by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• A judge in Iowa has upheld the ban on telemed/Skype abortions in the state:
  

  The judge wrote that the medical board has significant authority to regulate such issues. “There is no question that the board has the power to establish standards of practice for the medical profession. Those standards include the authority to adopt and enforce standards regarding the minimal standards of acceptable and prevailing practice,” he wrote.

  The system has remained in use while the two sides wrangled in court. The judge’s ruling is set to take effect in 30 days. A Planned Parenthood spokeswoman said her agency would file a legal appeal.

• Gillian Ropespierre, director of Obvious Child, wants people to stop calling her film an “abortion comedy”:
  

  But, because the plot revolves around an abortion, it’s not being called, simply, a ‘comedy’. Instead, it’s being referred to as – whisper it – ‘that abortion comedy.’

  Director Gillian Robespierre isn’t particularly pleased that her work of art has been given this label.

  “‘Abortion comedy’ gives a sense, in the semantics of that sentence, that we’re making light of abortion. And we’re not doing that,” she tells me. “I was a little angry because it makes our movie sound glib and sarcastic.”

• At the Washington Post, liberal political strategist Carter Eskew joins the trend of abortion advocates who are criticizing “choice” language:
  

  The pro-choice side cannot win the debate as it is currently framed; it can achieve only small victories when the other side overreaches. An example: Requiring an ultrasound is okay, not just an invasive one. The reason pro-choice advocates can’t and won’t win is because they don’t have an affirmative argument, only a defensive one….

  The problem is “choice” will never trump “life.” Choice is valuable, but life is precious. As long as there is no competing affirmative value for abortion, then life will always win.