Tennessee’s prosecutions of people living with HIV
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Bi-Weekly Sexual Freedom Newsletter
Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Top Stories This Week

  • What’s happening at Woodhull;
  • Tennessee’s prosecutions of people living with HIV;
  • Striking down New Hampshire’s “banned concepts” law;
  • Both sides-ing pregnancy criminalization;
  • Classification of abortion drug as controlled dangerous substances;
  • Anti-abortion extremists’ “language games”; and
  • Woodhull’s take on maternal mental health.
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Unfiltered: Discussing Free Speech poster


June’s Censorship Series Program is Live! 

Join us on June 20 at 1 pm ET for one of our most exciting programs ever - a conversation between Woodhull’s President, Ricci Levy, and the extraordinary Nadine Strossen, past President of the ACLU, author of the just reissued NYU Press Classics edition of “Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women’s Rights.” Nadine Strossen is a leading expert and frequent speaker/media commentator on constitutional law and civil liberties. Ricci and Nadine will discuss pressing issues of the day, including censorship, adult content, free speech, and the First Amendment. Put yourself into the room with them!

FreedomFest Las Vegas 2024


Meet us in Las Vegas This Summer! 

Join Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Ice-T, Javier Milei, Robert Schneider, and emcee Kennedy at TheFreedomFest July 10-13, 2024, and save $50 off the current “Attendee” rate when you use code Woodhull50! Thousands of liberty folks are headed to Vegas for the ultimate liberty summit. You should, too!

Undivide Us - photos from the event showing the panel, and an audience of people with hands raised


Ending Toxic Polarization in NYC! 


On May 29th, we joined our friends from Braver Angels and the National Review Institute for a screening of the new film Undivide Us. After the film, Woodhull COO Mandy Salley joined the filmmakers and Braver Angels NYC Alliance members to discuss our reaction to the film. The attendees and panelists had an inspiring conversation about why ending toxic polarization is important for positive US progress.

At Woodhull, we feel it is important to collaborate with organizations and individuals devoted to improving our world. This event is one small example of that. Thanks to our collaborators!

Interested in collaborating with Woodhull on an event? Drop us a note at info@woodhullfoundation.org

Photo of NYC Rally


Bonus Blog Post: Lobby Day Reflections 

Our COO, Mandy Salley, had a busy month educating legislators on legislation protecting human rights and sexual freedom in May! She took to our blog to share her thoughts about in-person advocacy and the importance of educating lawmakers directly. Read all about her experiences on our blog. 

 

Photo of the flag of the Department of Justice blowing in the wind

(U.S. Department of Justice website)

In Deal with Feds, Shelby County DA Won’t Enforce State Aggravated Prostitution Law (WKNO FM) 

Shelby County, Tennessee has moved one significant step closer to promoting the human rights of people living with HIV. Katie Riordan writes: “The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office has agreed with federal authorities to stop enforcing a state law that makes it a felony for a person who is knowingly HIV positive to engage in sex work. [...] The D.A.’s office [...] agreed not to pursue ‘other enhanced criminal charges or penalties on the basis of a defendant’s HIV status, unless the individual’s HIV posed a direct threat to the health and safety of others.’” Read more.

 

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Photo of a teacher leaning over a student, assisting them, with other students reading around the table in a classroom

(DigitalVision via Getty Images)

Educators Celebrate as Judge Strikes Down New Hampshire ‘Banned Concepts’ Law (Common Dreams) 

Advocates across New Hampshire and beyond are celebrating a ruling that struck down the state’s “banned concepts” law. Brett Wilkins writes: “Similar to other ‘white discomfort laws’ passed by Republican state legislators in states including Florida, Idaho, and Oklahoma amid the right-wing backlash against critical race theory and the broader racial justice reckoning, New Hampshire House Bill 544 bans K-12 educators from saying that the state and the United States are ‘fundamentally racist or sexist’ or that ‘an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.’” Read more.

 

Graphic of people yelling at each other, with visuals of mail-in ballots in the background

(Cage Rivera/Rewire News Group illustration)

The Media Must Stop Both Sides-ing the Criminalization of Pregnancy (Rewire News Group) 

Pregnancy criminalization is an unconscionable attack on our human right to reproductive justice and sexual freedom. Rossa Valderrama writes: “We cannot allow the media to continue to platform extreme anti-abortion narratives and give them the same weight as the voices of medical providers and people who have actually had abortions. In recent polls, around 60 percent of Floridians say they support expanding abortion access. We don’t want to be criminalized or see our friends and family criminalized for ending a pregnancy.” Read more.

 

Photo of a protester holding a poster of a hand-drawn box of Mifepristone

(Jose Luis Magana/AP)

Louisiana Classifies Two Abortion Drugs as Controlled Dangerous Substances (Mother Jones)

Abortion access in Louisiana is already incredibly dire. It’s about to get even worse. Pema Levy writes: “Louisiana enacted a first-of-its-kind law on [May 24], classifying the two drugs used in medication abortions as controlled and dangerous substances. The law prohibits obtaining or possessing misoprostol and mifipristone without a prescription. The new classification will make obtaining a prescription more difficult.” Read more.

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Photo of protesters in front of the Capitol, holding posters demanding protection at conception

(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Antiabortion Extremists Are Playing Language Games (Jacobin) 

Anti-abortion extremists are playing language games in attempts to justify denying people their most basic human rights. Anne Rumberger writes: “A longtime antiabortion talking point is the claim that abortion is never necessary under any medical circumstance. And pro-life leaders have been working especially hard the past few years to make that a reality by redefining abortion and divorcing it from health care. That way, antiabortion lawmakers can claim to care about protecting women facing life-threatening pregnancies and at the same time criminalize abortion at all stages of pregnancy.” Read more.

Photo of a person sitting in a waiting room, hands clasped in their lap

(Photo by Priscilla Du Preez)

Woodhull’s Take: The Maternal Mental Health Crisis (Woodhull’s Sex & Politics Blog) 

To access our human rights, we need swift, immediate action for birth justice. We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation share our take on the maternal mental health crisis: “A new report from the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health studied how each state in the U.S. is responding to the needs of new and expecting mothers. The results are, put bluntly, dismal – as the report notes, the U.S. is ‘failing mothers,’ only scoring a national grade of D+, up from a D in 2023. This snapshot of how terribly the U.S. is responding to mothers’ mental health isn’t surprising. Rather, it’s reflective of what we already know to be true: from a decidedly unjust health care system to a failing social safety net, most people’s needs are not being met.” Read more.

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