Category: Women’s Rights

By Colleen O’Connor

Seriously. The recent strong marine system to our north brought heavy rain, wind and possible “sneaker waves” up to 19 feet in the San Francisco Bay area.  (As if they haven’t had enough drama).

As the National Weather Service warned, “Never turn your back to the ocean.”

Among other things, I might add. Also, be on the lookout for a very large, fat black cat that portends some kind of imminent disaster.

By Judi Curry

Yes, I am old.  Very old.  The chances that I will ever need an abortion in this lifetime are almost nil.  But I have daughters, and granddaughters, and great-granddaughters that may, some day, find they are in a predicament where an abortion is the answer to their problem.

And that is not between that female and her Congressman; her Supreme Court Justice; her representative.  No! That decision should be between her and her physician.

I remember, as a young child, maybe 4-5 years old, overhearing my parents talk about “Patsy” – the young teenager next door that “died because of a hanger abortion.”

The following is based on news accounts but edited on the premise that the victim, her family and friends are telling the truth.

Close to Halloween last year in October 2021, a then 17-year old woman, as yet publicly identified, was out with friends on a Saturday night. She wore a costume. They had heard about a night house party so she and her friends decided to check it out.

Once at the party, she either began or continued to drive alcohol and was intoxicated. At some point, she was approached by a man who made small talk and offered her a drink. He then led her to a room. Other men were there.

Access to abortion in roughly half the country has changed swiftly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Providers, patients, lawyers and state officials are scrambling to interpret a cascade of confusing and often conflicting antiabortion legislation, some of it written a century ago.

Thirteen states had “trigger bans” designed to take effect shortly after Roe was struck down. At least eight states banned the procedure the day the ruling was released. While, in Kansas, voters rejected a state constitutional amendment that would have eliminated protections for abortion.

Is this a new community sign for Ocean Beach? The billboard is up on Voltaire.

by Ernie McCray

Brittney Grinder.
WNBA superstar.
Sits in a Russian lockup far
from where she displays
her hoops wizardry
on the court with the Phoenix Mercury,
and to her predicament her coach says
“If this was LeBron James
he’d be home, right?”
to which I say
“Not likely,”
not with all that’s going on
in these moments in time,
a war of a kind,
between two arch enemies,

by Ernie McCray

Women have
lost the right
to protect the wellbeing
of their very being
but their struggle
will go on
because they know that
America’s promise of
“liberty and justice for all,”
as it is for dark skinned citizens,
is but a dream,
a dream that is forever sought
because they’ve fought for it
for centuries,

by Ernie McCray

We’ve got a court
that’s considered “Supreme,”
yet, it has trampled on women’s
hopes and dreams,
taking away their right
to have autonomy regarding
their health and their bodies
that go back to the previous century,
leaving their
granddaughters
and great-granddaughters
to face a reality
where they, might, someday,
serve time in the penitentiary
for bringing an end to a pregnancy,

NPR/PBS NewsHour/ Marist National Poll: The Overturning of Roe v. Wade, June 2022

From Marist Poll

In a majority decision, the United States Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade which, for nearly fifty years, guaranteed access to abortion in the United States.

However, majorities of Americans oppose the Court’s ruling and have concerns that the decision will have broader constitutional implications.

By K-B Gressitt / Blog / June 25, 2022

“Fuck” has a multitude of applications. It can be rude, endearing, outraged, kinky, mean, funny, clever, crude, and the list does go on. (For guidance on its many applications, refer to English as a Second F*cking Language, by Sterling Johnson.)

Nonetheless, for many moons I spurned the word in my own writing, and the newspaper for which I opined would never in a million f*cking years have published it (tee and hee). Indeed, my request to include the lesser “shit,” in a direct quote by a woman describing her beastly encounter with breast cancer, was bumped up to the publisher’s office where I had to explain to the white, affluent man that having a breast excised in a patriarchal culture that values women’s breasts more than the people who bear them was really f*cking horrible.

By Colleen O’Connor

In the 1970s, a history professor of mine remarked to the class, “You could put a police officer on every corner of the country, and still not stop crime.” Meaning, enforcement of laws, requires a large segment of the community to respect and protect them.

Look at the failures in enforcement:

History lesson #1 Prohibition. A Failure.

“The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution–which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors–ushered in a period in American history known as Prohibition. Prohibition was ratified by the states on January 16, 1919 and officially went into effect on January 17, 1920, with the passage of the Volstead Act. Despite the new legislation, Prohibition was difficult to enforce.

This is a map of “We Won’t Go Back” protests from around the country in response to the right-wing Supreme Court decision – many happened on Friday, June 24, but many others are being planned for the following days and weeks.

For more, go to the site.

According to today’s San Diego Union-Tribune:

Thousands gathered at two separate rallies Friday night in downtown San Diego to protest the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and strip away constitutional protections for abortions.