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> <channel><title>Gurl.com &#187; abortion</title> <atom:link href="http://www.gurl.com/tag/abortion/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><link>http://www.gurl.com</link> <description>A teen site and community for teenage girls</description> <lastBuildDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 22:23:03 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency> <generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1</generator> <item><title>Did This Girls Parents Force Her To Get An Abortion?!</title><link>http://www.gurl.com/2013/02/14/forced-abortion/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=forced-abortion</link> <comments>http://www.gurl.com/2013/02/14/forced-abortion/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2013 19:15:13 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Jessica Sager</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[In the News]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Teen Pregnancy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Forced Abortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pregnancy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pro-choice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pro-life]]></category> <category><![CDATA[teen pregnancy]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.gurl.com/?p=98819</guid> <description><![CDATA[Abortion is a touchy subject for a lot of reasons&#8211;we know just from reading the comments here! (And yes, we do read them, and we love that you guys are so passionate about your views. You&#8217;re awesome.) It&#8217;s evident from reading a lot of them that your parents probably influence how you feel about the &#8230; <a
class="read-more" href="http://www.gurl.com/2013/02/14/forced-abortion/">Read More</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
id="attachment_63620" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><img
class="size-full wp-image-63620" alt="forced abortion" src="http://www.gurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/girl-could-i-be-pregnant.jpg" width="300" height="250" /><p
class="wp-caption-text">As if being 16 and pregnant weren&#8217;t scary enough, imagine your parents forcing you to get an abortion. | <a
href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-19239508/stock-photo-teenage-girl-lying-in-bed-looking-at-a-pregnancy-test.html?src=csl_recent_image-1">Source: ShutterStock</a></p></div><p><strong>Abortion</strong> is a touchy subject for a lot of reasons&#8211;we know just from reading the comments here! (And yes, we do read them, and we love that you guys are so passionate about your views. <strong>You&#8217;re awesome.</strong>) It&#8217;s evident from reading a lot of them that your <strong>parents</strong> probably<strong> influence</strong> how you feel about the subject, which is good&#8211;it means you&#8217;re talking about it!</p><p>But a lot of you <strong>disagree with your parents</strong> on abortion, which is great too. Except in the <a
href="http://www.click2houston.com/news/Pregnant-teen-sues-parents-over-abortion/-/1735978/18522552/-/qj0xoyz/-/index.html" target="_blank">case</a> of one girl from Texas, who is actually&#8211;get this&#8211;taking her <strong>parents to court</strong>. She thinks that the are forcing her to get an <strong>abortion against her will</strong>. Dude, how scary is that?</p><p>The girl in the case is 16 years old, and she&#8217;s two months along. The lawsuit says she wants to keep the baby, but that her parents are adamantly against it&#8211;and resorting to some really <strong>dirty tactics</strong> to get her to have an abortion. In the girl&#8217;s lawsuit, it says that her mom &#8220;invited the paternal grandparents to a bar for further discussion, where she suggested that she might slip her an<strong> abortion pill through deception</strong>.&#8221;</p><p>Uh, how messed up and <strong>horrifying</strong> is that?</p><p>The suit also says that her dad said that &#8220;he was going to take her to have an abortion and that <strong>the decision was his</strong>, end of story.&#8221; Pops, just because you helped make her uterus doesn&#8217;t mean it&#8217;s yours.</p><p>The girl&#8217;s lawyer told reporters, &#8220;We were asking judge to stop them physically forcing her to have an abortion. She is legally protected. They cannot drag her to get an abortion, force an abortion on our client.&#8221; The girl was granted a <strong>temporary restraining order</strong> from the judge in order to save the baby&#8217;s life.</p><p>Here&#8217;s why this is screwed up. Even if you agree with abortion, it should be <strong><em>your</em> choice</strong>. The girl&#8217;s lawyer pointed this out, saying, &#8220;What <strong>Roe</strong> established is <strong>minors have the choice</strong>. And when they do make the choice, folks are shocked that they want to carry the baby.&#8221;</p><p>Here&#8217;s the thing, though. The girl&#8217;s lawyer is being provided to her by a <strong>staunch anti-abortion group</strong>, which may also be influencing her decision&#8211;because you <em>know</em> that even if they genuinely want to help her, which is commendable, that they&#8217;re after the publicity that will ultimately come with it, too.</p><p>If everyone would just <strong>hear this girl out</strong> and let her <strong>make up her own mind</strong> and give her <strong>unbiased information</strong>, what could be the biggest decision of her life would be made a <strong>lot less traumatically</strong>. Instead, everyone with what may be <strong> ulterior motives </strong>is jumping in and trying to sway her one way or the other&#8211;when it&#8217;s <em><strong>her</strong></em> body, <em><strong>her</strong></em> choice and eventually, <em><strong>her</strong></em> baby.</p><p>Whether or not you agree with <strong>abortion</strong>, you can probably agree that this is a crappy situation for her to be stuck in. Here&#8217;s hoping she makes the best choice not for her parents, not for a pro-life lobby, not for a pro-choice lobby, but for <em>herself</em>.</p><p><strong>Do you think the girl should have taken her parents to court over having an abortion? Do you think she should have an abortion or keep the baby? Do you think the anti-abortion group paying for her lawyer is trying to get publicity from the case? Do you think her parents had good intentions when they tried getting her to have an abortion, or that they were just being scary? Tell us in the <a
href="#respond" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">comments</a>!<br
/> </strong></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
title="Abortion Facts That May Surprise You" href="http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/17/abortion-facts/">These abortion facts may surprise you!</a><br
/> </strong></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
href="http://twitter.com/gurldotcom" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">And don&#8217;t forget to follow us on Twitter!</a></strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.gurl.com/2013/02/14/forced-abortion/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>9</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>A Girl Spread An Abortion Rumor About Me During Rush</title><link>http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/22/rumors/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=rumors</link> <comments>http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/22/rumors/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:10:35 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Caitlin Corsetti</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Your Life]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[how to deal with rumors]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mean girls]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rumors]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.gurl.com/?p=95460</guid> <description><![CDATA[Rumors are the worst. I mean, regardless of what the truth is, people are going to believe what they want. That&#8217;s why rumors are so dangerous. Normally, I rarely pay attention to what people who don&#8217;t know me have to say. I know the truth about my life and that&#8217;s what matters. But I experienced &#8230; <a
class="read-more" href="http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/22/rumors/">Read More</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><div
id="attachment_95473" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a
href="http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/22/rumors/girls-whispering-rumor/" rel="attachment wp-att-95473"><img
src="http://www.gurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/girls-whispering-rumor.jpg" alt="Ugh rumors are terrible! Source: Shutterstock" width="300" height="250" class="size-full wp-image-95473" /></a><p
class="wp-caption-text">Ugh rumors are terrible! <a
href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&#038;search_source=search_form&#038;version=llv1&#038;anyorall=all&#038;safesearch=1&#038;searchterm=rumor&#038;search_group=#id=80893075&#038;src=fee728a8ee986455d92a06c9378c3a67-1-32">Source: Shutterstock</a></p></div><strong>Rumors</strong> are the worst. I mean, regardless of what the <strong>truth</strong> is, people are going to <strong>believe</strong> what they want. That&#8217;s why rumors are so<strong> dangerous</strong>. Normally, I rarely pay attention to what people who don&#8217;t know me have to say. I know the truth about my life and that&#8217;s what matters. But I experienced a <strong>purely horrible </strong>rumor during college lived to tell the tale.</p><p>I made the decision <strong>not to rush</strong> my freshman year of college. I had a chance to really focus on school and adjust to new life before <strong>jumping</strong> into the Greek lifestyle, which at the <strong>University of Alabama</strong> is its own world. I went through recruitment and pledged <strong>Alpha Omicron Pi</strong>, which is exactly where I wanted to be. I couldn&#8217;t have been happier, and my <strong>sisters</strong> are my <strong>best friends</strong> in the world. I <strong>loved </strong>every second.</p><p>But a year later when I was on my sorority&#8217;s <strong>exec board</strong>, I was told about a <strong>nasty rumor</strong> that went around about me while I was coming through rush.</p><p><strong>Rumor had it that I had an abortion.</strong></p><p>Cue <strong>jaw dropping</strong> to the floor, right? Small pieces of the puzzle started coming together. I found out that<a
href="http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/14/intrauterine-devices/"> the time I spent in the hospital for my <strong>pulmonary embolism</strong> </a>was the prime opportunity for my archenemy from home to spread this rumor. Instead of sending me a message saying, &#8220;Hey I know we have our differences, but I&#8217;m glad you didn&#8217;t die,&#8221; she decided to <strong>lie</strong> to half of sorority row.</p><p>I <strong>never</strong> had an abortion, nor have I ever been pregnant. Even if I had, it wouldn&#8217;t be anyone&#8217;s <strong>business.</strong> Regardless of your stance on the topic, it shouldn&#8217;t be <strong>joked about</strong>. I&#8217;ve had other rumors spread about me, but this one <strong>took the cake.</strong></p><p>Looking back, it made a lot of sense more why a few houses inexplicably <strong>dropped</strong> me. I wouldn&#8217;t have pledged them anyway because they weren&#8217;t<strong> my choices</strong>, but still. This rumor affected a <strong>serious</strong> part of my life. Again, I would have ended up at AOII no matter what. I know the<strong> truth</strong>, my friends know the truth, but there are still plenty of people that <strong>believe</strong> what she said is true even though it isn&#8217;t. I actually had one girl tell me she didn&#8217;t believe me, and that&#8217;s her prerogative.</p><p>I <strong>ran into</strong> the girl on campus a few times after I found out. Word got out that <strong>I knew</strong> what she did, so she promptly ran away each time. I wouldn&#8217;t have done anything, and I have nothing to say to her but she clearly knows what she did was <strong>really not okay.</strong></p><p>Rumors are <strong>never</strong> good, but if it happens to you make sure to <strong>keep your head up</strong>. Don&#8217;t <strong>overreact</strong> to the rumor because then it looks like you&#8217;re being <strong>defensive</strong>. I knew if I made it into an <strong>even bigger</strong> deal than it already was, I would have made everything <strong>worse.</strong> By not really giving the rumor attention, I was able to let it fade out. And of course, knowing I had the support of my friends really helped me. I just had to <strong>grin and bear it.</strong></p><p><strong>Have you ever had a rumor spread about you? How did you handle it? Did you confront the person who started it? <a
href="#respond">Tell me in the comments!</a></strong></p><p
style="text-align: center"><a
href="http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/21/revenge-on-ex/"><strong>This girl got some serious revenge on her ex!</strong></a></p><p
style="text-align: center"><a
href="http://www.twitter.com/gurldotcom"><strong>Don&#8217;t forget to follow us on Twitter!</strong></a></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/22/rumors/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>1</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>You Need To Know What Roe v. Wade Is About</title><link>http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/22/what-is-roe-v-wade/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=what-is-roe-v-wade</link> <comments>http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/22/what-is-roe-v-wade/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:37:13 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Meg Malone</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Just the Facts]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion rights]]></category> <category><![CDATA[american history]]></category> <category><![CDATA[laws]]></category> <category><![CDATA[roe v wade]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.gurl.com/?p=95435</guid> <description><![CDATA[Today marks the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade. This is a huge case that&#8217;s super important for everyone, especially women. So obviously, I was really surprised by new data that shows that many people don&#8217;t totally know what the case is about. Recent data from the Pew Research Center showed that less &#8230; <a
class="read-more" href="http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/22/what-is-roe-v-wade/">Read More</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
id="attachment_95090" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a
href="http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/22/what-is-roe-v-wade/what-is-roe-v-wade-main/" rel="attachment wp-att-95447"><img
class="alignleft size-full wp-image-95447" alt="what-is-roe-v-wade-main" src="http://www.gurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/what-is-roe-v-wade-main.gif" width="300" height="250" /></a><p
class="wp-caption-text"><em>Roe v. Wade</em> is a super important court case you should know. <a
href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-110505950/stock-photo-judge-gavel-and-books-on-american-flag-background.html?src=csl_recent_image-1">Source: Shutterstock</a></p></div><p>Today marks the <strong>40th anniversary</strong> of the U.S. Supreme Court case, <em>Roe v. Wade. </em>This is a huge case that&#8217;s super important for everyone, especially women. So obviously, I was really surprised by <strong>new data</strong> that shows that many people <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/roe-v-wade-under-30_n_2498858.html?utm_hp_ref=college" target="_blank">don&#8217;t totally know</a> what the case is about.</p><p><a
href="http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Issues/Abortion/Roe-v-wade-full.pdf" target="_blank">Recent data from the Pew Research Center</a> showed that less than half of Americans in the <strong>18-29 age group</strong> knew what the <em>Roe v. Wade</em> case was about. Some people just flat-out said they didn&#8217;t know, while others mistakenly thought it had to do with <strong>other issues</strong>.</p><p>Regardless of what your <strong>personal politics</strong> are, you need to know this case. It is one of the most well-known court cases in <strong>American history</strong> and there are constantly references to it in today&#8217;s news media or in political discussions. The <a
href="http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/gov/bl_roe_a.htm" target="_blank">entire decision</a> is available online if you really want to read it. But be warned: it&#8217;s pretty long and all of the legal talk can get kind of <strong>confusing</strong> and boring. It&#8217;s more important to become familiar with the <strong>basics of the case</strong>, and so I&#8217;m here to give you a briefing.</p><p>It began as a <a
href="http://womenshistory.about.com/od/abortionuslegal/p/roe_v_wade.htm" target="_blank">case out of Texas</a>, where &#8220;Jane Roe&#8221; was a pseudonym for the <strong>plaintiff</strong>, Norma McCorvey. The case was filed because of the belief that the law in Texas regarding abortion (basically, abortion was illegal, with limited exceptions) was unconstitutional. The &#8220;Wade&#8221; of the case was the district attorney, Henry B. Wade, and the case ended up going all the way to the <strong>U.S. Supreme Court</strong>. On January 22, 1973 the decision on <em
style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Roe v. Wade</em> was made &#8211; the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices had voted, and they<strong> ruled 7-2</strong> in favor of Roe.</p><p>Why did they make that decision? Well, a person&#8217;s<strong> right to privacy</strong> was considered <a
href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_griswold.html" target="_blank">to be protected</a> by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution&#8230; so why shouldn&#8217;t that include the right to choose an abortion?<em> Roe v. Wade</em> basically decided that a person&#8217;s right to privacy <em>should</em> include the right to choose an abortion. But that&#8217;s not all &#8211; the <a
href="http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/14thamendment.html" target="_blank">Fourteenth Amendment</a> says that the state can&#8217;t do things that <strong
style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">violate</strong> an individual&#8217;s &#8220;life, liberty or property, without due process of law.&#8221; That &#8220;due process&#8221; line was very important in <em
style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Roe v. Wade. </em> Because of that line, it was decided that the government couldn&#8217;t just ban abortions without <strong>considering</strong> some other factors.</p><p>As a result of the <em>Roe v. Wade</em> ruling, <strong>first trimester abortions</strong> were made legal in the entire country. After the first trimester though, the ruling allowed for some <strong>interpretation</strong> by the state regarding abortion, including considering <a
href="http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/gov/bl_roe_g.htm" target="_blank">&#8220;the potentiality of human life,&#8221;</a> so long as the pregnant woman&#8217;s health remained protected.</p><p>For the anniversary today, CNN put together a <strong>comprehensive timeline</strong> about the <a
href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/22/health/roe-wade-abortion-timeline/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews" target="_blank">history of abortion laws</a> in the United States and looks at both what sorts of laws or court cases happened both <strong>prior to and after</strong> <em>Roe v. Wade</em>. It&#8217;s been such an important topic in American history, and while I was familiar with <em>Roe v. Wade</em>, I<strong> learned</strong> a whole lot reading through it.</p><p>There&#8217;s no doubt about it that abortion is something that many people feel very <strong>divided and passionately</strong> about, but if you&#8217;re not informed, you&#8217;re not going to be fully part of the discussion no matter what you believe. Forming your own <strong>political opinions</strong> is great &#8211; and one of the benefits of living somewhere where there is freedom of speech and freedom of expression &#8211; but there is <strong>responsibility</strong> that comes with that to seek out information. If you hear people discussing something you don&#8217;t understand, ask questions and investigate it!</p><p><strong>Did you know what <em>Roe v. Wade</em> is about? Do you feel like you are well-informed about American history? How do you stay informed about it? <a
href="#respond">Tell us in the comments!</a></strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p
style="text-align: center;"><a
href="http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/17/abortion-facts/"><strong>Abortion Facts That May Surprise You.</strong></a></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
href="http://www.twitter.com/gurldotcom">Make sure you follow us on Twitter!</a></strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/22/what-is-roe-v-wade/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>9</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Abortion Facts That May Surprise You</title><link>http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/17/abortion-facts/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=abortion-facts</link> <comments>http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/17/abortion-facts/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:45:10 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Jessica Sager</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Your Body]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Abortion Facts]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion rights]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortionst]]></category> <category><![CDATA[effects of abortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pro-choice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pro-life]]></category> <category><![CDATA[roe v wade]]></category> <category><![CDATA[talking about abortion]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.gurl.com/?p=94837</guid> <description><![CDATA[Chances are you&#8217;ve heard more abortion opinions in your life than abortion facts. I&#8217;m not here to tell you which side to take&#8211;that&#8217;s your business and it&#8217;s your body, so it&#8217;s not my place to sway you one way or the other. I&#8217;m just here to give you information so you can decide for yourself &#8230; <a
class="read-more" href="http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/17/abortion-facts/">Read More</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><div
id="attachment_94911" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><img
src="http://www.gurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/abortion-facts-2.jpg" alt="abortion facts" width="300" height="250" class="size-full wp-image-94911" /><p
class="wp-caption-text">In light of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, new abortion facts may shed light on the issue that people weren&#8217;t aware of before. | <a
href="http://www.shutterstock.com/" target="_blank">Source: ShutterStock</a></p></div><br
/> Chances are you&#8217;ve heard more <strong>abortion opinions</strong> in your life than <strong>abortion <em>facts</em></strong>. I&#8217;m not here to tell you which side to take&#8211;that&#8217;s<strong> your business</strong> and it&#8217;s your body, so it&#8217;s not my place to sway you one way or the other. I&#8217;m just here to give you information so you can decide for yourself what you&#8217;d do in a particular situation.</p><p>With that said, the <strong>40th anniversary</strong> of<em><strong> Roe v. Wade</strong></em> is approaching on January 22. For those of you unfamiliar, <em>Roe v. Wade</em> was the Supreme Court case that made abortion legal nationwide in 1973. Here are some pretty interesting abortion facts that may surprise you&#8211;or at least get you thinking enough to question some of the stigmas associated with both the <strong>pro-life</strong> <em>and</em><strong> pro-choice</strong> arguments.</p><p>First, abortion is probably more <strong>common</strong> than you realize, because so many women don&#8217;t talk about their experiences with it. By age 45, roughly half of the women in the U.S. will have an <strong>unplanned pregnancy</strong>&#8211;and one third of those women will have an abortion.</p><p>As for <strong>when</strong> most American women have abortions, 58 percent have them during their 20s, and the far majority&#8211;88 percent&#8211;of women who get abortions get them within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. (This makes a lot of those<strong> scary anti-abortion ads</strong> you may see with bloody fetuses a little less valid, though depending on the state, those can still happen.) What&#8217;s more, seven out of ten women who had abortions wish they would have gotten them even sooner than they did.</p><p>Who&#8217;s getting abortions? Also a little surprising. 73 percent of women who get abortions are <strong>religiously affiliated</strong> in some capacity. Less surprising? 69 percent of women who get abortions are dealing with <strong>economic hardship</strong>&#8211;and six out of ten of them already have a kid.</p><p>While a lot of women who get abortions face economic difficulties, the bulk of these women (about 57 percent) also pay for their abortions out of their own pockets, even if they have <strong>insurance</strong>. (Sometimes their health insurance doesn&#8217;t cover abortion, other times they want to make sure it&#8217;s kept <strong>confidential</strong>.)</p><p>Some abortion facts are kind of sad: a lot of women who would seek abortions can&#8217;t or don&#8217;t, because access is being restricted in a lot of areas&#8211;and women often have to travel over <strong>50 miles</strong> to get an abortion. Where there&#8217;s a will, there&#8217;s a way, but considering most women who get or seek abortions already suffer from economic hardships, that travel and the time that goes with it can be really taxing. That results in later or cancelled abortions, potentially more complications and potentially more economic hardship. See the cycle that&#8217;s starting?</p><p>Again&#8211;not telling you what to believe. It&#8217;s <strong>your right to agree or disagree with abortion</strong> in general, and we love having an open discussion about it. But it&#8217;s also your<strong> responsibility to remain informed</strong> about decisions that affect you, your body and your health, and for the health, bodies and rights of other women as well. (Not all of us are lucky enough to be well-educated and financially stable!) For<strong> more abortion facts</strong>&#8211;illustrated in pretty awesome graphs&#8211;check out <a
href="http://www.guttmacher.org/media/inthenews/2013/01/08/index.html" target="_blank"><strong>these infographics</strong></a> from the Guttmacher Institute.</p><p><strong>Where do you get your abortion facts? Do these abortion facts change or reinforce your views on the topic? Tell us in the <a
href="#respond" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">comments</a>!<br
/> </strong></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
title="Let’s Talk About Abortion. Really." href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/07/11/talk-about-abortion/">What&#8217;s an abortion <em>really</em> like?</a><br
/> </strong></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
href="http://twitter.com/gurldotcom" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">And don&#8217;t forget to follow us on Twitter!</a></strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.gurl.com/2013/01/17/abortion-facts/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>13</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Sarah Silverman Wants Guys To Be &#8220;Bro-Choice&#8221;</title><link>http://www.gurl.com/2012/12/12/reproductive-rights-sarah-silverman/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=reproductive-rights-sarah-silverman</link> <comments>http://www.gurl.com/2012/12/12/reproductive-rights-sarah-silverman/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:16:19 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Meg Malone</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Birth Control]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Your Body]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[birth control]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Center For Reproductive Rights]]></category> <category><![CDATA[condoms]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Funny or Die]]></category> <category><![CDATA[reproductive rights]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sarah Silverman]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.gurl.com/?p=90134</guid> <description><![CDATA[Another day, another Funny or Die video making the rounds on the Internet. In one of the latest ones, actress and comedian Sarah Silverman addresses the bros of America to step up their game when it comes to the fight for reproductive rights. Take a look: Be Bro-Choice: A Public Service Announcement from Sarah Silverman &#8230; <a
class="read-more" href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/12/12/reproductive-rights-sarah-silverman/">Read More</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Another day, another <strong>Funny or Die video</strong> making the rounds on the Internet. In one of the latest ones, actress and comedian <strong>Sarah Silverman</strong> addresses the bros of America to <strong>step up their game</strong> when it comes to the fight for reproductive rights. <strong>Take a look:</strong></p><p><iframe
src="http://www.funnyordie.com/embed/3541b68ee4" width="640" height="400" frameborder="0"></iframe><div
style="text-align:left;font-size:x-small;margin-top:0;width:640px;"><a
href="http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3541b68ee4/be-bro-choice-a-public-service-announcement-from-sarah-silverman" title="from Sarah Silverman and AisFor">Be Bro-Choice: A Public Service Announcement from Sarah Silverman</a> from <a
href="http://www.funnyordie.com/sarah_silverman">Sarah Silverman</a> <iframe
src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?app_id=138711277798&amp;href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funnyordie.com%2Fvideos%2F3541b68ee4%2Fbe-bro-choice-a-public-service-announcement-from-sarah-silverman&amp;send=false&amp;layout=button_count&amp;width=150&amp;show_faces=false&amp;action=like&amp;height=21" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:90px; height:21px; vertical-align:middle;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe></div><p>I totally agree with <strong>her message </strong>that bros (or you know, even just <strong>men in general</strong> not of the bro-persuasion) can take a stand when it comes to reproductive rights. I know quite a few who are (<strong>yay!</strong>), but there&#8217;s always strength in numbers.</p><p>The humorous concept was able to point out some of the very serious <strong>nonsense </strong>happening around regulating reproductive rights in the U.S. and how this is a chance for <strong>men and women</strong> to band together and help protect important rights.</p><p>I will say though that I wasn&#8217;t totally crazy about the <strong>final line </strong>. I know, it&#8217;s comedy, but after a message about people being willing to helping each other out, it just felt weird to me to end this message with <strong>potential oral sex</strong> as the incentive to get guys to help. <strong>Is it just me? </strong></p><p>In any case, the video asks viewers to <strong>check out</strong> <a
href="http://www.aisfor.org/">AisFor.org</a> and <a
href="http://www.drawtheline.org/">DrawTheLine.org</a>. If you have a few minutes, you may want to <strong>take a look</strong> and learn a little bit more about what these organizations are doing to make <strong>strides</strong> when it comes to reproductive rights.</p><p><strong>What did you think about this video? Do you agree with Sarah Silverman&#8217;s message? Do you know any &#8220;bros&#8221; willing to stand up for reproductive rights? Did you check out AisFor.org or DrawTheLine.org? Tell us in the <a
href="#respond" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">comments</a>!</strong></p><p><a
title="Tina Fey Gets Down With Reproductive Rights" href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/26/tina-fey-reproductive-rights/"></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong>Tina Fey Gets Down With Reproductive Rights</strong></p><p></a></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
href="http://twitter.com/gurldotcom" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">And don&#8217;t forget to follow us on Twitter!</a></strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.gurl.com/2012/12/12/reproductive-rights-sarah-silverman/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>1</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Who Knew Explaining Plan B Could Be So Fun, Cute And Colorful?</title><link>http://www.gurl.com/2012/12/05/plan-b-video/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=plan-b-video</link> <comments>http://www.gurl.com/2012/12/05/plan-b-video/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:11:15 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Jessica Booth</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Health, Sex & Relationships]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[birth control]]></category> <category><![CDATA[emergency contraception]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Plan B]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Plan B video]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sex]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.gurl.com/?p=89045</guid> <description><![CDATA[I never thought I could love an informational video about Plan B, but, well, it&#8217;s happened. This new video, created by AsapSCIENCE, explains exactly what Plan B is, what it does and why it does not cause abortions. While most science videos are boring and hard to watch, this video is super fun, colorful and &#8230; <a
class="read-more" href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/12/05/plan-b-video/">Read More</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a
href="http://www.gurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/planbvideo-main.jpg"><img
class="alignleft size-full wp-image-89053" title="planbvideo-main" src="http://www.gurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/planbvideo-main.jpg" alt="Plan B video" width="300" height="250" /></a>I never thought I could love an informational video about <strong>Plan B</strong>, but, well, it&#8217;s happened. This new video, created by <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/user/AsapSCIENCE?feature=watch" target="_blank">AsapSCIENCE</a>, explains exactly what Plan B is, what it does and why it does not cause <strong>abortions</strong>. While most science videos are boring and hard to watch, this video is super fun, colorful and somehow makes a <strong>uterus</strong> look cute. In other words? You&#8217;ll enjoy watching it and you&#8217;ll learn stuff. <strong>Bam</strong>. Awesome.</p><p>I know it&#8217;s easy to look at <a
href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/11/29/morning-after-pill/" target="_blank">Plan B</a> and think, &#8220;this will stop me from having a baby&#8221; and not care about <strong>what else it does</strong>, but you shouldn&#8217;t do that. You may not think that understanding the inner workings of Plan B is important, but it is, because don&#8217;t you want to know exactly what that little pill is doing to your body? Being informed about these things will make you <strong>even smarter</strong> than you already are.</p><p>This video is also really important because it states loud and clear that Plan B is <strong>not the same thing as abortion</strong>. There are a lot of conservative groups out there who feel like emergency contraception and abortions are the same thing, and those conservative groups are the ones that are going to try to bring Plan B down. Honestly, believing something like that is about a <strong>total lack of information</strong> (or ignorance, depending on who you are), because as you can see (once you watch the video), they are not the same thing at all. Plan B stops fertilization <em>before</em> it happens, because a baby is not created the second sperm enters your vagina. <strong>Abortion</strong> terminates a pregnancy once the egg is fertilized. See the difference?</p><p>Anyway, if you&#8217;ve ever had <strong>questions</strong> about Plan B or if you&#8217;ve ever worried about the safety of this little pill, just watch this video. I&#8217;m pretty sure it will answer anything you need to know in the most simple terms possible. Check it out:</p><p><iframe
src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7Vozr9vHeMo?wmode=transparent" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe></p><p><strong>What did you think of this video? Have you ever used Plan B? Do you feel like it&#8217;s the same thing as abortion? <a
href="#respond">Tell us in the comments!</a></strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/11/29/morning-after-pill/" target="_blank">Is your doctor encouraging unsafe sex?</a></strong></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
href="https://twitter.com/GurlDotCom " target="_blank">Don&#8217;t forget to follow us on Twitter</a></strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.gurl.com/2012/12/05/plan-b-video/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>The Last Presidential Debate Is Tonight: Why You Need To Be Involved</title><link>http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/22/presidential-debate-womens-rights/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=presidential-debate-womens-rights</link> <comments>http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/22/presidential-debate-womens-rights/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Mon, 22 Oct 2012 20:14:55 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Gurl</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Health]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category> <category><![CDATA[birth control]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mitt romney]]></category> <category><![CDATA[news]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pay equality]]></category> <category><![CDATA[presidential debate]]></category> <category><![CDATA[presidential election]]></category> <category><![CDATA[women's rights]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.gurl.com/?p=83868</guid> <description><![CDATA[There&#8217;s a lot of talk over what issues are and aren&#8217;t super important in this presidential election&#8211;including the topics that have been hashed over in the first two presidential debates between President Barack Obama and his opponent, Mitt Romney. The third and final presidential debate is happening tonight (don&#8217;t forget to watch, ladies!) and it &#8230; <a
class="read-more" href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/22/presidential-debate-womens-rights/">Read More</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><div
id="attachment_83882" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><img
src="http://www.gurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/presidential-debate-womens-rights1.jpg" alt="Presidential Debate Women&#039;s Rights" title="presidential-debate-womens-rights" width="300" height="250" class="size-full wp-image-83882" /><p
class="wp-caption-text">Your voice counts (even if you can&#8217;t vote!) | <a
href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&#038;search_source=search_form&#038;version=llv1&#038;anyorall=all&#038;safesearch=1&#038;searchterm=young+woman+pointing&#038;search_group=&#038;orient=&#038;search_cat=&#038;searchtermx=&#038;photographer_name=&#038;people_gender=&#038;people_age=&#038;people_ethnicity=&#038;people_number=&#038;commercial_ok=&#038;color=&#038;show_color_wheel=1#id=114986401&#038;src=2ae856754cc35cce0d4b76ffba490027-2-0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Source: Shutterstock</a></p></div>There&#8217;s a lot of talk over what issues are and aren&#8217;t super important in this <strong>presidential election</strong>&#8211;including the topics that have been hashed over in the first two presidential debates between <strong>President Barack Obama</strong> and his opponent, <strong>Mitt Romney</strong>. The third and final <strong>presidential debate</strong> is happening tonight (don&#8217;t forget to watch, ladies!) and it really could <strong>decide who wins</strong> this race, and has the power to make huge decisions that affect us all.</p><p>The issue that&#8217;s <strong>front and center </strong>on our minds (and we think it should be on yours, too!) is women&#8217;s rights. And by that, I mean: Our rights to earn a fair living and <strong>have the same opportunities</strong> as men, our rights to prevent or <strong>plan pregnancies</strong> in a smart and safe way, and our rights to have affordable and comprehensive health care options legally available.</p><p>If you&#8217;re one of the people who&#8217;s been commenting and saying that women&#8217;s rights aren&#8217;t as important as <strong>taking care of our economy</strong>, just know that promoting women in the workplace and ensuring that we can plan pregnancies around our careers will help the economy as a whole, and making sure that women get equal pay for equal work will help families <strong>be more financially secure</strong> so they can do things like send their kids to college (which <em>also </em>helps the economy!).</p><p>And if you <strong>don&#8217;t believe in abortion</strong> and think that&#8217;s the only thing that &#8220;women&#8217;s health&#8221; is about? Well, my first point is that nobody is forcing you to have an abortion. Don&#8217;t like them? Don&#8217;t have one. But beyond that, studies show that having <strong>affordable and reliable</strong> <a
href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/05/free-birth-control-fewer-abortions/">birth control</a> available to women (this is something Obamacare will ensure we all have), dramatically reduces the numbers of women seeking abortions. I think it&#8217;s <strong>kind of a no-brainer</strong>, regardless of where you stand.</p><p><strong>Still don&#8217;t get it? Watch this fun PSA (with a serious message) starring <em>Girls </em>creator Lena Dunham, actress Natasha Lyonne, and model Alexa Chung:</strong><br
/> <iframe
width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XMxtbAP2cyU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br
/> &nbsp;<br
/> <strong>What do you think? Are you watching the debate tonight? Do you agree with the song, &#8220;You Don&#8217;t Own Me?&#8221; Are you standing up for women&#8217;s rights or do you think there are other issues that are more important to focus on? We want your opinion (even if you disagree!) Tell us in the <a
href="<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XMxtbAP2cyU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen rel="nofollow" target="_blank">comments</a>!</strong></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/12/vice-presidential-debate-joe-biden-paul-ryan-abortion/">Here&#8217;s What The Vice Presidential Candidates Say About Your Right To Choose</a></strong></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
href="http://twitter.com/gurldotcom" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Catch Us On The Tweet Side!</a></strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/22/presidential-debate-womens-rights/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>11</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Where Do The Vice Presidential Candidates Stand On Abortion Rights?</title><link>http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/12/vice-presidential-debate-joe-biden-paul-ryan-abortion/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=vice-presidential-debate-joe-biden-paul-ryan-abortion</link> <comments>http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/12/vice-presidential-debate-joe-biden-paul-ryan-abortion/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Fri, 12 Oct 2012 13:45:36 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Jessica Sager</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Discuss]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Your Body]]></category> <category><![CDATA[2012 election]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion rights]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Joe Biden]]></category> <category><![CDATA[news]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Paul Ryan]]></category> <category><![CDATA[presidential debate]]></category> <category><![CDATA[presidential election]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pro-choice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pro-life]]></category> <category><![CDATA[reproductive rights]]></category> <category><![CDATA[roe v wade]]></category> <category><![CDATA[supreme court]]></category> <category><![CDATA[vice president]]></category> <category><![CDATA[vice presidential debate]]></category> <category><![CDATA[women's health]]></category> <category><![CDATA[women's health issues]]></category> <category><![CDATA[women's health rights]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.gurl.com/?p=82694</guid> <description><![CDATA[At last night&#8217;s vice presidential debate, a lot of us sat wondering, &#8220;Okay, this is all great&#8211;but where do you stand on women&#8217;s health issues?&#8221; Because women&#8217;s health&#8211;from birth control access to abortion rights&#8211;affect us directly, and they affect everyone else indirectly. Think about it: If you get pregnant, it doesn&#8217;t just affect you, it &#8230; <a
class="read-more" href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/12/vice-presidential-debate-joe-biden-paul-ryan-abortion/">Read More</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
id="attachment_82695" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><img
class="size-full wp-image-82695" title="Paul Ryan Joe Biden vice presidential debate abortion birth control 1" src="http://www.gurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/vice-presidential-debate-ab.jpg" alt="Paul Ryan Joe Biden vice presidential debate abortion birth control 1" width="300" height="250" /><p
class="wp-caption-text">Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden disagreed on abortion&#8211;and a lot of other things. | Source: WENN / ShutterStock</p></div><p>At last night&#8217;s <strong>vice presidential debate</strong>, a lot of us sat wondering, &#8220;Okay, this is all great&#8211;but where do you stand on <strong>women&#8217;s health issues</strong>?&#8221; Because women&#8217;s health&#8211;from <strong>birth control</strong> access to <strong>abortion</strong> rights&#8211;affect us directly, and they affect everyone else indirectly. Think about it: If you get pregnant, it doesn&#8217;t just affect you, it affects whatever guy you were with, it affects your parents, it affects the government if you require public assistance to keep and care for a child. Still, considering it&#8217;s <strong><em>your</em> uterus</strong>, it&#8217;s disturbing that a bunch of rich white men feel the need to make the decisions about what goes on within it. But last night we finally at least saw where these men stood.</p><p>The presidential debates didn&#8217;t touch on them at all, but the vice presidential face off between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan addressed the abortion issue directly.</p><p>We knew going into the vice presidential debate that <strong>Joe Biden</strong> is <strong>pro-choice</strong> and <strong>Paul Ryan</strong> is <strong>anti-abortion</strong>. But last night we learned why they each had their respective stances and what kind of influence their religious beliefs (they&#8217;re both Catholic) have on their positions.</p><p>Vice presidential candidate and <strong>Mitt Romney running mate Paul Ryan</strong> spoke first, telling debate moderator<strong> Martha Raddatz</strong> about a seven-week ultrasound of his first daughter that helped mold his views on abortion&#8211;and that science and medicine also influenced his position, though he didn&#8217;t mention anything scientific. &#8220;Our little baby was in the shape of a bean, and to this day we have nicknamed our first born child, Liza, &#8216;Bean.&#8217; Now, I believe that life begins at conception,&#8221; he said. Okay, cute story, but still <strong>not science</strong> . . .  &#8220;Those are the reasons why I&#8217;m<strong> pro-life</strong>,&#8221; he continued, &#8220;Now, I understand this is a difficult of issue, and I respect people who don&#8217;t agree with me on this, but the policy of a Romney administration will be to <strong>oppose abortion</strong> with the exceptions for <strong>rape</strong>, <strong>incest</strong> and <strong>life of the mother</strong>.&#8221; We&#8217;d like to point out that Paul Ryan, prior to being chosen as Mitt Romney&#8217;s running mate, actually authored the <a
href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/paul-ryan-abortion-ivf-romney-kids-criminals" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><strong>Sanctity of Human Life Act</strong></a>, which would seek to outlaw abortion even in cases of rape, incest, or health of the mother, and defines life as beginning at fertilization.</p><p>Paul Ryan also made a false accusation against Joe Biden and the Democratic party, claiming that President Obama and his party endorse abortion &#8220;<strong>without restriction and with taxpayer funding</strong>.&#8221; The truth is that for the past 30 years, something called the <strong>Hyde amendment</strong> prevents tax dollars from being used to pay for abortions. So, why was Ryan basically lying to make Biden and Obama look bad?</p><p>On the opposing side, Joe Biden, when he wasn&#8217;t <strong>chuckling</strong> and silently encouraging more Americans to go to the dentist, took a much more moderate view, even in spite of his own Catholic beliefs. &#8220;I do not believe that we have a right to tell other people that, <strong>women</strong>, that they can&#8217;t <strong>control their body</strong>,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a decision between them and their <strong>doctor</strong>, in my view, and the <strong>Supreme Court</strong>. I&#8217;m not going to interfere with that.&#8221;</p><p>Biden also made sure to point out Ryan&#8217;s prior stance on abortion in cases of rape and incest. &#8220;I guess he accepts Governor Romney&#8217;s position now, because in the past he has argued that there was &#8212; there&#8217;s<strong> rape</strong> and <strong>forcible rape</strong>,&#8221; Biden said. &#8220;He&#8217;s argued that in the case of rape or incest &#8230; it would be a crime to engage in having an abortion. I just fundamentally disagree with my friend.&#8221;</p><p>Paul Ryan responded with the usual <strong>religious malarkey</strong>, telling Biden, &#8220;Our church should not have to sue our federal government to maintain religious liberties,&#8221; he said. He conveniently forgot that faith-based employers&#8211;churches, religious schools, etc.&#8211;don&#8217;t have to pay for contraception. Oopsies! Again, saying something that&#8217;s not true to try to make your opponent look bad. Everybody&#8217;s entitled to their opinions, but that&#8217;s not so cool.</p><p>We&#8217;re not here to tell you how to vote. That&#8217;s <strong>your business</strong>. But we do want you to know what you&#8217;re getting into: <strong>Your body</strong> is also <strong>your business</strong>, and if you want the ability to maintain control (and affordable<em> birth</em> control) over your body, electing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will endanger that right.</p><p>Here&#8217;s why: The next president will decide whether the <strong>Affordable Care Act</strong>, which helps us afford&#8211;you guessed it!&#8211;health care and contraception, sticks around. The next prez will also probably need to appoint two <strong>Supreme Court justices</strong> in his term. Supreme Court justices have the ability, should the case arise, to overturn <strong><em>Roe v. Wade</em></strong>, which granted abortion rights to women. Obviously, any P.O.T.U.S. is going to appoint someone with, ostensibly, the same views as they have&#8211;and those two votes can change a whole lot about our lives and our freedoms to control what goes on in our own bodies.</p><p><strong>Are you voting in the 2012 presidential election? Did you watch the vice presidential debate? Who do you think won the vice presidential debate? Do you agree with Paul Ryan or with Joe Biden on abortion and women&#8217;s reproductive rights? Sound off in the <a
href="#respond" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">comments</a>!</strong></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><a
title="10 Amazing Gifs Of Politicians Dancing" href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/11/gifs-dancing-vp-debates/"><strong>LOL at these politicians dancing!</strong></a></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
href="http://twitter.com/gurldotcom" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">And don&#8217;t forget to follow us on Twitter!</a></strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/12/vice-presidential-debate-joe-biden-paul-ryan-abortion/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>14</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Free Birth Control Means Way Fewer Abortions</title><link>http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/05/free-birth-control-fewer-abortions/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=free-birth-control-fewer-abortions</link> <comments>http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/05/free-birth-control-fewer-abortions/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:18:00 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Jessica Sager</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Health, Sex & Relationships]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Your Body]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion rate]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortions]]></category> <category><![CDATA[birth control]]></category> <category><![CDATA[birth control device]]></category> <category><![CDATA[birth control pills]]></category> <category><![CDATA[free birth control]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hormonal implant]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hormonal implants]]></category> <category><![CDATA[iud]]></category> <category><![CDATA[IUDs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[news]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pregnancy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pregnancy rate]]></category> <category><![CDATA[teen pregnancy]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.gurl.com/?p=81829</guid> <description><![CDATA[In news that will shock no one with a triple-digit IQ, a new study says that free birth control leads to way fewer abortions. Surprise! The study tracked 9,000 women in the St. Louis area, a lot of whom were uninsured or poor (or, in many cases, both). The women were given a choice of &#8230; <a
class="read-more" href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/05/free-birth-control-fewer-abortions/">Read More</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div
id="attachment_71535" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><img
class="size-full wp-image-71535" title="free birth control abortion" src="http://www.gurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/male-birth-control-birth-control-for-men-male-contraceptive-2.jpg" alt="free birth control abortion" width="300" height="250" /><p
class="wp-caption-text">When condoms fail, free birth control can come in handy in preventing pregnancy&#8211;and abortion. | <a
href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-43533505/stock-photo-contraceptives-on-white-background.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Source: Shutterstock</a></p></div><p>In news that will <strong>shock no one</strong> with a triple-digit IQ, a new study says that <strong>free birth control</strong> leads to way <strong>fewer abortions</strong>. Surprise!</p><p>The <a
href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57526550/study-free-birth-control-leads-to-way-fewer-abortions/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">study</a> tracked 9,000 women in the St. Louis area, a lot of whom were uninsured or poor (or, in many cases, both). The women were given a choice of pretty much whatever birth control method they wanted at no cost to them. Sweet deal, right?</p><p>It turns out that when price isn&#8217;t an issue, women and girls tend to spring for the most effective birth control options, which are usually hormonal implants. That leads to fewer unplanned pregnancies, which, in turn, leads to fewer abortions. The reason more women don&#8217;t go for<strong> hormonal implants</strong> to begin with? They&#8217;re pricey, and a lot of women and girls struggle with the<strong> upfront costs</strong> and copays to get them (even though years of birth control pills pretty much add to the same amount, pills don&#8217;t present a giant lump sum all at once). Additionally, a lot of young women don&#8217;t realize they&#8217;re an option, because docs don&#8217;t always mention them, either because they assume that implants and intrauterine devices (IUDs) aren&#8217;t for young women (which was a common belief until recently), or because docs assume women would rather just snag the pill.</p><p>The free birth control had a huge effect on <strong>teen pregnancy rates</strong>. There were only about 6 births for every 1,000 women in the study, while the national rate in 2010 was about 34 to every 1,000. Not coincidentally, there were a lot<strong> lower abortion rates</strong> as a result: There were between 4 and 7 abortions for every 1,000 women in the free birth control study, as opposed to the national rate, which is around 20 to every 1,000.</p><p><strong>The moral of the story?</strong> Give women access to free birth control and there won&#8217;t need to be so much of a pro-choice or pro-life argument. This is something everyone should be able to agree on:<strong> Pro-lifers</strong> will be preventing abortions by preventing unplanned pregnancies, and pro-choicers are preventing the very pregnancies they want to protect the right to terminate. Because the fact is, no one <em><strong>wants</strong></em> an abortion. It&#8217;s not something people do for fun, for sport, or for a hobby&#8211;it&#8217;s something someone does because they&#8217;re in a bad situation.</p><p>Those bad situations can be avoided by providing resources and funding to finance free birth control to those who need it the most. Now, some of you may argue that you should have to pay for someone else&#8217;s birth control, but hear us out: Doing so will save us all money in the long run, because birth control is a lot <strong>cheaper</strong> to fund than the necessary childcare, prenatal care, healthcare, and welfare programs to raise unplanned children (and telling people not to have sex doesn&#8217;t work). Often women and girls in lower income brackets don&#8217;t have the<strong> necessary education or funds</strong> to prevent pregnancy and nab contraception, and these are the women often most likely to seek out abortions. If we prevent pregnancies, we&#8217;ll prevent unwanted abortions, and maybe eventually phase out the need for a lot of them&#8211;because at the end of the day, every abortion is, on some level, <strong>unwanted</strong>.</p><p><strong>Do you think free birth control should be available to everyone? Do you think free birth control will lower abortion rates on a national scale? Do you think free birth control would eventually phase out the need for abortion entirely? Tell us in the <a
href="#respond" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">comments</a>!</strong></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
title="Is Free Birth Control Day Real?" href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/08/01/free-birth-control-day/" target="_blank">Find out how you can get free birth control!</a></strong></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
href="http://twitter.com/gurldotcom" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">And don&#8217;t forget to follow us on Twitter!</a></strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.gurl.com/2012/10/05/free-birth-control-fewer-abortions/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>8</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>How Do You Know If It Was Legitimate Rape?</title><link>http://www.gurl.com/2012/08/20/was-it-legitimate-rape-todd-akin/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=was-it-legitimate-rape-todd-akin</link> <comments>http://www.gurl.com/2012/08/20/was-it-legitimate-rape-todd-akin/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Mon, 20 Aug 2012 17:36:40 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Jessica Sager</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Discuss]]></category> <category><![CDATA[abortion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[incest]]></category> <category><![CDATA[news]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pro-choice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pro-life]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rape]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rape survivors]]></category> <category><![CDATA[todd akin]]></category> <guid
isPermaLink="false">http://www.gurl.com/?p=76787</guid> <description><![CDATA[If you turned on a TV in the last day or so, chances are you&#8217;ve heard about Todd Akin and his idea of &#8220;legitimate rape.&#8221; But in case you haven&#8217;t&#8211;in which case, ignorance really is bliss and we&#8217;re pretty jealous of you&#8211;here&#8217;s some back story. Todd Akin is a politician who hates any possible idea &#8230; <a
class="read-more" href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/08/20/was-it-legitimate-rape-todd-akin/">Read More</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><div
id="attachment_76848" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><img
src="http://www.gurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rape-todd-akin-rape-survivors-2.jpg" alt="rape todd akin rape survivors" title="rape todd akin rape survivors 2" width="300" height="250" class="size-full wp-image-76848" /><p
class="wp-caption-text">Rape survivors are pissed at Todd Akin&#8211;and they have every right to be. | <a
href="http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/todd-akin-legitimate-rape.php" rel="nofollow">Source</a></p></div><br
/> If you turned on a TV in the last day or so, chances are you&#8217;ve heard about <strong>Todd Akin</strong> and his idea of &#8220;<strong>legitimate rape</strong>.&#8221; But in case you haven&#8217;t&#8211;in which case, ignorance really is bliss and we&#8217;re pretty jealous of you&#8211;here&#8217;s some back story.</p><p>Todd Akin is a politician who hates any possible idea of women having the right to choose what she should do with her own body. This is evidenced by his attempts to ban the <strong>morning after pill</strong> (which, we should add, is <em>not an abortion pill</em>), among other measures.</p><p>In any case, Akin, who is clearly a candidate for MENSA (we kid!) as well as the U.S. Senate (sadly we don&#8217;t kid!), was interviewed about his views on <strong>abortion</strong>. He was specifically asked about abortion in cases of rape. His response was so unbelievably stupid that it&#8217;s hard to wrap our heads around. Here it is, and we quote:</p><p><em>“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [<strong>pregnancy from rape</strong>] is really rare. If it’s a <strong>legitimate rape</strong>, the female body has ways to try to <strong>shut that whole thing down</strong>. Let’s assume that <strong>maybe that didn’t work</strong>, or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”</em></p><p>In case you don&#8217;t believe someone could actually say something so idiotic, here&#8217;s a video. His abortion conversation and &#8220;legitimate rape&#8221; comments are right here:</p><p><object
id="flashObj" width="486" height="412" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param
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name="flashVars" value="videoId=1794446800001&#038;playerID=1409164951001&#038;playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAETmrZQ~,EVFEM4AKJdRjek0MS21pRzf_GTDAM-xj&#038;domain=embed&#038;dynamicStreaming=true" /><param
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src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=1794446800001&#038;playerID=1409164951001&#038;playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAETmrZQ~,EVFEM4AKJdRjek0MS21pRzf_GTDAM-xj&#038;domain=embed&#038;dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="486" height="412" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" swLiveConnect="true" allowScriptAccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object></p><p>Girls, to reiterate: Todd Akin thinks that in cases of &#8220;legitimate rape&#8221;&#8211;which is a concept so ridiculous that we&#8217;ll get to it in a second&#8211;<strong>rape survivors</strong> have magical powers in their bodies that make conceiving a baby nearly impossible. Though Akin later apologized and claimed that he &#8220;<a
href="http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/akin-on-legitimate-rape-comment-i-misspoke" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><strong>misspoke</strong></a>,&#8221; it still stands that he&#8217;s conveying an enormous amount of misinformation and misogyny in his policies. If we had magical powers, don&#8217;t you think we&#8217;d use them to NOT GET RAPED instead of just to not get pregnant as a result of rape? I mean . . . And as for the frequency of pregnancy resulting from rape? Rough estimates show that about <strong>32,000</strong> women get<strong> pregnant as a result of rape</strong> every year. It&#8217;s also important to bear in mind that these are just from rape survivors who <em>reported </em>their rapes&#8211;because many don&#8217;t.</p><p>However, now we have to question the legitimacy of those rape survivors. <strong>WTF is &#8220;legitimate rape&#8221;</strong>?! It&#8217;s actually a <a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-h-word/2012/aug/20/legitimate-rape-medieval-medical-concept" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">term</a> that&#8217;s been used for a while. You know, starting in the <em><strong>13th century</strong>. </em>As in, the <em><strong>1200s</strong>. You know, also known as the Dark Ages. </em>Back then it was believed that if a woman didn&#8217;t give a guy consent, she couldn&#8217;t get pregnant from an encounter, even in which he raped and ejaculated inside of her, which, we all know because of handy thing called SCIENCE, is biologically how a lot of women get knocked up. Later it was believed that a woman couldn&#8217;t conceive unless she had an <strong>orgasm</strong>, which means that rape survivors who found the experience <strong>more traumatizing than titillating</strong> couldn&#8217;t possibly ever have their eggs fertilized by an attacker. As a result of this kind of Draconian, antiquated thinking, it was believed that if a woman got pregnant, she wasn&#8217;t <em>really </em>raped.<em></em> We thought we&#8217;d gotten past that kind of absurd and offensive thinking roughly seven hundred years ago. Apparently not.</p><p><strong><em>This is where Todd Akin&#8217;s brain is</em>.</strong> In the dark ages. This is the same guy who tried to make only rape survivors who survived a &#8220;<a
href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/report-republicans-give-up-on-forcible-rape.php" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">forcible rape</a>&#8221; able to get funding for abortions if they so chose to have them. Which means if a guy, say, <em><strong>date raped</strong> </em>you, you&#8217;d be on your own in terms of terminating your pregnancy. What. The. Eff.</p><p>Todd Akin doesn&#8217;t seem to understand what the rest of us do: <strong>Rape is rape.</strong> No matter what adjectives you put in front of the word &#8220;rape,&#8221; if you tell a guy no and he still has sex with you against your will, whether it&#8217;s &#8220;forcible&#8221; or not, <strong><em>it is rape</em></strong>. You know whether or not you&#8217;ve been raped. And if you&#8217;ve taken a biology class, watched TV, scanned Google, or had any form of unprotected sex&#8211;willing or not&#8211;at some point in your life, you&#8217;ll probably understand that you don&#8217;t need to have an orgasm to get pregnant (and most women don&#8217;t orgasm from intercourse alone anyway).</p><p>It&#8217;s unfortunate and absurd that someone with such literally <strong>medieval ideas </strong>feels the need to tell us what to and what not to do with our own bodies, because he clearly has <em>no idea</em> how they operate. And it&#8217;s even more unfortunate and absurd that enough people agree with him to make him a somewhat plausible candidate for public office.</p><p>If you think politics are boring and that they don&#8217;t affect you, remember: They do. And if you don&#8217;t make <em>your</em> voice heard, he&#8217;ll make <em>his </em>the only one you hear. We&#8217;re pretty sure our <strong>I.Q.s dropped a few points</strong> just listening to this.</p><p>A silver lining, though? In trying to repeal our right to choose whether or not we can abort a pregnancy resulting from rape, this asshat effectively aborted his own chances at winning the Missouri Senate election. Or, so we hope. We REALLY hope.</p><p><strong>Do you think Todd Akin misspoke when he talked about &#8220;legitimate rape?&#8221; Do you think abortion should be legal in cases of rape or incest? Do you think rape survivors should have a choice of what to do if they&#8217;re pregnant? Tell us in the <a
href="#respond" rel="nofollow">comments</a>!</strong></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
href="http://www.gurl.com/2012/04/27/rape-crisis-hotline/">Here&#8217;s What Rape Survivors Really Need</a></strong></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><strong><a
href="http://twitter.com/gurldotcom" rel="nofollow">Catch Us On The Tweet Side</a></strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.gurl.com/2012/08/20/was-it-legitimate-rape-todd-akin/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>18</slash:comments> </item> </channel> </rss>