Anne of Carversville

Even though abortions have been legal for the past two years in Mexico, and the Supreme Court struck down an attempt to overturn the law in 2008, insuring that women are able to exercise their legal rights under the Mexican Constitution is next to impossible in Mexico.

States are turning against women, threatening them with 50 years in jail for having an abortion.

Two organizations — Las Libres and Fondo Maria — are trying to help women travel from the provinces to the capital.

These organizations seem very similar to the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, founded in 1967 by 26 ministers and one rabbi but eventually became more than 1000 clergy men who arranged for women to get a safe abortion in America, until it was legalized.

As in Mexico, the woman was transported over state lines, to insure that her crime was a federal one and not a state one.Many clergymen and clergywomen are pro-choice in America and have been for decades.

I did not choose this photo; it accompanies the Telegraph UK article: Mexican abortion policy in disarray. I do believe that these photos sum up the global priorites for men worldwide.

I say this because the deeper I read about women’s status in the world, the more horrifying it becomes. Until I began writing Anne of Carversville, I had no idea that conditions were this bad for women worldwide.

Meanwhile, in America, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, chairman of the conference’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, urged another last minute insertion of language that could derail America’s health care reform.We do not have separation of church and state in America, no matter what you read about our Constitution. You must go to Europe to find that reality.

One Democratic senator – Ben Nelson of Nebraska – reiterated his stance Tuesday that he could not support the health reform bill without tough language blocking federal funding of abortion, throwing another potentially significant obstacle in the way of reform. via Politico

For non-American readers, although abortions have been legal in America since the mid-seventies, we have restrictive language on every health care initiative, called the Hyde Amendment which prevents federal money being used to subsidize abortions.

These same senators and representatives have prevented America from honoring our historic promises to help poor women globally, because any association even with condoms became grounds for cutting off aid to poor women. President Obama and Secretary Clinton are working to change these policies. Anne