sundance

And you thought Mississippi was conservative? Meet Mitt, Ron, Newt, & Rick

Women’s reproductive rights haven’t been this threatened by a group of Republican presidential hopefuls in decades. As Rachel Maddow summarized brilliantly the other night, Rick Santorum, “libertarian” Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Perry have all signed pledges backing the Personhood movement that aims to make all abortions illegal (even in the case of rape and incest) by defining fertilized eggs as people, which would in turn ban most forms of birth control. Mitt Romney hasn’t signed anything yet, nor did he attend the Presidential Prolife Forum in South Caroline this past Wednesday like all the others, but he did tell Mike Huckabee last October that he “absolutely” would have supported a personhood amendment to his state’s constitution when he was Governor of Massachusetts. Rick Santorum is the only one — so far — who’s actually said out loud that birth control is “not okay” and is a dangerous problem in this country, but that kind of thinking is basically built into the personhood movement (whether these candidates, who will say anything to appease their religious base, realize it or not). So you know where these guys stand.

THE IDES OF MARCH: awesome except for that unnecessary retro plot twist

Before we get going, you need to know that this post contains monstrously huge plot spoilers for THE IDES OF MARCH. We’re not joking — scroll down at your peril.

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The trouble is, it’s kind of hard to talk about THE IDES OF MARCH (out today on DVD, it was nominated but totally — unfairly — shut out at the Golden Globes on Sunday night) without spoiling the plot, because one of the major story lines — which is nowhere in any of the trailers, for once — is meant to be a huge crazy surprise.

Naked news: the frothy mixture edition

With Santorum’s recent surge in the polls, it’s important to take time out to remind ourselves what a crazy sex-police zealot he is:

• Writing about Santorum’s “Google problem,” a New York Times writer says Dan Savage’s prank was in response merely to the senator’s opposition to gay marriage, so Dan Savage sets him straight (try Santorum’s comparison of homosexuality to bestiality and child rape); the writer corrects his mistake.
• On Funny or Die, Dan Savage comedically threatens to change the definition of the name “Rick” if Santorum doesn’t agree to stop attacking gay people during his campaign.

The female reproductive tract explained in Rachel Maddow’s man cave

Wait, that title didn’t come out quite right. “Man cave” is not meant as a euphemism here, especially for Rachel Maddow’s lady parts (for several reasons). No, the “man cave” is just one of her dorky gimmicks whereby she tells her female viewers to take a break and pops a brewskie, puts up some sport paraphernalia and just talks to the dudes. (For a feminist lesbian, she sure likes to play-up gender stereotypes!) Her latest man cave episode involved explaining how egg fertilization happens within the female reproductive tract, because a lot of people, including Mitt Romney, don’t quite have it down. Nor do they understand how many forms of birth control work – birth control many of them use!…

Naked News: Declining sperm count just a nasty rumor after all

The myth is debunked – humankind’s sperm count is a-okay! Alabama passes “fetal pain” anti-abortion bill, with no exceptions for rape and incest. Miami high school elects transgender senior as prom queen. Tracy Morgan says gay is something kids learn from the media. Wyoming grants divorce to same-sex couple despite not performing same-sex marriages. Obama suggests [...]

Abortion foes seek to redefine “personhood”

If anti-abortion activists thought that redefining the laws of gravity would help their cause, they wouldn’t let a little scientific evidence get in their way. And the latest campaign is almost as far-fetched: A group called Personhood USA is trying to redefine when life begins. It starts “exactly at creation,” according to Keith Mason, president of Personhood USA. “It’s fertilization; it’s when the sperm meets the egg.” Mason wants laws to recognize every fertilized egg as an individual and complete human being.

Something to do this Saturday: repro rights rally in NYC!

The Republicans talk a big game about focusing on getting people more jobs, but as far as actions go, this new Congress seems more intent on limiting people’s freedom, especially women’s. The right wing is going after reproductive rights in general and Planned Parenthood specifically — women’s health care is at greater risk now than it has been years: on February 18, 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to bar Planned Parenthood health centers from all federal funding for birth control, cancer screenings, HIV testing, and other lifesaving care! Just check out this funny but horrifying Daily Show summary.

What the mid-term results mean for reproductive rights

Okay, so there were some bright spots in the mid-term election results from Tuesday. Like the resounding defeat of an anti-choice ballot initiative in Colorado, and the seeming triumph of Alaska’s write-in candidate Lisa how-the-hell-do-you-spell-her-last-name Murkowski, who ran against Sarah Palin’s man Joe Miller. But the rather bleak news is that the House of Representatives is now in the hands of politicians who play a little too fast and loose with reproductive rights for our liking.

The new abortion providers

Dr. Emily Godfrey is our new hero: she had the courage to be featured on the cover of the NYTimes Sunday Magazine last weekend as a doctor willing to provide abortions, not in an abortion clinic but at her practice where she sees all sorts of patients. In case you missed it last weekend, the article titled “The New Abortion Providers” took a fascinating look at the movement to bring this safe, common and legal medical procedure back into hospitals where it’s less vulnerable to attack by anti-choice zealots:

New study says fetuses don’t feel pain before 24 weeks

A report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which was commissioned by the UK’s Department of Health, has found that fetuses don’t feel pain before 24 weeks (and probably not after for some time) for two reasons: 1) the brain is not formed enough to perceive pain, and 2) the fetus is unconscious.

Who’s going to tell South Dakota it’s 2010?

We were going to write about Robert Pattinson’s joke misfire in which he told Details magazine that he’s “allergic to vagina” (we read his “explanation” and we still don’t get it). But then our friends at Planned Parenthood sent us a link to this awesome Washington Post profile of PP’s Dr. Carol Ball, who travels 200 miles to South Dakota every month to perform abortions (since no South Dakota doctor is willing to do them). And we remembered that there are, actually, more important things going on in the world than RPattz’s alleged vajajay allergy.

For many years Ball worked anonymously, wanting to protect her privacy and also to protect herself and her family from people like Scott Roeder, who murdered abortion provider George Tiller last year by shooting him in the head — in church. But now her children are older and she wants to show them the importance of standing up for what you believe in.

Dr. George Tiller in doc “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”

Salon.com has an extended scene from forthcoming documentary “What’s the Matter With Kansas?“, based on Thomas Frank’s bestselling book of the same title about the Right Wing’s rise in the once-liberal state. It features Dr. George Tiller, the Wichita-based abortion provider who was gunned down last Sunday while attending church. The clip touches on the years of threats and abuse Tiller experienced — law suits, arson, death threats, failed assassination attempts — for his commitment to providing women with safe and legal reproductive care. When Tiller speaks, he seems exhausted yet resigned to defending women’s rights against these radicals. It’s tragic.

After the jump, a round-up of interesting articles and info on Dr. Tiller and reproductive rights in the wake of his murder…