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Blogs Comment On Supreme Court Pregnancy Leave Ruling, Obama's Notre Dame Speech, Other Topics
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries. ~ "Peaceful Revolution: Another Blow to Women," Debra Ness, Huffington Post blogs: The Supreme Court"s ruling this week in AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen "dealt a serious and painful blow to working women and the families who rely on their retirement benefits," Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, writes. The ruling "affects a limited number of people," and it "would be easy to ignore them -- easy, but terribly wrong," Ness continues. "This ruling sends a terrible message about whether discrimination will bring penalties and costs, and whether the courts will address the ongoing effects of prior discrimination," she writes. Ness notes that the ruling "couldn"t come at a worse time," adding, "In today"s grim economic climate, women and their families cannot afford to see their retirement benefits kept lower by discriminatory workplace policies that should have been remedied decades ago." Ness writes that it is "sobering that, at a time when negative stereotypes about pregnant women clearly persist, we have a Supreme Court that doesn"t stand firm for equal rights and equal opportunity." She concludes, "It"s a good reminder of what"s at stake with the Supreme Court nomination President Obama is about to make" (Ness, Huffington Post blogs, 5/21).~ "This Week in Religion and Politics," Sarah Posner, American Prospect"s "The FundamentaList": When "viewed in the context of Obama"s entire faith-based outreach project, the events" surrounding the University of Notre Dame"s commencement ceremony "highlighted how he has embraced traditionalist, conservative religion -- to the detriment of sexual and reproductive justice," Posner writes. President Obama has "focused his outreach efforts" to reduce the need for abortion "on more conservative religious groups" and "claims to honor their position on moral issues," Posner writes. However, "when the dust settles on the Notre Dame controversy, he"ll have to figure out what to do with the policy advice he has sought" from the White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, she continues. Posner adds, "How Obama reacts to that advice will demonstrate whether the council is mere window dressing to shore up support from swing constituencies or whether Obama will yield to conservative religious dogma on reproductive-health issues." Meanwhile, Christian conservatives have been "making hay of the findings" of recent Pew and Gallup polls that found more U.S. residents identifying with "pro-life" positions and using the data to argue "that Obama"s position is out of touch with the majority of Americans," Posner writes. However, as bloggers at The Monkey Cage and FiveThirtyEight have pointed out, the polls are not representative of most U.S. residents" views on abortion rights, she writes. "Because of that deception on reproductive rights, it"s more important than ever for the president to lay the moral groundwork for his own position -- not just to recognize the moral qualms of abortion opponents," Posner says (Posner, "The FundamentaList," American Prospect, 5/20).~ "Meghan McCain Preaches What She Practices," Willa Paskin, Slate"s "XX Factor": Meghan McCain -- Sen. John McCain"s (R-Ariz.) daughter -- "acquitted herself quite admirably" on Monday"s episode of Comedy Central"s "The Colbert Report" by "defending her core position" that the Republican Party "needs to appeal to younger voters, and it can only do so by getting liberal on social issues," Paskin writes. On the show, McCain said, "I think it"s not realistic for this generation to be just plain abstinent, I think we need to have sex education with condoms and birth control. ... I would never practice anything I didn"t preach." Paskin also includes a video clip of McCain"s appearance (Paskin, "XX Factor," Slate, 5/19).~ "Skill the Messenger," Cristina Page, Birth Control Watch: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin"s (R) 18-year-old daughter Bristol -- who was
Mental Health

Sotomayor Signals Support For Roe V. Wade In Meetings With Senators

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in conversations with senators has indicated her support for Roe v. Wade, even if she has not explicitly stated that she supports abortion rights, the AP/Yahoo! News reports. According to the AP/Yahoo! News, Sotomayor is "following a time-honored tradition" among nominees of assuring senators that she will not aim to impose a certain agenda, while also avoiding firm commitments on how she might rule on certain issues -- such as abortion rights -- if they come before the court. In questioning Sotomayor, senators hope to obtain assurances that she will honor certain precedents, such as Roe, which allows them to justify their votes for her to their constituents, the AP/Yahoo! News reports. Doug Kendall of the Constitutional Accountability Center said, "There"s always a bit of a parlor game that develops in terms of what precisely words said by nominees mean."Because Sotomayor has never directly ruled on the key issues in Roe, advocates on both sides of the abortion-rights debate have speculated over her views on constitutional privacy rights. White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs has said that President Obama and Sotomayor discussed her "views on unenumerated rights in the Constitution and the theory of settled law." The AP/Yahoo! News reports that Gibbs" comments indicate that Sotomayor would be unlikely to overturn Roe, which supporters consider "settled law." Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), both of whom support abortion rights, said they spoke with Sotomayor about her position during private meetings and were pleased with her answers. Feinstein said that Sotomayor is "a woman who is well-steeped in the law and well-steeped in precedent, and I believe that she has a real respect for precedent." Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), an opponent of abortion rights, said that when he privately asked Sotomayor whether she believed a fetus should have any constitutional rights, she responded that she had never considered the issue (Hirschfeld Davis, AP/Yahoo! News, 6/18). Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women"s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women"s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company. © 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.


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