Stand With Women ~ Scenes from the Struggle

From Texas, to North Carolina, to Ohio, to Wisconsin women must stand and fight back against the Republican attempt to control women's bodies and freedom. Sneaky Governors and Legislators are conspiring to pass draconian bills that hurt poor women and take away legal choices that are rights in this country. This isn't about being "pro-abortion" but protecting the right of women to control their own bodies. This is about the right of doctors and women to be free to discuss healthcare issues in a private way uncontrolled by the state. This is about the GOP closing down clinics for poor women and children in the name of being "Pro-life" whatever that means.



Thanks to gerrymandering and spineless state officials we can't win every battle, but if we keep it up, we WILL win the war . . . again. This is a struggle going back to the Suffragettes and the Women's Liberation movement in the 70s, and we can't forget those who fought before and made great strides in equality. Whatever nonsense the GOP comes up with next, there will be no surrender. But we all have to vote and work and text and tweet and network and make signs and stand up for ourselves and our daughters.

Edward Snowden can call himself a patriot, but he ran away on his own to be a man without a country. Meanwhile, real men and Women are standing and fighting for their states and their lives, willing to go to jail for what they believe. That is REAL civil disobedience as it was lived by Thoreau, Gandhi, and Mandela.

Scott Walker quietly signed a bill requiring ultrasounds for all women seeking abortions in Wisconsin: http://t.co/4vgembVhGX

— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) July 5, 2013

My latest article: Wisconsin Joins the Misogynistic Ultrasound Club; Federal Judge Promptly Blocks the Law http://t.co/oMjdqCOB7B

— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) July 9, 2013

Ladies in #WI this is a transvaginal ultrasound wand. Feeling violated yet! #wow #WIunion #fem2 #p2 #tcot pic.twitter.com/SU3XcdKCvf

— Shasta Merlot (@ShastaMerlot) July 8, 2013

Women are holding protest rallies in #Ohio, #NorthCarolina, #Wisconsin, #Texas. GOP has woken the sleeping giant #WomensRights #waronwomen

— Thunder Maker (@thunder_maker) July 10, 2013

North Carolina Republicans quietly attach abortion restrictions to motorcycle safety bill http://t.co/EdU3exaM9w #icymi

— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) July 11, 2013

“@Upworthy: YES. #motorcyclevagina RT @agoets: @NCAbortionFund @lizziefin @Upworthy Ask, and you shall receive! pic.twitter.com/fmowm3wYlz” YES.

— Kelli (@as_kell) July 11, 2013

Happening right now: @PPCNC supporters pack #ncga gallery for debate on #sb353. Stay strong, NC! #MotorcycleVagina pic.twitter.com/YrQ2lzcf4B

— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) July 11, 2013

Here's the scene right now at tonight's 10th #MoralMondays demonstration in NC: pic.twitter.com/PHHBLHbckl

— Kennett Area Dems (@KennettDems) July 8, 2013

Great photo RT @rjgeary: #moralmonday Crowd in Raleigh is biggest yet. Maybe over 3,000. 10 weeks, bigger every time. pic.twitter.com/SLbQtYmWMu

— New Raleigh (@NewRaleigh) July 8, 2013

#SanAntonio protestors outside facility where Gov Perry just announced he won't seek reelection-PIC #txlege pic.twitter.com/isz6pspiZC

— Mary Tuma (@TumaTime) July 8, 2013

Wow. This picture of TX House Dems at the mic during today's abortion debate. With hangers. #sb1 pic.twitter.com/hDEUWxe3DV

— jennifer bendery (@jbendery) July 9, 2013

Another shot of the orange crowd and state troopers outside the Texas House @OmarVillafranca #txlege #hb2 pic.twitter.com/2ht1aGCclX

— Kolten Parker (@KoltenParker) July 10, 2013

Marching back to the TX state Capitol. Great turnout against a bad bill! #SB1 #StopTheWarOnWomen #txlege pic.twitter.com/WNvkAAL7p8

— Les (@LesHugTX) July 9, 2013

High Noon for Texas Women

Crews setting up stage, barricades for pro choice rally at Capitol today. 6,000+ expected #txlege pic.twitter.com/FiTQfs6m89

— Adam Bennett (@AdamBennettTV) July 1, 2013

Activists on both sides of #Abortion debate expected at Capitol Monday. #ProChoice rallies at 10am, 12pm. #ProLife at 2pm. #TxLege #HB2 #SB9

— The Horn (@TweetTheHorn) July 1, 2013

I'll see you at the TX Capitol tomorrow to support Wendy Davis and women's rights.

— Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) July 1, 2013

From Raw Story

Thousands of Texans on both sides of the abortion divide will descend on the state capitol in Austin on Monday, at the start of a special legislative session designed to pass a bill that would sharply restrict abortion services in the state.

More than 5,000 people have signed up to a “Stand With Texas Women” rally, to be staged at noon on the steps of the Capitol. The rally is being billed as a continuation of the dramatic scenes last week, when 400 pro-choice advocates staged a loud protest in the state senate chamber following Wendy Davis’s epic 10-hour filibuster that blocked the controversial bill, SB 5.



Anti-abortionists will stage their own rally in support of the new legislative session that the Texas governor, Rick Perry, called shortly after Davis’s filibuster ended. Some 700 pro-life campaigners have signed up to the rally called by Texas Alliance for Life.



. . . In the course of almost 11 hours of filibuster, Davis was required to speak in the chamber without pause, standing and without leaning on anything. Her extraordinary endurance propelled her into the national political limelight, and sent the pair of training shoes she wore rocketing up the sales charts.

Read More at Snark Amendment:
Wendy Davis and Texas Democrats Filibuster SB5 Abortion Bill
Governor Rick Perry Attacks Wendy Davis

Thousands March to Protest Tar Sands Pipeline and Fracking

For the first time in 120 years the The Sierra Club is urging citizens of the U.S. and Canada to practice Civil Disobedience against the XL Pipeline, planned to carry toxic tar sands from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. This weekend, many protests took place across the country, and celebrities chained themselves to the gates of the White House leading to the arrest of Michael Brune, head of the Sierra Club, Julian Bond, Darryl Hannah, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr..


Protests Across the Country

Thousands of people rallied in downtown San Francisco on Sunday to urge President Obama to reject construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, an action they said would prove he is committed to fighting global warming.
The demonstration across from the Ferry Building was held at the same time as similar events in cities including Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles. The main event in Washington, D.C., drew tens of thousands of supporters in what was billed as the largest climate change rally in U.S. history.

Activists Arrested in White House Protest Over XL Pipeline

Celebrities and environmental activists, including lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and civil rights leader Julian Bond, were arrested Wednesday after tying themselves to the White House gate to protest the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune also was arrested – the first time in the group's 120-year history that a club leader was arrested in an act of civil disobedience. The club's board of directors approved the action as a sign of its opposition to the $7 billion pipeline, which would carry oil derived from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.



Activist Bill McKibben, actress Daryl Hannah and NASA climate scientist James Hansen also were arrested, along with more than 40 others. They were charged with failure to disperse and obey lawful orders, and released on $100 bond each.

. . . Kennedy, president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a New York-based environmental group, said he was being arrested "with regret," noting that he would prefer to contest the pipeline in court – and may eventually do so.
Kennedy, whose father was an attorney general and U.S. senator, called the pipeline "a boondoggle of monumental proportions" that will "ruin the lives of millions of people," through increased carbon pollution and likely spills.