2023 marks the fifteenth year that I have participated in Amnesty Interntional’s Write for Rights. Fifteen years ago, I chose one case, one person. I wrote to officials about them, and wrote to them as well. I upped the ante a bit more every year, until the year (date unknown!)
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Accidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – John Dearing, Gregory Cooper and Simon Willcock discuss the doom loop which is seeing worse-than-predicted effects of the climate breakdown resulting in vicious cycles of ecosystem collapse. J. Besl writes about new research showing that coastal flooding may be faster and more severe
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: the story of jane: the legendary underground feminist abortion service
When I first got involved in pro-choice activism, way back in 1981*, I heard about a group called Jane. Or maybe the Jane Collective. Or maybe Call Jane. No one knew for certain what they were called, only what they did. The women of Jane learned how to perform abortions,
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: madame restell (nonfiction version)
In March, I wrote about My Notorious Life, historical fiction by Kate Manning, based on the life of a woman known as Madame Restell. I loved the book. Then, by beautiful coincidence, I stumbled on this book while in Powell’s City of Books in Portland: Madame Restell: the Life, Death
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Statistics Canada offers some new (if dated) data on the spread of COVID-19 in Canada – with over 40% of those with antibodies from a past infection having no idea they’d ever had COVID. And Carla Johnson examines the inescapable answer to the
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: my notorious life by kate manning (madame restell, fictional version, nonfiction to follow)
I read this book last year, and have been recommending it nonstop, so it’s about time to commit it to wmtc. My Notorious Life was an obvious book for me to love — or to hate. Much historical fiction feels contrived to me. An author takes a period of history, writes
Continue readingwmtc: the end of roe: a day we expected for so long still has the power to shock and stun us
We’ve been expecting this for 20 years. More than forty years of anti-abortion legislation, escalating every year and every decade, then Trump, then finally, the leaked draft. So I thought I was prepared — mentally, emotionally. Hell, for more than 15 years I’ve been saying that Roe is irrelevant for millions of
Continue readingwmtc: rotd: the actual status of the poorest woman is the possible status of every woman
Revolutionary thought of the day: “The actual status of the poorest and most unfortunate woman in society determines the possible status of every woman.” From the mission statement of the Illinois Women’s Alliance (1888), quoted by Susan Faludi in “Feminism Made a Faustian Bargain With Celebrity Culture. Now It’s Paying
Continue readingwmtc: rebecca traister, 2019: "our fury over abortion was dismissed for decades as hysterical"
Rebecca Traister, writing in New York magazine in 2019: Which is why I am almost as mad at many on the left, theoretically on the side of reproductive rights and justice, who have refused, somehow, to see this coming or act aggressively to forestall it. I have no small amount of
Continue readingwmtc: the end of roe and how we got here
With the unprecedented leak of the SCOTUS draft brief, and official confirmation of the politicization of the Court, we see the final nails pounded in Roe v. Wade — a turning point which somehow still shocks many people, despite the exceedingly clear regression to this point over the past 40 years.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Canadian Conservatives, heavily influenced by Republican ideology, are keen to squelch debate about U.S. Supreme Court’s planned abortion ruling
Canada’s conservative political parties are desperately trying to declare discussion of the leaked United States Supreme Court draft ruling on abortion a political no-fly zone. The young Jason Kenney, now Premier of Alberta (Photo: Screenshot of YouTube video). The powerful and extensive influence of radical social conservative opponents of women’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Calgary judge makes short work of bid for injunction to block COVID-19 restrictions
A Calgary superior court judge yesterday made short work of the bid by the so-called Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms to get an emergency injunction blocking public health restrictions on activities likely to exacerbate the spread of COVID-19 during the holiday season. In a hearing that could be watched online,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Say what? Conservative Alberta MP’s riding association buys pro-life transit ads in Vancouver
Regardless of exactly how Garnett Genuis’s Vancouver bus advertisement asking how there can be too many children was paid for, the Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan MP well known for his vocal opposition to reproductive rights and the Conservative Party of Canada should both have some explaining to do. Mr. Genuis boasted
Continue readingwmtc: international safe abortion day: abortion is healthcare
September 28 is International Safe Abortion Day, a day to reflect on how many women around the world do not have control over their reproduction — that is, do not have control over their lives. Abortion is the sine qua non of women’s liberation. Without the ability to choose whether and
Continue readingwmtc: ruth bader ginsburg, rest in power
These highlights of Ginsburg’s decisions and dissents on the SCOTUS are a joy to read. I used two sources, and decided to keep the overlap. Many highlight the reason she was affectionately known as the Notorious RBG. United States v. Virginia, 1996 In United States v. Virginia, Ginsburg wrote the majority
Continue readingAlberta Politics: First reading of Bill 207 reveals zero UCP votes for women’s reproductive rights
Here are two important statistics about the United Conservative Party’s Bill 207, the Conscience Rights (Health Care Providers) Protection Act, which was introduced in the Alberta Legislature yesterday … Just a minute, you say, Bill 207 is a private member’s bill, brought forward by Peace River UCP MLA Dan Williams,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The ‘most pro-life Legislature in decades’ gets ready to make its first move to restrict reproductive rights
Does anyone recall when Cameron Wilson, political action director of the “Wilberforce Project,” previously known as Pro-Life Alberta, bragged that “if the UCP wins the upcoming election, then we will have the most pro-life Legislature in decades, and maybe ever”? That was only in February this year, a century or
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: the birth of the pill by jonathan eig
The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution by Jonathan Eig was a fascinating and very readable look at how oral contraceptives — otherwise known as The Pill — came to be. The Pill changed the world. It was the first contraception that was
Continue readingwmtc: september 28: international safe abortion day
Today is International Safe Abortion Day. Because without access to safe, legal abortion, women can never be free. In North America, you can help ensure that women are able to access safe abortions, is to donate to abortion funds. The National Network of Abortion Funds (N-NAF) can show you how.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The ‘Chicago Principles’ are code for the right of the powerful and privileged to shout down everyone else
“Free speech in universities” is nowadays a rallying cry for the snowflakes of the extremist right, who can dish it out but can’t take it. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that pushing post-secondary institutions to enforce the Chicago Statement on Free Expression, an ingenious manifesto that uses “free
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