The Supreme Court said it would not block a lesbian from seeking parental rights to a child she helped raise with her longtime partner.

Robert Reich writes about Congress' proposed $70 billion tax cut:

The tax cut would be politically irresponsible, but not obscene, if it were going to middle-income workers now facing sky-high fuel prices and soaring health-insurance costs, and variable-rate mortgage payments heading through the roof.

But this tax cut is not going to the middle class. Like the Bush Administration's previous tax cuts, most of this one is going to people who are already very comfortable. Hence, it's both irresponsible and obscene.

Jon Carroll writes about how conservatives want to ban certain things because they are projecting their own desires. He writes in the San Francisco Chronicle that for example, "One fascinating tidbit came to light in all this pretrial maneuvering. Janet Woodcock, who is the deputy operations commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, apparently told a group of agency employees, according to a memo written by one of them, that 'we could not anticipate or prevent extreme promiscuous behaviors such as the medication taking on 'urban legend' status that would lead adolescents to form sex-based cults centered around the use of Plan B.'"

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that when they "decided to mark Mother's Day by spending a full day each with four working mothers and telling their stories, we didn't find women railing against the system or ready to retreat. We found women who are, well, busy. And, despite the lack of time for socializing, relaxing, or anything but work and parenting, these women seem content with their busy lives."

Courtney Martin and her mother, Jere, tell each other what drives them crazy and what they most admire about the other. Courtney Martin writes, "You were right about many things, but feminism doesn't have to be either sappy or serious." See also Letter to My Daughter.

Jere Martin and her daughter, Courtney, tell each other what drives them crazy and what they most admire about the other. Jere Martin writes, "I love the beat of your feminism, your generation's spunk and confidence, but I don't always understand the message." See also Letter to My Mother.

Womens eNews reports on a group of young activists who are taking action against men who leer at them or make degrading comments. They are fighting back with their own weapons: camera phones, blogs, online protests and forums, plus an action campaign timed for "street harassment season."

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists on Monday condemned the Food and Drug Administration for blocking over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception.

Russell Shorto exposes in The New York Times magazine the fact that conservatives are as interested in outlawing contraception as outlawing abortion. "We see a direct connection between the practice of contraception and the practice of abortion," says Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, an organization that has battled abortion for 27 years but that, like others, now has a larger mission. "The mind-set that invites a couple to use contraception is an antichild mind-set," she told me. "So when a baby is conceived accidentally, the couple already have this negative attitude toward the child. Therefore seeking an abortion is a natural outcome. We oppose all forms of contraception."

The Nation excerpts Joan Blades and Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner's The Motherhood Manifesto, which argues that there is a "mommy's wage gap" and that we need a mothers' revolution to bring about change in the workplace for mothers.

"Sadly, ... a two-tiered system is already emerging in our country," Sharon Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, said, adding, "Wealthier women have quick, convenient access to contraceptives and safe, early abortions, while poor women are less able to prevent pregnancies through contraception and are then forced to jump over a series of obstacles in order to obtain an abortion."

Stateline.org writes that "South Dakota touched off a national tempest with its strict new abortion ban, but the law also fomented a local grassroots movement and opened a schism in the state's dominant Republican Party.

In a state with only one abortion clinic staffed by a doctor who visits from Minnesota, the issue now is poised to dominate this year's state elections, in which the governor's office and all 35 state Senate seats and 70 House seats are on the ballot."

WomensEnews reviews a new book: "A woman campaigning to represent a wealthy, urban district in Congress has a better chance than if her district is low-income and rural, say authors of a new book. They say 'gender-gerrymandering' could narrow the gender gap in higher political office."

Misleading 'crisis pregnancy centers' are being funded with taxpayer dollars and aim to limit or even prevent women from exploring all of their legal reproductive rights options.

Jennifer Pozner dissects an April 14 Wall Street Journal opinion piece headlined, "Ladies, You Should Know Better: How feminism wages war on common sense."