Women's Issues

Muslim Women’s Network UK (MWNUK) urged the Labour leader to investigate “systematic misogyny displayed by significant numbers of Muslim male local councillors”.

The organisation claimed that the problem had been an “open secret” within Labour and accused the party of being “complicit at the highest levels”.

The letter suggested that Muslim men within Labour had been allowed to operate under the “patriarchal ‘biradari’ system”.

MWNUK’s chair, Shaista Gohir, accepted that the issue was not confined to Labour and she has also written to David Cameron urging him to launch an independent inquiry into the barriers to political participation faced by black and ethnic minority women.

But she said “from our experience, Muslim women are most affected by Labour Muslim male councillors due to the latter’s number in certain towns and cities”.

In her letter to Corbyn, she wrote: “As this is an open secret and has been going on for decades, we can only assume that the Labour party has been complicit at the highest levels.

“How do men who do not want Muslim women to be empowered or have a voice remain in power unless the Labour party allows it?

“It appears that over decades senior Labour politicians have deliberately turned a blind eye to the treatment of Muslim women because votes have been more important to them than women’s rights.”

She claimed that “able, knowledgeable and independent-minded Muslim women have been undermined, sabotaged and blocked from becoming councillors”, with many selection “deals” stitched up behind closed doors.

“We would like the Labour party to hold an independent inquiry into how Muslim women are being marginalised by local Labour politicians,” she said.

Muslim women told BBC2’s Newsnight of the obstacles they had faced trying to stand for office.

Optician Fozia Parveen claims her efforts to become a Labour councillor in Birmingham in 2007-8 were scuppered by men within the party: “At the time, I was aware of a smear campaign against me, they said that I was having an affair with one of the existing councillors. I was quite taken aback. People were turning up at my family home trying to intimidate my mum.”

She claimed Muslim men who were members of the local Labour party were behind the efforts to prevent her from standing.

Shazia Bashir was the first choice for Labour in a seat in Peterborough in 2007 but claimed that she was pressured “because I didn’t have my father’s consent and support, I had to step down”, adding: “I was pressured into stepping down.”

The organization, the National Abortion Federation, had trouble finding a law firm to represent it pro bono. Morrison & Foerster, which previously handled abortion-rights cases, received the request and emailed lawyers at the firm about the inquiry. Mr. Foran raised his hand and, soon after, secured a court order stopping the group from releasing information from the organization’s meetings.

Why would he stick his neck out for a group that had no way of paying him? His answer is both uplifting and brutally honest.

“I don’t like bullies,” Mr. Foran, who was born and raised in Ireland, said in an interview this week. “And these guys were not only trying to bully women, they were trying to bully poor women.”

Foran isn’t exaggerating. Planned Parenthood predominately helps the poorest women in the country. Aside from providing women access to their constitutional right to have an abortion, the clinics also do life-saving medical check-ups and tests. Shutting them down is a clear message from Republican lawmakers to American women: We do not care about you. It’s bullying.

Foran, representing NAF, decided to hit the “bullies” back to protect the vital work that Planned Parenthood was doing. They filed a lawsuit against Center for Medical Progress in San Francisco. Thankfully, his job was made a bit easier because Fox News – in its rush to praise the anti-abortion activists – was giving the fraudsters a ton of airtime – all of which was being used to build a case against them.

“I turned on Fox News and they were open right away about what they did,” Foran told reporters.

Unlike the lawsuits and investigations directed at Planned Parenthood, Foran’s goals were never malicious. He didn’t intend to “destroy” any side of the issue based on a fanatical belief in his own ideological superiority. He was simply standing up for what was right.

“Our lawsuit is not about pro-choice versus pro-life,” he said. “What you can’t do is defraud people, lie and go about manufacturing tales. These guys are accountable under the law just like everybody else.”

And that‘s the missing piece in many of the stories covering the Planned Parenthood videos. They are lies, carefully fabricated to achieve an agenda. No matter where you stand on the issue of abortion, this type of smear campaign is just wrong.

Texas's abortion law is considered by some to be one of the toughest in the nation. At issue are provisions concerning physicians' admitting privileges in some abortion facilities as well as a requirement that clinics upgrade their facilities to meet hospital-like standards. Other provisions of the law have already gone into effect, and the ones in Tuesday's ruling were at issue in recent challenges.

The appeals court ruled that the law's provisions may be applied throughout the state, save for exceptions in a facility in Mc Allen, which is significantly far enough away from other clinics that its closure might place a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking an abortion. The Center for Reproductive Rights believes the ruling won't go into effect for 22 days barring an emergency action by a higher court.

Supporters of the law, which was enacted in 2013, say the provisions were passed to raise the standard and quality of care for women seeking abortions and to protect their health. But opponents claim the provisions are unnecessary and impose burdensome costs on clinics.

"Not since before Roe v. Wade has a law or court decision had the potential to devastate access to reproductive health care on such a sweeping scale," Nancy Northup, the president and CEO of the Center of Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. "Once again, women across the state of Texas face the near total elimination of safe and legal options for ending a pregnancy and the denial of their constitutional rights." She added: "We now look to the justices to stop the sham laws that are shutting clinics down and placing countless women at risk of serious harm."

But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott praised the ruling in a statement. "I am pleased with the Fifth Circuit's decision to uphold HB 2 and the State of Texas will continue to fight for higher-quality healthcare standards for women while protecting our most vulnerable: the unborn," he said.

A district court struck down the provisions in 2014, but last October, the appeals court allowed them to take effect while the appeal process played out. The Supreme Court stepped in soon after and reinstated the district court ruling pending appeal. In 2013, there were about 36 abortion clinics in the state. Before Tuesday's decision, that number had dwindled to around 20.

The Supreme Court is currently considering whether to take up a similar case in Mississippi. Brigitte Amiri, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, believes the Supreme Court is "likely" to be interested in the Texas case because the issues raised touch upon precedent established in other abortion rulings.

Idaho state Rep. Pete Nielson (Republican – no surprise there) said something you won’t believe during a hearing Thursday on whether or not abortion providers should be required to give patients a list of facilities that offer free ultrasounds. The measure was introduced by pro-life pro-forced birth groups and Republicans in an effort to guilt women into hearing a fetal heartbeat and deciding against the abortion.

This kind of legislation is slimy and inappropriate enough on its own. However, it got far worse as you will see below.

That is where Pete Nielson came in.

Now, I’m of the understanding that in many cases of rape it does not involve any pregnancy because of the trauma of the incident. That may be true with incest a little bit.

That’s information that I’ve had through the years. Whether it’s totally accurate or not, I don’t know.

He added, I read a lot of information. I have read it several times. … Being a father of five girls, I’ve explored this a lot.

Who the hell says something like this? I don’t even mean the stupidity of the trauma/rape thing, but rather basing your knowledge of incest pregnancy on the fact you have five daughters. Oh, my god…

Needless to say, his comments were not received well by a Democratic colleague. Rep. Melissa Wintrow said:

What that kind of a statement does to somebody who’s been victimized violently – it’s ignorant, it’s insensitive

She is being far more charitable than most people would have been. It’s been four years since Todd Akin’s infamous remarks about traumatic stress “shutting down pregnancy” in women – as long as the rape is “legitimate.” Four years of work could have been done to address this problem. It’s clear it was not even touched on by Republican leadership.