MMO: Noteworthy

www.mothersmovement.org

Resources and reporting for mothers and others who think about social change.

Related articles on the widening gap

Millions of Americans in Economic Battle to Make Ends Meet
Heather Boushey, AlterNet, 13.oct.07
One in five don't earn enough to make ends meet and six years of Bushenomics has inflicted new hardships.

U.S. income gap widens, richest share hits record
Karey Wutkowski, Reuters, 12.oct.07
"According to recent data from the Internal Revenue Service, the richest 1 percent of Americans earned 21.2 percent of all U.S. income earned in 2005. That is a significant increase from 2004 when the top 1 percent earned 19 percent of the nation's income."

Poverty guidelines: Hurting or helping the poor?
Ruth Mantell, MarketWatch, 18.oct.07
The heart of the SCHIP debate focuses on how much a family can earn and still be considered poor enough for the kids to receive assistance from the program. But many experts say this critical decision is being based on a federal guideline -- commonly referred to as the federal poverty level -- that no longer accurately reflects the cost of living and today's spending patterns.

Generation gap: After paying the bills, middle-class pockets are emptier
Bob Sullivan, MSNBC, 16.oct.07
"Despite all those $200 sneakers you hear about and the long lines at Starbucks, consumers are actually spending less of their income -- much less -- on discretionary items like clothing, entertainment and food than their parents did. In fact, after taking care of essentials like housing and health care, today's middle class has about half as much spending money as their parents did in the early 1970s."

Living Paycheck to Paycheck Gets Harder
Anne D'Innocenzio, Associated Press, 20.oct.07
"The calculus of living paycheck to paycheck in America is getting harder. What used to last four days might last half that long now. Pay the gas bill, but skip breakfast. Eat less for lunch so the kids can have a healthy dinner."

Time to Rethink Our Economic Priorities?
Courtney E. Martin, American Prospect Online, 5.oct.07
Americans and their elected representatives need to start considering the relationship between the economy and quality of life. Report on the "What's The Economy For, Anyway?" conference.

Billionaires Up, America Down
Holly Sklar, Common Dreams, 22.oct.07
"When it comes to producing billionaires, America is doing great… We have a record 482 billionaires -- and a record 47 million people without any health insurance."

Americans Don't Believe in the American Dream
Joshua Holland, AlterNet, 12.oct.07
"To some extent the Dream was always a myth, especially for people of color, but in a very real sense we've reached a point in which we're looking at a break in America's implied social contract -- we were supposed to trade security, in the form of the kind of robust safety nets that they have in social democracies, for "dynamism," for supposedly unlimited opportunity. But the fact is that working people are walking a tightrope with little in the way of safety net, and they have less chances of making it big than their counterparts in other advanced economies."

America: Exceptional No More?
Andy Zelleke, AlterNet, 18.oct.07
Americans have always embraced capitalism and accepted the legitimacy of the highly variable standards of living it produces. But even as recently as 15 years ago, they would have been justified in pointing at others overseas for extreme inequality of wealth distribution. Today, they increasingly take for granted the stagnation, at best, of the vast American middle class. Many American workers, under enormous pressure from global competition, aren't getting ahead.

The Whole Story On Race
Alan Jenkins, TomPaine.com, 22.oct.07
"Through a combination of past discrimination, contemporary bias, and ongoing neglect, black communities are too often unplugged from the systems of opportunity that are crucial to success. And if we think that the way our country treats our inner cities, schools, and communities doesn't affect young people's hearts, minds, and behavior, we're kidding ourselves."

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Families, Work & Public Policy:

Work-life research series offers policy overviews for state legislators, advocates

The Sloan Work and Family Research Network at Boston College has reformatted and re-launched its series of work-life policy briefs for state legislators. While the Policy Briefing Series was created to inform state lawmakers and their staff about the policy implications of work-family issues, the briefing papers are also a useful resource for advocates and activists lobbying for paid leave and other work-life policies at the state level. For example, a recent release provides a summary of demographic and legislative trends as well as highlights from recent work-life research supporting the political argument for public policies to help workers integrate employment and caregiving responsibilities (Supporting Working Families with Children and Elderly Dependents, Issue 9, 2007).

The Work and Family Research Network State Policy web site also offers a series of U.S. maps (non-interactive) comparing demographic profiles of workers and families in each state and the current legislative response to addressing the needs of working families.

Sloan Work and Family Research Network at Boston College
wfnetwork.bc.edu

Supporting Working Families with Children and Elderly Dependents
5 pages, in .pdf

Other policy briefs available from the Research Network State Policy site
(all papers are in .pdf):

An Introduction to Work-Family Issues for State Legislators
Afterschool Care
Dependent Care
Domestic Violence
Flexible Work Schedules
Older Workers
Paid Sick Days
Part-Time Work
Phased Retirement
Shift Work
Telework and Telecommuting

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Rural mothers more likely to be employed than urban moms

A new analysis of census data by Kristin Smith of the the Carsey Institute at the University New Hampshire finds that for the past 25 years, rural mothers have consistently had higher employment rates than urban mothers. In 2004, 69 percent of rural mothers with children under age 6 were employed, compared to 63 percent of comparable urban mothers. Employment rates increase with education for both rural and urban mothers, but while employment rates among rural mothers rise substantially with education level, employment rates among urban mothers taper off at higher education levels, leaving a large discrepancy in employment rates among rural and urban mothers with college degrees (84 percent compared with 72 percent, respectively).

The fact sheet notes that rural mothers face serious challenges in finding and securing good quality child care: "Rural mothers rely on home-based care arrangements to a greater extent than urban mothers, and rural families have fewer child care choices than urban families, with center-based care being the least common available option."

The Carsey Institute web site offers additional fact sheets and research summaries on the social and economic well-being of rural women and families.

Carsey Institute
www.carseyinstitute.unh.edu

Employment Rates Higher Among Rural Mothers than Urban Mothers
Kristin Smith, Carsey Institute at the University of NH, Fall 2007
In HTML
In .pdf (4 pages)

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Study establishes minimum adequate payment rates for care of foster children

State and local child welfare systems are obligated by federal law to provide payments to foster parents to cover the expenses of caring for foster children, such as food, clothing, and school supplies (payments are typically funded with a combination of federal, state and local dollars). However, states and localities have complete discretion in setting foster care payment rates -- there is no federally required minimum rate and no standardized method of calculating exactly how much it costs to care for a child in foster care.

A new report developed through a collaboration of Children's Rights (a watchdog organization concerned with the welfare of children in foster care), the National Foster Parent Association, and researchers from the University of Maryland School of Social Work presents the first-ever calculation of the real expense of caring for a child in foster care in the United States. Findings indicate that rates of support for children in foster care are far below what is needed to provide basic care in nearly every state in the nation. On average, current foster care payment rates must be raised by 36 percent in order to reach the Foster Care Minimum Adequate Rates for Children (the “Foster Care MARC”) calculated by the research team. In some states, rates are less than half of what it actually costs to care for a child in foster care.

Current monthly rates range from $226 in Nebraska to $869 in the District of Columbia. The report acknowledges that regional differences in cost of living may partly account for the wide range in payments, but notes that the cost-of-living variations do not fully explain state policies: "Low among myriad state and local budget priorities, foster care rates in many states do not appear to be based on a real assessment of children’s basic needs."

On a given day, more than half a million children are in foster care in the U.S. Three-fourths are placed by the government with foster parents who open their homes to care for these children, and almost one-fifth are placed in group homes and institutions. The study found that the national average of the Minimum Adequate Rate for foster care is $629 per month for 2-year-olds, $721 per month for 9-year-olds and $790 per month for 16-year-olds; currently the national average payment rate is $488 per month for 2-year-olds, $509 per month for 9-year-olds and $568 per month for 16-year-olds. Calculations for the Foster Care MARC do not include the cost of transporting a child to visit with his or her biological family or the cost of full-time child care for working foster parents.

The report and state-by-state fact sheets are available on the Children's Rights web site.

Children's Rights
www.childrensrights.org

Hitting the M.A.R.C.
Establishing Foster Care Minimum Adequate Rates for Children
Index page
Summary Report, 32 pages in .pdf
State Fact Sheets

Related resources & articles:

The National Foster Parents Association
www.nfpainc.org

Foster care funds don't cover parents' bills, report says
Wendy Koch, USA Today, 3.Oct.07
"Most states pay foster parents far less than what middle-income families spend to raise their children, says a report out today by University of Maryland researchers…The report estimates the national average for monthly costs for healthy foster kids at $629 for a 2-year-old, $721 for a 9-year-old and $790 for a 16-year-old.

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Notable news and commentary on families, work & public policy

For many women, juggling act no longer works
Greg Burns, Chicago Tribune, 14.oct.07
"The long march of American mothers into the workplace has ground to a halt. And the reason will come as no surprise to the millions of women now trying to balance kids and a job: It's just getting too tough to pull off."

The Letter of Sex Discrimination Laws Versus Reality
Emily Friedman, ABC News, 8.oct.07
"With women making up approximately 46 percent of the work force in America, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more and more companies may be forced to decide how flexible they are willing to be with employees' schedules -- particularly those of expectant or new mothers."

Presidential Candidates Ignore Working Mothers
Yvonne Bynoe, AlterNet, 11.oct.07
It's time we had a candidate who articulated a comprehensive plan to help 21st century families better balance work and home.

What Might Older Fathers of Toddlers Bring to Their Constituents?
Susan Donaldson James, ABC News, 2.oct.07
Birth Statistics Say Dads Past 40 Are on the Rise Nationally, and the Presidential Campaign Reflects This Trend. "Los Angeles psychologist Michael Diamond said 'later timed fathers' like Dodd and Thompson are successful because they have the "enhanced resources" to cope with the stresses and responsibilities of parenthood."

Clinton proposes family-friendlier policies
Lynn Harris, Salon/Broadsheet, 17.oct.07
"Clinton's proposals are not going to turn us into Sweden overnight (France, actually), but considering that these days this kind of support comes to parents mainly in the form of articles offering tips for 'make-ahead meals' and 'date nights,' well, we're listening."

California: Governor vetoes bills expanding family leave
Ilana DeBare, San Francisco Chronicle, 16.oct.07
Saying that California's family leave laws are already too confusing, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed two bills that would have expanded family leave to include care for ill siblings, in-laws and grandparents. Schwarzenegger also vetoed a third bill, SB836, that would have prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of family responsibilities such as caring for a sick relative.

None Dare Call It Child Care
Gail Collins, New York Times, 18.oct.07
"We live in a country where quality child care is controversial. It was one of the very first issues to be swift-boated by social conservatives…We aren’t going to solve the problem during this presidential contest, but it is absolutely nuts that it isn’t a topic of discussion -- or even election-year pandering."

Research, politics transform universal preschool movement
David L. Kirp, Sacramento Bee, 14.oct. 07
"A third of a century ago, President Richard Nixon vetoed legislation that would have underwritten child care for everyone. "No communal approaches to child rearing," Nixon vowed, playing to his constituency…How times have changed. Across the country, ambitious statesmen from both sides of the political aisle are now borrowing from Babbitt's playbook. They see the issue as a winner -- a strategy for doing well by doing good. A recent national survey found that 87 percent of the populace supports public funding to guarantee every 3- and 4-year-old access to a top-notch preschool." Free registration required to read.

The E-Mail Undertow
Cynthia Hanson, Jugglezine, 10.oct.07
"In 2006, the average corporate e-mail user received 126 e-mail messages per day, a 55 percent increase since 2003, according to a survey by The Radicati Group, Inc., a technology market research firm in Palo Alto, California. 'If users spend an average of one minute to read and respond to each message, this flood of e-mail traffic will consume more than a quarter of the typical eight-hour workday--with no guarantee that users actually read the messages that are most important,' the report said. 'Additionally, if e-mail traffic continues to increase at this rate, the average corporate e-mail user will spend 41 percent of the workday managing e-mail messages in 2009.'

Maybe E-mail Isn't Such a Great Idea, After All
Tom Regan, AlterNet, 18.oct.07
Emails sent by a company's workers are projected to increase 27 percent this year. But is email actually decreasing productivity in the workplace?

States turn to seniors for help in classrooms
Christine Vestal, Stateline.org, 5.oct.07
"Maryland, California, Virginia and other states are recruiting retirees to work in public schools as volunteers and salaried employees, offering boomers what they say they want -- meaningful second careers."

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Health care & Women's Health:

National Women's Law Center releases new report on women's health in the states

A comprehensive analysis of women's health in the states finds that while some states made gains in improving key indicators for women’s health, most states are states and the nation as a whole are failing to meet minimum standards when it comes to women’s health. Produced and published by the National Women's Law Center, Making the Grade on Women’s Health: A National and State-by-State Report Card is the fourth in a series of triennial reports to rank each state based on 27 women's health indicators.

In addition to assessing women's health insurance coverage and public policies that facilitate health care access and screening, the report measures women's health by examining their economic security. Key findings of the report include:

Nationwide, 18 percent of women aged 18 to 64 are uninsured.

While 89 percent of non-hispanic white mothers-to-be receive early prenatal care in the U.S., only 76 percent of African American women, and 78 percent of Latina women, received first-trimester care. Native American women were least likely to receive early prenatal care (71 percent).

Nationwide, 69 percent of pregnancies among African American women were unintended, compared to 40 percent among white women and 54 percent among Latina women.

In 2007, five states decreased Medicaid eligibility levels for working parents, making it more difficult for low-income women who don’t receive coverage through their employer to access health care.

Only 20 states -- one less than in 2004 -- require private insurers to cover annual mammograms for women over 40.

27 states now meet the policy goal of requiring that private insurers cover contraceptives (up from 20 in 2004).

Only Washington and Oregon have a minimum wage that allows a family of three to reach the federal poverty threshold of $16,079.

Although no state received a "satisfactory" or higher grade, Vermont was determined to be the best state for women's health, followed by Minnesota and Massachusetts. 12 states received failing grades, up from six in 2004. Mississippi ranked last; Louisiana, Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, the District of Columbia, South Carolina, Texas and Alabama also received a failing grade. All other states were graded "unsatisfactory."

The Making the Grade web site offers an interactive map with links to state-level assessments, a summary of key findings with ranking by state, and a national report card.

National Women's Law Center
www.nwlc.org

Making the Grade report web site:
hrc.nwlc.org

States failing in area of women’s health
Reuters, MSNBC, 17.oct.07
"Most U.S. states have made little progress toward improving women’s health and many have fallen behind as rates of obesity and diabetes continue to climb, a new 50-state report released on Wednesday showed."

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Jobs, gender and depression

A research brief from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that 7 percent of full-time employees experience a major depressive episode during a 12-month period, costing employers and estimated $30 to $44 billion dollars a year due to lost productivity. Results of a national mental health survey also reveals that incidence of employee depression varies by sex, industry and occupation. However, major media coverage stressed the finding that people "who tend to the elderly, change diapers and serve up food and drinks have the highest rates of depression among U.S. workers."

The slant of media reporting on the report (National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report: Depression Among Adults Employed Full Time, by Occupational Category, 11 October 2007) demands closer inspection. An Associated Press story picked up by several major news outlets suggested a casual relationship between job characteristics and depression -- a conclusion the study does not support -- implying that caring for others full-time is especially detrimental to adult's mental health. (Homemakers were included in the health survey but were not included in the data analyzed for the report.) In fact, researchers found that women working in Food Preparation and Related Service, Community and Social Services, and Healthcare Practitioners and Technical occupations—as well as female Architects, Engineers and Surveyors—were more likely to report major depressive episodes in the survey year than women in direct care occupations. (Male workers reported a much lower incidence of depression overall; among occupations, men in the Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media industry had the highest incidence of depressive episodes).

Perhaps a more notable finding from the NSDUH report is that adults who work full-time are less likely to report recent episodes of major depression (7.0 percent) than those who work part-time (9.3 percent) or are unemployed (12.7 percent). But the report does not examine whether a predisposition to major depression is linked with underemployment, or conclude that full-time work offers a protective factors (although in terms of situational factors related to depression and its treatment, full-time work is more likely to increase access to health care and support a higher standard of living than part-time work or unemployment). The common characteristic of the occupational categories associated with the highest rates of depressive episodes among workers (Personal Care and Service and Food Preparation and Serving Related occupations) is low pay, lack of health care benefits, no paid or unpaid sick leave, low job flexibility, high employee turnover, and a high percentage of female workers. Among professional workers, the survey suggest that women with a history of depression may be more likely to gravitate to creative fields as opposed to law or science.

The full research brief is available from the agency's web site.

U.S. Office of Applied Studies,
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
oas.samhsa.gov

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report:
Depression Among Adults Employed Full Time, by Occupational Category
SAMHSA, 11 October 2007, 4 pages in .pdf

Related articles and resources:

Which jobs have highest rate of depression?
Associated Press, MSNBC, 14.oct.2007
"People who tend to the elderly, change diapers and serve up food and drinks have the highest rates of depression among U.S. workers."

Stressful jobs double risk of depression for young workers
Ian Sample, Guardian UK, 6.aug.07
High-stress jobs make young workers twice as likely to suffer from major depression and anxiety disorders, according to a British study of mental health in the workplace.

Depression in women: Understanding the gender gap
Mayo Clinic, 20.sept.06
Nearly twice as many women as men develop depression and related disorders at some point in their lives. A woman's unique biological, psychosocial and cultural factors may increase her risk of depression. (This health brief cites "unequal power and status" and "work overload" as potential factors in women's depression.)

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Medical associations offer parent guides on medication for kids with ADHD, depression

The American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry have developed information guides for patients and families on treating children with ADHD and depression. The guides provide information on symptoms, treatment options, types of medications, side effects, and co-occurring disorders. The Parents Medication Guides were developed by a consensus group of medical professionals and parent advocacy groups. No pharmaceutical funding or editorial support was used in the preparation or development of the project.

The ADHD Parents Medication Guide is the latest addition to the ParentsMedGuide.org online resource center that provides practical advice for parents of children and adolescents with mental health disorders. The guides are available in English and Spanish.

ParentsMedGuide.org
parentsmedguide.org

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More news on health care & women's health:

Five Myths About Sick Old Europe
Steven Hill, New America Foundation. 7.oct.07
"As Europe's economy has surged, it has maintained fairness and equality. Unlike in the United States, with its rampant inequality and lack of universal access to affordable health care and higher education, Europeans have harnessed their economic engine to create wealth that is broadly distributed."

Saving babies: Exposing sudden infant death in America
Thomas Hargrove and Lee Bowman, Scripps Howard News Service, 8.oct.07
"Every day in America at least 10 babies die suddenly and mysteriously. Yet some of the more than 4,000 victims of sudden infant death each year could be saved if there was a simple national standard for infant death investigations, a seven-month review by Scripps Howard News Service has found."

Racial Disparities Affect Breast Cancer Treatment
Raja Jagadeesan, MD, ABC News, 8.oct.07
"Researchers at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University found that among women with breast cancer that had spread to lymph nodes, white women were three times as likely to receive adjuvant chemotherapy and almost five times as likely to receive Tamoxifen, a common hormonal drug for breast cancer."

Breast Cancer Sells
Lucinda Marshall, AlterNet, 24.oct.07
October is an awareness month for breast cancer and domestic violence. Yet media coverage shows we'd rather be aware of breasts, even sick ones, than talk about abuse.

Sick Kids' Laugh Riot
Annabelle Gurwitch, The Nation, 16.oct.07
"Now, I am not looking for S-CHIP funds and only tell this story to drive home how stressful and expensive caring for a child with chronic illness can be, even when you're lucky enough to have the income to afford private care. But I'm just a mom who's admittedly made bad choices."

In search of a gentler end
Joanne Kenen, Special, Stateline.org, 29.oct.07
Earlier this year, Colorado became one of the first states to win a waiver from Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for the poor, to pay for services outside of a traditional hospice program for terminally ill children, allowing doctors and families to manage children's end-of-life care at home. Many other states are now pursuing waivers or starting similar pilot programs.

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Mothers & Fathers:

Greater Good Magazine covers 21st century families

The Fall 2007 edition of Greater Good Magazine -- a publication highlighting "the strides we’re making (and obstacles we’re encountering) toward becoming a more benevolent society" -- is devoted to the topic of changing families. The issue includes articles by respected work-life researchers such as Stephanie Coontz (writing on the changing meaning of marriage) and Ross D. Parke, Scott Coltrane, and Thomas Schofield on fatherhood and family values in Latino communities. Greater Good editor Jeremy Adam Smith writes about the way children destroy your life -- then help you find a new one. The well-being of children in post-divorce families and gay and lesbian parenting are also covered. All articles are available on the Greater Good web site.

Check out the past issue archives when you visit the site -- given that we're living in such dark times, it's nice to know there's a quality periodical dedicated to a discussion of the psychological and social benefits of altruism. Greater Good is published by the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

Greater Good Magazine
"The Science of a Meaningful Life"

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Child custody, fatherhood 2.0, more news and commentary about parenting and families

Custody Injustice Goes Way Beyond Britney
Sandra Kobrin, Women's eNews, 24.oct.07
Britney Spears has lost custody of her two children amid ghoulish media pleasure in her predicament. It's tempting to think she's a special case, but Sandra Kobrin says the tide is against mothers fighting custody battles in family court.

GI Jane: Kids or Country?
Anne Marie Dorning, ABC News, 23.oct.07
"There are about 140,000 single parents in the active and reserve military. Before a deployment, service personnel are required to work out temporary parenting arrangements with an ex-spouse or family member through a written family care plan. But all too often, the stateside caregiver goes to court requesting a modification of a custody arrangement, and the military parent isn't around to fight the order. That leaves military moms and dads feeling as if their deployment -- their absence -- counts against them in court."

And baby makes two
Katharine Mieszkowski, Salon, 19.oct.07
"Knock Yourself Up" author Louise Sloan explains that becoming a single mother isn't always easy but ultimately defies every right-wing stereotype.

Married Without Children Is the Life for Her
Kristen Tsetsi, Women's eNews, 15.oct.07
Tsetsi and her ex-husband divorced because she didn't want children. Now with her current husband, the child-free life has just been guaranteed and she's ready to commit.

Fatherhood 2.0
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, Lev Grossman, Time Magazine/CNN, 4.oct.07
"What does it mean, exactly, to be a man these days? Once upon a Darwinian time, a man was the one spearing the woolly mammoth. And it wasn't so long ago that a man was that strong and silent fellow over there at the bar with the dry martini or a cold can of beer--a hardworking guy in a gray flannel suit or blue-collar work shirt. He sired children, yes, but he drew the line at diapering them. He didn't know what to expect when his wife was expecting, he didn't review bottle warmers on his daddy blog, and he most certainly didn't participate in little-girl tea parties. Today's dads plead guilty to all of the above--so what does that make them?...As we fuss and fight over the trials and dilemmas of American mothers, a quiet revolution is occurring in fatherhood."

Guilty of murder or seeming unmatronly?
Carol Lloyd, Salon/Broadsheet, 19.oct.07
"Now, quite apart from the heart-wrenching reality of a little girl gone missing, the commentary about a woman and her body, her mysteries, her fatal mistakes is spinning its own web of words in a way that might have inspired a sequel to 'The Scarlet Letter'."

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Reproductive health & rights:

U.S. maternal death rates higher than Europe's;
adoption and abortion; what they don't tell you about childbirth; countering anti-choice rhetoric

U.S. maternal death rate higher than Europe's: report
Reuters, 13.oct.07
"The United States has a sharply higher rate of women dying during or just after pregnancy than European countries, even some relatively poor countries such as Macedonia and Bosnia, according to the first estimates in five years on maternal deaths worldwide. The report released by various United Nations agencies and the World Bank on Friday shows that Ireland has the lowest rate of deaths, while several African countries have the worst. The United States has a far higher death rate than the European average, the report shows, with one in 4,800 U.S. women dying from complications of pregnancy or childbirth, the same as Belarus and just slightly better than Serbia's rate of one in 4,500."

The adoption vs. abortion myth
Cory L. Richards, LA Times, 29.oct.07
"Politicians from both parties frequently promote tax credits and other incentives to ease the way for adoptive parents to demonstrate that they want to "do something" about abortion. Facilitating adoptions, especially of hard-to-place children, deserves our strong support. But it does nothing to affect the abortion rate. To assert that it does is either ill-informed or simply cynical, and it should stop."

Did I Steal My Daughter? The Tribulations of Global Adoption
Elizabeth Larsen, Mother Jones, Nov/Dec 2007
"While we've belatedly acknowledged the trauma of American women who were forced to surrender their children, birth families abroad have remained shrouded in mystery, allowing parents and professionals to invent the narrative that best suits them."

Guatemalan Mountains Become Maternal Deathtrap
Theresa Braine, Women's eNews, 25.oct.07
A trip to the Guatemalan countryside shows what "maternal health care access" problems mean for women whose only way to a hospital is in a hammock carried down a steep hillside or a four-wheeler charging for two hours over rough terrain.

What Women Aren't Told About Childbirth
Manda Aufochs Gillespie and Mariya Strauss, AlterNet, 20.oct.07
A new survey of mothers reveals some disturbing things about hospital maternity care that may make pregnant women want to take a closer look at their options.

Anti-Abortion Movement Borrows Tactics from the KKK
Carrie Kilman, AlterNet, 10.oct.07
In the South, grassroots activists are fighting back against an increasingly hostile anti-abortion movement.

'RH Reality Check' Counters Anti-Choice Rhetoric
Sheila Gibbons, Women's eNews, 10.oct.07
The Web has provided a vibrant breeding ground for the anti-choice movement and its rhetoric. Sheila Gibbons prefers a dose of reality from a new site that tackles misinformation and aims to build advocacy support for women's health.

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November 2007

previously in mmo noteworthy ...

editor@mothersmovement.org