A doula is a non-medical professional who provides guidance for the service of others and who supports another person through a significant health-related experience,such as childbirth,miscarriage,induced abortion or stillbirth,as well as non-reproductive experiences such as dying. A doula might also provide support to the client's partner,family,and friends.
Linda Teresa Sánchez is an American politician and former labor lawyer serving as the U.S. representative for California's 38th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party,she was first elected to Congress in 2002 in California's 39th congressional district. Sánchez serves on the Ways and Means Committee;she was the ranking member on the House Ethics Committee until 2017. In the 114th Congress,she chaired the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Mazie Keiko Hirono is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2013 as the junior United States senator from Hawaii. A member of the Democratic Party,Hirono previously served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2007 to 2013. Hirono also served as a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1981 to 1995 and as Hawaii's tenth lieutenant governor from 1994 to 2002,under Ben Cayetano. She was the Democratic nominee for governor of Hawaii in 2002,but lost to Republican Linda Lingle.
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) is an abortion rights organization founded in 1973 by clergy and lay leaders from mainline denominations and faith traditions to create an interfaith organization following Roe v. Wade,the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the U.S. In 1993,the original name –the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights (RCAR) –was changed to the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
Many jurisdictions have laws applying to minors and abortion. These parental involvement laws require that one or more parents consent or be informed before their minor daughter may legally have an abortion.
Karen Eileen Spilka is an American politician and attorney serving as a Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate. She represents the towns of Ashland,Framingham,Holliston,Hopkinton,Medway and Natick in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts. She has served as the 95th President of the Massachusetts Senate since July 2018. Previously she served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2001 to 2005.
Reproductive justice is a critical feminist framework that was invented as a response to United States reproductive politics. The three core values of reproductive justice are the right to have a child,the right to not have a child,and the right to parent a child or children in safe and healthy environments. The framework moves women's reproductive rights past a legal and political debate to incorporate the economic,social,and health factors that impact women's reproductive choices and decision-making ability.
Patricia Deats Jehlen is a former teacher and current Massachusetts State Senator of the Democratic Party. She represents the Second Middlesex District. That includes the cities of Cambridge,Ward 7 Precinct 1,Ward 8 Precinct 1,Ward 10,Medford and Somerville,and the town of Winchester,precincts 4 to 7,inclusive,in the County of Middlesex. She has served the Massachusetts State Senate since 2005. She also served the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1991 to 2003. She resides in Somerville,MA.
Ariana Brannigan Kelly is an American politician who is the executive director of the Maryland Commission for Women. She was a member of the Maryland Senate from District 16,which is located in Montgomery County,from 2023 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Party,she previously represented the same district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2011 to 2023.
Katherine Marlea Clark is an American lawyer and politician who has served as House Minority Whip since 2023 and the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district since 2013. She previously served as Assistant Speaker from 2021 to 2023 and Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus from 2019 to 2021. Clark was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2008 to 2011 and the Massachusetts Senate from 2011 to 2013.
Harriette L. Chandler is an American politician who was the 94th President of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts State Senator for the 1st Worcester district,which includes parts of the city of Worcester,where she resides,and the towns of Boylston,Holden,Princeton,and West Boylston,and parts of Clinton and Northborough. She is a Democrat who has served since January 2001. From 1995 to 2001 she was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Prior to serving in the Massachusetts legislature,she was a member of the Worcester school committee from 1991 to 1994. She is the first woman from Worcester ever to be elected to the Massachusetts Senate.
"War on women" is a slogan in United States politics used to describe certain Republican Party policies and legislation as a wide-scale effort to restrict women's rights,especially reproductive rights,including abortion. Prominent Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer,as well as feminists,have used the phrase to criticize proponents of these laws as trying to force their social views on women through legislation. The slogan has been used to describe Republican policies in areas such as access to reproductive health services,particularly birth control and abortion services;the definition of rape for the purpose of the public funding of abortion;the prosecution of criminal violence against women;and workplace discrimination against women.
Marjorie C. Decker is an American politician serving as the State Representative for the 25th Middlesex district in the Massachusetts General Court. She is also House chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health. Since 2016,she has also been employed by the class action law firm Berman Tabacco.
Cindy F. Friedman is an American politician currently serving as a state senator representing the 4th Middlesex District in the Massachusetts Senate. Friedman's district comprises Arlington,Billerica,Burlington,Lexington,and Woburn. She has been serving since 2017. Prior to becoming a state senator,Friedman worked as a public school teacher and as a senior manager in the high-tech industry and later served for nearly a decade as chief of staff to the late state senator Ken Donnelly. During her first term,Friedman served as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health,Substance Use and Recovery. For the 191st General Court,Friedman serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing and is vice chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL),Kotyza-Witthuhn represents District 49B in the southwestern Twin Cities metropolitan area,which includes the city of Eden Prairie and other parts of Hennepin County,Minnesota.
Rebecca Beth Bauer-Kahan is an American attorney and politician who has served as a member of the California State Assembly from the 16th district since 2018. A member of the Democratic Party,her district extends from Lamorinda to the Tri-Valley region of the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been described as a women's rights advocate.
Joanne M. Comerford is an American politician who currently serves in the Massachusetts Senate. She is the first woman to hold the seat. Before being elected senator she had worked for the National Priorities Project,the Center for Human Development,the American Friends Service Committee,The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and MoveOn.
The laws pertaining to abortion in Malaysia are generally ambiguous and specific legislation varies greatly by state. Access to abortion in Malaysia has been hampered by religious,cultural and social stigmas against abortion,poor awareness of abortion legislation among health professionals and the high cost of abortion services in the private health sector. As a result,risky unsafe abortions are prevalent in Malaysia. Under Sections 312–316 of the Penal Code,it is de jure permitted to perform an abortion to save the life of the mother or in cases where their physical or mental health is at risk,for the first 120 days of gestation.
Rebecca Lynne Rausch is an American attorney and politician from the commonwealth of Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party,she represents the Norfolk,Worcester and Middlesex district in the Massachusetts Senate.
House Bill 5414,passed by the Connecticut General Assembly and signed into law by that U.S. state's Governor,Ned Lamont,on May 5,2022,as the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act,is intended to protect abortion in the state and expand the procedure's availability. Several of its provisions are responses to the Texas Heartbeat Act,passed in late 2021 and since emulated by two other states,that would prevent enforcement in Connecticut of judgements obtained by lawsuits filed under those laws against abortion providers,patients and those who facilitate them. It also allows more non-physician providers to perform certain types of abortions,codifying a past legal opinion. The law took effect July 1.
