Tag Archives: mothers

News, Wisconsin

Same-sex Madison couple sues state over missing name on birth certificate

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A same-sex couple from Madison has filed a federal discrimination lawsuit because the state has failed to put both their names on their baby’s birth certificate.

Chelsea and Jessamy Torres say the state’s practice of listing opposite-sex parents on birth certificates, but not same-sex parents, is discriminatory.

WISC-TV reports the couple listed both their names on their son Asher’s birth certificate after Chelsea gave birth March 15. But, when the certificate arrived in the mail, the state had omitted Jessamy’s name.

The Torres’ lawsuit cites state law that says a birth mother’s spouse is the presumed parent of a child born during the marriage. And that opposite sex couples who conceive with the help of a fertility clinic, like they did, are routinely given birth certificates.

The couple was married in New York in 2012.

News, World

Court: Namibia forcibly sterilized women with HIV

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Namibia’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling that health workers sterilized HIV-positive women without their consent, a human rights group said this week.

The 2012 judgment that was upheld had found that health workers had coerced three HIV-positive mothers to sign sterilization consent forms they did not fully understand, and while in labor, the Southern Africa Litigation Center said. 

The center said the ruling sends a message to the government to stop the practice in the southwestern African nation, and elsewhere.

“This decision has far-reaching consequences not only for HIV-positive women in Namibia but for the dozens of HIV-positive women throughout Africa who have been forcibly sterilized,” Priti Patel, the center’s deputy director said in a statement.

Sterilization is a drastic tactic to treat HIV-positive women, as mother-to-child transmission of HIV and AIDS can be prevented with medication.

Namibia’s high court will assess how much money the three women should be awarded, according to the center. The women had all sought care at government hospitals in Namibia while in labor, with one woman signing a form that used only acronyms to describe the procedure, while another signed after being told she didn’t have a choice, the center said.

Since the case was first filed in 2009, dozens more women have told stories of similar experiences at public hospitals to the Namibian Women’s Health Network. The organization first began documenting allegations of forced sterilization of HIV-positive women in 2007.

“These three women are only the tip of the iceberg,” the network’s director Jennifer Gatsi-Mallet said in a statement. “The government needs to take active steps to ensure all women subjected to this unlawful practice get redress.”

The rights organizations said they hoped the Namibian government would initiate investigations into the other alleged cases.

Environment, News, Progressive

Oregon test: soy engineered for heavy pesticide exposure found in infant formula

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The Center for Food Safety says genetic testing confirmed the presence of soy genetically engineered by Monsanto for heavy pesticide exposure in infant formula that is being sold in Portland, Oregon. The organization announced the test results on Food Day 2014 and in advance of a vote in Oregon on whether to label genetically engineered foods.

CFS and Dr. Ray Seidler, the first EPA scientist to study genetically engineered crops and former professor at Oregon State University, worked together on carrying out the testing. With recent published studies confirming that genetically engineered soy has significantly higher levels of chemical herbicides than conventionally grown soy, the test findings raise concerns about increasing infant exposure to chemical herbicides.

The testing follows up on a recent nationwide study by Consumer Reports finding genetically engineered ingredients in more than 80 common food products.

“I think most moms purchasing infant formula have no idea they are feeding their baby a product that has been genetically engineered to survive exposure to high levels of chemical pesticides,” Aurora Paulsen with Center for Food Safety’s Portland office said in a statement. “It’s no surprise that Monsanto is the top donor opposing Measure 92 which would give Oregonians the ability to know what foods have been genetically engineered. The presence of these products in infant formula being sold in Oregon really highlights the need for basic labeling.”

Seidler said, “Everything we know from the recent medical literature suggests we should be doing everything possible to reduce infant exposure to chemicals.  Finding soy in infant formula that has been genetically engineered specifically to survive high levels of chemical pesticide spraying is a real concern and takes us in the wrong direction.”

Genetic tests were conducted on three brands of infant formula bought at the Fred Meyer in Portland. Two products that tested positive for genetically engineered soy included Similac Soy Isomil and Enfamil Prosobee Powder Soy Infant Formula. Both products tested positive for Monsanto’s genetically engineered soy that is engineered to tolerate spraying with the herbicide glyphosate, as well as, Liberty Link soy that has been genetically engineered by Bayer Crop Sciences to tolerate spraying with the herbicide glufosinate.

Viral

Moms staging Stroller Jam at Target shareholders’ meeting to protest gun policy

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Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America today is staging a “Stroller Jam” of mothers and children and stollers outside Target Corps’ annual shareholder meeting. The protest is to call attention to the fact that Target allows the open carry of guns in its stores.

In less than a week’s time, more than 160,000 people have signed petitions asking Target Corp CEO John Mulligan to prohibit the open carry of guns and Moms chapters in a number of states will also begin delivering petitions to Target stores this week.

The petitions are in response to demonstrations by a gun extremist group that brought loaded semi-automatic weapons into the aisles of Target stores in a number of states and after a gun was found in the toy aisle of a Target store in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In another incident, a Target employee accidentally shot himself with a gun dropped by a customer.

In a news release announcing the Stroller Jam, Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said, “Assault rifles and guns don’t belong in the baby aisle, they don’t belong in the toy aisle — and they don’t belong in any aisle of the stores that American moms frequent like Target.

“We will continue our call on Target to stand with moms and support the safety and security of our children when we shop in their stores.  We support the Second Amendment but people walking through the aisles flaunting their loaded weapons is unacceptable and it’s time for Target, a store that American moms flock to, to follow the lead of Chipotle and Starbucks and prohibit the open carry of firearms.”

The protest was to take place at Union Station in Dallas at about 1:30 p.m. CST.

Also, moms  also planned to deliver petition to stores in Virginia, California, North Carolina and Minnesota.

According to Target, about 80-90 percent of its customers are women and 38 percent of the retailer’s adult customers are accompanied in the store by children.