Tag Archives: rape

When It Happens to a Friend

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Computer graphic of a teal ribbon.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.

You probably know someone who’s been a victim of sexual assault.

It’s an unsettling thought, yes, but the statistics bear it out. Somewhere between 17 and 28 percent of women* have been victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault. According to those same sources, the numbers range from 3 to 17 percent for men.* They increase further for members of particular populations or communities, including Native American and Alaskan women; gay, lesbian, and queer folk; people with disabilities; and trans* people.

There are many ways you can support a friend who has been sexually assaulted.

Nearly every victim, every survivor, has a first person they tell — someone they confide in to help make sense of what happened, to help begin the healing process. Unfortunately, I know too well that sometimes the first person told only compounds the hurt. So I’m writing this based on what I wish people had done for me.

How should you respond if a sexual assault survivor reaches out to you?

Believe the survivor. We live in a culture that regularly disbelieves, minimizes, and judges victims of sexual assault. Additionally, there’s a strong chance that the victim knew the attacker before the assault — and a reasonable chance that both are members of a mutual social circle or community. In this light, it can be incredibly stressful for a survivor to speak up about an assault. Simply telling that person, “I believe you,” can offer immense support and relief.

Don’t second guess the decisions a survivor made before the assault or the reactions your friend experienced during or afterward. Continue reading →

Pro-Choice Friday News Rundown

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  • plannedparenthoodactionorgSince it’s that time of the year again, let’s play a round of anti-choice March Madness! (Mother Jones)
  • The GOP might as well face the facts … They’ve lost women forever. (Salon)
  • Foolish parents continue to put their children at risk for cervical cancer. (RH Reality Check)
  • In honor of Women’s History Month, we present you with 50 women who shaped America’s health. (HuffPo)
  • When Women Have More Control Over Bearing Children, Their Lives Are Obviously Way Better — DUH! (Jezebel)
  • Salon expounds upon this less-than-shocking news. (Salon)
  • Unfortunately, doctors don’t prescribe long-acting contraception for adolescents very often. (Healio)
  • A whopping 233 million women may need contraception by 2015. (NBC News)
  • In case you weren’t aware, the Catholic Church has quite the costly stance on contraception. (MSNBC)
  • Completely disregarding the ruined life of the victim, CNN instead expressed grief that the guilty verdict ruined the “promising” lives of Steubenville rapists. Uggghhh. (Rawstory)

Pro-Choice Friday News Rundown

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  • Better late than never: Pregnant women in the military who were victims of rape will now have access to abortion. (HuffPo)
  • A new condom, which delivers an anti-HIV drug and dissolves after use, is being developed! (i09)
  • Ireland is finally going to legalize life-saving abortions after their complicity in the death of a 31-year-old woman. (ABC News)
  • The Washington Post is dropping knowledge on how Planned Parenthood rocked the 2012 elections. (WaPo)
  • What happens to women who are denied abortions? Nothing good. (i09)
  • Deaths related to unsafe abortions and abortion bans around the world are wildly underestimated. (Salon)
  • Further proving they could give a damn about post-born children, Michigan lawmakers eliminate tax credit for children, prefer tax credit for fetuses. (Jezebel)
  • Pediatrics Group Calls for Easier Access to Emergency Contraception (ABC News)
  • Mississippi’s sole abortion clinic lives to fight another day. (CRR)
  • Another day, another moron talking out of his keister about rape — this time it’s a California judge who says that a woman’s body can shut down to prevent itself from being raped. (Guardian)
  • Our beloved home, Arizona, has launched a manipulative government website to shame women out of getting abortions. (Jezebel)
  • A new study shows women who waited 15 years after their first period to have children had 60 percent less chance of developing an aggressive form of breast cancer. (The Atlantic)
  • Dear guy who founded Domino’s: Your religious beliefs should have no impact on the reproductive health of your female employees. Oh, and another thing — your pizza sucks. (The Daily Meal)
  • Petty, imbecilic Karen Handel, formerly of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, wants the world to know that Planned Parenthood hijacked the color pink from them. They owned the color, after all. (Feministe)

Pro-Choice Friday News Rundown

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  • In a spectacular win for our collective uteruses (uteri?), President Obama has won re-election. He’s got a lot of single women to thank for that victory, too! (Today)
  • Also, he’s probably pretty thankful to “Jenni.” (Bloomberg Businessweek)
  • Hopefully with the loss of the election, the GOP has taken away a valuable lesson from their war on women. (Daily Beast)
  • Arizona might be on the losing end of their intended 20-week abortion ban. *crossing fingers* (RH Reality Check)
  • The folks who champion “illegitimate” and “unforcible” rape over a woman’s right to choose didn’t do so well in Tuesday’s election. Boo friggity hoo. (Jezebel)
  • Ever wonder why this country is still hung up on the abortion debate? This blog has an explanation from a bioethics perspective. (i09)
  • Montana just became the 38th state to pass a parental consent law for underage abortions. This is not a good thing. At all. (One News Now)
  • Birth control pills already do something awesome — prevent pregnancy! — but could they also prevent Alzheimer’s Disease? (Medical Daily)
  • Ohio anti-choicers just won’t let the “heartbeat bill” go. (Think Progress)

Pro-Choice Friday News Rundown

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  • Another day, another moronic member of the GOP telling us that rape, in some way or another, isn’t all that bad for women. Maybe a pregnancy resulting from it was even “intended by God.” #Facepalm (HuffPo)
  • Joe Walsh, yet another imbecilic dunce from the GOP (they just keep crawling out of the woodwork, don’t they? Like termites!) says that advances in medicine have made pregnancy-related deaths obsolete and, thus, there’s never a need for abortions solely for the health of the mother. (Jezebel)
  • And if you thought it couldn’t get any worse than that, you’re sadly mistaken. Pennsylvania is considering a bill that would reduce welfare benefits for women who cannot prove their child was conceived from a rape. Nothing like dooming a woman and her offspring to abject poverty if she can’t prove her child was conceived without her consent. #GOPValues (Think Progress)
  • A sobering, fact-filled piece on rape being used as a political tool by Republican men in the debate over reproductive rights. (RH Reality Check)
  • President Obama wishes politicians would stay out of women’s health care. So do we, sir. (Politico)
  • Texas has won a court battle to exclude Planned Parenthood from the state health care program that provides services to low-income women. (Business Week)
  • Arizona and Indiana can forget about defunding Planned Parenthood, though, says the judicial system. (AP)
  • Meanwhile, in France, lawmakers passed a bill allowing free abortions for all women and free contraception for girls ages 15 to 18. (Global Post)
  • Somebody alert the rest of the media and call a press conference: Free birth control leads to fewer abortions. (South Florida Times)

Where Disproportionate Need Meets Unequal Access: Plan B in Native American Communities

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Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When President Obama signed the Tribal Law and Order Act into law two years ago, it was a long overdue step to improve public safety in Native American communities — in particular among Native American women. Department of Justice data show that Native American women are more than two-and-a-half times as likely as other women in the United States to be sexually assaulted or raped. Another statistic that sets Native American women apart from other women in the United States is the likelihood that their victimizers will be non-Native men. While other women are usually attacked by men of the same race, 86 percent of reported sexual assaults against Native American women are perpetrated by non-Native men.

Most Native Americans depend on the Indian Health Service for health care; most IHS pharmacies don’t provide emergency contraception.

The feeling that this violence is inevitable is common to many Native American women, a feeling that some have attributed to the history of military outposts on Native American lands and sexual abuse in boarding schools. Historical factors aside, a contemporary jurisdictional dead zone has enabled the problem to persist. Tribal police on Native American reservations don’t have the authority to arrest or detain non-Native suspects. Those suspects fall under federal jurisdiction, but federal marshals are too small in number and too committed to other responsibilities to provide community policing on reservations. The situation of virtual amnesty for non-Native perpetrators has created a scourge that some have dubbed “rape tourism.”

The Tribal Law and Order Act was enacted to prevent victims of sexual violence from falling through the cracks by improving investigation and prosecution of sex crimes. A New York Times article from earlier this year reported that only 13 percent of the sexual assaults reported by Native American women lead to arrests, compared to 35 percent of those reported by black women and 32 percent of those reported by white women. The improvements that the Tribal Law and Order Act promises cannot come soon enough. Continue reading →

Meet Our Candidates: Angela LeFevre for State Representative, LD 6

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Portrait photo of Angela LeFevreThe Arizona general election will be held on November 6, 2012, with early voting starting today. After the many recent legislative challenges to reproductive health care access, both nationally and statewide, the importance of voting in November can’t be overstated. To help voters, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who have shown strong commitment to reproductive health and freedom. Along with those endorsements, we are spotlighting our endorsed candidates in a series called “Meet Our Candidates.” Make your voice heard in 2012!

On her campaign website, Angela LeFevre describes herself as “a broad-minded Democrat who’s been involved in politics all [her] life.” In fact, she graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a degree in economics and international relations. She’s worked on a number of social and political causes throughout the United States, the most recent being as president of the board of Democrats of the Red Rocks (DORR), a position she held until she resigned to seek election to the Arizona House of Representatives.

“When circumstances arise and a woman is faced with a difficult choice, government has no place in making that decision for her.”

LeFevre is running as a candidate in the new Legislative District 6, an area of substantial scope, both in geography and in diversity of constituents. It extends north of Sedona and Flagstaff to the edge of Grand Canyon National Park, south past Payson and into areas of the Tonto National Forest, and east to Heber-Overgard and the Sitgreaves National Forest.

LeFevre took the time for an interview with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona on October 9, 2012.

Tell us a little bit about your background.

I was born in Leeds, England and earned a degree in economics and international relations from the London School of Economics. I immigrated to the United States in 1981 after having spent a year in Iowa as a foreign student in 1967. I knew I would come back here to live. I taught fourth grade in a New Orleans public school where my two children were students. I also started a small telecommunications business, which required hiring employees. From that I moved into the corporate world in senior management for Qwest Communications for 14 years. That meant living in Denver, Colorado, where I became active with the Democratic Party.

My life experience provides me with the skills and knowledge base to address the most crucial issues in Arizona today: the economy, jobs, and education. I have been a consistently strong advocate for women and will remain so when elected. In the past I worked on behalf of other political candidates, especially women, volunteered many hours working with disadvantaged teens both here and in Colorado. My reasons for running are many but mainly, I believe Arizona is on the wrong track, that our legislature has not represented Arizona’s citizens.

In the previous legislative session, there were a lot of bad bills that negatively affected access to birth control (HB2625), funding for family planning (HB2800), abortion (HB2036), and unbiased information about unintended pregnancies in public schools (SB1009). What kind of beneficial legislation would you like to see introduced, and why do you think it’s important to fight for it?

The legislature has been putting the cart before the horse regarding these issues. No one wants an abortion. The best way to avoid that unfortunate possibility is to educate our young people using accurate, science-based sex education in our public schools and appropriately funding family planning and affordable birth control using those methods that work best for the individual. When unprotected or forced sexual acts occur or when birth control efforts fail, we should stand by women by offering emergency contraception. Roe v. Wade is the law and, as a legislator, I will support the law. I will also do whatever I can to ensure that Planned Parenthood receive[s] full funding and that its vital contribution to health care as a whole in rural Arizona is recognized. Continue reading →

Meet Our Candidates: Rosanna Gabaldón for State Representative, LD 2

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Photo of Rosanna Gabaldón.The Arizona general election will be held on November 6, 2012, with early voting starting on October 11. After the many recent legislative challenges to reproductive health care access, both nationally and statewide, the importance of voting in November can’t be overstated. To help voters, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who have shown strong commitment to reproductive health and freedom. Along with those endorsements, we are spotlighting our endorsed candidates in a series called “Meet Our Candidates.” Make your voice heard in 2012!

A resident of Southern Arizona since 1973, Rosanna Gabaldón is knowledgeable about the people and priorities of the region. As a member of the First Things First South Pima Regional Council and a member of the Friends of the Green Valley Library, she has demonstrated her commitment both to families and to information access. Gabaldón is currently seeking to represent Legislative District 2 — an area that runs from South Tucson to Nogales — in the Arizona House of Representatives.

“I want to see legislation that we as a state can be proud of.”

Gabaldón took the time for an interview with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona on October 5, 2012.

Tell us a little bit about your background.

Because my father served in the U.S. Air Force, I grew up with the rich experience of having lived in many different places. In 1973, when my family and I moved to Southern Arizona from Panama, I fell in love with the desert. I have traveled to many different places, but the desert has my heart.

I believe in community service, and it has been my honor to give my time and talents for local art projects, literacy programs, the community food bank, and in support of early childhood development. My biggest challenge and highest award was in 2009 when I won my election to serve as a council member for the town of Sahuarita. I look forward to serving the citizens of Southern Arizona as their next state representative for LD 2. Continue reading →