October 2009 Archives

Late Wednesday night, following a special nominating convention, Linn County committee persons in Cedar Rapids precincts 1 through 11 chose Kirsten Running-Marquardt as their candidate in the special Iowa House District 33 race that is scheduled for Nov. 24.

Two days later, Running-Marquardt has issued her first official campaign statement, pledging to make flood recovery in Cedar Rapids a top priority.

"After the devastating 2008 flood, Cedar Rapids has the opportunity to come back better than ever and I'm excited to be a part of the future of Cedar Rapids," Running-Marquardt said in the prepared statement. "Our community is grateful for the support from the Iowa Legislature for recovery initiatives like IJOBS, unmet needs assistance and Jumpstart programs. However, we know there is more work to do and I will fight for continued support to give flood survivors the help, dignity and respect they deserve.

"We need smart flood recovery and prevention, which includes hiring Cedar Rapids workers to rebuild our community both stronger and safer while coordinating state level incentives for better watershed management upstream."

Running-Marquardt, the 32-year-old daughter of former Iowa Rep. Rich Running, was born and raised on the west side of Cedar Rapids. She attended Kirkwood Community College and graduated from the University of Iowa. After working for quality, affordable health care as director of SEIU's Iowa for Health Care, she became district representative for U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, a Democrat representing Iowa's 2nd Congressional District.

She is married to Coy Marquardt and has one son, Jack.

The special election, prompted by the resignation of Democratic Rep. Dick Taylor, will be held Nov. 24. On Thursday night, the Republicans selected Josh Thurston, 27, an Army veteran and union member as their candidate.

House District 33 has voter demographics that would suggest that residents will continue to be represented by a Democrat -- as they have been for the past two decades. 

A couple of press releases -- one from U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell (Iowa-3rd) and the other from U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack (Iowa-2nd) -- arrived in my e-mail box yesterday and deserve a note here.

Loebsack has co-sponsored a U.S. House resolution in support of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, while Boswell has introduced the Armed Forces Breast Cancer Research Act.

Text from both press releases available if you take the jump.

I have this thing about traditions. That is, I'm not one of those individuals who will follow a tradition because It has "always been done that way."

This story from Newsweek is one of the primary reasons why:

One day, when Sila Folow was an 8-year-old girl living in Mali, four elderly women held her down on the dirt floor of an outhouse and, in keeping with local tradition, used a sharp blade to cut out her clitoris and most of her labia. Her grandmother and other villagers held a celebration. Sila, bleeding and in terrible pain, could not walk for weeks. Like millions of other African girls who are forced to undergo female genital mutilation--a ritual many women say is intended to ensure that they grow up to become sexually passive wives who will not stray from their husbands--Sila never recovered. She eventually moved to New York, married, and had two children. But she was reluctant to have sex with her husband. It hurt, and the scarring made it impossible for her to feel pleasure.

...

The doctors wheeled her to the operating room, anesthetized her and got to work. Dr. Bowers cut away the thick scar tissue that had formed over Sila's wound and had obscured the remains of her clitoris. She then scraped away layers of a black, sooty material--the decades-old remnants of the ash poultice the local women had used to stop the bleeding. It had caused a low-grade infection that still hadn't healed--one reason Sila was always in pain. "They really got her good," Bowers said, shaking her head behind her surgical mask. Bowers used a cauterizing tool to quickly stop a sudden rush of blood. "That's arterial blood flowing there," she said. "You can see why so many girls have died after circumcisions." The root of the clitoris, which extends several centimeters beneath the surface of a woman's skin,is much larger than most people--and for many years scientists--ever suspected. Bowers exposed the remaining flesh of the organ and drew it out, securing it in place with delicate stitches that eventually dissolve. Finally, Bowers also did some cosmetic work to restore the appearance of Sila's labia.

Although traditions and rituals can bind us as families or as members of the same group, we need to always be questioning the motives behind our comfort. When we discover that these activities are physically or emotionally limiting others, we need to be prepared to either stop the tradition or be willing to revamp it so that it does no harm.

We also need to give thanks to the Dr. Marci Bowers of the world -- those who see a wrong and work to correct it.  

I'm down with the flu this week, so posting will be sparse, if at all. Still, if you haven't seen the "Target Women" series by Sarah Haskins of Current TV, it's well worth a look. (Well, at least it made me -- a woman feeling near death, mind you -- laugh out loud.)

Enjoy!

A new study provides the proof of what many have already known to be true: Restricting the availability of legal abortion services does not reduce the number of women attempting to end unwanted pregnancies. In fact, the survey conducted by the Guttmacher Institute found that abortion occurs at roughly the same rate in regions regardless of legality -- including geographic areas in which access to abortion is severely restricted.

What does appear to make a difference in the overall abortion rate, however, is access to contraception, which the study found had cut abortion rates in half during the last decade.

Worldwide, the rate of unsafe abortion has not decreased at the same pace as that of safe procedures. The estimated global number of safe abortions fell from 25.6 million in 1995 to 21.9 million in 2003, and the rate declined from 20 to 15 per 1,000. In contrast, the estimated number of unsafe abortions changed very little--from 19.9 million in 1995 to 19.7 million in 2003.

But the study is also quick to point out that the only thing that is truly accomplished by more restrictive laws regarding abortion is a higher maternal death rate. 

Pregnancy termination is a universal practice: It occurs in all parts of the world--east and west, developed and developing, rich and poor--and among women of all types, single and married, adolescent and older. However, in less developed regions that have restrictive abortion laws, many women--especially those who are poor and cannot pay for safe procedures--end unwanted pregnancies themselves, or at the hands of unskilled personnel using unsafe methods. By doing so, they risk their health and even their lives.

WomenCount, a nonprofit political organization that works to give women a voice in the political process, interviewed Cedar Rapids resident, flood victim and (only female) City Council candidate Kathy Potts.

The same group also interviewed Iowa Rep. Mary Mascher.

WomenCount is an excellent resource for women who want to get more involved in politics, or who are considering running for office.