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Nov
8
It was a Good Week for Choice
Not only was Barack Obama elected to be the 44th president of the United States, but women also get to keep their reproductive rights in three, specific states.
For the second time, an anti-choice ballot initiative appeared on the ballot in South Dakota. This initiative called to prohibit abortions except in cases where the mother’s life or health is at a substantial and irreversible risk and also in cases of reported rape and incest. It would have also put doctors who perform abortions at risk for a 10 year jail sentence. Luckily this initiative was again defeated, 55% to 45%.
I’m the kind of person who starts debates with people (basically any Republican I know) on very “touchy” subjects people seem to be most passionate about; such as the many reasons Republicans suck, 9/11 being an inside job started by the American government, past wars and the American government’s not so innocent or heroic part in them, and of course, abortion. Through the years, I have noticed one, very key part of most people’s “pro-choice-ness” and that is in cases of reported rape or incest. Now here’s the kicker. Over 80% of rape cases and even more incest cases are never reported. Why? Fear, (of not being believed, of their abuser, of someone with a relationship to their abuser, having to testify, etc.) trauma-induced mental illness and the biggest one of all, victim-shaming. So while it’s all well and good that most of you pro-choice folks out there believe that abortion is “okay” in cases of rape and incest, how are we to know which women in particular are victims? Most of them are not going to come out and tell you. Most of them are not going to go to a hospital the moment after it happens to get a rape kit performed. In most cases, no one will know a woman has been raped until years after it happened and that person has been living with that burden since; in some cases, no one will ever know a woman they know was raped or a victim of incest at all. So say it with me here–In order to truly protect women who are survivors of rape and incest from having to carry and give birth to a child who was literally forced upon her, is to make abortion accessible and available to all women, everywhere.
Moving on…
In Colorado, a ballot initiative called “fetal personhood” went down in a massive 73% to 27% defeat. This initiative called to define the term “person” to include any human being from the moment of fertilization.
In California, a ballot initiative which would require a waiting period of 48 hours after parental notification before allowing a minor to terminate a pregnancy was defeated for the third time, 52.4% to 47.6%.
Trust me when I tell you that these ballot initiatives are merely the beginning. The beginning of even more and more severe and limiting ballot initiatives. The beginning of overturning the US Supreme Court’s decision of the 1973 Roe v. Wade. The beginning of women, once again, being treated like second class citizens who are not trusted to make their own decisions to do what is best for them. While November 4, 2008 brought us a historic day for choice, electing the first African American president and pro-choice administration as well as anti-choice legislature being defeated, it is not over. Since the moment Roe v. Wade was passed there have been people trying to overturn it and we cannot give up, ever.
Oct
31
Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy. We See Where this is Going, Right?
A drug store in Chantilly, Virginia has recently become the seventh pharmacy nationwide that are stepping right over what they were hired to do and are refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control. And why are they refusing women access to medications they need? Because god doesn’t like it; or at least that is the conclusion that many people have come to over the years.
“I am grateful to be able to practice,” pharmacy manager Robert Semler said, “where my conscience will never be violated and my faith does not have to be checked at the door each morning.”
So what Mr. Semler is saying is that certain aspects of our lives should not be “checked at the door each morning” when we go to work. So does that mean if we have something personal going on at home, when we arrive at work in the morning we must tell every one of our coworkers about it before the day’s end and let it affect the efficiency of our work? According to the workers of the Divine Mercy Care pharmacy and the other six around the country, of course! In fact, we would be bad people if we didn’t. The problem is that when something we believe or have something affecting our lives and it starts to have a negative effect on our work, to the point where we are not able to do our jobs, in any other world we would be fired or our business would be shut down because we are not able to do our jobs, but if we attach religion to it, it’s all good because no one feels as if they can tell that person that they are wrong when they claim that their superior power says so. What if Catholics believed that cancer was a god-given illness and due to their faith, would not help a cancer patient or prescribe medication that would help them because they thought god wouldn’t like it? Would we still have the same, “Oh, what can you do?” mentality?
Many women use birth control, in fact, 98% of women in the United States will be on birth control at one point or another in their lives and to simply assume that all women looking to obtain birth control are participating in premarital sex without wanting to become pregnant… and what is so wrong with that, anyway? The first order of business to cut down on the amount of abortions in this country is to teach, condone and practice safe sex. Safe sex=less abortions and it is thanks to doctors, clinics and pharmacies that understand that mentality and respect women enough to let them make their own choices.
Divine Mercy Care pharmacy and other pharmacies who share the belief that women are only as good as the babies they can produce are hurting women by not filling a prescription for a medication that that women chose to take. A pharmacy that cannot respect a woman’s choice does not deserve the business of any person, male or female, who respects a woman enough to make her own decisions.
Sign the pledge to boycott anti-birth control pharmacies and tell all Virginia pharmacies: If you don’t respect our choices, you don’t deserve our business! or share your thoughts with the Divine Mercy Care pharmacy personally. Contact them directly at:
DMC Pharmacy, LLC
13945 Metrotech Drive
Chantilly, VA 20151
Phone: 703-961-9055
Fax: 703-961-9211
Hours:
Monday - Friday: 9am-6pm
Saturday: 9am-12pm
Sunday: Closed
Oct
7
Utah Lawmakers Want to Go Backwards on Choice
Utah has big plans for women in 2009–Big, big plans regarding women and how they want control over their bodies. Marvelous.
Several conservative (umm…really?) Utah state lawmakers will be sponsoring anti-choice legislation in the 2009 legislative session to ban abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or endangerment of maternal health. Why is this? Well, Utah state lawmakers do not believe that women in Utah should have responsibility over their bodies nor do they believe that women really know what is best for them. I mean, come on, who knows more about how a woman would feel after an abortion, the woman or a group of men who will never be pregnant or have an abortion in their lifetime?
Stephen Sandstrom, (who I am willing to bet has a penis and cannot get pregnant) a primary supporter of the new proposal, said:
“Our hope is that the Supreme Court might make this into a state’s rights issue….I’ve spoken to legislators from twelve other states who are ready to jump on board if this goes through. If we can have Utah lead the way, that would be wonderful.”
Hear that? Utah just doesn’t think women are smart or capable enough to make their own decisions, but the legislators in twelve other states believe that they should also have rights over women! So apparently, what Utah aims to do is lead the way in bringing back alley abortions into women’s lives again. They want to lead the way in telling women “Um, no, that zygote inside of you has more rights than you do, now go home and pick up some cookie dough on your way there!” They want to lead the way in more women of their state dying because they did not have access to safe and legal abortions. They want to lead the way in states telling their women that the rights they once had don’t mean shit.
You know what would truly be wonderful? If men stayed out of reproductive rights issues.
Sep
16
What to Expect When You’re Aborting
And other (pretty skewed) thoughts on abortion.
Because there isn’t a book out there that will prepare you for an abortion and the only information you can find online is medical jargon and right-wing publications saying you’re going to hell if you get one, there is now a blog about one woman’s experience with getting an abortion.
What to Expect When You’re Aborting is a blog that is sometimes hilarious and light-hearted and at other times brutally honest written by a 23 year old woman.
There is a particular post there that I found great; it was taken from the abortion episode of House. When Dr. House tells a rape victim that she is pregnant, she tells him:
“Abortion is murder.”
“True. It’s a life and you should end it.”
“Every life is sacred.”
“Come on. Talk to me. Don’t quote me bumper stickers.”
“It’s true.”
“It’s meaningless.”
“It means that every life matters to God.”
“Not to me. Not to you. Judging by the number of natural disasters, not to God either.”
“You’re just being argumentative.”
“Yeah. I do do that. What about Hitler? Was his life sacred to God? Father of your child. Is his life sacred to you?”
“My child isn’t Hitler.”
“Either every life is sacred or—”
“Stop it! I don’t want to chat about philosophy.”
“You’re not killing your rape baby because of a philosophy.”
“It’s murder. I’m against it. You for it?”
“Not as a general rule.”
“Just for unborn children?”
“Yes. The problem with exceptions to rules is the line-drawing. It might make sense for us to kill the ass that did this to you. I mean, where do we draw the line? Which asses do we get to kill and which asses get to keep on being asses.” The nice thing about the abortion debate is that we can quibble over trimesters but ultimately, there’s a nice clean line: birth. Morally there isn’t a lot of difference. Practically, huge.”
So what do you have to expect when getting an abortion? Look no further because a woman (you know, the sex that will get pregnant; we don’t want any of those anti-abortion men round these parts talking about morality or religion or any of that shit because frankly, if you have a penis you will never have a pregnancy-ever-no matter how hard you try so a man talking to a woman about abortion is pretty much a slap in the face and yet another way of men trying to make you believe that not only do they think they rule the world, they think it should continue to be like that) stepped up to the plate and put her experience online for the world to see and I love this blog–For its brutal honesty if nothing else.
If you would like some other abortion resources written not just by real people, but real people who perform abortions, check out abortion clinic days.
Sep
2
Women DO Deserve Better, Women Deserve CHOICE
I was linked to a post on Work It, Mom! via Twitter claiming from it’s soapbox that Sarah Palin is indeed good for feminism. Of course, because I’m well, me, I had to get on my own symbolic soapbox and leave a comment and after making some pretty rad points, I thought I would share my thoughts.
Please note: The article at Work It, Mom! is a great article and very thought provoking. Excerpt:
Feminists work to ensure that women and girls have access to equal education, have agency in their health decisions, are respected whether or not they give birth, and ultimately trust women to do what is right for them. Palin & the GOP do not trust women…They only trust women who can stand up and say, “Vote for me so I can tell you want to do with your life.” The Pink Elephants give a great break down of things Palin has done for Alaska, but none related to moving women forward towards equality.
What does a feminist candidate look like to you? What does feminism mean to you? I’ve met plenty of feminists who call themselves Republicans, but they usually differ from me on business issues. Some are even endorsed by feminist organizations. Are you one? How do you reconcile the tension between feminism and the goals of the Republican Party?
Granted, the following are not very thorough explanations, but rather some stream of consciousness bullet points that I will most likely be coming back to again and again for the next two months because frankly, this is how I feel and I’m unapologetic like that.
I think that feminism (and feminists) stand up for human rights and equality.
1.) I support a man’s right to get a vasectomy so I support a woman’s right to get an abortion.
2.) As a feminist, I support women and do not go as far as to directly and blatantly insult their intelligence and say that they should have no choice or simply aren’t smart enough to have control over their own bodies. Sarah Palin is directly horrible for feminism and should not even be deemed as a feminist because as a woman she thinks that women should not be given a choice but should be forced to carry a pregnancy to term despite rape or even incest and that is disgusting and inexcusable. Sarah Palin’s “traditional family values” moves people back in history instead of propelling us forward. Her politics are corrupt and she is one of the most horrible VP picks in American history.
I’m a feminist and because I believe in feminism, I believe in a woman’s right to choose whether or not she wants to have an abortion. I am a feminist because I believe in women.
As for the whole “women deserve better” bullshit from Feminists for Life…Yeah, I believe women DO deserve better. Women deserve a hell of a lot better than being forced to carry a child they do not want, cannot afford, or is the product of a traumatic and heartbreaking event. Oh, and speaking of women deserving better, take a look at this:
Aug
30
Mexico Supreme Court Upholds Mexico City Abortion Law
In the capital of the world’s second-largest Roman Catholic country, in an 8 to 3 vote, the Mexico Supreme Court upheld the Mexico City abortion law on August 27.
Mexico City previously allowed abortion only in cases of rape, if the woman’s life was at risk or if there were signs of severe defects in the fetus; it is now legal for women to seek abortions in the first trimester. (12 weeks) And because we wouldn’t expect any less, especially from the world’s second-largest Roman Catholic country, opponents of the abortion law have said they will challenge it in the courts.
This is awesome news because to date, it has been reported that many rape victims in Mexico are denied abortions because of speculation. There are an estimated 200,000 illegal abortions in Mexico each year causing the untimely deaths of approximately 1,500 women due to botched operations performed in unhygienic backstreet clinics.
As far as other “controversial” laws in Mexico, Mexico City recently voted to allow same-sex civil unions and is currently considering legalizing euthanasia.
Aug
10
I Wonder How Many Surveys are Made Up of Inaccurate Info
I was doing some blog hopping earlier because seriously, what’s better than catching up on the blogs you love to read but sometimes are too busy to visit as often as you’d like? I was reading A Whole Lot of Nothing and came across this post.
Apparently, some calls had went out asking people to participate in a survey about abortion. As a pro-choice woman (and mother, might I add for good measure) she decided to take the survey, which is exactly what I would also do given the opportunity to put my two cents into a survey on a topic I feel extremely passionate about. Here’s what went down:
extra-uber-friendly voice: “If you are Pro-Life and believe life begins at conception and want to see that all babies, born and unborn, are worth saving, PRESS ONE.”
Holding….
non-friendly sad-lady voice: “If you are Pro-Choice and believe that a woman has the right to end the life of her baby at any time during her pregnancy, PRESS NINE.”
Pressing NINE
extra-uber-friendly voice: “Thank you for choosing Pro-Life and believing that a baby’s life begins at conception! If you’d like to help our cause, please contact….”
Don’t you just love that? As she points out in her post, perhaps her pro-choice self is just too dumb and mixed up the numbers nine and one. Maybe she suddenly had Parkinson’s and her hand just started shaking and she pressed one instead. Yeah, I don’t think so, either.
It is quite ridiculous, which I’ve said again and again but am saying yet again now, that these people not only feel the need to disturb you at home by calling and asking you to take a survey, but then they aren’t even using the info that their call collects? Sorry to break it to you pro-lifers, but not everyone thinks the way you do and spoofing a survey isn’t going to start making people that there are more people who would love to refuse women the rights over their own bodies than those who love and respect women and their decisions to do what is right for them.
Jul
12
I Certainly Don’t Wanna Discuss that Issue–Birth Control or Women
McCain was recently answering questions when something he hadn’t expected happened–Someone asked about the fact that many health care providers will cover Viagra but refuse to cover birth control. Apparently a man’s ability to get it up and have sex is great, just as long as the woman isn’t using birth control and exercising her right to safe sex.
Before the woman even finished asking the question, as soon as McCain heard the words birth control, he said that he certainly didn’t want to discuss that issue and hadn’t given the issue much thought at all. The woman then reminds him of the fact that he voted against a bill that would cover birth control on health care plans. The following video is of John McCain’s reaction to the question and how it took him over 2 minutes and a lot of awkward laughing to say that he had absolutely no idea how he voted, what he thinks about granting women the right to get birth control covered on their health care plans and really, that he doesn’t really give birth control or women, for that matter, much thought at all.
Glad he thinks it’s so funny.
Via Bitch Ph.D.
On a related note, I urge you to check out Feministing’s latest Friday Feminist Fuck You by Ann who covers another bill John McCain voted against because it would have benefited women and he’s a complete misogynist. But if you asked him about it, he would probably tell you he couldn’t remember.
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