• New research to be published in the September issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology suggests that greater use of mifepristone, aka the abortion pill, has not helped to expand geographic access to abortion services. Most of the abortions performed with mifepristone were done in the same clinics, or nearby clinics, where surgical abortions are also available. • The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue is planning to protest outside of women's health clinics all over the country for 40 days starting on September 23. • Schools in the DC area have begun distributing the HPV vaccine to 6th grade girls. Although parents are allowed to opt out, there is still a group of activists who believe that the vaccine needs more testing. "They are using our girls as guinea pigs," said district resident Tracy Lloyd. • A woman is suing a Chicago zoo after she slipped and fell on water that had been splashed out of the tank by some playful dolphins. She claims the zoo officials "recklessly and willfully trained and encouraged the dolphins to throw water at the spectators in the stands, making the floor wet and slippery. • Sean Lynde of New York has been accused by animal control officials of murdering five of his girlfriend's cats. Authorities say his girlfriend didn't realize he was beating her cats to death and would replace each cat after he killed it. • The BBC has seen a copy of South African 800m world champion Caster Semenya's birth certificate, which proves she is female. She was reportedly so upset about being forced to take a gender verification test that she didn't want to accept her medal. • The cover of the newspaper The Maine Edge features a picture of a young teen girl in a bikini straddling a milk shake above an article called "Milkshakes aren't just for kids any more. Beat the heat with a grown up treat." What does an overly-sexual image of a teen girl have to do with "grown up" treats? •

Tegan Simone Leach allegedly self-aborted at sixty days with pill obtained by a family member from a doctor in Ukraine. Leach decided to abort her pregnancy because she believes that she is too young to have a child. Although medical abortions are legal in Queensland, it remains an offense under the 100-year-old criminal code to access or procure an abortion. Pro-choice groups (which this article calls "pro-abortion groups") have taken up Leach's cause. "We'd like to see abortion removed from the criminal code and be regulated like any other health procedure," said Kate Marsh, of Children By Choice. This is believed to be the first case in nearly 50 years in which a woman is charged for procuring her own abortion. [News.com.au]

Journalists boost brothel business in Sydney during the Pope's visit. • Women over 16 near Teesside beach in the UK can pay 5 pounds and don a bikini to set a new world record on Sunday. There is "no upper age limit." • Hundreds of angry pregnant women in Australia plan to "storm" a hospital that is shutting down its maternity unit per the government's instructions. • Showjumpers in England make a "desperate" attempt to drum up publicity for their sport by having two young female showjumpers pose without their pants. • A nurse in England gave the wrong woman an abortion after she failed to do a background identity check and followed anonymity rules at the clinic to protect women seeking the procedure (the two patients shared the same first name). • Former Olympic track star Marion Jones applied for a federal commute of her six-month prison sentence after she was convicted of lying to federal agents about her performance-enhancing drug use. • The latest strange female aphrodisiac out there? Donkey skin. • It is serious puppy face time!

Uh, right. The harsh reality, however, is that if access to abortion is further imperiled, the women who will truly suffer are the poor, not teens from Philadelphia suburbs with median incomes of $90,000. And although this is not a new revelation, several women have published specific anecdotes underscoring that point. Activist and Radcliffe fellow Kissling also writing in Salon, tells the story of Rosie Jimenez, a woman who died from a back-alley abortion in 1978 because Medicaid funds for abortions had been cut off. The botched abortion had caused an "infection that had turned her skin a dark greenish brown and caused blood to seep from her eyes." Rural women are affected deeply, too. Erica Sackin relates a story about a friend who " had to drive 15 hours and two states out of small-town Texas to an abortion clinic — a clinic that has since closed." Here at Jezebel we shared own stories of abortion, and asked you to share your own, in the hopes of lessening the stigma attached.

The message to be gleaned from today's anniversary is that the fight for our reproductive rights is not something that languishes in the distant past. It's a battle being waged every day by embattled abortion providers in Albuquerque who will only speak anonymously to the Washington Post about "Miffy" or mifepristone, the abortion pill, for fear of local retribution. An abortion ban is such a feasible reality that the NARAL pro-choice organization has developed a map showing which states are likely to outlaw abortion if given a chance to. (What would happen in your state?) On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and, in an election year with several geriatric Supreme Court judges on the verge of retirement, the least we can do today is remember that our reproductive rights aren't something to be taken for granted.

Abortion's Battle Of Messages [Los Angeles Times]
Anti-abortion Cause Stirs New Generation [Los Angeles Times]
Voices: A Real Anniversary Present [Metro]
Roe, 35 Years Later [Salon]
As Abortion Rates Drop, Use of RU-486 Is On Rise [Washington Post]
Map [NARAL]

Earlier: Unlike Alveda King, I Am Neither "Reformed" Nor A Murderer
Experts Don't Understand Why Fewer American Women Are Getting Abortions