The Well-Timed Period gives us this trenchant “shorter Pope”: “If those Africans could just deal with the horrific threats posed by divorce, abortion, and a contraceptive mentality [threats on par with human trafficking], think how much more safe and serene the fabric of their life would be.”

Ophelia Payne at XX notes yet another study showing children raised by gay parents are doing just fine, thank you, and concludes: “Either we do our best to integrate families of all shades and kinds into mainstream culture, or we shame them for the audacity to do the best for their children.”

Reproductive Rights Blog notes the almost unbelievable, contemptuous (and beyond contemptible) viciousness of Louisiana’s anti-abortion waiting-period and mandatory-counseling laws designed to coerce women to carry unwanted pregnancies to term – and which are applied to victims of rape and incest as well as all other women.

And more . . .!

Amanda at Pandagon reminds us that the Violence Against Women Act is up for renewal – which means this vital legislation is at risk, in a Republican-controlled Congress; Lauryn at Feministing is on this story as well (with links)

Amanda at Pandagon has another good post, this one on the horrendous story of the young Texas man sentenced to life in prison for assisting his girlfriend with her desperate, terrible self-abortion; the story is more complicated than that, looking more like abuse than lack of access to abortion when the details are filled in; Amanda does a good job of keeping it in perspective

Jesse Taylor at Pandagon catches Concerned Women for America, being . . . um, “concerned” about the “Deep Throat” revelation – because use of the phrase “Deep Throat” is psychologically harmful to children (they manage to work in Bill Clinton and . . . Schindler’s List before they’re done).

Amanda at Pandagon calls out the evolutionary psychologists for a particularly bad example of “just-so-stories” explaining away violence against women; she has a followup post as well; Alley Rat has some thoughtful commentary on both, and the overall issue

[Note that Pandagon was running a 24-hr blogathon this weekend to raise money to support human-rights work by Amnesty International. They're still accepting donations! Some notable guest-posts from the blogathon are below.]

Chalie Killian of Shades of Grey, guest-blogging at Pandagon comments on the rhetorical trope “What if it were your daughterI wouldn’t really give a damn.”

Lindsay Beyerstein of Majikthise, guest-blogging at Pandagon, praises Nicholas Kristoff for a great multi-media presentation on the terrible problem of vaginal fistula in Africa, and an amazing woman who is helping solve it. “Kudos to Kristoff for not being too squeamish to talk about vaginas in a voiceover. I didn’t know he had the balls, so to speak.”; Health Law Prof Blog offers similar praise

Scott Lemieux, guest-blogging at Pandagon, contributes “Things Every Progressive Should Know About Abortion”

Guav, guest-blogging at Pandagon, notes the double-standard regarding how we view the objectification of young female and young male bodies, and whether they are in a gay or straight context

[It was quite a week for Pandagon! But then it always is.]

Edward of Obsidian Wings is unhappy with Gov. Rick Perry of Texas for his display of Christian bias in triumphally endorsing bills restricting abortion and gay marriage while at an evangelical rally at a Chrisitian church school: “Texas Governor Rick Perry is one ignorant s.o.b. I’d call him a “sack of sh*t,” but I wouldn’t want to insult manure.”

Bill of Maternal and Child Health notes that the religious-liberal argument that liberals should take “values voters” more seriously addresses some issues that have measurable empirical outcomes (often favoring the “values issues” perspective)

Lindsay at Majikthise comments on abysmal prison healthcare, particularly the fact that New York State’s shoddy outsourced-care contractor has been cited for numerous violations, some leading to deaths, but has just had its $3B contract renewed

Jeffrey Feldman of Frameshop (a George Lakoff-inspired blog) had a provocative article on emphasizing the moral distinctions between embryos/fetuses and children to break the “zygote=child” meme; Lindsay of Majikthise has some thoughtful commentary on it

HealthLawProf Blog notes developments in an ongoing case in Texas of parental refusal to seek universally-recommended treatment for their pre-teen daughter with leukemia

HealthLawProf Blog also notes the DOJ’s “surprising” unilateral ruling that HIPAA is not enforceable against most individuals who work for healthcare institutions, nor even to outsiders who steal confidential medical information (yes, the agency headed by the man who brought us legal torture has now ruled that the law requiring medical privacy cannot be interpreted to punish those who violate medical privacy)

HealthLawProf Blog also notes Democratic Rep. Edward Markey’s report that: “most pharma companies using FDA’s “accelerated approval” process (for drugs for patients with life-threatening illnesses) have failed to perform the legally-required post-marketing studies”

Jessica of Feministing comments, on a story of a nurse who sought a job that involved dispensing emergency contraception at a college health clinic, stated in the job interview that she would not perform those duties, and is now suing because she was denied the position: “I wonder how much of this is actually someone who really believes her freedom of religious expression is being infringed on and how much of it is Pharmacists-For-Life-esque political posturing.” (In answer, note that her lawsuit is bankrolled by Pat Robertson’s anti-choice group “American Center for Law and Justice”.)

Jill at Feministe takes David Brooks to task for seeing AIDS care in Africa as a growth opportunity

Becky at Archaeopteryx is stunned by the vicious indifference to even their own children’s well-being seen in promoters of “abstinence-only” programs

Griswold Anniversary

This week saw the 40th anniversary of the Griswold v. Connecticut decision that made birth control legal for married couples and established the Constitutional privacy language that was applied in Roe v. Wade 7 years later. Many health-bloggers noted this important date (and how recently the enjoyment of these basic rights was not just unavailable, but criminal). Here are some of the posts:

Reproductive Rights Blog

Pandagon

Feministing

Sufficient Scruples

[I know there are many more commentaries on the anniversary. These are the ones I happened to read.]

Zach and “Refuge”

Another issue getting a lot of attention this week was the plight of a 16-year old blogger from Tennessee who trusted his parents with the knowledge that he is gay, and within two weeks was shipped off to an evangelical Christian “ex-gay ministry” with an unbelievably regimented set of rules and an extremely offensive theology (not to mention simply loopy notions of homosexuality and psychotherapy). His case sparked daily protests (still ongoing as of this writing) and some media attention, with many people expressing concern as his fear and despair mount visibly. Here are some of the posts about him:

[Note: a consensus has developed that, as this young man is a minor and remains in a very vulnerable position, bloggers should remove direct links to his own blog or uses of his name and description. I have removed them here - but I have seen his blog and other coverage of the case, and there is every reason to believe he is real, and is really in trouble.]

Republic of T (includes a roundup of media coverage of the case, and numerous links to bloggers and others covering it)

Pandagon

Majikthise

Alas, a Blog

Sufficient Scruples