Blog for Choice 2010: Trust Women

Sorted under random acts of activism, reproductive rights on January 22, 2010

Blog for Choice Day 2010

Happy anniversary, Roe v. Wade! On this day 37 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that it was about time to let women make their own decisions about their health and what does or does not happen with and within their own bodies. The anniversary of Roe v. Wade is a day to be celebrared. Women having the right to think for themselves and to make their own informed, logical, emotional and difficult decisions is something to be celebrated.

Today is also the fifth annual Blog for Choice Day, a day in which pro-choice bloggers dedicate a post to answering a question presented by NARAL Pro-Choice America about some facet of their activism, of their passion for keeping abortion accessible, safe, legal and rare.

This year, we continue to mourn the tragic, untimely and unnecessary death of Dr. George Tiller who was murdered in the foyer of his church on May 31, 2009 by an anti-choice extremist in an act that can only be described as domestic terrorism. Dr. Tiller often wore a button that simply read, “Trust Women;” two words that have had a tremendous impact on the people he dedicated 33 years of his life to. Dr. Tiller knew very well the dangers of his profession and became one of the most well-known abortion providers and subsequently, a target of anti-choice extremists. Before he was murdered, a bomb had been placed and exploded on the roof of his Women’s Health Care Services clinic. Outside of his clinic during summer-long protests, approximately 2,000 protesters were arrested outside of the same place women were going to for help. He was shot in both arms by an anti-choice activist while driving away from the clinic and after a six year investigation of his practice, he was acquitted of charges that claimed he had performed 19 illegal late-term abortions. After he was acquitted, several members of anti-choice groups across the country declared that they were dedicated to getting him put in prison and that they would drudge up more false claims in order to do so. Dr. Tiller trusted women and ultimately had his life stolen from him and from his family, friends, colleagues, patients, future patients and the entire pro-choice population for being dedicated to trusting women and to providing a safe and legal procedure.

George Tiller

Dr. LeRoy Carhart, a friend and colleague of Dr. Tiller's and an image in memory of the late abortion provider.

So on this 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, NARAL Pro-Choice America is honoring Dr. George Tiller and his 33 year career and commitment to women and asking, What does “Trust Women” mean to you?

When laws go into effect that require abortion providers to extensively counsel women in person, instead of over the phone (and it is clearly stated that it must take place in person,) force them to see the ultrasounds of their unwanted fetuses or to have these ultrasounds explained to them and then that woman is forced to wait 24 to 48 hours after being counseled to go home and mull it over before she is permitted to actually have the abortion performed, I am offended. I am offended that laws like these exist to treat women like children who can’t make up their minds or who don’t know the severity of their own situation. It is extremely condescending to put in place multiple hurdles in order to obtain a safe and legal abortion due to the fact that the people who authored these laws and the lawmakers who voted for them think women are incapable of making an informed and logical decision for themselves that they believe is right. Laws such as these shame women and bring us right back to childhood when we’ve done something wrong and were sent to our rooms to think about what we’ve done. I probably should not give these lawmakers any more ideas, but I unfortunately would not surprised if in order to obtain an abortion, women would be required to write a 500-word essay on what they learned through making and going through the most difficult decision they will probably ever make in their lives.

It is a cliche feminist slogan of sorts, but there is that saying that is printed on endless t-shirts, buttons, stickers, hoodies, you name it, that says, “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people,” and in regard to what it means to truly trust women, it is completely correct. Women are people. Women, like men, are adults and, like men, are capable. We are capable of educating ourselves or seeking the information we wish to know more about and we are capable of making logical decisions that will affect our lives and our bodies. Pregnant women are often viewed as less rational as women who are not pregnant; as hormonal and who don’t really have any idea about what they are doing or the “consequences of their actions,” which brings woman shaming down to a whole new, disgusting level. I trust all women because I know that we are strong, amazing, miraculous, kick ass beings who deserve to be taken seriously and who refuse to be seen as, talked to or treated as less-than.

If you are also participating in Blog for Choice 2010, link your post here.



Blog for Choice 2010 Open Thread

Sorted under random acts of activism, reproductive rights on January 22, 2010

Blog for Choice Day 2010 Today marks the 37th anniversary for the landmark decision that gave women the right to have access to safe and legal abortion, Roe v. Wade. Today is also the fifth annual Blog for Choice Day from NARAL Pro-Choice America.

If you’re not familiar with Blog for Choice Day, it is when each year, NARAL Pro-Choice America asks a question directed to pro-choice bloggers before the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and on January 22nd, bloggers let their voices be heard by answering that question. From the official site:

“Blog for Choice Day provides us with an opportunity to raise the profile of reproductive rights in the blogosphere, all the while celebrating Roe’s 37th anniversary. Plus, it’s a great way to let your readers and the mainstream media know that a woman’s right to choose is a core progressive value that must be protected and advanced.

This year’s topic is What does “Trust Women” mean to you? in honor and in remembrance of Dr. George Tiller. Dr Tiller was an abortion provider who often wore a button that simply read “Trust Women.” He was murdered on May 31, 2009, in the foyer of his church by an anti-choice extremist.

I am still working on my Blog for Choice Day post, but in the meantime, if you have yours up please link it in the comments.

If you would like to participate in Blog for Choice Day, sign up here and don’t forget to come back and link your post!



Bloggers Unite for Haiti

Sorted under international, random acts of activism on January 17, 2010

Bloggers Unite for Haiti I already took to my Twitter to spread the word about Bloggers Unite for Haiti, but wanted to make sure as many people as possible know that this is going on and how they can continue to spread the word about how they and others can help the relief efforts.

I found out about this blogging event from Nina Amelia, a wonderful commenter and felt very compelled to spread the word.

Bloggers Unite for Haiti will take place on January 19th, where bloggers everywhere unite for one day to spread the word about current conditions in Haiti, how and where to donate money, supplies and volunteer and personal thoughts about the tragic earthquake that has killed countless Haitians. However, because this is not just an effort to spread awareness of a certain topic or social issue, but a day-to-day struggle for the people of Haiti, this is not a one-day blogging event and they are and will continue to compile lists of blog posts from around the blogosphere that have to do with how to provide aid and relief to Haiti.

Also, while it is tremendously important to raise awareness about relief efforts in Haiti and to donate generously to worthwhile, hard-working charities dedicated to providing much-needed aid to the region, it is also so, very important to learn more about Haiti and to educate ourselves about the region, if just to wrap our heads around as to how dire the situation there was even before the earthquake hit and how much worse the region is now.

If you have not already, sign up for Bloggers Unite for Haiti and start spreading the word about relief efforts before, on January 19th, and after.



Helping Haiti

Sorted under international, random acts of activism on January 15, 2010

Haiti earthquake

Image Credit: CNN

In the wake of tragedy, the first thing most people ask is how they can help. The devastating and deadly, 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday and has left hundreds of thousands of people dead and many more suffering, fighting for their lives and wondering how they will be able to piece their lives and their communities back together again has encouraged people to band together in order to provide relief efforts to the people of Haiti. There are still people, days after the news broke of this tragedy, who are asking what they can do to help. The easiest thing you can do to help is to donate money to the myriad of relief funds currently collecting donations, but picking a legitimate and worthwhile charity can be mind boggling, especially when you see the list of the different organizations. So after some research, here is a tidier list of the charities you can assist that are doing some great work in and for Haiti.

For even more charities and ways to donate supplies and volunteer, check out Like a Whisper for an even more comprehensive list and if you know of any additional charities or relief funds, please leave them in the comments to spread the word.



At the Death House Door

Sorted under film on January 9, 2010

Anyone who has been following me on Twitter for the past, oh, about 18 days or so (all 613 of you–How did I get 613 followers? Oh yeah, probably because I down and out abandoned my blog and have just been using Twitter to bitch, moan and complain. Gotchya.) knows that I have been on quite the documentary kick. I’ve made my way through crime documentaries and have also been peeping in and out of political documentaries. Now, because I usually split-screen my desktop monitor so I can work as well as watch movies because I’m a multi-tasker like that, although it’s pretty obvious I haven’t been working on this website, I usually pick films that are light and airy and frankly, something I don’t have to pay much attention to so I can still be productive. For instance, I have watched several profiles on serial killers, a plethora of the best Cold Case Files episodes and so on. You know, because serial killers always provide that light and airy material I crave in the early morning hours when I need to get shit done.

Tonight I did very much the same thing I’ve been doing over the past two weeks–settling into some work and looking for something to watch. I settled on At the Death House Door, which I have stumbled across several times before and never really felt compelled to watch, so I’d always just glanced right over it. Tonight, however, I did watch it and I thought it was going to be one of those documentaries I kinda-sorta watched while I also typed away at the computer since the synopsis merely said that two filmmakers examine the state of the death penalty in Texas from the perspective of a “death house” chaplain who had witnessed nearly 100 executions throughout his career. Light and airy right!? Well, not exactly, but still something I could kinda-sorta work through.

The chaplain of the Huntsville, Texas death house in At the Death House Door was Rev. Carroll Pickett who you see throughout this documentary as being one of the nicest, caring people you could ever possibly meet in your entire life. His words were always careful and articulately chosen and throughout most of the documentary you do not know where he stands on the whole death penalty issue because he said that if he were openly for the death penalty, no inmate would have trusted or talked to him and if he were openly against it, he would be fired by the state of Texas. When you’re covering the death penalty in a documentary, the inevitable shoe to drop that I knew was coming, was the topic of a man who had been put to death who was completely innocent and this had happened on more than one occasion in the state of Texas, but one case is greatly highlighted and the family of this man was absolutely heartbreaking as they strove to raise awareness of what had happened to their family member.

Here’s the trailer for At the Death House Door:

Anyone who is familiar with me and this website can assume my stance on the death penalty. I think it is completely hypocritical, heartbreaking and downright wrong. While I had planned on working while watching this documentary, it did not pan out that way. From about ten minutes in until the end at just over an hour and a half in length, I was glued to it. It pulled me in and then tore me apart because while I haven’t really covered it too often here, the death penalty is one of those political hot points for me where I am so adamantly against it that I get angry about it, it tears me to shreds to think that something as corrupt and utterly and consistently unjustified, like the government (federal as well as state-wide) are under the tragic misconception that they have the right and even the responsibility to choose who lives and who dies. Whenever I encounter these hot button issues, one thing that repeatedly pops into my head is that one section of Network where Howard Beale is shouting:

We know things are bad–worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller and all we say is, ‘Please, at least just leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’

Well I’m not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad. I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot. I don’t want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you’ve got to get mad. You’ve got to say, ‘I’m a human being, goddammit! My life has value!’ So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it and stick your head out and yell ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’

There are a lot of things that make that little segment go through my head and the injustice of the death penalty is one of them.

By the end of the documentary, Rev. Carroll Pickett actually starts advocating for the end of the death penalty in Texas, after seeing nearly 100 executions and being that last person someone has contact with before the state puts them to death. He speaks with people who are for the death penalty and tells them what the government would and still will not. That what is injected into the veins of a person to kill them was also once used to put animals to sleep–before it was outlawed because of how inhumane it was against those animals. Regardless of your stance on the death penalty, At the Death House Door is an absolutely amazing, enlightening, gut-wrenching and incredibly depressing documentary that I felt very much compelled to write about here, even though at the time when I finished watching the documentary and knew that I had to write about it, I didn’t know what to say or if I would have anything to say before sitting down to write.

Rev. Carroll Pickett, the man whose perspective this documentary is from, is also author of a book that I now must get–Within These Walls: Memoirs of a Death House Chaplain. If it’s even half as good as this documentary was, it’s going to be amazing.