The Gender Liberation March | Nurses Role in Abortion Care
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Bi-Weekly Sexual Freedom Newsletter Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Top Stories This Week
What’s happening at Woodhull;
KOSA and abortion access;
Suing Florida over school book bans;
A Black-led birthing center in Detroit;
Providing menstrual products in schools;
and Woodhull’s take on nurses’ role in abortion care.
The Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and TechFreedom filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton on September 23, arguing that Texas's age verification law H.B. 1181 violates First Amendment rights and threatens sexual freedom online.
Woodhull’s participation in this case was made possible by a generous donation from internet hosting provider MojoHost.
The brief contends that H.B. 1181's requirement for websites to verify users' ages before allowing access to sexual content imposes unconstitutional burdens on adults' right to access protected speech. Specifically, the law would force adults to sacrifice their privacy and anonymity in order to view legal sexual material online. HB 1181 will unconstitutionally chill, and in some instances entirely block, adult access to lawful online speech.
Today is the last Wednesday of Sexual Freedom Month. 😥
We still have a few days left of this celebratory month, and that means there’s still time to double your donation in honor of this special month!
In honor of this extraordinary month and thanks to the generosity of two of our donors, we have a matching donation of $15,000 for all donations made this month. Your dollars will be doubled, which means the money raised to support our work will take us further in the coming year!
Sexual freedom in the digital age represents a complex interplay of liberation and censorship, deeply influenced by technological advancements and cultural shifts. The internet has become a pivotal platform for exploring and expressing sexual identities, breaking down traditional barriers, and enabling individuals to connect across diverse sexual orientations and preferences.
Woodhull President & CEO Ricci Levy, General Counsel Larry Walters, and Senior Policy Analyst Allison Grossman, PhD, will discuss what sexual freedom looks like online in 2024 and what lies ahead - no matter who wins the election! You don't want to miss it!
Censorship is dangerous, and it’s posed to attack our most precious freedoms, including reproductive freedom. Lisa Femia writes: “This summer, the U.S. Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a bill that would grant the federal government and state attorneys general the power to restrict online speech they find objectionable in a misguided and ineffective attempt to protect kids online. A number of organizations have already sounded the alarm on KOSA’s danger to online LGBTQ+ content, but the hazards of the bill don’t stop there. KOSA puts abortion seekers at risk. It could easily lead to censorship of vital and potentially life-saving information about sexual and reproductive healthcare.” Read more.
It bears mentioning that KOSA’s danger is closer than ever before – on September 18, 2024, it advanced to the House.
(Joshua Lott/The Washington Post)
The country’s largest publishers sue Florida over school book bans (The Washington Post)
Book bans are draconian measures to control our access to information. One of such bans in Florida is being challenged precisely because it violates the 1st Amendment. Maham Javaid writes: “The lawsuit filed by Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins and others alleges that the state law, enacted last year, brought about hundreds of book removals and is violating First Amendment rights to free speech. [...] The lawsuit challenges a section of the bill that requires school districts to remove a book that ‘depicts or describes sexual content’ or is ‘pornographic.’” Read more.
(Cole Witter)
Gender Liberation March Brings Elliot Page, Miss Major, Peppermint, LGBTQ+ Youth to Washington D.C. (Teen Vogue)
In September, the Gender Liberation Movement hosted its first national march. Lex McMenamin interviews various participants, including Finnick. Finnick says: “My rights are currently being taken away, and, you know, I'm not a big fan of that. I feel like as a person, I should be able to have healthcare and not die. Hot take, I want to live. I want to be here to obviously support that message, and also just support the trans community as a whole. I'm very privileged as someone with a supportive family, and I've been able to medically transition, and I'm white, so I know I have privilege, but so I want to support the people who don't have as much.” Read more.
(Austen Risolvato/Rewire News Group)
‘It’s Never Been Done:’ Black-led Birthing Center to Serve Detroit (Rewire News Group)
Birth centers play a pivotal role in addressing the gestational mortality crisis, which is disproportionately experienced by Black birthing people. Thankfully, families in Michigan have some good news. Tatiana Walk-Morris writes: “Parents in Detroit will soon be able to seek birthing care at a Black-led freestanding birth center, the first of its kind in Michigan. [...] Birth Detroit offers pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, prenatal screenings, nutrition and breastfeeding support, and labor preparation. It also offers classes to educate people about nutrition, stress management, stages of labor, and other pregnancy information.” Read more.
(Barbara Gibson for The 19th)
Blue and Red States Were Putting Period Products in Schools — Then Came the Anti-Trans Backlash (Them)
In the recent past, menstrual periods have actually won legislative support in blue and red states. But now, critical menstrual care resources are under threat. Chabeli Carrazana writes: “For years, school nurses had been one of the only resources for students in need, many of them paying out-of-pocket for the products themselves. Legislators then successfully argued that schools should be providing those items. For a time, it was a winning strategy — an easy, bipartisan piece of legislation.” Read more.
(Photo by Gayatri Malhotra)
Woodhull’s Take: Nurses’ Role in Abortion Care (Woodhull’s Sex & Politics Blog)
Abortion is a fundamental human right, inextricable to the struggle for sexual freedom. Accessing abortion depends on many people, including healthcare professionals. We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation share our take on nurses’ role in abortion care: “Nurses are critical at each stage of abortion care: they counsel people on their options of types of abortions and the pros/cons of each, manage pain and monitor vital signs during an abortion, and explain options for contraception or fertility afterward. Without nurses, clinics simply ‘can’t function.’ A full team of healthcare professionals – one that includes nurses and their expertise – is often key to ensuring someone receives adequate care.” Read more.
Woodhull Freedom Foundation is the only national human rights organization working full time to protect the fundamental human right to sexual freedom. Our work includes fighting censorship, eliminating discrimination based on gender or sexual identity, or family form, and protecting the right to engage in consensual sexual activity and expression. We do this through advocacy, education, and coalition building.
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