You won’t want to miss the June issue of AU’s Church & State magazine! Our cover story details a burgeoning threat to American democracy, church-state separation and the many rights and freedoms that depend on them: Project 2025.
I also encourage you to check out AU President and CEO Rachel Laser’s column with advice for recent graduates: to be your authentic selves – and help others do the same.
Other stories this month include how the alarming strategies of a 1970s anti-LGBTQ+ pop star are still being used in the Christian Nationalist playbook today; a sneak peek into a new book co-authored by AU Board of Trustees member Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood about how mainline Protestants inadvertently helped build Christian Nationalism; and why Americans United is opposed to erecting a statue of the late evangelist Rev. Billy Graham in the U.S. Capitol.
What happens when abortions are banned with no exceptions for rape (even for young girls) and contraceptives are banned? Which states have the most rape related pregnancies (RPP) and ban abortions? Who are the Republicans stripping women of their freedoms? Click on this Map.
Despite being way too knowledgeable about news, policy and government, I can not fully believe that Republicans in Congress blocked an act to protect access to CONTRACEPTION.
U.S. Congress.
Not Afghanistan, Iran, wherever.
The U.S.
In 2024.
Pedalling for change — How cycling became a tool of liberation for Karachi’s women
"A local vendor reached out to me - “If you get girls onboard, I’ll take care of the cycles”. The proposition seemed like a dream come true. Excited, I floated the message in our WhatsApp group and got my first signup forming That Crazy Cyclist, our beloved girl’s cycling group. What started with two cycles quickly grew into 12 cycles within a month."
From NCJW:
Next week, the Senate will vote on The Right to Contraception Act which would uphold the right to access contraception, first recognized by the Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965. The Right to Contraception Act would safeguard a person's right to seek and obtain birth control, even if the Supreme Court were to ever overturn the existing constitutional protection.
We need your voice in this fight. Take action today and tell Congress to support the Right to Contraception Act. Our Jewish movement has our own playbook: everyone deserves access to basic health care, including abortion care and contraceptives. Let’s get out there and play.
Texas Republican leaders endanger pregnant people. They have no regard for the US Constitution.
Texas' highest court on Friday refused to ensure that doctors are not prosecuted for abortions they believe are necessary in medically complicated pregnancies, rejecting a lawsuit by 22 patients & physicians.
We know many of you are already busy planning for your next program year. So, please consider this a save-the-date for Repro Shabbat 5785: February 21-22, 2025.
Repro Shabbat takes place annually when we read Parshat Mishpatim — the portion of the Torah containing verses used as the foundation of Judaism's approach to reproductive health, rights, and justice.
SAVE THE DATE and SIGN UP NOW so you'll be the first to hear when we are fully launched. You can learn more by visiting the 2025 Repro Shabbat web page.
The Repro Shabbat Team
National Council of Jewish Women
Join the Workers Circle and the Center for Common Ground for this month’s training on how to be an effective citizen advocate. No experience is necessary!
Led by Andrea Miller co-founder of the Center for Common Ground, and Workers Circle Director of Social Justice, Noelle Damico, this once-a-month, hour-long training is divided into two parts.
During the first 30 minutes of "How to be an Effective Citizen Advocate," we review pending legislation.
The second 30 minutes are a legislative visit training so that you can learn or brush up on how to impactfully engage your senators, representatives, and their staff.
Come for all or part of the program! All registrants will receive a video of the training, slides, an advocacy toolkit, and additional background information.
Mark Sumner asks why a bunch of billionaries and Silicon Valley types including Elon Musk are coming out as pronatalists who want to ring alarm bells about declining birthrates.
In my view, the answer to the question is that these folks want in any way they can to reverse the movement for women's rights of the past century. Their primary objective is to blame women – women's liberation – for declining birthrates.
If you had unwanted babies being abandoned in the woods to die by desperate girls on your #RedStateHellhole bingo card, well, you got a hit.
(Alt possibility - creepy 30 or 40 yr old "boyfriend" drives underage teen to woods to give birth and get rid of the evidence so he doesn't get hit with child support and/or pedophilia / incest charges.)
The right to privacy is a fundamental right in this country. The discussions a patient has with her physician were protected by Roe v Wade.
This isn’t about being pro life. The republicans have shown time and time again they wouldn’t give two squirts of piss for anyone’s life. If they did, they would quit trying to defund social programs that are proven to save and improve lives of children and adults.
The "Man or Bear?" debate has dominated internet discourse for the past week or two (TL;DR In a viral TikTok video, a man asks eight women if they’d rather be stuck in a forest with a man or a bear. Seven say they'd prefer the bear). Here's a unique perspective from Laura Killingbeck, a contributor to Bikepacking magazine, who actually did leave mankind behind to live in nature with bears. "'Would you rather be stuck in a forest with a man or a bear?' is just another way of asking, 'Are you afraid of men?' she writes. "It’s the same question I’ve been fielding for the entirety of my life as a solo female traveler. It’s the same question that hovers over women all the time as we move through the world."
New Florida Law Requires All Women To Produce 3 Healthy White Sons By 22nd Birthday
TALLAHASSEE, FL—Touting the legislation as a common-sense victory for family values, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a new law Thursday requiring all Florida women to produce three healthy, white sons by the date of their 22nd birthday. “The production of white daughters will not be penalized, but they will be seized by the state for the production of white sons,” said DeSantis, who clarified that regardless of the race, ethnicity, or religious background of the mother, all sons would be required to be both white and raised in a Catholic household. “Three is the bare minimum. Despite what the virtue-signaling, left-wing fanatics are espousing on CNN, this requirement is actually quite fair and attainable. Whether Florida women and girls choose to get started at age 15 or 19, they will have plenty of time to comply.” At press time, DeSantis added that a miscarriage counted as negative one white sons.