Tag Archives: Pregnancy


	Title IX Helped Leia Brugger



	Please help NWLC support the law. Donate today.

You’ve recently seen two important NWLC initiatives trumpeting the successes of Title IX in its 40th year: the Faces of Title IX website and our new report evaluating the help schools give pregnant and parenting students. But despite the advances we’ve made since Title IX became law in 1972, we still have a long way to go before its promise of equal access to educational opportunities is a reality for everyone.
Please donate $9 today to support the Center’s work on Title IX and so many other issues important to women and families.
The nine stories on the “Faces” website illustrate how the law has helped people over the last four decades, whether it’s a student like Leia Brugger facing bullying in school, a young woman pressured to leave school after becoming pregnant or a teenage runner physically blocked by a race official. “Faces of Title IX” explains the law through powerful words and images.
Our comprehensive and well researched report on pregnant and parenting students, “A Pregnancy Test for Schools: The Impact of Education Laws on Pregnant and Parenting Students,” ranks all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico on the extent to which their laws and policies help pregnant and parenting students succeed. Plus, it offers a toolkit for local action and recommendations for federal, state, and local policymakers and school officials.
The “Faces” site and the report on pregnant and parenting students work in concert: one shows you Title IX in action, while the other tells you how well schools and states are doing as they try to implement one of its most important provisions. Together, they reach the heart AND the head.
Help us produce vital resources like these: please donate $9 today to support the Center’s work on Title IX and so many other issues important to women and girls.
Thank you for all that you do on behalf of women and our families.
Sincerely,

Fatima Goss Graves Vice President for Education and Employment National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Please support the Center’s work today — $9 will make a difference.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Beyond 16 and Pregnant … Fatima Goss Graves, National Women’s Law Center

06/22/2012 Nativegrl77

Do your elected officials support pregnant and parenting students in school?

Send a copy of our groundbreaking report to your elected officials today.

Have you ever seen MTV’s show “16 and Pregnant?” It tells the stories of girls trying to graduate from high school while juggling the responsibilities of parenthood. Their struggles aren’t glamorous or pretty — they’re real and heartbreaking. While some of the girls stay in school and graduate, many drop out. It shouldn’t have to be that way.
It may seem crazy, but Title IX — the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education — was enacted 40 years ago this month, yet schools still bar pregnant and parenting students from activities, discourage them from staying in school, push them into alternative programs and penalize them for pregnancy-related absences. All of that violates Title IX and increases the risk that students will drop out.
Today, the National Women’s Law Center is releasing a new report: A Pregnancy Test for Schools: The Impact of Education Laws on Pregnant and Parenting Students. This report ranks your state and shows how the vast majority of state education laws and policies fail to adequately support these students.
Send a copy of our groundbreaking report to your elected officials today. They need to know where your state stands and what pregnant and parenting students need to succeed.
So where does your state stand?
NWLC’s new report ranks all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico on the extent to which their laws and policies help pregnant and parenting students succeed. Some states have made great strides forward, but the majority of states have few or no laws, policies, or programs specifically designed to improve outcomes for these students. The report includes a toolkit for taking action in your community.
These policies matter because these students matter. Please make sure your elected officials get this report.
Thanks for helping to give pregnant and parenting students the support they need to graduate and succeed.
Sincerely,

Fatima Goss Graves Vice President for Education and Employment National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Have you checked out FACES OF TITLE IX yet? This new online portal features nine diverse stories that put a human face on this groundbreaking law. Read our featured story about a 15-year-old “A” student who was isolated and ignored by teachers after she became pregnant.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Help Close the Pregnancy Loophole …Emily J. Martin, National Women’s Law Center

06/19/2012 Nativegrl77


	Help Close the Pregnancy Loophole



	Tell your Representative to co-sponsor the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to ensure that pregnant women are treated fairly on the job.

	Call (202) 224-3121 today!

Yes it’s true: In 2012, getting pregnant can still cost you your job.
Thanks to a gap opened between discrimination laws and disability laws by court decisions, some employers are refusing to accommodate even simple requests that help workers maintain a healthy pregnancy.
Here are three startling examples of women who, thanks to the pregnancy loophole, were fired for doing what was best for their pregnancies:

A retail sales associate in Salina, Kansas was fired for drinking water while working because it violated store policy.
A nursing home activities director in Valparaiso, Indiana lost her job because she could no longer lift heavy tables, an activity that took up less than 10 minutes of her workday and with which her coworkers routinely volunteered to assist.
A pregnant truck driver in Tennessee was instructed by her obstetrician not to lift more than 20 pounds and sought light duty work. Her employer terminated her, as it made such modifications only to those injured on the job.

Sounds crazy, right? Unfortunately, thousands of pregnant women are forced to choose between losing their jobs (or taking unpaid leave) and endangering their pregnancies, when just a few small workplace accommodations are usually all that’s needed.
To close this egregious pregnancy loophole, Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was introduced today in the House of Representatives by Reps. Nadler (D-NY) and a number of his colleagues. To give this bill a solid start, we need as many Representatives to co-sponsor this bill as possible.
Will you take 3 minutes to call your Representative and ask them to co-sponsor the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act? Calling is easy to do.

Call (202) 224-3121.
Tell the operator who answers the phone the name of your Representative. (Not sure? Look it up here.)
Once you are connected to the office of your Representative, tell the staff person who answers:
- Your name, that you are a constituent from (city, state).
- I am calling to ask you to co-sponsor the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. It’s time to close the pregnancy loophole and ensure that pregnant women are treated fairly on the job.
- Thank you.
Hang up and ask your friends or co-workers to make a call as well.

Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,

Emily J. Martin Vice President and General Counsel National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Want to learn more? Read the Op-Ed in The New York Times that inspired this bill. And check out a fact sheet on the bill from the National Women’s Law Center.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Safeway to hero: you’re suspended

05/21/2012 Nativegrl77

Safeway suspended Ryan Young after he defended a pregnant women from being beaten — ask them to reinstate him now.

Sign Doug’s Petition

C –

What would you do if you were in a grocery store, you turned into an aisle, and you saw a man beating his pregnant girlfriend? Would you run for help? How long would that take? Would it be too late by the time security arrived?

Ryan Young worked at the meat counter of a Safeway supermarket. Reports say that when Ryan saw a customer push and kick his pregnant girlfriend last month, Ryan stepped in to stop the beating.

According to the press, Ryan’s actions earned him praise from his local police chief, but not from his employer. Instead of treating Ryan like a hero, Safeway claimed Ryan should have called security and suspended him without pay while it investigates the “altercation.” Pending the results of that investigation, Ryan could be fired for good.

Doug Castro is a security guard who shops at the Safeway where Ryan works, and he believes Ryan did the right thing by intervening. That’s why Doug started a petition on Change.org asking Safeway to lift Ryan’s suspension and give him backpay for the income he lost during his involuntary time away from work. Click here to sign Doug’s petition.

Ryan says one reason he felt so compelled to intervene is that he’s an expectant dad himself — his wife is 5 months pregnant. “We’re expecting a child,” Ryan says. “I’ve been suspended for just about a month now without pay for doing something I feel was right, that police said was right.”

Indeed, local Police Chief Ron Langford told reporters, “In my mind, in this case Ryan did the right thing.”

The police have already turned over security footage of the incident to prosecutors so that the man who beat his girlfriend can be charged, yet Ryan has been suspended for almost a month with no income. Doug believes that if thousands of people sign his petition, Safeway will bow to public pressure and put Ryan back on the job.

Click here to sign Doug’s petition demanding that Safeway bring back Ryan Young, an employee who was suspended after defending a pregnant woman.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

– Tim and the Change.org team

~ my 2cents ...

TGIF -Help Protect the Right to Choose

10/28/2011 Nativegrl77

just another rant … tweaked

In March of 2011, the abortion debate- a topic that has
strong feelings in both Political Parties has changed and the

status quo or agreement that is the Hyde
Amendment has heated up … again. I post quite a few articles from
well-known activists and extremely knowledgeable and trustworthy organizations with great truthful information
regarding women’s health care, contraceptives, and abortion. I also post many
Petitions because they do work. The topic of abortion is a very personal one
that is a no brainer … at least to me. I still do not understand why any man
unless invited should tell women what to do with their bodies at all let alone
try to legislate it and tell us all we must not only have a possible unwanted
pregnancy we must do so no matter what the circumstance. In addition, some
politicians feel a pregnancy caused by rape is not a reason to terminate. I
gotta say if that ain’t some shit. I am still reeling over ex-Gov. Palin was
making women pay for their rape kits in Alaska. The attack on Women is not a
new thing right, but this is the 21st Century and while so many other things
have changed, the topic of abortion seems to bring out the barbarian in people.
These attacks on women are happening on the local and state level, have seen
some traction, and are now quickly moving to the Federal level. These moves
to control contraceptive sales and possible abortion procedures should tell
women that big government is only a bad thing if it regulates the JOB Creators
though they are not doing a hell of a lot these days. While The Family Values
Platform keeps creeping into politics a true lack of regard toward the
separation of church and state continues. The votes in the Republican led House
of Representatives should be all any Woman needs to vote these fools out of
office. I do not want to go into anyone’s bedroom any more than i want him or
her in mine. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruling made abortion legal and because
Rep.Hyde did not want federal funds used to provide such a procedure, the Hyde
Amendment created.

I do not understand how in the 21st Century… mostly men feeling comfortable trying to block not only a woman’s right to choose, but to have safe affordable aside from other health care services .

The Hyde Amendment Introduced by Henry Hyde (R-Illinois) in 1976,bears his name restricts federal funding for abortion. Passed by the House as part of the Department of Labor and Health, Education, and Welfare Appropriation Act in 1976, the Hyde Amendment prohibits appropriated funds to be expended on abortion except when the mother’s life is endangered by her pregnancy.

Each year since then, the Hyde Amendment has been attached to the annual federal spending bill; and over the years other exceptions for rape, incest, and “severe and physical health damage” to the mother have been added, removed, added, and debated as the numbers of pro-life and pro-choice members of Congress have fluctuated.

The 2009 version of the Hyde Amendment allows for exceptions in the cases of rape, incest or endangerment of the pregnant women’s life.

The Hyde Amendment does not allow Medicaid coverage for abortion. Also prohibited is abortion coverage for women in in the military, the Peace Corps, federal prisons, and those who receive medical care from Indian Health Services. FROM >> www.womensissues.about.com

Anyway, I posted an article from MoveOn and received a question and pictures in response to it. I appreciate the comments which came over a couple of days and tried to respond below .. .Abortion will always be met with strong words and feelings. I have friends, family and co-workers who have the right to choose at the moment,but, it is up to ALL of us to fight and keep it that way.

HIM:Choosing to kill a baby is not a right. http://www.abortiontruth.com/pictures.html

HIM: When do you believe life begins? Lets start with your measuring stick for life.

FYI: The word fetus (plural fetuses) is from the Latin fetus, meaning offspring, bringing forth, hatching of young. It has Indo-European roots related to sucking or suckling, from the Aryan prefix bheu-, meaning “To come into being”.

I prefer to speak English and just call the developing life form in women, I don’t speak Latin in my daily use of language.

HIM:You really need to relax, if you can’t handle someone disputing your opinion you need to stay away from blogs. Or just censor those that comment on your blog if that makes it easier for you.

You complain about a lot of things that I never brought up. I state that I do not think that the choice to kill a baby is not a right. Am I wrong?

I gathered from your rant that you consider an embryo with a heart beat is now a baby. Am I right?

To save time, I am going to ask the next question as if the last statement is true. Would you then still believe a women has the right to end the life of a baby, as long as it is in her womb?

I am not asking these questions out of hostility and I hope you are not offended by me asking them. I really do what to know what you stance is and how you justify that stance. It is too easy to box someone into a pro-life or pro-choice label, when that label probably does not fit.

HIM: One last question. Is there any point where you believe a baby has a right to life while it is in a women’s body?

This is based on normal pregnancy and not considering medical complications that put a women’s life in danger.

I thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and I am finding your answers very educational. I understand that we will not come to an agreement based on this discussion, but I do believe that if we understand each other more that we can eventually come to an understanding.

ME: I would like to know if you believe in less government at
all. If so, why shouldn’t my private life, my bedroom and my uterus be outside
your control, especially if i pay for the procedure myself and the most
important element being that the procedure is safe, affordable with women being
responsible and reasonable enough to make their own decisions. I feel any medical
procedure I am required to pay for or not is totally my personal business and in my opinion, everyone should mind your
own business . The Hyde amendment should be enough for anyone to accept.
Planned Parenthood is a company that provides a safe environment for women,
what part of that is hard to understand. I do not believe people in Congress think
about the number of women that go there and it is not to have an
abortion. Reports are that 3% of the visits are abortion related. Planned
Parenthood provides a great services beyond that sleazy image so many
Teapublicans prefer to project to the public. I would wager that under certain
circumstances even daughters/sons of the well to do go there as well as college
women in need. I don’t think you get
it-using Latin words instead of emotions about a very emotional topic for any
woman is a problem, while you may think it’s used improperly the point is women
are smart enough to decide on medical procedures on their own and having a
choice is the point. I do not think any woman has an abortion for fun. It is a
topic far deeper than the clinical crap you are spewing. The fact is there was
a time when women and young women were desperate enough to use coat
hangers drugs or fake doctors to “take
care” of the problem and the reality is having unwanted babies is not the
answer and a woman’s body does not belong to you or the government. I think the
current laws rules and attitudes are suffocating to women in general. Women all
over the World should be able to decide for themselves have consultations with
their doctors and hope that a great doctor will provide safe and affordable
health care. I just read your comment and you sound controlling, act like the
decider , the guy/gal who thinks women should be pregnant and barefoot which is
pure BS and i do not understand this logic. The clinical and or professorial
attitude shows just how little you know about women and giving up my personal
control to you or my government is definitely a definition of big
government .

———————————————

ME: i believe we can call a baby a baby when a heartbeat can be
heard, which is about at 9weeks depending on the woman but that does not change
my mind about abortion. Women should not
lose the right to choose; we should be treated as intelligent enough to decide
and contrary to popular thought doctors actually do counsel and discuss options
but those choices those options are being slowly taken away by the likes of Republican
Tea Party under the disguise or family values platform when in reality it is
family enforcement. It makes no sense to think this is anyone’s business except
for the woman and her doctor, it baffles my mind to think a member of congress,
a stranger thinks my uterus should be controlled by them because of their own
personal beliefs, religion, values. I do believe that the Senate will respect a
woman’s right to choose though Republicans feel women should be seen and not
heard i guess with the cutting slashing and burning of safe, clean and truly
great facilities that help girls, young women and older women on a daily basis
for all kinds of things not just abortion. The fact is that places like Planned
Parenthood also talk to young men about their responsibilities and about
contraceptive etc. The idea of trying to keep a strong hold on information, procedures and
personal choice can only be harmful to the progress in the realm of women’s
health care –

—————————————-

ME: That’s funny. If what you said were true i wouldn’t have
even responded to your comment”, choosing to kill a baby is not a right.” I
actually responded each time even with the first question because you sounded excessively
clinical to professorial and if it sounded hostile, that is because of the first
comment with pictures. The question you asked in it brings up abortion. The hilarity
of just reading the comment, “choosing to kill a baby is not right” and the sadness
of the tremendous hold that men and or politicians from the Republican Tea
Party

Actually, i did not say an embryo equals a baby; I said that
when a heartbeat is heard i would deem it as a baby, which is usually at 9wks
could be more. I am saying anything
before that i would say is not a baby … and i would say a woman has the right
to choose to do whatever she and her doctor have agreed to in private without
outside forces to interrupt because whatever is going on in a woman’s body,
womb, uterus is hers unless she so choses to share. I am somewhat offended
because you do not get it. I do not think you, me , the government, or anyone
else for that matter has a say in what a woman does with her body. I am both
pro-life …i have kids and pro-choice because women have the intelligence to
decide what they want, don’t you agree? What is missing is your justification
for saying choosing to kill a baby is not right and I have to ask… is it any of
your business to begin with. I know where i stand and why but i have no idea
why you feel the way you do.

As a woman, the passion or as you say hostility i show for a woman’s right to
choose is because the Republican led House cut slashed and burnt women and
children lately, these actions give me a bad feeling and could possibly create
situations where women of all ages will resort to desperate measures. I believe
in providing choices for women which men, politicians, women who have outdated
ideas about women ’s rights keep trying to take away, and it just does not make
sense at all

—————————

ME: That is the point isn’t it. We as individuals should have
the right to decide for ourselves. My response to your question as to when life
begins is just that my response, it is not meant to represent anyone else or
speak for others. I can only speak for myself so your question about ” holding
to the standard that a woman may only have freedom of choice before 9wks,” is
odd because there is no standard to health care as no one has the same issues
or complications or outcomes. I do not subscribe to nor did i say women should
be limited to 9weeks only that for me life started when a heartbeat could be
heard which is also different for each woman. I do subscribe to privacy with each
woman in America having the right to choose and no one has the right to enforce
laws rules and or control such a personal event. I am definitely offended but
baffled as well by those who still in this 21st Century believe that a Woman no
matter what economic status does not seem to have enough sense to make their own
decisions. Therefore, i will say i cannot relate to your questions regarding killing
a baby. That question used by folks who
want women to feel bad but the fact is the Hyde Amendment addresses the rights
and the rule of law of a woman considering an abortion and anything else
certainly is not my business nor are they yours or our Politicians who seem to
want to invade a woman’s privacy on so many levels. Now, conservative
Politicians want to make it harder than ever to purchase contraceptives and
while they feel this mission are important they have underestimated women and their
independent thoughts and behavior.

I think we are at an impasse and while I appreciate the comments, we definitely
do not agree on this particular topic. -thank you for the comments though

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