Georgia Senate Seat Stays Anti-Choice

Anti-choice Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss won yesterday's run-off election against pro-choice Democratic challenger Jim Martin.  Chambliss's "double-digit" win shattered Democratic hopes of winning a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, reports the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, the Al Franken campaign is optimistic that the candidate will win a Senate seat in Franken's race against Norm Coleman.  "I'm very confident that Franken is going to win," said Franken's lawyer Marc Elias.

Why Hasn't Anti-Choice South Dakota Retained an Abortion Ban?

If South Dakotans self-identify as "pro-life" by a wide margin, why have recent votes on abortion bans resulted in voters rejecting bans?  CBS News reports,

A variety of theories have emerged to explain why there has been such a divergence between the supposed public opposition to abortion and the actual outcome of recent votes. Some suggest that a "reverse Bradley effect" was the cause. Just as voters in the 1982 California governor's race are believed to have lied about their intent to vote for a black candidate, South Dakota voters may have lied about their support for an abortion ban. "There's a lot of public pressure to be anti-abortion," explains Marvin Buehner, a Rapid City OB-GYN and South Dakota's most outspoken physician against the abortion bans. Buehner had predicted voters would reject the 2008 ban, but narrowly. "People are more likely to answer the poll that they'll support [a ban]. Then they get into the ballot booth and decide they just can't vote for something like that."

CBS also notes the development of a "sophisticated electorate" who are averse to sweeping abortion bans.

Fight Over Birth Control Access Brews in Maine

Family planning advocates in Maine are anticipating introduction of laws that would require parental consent for teens to access prescription birth control from school health clinics and other health care providers.  The Bangor Daily News reports on the advocates' work building support for unrestricted birth control access.

How to Defuse the Culture Wars

On Alternet, David Rosen has a series of policy prescriptions for defusing the religious right's culture wars, including codifying Roe in federal law, ending abstinence-only funding, and decriminalizing and regulating commercial sex.

Speaking Out About IVF

After the New York Times's Alex Kuczynski wrote openly about her use of a surrogate to give birth to a child that was genetically Kuczynski's, some observed that hearing men write personally about infertility, IVF and surrogacy is rare.  On The Daily Beast, Daniel Nester shares his family's story of IVF.