DC Comics Gay Astronaut

This is a perfect time to read the brilliant and unforgettable graphic novel(s) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, about growing up in Iran during and after the Iranian Revolution, and the rise of the oppressive theocracy that persists to this day.

Both graphic novels are available free online (Persepolis vol. 1, Persepolis vol. 2)

Implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, the postal scheme allows those who are less than 10 weeks pregnant to have abortion medication delivered to their homes. It was praised for improving access to medical abortions by alleviating the fears and social stigma of being spotted in a sexual health clinic.

However, House of Lords Conservative peer, Baroness Philippa Stroud, has requested the service be scrapped completely in amendments that members will vote on this week.

Baroness Falkner, whose five-year tenure as EHRC chair was defined by the human rights regulator’s anti-trans policies, was among the signatories supporting the amendments brought to the House of Lords earlier this week.

Abortion rights in Europe are tenuous, limited, and under threat every day.

Abortion is actually illegal in England and Wales, and those who get abortions can be punished with up to life in prison for it. This isn't an idle threat, nor is it a theory, women in England are being prosecuted right now for their abortions, with most having been turned in by the doctors, nurses, and midwives of the NHS.

I think that a lot of Europeans have the attitude of "poor backwards America", and the wrong time to know that Europe has equally archaic and horrible abortion laws is when you're being hauled away or when 23 hospitals turn you away or when you have to go through mandatory counseling in order to talk to your doctor about getting an abortion.

The rollback on abortion privileges is a worldwide problem and the advancements of abortion rights is a universal need. There is NOWHERE you can rest on your laurels thinking that these privileges are a given, because they aren't.

Let’s remember everyone that we know of who died in ICE custody due to neglect and “undetermined causes” in this past year alone. Again, these are the deaths that we know of:

Genry Ruiz Guillén, Serawit Gezahegn Dejene, Maksym Chernyak, Juan Alexis Tineo-Martinez, Brayan Garzón-Rayo, Nhon Ngoc Nguyen, Marie Ange Blaise, Abelardo Avellaneda, Jesus Molina-Veya, Johnny Noviello, Isidro Pérez, Tien Xuan Phan, Chaofeng Ge, Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, Oscar Rascon Duarte, Santos Banegas Reyes, Ismael Ayala-Uribe, Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, Miguel Ángel García Medina, Huabing Xie, Leo Cruz-Silva, Hasan Ali Moh’D Saleh, Gabriel Garcia Aviles, Kai Yin Wong, Francisco Gaspar-Andrés, Pete Sumalo Montejo, Shiraz Fatehali Sachwani, Jean Wilson Brutus, Fouad Saeed Abdulkadir, Delvin Francisco Rodriguez and Nenko Stanev Gantchev.

You can read their stories here:

Anastasia Trusova (Russian, born 1989)

Doctor records your heart rate: protected by HIPAA

Smartwatch records your heart rate: NOT protected by HIPAA

I know that this is well intentioned, but the evidence these apps have been used for prosecution is scant. There are real studies done by real groups, like If/When/How that go over the real data.

Period tracking apps are a tool, but they're not the only tool, and to those recommending a paper calendar, I don't know if you don't realize the police can ABSOLUTELY read and understand a dot on a paper calendar. Lots of police are also people who menstruate.

Nearly half of the time people get prosecuted for pregnancy outcomes in the US, it's because they've been turned in by a medical professional. The period tracking apps or your calendar aren't the first step, your medical records are the first step. HIPAA does not preclude doctors from turning your records over to the police, regardless of whether or not they have a warrant. If they think you you committed a crime, they are well within their rights to give that to the police. And they do. Frequently.

Most other people have been reported by people they know. That's their partners, family members, friends. WhatsApp will also absolutely turn over your text messages, and there's extreme precedent for that, but also they don't have to, because your boyfriend is super happy to take screenshots and send them in his report.

It's true, these companies don't care about you. If that means you want to use a paper calendar over an app, do whatever you want. But if you're doing that because you think it will save you when your nurse calls the police and says that your miscarriage was "suspicious" or your abusive husband finds evidence of the mail order and turns that over to the police, then you're wrong.

you'll say "i think children shouldn't be forced to eat food they hate" and here comes someone who feeds their kids plain rice and boiled chicken (while eating a nicely seasoned stirfry) claiming that it's okay actually and kids shouldn't be allowed to taste things