During her statements, Rep. Brenda Lawrence called the hearing “exhausting” and “insulting” and reiterated that Planned Parenthood receives reimbursement for services to Medicaid patients and explained that if there weren’t Medicaid patients going to Planned Parenthood, there would not be reimbursements. Later, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman expressed confusion over the purpose of the hearing, whether it was about the videos or the federal funding.
News Posted in Echoing Ida
Learning to Love It, Yes Even That: Boob Sweat and More
Photo Credit: Charles Krupa/Associated Press At some point last year, I made a conscious…
Pretty Hurts: The Impact of Beauty Standards
here are so many stereotypes and societal expectations surrounding beauty and intelligence – expectations that make people believe that a beautiful person cannot be intelligent and that intelligent people aren’t attractive. Growing up, because I was a straight-A student, no one expected me to wear stylish clothes or be attractive in general.
I was a fat, dark-skinned black girl with a kinky hair texture, and if I weren’t smart, I wouldn’t have had much going for me in the eyes of most folks. I felt like the whole world was telling me that, because my body was neither desired nor wanted, my only contribution to society could be through my academic successes.
Dr. Ben Carson’s tall tales about abortion and black women
As a biracial black woman who has had an abortion, I find any implication that health clinics in black neighborhoods exist in order to push abortions on unwitting black women wildly offensive. To use factually incorrect rhetoric to render our healthcare needs and experiences irrelevant is an affront to our dignity.
Black Colleges Should Advocate for Breastfeeding Families
While many Black women do breastfeed, some unapologetically so, there is a running list as to why other Black mothers choose not to. For one, Black mothers are less likely to be encouraged by hospitals to breastfeed, typically the first point of contact for breastfeeding education. And many Black mothers are in under-resourced communities, where breastfeeding is discouraged or just outright impossible due to a lack of support.
Anti-Abortion Advocates Don’t Care About Black People
Rather than posting racist billboards in New York and throughout the South proclaiming a ‘mother’s womb to be the most dangerous place for a Black child’, anti-abortion advocates could support our efforts to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, and end the wage gap that takes Black women 19 months to earn what White men earn in twelve. They could help us increase access to prenatal care and well-baby check up visits to decrease the maternal and infant mortality rate.
Celebrate Mothers Who Breastfeed, Including Black Women Who Do So Publicly
As a young parent, breastfeeding was not easy, but with a couple of tips from other mamas and the right support I was able to find my way and breastfeed both of my daughters.
Who Should Speak Up About Abortion Access?
Sharing my story has been a freeing and empowering experience that I wouldn’t change for a minute. But being a biracial black woman who tells the world about her abortion brings on a litany of racist and sexist epithets that take their toll on my emotional and mental well-being.
What You MUST Know About Planned Parenthood and Black Women
Let’s call the video what it is — the latest in the anti-abortion movement’s appropriation of civil rights and its crass manipulations of history. And it won’t be the last because abortion opponents have long capitalized on the very real history of how exploiting Black bodies has been foundational to the United States, whether we talk about slavery, medical experimentation or mass incarceration.
Lessons on the 10 Year Anniversary of My Abortion
For the past four years I have shared my abortion story with thousands of people; from cab drivers and rally attendees, to abortion patients who stayed at my home while traveling for their abortion and people on the Internet. It’s a weird feeling to talk about my abortion, a deeply personal experience, with strangers, but it’s actually quite comforting.