RH Reality Check

Campaigns

• President Obama: Don't nominate David J. Porter to the Western Pennsylvania District Court in Pit...

  Rick Santorum's political career may be largely behind him, but incredibly, a secret deal between Pennsylvania Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey may lead President Obama to hand one of Rick Santorum's former lawyers a lifetime job as a federal judge. If the Western Pennsylvania District Court in Pittsburgh goes to David J. Porter, it's probably as close as conservatives can get to having Rick Santorum himself on the federal bench. One more conservative activist judge who wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act. One more extremist in the federal judiciary who loves discriminating against women, immigrants and LGBT people as much as he loves doing the bidding of the National Rifle Association. To complete the conservative extremist packaging, Porter even opposes bilingual education and environmental health protections. [1] David J. Porter's hateful political extremism is an outrageous and unacceptable legacy for the Obama administration to leave behind in the federal judiciary. [1] - "Sens. Casey and Toomey plot secret deal to nominate Tea Party Judge for Western PA District Court," Keystone Progress, March 25, 2014 http://keystoneprogressblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/sens-casey-and-toomey-plot-secret-deal.html

  6,269 of 7,000 Signatures

  Created by Natasha Chart, RH Reality Check
• AG Zoeller: the Constitution still applies during pregnancy!

  Pregnancy shouldn't mean the end of civil liberties, constitutional rights to due process, or protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. State law enforcement authorities, starting with Attorney General Greg Zoeller, must stop irresponsibly attacking the rights of pregnant citizens and start trusting women enough to presume their innocence -- as required by the Constitution. Women are tired of being treated with suspicion, discriminated against, and having our access to health care tampered with by heavy-handed meddlers who are hell-bent on policing the reproduction and sexuality of strangers. AG Zoeller, stop calling on the state legislature to treat pregnancy as a potential crime, making Indiana a state where expectant mothers would become guilty until proven innocent. [1] As a senior law enforcement figure, you have a responsibility to uphold the Constitution and respect the rights of all citizens. Even when those citizens are pregnant. [1] - "A Chance to Teaspoon for the Hoosier State" by Shaker Harmony, Shakesville, September 11, 2013. http://www.shakesville.com/2013/09/a-chance-to-teaspoon-for-hoosier-state.html

  3,644 of 4,000 Signatures

  Created by Natasha Chart, RH Reality Check
• Thank you, Dr. Neuhaus

  After Dr. George Tiller was gunned down in his church by an anti-choice terrorist, Operation Rescue turned to harassing his colleague, Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus. Dr. Neuhaus provided the second opinion required by Kansas law to verify medical need for third-trimester abortions, for patients that included a 10 year old girl raped by her uncle. Knowing that her records might be made public in Kansas' hostile regulatory environment, Dr. Neuhaus left many identifying details out of her patients' documents. Her concern was well-founded. Details from patient records shared with the office of Kansas District Attorney Phil Kline were later broadcast to a national audience by conservative TV host Bill O'Reilly. It got worse. A convicted terrorist working for Operation Rescue sued to have Dr. Neuhaus' medical license revoked based on the sparsity of her wrongly released records, and a Kansas medical board that included a former Operation Rescue attorney [1] agreed that Dr. Neuhaus should no longer be allowed to practice medicine. The state fined Dr. Neuhaus $93,000 to cover the costs of her persecution. The Neuhaus family is on the verge of bankruptcy now, struggling to provide medical coverage for their diabetic son. Dr. Neuhaus, we haven't forgotten you, or your many years of service to your patients. [1] - "Kansas Board of Health Revokes License Of Doctor For Not Forcing 10 Year Olds To Give Birth" by Robin Marty, RH Reality Check, June 25, 2012. http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/06/25/kansas-board-health-revokes-license-doctor-not-forcing-10-year-olds-to-give-birth/

  2,044 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by Natasha Chart, RH Reality Check
• Eden Foods: drop out of the birth control lawsuit

  When Eden Foods' CEO Michael Potter first joined the federal lawsuit in opposition to the new requirement to provide birth control for female employees in any company health plan, he claimed it was a religious objection. Now, according to a recent interview in Salon [1], he's revealed that he doesn't want to cover it because he's a man. For private companies to claim that they should be legally treated like churches is bad enough, but to claim that they should be able to discriminate against their employees because the CEO is a different gender? Ridiculous. And reading through his comments, the more Potter talks, the worse it sounds. From Salon: “I’ve got more interest in good quality long underwear than I have in birth control pills, … Because I’m a man, number one and it’s really none of my business what women do,” Potter said. So, then, why bother suing? “Because I don’t care if the federal government is telling me to buy my employees Jack Daniel’s or birth control." Birth control is like long underwear? Like whiskey? No, Mr. Potter, birth control is healthcare. No company's employees should go without routine healthcare that they work hard to earn just because their boss thinks it's silly. Sign today to tell Mr. Potter and Eden Foods that birth control is an important healthcare service that should be covered by every health insurance plan. [1] - "Eden foods doubles down in birth control flap" by Irin Carmon, Salon.com http://www.salon.com/2013/04/15/eden_foods_ceo_digs_himself_deeper_in_birth_control_outrage/

  1,200 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Natasha Chart, RH Reality Check
• Investigate Philadelphia's brutal stop-and-frisk practices

  Imagine getting stopped by the police because your face was covered with a scarf in freezing weather, being sexually assaulted by a police officer while you were handcuffed, and then getting charged with assault and resisting arrest as you were on your way to get emergency surgery for injuries inflicted on you by police during the attack. [1] It seems unbelievable, but all that just happened to 16-year-old Darrin Manning on January 7th, right here in Philadelphia, under the regressive, racist stop-and-frisk policies that have clearly continued in spite of promises to reform policing guidelines. It all started when a young African American man and his teammates, all in uniform on their way to play a school basketball game, were stopped and harrassed by a group of white officers for no obvious reason besides the color of their skin. [2] Darrin Manning was so badly injured in this attack by an officer yanking and squeezing his groin that he may never be able to father children of his own. This should never have happened, and it wouldn't have happened if not for the police department's stop-and-frisk practices. Police actions should not make our city more dangerous for any of our residents, especially our young people. It's must not be acceptable for any police department to treat children of color like they're guilty until proven innocent, or as if they're foreign invaders who don't have the same right to be unmolested in public spaces as white children. If Philadelphia's top-ranking elected officials are concerned about whether or not children in our city have good role models in their lives, I would ask that they start by looking at the behavior of our own police officers when they engage in this kind of routine street harassment and assault. Join me to ask Mayor Michael Nutter and District Attorney Seth Williams to investigate police actions in Philadelphia's 22nd District and insist that Philadelphia police conduct themselves in an orderly, law-abiding fashion, and be respectful of all our citizens. [1] - "16-year-old says he suffered serious injuries during stop-and-frisk, arrest," black youth project, January 15, 2014. http://www.blackyouthproject.com/2014/01/16-year-old-says-he-suffered-serious-injuries-during-stop-and-frisk-arrest/ [2] - "Communities Enraged After Black Boy Sexually Assaulted During Stop-and-Frisk," by Christopher "Flood the Drummer" Norris, Philly in Focus, January 15, 2014. http://phillyinfocus.com/2014/01/15/communities-enraged-after-black-boy-sexually-assaulted-during-stop-and-frisk/

  8,937 of 9,000 Signatures

  Created by Jesse Bacon
• Wayne Co. Prosecutors Office: Treat Renisha McBride's death as a crime

  Renisha McBride got into a car accident at early last Saturday morning, in Dearborn Heights, MI. Since her cell phone battery had died, she knocked on a door to ask for help. She was shot in the face. Neighbors reported the shooting to the police, and the homeowner is saying that he felt threatened and that his gun went off by accident. [1] I guess the gun was accidentally pointed at her head, too? Her killer was arrested and released, while horrifyingly, the prosecutor is still deciding whether or not to press charges. Perhaps the prosecutors are trying to figure out if they can successfully bring a case since Michigan has a 'stand your ground' law, and the killer is claiming that he felt threatened because he thought she was breaking into his house. 'Stand your ground' is a law developed in 2005 by a National Rifle Association lobbyist [2] who decided that feeling threatened is enough reason to use deadly force. Considering how many millions of paranoid, white gun owners there are in the United States, these laws have been a recipe for disaster. 'Stand your ground' has inflamed gun culture fantasies about a coming 'race war,' emboldening a wave of crimes where white perpetrators saw a Black person taking out the trash, coming home from the store, resting by a river bank with their family, or approaching the police for help after being injured, and shot to kill. Treating yet another incident like this as anything but a crime is a public safety menace. It's for the prosecutor to decide what charges to bring. But either their office thinks it's some kind of crime to shoot a woman in the head or that it is, in practice, reasonable to assume that being startled by the presence of a Black person is a justifiable cause of mortal terror. Tell the prosecutor: keep American families safe from the scourge of racist vigilantes by treating Renisha McBride's death as a crime. [1] - "Renisha McBride's family asks for peace as they mourn her death" by Bill Laitner and Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, November 7, 2013. http://www.freep.com/article/20131107/NEWS05/311070119/Renisha-McBride-shot-in-face-not-back-of-head-Dearborn-Heights [2] - "Obama Uses a Teaching Moment to Challenge "Stand Your Ground' Laws," by John Nichols, The Nation, July 20, 2013. http://www.thenation.com/blog/175367/obama-uses-teaching-moment-challenge-stand-your-ground-laws

  9,423 of 10,000 Signatures

  Created by Natasha Chart, RH Reality Check
• Superintendent Hite: Spend public funds on public schools.

  Thousands of Pennsylvanians and public school supporters spoke out after Laporshia Massey died when she waited too long to get treated for an asthma attack -- all because her school did not have a nurse on duty. Governor Corbett was shamed into releasing the $45 million in school funding he was sitting on so that public schools could rehire staff. It was a great win for Philadelphia’s schoolchildren, and it gave me hope that we had turned a corner towards the schools that my child, and everyone’s children, deserve. Then I got the news that Philadelphia School Superintendent William Hite intends to funnel $10 million of that $45 million into charter schools. The $45 million was meant to help neighborhood public schools close their budget gap. What has that lack of funding meant to the district? It means 24 neighborhood public schools have been closed, thousands of teachers and support staff laid off, libraries closed, and enrichment programs cut. Why should charter schools get a cut of the $45 million when they have not been subject to the same staffing cuts? Furthermore, between financial mismanagement, lack of oversight and poor student performance, charter schools aren’t working in Philadelphia, except to drain funds from neighborhood public schools. As SRC member Joe Dworetsky put it, “The average net loss to the district when a student goes to a charter school is $7,000 per student.” When charter schools are already draining resource-starved neighborhood schools of funds, they should NOT get a cut of the $45 million. Tell Superintendent Hite to spend the money where it is most needed: in Philadelphia’s public schools. Teachers, parents and students want to make sure the district uses the $45 million to restore the programs and staff that have been cut from neighborhood public schools -- like the school nurses, counselors, and the clerical support staff that keep schools running smoothly. Education experts agree: every school needs a school nurse and one counselor for every 250 kids. We told Governor Corbett. Now we have to tell Superintendent William Hite: that $45 million should go to rehire staff at Philadelphia’s public schools.

  8,469 of 9,000 Signatures

  Created by Jesse Bacon
• Don't rehire Gov. Bob McDonnell's secretary of Health and Human Resources.

  Women's votes and reproductive rights were decisive in Virginia's gubernatorial election, securing Terry McAuliffe's victory over anti-choice Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. But shortly after this victory, people started hearing that McAuliffe was thinking about keeping on Dr. Bill Hazel, Gov. McDonnell's Health and Human Resources secretary, in his own administration. [1] Hazel is privately credited with helping put together a less politically damaging version of Virginia's mandatory ultrasound law, which Gov. McDonnell ultimately signed. Is this the kind of administration McAuliffe's supporters were hoping for? Stand with us to ask Governor-Elect McAuliffe to remember the people he's representing as he picks a Health and Human Resources secretary of his own. [1] - "Terry McAuliffe Considers Retaining Gov. Bob McDonnell’s Secretary of Health," by Erin Matson, RH Reality Check, December 12, 2013 http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/12/12/terry-mcauliffe-considers-retaining-gov-bob-mcdonnells-secretary-of-health/

  1,321 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Natasha Chart, RH Reality Check
• TLC: Cancel "19 Kids and Counting"

  I'm a superfan of TLC's family-friendly show, “19 Kids and Counting,” which follows the Duggar family, Michelle, Jim Bob, and their 19 J-named children[1]. Though their conservative Christian views are very different from my own (I'm a pro-choice, observant Jew,) I like following the antics of a big rowdy family. But this time, their right wing views have gone too far. In a recent speech at the Values Voter Summit Jim Bob Duggar compared America today to Nazi Germany. Why? Because of abortion. When asked to explain, he said that the millions of legal abortions that have occurred since Roe v. Wade was decided are an ongoing "baby holocaust." I take this seriously, because my grandfather was very nearly a victim of the Holocaust. He fled Austria after the Nazis had come to power, making his way to the United States, a land of freedom. He was also a lifelong progressive, who supported a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions. Let's be clear: America today is nothing like Nazi Germany, and a woman who decides to have an abortion is not taking part in a Holocaust. Please join me in telling TLC and Discovery Media to cancel the Duggars' show, "19 Kids and Counting," and stop rewarding people who misuse the history of the Holocaust to play politics with women's rights. __________ [1] Josh, Jana, John David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, Jordyn, and Josie.

  2,461 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by Tamar Fox
• Governor Brown: Support the end of forced sterilization of California prisoners.

  The State of California cares for its prisoners so badly that in 2005, a judge mandated federal oversight of their prison healthcare system after it was documented that one person dies in California prisons every day from extreme medical malpractice or neglect. But as horrific as these crimes of neglect are, it shocks the conscience anew to hear that the medical care that was provided to prisoners included forced sterilization as recently as 2010. [1] Eugenics is a word that sounds to too many of us like it belongs only in the history books, but the eugenics programs started in California in the 1920s were found still alive and kicking in its prisons until very recently. While mainstream, and mostly white, women's rights advocates celebrated and defended legal abortion, too little attention has been paid to genocidal medical violence practiced against members of society deemed 'unfit' parents due to poverty, mental health, or non-white ethnicity. As Loretta Ross, an African American victim of forced sterilization at the age of 23, wrote recently, "After my sterilization, I felt empty, lost, and butchered. I was in shock and felt powerless." [1] There is no justification for an atrocity like this and the State of California must immediately act to ensure that state power is never again abused to deprive people of their right to parent and make their own decisions about their family size. Tell Governor Brown to ask the California legislature to act immediately to pass SB 1135 and safeguard against forced sterilization of vulnerable populations. [1] - "Eugenicists Never Retreat, They Just Regroup: Sterilization and Reproductive Oppression in Prisons," Loretta Ross, RH Reality Check, June 12, 2014. http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/06/12/eugenicists-never-retreat-just-regroup-sterilization-reproductive-oppression-prisons/

  963 of 1,000 Signatures

  Created by Natasha Chart