I’m running off to class this morning, and I do apologize for the severe lack of posting that’s been happening around this place, but here’s some quick news for all of you:
First, the people of South Dakota have spoken loud and clear when it comes to more restrictive abortion legislation.
Women’s Health News has a lovely break-down of the newly proposed Pregnant Women Support Act, which proposes to increase funding to gather more complete information about the reasons women choose to have an abortion, offer assistance to women carrying thier pregnancies to term, and strengthening informed consent options when women choose to have an abortion. The initative is designed to help support women facing unplanned pregnancies, new parents and their children by providing comprehensive measures for health care needs, supportive services and helpful prenatal and postnatal services. Nevertheless, as Women’s Health News points out, there are still a lot of flaws in this legislation: for one thing, it doesn’t actually greatly increase the amount of financial support women will recieve during their pregnancy, let alone assistance they’ll receive while trying to raise a child—which is no small thing, given that the second most frequent reason cited for having an abortion is “can’t afford a baby”. And of course, while this legislation aims at reducing the number of abortions, there’s no funding for contraceptive education or a more comprehensive sex education curriculum. I also agree with Women’s Health News: wouldn’t it make sense to study the reasons for abortion first, before trying to reduce the number? We’ll have to keep our eye on this.
Finally, this is older news, but I’ve been meaning to post about this for awhile now: New Jersey sent a strong message to the federal government by choosing to reject federal funding for abstinence-only education, which demands very tight requirements on sex education in return for funding, including requiring that teachers say that sex within marriage is the “expected standard of human sexuality” and not allowing them to talk about contraception in the classroom. Way to go New Jersey!
And finally, three words: Hallelujah, go Dems!
