Late-term and second-semester abortions are under attack across the country.  But a closer look at why they happen shows we need to keep the option available.

Despite those thumb-sucking fetuses you see waved around protests, nearly 90 percent of abortions occur in the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy. It’s easy for even nominally pro-choice people to judge or shudder at the smaller number of abortions that happen beyond that mark, but that may be because the circumstances of those women’s lives are so remote to them.

Later abortions are no one’s ideal situation, since the price of an abortion goes up, along with the relative medical risks, with every week of gestation. It also becomes harder to find a provider. But as a new quantitative study from the Guttmacher Institute shows for the first time, most of these women aren’t living in ideal situations – they are likelier to be teens, to have less education and to have more disrupted lives.

The stereotype, says Susan Schewel, executive director of the Women’s Medical Fund in Philadelphia, is that women who have second-trimester abortions are “willfully irresponsible. But the women who call our help line are instead women who often are trying to be responsible, but their lives are so difficult. They have so many balls in the air, and more pressing financial needs – for example, housing. They just can’t manage everything.” And of course, many women discover fetal anomalies or experience serious health problems later in their pregnancies.

Read more at Salon.com

The United States and Israel are on the same page regarding the severity of the potential threat of Iran's nuclear program.

The United States understands the true military threat posed by Iran's nuclear program and is on the same page with Israel regarding the severity of the issue, Home Front Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said Wednesday, according to Channel 10 news.

"The Americans are aware of the true intelligence and they understand that the Iranian threat is not something innocent, but something real," Vilnai said.

The home front defense minister was responding to a CNN interview of Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey earlier Wednesday, in which he said the US recognizes Israeli concerns about Iran's development of nuclear technology.

Read more at Jerusalem Post

For the second time this week, a Nevada judge has struck down an "egg as person" attempt.  Earlier this week, he rewrote a ballot initiative to make sure voters understood the ramifications of the Personhood and how it would affect birth control, in vitro fertilization and ectopic pregnancies.  Wednesday, he declined to allow an anti-abortion petition to be circulated because it is too vague.

An anti-abortion petition is so vague that it cannot be circulated among voters, a judge ruled Wednesday.

District Judge James Wilson granted an injunction that prevents Personhood Nevada from circulating its petition.

The decision came after a 45-minute hearing during which Personhood lawyer Gary Kreep repeatedly failed to state the purpose of the petition.

At one point, he said it would prevent "discrimination against the unborn" and at another noted it might stop rationing of health care for senior citizens that could occur under "Obamacare." He added he would have to "speculate" on the petition's possible effects.

Kreep's coy responses to Wilson did not help his cause. The judge listened only briefly to arguments by American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Alexa Kolbi-Molinas before granting the injunction she and Planned Parenthood had sought.

Wilson said state law requires the purpose of a petition must be clear so that voters understand what they are signing.

Read more at Las Vegas Review-Journal

Ambassador Susan Rice addressed the Conference of Presidents of Jewish Organizations last week and reiterated the President's and the administration's support of a strong US-Israel relationship.

Good evening, everyone. I’m delighted to be here and to see so many friends and colleagues.

Harold Tanner, thank you so much for that warm introduction. Malcolm Hoenlein, Richard Stone and Harold Tanner, and the event co-chairs, thank you for your leadership. It’s great to be back at the Conference of Presidents. Please know that we will continue to work closely with our valued partners in this room and beyond.

You remind us of the strength and dedication of the American Jewish community—a community devoted to the U.S.-Israeli bond, to human rights for all, and to the wider principle of tikkun olam—“repairing the world.”

Read more at USUN.State.gov

Recent headlines made it look as if Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was scolding Israel, and only Israel, for the lack of progress in the Peace Talks.  What he said and what was reported are not the same, says the AJC.

Al Jazeera (Reuters): “Panetta: Israel must 'get to the damn table'”
New York Times: “Defense Chief Says Israel Must Mend Arab Ties"
Fox News: “Panetta Scolds Israel on Peace Talks”

Sometimes media can make a public event into a Rorschach test, reporting what they are predisposed to want us to see. Coverage of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s speech to the Saban Forum is an example. The transcript simply does not bear out the headlines.

Panetta declared publicly that Israel’s security, based on its relationship with the United States, is a core component of stability in the region: “…that bond is the fundamental key to stability and hope in the Middle East, and it is a bond that must never be broken.” He spelled out the three principles of America’s regional policy: “First, our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security. Second, our broader commitment to regional stability. And third, our determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.” Panetta illustrated these principles by referring to the Administration’s actions. He cited “unprecedented levels of defense cooperation with Israel to back up our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security.” AJC’s sources in the Israeli defense establishment confirm this without reservation, noting the announcement in the same speech of the largest-ever joint U.S.-Israel military exercises.

Contrary to the impression created by some reports, Secretary Panetta did not single out Israel for lack of progress in the peace process. After moderator Kenneth Pollack asked whether Israel should withdraw its troops from the West Bank, Panetta urged both the Palestinians and the Israelis to “get to the damn table.” On the matter of Israel’s relations with Turkey, he suggested that both Turkey and Israel “need to do more to put their relationship back on the right track.”

Read more at AJC

The "morning-after pill" will not be available over-the-counter to anyone under the age of 17, based on a ruling by Health and Human Services that overruled an FDA recommendation.

For the first time ever, the Health and Human Services secretary publicly overruled the Food and Drug Administration, refusing Wednesday to allow emergency contraceptives to be sold over the counter, including to young teenagers. The decision avoided what could have been a bruising political battle over parental control and contraception during a presidential election season.

The contraceptive pill, called Plan B One-Step, has been available without a prescription to women 17 and older, but those 16 and younger have needed a prescription — and they still will because of the decision by the health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius. If taken soon after unprotected sex, the pill halves the chances of a pregnancy.

Although Ms. Sebelius had the legal authority to overrule the F.D.A., no health secretary had ever publicly done so, an F.D.A. spokeswoman said. Nor had such a disagreement been the subject of such extraordinary dueling press statements. Dr. Margaret Hamburg, the F.D.A.’s commissioner, issued a lengthy statement saying it was safe to sell Plan B over the counter, while Ms. Sebelius countered that the drug’s manufacturer had failed to study whether girls as young as 11 years old could safely use Plan B.

Read more at New York Times

An editorial in the New York Times urges President Obama to stand firm on contraception coverage.

In August, Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, announced new rules that included contraceptives for women in the package of preventive health care services that all insurers must cover without a deductible or co-payment beginning next year.

The policy follows the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine. It will help drive down the rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion by making birth control more accessible.

It was distressing but came as no surprise that the new rules prompted protests from Roman Catholic bishops and other church leaders. What is surprising, and even more distressing, is that the White House is considering caving to their call for an expansive exemption that would cover employees of hospitals, universities, charitable organizations and other entities that are associated with religious organizations but serve the general public and benefit from public money.

Read more at New York Times

After repeatedly reaffirming his dedication to stopping a nuclear-armed Iran, President Obama is still seen as soft on Iran.  This simply is not true, says Jeffrey Goldberg.

President Obama, who has been maligned in every possible way on the topic of Israel and its security, continues to affirm his commitment to stopping Iran's nuclear program. Not that you would notice from the coverage. I've believed, since I reported this Atlantic story last year, that Obama is quite serious about keeping nuclear weapons out of Iran's hands.

Earlier this month, following the damning IAEA report on the progress of Iran's nuclear program, Obama spoke of marshaling an international front that "makes clear to Iran this is unacceptable." This happened during bilateral meetings with Chinese and Russian leaders, no less. For some reason, and despite his other successes, doubt about Obama's resolve on the nuclear question continues to dog him especially among right-leaning Israelis and their right-leaning American supporters. As a public service, Goldblog has compiled some of his statements on Iran and its nuclear ambitions:

Speaking to AIPAC in 2008, a speech in which he stated his opposition to dividing Jerusalem, Obama said this:

"I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon - everything."

During a vertiginous ride through the No Spin Zone with Bill O'Reilly in 2008, one in which Obama labeled Iran "a major threat" and said that Iran possessing a nuclear weapon would be "unacceptable," Obama also said this:

"It's sufficient to say I would not take military action off the table and that I will never hesitate to use our military force in order to protect the homeland and the United States' interests."

In the days following his election, President-elect Obama said this:

"Let me repeat and state what I stated during the course of the campaign: Iran's development of a nuclear weapon I believe is unacceptable. We have to mount an international effort to prevent that from happening."

A month later, after a meeting with Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu reported that President-Elect Obama told him of his  "view that Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons is unacceptable."

During the signing of the New START Treaty in April 2010, with President Medvedev at his side, President Obama said:

That's why the United States and Russia are part of a coalition of nations insisting that the Islamic Republic of Iran face consequences, because they have continually failed to meet their obligations. We are working together at the United Nations Security Council to pass strong sanctions on Iran. And we will not tolerate actions that flout the NPT, risk an arms race in a vital region, and threaten the credibility of the international community and our collective security.

The recent announcement that the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada would coordinate new biting sanctions against Iran also speaks to the assiduousness of the Obama administration in confronting Iran:

U.S. officials familiar with the plans say they target Iran's nuclear sector as well as plugging key gaps that have allowed Iran to work around existing sanctions on its energy and financial sectors. The United Kingdom and Canada are both expected to announce unilateral measures to limit Iran's access to their economies, with the UK essentially cutting off Iran's access to its financial sector.

In related news, the European Union will follow suit, meeting in early December to discuss more sanctions. Should all of these efforts fail, I have seen no proof to suggest that Obama would simply give up the fight.

Read more at The Atlantic

Anti-abortion activists are running for office in 2012, but not necessarily to win.  They want to take advantage of an FCC loophole that will allow them to run grisly "campaign" ads decrying abortion that would never get on air otherwise.

David Lewis will not be the next congressman from Ohio's 8th District. But for Lewis, an unemployed former IT technician who is challenging House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in next year's Republican primary, winning isn't the objective.

By running for federal office, Lewis can compel local television stations to run grisly anti-abortion ads that would otherwise never stand a chance of making it on the air. Emphasis on grisly: Lewis' ads feature what purport to be dismembered fetuses, tied together in neat little bundles, or simply mangled beyond recognition. "The FCC says that 45 days out from a primary and 60 days out from a general election, we can run ads on a television station with FCC licenses—unedited, uncensored, they can't deny it as long as we buy the spot," he explains.

Lewis isn't alone. He is one of a handful of anti-abortion activists who have been recruited by Randall Terry, founder of the anti-abortion group Society for Truth and Justice, to run for office in metropolitan areas across the country. Together, they aim to exploit a Federal Communications Commission loophole and saturate major media markets with graphic anti-abortion images. What the ads lack in production values, they more than make up for in shock value. As he explained in an interview with Catholic Online last November, Terry, who is himself running for president as a Democrat, explained: "By running campaign ads in the top 25 media markets, we can reach one-third of the nation with a message about the truth and horror of abortion."

Read more at Mother Jones

Hamas and Fatah are working on a unity government, with its headquarters in Gaza.

Fatah and Hamas have agreed that the next Palestinian government will be located in the Gaza Strip, and hence the next head of the Palestinian government will be from Gaza, an adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday.

Ahmed Yousef summarized the political program of all Palestinian factions which he said is the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with its capital in Jerusalem.

Yousef added that Hamas would support Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' efforts to receive full membership for Palestine at United Nations institutions.

Read more at Haaretz

Proponents of a measure that would ban abortions by giving equal rights to fetuses have been cleared to gather signatures in California, the secretary of state's office said Friday.

The push comes on the heels of a similar effort rejected by voters in Mississippi earlier this month. Mississippi's measure would have banned abortion, and could have deterred doctors from doing in vitro fertilization. It also could have made some birth control illegal.

Union City-based California Civil Rights Foundation must collect more than 807,000 signatures by April to qualify for the November 2012 ballot, the secretary of state's office said.

A new film, comparing abortion in the United States to the Holocaust, has been condemned by the Anti-Defamation League.

The Anti-Defamation League has condemned a film that compares abortion in the United States to the Holocaust.

The ADL called the movie “cynical and perverse” and “one of the most offensive and outrageous abuses of the memory of the Holocaust we have seen in years,” in a  statement released Wednesday.

The film “180,” available on YouTube, is narrated by Ray Comfort and shows graphic images from the Holocaust such as dead bodies piled up at concentration camps and Jews being shot in mass graves. In the film, Comfort said that American people allowing abortions is exactly like when Hitler had the sanction of the German people to kill Jews.

Read more at JTA

Who was Margaret Sanger?  She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States at a time when telling women about contraception was illegal and considered obscene.

The first birth control clinic in the United States opened in 1916. It was operated by Margaret Sanger, who started the clinic after becoming outraged that she couldn't give her patients — poor women in the tenements on New York City's Lower East Side — information about contraceptive options.

"Sanger [went] to these squalid, crowded homes of these young women bearing many children who are begging her — while giving birth — for information about contraception," says historian Jill Lepore. "And it [was] illegal for her to give them any information."

Lepore's latest New Yorker piece chronicles the history and politicization of birth control in America. "From the start," she writes, "the birth-control movement has been as much about fighting legal and political battles as it has been about staffing clinics, because in a country without national health care, making contraception available to women has required legal reform."

Read more at NPR

Yesterday Mississippi voters defeated the proposed Personhood amendment, which would have stated a fertilized egg was a full person, outlawed abortion, and potentially banned many forms of birth control and invitro fertilization. While this is a huge victory for reproductive rights, the push is on to put the measure on the ballot in other states as well. 

If Mississippi can’t pass a Personhood amendment, can any state? Those who put major political and financial muscle behind Initiative 26 — rejected last night by an astonishing 58 percent of the state’s voters — must be second-guessing their antiabortion strategy this morning. Petition drives are underway to get life-at-fertilization measures on the ballot in several other states.

But Mississippi seemed the natural place to go — the most conservative state in the nation, which also elected Phil Bryant, the Republican lieutenant governor and co-chair of the Yes on 26 campaign, to succeed Haley Barbour as governor. This would be the man who Monday evoked the Jews of Nazi Germany “being marched into the oven,” and who said of 26′s opponents, “the evil dark side that exists in this world is taking hold. And they’re saying, what we want you to be able to do is continue to extinguish innocent life. You see, if we could do that, Satan wins.” Oppose 26, Bryant argued, and “you’re on the side of the lie. You’re on the side of taking the lives of innocent children.”

Apparently, at least some of them were also on the side of electing Phil Bryant, since he got 61 percent of the vote last night. Awkward.

Read more at Salon.com

Following a professor at Kent State University shouting out "Death to Israel" at a recent lecture, a look at where our collective humanity has gone.  Just because we disagree with someone's politics, religion, or ideology, do we really wish them dead?

My daughter went to school this morning worried about her civics exam.
She came home worried about explosive warheads.

As of this week, she's in range.

Her school is now within reach of rockets that travel farther and with far more deadly payloads than the weapons we knew just a short time ago. With blasts strong enough to shatter apartment windows seven stories in the air.

Read more at Haaretz