The Morning After
It seems fitting that the Providence Journal editorialized in support of making Plan B, the emergency contraceptive drug, over the counter the very morning after Rhode Island’s annual abortion restriction hearing in the State House. Over sixty supporters came out in waves of pink to support the work of the RI Coalition for Reproductive Justice and [...]
Keep abortion restrictions out of Rhode Island
The same radical anti-abortion agenda coming out of state legislatures from Arkansas to North Dakota is headed straight for Rhode Island. Today 5 dangerous abortion restriction bills will be heard at the State House that would work to insert politicians between a woman and her doctor – and would bring the same extreme legislation that [...]
Rhode Island Women Still Fighting For Equal Pay
When it comes to wages, there’s still a gender gap in Rhode Island. According to a new report from the Women’s Fund of RI, the median weekly income for a woman in Rhode Island in 2011 was $746, while men earned $917. The disparity happens in wage growth as well. Increase in median wage for [...]
Family Planning: The Economics Of Kids
I just had my second child. Due to this, my childcare bill is now over $2000 a month. As a result, almost half of my family’s take-home salary is spent on childcare and childcare related expenses. It does not surprise me when people ask why we are sending our children to daycare instead of staying [...]
Hodges Addresses Gender Inequality In Insurance
It’s hard to imagine that in the year 2013 women still have to deal with inequality in the workplace. Their wages are typically lower for the same level of education and expertise than their male counterparts, but this inequality does not stop at the pay check. Women also pay much higher premiums for their health [...]
Protecting Roe: What Every Rhode Islander Can Do
It’s been 40 years since the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that the constitutionally protected right to privacy includes every woman’s right to make her own personal medical decisions, without the interference of politicians – including the right to end a pregnancy. Leading up to today there has been a lot of talk about the next [...]
Happy 40th, Roe v. Wade
On the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Rhode Island Coalition for Reproductive Justice (formerly RI Choice Coalition) continues to stand with women and their families to reinforce the importance of safe and legal abortion. The coalition is pleased to announce its new name on this important anniversary and to recognize the significance of [...]
Dems Say Doherty Fell Short on Pro-Women Bill
In light of congressional candidate Brendan Doherty’s Women for Doherty rally tonight, the Rhode Island Democratic Party today questioned Doherty for not supporting legislation that would expand and reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. Specifically, the party questions Doherty’s unwillingness to expand and strengthen protections to Native American women, members of the LGBT community and [...]
Bishop Tobin Confuses Anti-Choice for Pro-Life
Providence Diocese Bishop Thomas Tobin has a tendency to very publicly take Catholic politicians to task for their stand on reproductive rights. Tobin’s very public fight with Congressman Patrick Kennedy was seen by many to be a bold assertion of clerical power to control the votes of Catholic legislators on issues of importance to Catholic [...]
Planned Parenthood Endorses Candidates
Planned Parenthood Votes! RI PAC is pleased to announce its 2012 state legislative PAC endorsements. PPV!RI PAC supports its candidates by educating voters through phone calls and social media to ensure Rhode Islanders know what is at stake for women and women’s health ahead of the September 11th primary and the November 6th general election. [...]
Jessica Ahlquist Honored at Touro Synagogue
It sounds like the start of a bad joke: a Rabbi, an Imam, and an atheist walk into a Synagogue… In this case, though, it is the story of a ceremony at Touro Synagogue in Newport – the 65th annual reading of George Washington’s Letter to the Hebrew Congregation. It was a celebration of Washington’s [...]
On Choice, Rhode Island Not Far from Mississippi
If abortion is legal in a state, but there’s nowhere to have an abortion performed, is it really an option? This hypothetical is quickly becoming a reality for those living in Mississippi. While the situation in Rhode Island isn’t quite that dire, some female leaders here say they are saddened and frightened for the lives [...]
Fortnight Against Freedom
In the United States, Roman Catholic bishops have called for an alliterative “Fortnight for Freedom” to run from June 21, the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas Moore, to July 4. The bishops are calling on the faithful to use these two weeks for prayer, study and action, specifically regarding [...]
Mandatory Ultrasound Bill Disses Women, Doctors
The Providence Journal published an identical Right to Life opinion piece that ran April 30th supporting Rep. Karen MacBeth’s mandatory ultrasound bill. And so the Providence Journal gave RTL a freebie to further their radical right wing agenda. Politicians like Rep. Karen MacBeth (D-Cumberland) who sponsored the mandatory ultrasound bill should not interfere in women’s [...]
Occupy Sexism Action Fights ‘Rape Culture’
Rape culture, says the Women’s Center at Marshall University, is when “sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture. [It] is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women’s bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence.” Sound a bit too familiar? Join Occupy Providence and the [...]
Equal Pay for Equal Work Still Elusive for Women
April 17 is Equal Pay Day, a date that symbolizes how far beyond the end of 2011 and into the year 2012 women must work to earn what men earned in 2011. Equal Pay Day was established by the National Committee on Pay Equity in 1996 to raise awareness of the persistent gender wage gap [...]
OP protests Pfizer, ALEC joining 7 N.E. Occupies
Despite the cold rainy weather, about a half a dozen Occupy Providence members took part in the #F29 Shut Down the Corporations at Pfizer in Groton, CT. The national action was called by Occupy Portland to protest members of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, a front group that writes model pro-corporate legislation. The coordinated [...]
My Pre-Existing Condition: The Price of Being Female
Will I get pregnant one day? I don’t know for sure, but you know who thinks they do . . . health insurance companies? I didn’t think it possible for an insurer to know whether I was going to get pregnant before I did, but remarkably, insurance companies seem to believe they know best. And [...]
New Providence Subcommittee on Women & Healthy Communities
At the February 2nd meeting of the Providence City Council, Council President Michael Solomon (Ward Five) announced the creation of a new Women and Healthy Communities subcommittee of the Committee on Ordinances. Councilmembers Sabina Matos (Ward Fifteen), Carmen Castillo (Ward 9), David Salvatore (Ward 14), Seth Yurdin (Ward 1), and Samuel Zurier (Ward 2) were [...]
Philadelphia-based Feminist Media Activist Group Led By Providence Native, Nuala Cabral, Launches Campaign Supporting Ethnic Studies in Arizona
Click here to check out my recent interview with Nuala Cabral and Denice Frohman of FAAN Mail, a Philadelphia-based media activist group that has launched a social media campaign (on Twitter, primarily, #WishiLearnedinHS), “Wished I Learned in High School,” in response to policies in Arizona restricting ethnic studies programs. Cabral is graduate of Moses Brown [...]
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