Feature Archives

Eyal Press has written a book about the anti-choice reign of terror against abortion providers. He will be reading from the book, which is entitled “Absolute Convictions: My Father, a City and the Conflict that Divided America,” at Valencia Street Books (569 Valencia St. in SF) on Tuesday, April 25th at 6:30pm.

In 1973, Press and his family moved from Israel to Buffalo, where his father, Shalom, had accepted a three-year residency in obstetrics and gynecology. They arrived only three weeks after the Supreme Court had handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade. In the next three decades, they saw protesters outside their home, mock funerals at Shalom Press’s office and a 1998 threat on his life, which came shortly after his colleague was killed by James Kopp. The shooting of Dr. Barnett Slepian haunted Eyal, now a journalist, and compelled him to understand why the abortion conflict has sparked such passion and fierce moral convictions on both sides of the issue. In "Absolute Convictions," Press weaves together details of his father’s experience as an obstetrician with firsthand accounts and interviews with the protesters who were arrested outside his father’s office, patients who braved the gauntlet of demonstrators, and politicians on both sides.

Read more about Eyal Press and the book | Eyal Press's writings in The Nation | Event Sponsor BACORR

Two films were shown at the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco's Mission District on Wednesday, March 29th. “Leona's Sister Gerri” is an award winning film that tells the story of Gerri Santoro, who is the "real person" in the now famous photo of an anonymous woman on a motel floor, dead from an illegal abortion. The image became a symbol of why women's access to safe, legal health care is necessary. “The Last Abortion Clinic” is a film that gives demonstrates how the anti-abortion movement in states like Mississippi made access to abortion nearly impossible for poor women. The films will begin at 7:00pm.

BACORR, or Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights, is a coalition of organizations and individuals who are working for reproductive rights.

March 8th is International Women's Day (IWD). In many cities around the world, people observe a Global Women's Strike on that day. This year there were a number of Women Against War events around the US. International Women's Day is a day for women on all continents to come together to celebrate their struggle for equality, justice, peace and development

In solidarity with the European "Great Walk" of women against anti-woman laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, there was a march at 4:00pm in downtown Berkeley on IWD. ( Photos)

People gathered in front of the downtown Oakland military recruiting centers between 4:45 and 5:00 to vigil and distribute counter-recruitment materials. Then they marched through downtown Oakland with "Women say NO to war" and "Women say ENOUGH! BASTA!" banners, ending at the Unitarian Church for "Breaking Rank: Women of Color Soldiers Speak Out." (see 6:30pm below)
In San Francisco at 6:00pm on the USF campus, Bringing Women's Human Rights Home celebrated IWD and honor women's struggles for human rights and justice around the world.
A panel discussion entitled Voices of Middle Eastern Women was held at 6:00pm on the campus of San Jose State University. Women from Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Palestine raised awareness of the status of ordinary women, the main challenges they face, and ways that women can support one another in struggles against all forms of imperialism, colonialism, and patriarchy.
At 6:30pm, Breaking Rank: Women of Color Soldiers Speak Out took place in Oakland. The Women of Color Resource Center hosted a premiere screening of “Fashion Resistance to Militarism”, a documentary that looks at the militarization of U.S. society and culture and resistance by women and communities in the U.S. Following the screening there was a panel discussion with Aimee Alison and Tina Garnanez, two women of color and Iraq War veterans who are now spokespeople against the war and militarism.
Bay Area Women in Film And TV (BAWIFT) sponsored an IWD Short Film Showcase at 7pm in San Francisco. The WIFTI Showcase screenings took place in cities around the world on the same day, as a celebration of outstanding films by international women directors encompassing a broad range of styles, visions and passions worldwide.
At 7:00pm on the UC Berkeley campus, there was a screening of "Say I Do", a documentary about Filipina mail order brides.
Battle from the Margins was a 7:00pm San Francisco screening of films created through the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project.

Wikipedia's IWD Page | Indybay's Coverage of 2005 IWD | 2004 IWD

On March 3rd, Wal-Mart announced that it will stock emergency contraception (EC) in all of its pharmacies, starting on March 20th. This is seen as a concession to pressure from national women's rights organizations and their supporters. The company has stated that it will maintain its "conscientious objection" policy, which, it reports, is consistent with the tenets of the American Pharmaceutical Association. This policy, except where prohibited by law, "allows any Wal-Mart or SAM'S CLUB pharmacy associate who does not feel comfortable dispensing a prescription to refer customers to another pharmacist or pharmacy."

On Feb. 1st, three women filed a lawsuit against the national chain for not dispensing emergency contraception (also known as Plan B) in Massachusetts. Before the lawsuit even reached court, a state agency ruled that Wal-Mart was required by law to stock and sell emergency contraception in Massachusetts. The company is required to sell the product in Illinois, and pressure to introduce similar mandates is building in Connecticut and New York.

NOW named Wal-Mart a "Merchant of Shame" nearly four years ago, pointing to the retail giant's long list of alleged workplace abuses, including sex and race discrimination in pay, promotion and compensation, and its refusal to stock EC. "It's a step in the right direction," NOW President Kim Gandy said. "But Wal-Mart has a long way to go before it has policies that value people over the bottom line, such as paying its employees a living wage and providing healthcare benefits." NOW says that its chapters regularly picket the retail giant, demanding changes in its anti-women policies. NARAL Pro-Choice America is encouraging people to write to Wal-Mart to encourage the company to change its pharmacy refusal policy.

Planned Parenthood's Fill My Pills NOW website

On Friday, March 3rd, and every Friday until the state of emergency ends, the Gabriela Network says, it will hold Emergency Rallies in San Francisco Against the State of Emergency in the Philippines. People will gather at Sutter and Powell in San Francisco from 5pm to 7pm to demand an end to the state of emergency, the ouster of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and freedom for the six party-list congresspeople who were arrested in the last week, and all political prisoners. The Gabriela Network is an organization of women in the US and the Philippines.

There will be weekly picket lines on Mondays in Washington DC; on Tuesdays in Seattle; Wednesdays in New York; Thursdays in Chicago; Fridays in Los Angeles and San Francisco; Saturdays at Irvine; and Sundays in San Diego. The date on which President Arroyo declared a State of Emergency/Martial Law was the 20th anniversary of the "People Power" movement to oust dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Rallies that have been held since the declaration have been violently dispersed, and warrants have been issued for activists from grassroots organizations. Read more about Arroyo's actions and the San Francisco rallies

Gabriela Network | Read more on Indybay's International News Page

On February 28th, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that could add to the increasing difficulty women face in obtaining reproductive health services. NOW says that if the Court's 8-0 decision in Scheidler, et al., v. National Organization for Women (NOW), et al. and Operation Rescue v. NOW, et al. ushers in a return to clinic violence in the United States, the organization is ready to fight in every jurisdiction.

For two decades, NOW has pursued every legal strategy, including three Supreme Court cases, to stave off the violent attacks that gripped this country from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. This case was brought under the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, and had been one of the organization's most successful long-term strategies. A federal jury had found unanimously that these defendants had engaged in a nationwide criminal enterprise to close women's health clinics through extortion, violence and threats of violence, and specified over a hundred acts in furtherance of their efforts.

NOW helped to draft and enact the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act in 1994, and intends to use that law to its fullest extent in pursuing those who would use violent means to prevent women from making their own reproductive decisions. Read more of NOW's statement

The filing of the Scheidler case and the resulting injunction, which protected clinics nationwide, contributed to the dramatic reduction in clinic violence that we have witnessed in recent years. Without strong protections against clinic assaults, the legal right to abortion could become meaningless. If women are too terrified to walk into clinics and healthcare providers are too terrified to keep their doors open, then the fight for reproductive freedom will be lost, even with Roe v. Wade still on the books. NARAL Pro-Choice America reports that in the past year there have been an attempted firebombing at a Louisiana clinic, and an incidence of arson in Florida. In the past decade approximately two murders, one attempted murder, two bombings, 18 incidents of arson, 298 acts of vandalism, 642 anthrax threats, 121 bomb threats, and 27 blockades have occurred at clinics. Since 1993, three doctors, two clinic employees, a clinic escort, and a security guard have been murdered. In addition to these seven murders, 17 attempted murders have also occurred since 1991. NOW has vowed to continue to use every legal tool at its disposal to protect women's right to obtain abortion services.

March 6th Update: South Dakota's governor today signed into law a ban on abortion in that state. The governor said that he expects that the law will be disputed in court and would not be allowed to take effect in July, as had been planned.

Both houses of the South Dakota legislature passed HB 1215 on February 22nd, agreeing to ban abortion. The law does not make exceptions for women who seek abortions due to rape, incest, or threats to their health. The Senate decided after debate that the only abortions that would be allowed in South Dakota would be those that are needed to save a woman's life. Also rejected was an effort to allow South Dakotans to decide the question in a referendum, and an effort to prevent state tax dollars from financing what is certain to be a long and expensive court battle.

The bill now goes to anti-choice Governor Mike Rounds, who will have 15 days to make his decision about signing. Although he has not indicated whether he will sign the bill, Rounds has said, “[a]bortion . . . should always be illegal.” However, he also said that he was uncertain if now was the right time for a "full frontal attack" on Roe v. Wade, as opposed to pressing for more laws that restrict abortions — limiting timing, methods, or the requirements for parental notification. The president of NARAL Pro-Choice America said, “South Dakotans who cherish the fundamental American values of freedom and personal responsibility must call on Gov. Rounds to veto this egregious legislation. We should work to reduce the need for abortion, not continue to battle about Roe v. Wade.”

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and Planned Parenthood Minnesota North Dakota South Dakota (PPMNS) denounced the South Dakota Senate's vote to ban abortion, and announced that they will fight the ban in court to protect Planned Parenthood patients. Tennessee faces similar legislation this week: Tennessee IMC coverage

Statements from Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America | NY Times article and Indybay readers' comments