McCain

The Senate is scheduled to begin voting on proposed amendments to the health care reform bill today. It takes 60 votes to pass an amendment and most of the proposed measures for the health care bill will never pass. It’s a great opportunity to grandstand over pet issues, however.

The result of the presidential election will determine the direction of the Supreme Court on Roe; Another California paper comes our against Proposition 4; Economists have show that working women are key to world prosperity, so how can better enable women to work?; Rwandan teens ask parents to talk to them about sex.

John McCain's plan to deregulate the health care industry would erode important state insurance requirements aimed at protecting women's access to basic health needs.

Radio ad says "Too many unborn lives are being lost while we wait for judges to get it right."; Opponents of California's Prop 4 and Prop 8 join forces on college campuses; HIV rate comparatively high in Philadelphia; Abortion laws liberalized in 16 countries since 1998; What if pro-choice Tom Ridge had been on the McCain ticket?; Birth attendants in Zambia.

Tiffany Campbell of South Dakota talks about her activism against the abortion ban, and how legal abortion allowed her to have her baby. Also: debate analysis, and the question of Sarah Palin and feminism.

Follow Amanda Marcotte on Twitter, @amandamarcotte

Rudy Giuliani has recorded a fear-mongering robocall for the McCain-Palin campaign that distorts Senator Barack Obama's stance on mandatory sentences for society's worst criminals.

McCain would likely continue the Bush administration's quiet war on contraception; Pro-life pharmacy opens in Virginia, will not dispense birth control; Catholics group explains why they think Obama is the real "pro-life" candidate; Outlook bleak for abortion rights in Northern Ireland; The myth of non-activist justices.

The future of women's equality, including abortion rights and equal pay, are at stake in the election; Are Catholics shifting toward Obama?; Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier on the next steps in beating AIDS; 40 Days for Life protests clinics around the country; Dr. Karen Rayne's top ten things to do before you have sex.

Obama seeks middle ground on abortion; McCain slammed for 'sarcastic air quotes'; Abortion restrictions on the ballot in Colorado, South Dakota and California; Broad support for reproductive health bill in Phillipines; UN says more focus on women needed in fight against HIV; 'HIV positive' Muppet educates kids on the disease in South Africa.

Pundits and bloggers thought that by dismissing an exception to abortion bans for women's health, McCain was alienating the very voters he had spent months courting.