+
Family

A top Democrat called young people 'complacent' about abortion. Young people responded.

The chair of the Democratic National Committee — Debbie Wasserman Schultz — touched off a heated debate on Wednesday with a comment about young women and abortion rights.

Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images.


In an interview with The New York Times, Wasserman Schultz was asked whether she thought older women were more enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton's candidacy than younger women were.

The top Democrat didn't really address the question, instead she used her answer to suggest that young women are insufficiently committed to preserving the reproductive freedoms secured by earlier generations.

"'Do you notice a difference between young women and women our age in their excitement about Hillary Clinton? Is there a generational divide?'

'Here’s what I see: a complacency among the generation of young women whose entire lives have been lived after Roe v. Wade was decided.'"

The notion that young women aren't serious about fighting for abortion rights was news to a lot of young women.

And they let Wasserman Schultz know, using the hashtag #DearDebbie.


Wasserman Schultz is right that abortion rights are being slowly-but-surely rolled back in many places across the country.


Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

While the decision in Roe v. Wade (and the more recent Planned Parenthood v. Casey) prevents states from banning the procedure outright, many have responded by passing laws that impose onerous, often near-impossible-to-satisfy, regulations on clinics that offer abortion services.

Additional regulations in many states attempt to make securing an abortion more difficult for the people who want them. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 17 states require that people seeking abortions undergo some form of counseling first.

More than half of all states — 28 — impose a waiting period between when the procedure is requested and when it is performed, which effectively means making two separate trips to the clinic in 14 of those states. For people who are poor or without access to reliable transportation or the ability to take time off from a job, this often represents an insurmountable burden.

A whopping 38 states require some form of parental notification for minors seeking an abortion (such laws have little to say about the potentially disastrous consequences of a minor having a child).

But she's not so right to suggest that young people are complacent. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images.

Contrary to Wasserman Schultz's assertion, thousands of people across the country have been speaking out against new restrictions on reproductive rights, and young people have done a pretty bang-up job leading the way. Movements like #ShoutYourAbortion and the 1 in 3 Campaign that seek to humanize those who seek out abortion — and allow them an outlet to tell their stories — were spearheaded by young people.

Even legacy reproductive rights organizations have seen an influx of youth in recent years. As of just a few years ago, a NARAL spokesperson told The Nation that roughly 60% of its members were under 35. The Planned Parenthood Generation Action Group boasts over 200 member organizations at colleges and universities in all 50 states.

After hearing from dozens of young activists, Wasserman Schultz responded on Twitter.

And made it known that she'd heard the message loud and clear.




It's an encouraging sign that young people and politicians who support reproductive rights are, perhaps, actually listening to each other.

Hopefully the mutual listening will continue — and progress can continue to be made.

Health

Relationship expert shares her advice on how to 'stop an argument in its tracks'

She has the perfect question to ask once your partner gets defensive.

Therapist Lauren Consul has one trick to stop arguments before they begin.

Arguments start to take off when one partner begins to get defensive. So, therapist Lauren Consul shared her relationship-saving tip to "stop an argument in its tracks" when one partner goes into self-preservation mode.

Lauren Consul is a couples and sex therapist who’s developed a following of nearly 160,000 people on TikTok and has received over 5.4 million likes. She is an infidelity expert and hosts retreats to help people "survive and thrive" after one partner has strayed.

Keep ReadingShow less
@SopheAlice/TikTok

Best way to travel, really.

As they say, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”

This old adage was brought to life in a whole new way after two friends who thought they booked tickets to Budapest, Hungary, instead found themselves heading to Bucharest, Romania.

Just a minor 500-mile difference, but who’s counting?

TikToker @SophAlice posted a video of the pair realizing their mix-up, which went viral and set them off on an impromptu adventure based entirely on the comments they received.
Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Owner of plus-size dress shop gifts $700 prom dress to 'shy' teen after watching her light up

Creating moments like these is why she opened her store in the first place.

@juicybodygoddess/TikTok

Elyse Monroe found the perfect dress, then found out it costs nothing.

Adolescence is a harrowing time for body image and self-esteem all around, but few milestones are as universally daunting as finding a prom dress. Whether it’s due to budget constraints, not being able to find a dress that fits, or both, what should be a fun event is often viscerally dreaded.

This was certainly the case for Summer Lucille. Lucille told Today.com that growing up, “if you weren’t skinny, there weren’t many options, and it was devastating for me because I’ve always loved fashion.”

She recalled, “I went to my prom looking like a church lady in a suit dress with a jacket because it was the only thing that fit. It was a very sad period in my life.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Sorry, Labradors. After 31 years, America has a new favorite dog.

The American Kennel Club has crowned a new favorite.

via Pixabay

A sad-looking Labrador Retriever

The sweet-faced, loveable Labrador Retriever is no longer America’s favorite dog breed. The breed best known for having a heart of gold has been replaced by the smaller, more urban-friendly French Bulldog.

According to the American Kennel Club, for the past 31 years, the Labrador Retriever was America’s favorite dog, but it was eclipsed in 2022 by the Frenchie. The rankings are based on nearly 716,500 dogs newly registered in 2022, of which about 1 in 7 were Frenchies. Around 108,000 French Bulldogs were recorded in the U.S. in 2022, surpassing Labrador Retrievers by over 21,000.

Keep ReadingShow less

Babysitting grandpa has the internet in stitches.

Good grandparents really are an important asset to young families just starting out. They can show you the ropes of parenthood, help entertain their grandkids, and probably most importantly, they know when you need a break because you're their baby and they can always tell when something's up with their child.

But sometimes, grandparents can be a little...uh...needy, even when they're the best grandparents in every other aspect. Technology has changed so much over the decades since they were raising children, and sometimes they need a little extra help with things that might seem simple. Soon-to-be mom of two, Molly Madfis, took to TikTok to share what happened when her 75-year-old dad, John, was babysitting her 5-year-old, Arlo, for a few days while she was on a "babymoon" with her husband.

Keep ReadingShow less

Woman recreates "Inside Out" from a neurodivergent standpoint.

Remember the hit Pixar movie "Inside Out"? If not, it's a cartoon where emotions are personified so you can sort of see what each emotion is thinking. It's a really sweet, funny and surprisingly emotional movie. But a woman who goes by Georgia on YouTube took that concept and decided to recreate it using different types of neurodivergent diagnoses and features.

In the video, Georgia plays all of the characters who all interact with each other as they work on controlling what the human they're inside does. The characters are "General Thoughts," "Dyslexia," "ADHD," "Sensory Issues," "OCD" and "Anxiety."

Georgia is attempting to make dinner, but it's a pretty intense process with all of these characters getting in the way, and while General Thoughts attempts to keep everyone on track...eh...it doesn't work out so well.

Keep ReadingShow less