After this post i won't be blogging here any longer. i find I've gotten emotionally caught up in the success of Our Word. Unfortunately for me, this site is not successful. I find that I cannot watch it strangle and die, after such great promise this past year. It's more than I can bear emotionally. I have put so much effort into trying to make this site work. I must quit. Here is why.

Our Word began as a group of women, known as the womenkossacks, who formed an email list last june. We formed after the blantant sexism and disregard of women's issues at our former "hangout", dailykos, became apparent. The idea which underlies Our Word was to create a similar-style community blog as dailykos, but run by women for women. A community site where the type of verbal assaults and disregard that we found objectionable could be controlled and negated. In short, we felt powerless online and decided to take the power into our own hands and create a space that respected and nurtured the opinions and feelings of progressive women. If you read the mission statement, and I hope you have, the statement expresses the ideals behind this site extremely well. I still feel, very strongly, that this was a very good idea. Unfortunately I seem to be standing almost alone in that regard.

I'm under the weather today and not feeling well, so there won't be a Reproductive Rights Week in Review this week.

Here's this week's reproductive rights news brought to you by the women of Our Word (and at least one of the guys!). If you see something you find relevant please email it to me, bayprairie at gmail dot com

William Saletan, The Judas Goat of pro-choice critique

William Saletan, the self-styled "liberal Republican," who hails these days from the elitist community of Chevy Chase, Maryland and who's the chief national correspondent and 'Human Nature' columnist at Slate.com is in the news again. This week, his topic is Plan B. But before we get into that, let's review his other great contributions to journalism.

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Here's this week's reproductive rights news brought to you by the women of Our Word (and at least one of the guys!). If you see something you find relevant please email it to me, bayprairie at gmail dot com

We have news from South Dakota.

South Dakotans Launch Major Grassroots Effort to Repeal Over-reaching State Abortion Ban

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 24, 2006

SIOUX FALLS, SD -- Today the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, a new coalition of community leaders from across the state, announced the launch of a major grassroots mobilization to refer the state abortion ban to the November ballot. The referral will allow South Dakotans to vote to overturn the nation's most extreme abortion law which was signed by Governor Mike Rounds on March 6. With Governor Round's signature, this law clearly endangers the health of women in South Dakota and violates the right of women and families to make private, personal health care decisions.

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Here's this week's reproductive rights news brought to you by the women of Our Word (and at least one of the guys!). If you see something you find relevant please email it to me, bayprairie at gmail dot com

Our award this week for worst medical legislator in a lab coat© goes to wild-eyed Mike Foley of Nebraska. Mike is a danger to women.

Foley: "Pro-life" beliefs are driving efforts

After two days of tiptoeing around the issue, Sen. Mike Foley acknowledged Thursday that his "pro-life" beliefs and his disgust with Planned Parenthood are driving his efforts to redistribute funding for women s health services.

'I am "pro-life" to the core, with no apologies,'? said Foley, who said he is working to make sure Planned Parenthood doesn t get state funding.

'They are to abortion what McDonald is to cheeseburgers,'? the Lincoln senator said. 'They do more than anyone else.

'And that s what this is about.'?

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