Blogs Comment On Kagan Confirmation Hearings, International Women's Health, Other Topics

The following summarizes selected women's health-related blog entries.

~ "Kagan Hearing Day One: The Battle To Define 'Judicial Activism,'" Ian Millhiser, Think Progress' "The Wonk Room": The word "activism" seemed to "dominate" the opening statements of Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans at Elena Kagan's confirmation hearing on Monday, Millhiser writes. According to Millhiser, "Conservative senators figured out a long time ago that if they label anyone to the left of [Supreme Court Justice] Samuel Alito a 'judicial activist' then their more progressive colleagues will put their tail between their legs and cower," but "this tactic backfired" on Monday. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) "warned that Kagan may try to 'change' the law's meaning after she becomes a judge," while Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) "suggested that Kagan would 'abandon impartiality and instead engage in results-oriented judging,'" Millhiser notes. He continues, "These warnings ... were largely empty" because the "attacks boiled down to nothing more than insinuations that there must be something wrong with ... Kagan because she once heaped praise on her former boss, Justice Thurgood Marshall" (Millhiser, "The Wonk Room," Think Progress, 6/28).

~ "Promising Steps Toward International Women's Health," Cecile Richards, Huffington Post blogs: During the G8's annual summit in Muskoka, Ontario, world leaders "[f]or the first time ... elevated the importance of women and girls on the world stage by making maternal and child health the flagship commitment of its development agenda," Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, writes. The "new commitment to women and children rightly aims to broadly address these health needs and includes family planning among the essential health interventions for women," Richards continues. However, the commitment has "many more steps to go," as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has "repeatedly asserted that these maternal health efforts would not include abortion," Richards writes, adding that "no effective maternal health improvements can occur without comprehensive reproductive health care, including access to safe and legal abortions." She continues, "If we are to do all we can to save women's lives, access to safe abortion must be an essential component of any comprehensive maternal health initiative" (Richards, Huffington Post, 6/28).














~ "Pro-Choice Group Files Suit Challenging Nebraska Law," Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check: On Monday, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland filed a lawsuit against a Nebraska law (LB 594) that "would force women to undergo [an] extensive mental health assessment prior to obtaining an abortion before 20 weeks based on spurious 'evidence,'" Jacobson writes. According to Planned Parenthood, the law -- which is scheduled to take effect July 15 -- "purports to ensure that women are 'informed' before consenting to an abortion, but actually imposes requirements that are both impossible to meet and require physicians to flood their patients with false and misleading information." Jacobson writes that the suit argues that "doctors would have no way of knowing if they are in 'compliance' with the [law], because the broad scope of LB 594 not only requires the disclosure of false, inaccurate and potentially harmful information to patients seeking medical care, but also makes compliance impossible" (Jacobson, RH Reality Check, 6/28).

~ "'No to Violence Against Women' Summit Points to Economics," Marcia Yerman, Huffington Post blogs: The agenda of the recent "No to Violence Against Women" conference in New York City included "an exploration of strategies that could lead to 'transformative change,'" including "the link between women's need to be safe from violence and economic self-sufficiency," Yerman, co-founder of cultureID, writes. According to Yerman, "Building security for women creates a foundation of building blocks that yields strong civil societies -- both in developing nations and those countries that are struggling to recover from the ravages of conflict and war." She adds, "In order for women to be active in the workforce, they must be protected by laws and have access to health care and education." Yerman argues that "[c]hange must take place at two levels. First, it must be put into play by governments, their legal systems and the global adaptation of the International Violence Against Women Act." In addition, non-governmental organizations "need to implement transformation through a grassroots, on the ground approach," she writes (Yerman, Huffington Post blogs, 6/26).

~ "On First Day of Hearing, Special Report Pushes Kagan Myths," Media Matters for America: The Media Matters post refutes statements from Fox News' "Special Report" about the first day of Kagan's confirmation hearings. The post clarifies misinformation in the segment about Kagan's past positions on campus military recruiting, former Israeli Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak and her courtroom experience. For example, although "Special Report" host Bret Baier suggested that Kagan lacks courtroom experience, she has made six oral arguments before the Supreme Court and signed more than 170 legal briefs in her time as solicitor general. Furthermore, "Kagan's legal experience is comparable to that of [Justices William] Rehnquist, [Clarence] Thomas and [John] Roberts at the time of their nominations," the post notes (Media Matters for America, 6/28).


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