The Anti-Choice Agenda Gets Even More Ridiculous

May 12, 2008 · Filed Under Reproductive Rights

The anti-choice agenda is just getting even more ridiculous with every campaign that they introduce. The latest campaign The American Life League is pushing is The Pill Kills.

The message behind this campaign is that the pills kills babies and that by using birth control you are subjecting your body to chemical abortions. On June 7, the 43rd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Griswold v. Connecticut, which gave married people the right to use contraception, they will be gathering outside of reproductive health care facilities with what they are calling “peaceful protests,” but as we have all seen from pictures alone, their protests are hardly peaceful. This campaign is the starting point of the pro-life organizations pushing to make contraception illegal.

As usual with pro-life extremism, they are willing to do anything to push their agenda, including lying to women.

Take a look at their talking points section of the website, you can spot the bullshit immediately:

Q: Isn’t it better to be on the pill when you are sexually active?
A: Better for whom? The pill does not prevent you from getting a sexually transmitted disease, it is not 100 percent effective in preventing pregnancy and you could conceive a child who gets chemically aborted before the baby’s presence is even known to you. Moreover, sexual activity outside of marriage is seriously wrong.

Yep, if you are having sex outside of marriage, you’re just selfish thinking that you should be able to have sex without being shackled to a spouse. Don’t you know that you should be taking every child that god gives you? These people need to realize that pushing personal morals helps no one because not everyone thinks the same way you do. Imagine that.

Q: Is the pill dangerous to my health?
A: Absolutely! There are links between the birth control pill and breast cancer, cervical cancer, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), infertility, birth defects, blood clots, pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, shrinking of the womb, stroke, weight gain and much more.

These crazy people also claim that clinics such as Planned Parenthood make “big money” but last time I checked, Planned Parenthood gave low income women a place to go and receive safe and confidential health care at little to no cost whatsoever.

I am convinced that the pro-life agenda really doesn’t want to cut down on the number of abortions. With this campaign alone, they are pushing the thought that women shouldn’t use contraception and to those who are buying in to their agenda, they hear “Okay, no contraception.” and especially when it comes to teenagers, who are going to have sex anyway, they are actually making the numbers of abortions performed per year rise as well as the number of children parenting children rise.

If the anti-choice movement really cared about women, they wouldn’t be brainwashing them into thinking that birth control is bad for you, they wouldn’t be lying to people saying that birth control and abortion have harmful side effects that have been proven to be untrue and they wouldn’t be giving women more ways to become pregnant by using their personal morals as a weapon.

I plan on driving to my local Planned Parenthood on June 7 and seeing what the protest looks like there (even though the closest Planned Parenthood to me that I can even call local is about 40 miles away) and see if they’re really pushing the peaceful concept; I’m thinking no… I also plan on taking pictures and seeing how many of these people are willing to talk to me; could be a damn good time indeed.

Via Feministing.

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A Lovely Example of Anti-Abortion Extremism

May 2, 2008 · Filed Under Reproductive Rights

anti-abortion While reading some kick ass feminist news over at Feministing, a picture on their Flickr widget caught my attention.

The picture to your left is yet another lovely example of anti-abortion extremism. This picture was taken at the 2004 March for Women’s Lives in Washington, DC. By holding a sign that says something so incredibly hateful and ignorant you are doing nothing but putting more hate back into the world around you. By holding a sign that says “You killed the next president” first of all is grouping all women who walk in the March for Women’s Lives as women who have had an abortion, which is not true at all; it also goes to show you that anti-abortion extremists do not care what they have to say to you to make you think like they do.

When you look at this technically, a woman who has had an abortion less than 35 years ago certainly did not kill the next president, which was mentioned in the comments for this picture on Flickr. In all likelihood women probably just aborted fetuses that would have grown up to be the kind of people that pro-lifers hate anyway–You know, liberal, homosexual, atheists; the list can go on. Logically speaking in response to this sign, a woman may have also killed the next Hitler or the next Charles Manson; but no, pro-lifers can’t see it from that standpoint, they see it as “You killed an innocent baaaaaaaaaabyyyyyy!” and then whatever happens after that “innocent baby” is born is the mother’s problem…And welfare’s problem, because we can’t forget about welfare, another thing that pro-life people complain about.

Another point that must be brought up is that anti-abortion extremists must stop comparing abortion to the Holocaust. It is demeaning and frankly holds no weight at all in a debate. Are women having unwanted children and then sending them off to torture chambers and gassing them to death by the hundreds? Uhh, no. Aborting a cluster of cells is by no means comparable to millions of men, women and children being starved, overworked, tortured and gassed to death, sorry.

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Anti-Choice Oklahoma

April 28, 2008 · Filed Under Reproductive Rights

The Oklahoma House has recently voted 80-12 in support of the Freedom of Conscious Act, also known as SB 1878.

The Freedom of Conscious Act is basically an act that takes all of the previously brought up anti-choice laws and combines them into one. This bill allows health care workers to refuse to participate in actions that they feel are contrary to their religious beliefs and moral convictions. It also states that employers would not be able to “discriminate” against health care workers who exercise this right to refuse.

It may just be me, but if you are not able to you know, do your job, because of your religious beliefs and moral convictions, shouldn’t you find another line of work? Makes perfect, logical sense to me.

Under this bill, women are also required to have an ultrasound prior to getting an abortion. It also requires that wherever abortions are provided, there are large signs stating it is “against the law for anyone, regardless of his or her relationship to you, to force you to have an abortion.”

What this bill is doing is simply using more scare tactics against women when they seek an abortion. It talks down to women saying that it is “against the law for anyone, regardless or his or her relationship to you, to force you to have an abortion” and saying that that is simply the only reason why a woman would choose to have an abortion in the first place. By forcing a woman to get an ultrasound done before getting an abortion, you are using emotional trauma in order to get the upper hand against women seeking abortions. If they feel bad, then maybe they will go through with the pregnancy, right? That’s the “logic” behind this bill. However, people are simply not understanding that women do not walk into abortion clinics with smiles on their faces. They are not waking up in the morning and saying to themselves “Wow, what a beautiful day to get an abortion.” These women have already thought about their options, they have weighed them and have made a decision that the government is simply doing their damnedest to tell them they have no right to make.

This bill also regulates the use of Mifepristone, or RU-486, medications used in performing chemical abortions. This is perhaps the most ridiculous point on this bill.

Why does the use of these medications need to be regulated? The bottom line is that your doctor should be the only person aiding in how you get your abortion performed; not the government. When the government starts regulating the use of a medication they begin to strip away the rights of women when it comes to reproductive health and they are putting more women in harm’s way by regulating the use of these medications by making them resort to other options in order to obtain an abortion. By regulating these medications a woman who is desperate for an abortion is not going to say “Oh shit, I guess I’ll just wait 9 months and have the baby since that is the only logical way out of this.” No, they are going to go to other measures in order to abort the fetus that they do not want. End of story.

~~With this bill receiving the vote, it is now on its way to the Senate for consideration.~~ This bill has already went to Senate and passed. This is a shame for all women, especially those in Oklahoma. This is a violation of women’s rights and I simply cannot express the amount of dissapointment I feel right now.

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The Frightening Truth About Crisis Pregnancy Centers

April 15, 2008 · Filed Under Reproductive Rights

Sadly, very few women know what the term “crisis pregnancy center” really means and that is exactly what crisis pregnancy centers prey upon.

There is a personal story from Allyson Kirk published on AlterNet of a woman who got caught in the trap of these centers, thinking it was a regular reproductive rights clinic, as these centers have tried their best to look like to lure women in and intimidate them into carrying their pregnancies to term.

After calling the National Abortion Federation Hotline seeking an abortion, she got a number for a health care clinic, but a crisis pregnancy center located themselves a mere two doors down from the clinic, where the woman ended up walking into thinking it was the clinic she was in search for. What these people put her through is sick, twisted and no woman should have to be put through this when making a personal decision regarding her body.

“She asked me about my religious beliefs. I was immediately defensive at this point. I asked her why this was a relevant question to ask in a medical facility. “Because I can’t properly counsel you on the issue of abortion unless I know your moral standing,” she said. I decided that this was not the kind of place I felt comfortable seeking medical care so I asked her to complete the free pregnancy test and then I would be on my way. I gave her a urine sample and she agreed to run the test, but only if I watched an educational video while the results were processing.”

First of all, the woman felt the need to ask about the religious beliefs of the patient just to feel around and see if she had to intimidate her to stay there so she could “counsel” (ie: push her moral standing onto her patient and make her believe what she wanted) and the woman of this clinic, after seeing the hesitancy, started bartering with the woman over getting a pregnancy test done at their clinic. “You can have your pregnancy test if you watch this video.” That is not the way to treat the women who walk into your clinic, but they knew that this woman was hesitant and was starting to realize what was going on and knew that she should not be there, so I guess bartering is the only other viable option since these people are completely unprofessional and exist only to terminate a woman’s right to choose.

“The video I was forced to watch made false claims including: doctors who provide abortions graduate at the bottom of their classes and can’t get real jobs; abortion is dangerous and often results in serious injury, even death, to women, and abortion causes severe psychological and emotional damage to women. The woman on the video said many women who have abortions have nightmares of babies crying and have guilt about their decision so intense that it sends them into depression.

The second portion of the video showed an illustrated enactment of a surgical abortion procedure. A picture of a uterus with a fully formed fetus inside filled the TV screen as illustrated metal instruments appeared. The instruments were shown probing inside the uterus and dismembering the fetus. Then a suction device entered the screen, pulling the fetus out of the illustrated uterus for disposal.”

These centers should not be able to give women completely fabricated information. “Abortion providers can’t get real jobs?” Sorry, I believe that abortion providers have one of the most important jobs–Giving a woman power over her own body and giving her the respect to know that she can make her own decision. I would think that the people who “can’t get real jobs” would be the ones who make a living off of scaring the hell out of women who walk into their trumped up office. I would think that these people can only get jobs in which they must lie to scared and impressionable women in order to push their personal beliefs onto other people–whether they’re willing to listen or not because if they don’t, they’ll just barter with them–”We’ll let you out of this room as long as you agree to pray with us.” This makes me sick.

I am willing to bet that their claim that abortion results in serious injury and even death are taken from statistics published before the early 70’s, since they would be right–Back alley and illegal abortions that women are going to have to resort back to if abortion is ever outlawed, do cause serious injury and in a lot of cases, even death.

That, my friends, is why the option of a safe and legal abortion is a hell of a lot better than an abortion done with a wire coat hanger either in your home or in unsanitary surroundings because I, for one, would rather an already living and breathing woman be able to continue with her life before I would put the life of a cluster of cells before her.

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Crisis Pregnancy Centers Having to Tell People They Lie? Hells Yes!

March 15, 2008 · Filed Under Reproductive Rights

Crisis pregnancy centers really strike a chord in me that makes me sometimes rant to the boyfriend about how unfair it is that they are even able to “practice” pregnancy “options” with the women that go to them for help out of desperation and whom are bullied by so-called professionals to make the decision that they want women to make while completely disregarding the feelings of women seeking help.

I recently came to find out that Maryland feels the same way!

The Maryland state senate is considering a bill requiring Crisis Pregnancy Centers to issue a disclaimer stating that the information they give to women in search of options and counseling, is not accurate. The same bill is being considered in New York as well as in West Virginia. Examples of misinformation that crisis pregnancy centers have been giving out are:

Abortions lead to breast cancer.
Abortions lead to infertility.
Abortions lead to mental illness.

All of the above are completely untrue and should not be given to women seeking abortion services as facts when they are simply taking advantage of emotional women and brainwashing them by throwing around personal morals that are fabricated as far as medical accuracy goes.

87% of the clinics studied in a July 2006 came out to misinterpret and grossly exaggerate medical facts.

I do not believe that crisis pregnancy centers like this should not be able to practice. They should not be able to brainwash desperate women and guilt them into believing that abortion is not the answer to their unwanted pregnancy when an abortion is what they are seeking. Not to mention, Planned Parenthood clinics who support women and support the informed choices that women are able to make on their own–Imagine that!

I was recently watching the fourth season of The L Word, which I am absolutely addicted to and love unconditionally, and in the very first episode of the fourth season, it shows exactly what happens at these so-called women’s clinics. To watch the episode, which I highly suggest, you can by going here. In fact, I think that everyone should watch The L Word, so here is a link to all five seasons which you can watch online. (clickclickclick)

I really hope that Maryland gets this bill passed, the truth about these clinics must come out and I could not support Maryland enough in this bill.

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