The danger of swine flu in pregnant women has received a great deal of press attention recently. As concerns over the health of pregnant women rise, the abortion debate has slyly emerged as a a central influence in the dialogue.

Yesterday, the New York Times told the story of Aubrey Opdyke, a 27-year-old woman who was pregnant when she contracted swine flu last June. What began as mild symptoms of aches and fatigue turned into a harrowing four month ordeal. Writes reporter John McNeil:
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In “Secret Lives of the Presidents,” New York Times writer Timothy Egan airs some private political views of former presidents, and wonders aloud, “What if they had been honest?” Let’s take a look inside Egan’s alternate history:

What if Bill Clinton had openly announced, as he later did to his biographer, that Al Gore was “blowing” the 2000 election by refusing to allow Clinton to campaign for him? Maybe George W. Bush would never be president!

What if Bush had openly announced, as he did privately to his speech-writer, that his “heart was never into” banning gay marriage? Maybe gay people could be married!

And what if Richard Nixon had openly announced, as he did to his Oval Office tapes, that he thought abortion was okay “when you have a black and a white”? Maybe . . . Barack Obama’s mom would have aborted him, and “the world’s most famous mixed-race man” would never have even existed!

Wait, what?

Read More “Could Richard Nixon Have Aborted Barack Obama?” »

Want to be able to breast-feed in public, but not down with the boob flashing? Hundreds of inventors have patented devices to help limit public displays of mommy’s food-source.  Many: weird.

Bizarre Breastfeeding Contraption: The Breastfeeding Curtain

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Last week, Adrian Fenty unveiled the new “I Am A Healthy D.C. Mom” campaign, targeted at encouraging moms to keep their children healthy and safe inside and outside of the womb. The campaign’s launch was accompanied by the release of the administration’s 2007 Infant Mortality Report [PDF].

According to a press release, the campaign asks pregnant women to “commit to forty weeks of prenatal care, staying fit and eating right, and keeping their baby safe and healthy.”

How reasonable is to to expect a full forty weeks of prenatal care from a woman? It means she’ll have to act like a good pregnant lady—like folic acid in place of booze, or whatever—from the moment of conception. That’s before she even suspects she’s pregnant. Before she misses her period. Before she takes a pregnancy test.

Usually, it’s also before she wants to be pregnant.

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For this edition of “Sexist Beatdown,” Sady (of Tiger Beatdown) and myself (of the Sexist) would like to extend a warm invitation to all men, children, good mothers, and bad mothers (abortionists will be tolerated, but the childless will be ignored).

This week, up for discussion is Ayelet Waldman: wife to Michael Chabon, mother to four, author of “Bad Mother,” in that order! Waldman made women hate her in 2005 after announcing, in the New York Times, that she values her husband over her children. We don’t really give a shit about that. What we want to know is: Does Waldman value husbands over children over good mothers over bad mothers over abortionists over the childless?

Let’s sort of find out!

SADY: hello! are you ready to talk about how some lady HATES and/or does not maniacally worship her children?

AMANDA: I can barely begin to think about it because i HATE this woman so much!
Read More “Sexist Beatdown: Bad Mother > Abortionist > Childless Edition” »

This weekend, I watched Coraline, the new stop-animation film that gives the Nightmare Before Christmas treatment to Neil Gaiman’s book about a discontented girl who finds a portal to another world. Coraline has some pretty serious mommy issues in her first life:

Read More “Coraline’s Two Bad Mommies” »