• Fox will not broadcast a “Family Guy” episode dealing with abortion. In a statement released yesterday, Fox said they “fully support the producers’ right to make the episode,” called “Partial Terms of Endearment,” and the producers can distribute it however they want. [The Hollywood Reporter]—How long before this banned episode hits the web? We’re curious to see it!
• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Meet The Press it will take “the right woman” to become President and she’d love for that woman to be a Democrat. [Jezebel] Translation: Snowball’s chance in hell, Sarah Palin.
• Speaking of Palin, she stepped down as governor of Alaska on Sunday, because that’s what’s best for Alaska or something. [LA Times]
—Something tells me this isn’t the last we’ll be seeing of her, though.

Over the weekend The New York Times ran a lengthy, in-depth report about recently murdered abortion practitioner Dr. George R. Tiller. The doctor, who was called “Tiller the Killer” by some and praised as an American hero by others, lived a life defined by his controversial career. Like a real life version of “The Cider House Rules,” Dr. Tiller was one of three doctors in the United States who regularly performed late-term abortions. To some, he saved the lives of thousands of woman; to others, he killed thousands of babies. As glamorous as anti-abortion groups tried to paint Tiller’s life by pointing to his 8,500 square foot home and more than million dollar business profits from performing abortions, his life was far from desirable.

• The only abortion clinic in North Dakota wants thwart a state law requiring them to show a pregnant woman an ultrasound 24 hours before her abortion is scheduled. [Feministing]
• Two Democrats, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT) and Rep. Tim Ryan (OH), introduced a bill today seeking “common ground” on abortion, called the “Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act.” The politicians hope they can reduce the number of abortions by sending more moolah towards preventing unplanned pregnancies, especially among teens. [Hartford Courant]
• Shanghai, one of the largest cities in China, are encouraging parents to have two children instead of following the one-child policy encouraged throughout much the country. Men have been favored in the culture, so if parents can only have one child, they often prefer to have a boy. As a result, the population is out of whack, with more men than women. [BBC]—Will Chinese girls be considered more valuable, or will they still be treated like second class citizens?

• A center for victims of child abuse in São Paulo has used a newspaper clipping of Joe Jackson in its ad, saying Michael got the ultimate revenge by leaving his father out of his will. [Copyranter]
• Beastie Boy Adam Yauch recently announced he has cancer, and that the Beastie Boys tour will therefore have to be postponed. [Pop Eater]—Yauch will be getting surgery next week, and we hope he gets better!

• Taxpayer money might pay for abortions under Obama’s proposed health care plan, according to Peter Orzag, the White House budget director. However, Orzag added that using taxpayer money that way could be so controversial that a decision has not been made about it yet. [NY Times]
• Rep. John Adams of Ohio introduced a bill in the state legislature last week which would require written consent from the father before an abortion can be performed. If the mom doesn’t know the father’s identity, the abortion would not be allowed. [Feministing] — Hmm, wonder if a woman has to get “permission” if she is raped, too?

Remember that abortion party we told you about? The general reaction to that little shindig was, um, “Appalled!” But, as I’ve never heard of one before, I don’t think it’s an indication of a trend. However, one aspect to the story did inspire another conversation about how much say a man should have in a woman’s decision to keep or terminate a pregnancy.

Another busy week at The Frisky! We had our work cut out for us following all the Michael Jackson-related news, but we found time to blog about a few other important things, like Gwyneth Paltrow‘s detox. If you missed it the first time around, here’s what we were talking about this week.

A lot of people are happy that Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, but Emily Bazelon from Slate found someone in particular who is pretty psyched: the only woman presently sitting on the Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Ever since Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retired three years ago, Ginsberg has represented the XX chromosomes on the most important bench in the country with her colleagues—eight men. She spoke with Bazelon for the New York Times’ Sunday magazine about why the Supreme Court should have more women on it, why women might judge differently than men do, and her concerns about reproductive rights and the legality of abortion.

We collected nine bits of Ginsberg-ian wisdom, after the jump.  [The New York Times Magazine]

A California 7th grader is fighting for her right to…wear a T-shirt. Anna Amador is representing her daughter in the lawsuit against McSwain Elementary School after her daughter was forced to take off her pro-life T-shirt back in April 2008. Celebrating “National Pro-Life T-shirt Day”—which I didn’t even know existed—the girl sported a graphic (pun!) tee with two pictures of a fetus followed by a square of black, along with the words, “Abortion. Growing, Growing, Gone.” Definitely a strong statement, but was it disruptive enough for the school to shirt-shame her and force a wardrobe change?

Last week, The New York Times uploaded a “Bloggingheads” discussion between Slate writer William Saletan and Beliefnet’s Steve Waldman, on the topic of reducing abortions. The ideas that arise from the discussion are slightly terrifying, and are therefore worthy of more discussion.

One abortion or miscarriage raises the risk of giving birth to a premature baby by 20 percent, while two abortions or miscarriages raises the same risk by 90 percent, according to Dr. Robbert van Oppenraaij of the Erasmus MC University Medical Center in The Netherlands. Dr. van Oppenraaij presented his findings, which are based on 75 studies about complications during pregnancy between 1980 and 2008, at European Society of Human Production conference in Amsterdam this week. [Mirror UK]

In high school I read John Irving’s excellent book, The Cider House Rules, in which the protagonist, a young man named Homer, is raised in an orphanage under the care of a kindly physician, Dr. Larch, who he is shadowing and learning medicine from. Dr. Larch eventually reveals to him that he’s been performed illegal abortions all along and he’d like to teach Homer how to do the procedure, too. Homer balked at the suggestion, imagining that he could have been aborted instead of growing up happily in the orphanage. The response Dr. Larch gave him has always stuck in my mind: “You may disapprove, but you may not be ignorant or look away.”

That quote popped in my mind when I read Kate Harding’s piece on Salon.com, “Is There A Next Generation Of Abortion Providers?”, a frightening piece about how the ranks of abortion providers are thinning and pro-choicers worry they won’t be replaced.

Abortion unexpectedly plunged back into the news in recent weeks with the murder of Dr. George Tiller, who performed late-term abortions in Wichita, Kansas.

Everyone but the most far right extremists has condemned the killing and much of the media has focused on how this act of domestic terrorism is truly deplorable.  But clinic violence, awful as it is, occurs rarely compared to the legislative assaults against reproductive rights. So in response, Maureen Tkacik (formerly Moe of Jezebel and Gawker) has written a piece for Lemondrop about the things we never mention about when we discuss about abortion—but probably should.

A Kansas-based anti-abortion group called Operation Rescue has dreamed up a new way to stop abortions: they’re buying clinics. Their headquarters in Wichita, Kansas are in a former abortion clinic, but because they’re finding the place is a little small, they’re thinking about offering to buy the clinic that was recently shut down after Dr. George Tiller was murdered. This is beyond tacky, since Dr. Tiller was shot at church, and the main suspect is crazed lunatic Scott Roeder, who had been known to post on Operation Rescue’s blog. Plus, Operation Rescue had been targeting this clinic for years now, staging massive, sometimes violent, protests going as far back as 1991.

Operation Rescue’s prez Troy Newman likes the symobolism of taking over the space and “establishing [it] as a center for life, one that nurtures and cares for babies, rather than taking their lives.” We say, there has to be another building available in Wichita that would work. [AP]

The Wichita clinic formerly run by Dr. George Tiller, who was murdered by anti-choice crusader Scott Roeder on May 31, has closed permanently. As a result, the closest abortion provider for Tiller’s patients will be a three hour drive both ways to Overland Park. It is unclear if that clinic, the Center For Women’s Health, can provide late-term third-trimester abortions like Tiller’s did.

Good job, crazies. [Wichita Eagle]

A 51-year-old anti-abortion activist is in custody in Wichita, KS, after he allegedly shot and killed Dr. George Tiller, 67. Tiller, who had provided abortions to women for over 30 years, was gunned down in the foyer of his church while he passed out the church bulletin. [NY Times]

Some anti-choice extremists think all doctors who perform any abortions should be killed. But Dr. Tiller, in particular, was a lightening rod for controversy because he was one of only three doctors in the country who performed abortions on women in the third trimester, also referred to as “partial birth abortions.” But why are abortions in the second or third trimesters so controversial? Here are five things you’re probably asking yourself right now.

Dr. George Tiller, who, among other things, administered abortions at his Wichita, Kansas women’s clinic, was shot and killed today in front of his church. He was one of the few doctors who stilled performed late-term abortions, and his clinic was the target of many anti-choice protests over the years, including a previous attempt on his life in 1993. He was 67-years-old. A suspect is in custody. [CNN]

Some anti-choices groups have condemned the killing, while others have taken the opportunity to continue to condemn him, saying, “George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God.”

We think it’s pretty dope that Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s pick for Supreme Court justice, is (a) a lady and (b) could the first person of Hispanic descent to don Supreme Court robes. But many pro-choice advocates are sounding alarm bells today because they have a sneaking suspicion that, once on the bench, Sotomayor may not uphold Roe v. Wade, something they think should be a “no duh” for a judge appointed by a pro-choice president. What’s got them worried, after the jump… [NY Times]

Daily Beast columnist Meghan McCain is like an unpredictable lover. Sometimes her columns hit the spot. Others leave me utterly unfulfilled. When she ably took down Laura Ingraham for making fun of her weight and stood up for gay rights, I cheered. This week’s column seemed especially promising, given the subject matter. “The GOP Doesn’t Understand Sex” targeted the GOP’s support of abstinence-only education and argued that conservatives have a serious problem with sex. Sounds compelling, right? McCain thinks so, tweeting, it’s “possibly my most revealing so far. I really hope everyone likes it.”

Actually, I thought it was meh. While I agreed with much of what she wrote, I didn’t find any of it particularly illuminating. Yes, the Republican party is super stodgy about sex, especially when it comes to teens and women. But I wanted and expected an insider’s look at why this is the case, not a regurgitation of the obvious.

This week, Planned Parenthood’s mailing list included an email from Judy Blume. Here’s a snippet:

If you are the daughter whose mom had the guts to give you the answers to questions you couldn’t quite figure out how to ask… If you know a mother who is struggling to raise strong, independent, and confident children in the face of unbelievable odds… Say thanks. Say thanks this Mother’s Day with a gift that honors her courage by making a donation to Planned Parenthood in her name.

Turns out, that call for donations to Planned Parenthood has angered anti-choicers because, in addition to providing general health care for women, some Planned Parenthood clinics offer abortion procedures and administer the morning after pill. PP representative Cecile Richards says that since writing the letter, Blume has been inundated with nasty phone calls, emails, and letters.