Thanks for reporting on this. These regulations weigh most heavily on the most vulnerable people: scared teens, people living paycheck to paycheck (or worse), people with unreliable cars, people whose jobs/daycare make it difficult to take off multiple days (note that 60% of abortion patients already have kids), those who have difficulty navigating regulations due to language barriers, etc. The Guttmacher highlighted different research recently demonstrating that all these restrictions just mean women have abortions later in pregnancy and pay more for them. This shit is so regressive.

Time for some Lysistrata tactics. No sex until these rights are restored.

Your last line reminded me of this piece by Margaret Atwood about the history and lasting effects of The Handmaid's Tale on culture. Particularly, it was the reference to the story as a shorthand for oppressive sexual politics that put me in mind of it. Worth a read if you haven't seen it.

It's nice living in a state that's on the right side of this issue. What can we do as Washingtonians to right the wrongheadedness in other states and ensure this shit never happens here?

President Obama: "If there’s even one thing we can do, if there’s just one life we can save—we've got an obligation to try.” #NowIsTheTime

Soundbites and fundraisers are the cap and trade of liberals just like conservatives. The only current difference is democrats want to give rich donors breaks while turning your rights into privileges. Conservatives want to give rich donors breaks while making you pay to access your rights.

I'd like to see women and allies of women march on D.C. I honestly feel that women on not on top of this issue (or other women's health issues). Seriously, get organized and go national. The right has no problem rallying and protesting; women and their progressive/liberal/centrist allies need to do start throwing their weight around. A lot of women I know seem more pro-gay marriage than pro women's health, and that needs to change.

Women and their male/transgender allies need to start doing what the right does, and gather in numbers. I'm talking Million Women March type stuff, rallying and protesting on local and national levels, making your voices heard. A lot of women seem to be more inspired by gay marriage than their own rights these days, and while that's wonderful, it's not going to be worth a damn if women's health is neglected. I've been disappointment in the rather tepid response from women to these encroachments on reproductive rights. It's pretty sad when me and a couple of other guys are the only ones talking about this shit on social media while a lot of my female friends are quiet about it. Did the right so effectively rebrand feminism as a bad word that most women are afraid to be vocal or organized on these issues? Or is it because a lot of third wave feminists seem to be engaged more in pop culture analysis than organizing?

I like how progessives want the government involved in every aspect of our lives, untill it gets involves in theirs.

Sorry about the double post. I finally decided to stop trolling and register, and shit got janky.

#8: Funny how conservatives are exactly the same way. See, people have moral and ethical viewpoints (you know, ideologies) that differ, and the result is that they want the government to play different roles in their lives. I know that might be difficult to grasp for hyper-partisan types, but it's the way it is. Furthermore, the left generally wants government to intervene where the rights of individuals are violated by other individuals (for example, helping employees deal with unscrupulous employers), you know, cases where one person's choice has a negative outcome for other people. In others words, the left wants to curtail your ability to screw other people over for fun and profit. The right, on the other hand, wants to use the state to intrude on individual decisions and rights, meaning they feel they should be able to impose onerous moral regulations on people even when their choices don't actually affect anyone else adversely. Someone having an abortion or smoking pot in private or moving from point a to point b without being harassed by police doesn't directly affect you or me, so shouldn't fall under the purview of government. On the other hand, a company polluting a river, a business paying poverty wages or a person shooting up a classroom full of children does directly and adversely affect other people and society at large. See the difference? The progressive left wants to protect individuals from other individuals, the right wants to protect the right of individuals to exploit or hurt other people.

I like how conjob asshats like @8 never understand that progressivism is pro personal liberty all the way, and the things they perceive as intrusive are either measures that promote personal security or social equality - things they oppose because it hinders their ability to bully the rest of us.

.@9
I forgive you

"Or is it because a lot of third wave feminists seem to be engaged more in pop culture analysis than organizing?"

You pretty much nailed it.
The modern " Feminist Social Justice Warriors" constant quest to project its perpetual victimhood on social media has created a learned helplessness that prevents putting in the work and responsibility needed for actual social change.

Jizzlober: Straight men are not allies -- they benefit directly from reproductive rights, birth control, and abortion. This is not strictly a woman's issue. In fact, that attitude might be silencing your Facebook friends. I take the approach that men have almost as much skin in the game and that helps me talk about these issues in mixed gender groups. "My guy friends aren't interested / might be grossed out" could easily squelch a public discussion before it begins.

@11

Yea halfwit, the progressives are SOOOOO for personal freedom that they demand the prohibition of the inherent human rights of free speech, bearing arms, personal property and what we choose to put into our bodies. We will be so much freer under a vast all-powerful government that has a monopoly on force, after all it is for our own good.

@10
The political class of the left and right cares about one thing: Power.

The Democrats want to be the party of the poor, so they keep as many people poor as possible, the Republicans want to be the party of the rich, so they help the wealthy make as much money as possible. They are both 2 wings of the same beast.

#13: I agree that men have an important stake in this fight, but the negative effects of the war on reproductive rights are more immediately adverse to women, and so I framed it that way (maybe a mistake). Also, I don't pitch this stuff as an exclusive women's issue or something they need to solely address. I simply post pertinent articles and register my disgust with the anti-abortion/contraceptives crowd without calling for action from women, and the response is generally crickets chirping. I am being a little unfair though, as there are women I know who are very vocal about this stuff--they're generally ignored by other women too. If the reason women aren't talking about this stuff more or protesting is because they're afraid of being perceived as being gross or intrusive or "radical," that bodes badly for all of us. This situation demands open, unflinching discussion and unequivocal support for reproductive rights. It's not the time to be meek, or to be afraid of what men think. And that goes for dudes as well as women.

@16

You stated that you mde post without calling for action, perhaps you should call for action. I also suggest looking into volunteer oportunities. I use to volunteer doing outreach for Planned Parenthood.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-u…

@10, well said there. Thanks for registering. I (and I know others) skip or hide the unregistered comments.

Don't vote for a republican in 2014 and 2016.

@Jizzlobber,
Glad you registered. I read the unregistered comments occasionally and yours have usually been pretty good.

As for republicans trying to force women to have children: This is in line with all their other disenfranchisement tactics. They want women to be too busy/poor/uninformed to vote. Seriously.

Republicans found out some time ago that their message is a complete loser and no one will ever vote for them ever again if you give them the chance to vote... therefore, they've responded with the most aggressive and illegal disenfranchisement campaign in history.

Jizzlobber: awesome handle. Welcome to the other side!

@14: [citation needed] for all of that shit. That was more nuts than f.u and SRotU put together.

Do any groups have rallies going for the upcoming anniversary of Roe v Wade? Not a counterprotest of antichoicers, but a rally of our own? Can one be organized in a short time? 'Cause I will be so there.

The pro-choice side is losing because the pro-life argument that killing a fetus - with little hands, feet, heart, etc. - is tantamount to killing a baby is more convincing to people. Until the pro-choice side faces up to that, it is not going to change the tide.

I'm not a woman, but I suspect most women don't really care about abortions until the moment comes when they need one. They always assume that there will be a clinic *somewhere*. But then they stand there, looking all around the plain, and they suddenly wonder, "Where did it go? Are the only places providing pregnancy services those weird mind-screwing Christian joints?" Yup.

It's so nice to hear people blame the inaction of ladies for decisions made by majority-male state legislatures, etc.

25: Well if women don't fight for their rights in a visible way on a national level then state legislatures will continue to do whatever they want. Ultimately there needs to be national reassertion of abortion rights. I'm certainly not blaming women for the actions of state legislatures; I just think a more robust political response is called for.

Why don't women run for office? Until we see more progressive women - and women of color - being encouraged, trained and supported in campaigns at every level, we're going to keep seeing laws passed that benefit the powers that be. Really, do you expect a legislature to use women's rights as anything more than a political football when it's less than half women?

Women are a quarter of state legislatures, a third here in Washington. This is a fucking travesty.

the false equivalencies on this thread make me puke.

I think the RTL/teabillies to whom abortion is the world's most pressing issue finally realized they the national GOP was just yanking them for 30 years about overturning roe v wade.

they're taking the action where they can; kill abortion rights by regulating them out of existence in the state they control. death of a 1000 cuts.

turning it around is going to be very hard, and take nearly as long - decades. its a very tough argument to make when so many conservative women walk around thinking "my abortion is the only moral abortion". and several supreme court justices need to die before 2017.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/03/23…

14, which of course, perfectly explains this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/busine…

Oh, those darn progressives, why *won't* they leave god-fearin' people alone?

@ 14, I notice zero citations to support those charges. I hearby find progressives innocent of all charges, which are dismissed with prejudice.

@6,

The majority of White women vote for Republicans who turn around and lock up our uteri. So unfortunately, I don't see any push back from women as a whole against Republican-generated, anti-reproductive rights legislation.

@33, cite the source of your data.

@16 well said & welcome to the land of the registered.

" If the reason women aren't talking about this stuff more or protesting is because they're afraid of being perceived as being gross or intrusive or "radical," that bodes badly for all of us."

I agree 100%, but I worry that there is already a widespread idea that discussing abortion, vaginas, and anything related to vaginas is "radical" or at least not polite. Admitting you had an abortion is still stigmatized, after all. Many people have given me a hard time about discussing these issues, and loads of people think feminist is a dirtier word than abortion.

@13, etc - Men certainly have something to gain/lose when it comes to reproductive rights. I certainly have benefited from the access to birth control. But, nobody is going to ask men to submit to coerced ultrasound, and although husbands and boyfriends (and fathers, etc) benefit from reproductive rights, it is still women's actions that people are attempting to control. There is no (serious) attack on birth control methods that men control. All of this is to say that we don't have quite as much skin in the game.

@14,

Could you be explicit about the limitations on personal property (besides weapons) and what we put into our bodies (if by that you mean obesity, the corporate healthcare providers would be the first to declare obesity a disqualifying condition if they could get away with it. But that still leaves the public dollar butthurt from the impending catastrophic collapse into an E.R.; Therefor a little public education...)?

Peace