Click here to view the embedded video.

MY HEART WENT pitter-patter at the end of this speech. I’m elated that our dear President is even discussing the perils modern women and girls face. I’m looking forward to seeing how this council moves forward. For one, nationalized comprehensive sex education for young women (and men!) is long, long overdue. Which women’s issues are you hoping capture more federal focus during this administration?

No related posts.

W HETHER YOU’VE HAD an abortion, or read a pregnancy test while your friend covered her eyes, or sat for hours in a waiting room watching women come and go, or simply believe in the right to choose, you know that facing the decision to terminate a pregnancy is devastating. There are few other times when we need our sisters more. And not just sisters to hold hands and to drive to clinics, but sisters who meet us at the door of those clinics and sisters who fight to lower the cost of procedures, and sisters who educate us on how to take care of ourselves after abortions. For women around the world, their network of sisters has just grown.

President Obama signed a bill Friday, overturning a rule instated by George W. Bush banning federal funding to any foreign family-planning agencies that promoted or provided information about abortions. After the ban was lifted, the women’s health organization, Planned Parenthood, released a statement declaring: “No longer will health-care providers be forced to choose between receiving family-planning funding and restricting the health care services they provide to women.”

We rejoice with our sisters and for our sisters in this small victory of global women’s rights.

No related posts.