Oregon House bill will deter reporting child abuse

This bill will deter parents from making claims of child abuse for fear of being penalized. If legislators would only read current reseach or visit Web sites like the American Bar Association, The Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence, etc. rather than rely on sterotypes, they would find out that most mothers make allegations of abuse in good faith. Sometimes the allegation may be believed by the mother but untrue. It’s a very small fraction of cases that are made for malicious reasons.

Research also finds men make more false allegations (of being unfit or of neglect) than women, but apparently the legislators aren’t concerned about mothers.

New bill on child abuse aims to halt false claims

South Dakota – it’s not over yet

Will Draconian South Dakota force women to visit religious pregnancy centers before abortions? – on Alternet

http://www.alternet.org/story/149969/will_draconian_south_dakota_force_women_to_visit_religious_pregnancy_centers_before_abortions/

Dr. George Tiller, the Kansas abortion provider killed in 2009, said, “Trust women. Women are morally and intellectually and spiritually capable of struggling with complex ethical issues and coming to the appropriate… decision for themselves and their families.”

Update: South Dakota’s “Justifiable Homicide” bill struck down

Good news – you can’t kill a doctor that provides a safe medical procedure to women that want to terminate a pregnancy (terminate – opposite of “enforce”)!

http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=12869

Bill proposes those that make abuse accusations be called accusers, not victims

Sometimes, there’s more sympathy for the accused than there is for the abused. Sometimes, the abused become the accused – accused of lying, that is – especially women who allege abuse – who are often “liars until proven honest.”

Proposed GA bill to refer to rape victims as accusers

“Representative Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta) introduced a bill that would change the language of state criminal codes to refer to those who file charges for rape, stalking, and domestic violence as accusers, not victims, until there has been a conviction.”

Healthy Media for Youth Act

Should we mandate positive images of women in the media? by Brittany Shoot in Change.org – Please visit the site to sign the petition

Excerpt:

If it passes through Congress, the House (H.R.4925) and Senate (S.3852) bills, collectively known as the Healthy Media for Youth Act, would do a couple of key things. It would provide federal grant money for media literacy programs and youth empowerment programs and endorse research about the role and impact of girls’ and women’s images in the media. Best of all, it would enact a National Task Force on Girls and Women in the Media.

As Rachel at The F-Word.org points out, other countries have been considering similar legislation for a while now. With a whopping 90% of girls saying they feel pressured by the media to be thin, don’t we think it’s time to enact some girl-friendly legislation of our own?