emergency relief. (Thank you Avon!)

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Vagina Warriors

Registration opens today for V-Day’s 2009 campaign events! Become part of the global movement to end violence against women by staging one (or more!) of the five benefit events offered this year:

· The Vagina Monologues
· Staged readings of V-Day’s A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer
· Staged readings of Any One Of Us: Words From Prison
· Screening of V-Day’s documentary Until the Violence Stops
· Screening of What I Want My Words To Do To You

After 10 years of vagina victories - and many more ahead - it is time for you to join the movement!

Sign up TODAY

V-Day’s spotlight campaign this year will highlight the Democratic Republic of Congo and the atrocities women and girls are enduring every day. Here rape is being used as a weapon of war to torture women and girls who suffer in silence and are often left with devastating emotional damages, painful physical wounds, unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted infections. What’s worse – most perpetrators walk free. It is time for someone to stand up against this violence once and for all! Why not you?

Learn more NOW

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Say It Ain't So - This is TOO GOOD!

A bunch of friends forwarded the chart below to me this afternoon and I thought it hilarious enough to stop my busy day at work and post! This is just too good!

ENJOY! (I betcha will!)



For further entertainment:



And finally:

www.palinwink.com

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Can I Call You Joe?

Tonight, Sarah Palin revealed that she is way out of her league and quite frankly possibly the worst Vice Presidential nominee in history. As she walked out to the stage she blew a kiss out into the audience and immediately asked Senator Biden if she could call him Joe, instantly setting the down-to-earth, home town vibe that she continued to jam down our throats throughout the 90 minute debate. She repeatedly emphasized her desire to speak straight to the average American people – all the Joe six packs and hockey moms out there – although she was unable to directly or clearly answer any question asked of her. She may have filled her speech with folksy language like “darn,” “straight up,” “you betcha,” and “we’re gonna,” not to mention personal mannerism like winking at the camera (yes more than once), but her desire to talk straight to the American people was overshadowed by her over-rehearsed and robotic delivery. Her lack of experience was evident too, 5 weeks and counting, as was her ignorance, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan is David McKiernan not Gen. McClellan.

All in all it was not a good night for the Republican Party, but that doesn’t mean the race is over yet. There are still 32 days and countless undecided voters to sway, and you betcha were gonna do our darndest to get their votes!

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Pro-Voice in ‘08

Turns out that abortion is becoming quite the hot button topic in this heated race to the White House. Each year abortion affects the lives of thousands of women, and in this election year we will finally hear what these women want from their next President.

Exhale , which operate the nation’s first and only nationwide non-judgmental after-abortion talkline, and RH Reality , an online forum that provides information and analysis on reproductive health issues, have teamed up to launch Pro-Voicein ’08 , a clever YouTube campaign that will given women the opportunity to candidly speak up about their personal experiences with abortion.

With the threat of a Roe reversal more real than ever before, it is time for women to share their stories and demand respect for the decisions they’ve made. The next President will determine whether women continue to have the right to decide what is best for their bodies so share your story today.

What should the next president say to convey his support and his respect for your personal experience with abortion?

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Genius Idea Generates Serious Cash

We all owe a great big thank you to Patt Morrison of the Los Angeles Times – the creator of the “Mother of All Ironic Donations” – the Sarah Palin Planned Parenthood (PP) scheme that has generated over 31,000 donations for PP totaling $802,678 to date.

Turns out this isn’t the first time this genius plan has generated serious cash. In January 2001, soon after President Bush was sworn into office, Morrison asked readers in her LA Times to send Georgie a President’s Day gift – of course a donation to PP in his honor.

Bush, who has gone to great lengths to erode a woman’s right to choose in the last 8 years, became one of Planned Parenthood’s biggest money-generators of all time (over one million dollars) and now Sarah Palin, our country’s next worst threat to reproductive rights, will follow suit. The irony is just too good! And what’s more is that people who never before cared to open their wallets for a good cause are shelling out some much needed cash. In fact, two-thirds of the donors who submitted funds in Sarah Palin’s honor were first time contributors. How about that!

So keep the money – and thank you cards – rolling in! And while you’re at it, why not send some funds over to the candidate who will protect your right to choose.

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