Videos Spotlight This Is Personal Campaign, Attacks on Abortion Access and More

October 5, 2012 — Our weekly video roundup includes a unique assortment of Web videos hand-picked by our editors. This week, we spotlight segments from the This Is Personal campaign, "The Rachel Maddow Show," "Rock Center," the Guttmacher Institute and the PBS documentary, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide."

State lawmakers introduced nearly 700 restrictions on reproductive health in 2011, according to the latest video from the This Is Personal campaign, which asks the question what the legislators' mothers must think about their attempts to regulate women's vaginas

The goal of the campaign is to educate and empower young women with facts they need to protect their reproductive health. Check out more videos -- here and here -- to learn about measures that restrict access to contraception, cancer screenings and other women's health care.



On MSNBC, Leslie Reagan -- a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law and author of a new book, "When Abortion was a Crime" -- argued that current state restrictions have essentially returned abortion access to the way it was before Roe v. Wade for many women. "Having to travel hundreds of miles into other states, flying into other states and other countries, going to Mexico for abortion," are all realities for many women then and now, she said (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 9/28).



MSNBC's Rachel Maddow explained how Virginia and Mississippi are using TRAP -- targeted regulation of abortion providers -- laws to make it more difficult for abortion providers to remain open. The laws could "make the right to access abortion a right in name only," she said (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 9/28).



In a report on sexual assault in the military, NBC's "Rock Center" featured interviews with several female veterans who said they were retaliated against for reporting being raped while their assailants faced few or no sanctions. "Rock Center" also posted an extended online interview with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta about the Pentagon's efforts to address the issue (Morales, "Rock Center," NBC, 9/27).



Most of the estimated 40 million abortions that occur annually in the developing world are clandestine and unsafe, according to new video from the Guttmacher Institute about abortion access worldwide. "The way to reduce abortion is not to outlaw it, but to help women avoid unintended pregnancies in the first place," the video states.



If you missed the PBS broadcast of "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," the film is available online through Oct. 9. The two-part documentary, based on the book of the same title by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, follows the authors, various celebrities and activists as they document the problems of sex trafficking, gender-based violence and maternal mortality around the world. They visit nine countries to meet with individuals who are developing solutions to confront these interconnected, global issues (PBS website, 10/4).