2009-06-03 10:06 | I haven't been this angry in ages.
I am an extremist at heart. I know I get a little locked into "I'm right and aaa!", when it comes to certain topics. So, I try my best to see things from the other side, or at least absent myself from conversations because I know I get rage-y.
Other times, fuck the other side.
From Amanda at Pandagon: JUST BE NORMAL AGAIN – "A couple of weeks ago, I got my hands on the training manual for the courses that anti-choice group Justice For All uses in its courses." From her post at RH Reality Check:
What I first learned was that Justice For All has no problem instructing its activists to use deception to lure people into a conversation. In the section titled "Why Don't You Pass Out Condoms and Promote Birth Control?," the authors tacitly admit that sensible people might be put off by the anti-choice movement's willingness to increase the abortion rate by standing as firmly against contraception, especially the birth control pill, as they do legal abortion. So instead of allowing members to admit their hostility to all forms of contraception, they instruct them to conceal their beliefs until a target has been softened up to hear about their true message–sexual abstinence for all not trying to procreate–through a series of dodgy, misleading arguments, including misinformation about how the birth control pill works.
This tactic is a mainstay of the anti-choice movement: it shows one face to the initiated, and another to the public, especially on the topic of contraception. Once you realize this, the movement's half-hearted denunciations of Dr. Tiller's murder, coupled with the enthusiastic return to calling Dr. Tiller a monster, become all the more chilling.
If you are a "pro-lifer", instead of getting pissy with pro-choicers who are upset with you and yours, why not instead look to your movement? This isn't just some freakish screed, this is a goddamn training manual. This is for when they set up a table at college campuses, what the shit.
Mighty Ponygirl commented this, in the first link:
I had mentioned that very point to the husband last night: that after 9/11, Muslim groups came out an roundly declared that Islam was a religion of peace, that the hijackers and terrorists were not representative of the Muslim community, and that what happened was a horrific tragedy and an act of terrorism. [...] But the anti-choice movement is so comfortable with the language of victim-blaming, and so assured in their own safety because they have a powerful brigade of politicians and talking heads who will scream bloody murder if anyone treats their threats for what they are, that they're absolutely fine with saying things like "Tiller reaped what he sowed."
Have some more fun here, from Fred at Slactivist who used to work for an evangelical non-profit:
What I realized then, in 1994, as I watched these groups line up to condemn violence against "mass-murderers" and to renounce armed opposition to "the Holocaust," was that these folks didn't really mean any of it. They were horrified by the spectacle of someone taking their own rhetoric and arguments seriously. "We don't really mean anything we say," these groups rushed to announce. "We don't really believe any of that."
And since they no longer bothered to claim they believed it, I stopped trying to believe it too.
Words mean things. Jesus.
I think I'm going to investigate the local Planned Parenthood, and see how it's doing. There were some stalls on building it, I recall, due to protests. I wonder if they still get protesters. I could go take pictures…
Tags: 
2009-06-01 12:40 | A small collection of disjointed thoughts.
I will be donating to Medical Students For Choice and National Network of Abortion Funds this Friday (when I get paid). I can't donate much, but every bit helps. As in, I will probably only donate about $20 each, which is groceries for a week and a half for me (give/take), but it is still better than nothing.
The thing that I am nodding along with today is this post by Amanda at Pandagon: The "non-violent" anti-abortion activists. For added fun, check out this statement made by Randall Terry, the founder of Operation: Rescue. And also: Abortion is Murder: Why the right is responsible for domestic terrorism, by M. LeBlanc at Bitch Ph.D.:
They did this to mask the truth about the anti-abortion movement: it is not about whether a fetus is a life. It is about controlling women. It is about heaping "consequences" on women who dare to live their lives as full, autonomous human beings who are not beholden to the male patriarchs and the male god who demand women serve as reproductive vessels fully under their control. It is about judgment, and it is about punishment.
This is all making me sick to my stomach to consider. Do you know how many late-term abortion doctors are left in the nation? Two. That's right, rabbits. Two doctors left in the United States who provide late-term abortions.
I do believe I have reached the end of using the term "pro-life".
2009-02-18 15:46 | And North Dakota is in the lead!
Via a couple of places: ND House Passes Abortion Ban
The House voted 51-41 this afternoon to declare that a fertilized egg has all the rights of any person.
That means a fetus could not be legally aborted without the procedure being considered murder.
Commentary can be found at these places, so far as I've found:
* IBTP
* Bitch Pd.D.
* Feministe (once their database stops sucking)
* Suite 101
2008-02-20 13:22 | NY Event
Via Jill at Feministe:
Women as Breeders – Children as Weapons: The Right to Abortion and the Whole Direction of Society
Over the past 8 years, under the Bush administration, the power and reach of the Christian fundamentalist movement has reached unprecedented levels in its power and influence over everything from scientific policies like stem-cell research to foreign aid for health clinics in Africa; it has placed powerful figures in the White House and the Supreme Court and commands a base of tens of millions of people.
A central issue to this movement has been the role of women in society and particularly the ability for women to have control over their own bodies and reproductive systems.
Join us February 26th in a discussion with:
Cristina Page,
author of "How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics and the War on Sex" and spokesperson for birthcontrolwatch.org.
Kathryn Joyce, contributing writer for The Nation and author of "Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement" ( due to be released in 2009). Kathryn will discuss an emerging movement of Christian women dedicated to take up their submissive, motherly roles with a 'military air'" and with an aim to create a "Christian army" achieving cultural "victory."
The evening will provide an opportunity to have an honest and wide-ranging discussion that addresses: What is on the horizon for 2009 and is the "Christian Right" over? How do the core beliefs of the Christian fundamentalist movement shape the lives of millions of women currently and how could they potentially impact the American population as a whole in the future? Why is the right to abortion is so crucial and why must it be demanded without apology? A member of World Can't Wait will moderate the event and discuss how these issues are related to the larger Bush agenda and " the whole direction of society".
The event will take place:
Tuesday, Feb. 26th
7:00 – 9:00 P.M.
@ Think Coffee
248 Mercer St (btwn 3rd and 4th st)
For any questions, please contact:
Youth_students@worldcantwait.org
2007-09-14 11:00 | This *is* what I do in my spare time.
In arguing with someone about abortion statistics, I found a million useful links. I am reposting them here for future use.
* Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States (05/2006)
* "Expenditures on Children by Families provides estimates of the cost of raising children from birth through age 17 for major budgetary components."
* Volume 3 – Federal Pell Grant Program of the 2003-2004 FSA Handbook
This one is for the argument that there is a grant available for students who need assistance, such as, oh, pregnant college students. Combine the grant with the costs of raising a child…
So what you do is, you take the average yearly college costs, add in the average Pell Grant amount, and subtract the costs of having a kid. Factor in things like the Pell Grant amount is based on a full academic year; the amount goes down based on the level of attendance. And then add the part where you're pregnant, dealing with college, filling out scads of paperwork, and assuming that everything comes out aces.
* Get "In the Know": 20 Questions About Pregnancy, Contraception and Abortion
* The Effects of Early Childbearing On Schooling over Time (Nov/Dec 2001)
* Poorest U.S. Women Increasingly Likely To Face Unintended Pregnancies (5/4/2006)
* Abortion in the US Fact Sheet (.pdf)
* Domestic violence against women in pregnancy
2007-08-16 12:19 | They just keep comin'!
A new bingo card – fetus bingo!
2007-07-31 08:41 | I am so in hearts with Jill.
Jill at Feministe asks: "How much time in jail should a woman face for abortion?"
So far, at 51 comments, one pro-lifer has tried to respond (at comment 18): "For example, couldn't a state pass a law prohibiting physicians (or anyone else) from providing a woman with abortion and then provide punish (loss of license, fine, or jail time) to the individual providing the abortion and not make the woman a criminal at all."
The immediate analogy that a bunch of people draw: Great, so I can go hire a hitman to kill someone, and I don't have to worry about being thrown in jail. Y/N?
Ahahaha, beautiful.
2007-05-07 22:55 | It's full of blogs!
Curse Feministe anyways, for having their shameless pimp days. I end up with a million million tabs open, and no time to assimilate it all.
Instead, I'll just repost I'm Not Sorry, and go back to reading.
2007-05-04 09:07 | I love being in hearts with people for awesome things.
Today's post that is filled with the awesome is over in LJ, by naamah_darling, wherein which she takes on abortion, responsibility, and the myth of the slutty-slut-slut who has drive-thru abortions every Tuesday.
Go ye forth and read!
2007-04-28 00:07 | That's a good goddamn question.
zuzu at Feministe asks a great question:
Why is this not called terrorism?
In other news, go ye forth and read this speech given by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1913.
2007-04-23 13:24 | "Let's not teach them, then hold them accountable for their mistakes! That's S-M-R-T!"
I haven't posted much of anything on the recent partial-birth abortion ban because it's hard to get my thoughts straight, and it's hard to get my thoughts straight because I'm torn between wanting to understand the other side and wanting to throttle them all. So again, I collect links that appear to be useful.
* Kenyan hospitals overwhelmed by women injured by illegal abortion. Thank a "pro-lifer."
* "Pro-Life" Mississippi Has Highest Infant Mortality Rate in the Nation
* The fact that abortion is even a debate in this country demonstrates that we do not trust women.
I get so enraged by the anti- arguments. Where by "arguments", I usually mean "casually tossed-off phrases". This enragement is primarily why I don't get into arguments about this kind of thing. I don't always feel like pushing potential listeners away by getting too out of control. (Not like "I am angry at all", though I do have problems with that, but rather "I am rending garments and turning green".)
* "I just don't like the idea of slutty-slut-sluts using abortion as birth control."
Several responses to this:
1) As someone else astutely pointed out, technically, abortion is birth control.
2) If the idea-misliking is a personal opinion, then no worries. I dislike all sorts of things. Once you start trying to pass it into law, that's when I get pissed.
3) Do I want to get into the entire issue of women are sluts and men are virile, or do I want to throw my hands in the air and stomp away? Hmm, decisions.
4) You know what would help more than banning abortion? Proper sex education. That makes this all worse – that many pro-lifers are pushing abstinence education, then go and push anti-abortion laws. What even the hell?
5) And, you've seen the rampant hypocrisy of anti-abortion crusaders getting abortions, right? Right?
* "Well, if everyone just used [the most perfect birth control], then where would be the problem?"
The problem is in focusing not on reality, but on what it should be. In an ideal universe, all people would precisely know how to use all forms of birth control (in the event that one form doesn't work for a person). Condoms would never break. The Pill would never decrease in efficacy due to other medication (like antibiotics). Men would have their own Pill to take. We would all have perfect memories, all the time in the world to do research, free internet access at all times, and perfect knowledge of how to find all this information. Rape would never ever occur. And all of this birth control would TOTALLY grow on trees.
Pause whilst I contemplate a condom tree.
Tossing off "Just look it up on the internet, it's easy to find! Tcha!" comes off as blaming the hell out of the victim, not to mention not paying even a bit of attention. Dear yall: where the hell do you think this knowledge comes from, the sky? You're not allowing for things like people getting discouraged by how hard it is to find doctors to dispense birth control that doesn't infinitely suck, or not having the time or energy to do a bunch of research on this stuff, or not being able to take a lot of forms of birth control, or not speaking English well, or not using the internet well, or being Catholic, or living in a country that even allows birth control at all (see the first link), or being able to afford leaving the city/county/state to find an affordable Planned Parenthood (what, you think they are all exactly the same?), or running afoul of physicians/pharmacists/&c who won't do their goddamn job, or or or…
Basically, it comes down to everybody should have perfect knowledge, both abstract and concrete, and if they don't, then it's THEIR FAULT for having sex. They should have accepted the consequences, or they should have been 100% perfect! Reality, culture, education – no excuses!
* "But that means you're not holding them to any standards!"
We're not even on the same planet at this point. EDUCATION HELPS, you know. Teaching people about sex – about good relationships, about birth control, about their own bodies – is a good thing. It helps people make more informed decisions. What I see the majority of pro-lifers doing is the equivalent of never teaching kids about finances, throwing them at the NYSE, then castigating them for ever making a financial transaction. (The analogy fails because so far as I know, making financial transactions is not nearly as strong a biological urge as having sex is.)
How does this even make sense to anybody?
In conclusion, hey lookee, a bunch more links, just for yall.
2007-01-23 12:08 | I can't think of what else they might mean, either.
This is by commenter cabst90 on the post A Roe Resolution: Trust Women by Jessica Valenti, hosted at The Huffington Post. I wanted to preserve it here for posterity, because hell yeah. (Yall should check out the main post, as well.)
All anti-abortion arguments boil down to:
Any woman who has sex before marriage is a whore and should be punished (beaten, and/or forced to give birth and treated like a non-human entity).
Women are not human beings capable of handling moral decisions.
Ultimately men need to make this decision, not women. Male partners, male legislators, male clergymen, etc, because men have a superior moral position on everything. Women must not be given power or privilege in any way that is higher than a man's.
War does not count as murder because those (different race/religion) people deserve it.
The death penalty does not count as murder because everyone we say is guilty is obviously guilty. Mistakes are never made, and we (men) get to play God.
Fetuses are exalted beings because they haven't had the chance to sin yet, but soldiers who have husbands/wives and children are expendable.
Women who were raped probably deserved it or are just lying; women who are poor probably don't work hard enough; women don't experience any hardship by pregnancy or raising children; women who don't have a stable relationship to depend on are whores.
Pregnancy never puts a woman's life in danger.
Women who wait until the third trimester are just irresponsible and whorish. It could never be because of lack of education about her own body and about sex, lack of money, trauma related to abuse, or because certain illnesses in fetuses, or health risks for women may only be discovered late in a pregnancy.
They all seem to boil down to a few themes. Patriarchal nonsense, complete and total ignorance about women's lives including pregnancy, and a belief that a sexual woman is not a valuable human being deserving of basic rights the way a fetus is. A whore < an "innocent" clump of cells.
If I'm wrong, show me.
2007-01-23 01:04 | Blogging For Choice Day
I'm a bit late to the game, since I've been busy knitting a scarf today.
In lieu of writing with my own words – my hands hate me, see also "knitting" – I will link to some lovely and powerful posts I've read elsewhere.
* Feministe: Why I'm Pro-Choice by Jill.
"I am pro-choice because my life is worth something."
* Pandagon: Blogging For Choice and beyond choice by Amanda.
"I've never had an abortion, not because it's illegal, but because it's legal–because my right to control my body is respected, I have the level of control to make the unwanted pregnancy and therefore the abortion much less likely."
For many many other posts in this vein, have a slew of links.
For myself, a quick thing:
Pro-choice or pro-life is not about personal beliefs. Or at least it had better damn well not be. I know a wide range of people, from those who find the idea of abortions abhorrant to those who consider it to be a necessity, from those who don't want to have children to those who were impregnated due to a rape. Personally, I don't know what I'd choose.
Choice is the point. I'm not going to argue that abortion is the best thing in the world next to cotton candy. I'm going to argue that it is my choice – my choice – to make. Not yours, not PP protesters', and not government lackeys'.
Mine and every woman's, and no one else's.
2006-11-17 23:52 | Interesting links, says I.
Found via various friends and neighbours.
* [Flash] Mapping Our Rights: An interactive map that ranks US states according to their reproductive healthcare, marriage, and abortion policies.
* [Shockwave movie, has sound] Dove: Evolution: The Dove Self Esteem Fund has a one-minute video on the process to make a woman into a model. An artful combination of makeup and Photoshop, where by "artful" I think I also mean "scary".
