Change.org Petition: Oppose Non-Consensual Pelvic/Prostate/Rectal Exams in Massachusetts

Oppose Non-Consensual Pelvic/Prostate/Rectal Exams in Massachusetts 5,949 have signed A’magine Goddard’s petition. Let’s get to 7,500!

Sign now with a click

“Before anyone performs a pelvic, rectal, or prostate exam on me, I expect them to ask my permission first.” Does that seem like a reasonable statement to you? If so - we need your help.  This statement is the sentiment at the heart of legislation that has been pending in Massachusetts since 2019 - legislation that would close legal loopholes that allow for non-consensual intimate exams on unconscious patients.  It is unimaginable to most of us that in 2022 someone could or would ever be subjected to a non-consensual pelvic, rectal, or prostate examination. Yet, it is not uncommon for medical students to learn how to do intimate exams by "practicing" on anesthetized patients who have come in for surgical procedures, often without their  prior knowledge or consent. This practice has a long history in the US and, unfortunately, is legal in the majority of states. In fact, this peer-reviewed research study conducted by Dr. Ari Silver-Isenstadt showed that 90% of students learn to conduct pelvic, rectal, and prostate exams on unconscious patients without explicit consent.  Intimate exams can happen to anesthetized patients in other scenarios as well. We are calling for the state of Massachusetts to protect ALL PATIENTS, regardless of gender, from non-consensual intimate exams.  Both students and patients are traumatized by this long-standing practice. It is very hard for medical students to say "no" when they are asked to do something unethical, and the psychological impact on them can be significant.  Our goal is to pass a law that will require healthcare providers, students, and trainees to explain the exams to patients ahead of time, introduce the individual or individuals who plan(s) to perform them, and require the patient’s signature on a form that clearly spells out the purpose and nature of the exam as well as who will be performing it. Patients will have the right to either consent or refuse. If they refuse, their bodies then cannot be used for training purposes. This would, in effect, bring medical practices and policies into line with what the general public overwhelmingly already wants and expects from our healthcare providers. Please sign whether or not you live in Massachusetts There is evidence of this happening in Massachusetts, where these practices remain legal. It goes without saying why you should care about this if you live in the state. However, even if you are not a Massachusetts resident, this issue very much impacts you too. The medical students who learn how to be doctors in Massachusetts go on to practice all over the country. The practices they learn and the attitudes toward consent and patient autonomy they acquire there will go on to impact the patients they end up seeing throughout their careers - in the South, in the Midwest, in the Southwest, on the West Coast - everywhere. There is a good chance you will be treated by a doctor who was educated in Massachusetts at some point in your life, meaning you have a stake in this legislation too.  Medical Education Gets to do Better Institutions often defend this practice as necessary for medical education. We need to ban this practice in order to make it clear that this kind of betrayal of patients’ bodies is not acceptable. It is time that we send a clear message that informed consent is critical for all intimate exams. Choice and consent to all medical procedures are our fundamental human rights. We aren’t asking medical students to stop learning, and we aren’t asking medical schools to stop educating them. We are, however, demanding that any who are doing so at the expense of their patients’ dignity and bodily autonomy immediately stop. It is not only wrong - it is unnecessary. Studies show that up 72% of patients would consent to students performing practice exams on them if asked - but they rightly expect to be asked.  It’s Time for Massachusetts Twenty-one states have already passed laws requiring direct and informed consent for intimate exams, and we are hoping 2023 will see Massachusetts join them. Please sign our petition to show the Massachusetts state legislature that you support the passage of this law, and that you want to see the state take a strong stance supporting our right to decide what happens to our own bodies. Together, we can and we will get this done!  RESOURCES: >> Here are some resources documenting this practice, a recent article on best legislative practices and the trailer for the new documentary At Your Cervix << Medical Students Regularly Practice Pelvic Exams On Unconscious Patients https://www.elle.com/life-love/a28125604/nonconsensual-pelvic-exams-teaching-hospitals/  Providers Are Sexually Assaulting Patients — and It’s Legal https://www.healthline.com/health/nonconsensual-internal-exams-sexual-assault#1  A Medical Student’s Perspective: Barnes, S. S. (2012). Practicing pelvic examinations by medical students on women under anesthesia. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 120(4), 941–943. https://doi.org/10.1097/aog.0b013e3182677a28  An Article on the Impact of Non-consensual Exams on Med Student Attitudes Toward Consent:  *Ubel, P. A., Jepson, C., & Silver-Isenstadt, A. (2003). Don’t ask, don’t tell: A change in medical student attitudes after obstetrics/gynecology clerkships toward seeking consent for pelvic examinations on an anesthetized patient. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 188(2), 575–579. https://doi.org/10.1067/mob.2003.85  A Legal Perspective: Wilson, R. F. (2005). Autonomy suspended: Using female patients to teach intimate exams without their knowledge or consent. Journal of Health Care Law & Policy, 8(2), 240-263. http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/jhclp/vol8/iss2/5 At Your Cervix - 2-minute Trailer (please join us in getting this film out there) https://www.atyourcervixmovie.com

Sign now with a click

Visit petition page

At Change.org, we believe in the voice of everyday people. Is there something that you want to change? Start a petition today

WCC NEWS: WCC call for respect for international law in the Holy Land

In a statement released 27 December, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned the storming of its land by an Israeli radical group in Wadi Hilweh in Silwan, south of the Old City of Jerusalem. Photo: WCC 30 December 2022 “This radical group has no right or judicial backing in their favour to allow them to enter or occupy the land,” the statement reads. “The Patriarchate also condemns the fact that the raid took place with the protection of armed Israeli police and border guards.” The statement affirms that this piece of land, known as “the red land,” is five dunums in size (around 1.2 acres) and has been leased to the Sumrin family by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem since the beginning of the last century. “The Sumrin family is still cultivating it to this day, and this intrusion is a clear encroachment on the Patriarchate’s properties in Jerusalem,” reads the statement. “The Patriarchate of Jerusalem clarifies that an attempt was made to attack this land previously in 2008 when the municipality tried to use it.” A local EU statement also addressed the situation of Christian properties in East Jerusalem. “The EU calls to protect the Status Quo and the Holy Sites, including Christian ones,” reads the EU statement. “The special status and character of Jerusalem and its Old City must be preserved and respected by all.” World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed solidarity with both statements. “We call for respect for international law, and we especially appeal to Israeli authorities to abide by international law, to restore and protect property rights, and to pursue justice,” he said. “We reiterate our insistence on the duty to guarantee human rights, and the need for peace and decent living conditions for all.” Statement by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, 27 December Local EU Statement on the situation of Christian properties in East Jerusalem, 30 December See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania.  Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland

GreenFaith - Does this seem like an emergency to you?

In just the past three years, we’ve seen two examples of true urgency in our public life: the COVID response and defending Ukraine. Business as usual was suspended. World governments were on board and taking action. Massive resources were deployed. That’s what happens in a true emergency.

But that’s not what we’re seeing with the climate emergency.

Governments, financial institutions, and corporations make pledges for 10 or 20 years in the future, hoping to impress voters and their customers. Usually, these pledges are intentionally weak, vague or unenforceable. They keep falling short of what’s needed. It fills me with outrage. But GreenFaith’s work fills me with hope.

So while leaders delay, GreenFaith is leading the way. We’re bringing more and more people of faith into public action - the only way systemic change has ever happened.

How?

We engage people of faith through our organizing and campaigning trainings. We enable faith communities to increase the number of religious people involved in climate activism.

We educate grassroots faith leaders through our GreenFaith Circles, providing them with the talking points, skills, and tools necessary to get into action.

We organize public, faith-rooted actions globally against fossil fuel and deforestation projects and related financial institutions, and supporting green jobs and a just transition.

A donation to GreenFaith today will help us reach and train more religious leaders and laypeople to become active and demand climate solutions.

With your support, Rev., we can achieve our ambitious campaign plans in 2023 to stop fossil fuel projects and shift funding to renewable energy projects.

World leaders will only treat the climate emergency like a true emergency when the moral alarm we raise becomes impossible to ignore. We will keep sounding the alarm until justice is real.

Thanks for lending your voice and your support! We truly can’t do this without you.

Anna Wagner
Global Co-Director of Organizing

Change.org Petition: Justice for Rajan Moonesinghe - Calling for DA Jose Garza to Indict officer Daniel Sanchez

Justice for Rajan Moonesinghe - Calling for DA Jose Garza to Indict officer Daniel Sanchez 8,181 have signed Peoples Rights’s petition. Let’s get to 10,000!

Sign now with a click

A tech entrepreneur in Texas wasn’t given ample time to drop a licensed rifle he was carrying on his own front porch before he was shot and killed by police. Raj was not afforded even a millisecond to comply with orders to put down his rifle.   Rajan “Raj” Moonesinghe, 33, had just returned from a trip and suspected his home had been burglarized. He approached his front door with his rifle in hand and fired 2 warning shots. Moments after Austin police officers arrived on the scene and ordered him to drop the gun while firing at him.    He was defending his home, did not hurt anyone and as his family, we know he would have put down the gun if given the chance. Officer Sanchez’s actions killed an innocent man, and he must be held accountable. Raj was a deeply generous and kind person, who would literally give the shirt off his back (just ask the homeless man who once walked away with a brand new Lakers jersey). He volunteered often, and lived a life of service. Raj was particularly proud of inKind, the financial technology company he co-founded, which financed over 600 restaurants throughout the country. In the last 12 months, Raj helped to raise over $150 million for inKind.    Despite his busy schedule as an entrepreneur, he always found time to help others, whether it was building a fence around his former pastor’s yard in north Austin or driving through treacherous conditions to deliver supplies to friends during Austin’s snowstorm in 2021. He always tried to make life easier for those he loved.   He should be alive today. If Officer Sanchez is allowed to continue on the force without consequences, more people like Raj could be in danger. Join us in demanding justice for Raj.

Sign now with a click

Visit petition page

At Change.org, we believe in the voice of everyday people. Is there something that you want to change? Start a petition today

Reminder - Jan 5 Accompaniment Program Conversation

This note is to remind you of the upcoming Zoom gathering to talk about the Accompaniment Program. If you haven't yet read the Email we sent earlier this month, scroll down for details. Otherwise, here's what you need to know to jump onto Thursday's meeting at 7pm EST/6 pm CST/5 pm MST/4 pm PST. Topic: Accompaniment Discernment Time: Jan 5, 2023 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88403156033?pwd=dVhWRndWaTRHekdJbEdKekpjaXkwdz09 -------   Warm greetings from the Accompaniment Program Consejo (leadership team) to alums and other PPF friends who have nurtured the program along the way. This message brings an invitation to join a discernment conversation on January 5 at 7:00 PM EST (via Zoom).   You may remember that earlier this year the Consejo decided to “hibernate” the Accompaniment Program through January 2023. Numerous factors were at play in that decision including PPF transition and discernment, the hiatus of accompaniment work due to Covid, and significant changes in Colombia and on the US/Mexico border.   As you know, a foundational understanding of PPF is that accompaniment begins when there is an invitation from local partners. Partnership is essential.   Our history reflects this. Through a strong partnership with the Iglesia Presbiteriana de Colombia (IPC) it was possible for US volunteers to accompany nonviolent peacemakers in the IPC from 2006 until the pandemic began in 2020. PPF accompaniment in Agua Prieta, Mexico began similarly in 2019 at the initiative of the migrant shelter Centro de Atención al Migrante “Exodus” (CAME) and the Presbyterian binational ministry, Frontera de Cristo.   Since 2020 there has been major change in both locations. The complexities of the current realities on the ground are beyond the scope of this letter. However, one thing is clear: there are no invitations from partners in either Colombia or Mexico. Each Presbytery of the Iglesia Presbiteriana de Colombia is carrying out its own accompaniment in many ways. And while CAME welcomes volunteers, they do not currently need accompaniers.   Given these new realities, the Consejo believes it is time to end the PPF Accompaniment Program. This is our recommendation to the larger PPF community.   We know that friendships with ecclesial and community groups in Colombia and on the US/Mexico border will not end. They will continue, and new ones will emerge. We also know that history is ever in flux. We pray that PPF will continue to savor the lessons learned and the grace received through these years of the program. For this rich history with our partners, we give profound thanks.   We would appreciate your wisdom and sense of things. How, when, where and with whom can we close the program with gratitude and grace? We invite you to join us in this next step in our discernment, either in writing or by participating in the Zoom call or both. January 2 is the deadline for written comments. The Zoom meeting is January 5, 7:00 PM EST.   Send written comments by email to accompaniment@presbypeacefellowship.org Thank you! PPF Accompaniment Consejo Barbara Clawson, Linda Eastwood, Tricia Lloyd-Sidle, Ruth Noel, Jason Woods Here is the Zoom link: PPF (Presbyterian Peace Fellowship) is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Accompaniment Discernment Time: Jan 5, 2023 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88403156033?pwd=dVhWRndWaTRHekdJbEdKekpjaXkwdz09 Meeting ID: 884 0315 6033 Passcode: 943874 One tap mobile +13052241968,,88403156033#,,,,*943874# US +13092053325,,88403156033#,,,,*943874# US Dial by your location     +1 305 224 1968 US     +1 309 205 3325 US     +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)     +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)     +1 646 931 3860 US     +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)     +1 564 217 2000 US     +1 669 444 9171 US     +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)     +1 689 278 1000 US     +1 719 359 4580 US     +1 253 205 0468 US     +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)     +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)     +1 360 209 5623 US     +1 386 347 5053 US     +1 507 473 4847 US Meeting ID: 884 0315 6033 Passcode: 943874  ‌  ‌  ‌

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship | 17 Cricketown Road, Stony Point, NY 10980

SojoMail - Our top stories, as picked by you

The Top Ten Stories Sojourners Published in 2022 Betsy Shirley We love hearing from readers. In emails, tweets, surveys, or the occasional handwritten letter(!), you write things like “finding this article was really helpful in restoring my faith,” as one reader wrote in response to Katherine Pater’s article on Jeremiah 1:5. Other times, you alert us that we, eek, made a zoological error confusing sheep and goats, as one reader noted after reading Jenna Barnett’s humor piece on biblical beards. Sometimes your notes express gratitude; sometimes you think we are “the handmaiden of Satan” (yep, that’s a direct quote). Either way, we read your messages carefully. We also notice when a lot of you — say, tens of thousands of you — read the same article. Our mission is to publish stories that will inform, inspire, and challenge you as much as they’ve informed, inspired, and challenged us; when we see pageviews start to climb, we know we’ve struck a chord. Yet here at Sojourners, we believe following Jesus means being “creatively maladjusted” to the dominant definitions of success; for us as editors, this means resisting the tyranny of fickle algorithms that have so much power in determining which stories get read and which don’t. We love the 10 stories listed below, but each year we publish hundreds of beautiful and important stories, interviews, columns, reflections, reviews, and poems — and darn it, we aren’t gonna let algorithms tell us (or you!) what stories matter most. So below are the 10 articles from 2022 that captured the most pageviews this year. But we also are including 12 articles that you may have missed, as recommended by our editors. We’re proud to publish them all — and grateful for your readership. READ THE FULL ARTICLE Forward Share

ADVERTISEMENT

Our Latest Vincent Lloyd’s Dictionary of Black Dignity (by Matthew Vega) In his new book, Vincent W. Lloyd provides vocabulary for the struggle against the world’s systems of domination. What Happened When Joseph Brought Mary Home? (by Amar D. Peterman) A creative imagining of the birth of Christ. Christmas Is Irrational. That’s Kind of the Point (by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson) The creator of the cosmos became fully human; that alone should deconstruct our confidence in systems of rational belief. The Miracle That Popularized Nativity Scenes (by Vanessa Corcoran) Nativities gained popularity thanks to a saint and a miracle.

ADVERTISEMENT

From the Magazine New & Noteworthy: Black Psalms, Spiritual Timekeeping, and More (by The Editors) Three culture recommendations from our editors.

ADVERTISEMENTS

Doctors Without Borders puts people first, puts action first, puts aid first. Doctors Without Borders puts lifesaving medical aid first. Through conflict and disaster, displacement and epidemics, they respond to crises at a moment’s notice. Their teams are often among the first to arrive—and the last to leave. The need for aid knows no borders—so neither does their work. Forgotten Humanitarian Crises in 2022 “MSF teams are often first on the scene providing medical humanitarian aid during critical situations like epidemics, disasters, and conflicts all over the world…MSF responds to these crises based solely on need, regardless of how many headlines they garner…see how MSF works to achieve their mission of providing lifesaving care and how you can support them.”

DONATE   SUBSCRIBE

Unsubscribe or update email preferences Copyright © 2022 Sojourners, All rights reserved. Sojourners | 408 C St. NE | Washington, DC 20002 Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842