[S]everal Senate sources who have looked at [the bill] say it’s a more stringent requirement than the one on the table in 2009. In 2009, they were talking about requiring photo ID or two forms of non-photo ID; the 2011 bill does not have that non-photo ID option. It does, however, have an exemption from the photo ID requirement for those who are at least 70 years old at the start of 2012 and who have their voter-registration card when they go to vote.
Kim Smith listens to debate in the Oklahoma state Senate on an override of a veto on an abortion bill, Tuesday, May 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
The 2010 midterms brought into office 29 anti-choice governors, raising the number of states with both anti-choice majority legislatures and governors to 15. Pro-choice advocates fear the next two years will bring a marked increase in state-level restrictions to abortion access.
Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, is anticipating a very busy year. Northup gave TAP the rundown on women's reproductive health coverage under the Affordable Care Act and attempts to stall expanded access to emergency contraception.
Love it or hate it, reality television is here to stay. Though there's the good -- like Bravo's Project Runway and Top Chef -- and the bad -- like VH1's Flavor of Love and ABC's Extreme Makeover -- the rise of unscripted television is certainly problematic in a lot of ways. Jenn Pozner, founder of Women In Media & News, delved into some of the common myths and criticisms of reality television with her recently released book, Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV.
An anti-choice protester carries a cross in front of the Oklahoma Capitol in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Haderthauer)
On Friday, an Oklahoma judge ruled against a state law that was poised to, among other things, force women obtaining an abortion to disclose a substantial amount of personal information that would be posted on a public Web site. The privacy violation was enough to enrage many pro-choice bloggers; Lynn Harris wrote on Salon's Broadsheet, "The requirement … would scare the shit out of me." But the law also sought to ban the use of the word abortion or related words in Oklahoma code and impose a ban on sex-selective abortion. The law's defeat is a victory for reproductive-rights activists in Oklahoma, of which there are few.
On Thursday, President Barack Obama signed a bill that will allow the District of Columbia to once again use its own local tax dollars to pay for abortion services for low-income women. The 2010 omnibus appropriations bill lifted a restriction on the nation's capital using local funds for abortion care that has been imposed by Congress every year since 1988. (The bill also lifted restrictions on funding potential medical marijuana and needle exchange programs.)
"This is really something to be celebrated from the point of view of women who live in D.C. who are low-income," said Heather Boonstra, senior public policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute.
