If you're wondering where abortion stands in the health care negotiations, Amy Sullivan has a House headcount. With the proviso that counting the votes at this stage is shooting at a moving target, I read her and think that abortion probably won't sink Obama's bill. Obama's version chooses Sen. Ben Nelson's compromise position on abortion (insurance plans that receive federal funds can cover abortion, as long as subsidies are segregated and states can opt out) over Rep. Bart Stupak's (no abortion coverage in an insurance plan that includes any federal funding). Amy looks at the Democrats who voted for the Stupak amendment and finds:

23 Dems voted for Stupak but against the House health care bill. Forget about them in this context—abortion isn't their dealbreaker.

17 Dems with "mixed voting records on abortion" voted for Stupak and would probably go for the Nelson compromise.

24 Dems are "solidly pro-life," but many would probably go for Nelson anyway.

The question, of course, is how many of those 24 (or of the 17) won't be satisfied with the Nelson proposal. Bart Stupak has said he is in this category. How many followers does he have? And how small is the margin in the House—how much does Pelosi need these votes?

Tags: abortion, health care reform, nelson amendment, stupak amendment

There are many technical and artistic reasons to love Kim Yu-na’s Bond girl routine from last night. But here is mine. With figure skating, you are supposed to pretend that these mostly teenage girls are wholesome innocents and not notice that they are all tarted up, as I argued in my defense of Lindsey Vonn’s swimsuit shoot. Mao Asada, for example, was dressed like she stepped out of a pioneer bordello, in cheap red frill—or in what on Halloween would be labeled a girls' saloon outfit, size small. Kim, on the other hand, looked and dressed like a woman, in a black-and-silver Klimt-inspired outfit. As she flirted and vamped and then kissed the air gun and blew a Bond girl kiss, Kim was finally owning the campy sexuality that is the true—but curiously unacknowledged aesthetic of what they call “ladies' ” figure skating. Professional ice skaters should grow up to be Bond girls, not Disney princesses.

Kim seems to come by her maturity honestly. Her brief biopic last night focused on what a huge celebrity she is in South Korea. Commercials cash in on her wholesome image (milk, household appliances). But then on the streets, she is so mobbed and stalked that she has to hire bodyguards. She finally left to train in Canada. Kim has learned the hard way the gap between image and reality, and the sophistication shows in her routine.

Tags: Bond girl, Kim Yu-na, Olympic figure skating

As a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, I was surprised by the controversy surrounding President Obama’s commencement speech last year. But the hoopla over our pro-choice president delivering a talk at a Catholic, pro-life institution is ongoing: It provided the inspiration for a new Web series, called Bump, on which actors play women on a reality TV show debating whether or not to have an abortion. The twist is that viewers have the opportunity to influence each girl’s decision by sending their personal stories and advice to the creators.

Bump launched earlier this year, and features three unlikeable personalities: Katie, whose husband is serving in Iraq and whom she’s cheated on, resulting in the pregnancy; Denise, who, despite her frivolous personality, has to contend with serious issues, like an abusive husband; and Hailey, who, with her partner, just wants to make it on a reality show. They’re supposed to represent women like you and me.

The idea behind the program—to “determine whether story can succeed where nearly four decades of angry rhetoric and political posturing have failed” —is admirable enough. The problem is that Bump, in posturing as a reality TV show without really being one, is overly earnest. These “complex” women in “complex” situations are almost a parody of real life, yet we’re supposed to take them seriously.

Moreover, the producers’ decision to allow the audience to help direct the future of the show by chiming in on each episode just gets in the way of the kind of communication I think they were aiming for: one with no strings attached. Like real life, the abortion debate becomes a kind of competition where each side is hoping it will be able to determine what others do in their lives.

Watch the most recent episode here:

Tags: abortion, bump, notre dame commencement speech

Hanna, while all the attention may have been on Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Lindsey Vonn, I just discovered that another one of their models is Sonia Dara. Dara, 20, is the 5’11” daughter of Indian immigrants—the first South Asian to be selected as a S.I. swimsuit model. She is also, no joke, a Harvard sophomore who just switched from pre-med to economics. She says in this Crimson article that as a high-school student modeling for the Elite agency in New York, she would be studying for AP classes while the rest of the girls were boning up for their GEDs. The Harvard-educated bikini model has long been a cultural fantasy figure of the ultimate woman. I wish I had some deep insight to offer about the fact that now she actually exists, but I can’t get past the fact that now she actually exists.

Tags: bikini model, Harvard, Sports Illustrated swimsuit

—Bristol Palin heads off to become a perverted elitist Hollywood type, making her acting debut in ABC Family's drama "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." [The Washington Post]

—A young mother will spend the next three years behind bars—one year less than the jail time of the man she falsely accused of rape. [New York Post]

—The EU plans on extending maternity leave to 20 weeks with six weeks full pay, but the British government worries that this will cost an additional £2 billion a year. [The Guardian]

—New research shows that even if you go for a run every morning, sitting still all day increases your risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancers. [Opinionator Blog]

—Seeing a curvy woman activates the "reward" part of a boy's brain, just like when drinking alcohol or taking drugs. [Mail Online]

Tags: Bristol Palin, false rape accusations, hollywood, maternity leave, obesity

Bristol Palin, professional teen mother, is going to appear on the souped-up after-school special known as The Secret Life of the American Teenager. In the Washington Post, Lisa de Moraes argues that this move by Bristol is bad for Sarah Palin, because it ruins Sarah's anti-Hollywood cred. I agree that it reflects poorly on both Sarah and Bristol, but for a slightly different reason. As I argued in a piece on Slate last month, it doesn't look good for Bristol if she's making a lot of money off her abstinence promotion. It makes her—and by extension, her mother—look mercenary, and it negates their message about teen pregnancy, which is that it is not glamorous. I'm guessing that Bristol is not doing this television appearance for free, and I doubt she's going to be doing it without full make-up, wardrobe, and press. There's certainly nothing wrong with Bristol making money off of her curious place in the culture, but she can't take the moral high road while raking in the dough.

Photograph of Bristol Palin by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images.

Tags: Bristol Palin, teen moms, the secret life of the american teenager