Salon Staff
No Plan B for Native American women
Despite being at exceptionally high risk for sexual assault, many have little access to emergency contraception
Many women in America’s most vulnerable communities are already forced to live out Rick Santorum’s contraception-less nightmare. Heather Michon explains:
After weeks of debate over personhood, Planned Parenthood funding, transvaginal ultrasounds, fetal pain, Fluke-fest, aspirin-between-the-knees, and the little matter of 130,000 economically disadvantaged Texas women losing access to basic health care starting today, discussions about the accessibility of Plan B seem so… December 2011. Ancient history.
But for one group of women, access to emergency contraception is an urgent and tragically unmet need: the hundreds of thousands of Native American women who live on reservation lands. Their struggle for a better standard of care is the subject of a recent roundtable discussion by the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center (NAWHERC).
The statistics are stark. More than 1 in 3 Native American women will be sexually assaulted their lifetimes, a rate much higher than the general population. In one study, a stunning 92 percent of young women reported they had been forced to have sex against their will on a date.
Read more on her Open Salon blog.
Santorum wins Alabama, Mississippi primaries
Romney running third behind Gingrich in both states VIDEO
Rick Santorum (Credit: AP) The rollicking Republican presidential contest —Steve Kornacki calls it “crazy“—continues in two southern states today as voters go to the polls in Alabama and Mississippi.
Join us here or on Twitter for a conversation about the results with Salon staff writers Steve Kornacki, Alex Pareene, religion correspondent Sarah Posner, and editor Jefferson Morley. Play along at #salonsouth.
LIVEBLOG: Super Tuesday
Romney headed for narrow victory in Ohio after taking three other states. Santorum wins three states VIDEO
Romney country (Credit: AP) White conservative manhood crisis
The recent GOP assault on women's rights stems from the same fears as the racist attacks on Obama
(Credit: AP) Rush Limbaugh and Rick Santorum’s attacks on women’s reproductive rights didn’t happen in a vacuum. They’re part of a larger conservative backlash against women, minorities and the poor. Chauncey DeVega explains:
Since the election of Barack Obama, the Tea Party GOP has embraced a kamikaze-like politics in which they are willing to destroy the proverbial village in order to liberate it. This appetite for destruction has reached a fever pitch during the last few weeks. Rick Santorum and the Republican Party have called for limiting women’s reproductive rights under the guise of defending “religion” from the “tyranny” of the Obama administration. A federal judge was caught forwarding an email to his friends suggesting that Barack Obama’s conception was the product of drunken sex between his mother Ann Dunham and a dog. And Rush Limbaugh launched a viciously misogynistic attack on Sandra Fluke, a private citizen, who dared to testify before Congress in defense of a woman’s right to have equal access to birth control.
On the surface, these incidents appear to be unrelated. They are simply the desperate graspings and mouth utterances of an increasingly fringe and desperate Republican Party which is determined to defeat Barack Obama by any means necessary. However, these events are all symptoms of a bigger problem. In the Age of Obama, white manhood — and a particular type of conservative white masculinity — is frightened, unsettled and terrified of its obsolescence. White (conservative) masculinity finds itself in an existential crisis.
Read more on Chauncey DeVega’s Open Salon blog.
Rush’s big enabler: The army
A government-funded radio station beams Limbaugh to service members around the globe
Rush Limbaugh (Credit: AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) As Rush Limbaugh faces more heat over his attempts to “slut”-shame Sandra Fluke for testifying before Congress in support of student healthcare-covered birth control, there’s one big supporter of the conservative talk show host that’s largely avoided scrutiny: the U.S. military. On Open Salon, Heather Michon explains:
Continue Reading CloseLIVEBLOG: Romney wins Michigan primary
Follow how his big night unfolded with Salon staff and friends VIDEO
Mitt Romney (Credit: Reuters) Page 2 of 90 in Salon Staff
