Dispatches From The War On Women: Let's Make It One Big Texas!

Welcome to Dispatches, your round-up of the latest news from the frontlines of the War on Women. Have a story from your state or an idea on how to push back? Share them here and fight back against the War on Women.

Under President Romney’s administration, we’ll all be Texans. That’s because it’s the public health policies of Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) that most mirror the platform and positions embraced by Romney so far. Both would love to cut off contraception and family planning access to women, make abortion unattainable, and let’s add de-fund critical programs for low income women and children. Oh, and let’s not forget that the LGBT community will remain at the policy whims of anti-gay fanatics.

Speaking of anti-gay fanatics, One Million Moms is at it again with JC Penny.

If you’re an anti-abortion protester and your presence is a community is so upsetting school children start to throw up, maybe you should consider changing your tactics.

I refuse to believe this is a trend, but some brides are turning to feeding tubes as a way to lose weight before their weddings.

Another tragic and avoidable domestic violence situation escalated to murder. Good to remember all those Republicans who voted against authorization for the Violence Against Women Act.

Should a couple lose custody of their baby because they have cerebral palsy?

Then there’s this story of the mother who brought her five-year-old daughter to a tanning salon.

Just to be clear: Jesus doesn’t heal cancer. That’s why we need health insurance. And since we need health insurance, don’t support Amendment 1 in North Carolina because that would take that benefit away from a number of families.

At The Nation, Jessica Valenti reports on five overlooked battles in the war on women while Katha Pollitt calls for women to Occupy the Left. Both brilliant reads.

There’s just no end to the anti-abortion posturing in Oklahoma, is there?

Meanwhile Alabama just can’t pass anti-abortion bills fast enough.

Teenagers are using more reliable forms of contraception and its paying off.

Finally, evidence women are starting to make some real gains in the male-heavy tech world.

Thanks for checking back and don’t forget to send in your stories, suggestions and comments. We’ll be back on Monday with the latest in the best and the worst from the War on Women. So long as the battle rages, we’ll cover the latest, so please check back!

Photo from shirleynedry via flickr.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Ronald N.

11:49AM PDT on May 7, 2012

if you're kookie and you know it clap your hands...

May 7
send a green star

Rob and Jay B.

6:36AM PDT on May 7, 2012

Wayne W, 'Former First Lady Barbara Bush on Rick Perry's cuts to education...'

How could she say anything about the sad state of Texas when her own mentally disadvantaged son and husband helped to make it the backward place it is today? Rick Perry only continued the backwardness the Bushes have championed for years.

Barbara seems to be more enlightened than her men folk. Too bad they don't pay any attention to her or Laura.

Margaret P.

12:06PM PDT on May 6, 2012

Greedy self-loving politicians are the ones that initiated the Fed. Dept of Education that uses the plan devised by Saul Alinsky to dumb down Americans to Socialism.
Self-loving politicians are those that perpetuate entitlement programs to keep generations of families on welfare to get votes instead of encouraging them to learn a trade and educate the tons of kids they have.
Self-loving politicians are those that encourage kids to have sex and not tell their parents but rely on the government to then take care of them with an abortion or welfare for them & a kid they aren't prepared to raise.
Self-loving politicians that want the masses to believe that the government is better at telling them how to run their own life and takes their rights away with legislation like H.R. 347-your right to assemble, your right to protest, your non-right to defend yourself in court; the Executive Orders that give power to the U.N. to control America.
If you don't know about these laws you are doing yourself and injustice because you are giving away your rights to communists.

May 6
send a green star

Elaine A.

6:51AM PDT on May 6, 2012

There’s just no end to the anti-abortion posturing in Oklahoma, is there?

No there isn't! And I hear it's getting more difficult to locate wire hangers...You know how everything has gone plastic!

Laurie A.

9:31PM PDT on May 5, 2012

James M.

I totally agree with you James, and that is why I am so happy that he's not going to the White House, and sad that Texas is stuck with him. I felt massively relieved that he stepped down. Same with Santorum, Bachmann, Gingrich - all living in their own little worlds. Romney is kind of an intellectual version of George W. Bush - talks so articulately, but seems like he has no spine nor heart, and with the world in the state that it is in today, we need someone who can deal with national and international issues, and not just be a parrot saying whatever he thinks someone wants him to say. He acts like a vacuous wind bag, but I am praying that people see that and not choose him as our next president. Otherwise, he may end up promoting some of the same garbage that these other extremist right-wingers wanted for our country. I still can't believe this is the same man who governed Massachusetts when I lived there; it is like a body snatcher took him over.

May 5
send a green star

janice b.

4:36PM PDT on May 5, 2012

Are you wondering about the additive personalities--the tanning lady--the gal who eats 20 bottles of nail polish a day---one who ate 20 pounds of her own hair---our soldiers committing suicide---pedophiles killing children---gays getting beatup--bullying---corrupt legislators. .
The country is " going to hell in a handbasket " But in a shopping basket as Robert Reich has written about those great deals on the internet & TV too, which come at the expense of our jobs and wages, and widening inequality. The goods we want or the returns we seek can often be produced more efficiently elsewhere by companies offering lower pay and fewer benefits. They come at the expense of main streets, the hubs of our communities.

Darryll G.

3:06PM PDT on May 5, 2012

excuse me? didn't Mitt Romney pass a health care law in mass. that wasn't any different than President Obama's health care law. seems to me Jessica didn't do her homework again

Wayne W.

2:43PM PDT on May 5, 2012

Former First Lady Barbara Bush on Rick Perry's cuts to education:

• We rank 36th in the nation in high school graduation rates. An estimated 3.8 million Texans do not have a high school diploma.

• We rank 49th in verbal SAT scores, 47th in literacy and 46th in average math SAT scores.

• We rank 33rd in the nation on teacher salaries.

• Despite our outstanding universities and colleges, we also lag behind in several critical higher education criteria. For example, California has nine nationally recognized research institutions, New York has seven and Pennsylvania has four. With the University of Houston's recent designation by the Carnegie Foundation as a top research institution, Texas, the second largest state, has four.

In light of these statistics, can we afford to cut the number of teachers, increase class sizes, eliminate scholarships for underprivileged students and close several community colleges?

At a time when the United Way estimates that the price tag for dropouts to Texas taxpayers is $9.6 billion every year, can we really afford to cut state funding for our students?

The answer is a resounding "no."

http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/We-can-t-afford-to-cut-education-1691329.php