Feminist Weekly October 08
News clippings and #FeministWins curated by Contributing News Editor Annie Wu Henry, The Recount, and Good Good Good Co. From feel good news to headliners keeping you on the pulse. Here is the round up for the week!
A federal judge temporarily blocked on Wednesday a near-total ban on abortion in Texas, the toughest such law in the United States, following a challenge from President Joe Biden's administration after the U.S. Supreme Court let it proceed. The action by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin prevents the state from enforcing the Republican-backed law, which prohibits women from obtaining an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, while litigation over its legality continues. The case is part of a fierce legal battle over abortion access in the United States, with numerous states pursuing restrictions. (Via Reuters)
The decision affects almost 7 million women and girls of reproductive age 15–49 living in Texas. "Women of color, Black, Latina and migrant women are the ones who will suffer the most. Some of these women will be faced with carrying out a pregnancy they don't want," said Marcela Howell, head of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda. SB8, The texas near abortion ban, prohibits terminations - even for victims of rape and incest - once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually at six weeks and often before a woman even realizes she is pregnant.
In a historic moment, three sitting members in Congress shared their Abortion Stories.
“Today, I sat before the Oversight Committee as a nurse, pastor, activist, survivor, single mom, and Congresswoman to testify that in the summer of 1994 I was raped, became pregnant, and chose to have an abortion.” – Representative Cori Bush Representatives Cori Bush, Pramila Jayapal and Barbara Lee opened up about their own abortions during a house hearing on abortion rights leading up the October 2nd National Rally for Abortion Justice. The hearing comes weeks after a Texas law took effect that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy with no exception for rape or incest. Other conservative states are considering similar measures. Reproductive rights activists have expressed concern that the Supreme Court’s decision on Texas could signal justices might overturn Roe v. Wade in the case of Mississippi’s abortion ban. The Supreme Court plans to hear arguments on the direct challenge to the 1973 ruling in December. (Via The Hill)
ICYMI
The Beijing Winter Olympics will allow domestic but not foreign spectators. — The International Olympic Committee announced that some Chinese fans will be permitted to attend the Beijing 2022 Winter Games in February. These domestic spectators will have to follow rules imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and international spectators will still not be allowed to attend the event, just as they were not permitted at the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Athletes and officials will stay within a "closed-loop" system to protect them from infection and according to the committee, unvaccinated participants will face lengthy quarantines and daily testing. Team USA has announced that it will require all athletes and staff members to be fully vaccinated before leaving for Beijing. (Via USA Today)
Whistle-Blower, Frances Haugen, Unites Lawmakers in Calling for Regulation of Facebook. — After collecting thousands of documents and studies relating to mental health issues, violence, and crisis related to the Facebook algorithm, Frances Haugen publicly became a whistleblower over via 60minutes interview detailing the companies focus on profit over people. Following the interview, Frances Haugen spent hours detailing to lawmakers how the social network harms young people in congress. Facebook disagreed with her testimony but said new rules for the internet were long overdue: ‘It is time for Congress to act.’ (Via NYTimes)
23 species are going to be taken off the endagered list because they are now extinct.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing 23 species from the endangered species list because they have gone extinct. According to Government scientists, they have exhausted all methods to find any remaining trace of the 23 bird, fish, and other species that include the ivory-billed woodpecker (which was America's largest woodpecker) and the Backman's warbler, one of America's rarest songbirds. These experts have also warned that climate change and habitat destruction will likely lead to more extinctions. "With climate change and natural area loss pushing more and more species to the brink, now is the time to lift up proactive, collaborative, and innovative efforts to save America's wildlife," said Deb Haaland, U.S. Secretary of the Interior. (Via Reuters)
Hundreds fled from a fire on the Honduran island of Guanaja — A large fire destroyed and damaged dozens of houses and businesses on the Honduran island of Guanaja and caused hundreds to flee and seek safety. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear and the Honduran Air Force was able to get control of the blaze by dropping water on the island. The government confirmed there were no fatalities but there were "vast material losses," said Max Gonzales, Honduras' minister of the National System for Risk Management and National Contingencies agency. (Via Al Jazeera)
Congress has approved a bill to avert agovernment shutdown. — Just hours before the midnight deadline, Congress approved a stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded and averting a shutdown. President Biden quickly signed the legislation which keeps federal agencies funded until Dec. 3. Although a temporary fix, the issue of the debt ceiling is still unresolved. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned lawmakers that the government will run out of ways to stave off a potentially catastrophic default by mid-October. (Via Washington Post)
#FeministWins
A judge has suspended Britney Spears' father as conservator.
Judge Brenda Penny has granted a petition from Britney Spears' lawyers to have her father, Jaime Spears, suspended as overseer of the singer's $60 million estate. Britney Spears is advocating to have h3er 13-year conservatorship terminated completely and previously called the arrangement abusive and exploitative. "I am traumatized," she said. Judge Penny said allowing Spears' fathe to continue controlling her life and fortune under the current arrangement was "not tenable," and named a California accountant, John Zabel, as temporary conservator of the singer's finances. Britney's conservatorship was set up in 2008 after the pop star's father said it was necessary due to her mental health struggles and substance abuse and many fans have been taking part in the #FreeBritney movement for years. (Via New York Times)
Thousands marched across the U.S. to protest the Texas abortion law.
With the new Texas law that bans most abortions after six weeks and the threat of Roe v. Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court in upcoming months, thousands of protestors gathered around the United States to advocate for reproductive health care and rights. "No matter where you live, no matter where you are, this moment is dark — it is dark — but that's why we're here," Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of Planned Parenthood said during the rally in Washington, D.C. (Via The Washington Post)
Playboy magazine's first openly gay cover star is Bretman Rock.
“For Playboy to have a male on the cover is a huge deal for the LGBT community, for my brown people community and it’s all so surreal. A total ‘is this even fucking happening right now?’ type of vibe. And I’m so pretty.”– Bretman Rock (Via Playboy)
"All school staff will have access to a toolkit of LGBTQ-inclusive teaching resources from the week commencing 20 September, as well as having to take a basic awareness e-learning course. In addition to this, there will be an array of inclusive lesson plans and support materials made available to those working in education. LGBTQ+ history and topics will now be taught explicitly in Scotland, as well as being integrated into everyday learning where possible. In practice, this will include things as simple as a maths problem about a child trying to figure out how much money they need to buy Father’s Day cards for their two dads." (Via Gay Times)
Germany elected its first two transgender women to parliament.
Two German politicians just made history by becoming the country's first transgender women elected to parliament. Tessa Ganserer and Nyke Slawik are members of the Greens party, the fourth-largest party in Germany, which grew its representation to 14.8% — up from 8.9% in 2017. "It is a historic victory for the Greens, but also for the trans-emancipatory movement and for the entire queer community," Ganserer told Reuters, adding that the results were a symbol of an open and tolerant society. In 1969, Germany decriminalized homosexuality, and in 2017, it legalized same-sex marriage and adoption by gay parents, and passed a partial ban on conversion therapy. Notably, Ganserer's name didn't appear on the ballot, rather the name her parents gave her at birth did. Under German law, people need a medical certificate — which can cost thousands of dollars — before they can legally change their name and gender identity. Changing that law is at the top of Ganserer's priority list in parliament, as well as changing legislation to allow lesbian mothers to adopt children, too. (Via Good Good Good)
CA Gov Newsom signed a law to make universal mail-in voting permanent.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law that will require election officials to send a mail-in ballot to every registered voter for every election. Mail-in voting became more wide-spread during the 2020 election to help people vote more safely due to the Coronavirus. California is now the eighth state to have permanent mail-in ballots which only allows for more voter participation and a more accurate democracy. (Via LA Times)
DREAMers are protected from deportation.
The Biden administration has proposed a rule that will work to restore a program to protect hundreds of thousands of DREAMers against deportation. DREAMers are immigrants who arrived in the United States without documentation when they were only young children. In July, a federal judge in Houston ruled that the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was illegal, largely because of procedurual shortcuts taken by the Obama administration to pass the policy. Now the Biden administration's rule recreates the 2012 policy but it will go through the federal regulatory process to ensure its legality and continue to protect these children. (Via AP)
The Fridays for Future movement resumed street protests for the first time since the pandemic began.
From Nairobi and Barcelona, to London and Washington, D.C., youth climate protesters in Greta Tunberg's #fridaysforfuture movement have resumed mass street protests for the first time since the pandemic began. Though their numbers are lower than pre-pandemic, activists are confident more will be in attendance in the coming weeks. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ (Via Good Good Good)
ON THE PANDEMIC FRONT…
YouTube bans content that provides misleading and misinformed vaccine information. — YouTube announced it will be banning all content that spreads misleading or false information about coronavirus vaccines. YouTube is now taking down video channels associated with high-profile anti-vaccine activists, including Joseph Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Many experts have noted that misinformation from these channels has contributed to weak vaccination rates. (Via NPR)
The U.S. pandemic death toll has passed 700,000. — The United States' death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 700,000 on Friday with AP noting that the last 100,000 deaths came during a time period when vaccines were available to all Americans over the age of 12. Many doctors and public health officials have said many of these more recent deaths were likely preventable. (Via AP)
The Global COVID-19 deaths hit 5 million. — According to Reuters, the worldwide deaths related to COVID-19 has surpassed 5 million. The Delta strain has been particularly fatal with unvaccinated people being more likely to be exposed to the variant Delta strain. The variant has exposed the wide disparities in vaccination rates between rich and poor nations, and the increased number of anti-vaccine proponents in some western nations like the U.S. More than half of all global deaths reported on a seven-day average were in the United States, Russia, Brazil, Mexico and India. Although it took a little bit over a year for the COVID-19 death toll to hit 2.5 million, the following 2.5 million deaths were recorded in just under eight months, according to a Reuters analysis. (Via Reuters)
Annie Wu Henry is a journalist, social media expert and politics + pop culture junkie. On the cusp of being a gen-z and millennial she understands the power and privilege that social media holds and chooses to use her platform to utilize these tools for good. Through sharing news in digestible, entertaining and easy to understand content, Annie seeks to promote the message that anyone can be an activist and make an impact. She believes people are important and thrives on building meaningful connections with others through sharing our stories and perspectives. As a proud adopted Asian-American, her work focuses on equality, mental health, intersectionality and education.
