Katha Pollitt's Blog, page 5

Listen to Katha talk poetry and politics on the Brian Lehrer show. Click here.

Katha finally took the plunge and joined Twitter. Follow her here: http://twitter.com/KathaPollitt

Planned Parenthood gets no federal money for abortion, a procedure which constitutes some 3 percent of their work. None! (Neither, by the way, does the United Nations Population Fund, which Republicans also want to defund. In fact, it has been banned from funding abortions since its founding in the 1970s, and by several bouts of US legislation since.)...How can the fight be about abortion, when no federal monies are spent on abortions at Planned Parenthood? The fight is about Planned Parenthood. Period.

Read Pollitt's entire blog post online.

An excerpt from Pollitt's Nation column this week:

Remember "shared sacrifice"? Like the rain, the budget cuts were supposed to fall on all alike. But somehow men seem to be ending up with more than their share of umbrellas, and women are getting soaked. Attacks on reproductive healthcare are openly aimed at women and have gotten a lot of attention—like the House vote to defund Planned Parenthood and eliminate the Title X family planning program, which has fortunately been blocked in the Senate. Less visible are the ways federal, state and local government cutbacks, touted as neutral and necessary belt-tightening, will fall disproportionately on women.

Read the whole piece online at The Nation's website.

A message from Katha:

Dear friends, I just want to let you know that I'm participating in the National Network of Abortion Funds Virtual Bowlathon. That means, instead of bowling to raise $$$ for low-income women's abortion care, I sit here at my computer and try to raise more money than the other writers sitting at their computers. Last year I came in second. This year I want to do even better!

Can you help? No amount is too small! What with the Republican assault on reproductive rights and even Planned Parenthood, donating to NNAF is a great way for you to show your support for abortion rights and access.

To donate, just go to my fundraising page.

NNAF is a terrific organization, by the way. It's the umbrella for the many local abortion funds around the country. Your donation to NNAF will support the organization and also help women pay for abortion care in areas that no local fund covers.

Thanks for reading, Katha

Read Pollitt's latest blog entry online, at The Nation.

Pollitt recently wrote for Slate online about the lack of women magazine writers. One of her suggestions? To get more women writers, get more women editors. Read the piece at Slate.

Check out Pollitt's Nation blog post about NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg singling out Judge Emily Jane Goodman.

An excerpt from Pollitt's latest column:

"...You know what the Bible says about pride. Puffed up with their triumph in the 2010 elections—and worried about keeping their ever more reactionary base on board—Republicans at the state and federal level are letting their misogyny, their fundamentalism and their sheer nuttiness show. When Congress gets rid of federal funds for birth control for low-income women and antichoice activist Janet Porter gets two fetuses to "testify" at a hearing on the Ohio "Heartbeat Bill" by projecting their ultrasound images on a screen in living color, a shark has been seriously jumped. What's next—a vial of talking sperm? (Porter is not some marginal loony by the way; she was a co-chair of Mike Huckabee's Faith and Family Values coalition during his 2008 campaign.)

Read the full article online.

Read Pollitt's column about childhood education and the effects of poverty online at The Nation.