Friday Femorandum: Fixing Hobby Lobby, calling out misogyny, & even more tacos/beer

Welcome to the Friday Femorandum, our weekly roundup of reproductive rights news.

Here’s what happened in reproductive politics this week:

The Obama Administration has issued a fix to ensure that women employed at terrible companies like Hobby Lobby maintain access to birth control in the wake of the Hobby Lobby v. Burwell ruling. The “accommodation to the accommodation” allows employers to write a letter to the Department of Health & Human Services instead of filling out an exemption form, an action that some of the objecting companies seem to sincerely believe causes an abortion.

“Abortion is illegal in Nigeria but Nigerian women are faced with the problem of unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion and the complications of unsafe abortion.” So the Women’s Health and Action Research Centre (WHARC) is training Nigerian pharmacists on abortion management.

The California State Legislature just passed a landmark law overhauling requirements for investigation into sexual assault cases on college campuses.

Confidential to misogynist internet trolls viciously targeting Anita Sarkeesian, the creator ofFeminist Frequency and caller-out of sexist tropes in video games: hurling misogynist vitriol at someone for calling out sexism as a way to show that sexism isn’t real has never worked.

Speaking of calling out sexism, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has gone public about sexism in Congress. In case you aren’t interested in reading the Washington Post‘s coverage of it, here’s the picture that ran with it:

That’s right. It’s Kirsten Gillibrand and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz supporting Gabby Giffords as she throws out the first pitch at the Congressional Softball Game. THERE’S SOMETHING IN MY EYE

On trans-inclusive language and reproductive rights advocacy.

How one Arizona candidate responded to a request from National Right to Life: “He pointed out that he does support some policies proven to lower the number of unintended pregnancies, and mailed back condoms emblazoned with the phrase ‘prevent abortion.'”

You do you, Mr. Woods of Arizona.

“To ingest the mifepristone and misoprostol they are told to place the drugs in their cheek or under their tongue, where the medicine cannot be detected in the body. Treatment, if needed, is the same as it would be for a spontaneous miscarriage. “Women shouldn’t be afraid to look for care when they need it, and at the same time they shouldn’t do anything to incriminate themselves,” Gomperts said.” This is from the NY Times‘s must-read feature on Women on Waves founder Rebecca Gomperts, a game-changing physician who has provided legal abortions on a boat in international waters for women in countries where abortion is illegal or inaccessible and now provides medication abortion over the Internet. Go read all of it.

A friendly reminder that the taco and/or beer challenge to fund abortion is still going strong. Eat a delicious taco or drink a delicious beer – or both! – and donate to an abortion fund of your choice.

Thank you for being pro-choice. You restore our faith in humanity every day.

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Friday Femorandum: We Stand with Montana

Every Friday, we bring you all the repro news that’s fit to reprint! Here’s what happened in reproductive politics this week:

We stand with Montana: A family practice clinic in Kalispell, Montana, was vandalized Tuesday because the clinic’s family practice is comprehensive enough to include abortion. The damage was “extensive” enough to force All Families Healthcare to close temporarily, and since the break-in, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that the suspect has ties to an anti-choice crisis pregnancy center called Hope Pregnancy Ministries.

Friday Femorandum: Questioning Your Judgment Right Now

Every Friday, we bring you all the repro news that’s fit to reprint! Here’s what happened in reproductive politics this week:

 Today, in regrettable judicial nominations: Last year, reports RH Reality Check, the Obama administration made a deal with Republican senators from Georgia to pre-approve three judicial nominees in exchange for an end to Republicans’ filibuster of Jill Pryor’s nomination to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Now we’re seeing the result: Obama’s nomination of Michael Boggs — who is anti-choice, and has a history of opposition to civil rights — to Georgia’s federal district court.

Pro-Choice Cheat Sheet

Bad news about the NuvaRing: Vanity Fair reports on a link between the NuvaRing and increased risk of blood clots.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA) won’t be included as an amendment to this year’s defense spending bill.

The Senate has confirmed its first judicial nominee since Democrats passed the “nuclear option” filibuster rule change.

Nelson Mandela: was pro-choice.

Introducing the budget compromise: Patty Murray and Paul Ryan.

The Toast, on doulas, race, class, and making birth better for women and their babies.

Pro-Choice News Roundup: More Clinic Closures, Native Americans Need Plan B Too, and More

Posted by Blogging Czar Lauren Kuhlik

Native American women to have greater access to emergency contraception: Most Native Americans and Alaskan Natives get the bulk of their health care through Indian Health Services (IHS), which is managed by the federal government.  IHS does not operate retail pharmacies, which has made it difficult for Native women to access emergency contraception in a timely manner.  IHS has promised to make the drug directly available to patients, but it is not clear when or how this policy will be implemented.  In addition, IHS does not provide the drug to women under the age of 16 without a prescription—in clear violation of a ruling issued earlier this year.  [Associated Press]

Clinic closure could affect many Montana women: Mountain County Women’s Clinic, the only clinic that provides abortions within 100 miles of Bozeman, will be shutting down on October 1^st.  Dr. Susan Wicklund, who ran the clinic, is choosing to retire after many years of staunch pro-choice advocacy.  There are five other women’s health clinics in Montana, but if you’ve ever driven through Montana, you know that it’s like one million miles long, so area women may not be able to access those other clinics.  [Bozeman Daily Chronicle]

 Anti-Choicers make ridiculous ads part 2: Last week, we learned that sometimes those on the right make untrue ads about women’s health care.  This week, an anti-choice group in Virginia has released an ad portraying gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe as a radical pro-abortionist.  They claim that he wants abortion to be available “on demand” and paid for by taxpayer money (not gonna happen). Let’s hope Virginians are smart enough to see right through it.  [Politico]

Gillibrand gets military support for sexual assault bill: Senator Kristen Gillibrand has been a tireless crusader for women in the military. Earlier this year, she attempted to pass a rider to a defense appropriation bill, called the Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA) that would have required sexual assault cases to be heard outside the victim’s chain of command.  The bill ultimately went to the floor without that rider, but Gillibrand is still mounting support for her case.  Three retired generals have agreed with Gillibrand.  If she can get enough support in the Senate, she may still be able to get the MJIA passed.  [RH Reality Check]