This blog was originally posted for ACRJ.

“I want you to cuddle me while I fall asleep. That’s what mommies and daddies are for.”

I kept my daughter, Maddie, home from preschool yesterday to see if we could kick her persistent cold. All morning I had juggled streaming Netflix with phone meetings. Now I was trying to convince her to take a nap while I began drafting a blog piece on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, writing in my head until I could get her settled and return to my computer.

I was distractedly making coaxing sounds and bargains with her—yes, you can nap in the living room….no, you can’t drink milk on the couch--but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was mostly thinking about what I wanted to say about Roe, abortion, and reproductive justice when she cut through my mental chatter with, “cuddling—that’s what mommies and daddies are for.”

I have had two abortions—one when I was 21 and another when I was 30. Each was both clear and complex in its own way, and each brought its own complicated feelings and waves of relief.

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Our Youth Activist Network Manager Julia just sent out this call-to-action. Will you take a minute and join our virtual march for women's right and lives?

Dear Advocate-

From January 20 to 27, Advocates for Youth is joining the first-ever Trust Women Week, an online mass mobilization for women's lives and rights. This unique collaborative campaign is working with MoveOn.org and more than 50 organizations across the nation, including coordinating partner, the Trust Women/Silver Ribbon Campaign, to let legislators know that reproductive health, reproductive justice, and reproductive rights are at the top of our agenda and should be at the top of theirs, too. In this collaborative national action, messages from "virtual marchers," as the online participants are known, will be packaged and delivered directly to members of Congress, governors, and state legislators to underscore that Americans trust women to make their own decisions about their bodies and their lives.

Your Voice Counts! CLICK HERE to join the TRUST WOMEN WEEK Virtual March for Women's Lives and Rights.

Trust Women Week overlaps with the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and reasserts our firm commitment to reclaiming the future of reproductive decision-making in 2012. For the next seven days, we will be honoring women's experiences and voices by featuring a different story from the 1 in 3 Campaign. As you may know, the 1 in 3 Campaign is a grassroots movement to start a new conversation about abortion — telling our stories, on our own terms. Together, we can end the stigma women face each and every day and assure access to the full range of basic health care, including abortion.

Please join us in this collaborative week of action by sharing stories from the 1 in 3 Campaign on Facebook and Twitter — and by joining people from across the country for the Trust Women Week online march. One million participants are expected to join in this virtual freedom march, and a real-time online map will show the location of the virtual marchers.

Join the march TODAY! Add your voice to the TRUST WOMEN WEEK Virtual March.

I just joined the march! Will you?
Julia

by Ryann Dubiel, Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights

Editor's Note: This post was originally published on RH Reality Check.

With the recent decision by the Department of Health and Human Services to over-rule evidence-based recommendations by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow sale of Plan B One-Step over the counter, we once again witnessed the failure to prioritize women’s reproductive health, the continued politicization of access, and evidence of a disconnect of awareness by our policymakers of how increased access to this product would affect millions of women of all ages regardless or race or immigration status.

Latinas represent the population with the highest rate of women without health insurance; seeing a provider and accessing birth control is not an option for many women. Latinas also face a disproportionate number of barriers to EC. Under current rules, women face many barriers, including the requirement of a government-issued ID, residency in rural areas, high costs of the product, and lack of insurance. These rules disproportionately affect Latinas, their families, and immigrant communities in accessing birth control options.

We know that unintended pregnancy has serious economic and social costs, as well as costs to the woman, her family and the community.[i] In Colorado, 39 percent of pregnancies are unintended.[ii] These numbers are higher for women of color: for Latinas (47 percent), and African Americans (53 percent).[iii] And many of these unintended pregnancies affect our youth. We have found that one of the most effective ways to improve the success rate of female students in completing their education is to ensure they have access to comprehensive sexuality education, and to affordable medical care, including contraception, so they can make informed decisions about their sexual health.

Despite Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s work on numerous initiatives that positively affect Latinas’ reproductive health, she failed to work to understand the impact this decision would have on Latinas. This failure makes us question her awareness of the changing demographics of this country, and her commitment to family planning and women’s reproductive health. We encourage our amazing strong partners and other individuals embedded in this fight for reproductive justice to continue raising our voices, and ask the President to overturn this decision.

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[i] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000, November). Healthy People 2010. 2nd ed. With Understanding and Improving Health and Objectives for Improving Health. 2 vols. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

[ii] Archer, L. et al. (2011). How Healthy Are Colorado Women of Reproductive Age? An Evaluation of Preconception Risk and Protective Factors. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Retrieved 17 August 2011, from http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/hs/pubs/Preconception3.pdf

[iii] Palacio, M. et al. (2009). Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in Colorado 2009. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Office of Health Disparities. Retrieved 20 August 2011, from http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/ohd/ethnicdisparitiesreport/HD%202009%20Low...

So, Congress introduced its appropriations bill late last night to fund the federal government through the end of the 2012 fiscal year. There's good news and bad news.

GOOD: Your calls to Congress made a difference! Even though new abstinence-only-until-marriage funding was reintroduced, they will only receive $5 million. That's a step in the right direction.

BAD: We've seen this before. The Community Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) fund was launched with only $20 million, but its annual funding was scaled up to more than $110 million in just a few years. $5 million is just the beginning.

By now we all know that the majority of Americans oppose an abstinence-only approach to sex education. What makes this worse is that Congress has been raging for months about slashing unnecessary spending and cutting the deficit. $5 million for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs is like taking a match to taxpayers' money and simply lighting it on fire. (Actually, it's even worse than that. Research has shown that these programs have no impact on teen behavior – and they also forbid students from learning about contraception and condoms.)

Our elected officials are fond of saying that "the people" know how to spend their own tax dollars better than politicians in Washington do, and for once we couldn't agree more. So let's turn it over to you.

TELL US: WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH $5 MILLION?

Click here to join the conversation on Facebook.

"Like" us on Facebook, and post comments, photos, or videos on the Amplify Facebook Page explaining how you'd help people with $5 million — rather than fund failed abstinence-only programs. Download a template HERE!

Click here to join the conversation on Twitter.

Let us know by tweeting @AmplifyTweets and using the #InsteadOfAbOnly and #5mil hashtags.

I can't wait to see all of your amazing ideas – and don't worry, we'll make sure to pass them along leaders on Capitol Hill!

I am absolutely outraged with President Obama for supporting the Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ decision to enforce age restrictions on Plan-B One Step (emergency contraception) for individuals 17 years of age and younger.

Essentially President Obama is afraid that 10 and 12 year old girls will take/use Plan B (the morning-after pill) without supervision or guidance and get hurt. President Obama is afraid that young girls/women can go inside a drug store alongside bubble gum and batteries and buy a medication, which if not used properly could potentially have an adverse affect. President Obama says, "And I think most parents would feel the same way."

President Obama, I think you are wrong. I believe most parents would rather have their daughter have unrestricted access to PlanB than to find them pregnant. It is already difficult to have conversations about sexual activity with one’s parents. Plan B is most effective if used within 72 hours of unprotected sex. If a young person who is sexually active has had difficulty talking about sex for their entire upbringing, why would President Obama assume the young person would come up with the courage to have this conversation within recommended time frame?

So if the young woman cannot have this conversation with her parent/guardian so she can get Plan B, then where will she go? It only makes the situation more difficult, and I believe this will lead more young women to make more difficult decisions in the future.

Why are we punishing young women for engaging in sexual activity? I believe President Obama decided to oppose the FDA’s recommendation because he is worried political opponents will accuse him of "giving young girls permission to have sex." But his fears won’t stop young people from having sex – and it won’t stop them from needing Plan B. President Obama needs to understand that people are sexual beings and sex is an action that occurs, and young people engage in sexual activity. He is trying to not make Plan B be a panacea for young women who choose to have unprotected sex. I understand this, however, he needs to provide another option, and there is no other option on the table at this moment for young women 17 and under.

The fact is that he is hoping that young people will communicate with their parents regarding their sexual life is a difficult feat in itself, and could potentially lead to young women having to turn to abortion because the former option of preventing pregnancy through the option of Plan B has already been taken off of the table.

In these economic times when all we hear from Congress is budget woes, we have received word that Congress is trying to bring back dedicated funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that Congress' own studies show just don’t work. We need to take action NOW to ensure that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs do not receive dedicated federal funding in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget.

Please take a couple of minutes to CALL the White House and the House and Senate Leadership:

Senate Majority Leader Reid - 202-224-3542

House Minority Leader Pelosi – 202-225-0100

President Obama - 202-456-1111

Script you can use for calls:

“My name is _______ and I’m from ______, __ (city, state). I’m calling to make sure there is no dedicated funding for abstinence-only programs in the final Labor-HHS bill. These ineffective programs have no place in a bill that should focus our limited dollars on evidence-based and cost-effective programs. Please do not provide any dedicated funding to abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in the Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations negotiations. Thank you.”

Once you've made these calls, please also click here to sign our petition. We don’t have a lot of time on this, so please act now!

We have worked hard to eliminate two-thirds of federal abstinence-only funding. We have to fight hard to keep from backsliding. Over $1.5 billion dollars have already been wasted on these ineffective programs. Young people deserve better.

In solidarity,

Sarah Audelo
Senior Domestic Policy Manager
Advocates for Youth

P.S. Please call now – share this with your friends. We absolutely need President Obama and the Senate and House Leadership to hear from you that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs are a waste of taxpayer dollars and have no place in the appropriations bill.

Hey Everyone!

Exciting news! Applications to become a Great American Condom Campaign Spring Semester SafeSite are now open!

The Great American Condom Campaign is a youth-led grassroots movement to reduce unintended pregnancies and the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections by normalizing condom use on college and university campuses. Students from across the country apply to become SafeSites, individual condom distribution points, and upon selection receive a box of 500 Trojan condoms to distribute to their peers. SafeSites are also tasked with educating their peers about safer sex and advocating on campus and within their community for the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people.

During the fall of 2011, 1,000 SafeSites distributed more than 500,000 condoms to students on 782 campuses. SafeSites were established in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Condoms were distributed:

Sound like fun? Apply for the GACC NOW!

We receive more applications than we can accept, so make sure your application stands out! Be clear about how you will distribute condoms and why you want to be part of the GACC. To learn more about the GACC and the awesome work of previous SafeSites, visit the GACC Facebook Page.

Applications to be a Spring Semester SafeSite are open through January 6th, 2012. It only takes 10 minutes to fill out an application, so start now!

Do it for your country!

***If you were a SafeSite last semester (Fall 2011), don't forget to complete the Fall 2011 SafeSite survey that was emailed to you last week.

Today, I talked with a lot of different people, ran across red ribbons on campus and read an interview and each one of these things made me really think. For as much as HIV/AIDS is talked about it just isn’t talked about enough. I see that now and it really disturbs me. I think what disturbs me the most is how nonchalant a lot of people’s attitudes are towards HIV/AIDS and the possibility of contracting it. What further disturbs me about this is how greatly effected minorities are and the attitudes some of my people (African-Americans) have not only towards HIV/AIDS but STDs/STIs too.

I put that story there to say this…not knowing, acknowledging, talking etc. is killing our people. The man’s family not acknowledging how their son passed or how they treated another human being does not change the facts. It will not bring him back. It will not make life any easier. HIV/AIDS may not be the death sentence it once was but that doesn’t mean “if I get it, I’ll take medication.” Let’s STOP it altogether.

Interview with Hydeia Broadbent:
http://necolebitchie.com/2011/12/01/world-aids-day-hydeia-broadbent-talks-dating-with-hivaids/

Each year, December 1 marks World AIDS Day, when activists around the world come together to raise awareness of the global HIV epidemic, fight stigma and discrimination, and advocate for increased efforts to support comprehensive HIV education and prevention.

This year's theme "Getting to Zero" supports UNAIDS' multi-year Getting to Zero strategy that puts forward three core visions: Zero New Infections, Zero AIDS Related Deaths, and Zero Discrimination. The theme underscores the importance of continuing to focus on preventing new infections, ensuring access to treatment, and ending stigma and discrimination of marginalized communities, such as young people who are living with HIV/AIDS, LGBT, sex workers, and injecting drug users, among others. Thirty years into the epidemic, while there have been important declines in HIV prevalence among young people in some of the most affected countries, 41 percent of all new HIV infections are still among youth age 15-24.

It's easy to get involved on World AIDS Day:

1) Join Advocates' World AIDS Day Blogathon

From December 1 to 8, Advocates will be hosting its annual World AIDS Day blogathon on Amplify as a part of the global movement of young people fighting to end HIV/AIDS. Share your stories about how HIV/AIDS has affected you, post your perspective on HIV policies and programs in your country, reflect on your successes and lessons, or upload pictures or video to share your ideas about where we are today — 30 years into the epidemic.

All new posts will be featured on the blogathon page — and many will be spotlighted on the Amplify home page as well.

2) Sign our petition urging President Obama to stand up and fight for young people this World AIDS Day and every day leading up to and after the International AIDS Conference next July.

In July, the International AIDS Conference will be held in Washington, DC, bringing more than 20,000 delegates from around the world together to discuss scientific research, share best practices, and shape the future policy and program direction of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care efforts. Key players in the global response to AIDS will be in attendance, including Heads of State and foreign dignitaries, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Ministers of Health, Parliamentarians and Members of Congress.

We cannot let this opportunity pass by without demanding that the head of the host country, U.S. President Barack Obama, stand up and fight for young people affected by HIV and AIDS.

Click here to learn more about other ways that you get can get involved!

While myself and the rest of the world were busy expressing our outrage over the disturbing sexualization of boom boom-shaking Jenna Rose and the stripperfied little girls from ‘Dance Moms’, there was a team somewhere putting together the boy band from hell. Ok, maybe not quite so hellish, but a nightmare nonetheless. This new group is called ‘Mindless Behavior’.

At first when iTunes gave out their music video on ‘free-music Tuesday’, I took a look at the screenshot and left it alone, never checking it out until it popped up after a video I had just finished watching on YouTube. Imagine the shock and horror I experienced when the group which I had initially thought to be made up of four young men in their late-teens/early twenties, was really four teeny weeny boys who couldn’t possibly be older than 13.

In the midst of all the shock and horror however, is a statement that tickles me tremendously. It’s bad enough that this group of prepubescent cocktail wieners have been dubbed ‘Mindless Behavior’, it’s also quite evident in the following statement by one of the members, that they have NO IDEA whatsoever, what their name means.

So how can you be "Mindless?" Ray Ray goes on, "Anybody can be mindless. It doesn't matter if you're two-years-old or eighty-two-years-old. Be yourself. Love who you are and love what you do, no matter what it is. That makes you mindless."

EHHHHHH! WRONG!
Quick! Someone buy them a dictionary/thesaurus combo!

mindless |ˈmīn(d)lis|  adj.
• acting or done without justification or concern for the consequences: a generation of mindless vandals | mindless violence.
• [ predic. ] (mindless of) not thinking of or concerned about: mindless of the fact she was in her nightgown, she rushed to the door.
• (of an activity) so simple or repetitive as to be performed automatically without thought or skill: the monotony of housework turns it into a mindless task.

Last time I checked, the word ’Mindless’ did not connote anything worthy of emulation, except maybe when defined in the last context. E.g. “For the employees at McDonald’s, the preparation of food has become a mindless task…” Nah. Didn’t work. I don’t want the mindless preparation of food that I’m supposed to be consuming, to result in me finding someone’s Band-Aid in my Big Mac. That aside, I’m still trying to figure out how loving oneself translates to mindlessness. Wake up parents! Your children ARE being left behind.

Let’s take a look-see at the music video shall we?



First off, if my little brother exuded that much attitude I would smack him upside his head. Boys that age have NO BUSINESS looking for Mrs. Right anywhere around the world. To me it’s just a watered –down version of Lil’ Wayne’s ‘Every Girl’. Here are the lyrics to the first verse:

Shawty say ya don't but I bet you do/MB on your ringtone, posters in your room/Sassy little thing,like the way you talk/Heard you got the goods go ahead show them off/Take a picture quick, send it to my phone/Dimple in your cheek, white Gucci stunners on/Don't know where you've been hiding from me so long/Prodigy, Roc, RayRay and Princeton we on/So baby come on

Wait. What?! Show what goods off? Not only are we pushing our little boys to grow up too fast with all this mindless behavior, we’re also teaching them that it’s ok to objectify women. This video’s got the same M.O as most other hip-hop videos. Loads of women dancing suggestively? Check. Main act preening while women fall over them? Check.

With all the attitude these little boys are giving off, it wouldn’t be surprising if they became some of the worst narcissists in the future. They’re clearly on the right track for that. Just like a friend of mine said, this is just inappropriate, and it is unbelievable that any parent would be okay with their kids acting like that on TV.