rapeculturerealities
Experiences with Rape Culture
Sharing information about & calling out rape culture. A blog for survivors & activists. If you have a comment /question or would like to share an experience we would love to hear from you. TERFS /SWERFS DO NOT INTERACT
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Indiana attorney general pushes to disclose terminated pregnancy reports
Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt released an informal opinion last December stating the information gathered by Terminated Pregnancy Reports, or TPRs, could be used to identify patients — “especially in smaller communities.”
Attorney General Todd Rokita released an advisory opinion Thursday that said the decision to not disclose the individual reports complicates enforcement of Indiana law.
Rokita said the reports have been publicly available since the 1970s, but there was “an abrupt change” in policy following the public access counselor’s opinion.
However, with fewer patients receiving abortions following the near-total abortion ban, the Indiana Department of Health raised concerns that releasing the full individual reports could violate patient confidentiality — especially with increased reporting requirements added in 2022.
Britt’s opinion said the statute requires IDOH to provide aggregated data in quarterly public reports, which suggests the individual forms are “non-public.”
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‘I was unashamed’: Yumi Ishikawa on fighting sexism in Japan
It was meant to be just one of her regular, mundane musings about life as a woman in Japan. But Yumi Ishikawa’s life changed with a tweet she posted on January 24 this year: “Someday I want to get rid of the practice of women having to wear heels and pumps at work.”
The 32-year-old actor was working as an usher in a funeral parlour at the time, a job that involved eight-hour shifts in heels measuring 5cm-7cm. Her comment went viral; it has been retweeted 29,000 times, helping her become the face of the #KuToo movement — a play on the Japanese words for shoes (kutsu), pain (kutsuu) and #MeToo.
Encouraged by the response, Ishikawa, who is also a freelance writer, launched a petition for a ban on high-heel stipulations by employers in Japan. When she submitted her petition to the health ministry in June, it had been signed by nearly 19,000 people and has now collected more than 31,500 signatures.
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Kansas law will require ID to view acts of 'homosexuality'
The governor of Kansas vetoed n anti-LGBTQ+ bill while simultaneously letting a law pass requiring ID to view "acts of homosexuality."
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly issued vetoes Friday against a ban on gender-affirming care for minors as well as two anti-abortion measures. She also let pass without her signature a law requiring age-verification to view content "harmful to minors."
Under Kansas criminal law, material "harmful to minors" includes nudity and "sexual content," which is defined in part as "acts of masturbation, homosexuality, or sexual intercourse."
The law, which will go into effect on July 1, requires users to share their government-issued identification in order to view adult content. Websites can be fined up to $10,000 for each instance a minor accesses their content, and parents are allowed to sue for damages of at least $50,000.
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GOP Leaders in Arizona accidentally leaked abortion strategy to Dems
Republican lawmakers are considering options to defeat a citizens’ ballot initiative this fall that enshrines the right to abortion access in the state constitution.
The strategy includes referring separate abortion measures to the ballot that could potentially split or dilute support for the Arizona Abortion Access Act that more than 500,000 voters have signed.
The details were revealed in a PowerPoint presentation that was supposed to be circulated among Republicans only but was accidentally sent to Democratic lawmakers.
“The document presents ideas drafted for internal discussion and consideration within the caucus. I’ve publicly stated that we are looking for options to address this subject and this is simply part of that,” Republican House Speaker Ben Toma said.
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Birth control bill stalls in Louisiana Legislature; see why | Local Politics | nola.com
A bill to enshrine the right to contraception in state law has stalled in the Legislature amid pushback from powerful conservative lobbying groups that have been at the forefront of Louisiana’s anti-abortion movement.
House Bill 395 by state Rep. Delisha Boyd, D-New Orleans, would bar the state from enacting laws or regulations that restrict “the sale or use of contraceptives or emergency contraceptives.”
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Australian police investigate why women were targeted in Sydney stabbing attack
Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed six people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men, a police commissioner said Monday. The killer’s father blamed his son’s frustration at not having a girlfriend.
Police shot and killed the homeless assailant, Joel Cauchi, during his knife attack in the Westfield Bondi Junction mall on Saturday near world-famous Bondi Beach.
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Stickers, soap and legal help: the rise of Mexico City’s ‘feminist markets’ | Global development | The Guardian
On weekdays, Marchigua prints stickers and posters with slogans, which she sells or exchanges with fellow traders. She chose to work at the market after being exhausted by the discrimination and abuse she experienced in the workplace over her sexuality. She now calls herself a full-time activist.
“Part of our philosophy is to underscore the act of seizing public spaces as women and gender dissidents – a political stance,” she says, handing over a set of $2 stickers in her first sale of the day. “It’s about showcasing our capacity to sustain ourselves and generate our own resources.”
Mar Cruz, a human rights advocate in Mexico, has been following the development of the Mercaditas Feministas since 2016, when it began as a Facebook group where women sold and exchanged food and other products.
It embodies “new economic approaches”, she says, where not just money changes hands but also there is a “barter of products, knowledge and services tailored to individual needs, from menstrual healthcare to psychological assistance or legal services”.
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Women and girls mired in Sudan crisis suffer surge in sexual violence | UNHCR
Women and girls account for more than half of all registered refugees from Sudan, although the proportion is higher in some host countries. On top of the inherent dangers posed by conflict and displacement, women and girls have been exposed to shocking levels of sexual violence, whether in conflict-affected areas inside Sudan, on the move, or in countries of asylum.
In a report on gender-based violence during the crisisLink is external published at the end of 2023, UNHCR reported that women and girls inside Sudan were bearing the brunt of the consequences of the conflict, including “alarming” levels of sexual violence. Many of those seeking asylum have experienced or witnessed harassment, abduction, rape, sexual assault, sexual exploitation and other forms of violence during their journeys.
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Court rules Missouri AG entitled to transgender care records
A St. Louis judge has ordered Planned Parenthood to turn over certain documents to Attorney General Andrew Bailey in his ongoing investigation of transgender health care providers.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer on Thursday ruled that the state’s Merchandising Practices Act entitled the Republican attorney general to documents he requested that weren’t protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the federal law known as HIPAA that protects patient privacy.
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Since its debut, privacy and public health experts have pointed with alarm to a number of significant oversights in Calmara’s design, such as its flimsy consent verification, its potential to receive child pornography and an over-reliance on images to screen for conditions that are often invisible.
But even as a rudimentary screening tool for visual signs of sexually transmitted infections in one specific human organ, tests of Calmara showed the service to be inaccurate, unreliable and prone to the same kind of stigmatizing information its parent company says it wants to combat.
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In Indonesia, trans women face unique challenges due to climate change: ‘hard to make money’ | South China Morning Post
Trans women are among the most affected by extreme weather linked to climate change, as well as suffering disproportionately when disasters strike
Most of them are shut out of the formal economy and survive as buskers and sex workers, occupations that rely on them being able to solicit clients outdoors
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‘Staggering’ rise in women with reproductive health issues near DRC cobalt mines – study | Women's health | The Guardian
Women and girls living in cobalt-mining communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are reporting a “staggering” rise in serious reproductive health issues, including miscarriages and birth defects, according to a new report.
An investigation published by the UK-based human rights group Rights & Accountability in Development (Raid) and the Kinshasa-based NGO Afrewatch said that women and girls living around cobalt mines reported experiencing irregular menstruations, urogenital infections, vaginal mycoses and warts.
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‘Over my dead body’, say Gambian mothers amid efforts to lift FGM ban | FGM | Al Jazeera
In 2015, the Gambian parliament took the historic step to pass the Women’s (Amendment) Act of 2015, which criminalised FGM and made it punishable by up to three years in prison – a significant shift after years of advocacy.
But recently, on March 18, politicians voted 42 to 4 to advance a controversial new bill which would repeal the landmark FGM ban if it passes following further consultation and expert opinion from specialised government ministries.
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Woman Who Was Charged With Murder After Abortion Sues Texas Prosecutor - The New York Times
A woman in Texas who was falsely charged with murder over a self-induced abortion in 2022 has filed a lawsuit against the local prosecutor’s office and its leaders, seeking more than $1 million in damages.
Lizelle Gonzalez was arrested in April 2022 in Starr County, near the southeastern border with Mexico, and charged with murder after using the drug misoprostol to self-induce an abortion, 19 weeks into her pregnancy. She spent two nights in jail before the charge was dropped.
Self-induced abortions can refer to those performed outside of professional medical care, including the use of abortion pills. Under Texas law at the time, abortions after six weeks were illegal, but pregnant women are exempt from criminal prosecution. (Health care professionals who provide abortion procedures and medication, and others who help someone get an abortion, can still be liable.)
Ms. Gonzalez, who was known as Lizelle Herrera and 26 at the time of her arrest, filed a complaint on Thursday against Starr County, along with its district attorney, Gocha Ramirez, and assistant district attorney, Alexandria Lynn Barrera. She argues that the arrest and charge resulted in her suffering reputational harm and distress, and seeks to “vindicate her rights but also to hold accountable the government officials who violated them,” according to her lawsuit.
Ms. Gonzalez and her lawyers were not immediately available for comment on Saturday.
Mr. Ramirez and Ms. Barrera also did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit. A month ago, the state bar of Texas found that Mr. Ramirez had unlawfully prosecuted Ms. Gonzalez without probable cause and fined him $1,250. His law license will also be held in probated suspension for a year, which means he must comply with specific requirements but can practice law during that time. That period starts April 1.
According to the complaint, Ms. Gonzalez took the abortion medication in January 2022 and went to the hospital for an examination. Doctors found a positive heartbeat for the baby and no contractions, so she was discharged the next day. But later that day, she returned to the hospital with complaints of vaginal bleeding, and doctors performed a C-section to deliver a stillborn child.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of misoprostol and mifepristone, another commonly used abortion pill, through 10 weeks of pregnancy, under the supervision of a health care provider. But the World Health Organization endorses self-induced abortions in pregnancies of up to 12 weeks without medical supervision.
Ms. Gonzalez says in the lawsuit that the hospital employees reported her self-induced abortion to the district attorney’s office, in violation of federal privacy laws, though her lawsuit does not name them or the hospital as defendants.
The lawsuit says that neither the Starr County Sheriff’s Office nor the Rio Grande City Police Department performed an investigation with sufficient facts or circumstances surrounding the murder charge against her, and only relied on reports from the hospital. Ms. Gonzalez also accuses them of misleading the grand jury with false information to secure an indictment against her.
“The fallout from defendants’ illegal and unconstitutional actions has forever changed” Ms. Gonzalez’s life, the complaint says. She “was subjected to the humiliation of a highly publicized indictment and arrest, which has permanently affected her standing in the community.”
When the charge against Ms. Gonzalez was dropped, Mr. Ramirez said that it was “clear” that she “cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her,” and acknowledged that “the events leading up to this indictment have taken a toll” on Ms. Gonzalez and her family. At the time, the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life supported Mr. Ramirez’s decision to drop the charges, saying Texas’ law “clearly prohibit criminal charges for pregnant women.”
Ms. Gonzalez’s indictment occurred several months before the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and before Texas’ near-total ban on abortions went into effect. Even with the stricter ban, those who get an abortion cannot be criminally prosecuted.
Melissa Murray, a law professor at New York University, said Ms. Gonzalez’s lawsuit could serve to raise consciousness in Texas and beyond, to “understand that we are moving very quickly into a kind of dystopian, post-Dobbs landscape.”
“I think she could be very successful here,” Ms. Murray said of Ms. Gonzalez. “And if she isn’t, even if it doesn’t make it to trial, she could make him pay to settle this,” referring to Mr. Ramirez.
The lawsuit could act as a deterrent to other officials around the state, Ms. Murray said. But it could also “have the effect of spurring the anti-abortion movement to lobby the Legislature to actually make pregnant people subject to criminal or civil liability.”
Roni Caryn Rabin, Giulia Heyward and Sophie Kasakove contributed reporting.
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Florida Supreme Court Allows 6-Week Abortion Ban, but Voters Will Weigh In - The New York Times
The Florida Supreme Court overturned decades of legal precedent on Monday in ruling that the State Constitution’s privacy protections do not extend to abortion, effectively allowing Florida to ban the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.
But in a separate decision released at the same time, the justices allowed Florida voters to decide this fall whether to expand abortion access. The court ruled unanimously that a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to abortion “before viability,” usually around 24 weeks, could go on the November ballot.
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Admin note
Just a quick reminder that i periodically comb through reblogs and new follows for TERF /SWERF folks to block.
I don't know how much clearer i can make it. We don't want you here. I don't want content from this blog in a radfem feed. See yourselves out or i will.
-Spider
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