Kansas Attorney General Steven Six recently claimed that "the recession is fueling an increase in domestic violence," the Wichita Eagle [13] reports. ""A tough economy tends to increase stress on families and unfortunately, that often leads to violence," Six said. The Wichita YWCA has seen a 70% increase in women and children needing shelter from abuse specifically.
Unemployment especially worsens the problem, particularly among those men who are already prone to abusive behavior and drinking, [Wichita YWCA executive director Chryle Nofsinger-Wiens] said.
By itself, unemployment doesn't cause abuse, Nofsinger-Wiens said.
North Carolina House Passes Sex Ed Bill
The North Carolina House approved a bill that would allow parents to choose the sexuality education their children receive: an abstinence-only program or a more comprehensive option with information about contraception. Parents could also choose not to expose their children to any sex ed, WSOCTV.com [14] reports. "The abstinence until marriage curriculum is the current offering in most school districts. A handful of systems offer a program that teaches about contraception. The bill would require all systems to offer both tracks." The measure heads next to the Senate.
Undercover at a Crisis Pregnancy Center
For the Pasadena Weekly [15], Tina Dupuy went undercover to a Los Angeles County crisis pregnancy center after a friend of hers, who went to the CPC for a pregnancy test and left after volunteers tried to "save" her.
Avenues is a California primary clinic, fully licensed and accredited by the state. So exactly what kind of medical facility lures women with the promise of free pregnancy tests and leaves them fearing eternal damnation?
Even before she was given a pregnancy test, Dupuy reports, CPC staff told her an ultrasound would be necessary to test whether her fetus was viable -- and moments later she signed a release form stating that the ultrasound wouldn't give her medical information.
Other nuggets?
In the backroom, Melissa tells me about all the reasons I should never have intercourse. “Every woman, when she has sex, gives away a little piece of her heart,” she says, then hands me a fistful of abstinence literature...
“True love,” it says, “protects 100 percent of the time.”
From "Pro-Life Feminist to Pro-Choice Mama"
On EcoChildsPlay.com [16], Cate Nelson has a thoughtful piece on shifting her beliefs from "pro-life feminist to pro-choice mama" during the time of her pregnancy with her first child. She writes,
I felt Little L move very early for a first pregnancy (12 weeks). I am thankful for him every day. I was thankful for him every day that I was a single mom, too. No matter how I struggled at times. But Little L and I had incredible people in our lives. People who babysat for free so I could work. People who bought us loads of clothes or sent us Whole Foods gift cards. People who thought about what we needed and gave and gave and gave, without us ever asking.
Most women—most poor families—do not have that.
How can we ask women to stay safe, protect the children they have, and leave a bad relationship without support? How can policymakers simultaneously rail against abortion while cutting funding for food stamps or TANF or proposing “welfare reform”?