Women at a protest for reproductive rights in Chico.
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) has reported that in the United States, 45 percent of sexual assaults are committed by an acquaintance, and an additional 25 percent by a current or former intimate partner. That means that in 70% of all cases, the rapist is known to the victim.
In a major 2009 European Commission study of rape cases across Europe, it was found that 67% of rapists were known to the victim. To the best of my knowledge, these horrific numbers haven’t really changed in the last 25 years.
When we hear about Afghanistan orders that prohibit women from going to school, orders that decree women must wear a burka and be completely covered when they leave the house and must be accompanied by a man, is the United States far behind?read more
Margaret Sanger with Lena Levine, founders of what would become Planned Parenthood.
On this dark day for women’s rights to reproductive health, choice, and privacy, I cry for American women of reproductive age, but I also weep more private tears for my mother, Lena Levine, who joined Margaret Sanger as a young medical intern and worked with her in the early days of what would become The Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
She devoted most of her life to giving women control over their bodies, from decriminalizing contraception to educating women about their sexual and reproductive rights. My tears for her are guilty ones: I, and my generation, were unable to hold fast to those principles of equality and justice for women which her generation fought so hard to establish and secure.read more
Nationwide, protesters vent anger at draft opinion overturning abortion rights
By ChicoSol staff | Posted May 5, 2022
photo by Karen Laslo
Almost 300 people joined a May 3 rally at City Plaza, protesting the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that indicates that Roe v. Wade will be overturned.
The draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito is “full of right-wing talking points and such poor history that historians have spent the day explaining the actual history of abortion in the United States,” writes historian Heather Cox Richardson here. The rally was organized quickly by Women’s March Chico.
Women's Resource Clinic hosts anti-abortion speaker at gala
By Leslie Layton | Posted October 14, 2017
photo by Karen Laslo
More than 30 people gathered Friday outside Chico State’s Bell Memorial Union (BMU) to protest a Christian clinic — Women’s Resource Clinic — that was hosting an anti-abortion speaker at its annual gala.
Protesters, organized by a Mobilize Chico group called “Women on Reproductive Defense,” or “WORD,” said the Women’s Resource Clinic – not to be confused with Chico’s Women’s Health Specialists – is actually an anti-abortion organization that fails to provide “medical treatment” or “clinical care” and has intentionally confused the community about its purpose.read more
