Weekly Feminist Reader

I have a story in the current print issue (Jan/Feb) of The American Prospect about the politics of using RU-486 to treat cancer. It’s also online here.
Phill Kline’s investigation into a Kansas abortion provider won’t continue after Kline leaves office on January 8. But Kline is working hard to get charges filed before then.
Might it be possible to repeal the Global Gag Rule this year?
After initially banning an abstinence-only program, Rhode Island agreed to reinstate it — even though it’s still medically inaccurate and discriminatory.
The Vatican has upheld the 1996 excommunication of a Catholic reform group that supports the ordination of women.
In an issue about deaths this year, The New York Times reflects on Betty Friedan and Wendy Wasserstein. (There’s also a video on Wasserstein.) Notable omissions: Coretta Scott King, Jane Hodgson, and Ellen Willis.
Barbara Ehrenreich on DemocracyNow! speaks about poverty and global feminism.
The politics of Patricia Heaton, Feminists For Life’s celebrity spokesperson.
The movement to end violence against women in Darfur continues.
A New Mexico abstinence group is suing Governor Bill Richardson for failure to disclose how the state spends its federal abstinence-only dollars. I’m all for more transparency on how these federal grants are administered. But the abstinence group is basically just pissed because New Mexico has refused to indoctrinate kids 6th grade and younger with the abstinence-only message.
Shocker! Women who leave the workforce to raise children full-time are often financially screwed in later life.
Why the new sitcom My Boys does justice to the single gal more than Sex and the City ever did.
Even though the number of women in science continues to grow, they still routinely receive less research support than their male colleagues, and they have not reached the top academic ranks.
While many U.S. states still haven’t committed to covering the cost of the HPV vaccine, Britain is vaccinating all 12-year-old girls.
Funny how headlines never scream “fear grips town” when a serial rapist targets women. (Thanks to Erin for the link.)