How to Make Your Voice Heard and Stop the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act
To learn about what the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act is and how it will change how federal funds are used to pay for abortions in cases of rape and incest while completely neglecting the health of a pregnant woman unless her life is in imminent danger, read here.
Activism is extremely important, especially when legislation like the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act is introduced and has a high probability of passing. Then, activism becomes crucial and it’s your right to stand up, speak loudly and demand to be heard.
There are many ways you can get involved in stopping the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, including online activism as well as contacting your Representative directly.
#DearJohn Twitter Protest
If you are on Twitter start following and contributing to the #DearJohn Twitter protest. Fabulous feminist and pro-choice folks who are really staying on top of this bill and the protest are Sady Doyle (who also created the #DearJohn campaign), Amanda Marcotte, Shelby Knox and Steph Herold. And, you know, myself, but that really goes without saying, doesn’t it? Oh well, shameless Twitter plug for me!
You can also tweet at John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) as well as the co-sponsors of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act who are on Twitter by looking them up here. Remember, if you are engaging via Twitter, keep your inquiries and tweets directed at representatives productive without offending or insulting.
Contact Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey and Co-Sponsors
The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act is sponsored by Chris Smith. He authored this bill and should rightfully know how we feel about it and about his position on stripping rape survivors and women of their reproductive rights. You can find his office mailing addresses, phone numbers and fax numbers here.
You can find the list of all 173 co-sponsors of this bill as well as information on how to contact them here.
Contact Your Representative
You have the undeniable right to contact your representative and voice your position on this bill. You can easily find out exactly who your representative is and what their contact information is here.
To quote Sady Doyle on contacting your rep:
Look that person up on Wikipedia, to get a sense of who they are, if you don’t already know. Then, CALL THEM. Be polite; be professional; do not threaten or use violent or abusive language under any circumstances. Explain to them that their constituents don’t support this bill, explain how and why it’s a bad bill, and let them know that if they support or fail to oppose this bill, they can expect that to impact them in a very bad way when it comes to the matter of keeping their jobs. We hired them; we can fire them. We want to flood them with calls, today and tomorrow. We need to stand up and be counted. And we can. But we need to make sure they don’t just see us talking on the Internet. We need to make sure they hear our voices, one by one by one.
If you’re like myself, you really, really want to get involved and contact your representative but because you’re socially awkward and have a hard time with that whole talking to people thing, especially about something you get very emotionally charged about, this can prove to be quite difficult and you may not come off as professional and respectful as you should. Sady Doyle, the lifesaver of activism that she is, worked out a script she used when calling the short list of Democrats who have co-sponsored H.R. 3 and posted it for others to use. If your Representative is not a Democrat, this script is still a really good start to working out what, exactly you want to say.
Hi, I’d like to leave a comment for the Congressman in regards to a bill that was recently introduced.
[They’ll say okay: It’s their job to be open to comments from the public, remember.]
The bill is HR3, which is an extremist anti-choice measure that would strip rights from rape survivors and people who need abortions in an unprecedented way. Even under the Hyde amendment, there were exemptions for survivors of rape and incest, and they received federal funding; this strips that back by saying that only people who are “forcibly raped” will be covered. And 70% of rapes aren’t “forcible.” Not only that, but it makes it much harder for insurance companies to cover people who need abortions, regardless of why they need them, and it strengthens “conscience” restrictions, which means that doctors can refuse to provide reproductive medical care to anyone at any time, if they can claim that their conscience was involved. [Representative] is one of the very few Democrats who has co-sponsored this bill. I’m very disappointed in him. Most Democrats don’t support these extremist anti-choice restrictions, and most Democratic voters won’t be willing to overlook this when it comes to the polls. I’d appreciate it if you could pass that comment on to the Congressman.
[They’ll say yes.]
Great. Thank you so much for your time.
I also came across a really awesome letter written by a young woman in high school to representative about this bill. Check it out here and write your own!
What You Should Know About H.R. 3: The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”
Yesterday started out as a well-intentioned work day for me. Well, most Mondays do, but instead of it verging off into a black hole of Netflix instant streaming on my television or video games or actually working on my other blog, also known as my more-than-full-time job, I became very active on Twitter. Very active. Perhaps the most active–and most provoked and empowered–I have been since way back in 2009 when I was updating this blog more than twice a month.
Within about an hour of opening my eyes, picking up my computer and starting my work day, I saw the Twitter hashtag #DearJohn start appearing throughout my Twitter stream. If you follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook, or if you follow any other feminist/outspoken pro-choice folks, you most likely saw the same thing.
#DearJohn was started by feminist social media superhero Sady Doyle, who also created the #mooreandme protest. This hashtag was created as a response to the newly-introduced bill, H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, sponsored by Chris Smith, the vehemently anti-choice Representative of New Jersey and co-sponsored by 68.5% of the new Congress.
With numbers like these, this is not a bill that has been introduced as a politician’s pipe dream of stripping women of their right to a safe and legal abortion in this country. John Boehner, the new Speaker of the House and mouthpiece of the new Congress has dubbed this bill “top priority.” This is something that could very well become reality. Who knew Margaret Atwood was writing of what could become the future of women when she penned The Handmaid’s Tale.
The wording of the title of this bill is a lesson in classic anti-choice tactics. It’s deceptive. “No taxpayer funding for abortion” says to people who identify as pro-life, as well as those who aren’t necessarily against abortion but have anti-choice-leaning views about it that, if this bill was to go into effect, their hard-earned tax dollars would not go towards funding abortions. Anti-choice and anti-choice leaning folks agree with this sentiment. However, what the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act really does is so much more, and worse, than that. It goes far enough where if you have any compassion for women and most notably, rape victims, you should wholeheartedly oppose this bill at all costs.
Here is a breakdown of what the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act will do:
- Redefine rape
The federal law, as it is seen and goes into effect today, does not use federal tax dollars to cover abortion unless it is an unwanted pregnancy resulting in rape or incest, or if the pregnant woman’s health or life is at risk. Under the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, the rape exception would only cover “forcible” rape. Ironically enough, the word “forcible” is not defined in the bill. What this means is that if a minor child who is, say, 13 years old, is coerced into a sexual relationship with a man who is not a minor, let’s just say he’s 40, and that girl becomes pregnant as a result of that rape, well, that rape doesn’t count. If a woman is drugged and then raped, that rape doesn’t count. If a woman is unconscious and is rapes, that rape doesn’t count. If a woman is mentally disabled and cannot consent to sexual activity and is raped, that rape doesn’t count.
- Put an age restriction on incest
If a woman is raped by her father, brother, uncle, grandfather or a member of their family, and she is 18 years old, she cannot use federal funds in order to obtain her abortion. Also, let’s say a 17-year-old girl is raped by her father and she is just shy of her eighteenth birthday. If she was raped when she was 17, but is seeking an abortion when she is 18, would she be eligible? I suppose that’s up to the Chris Smith and John Boehner Official Rape Panel to decide.
- Remove the exception for women’s health
This bill will allow federal funds to cover abortion if, and only if, a physician certifies that the pregnancy will kill her. If continuing her pregnancy will damage her organs in some way or she will become terribly ill, having to live on medications, dialysis, in a wheelchair or what have you for the rest of her life, she will not get coverage because that isn’t life-threatening.
- Require government to continue funding agencies and programs that discriminate against women and endanger women’s health
Currently, it is law that doctors and nurses do not have to provide elective abortion services, nor are health care facilities required to offer abortion services. Under the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, these facilities are given free reign to discriminate when it comes to a woman’s reproductive health care by in addition to not providing abortions, also refusing to refer women to other health care facilities, agencies and programs that do and the government cannot withdraw funds. Due to the GOP’s constant attack on all of women’s reproductive health choices, abortion is being regularly redefined to include emergency contraception and even birth control, which could also be effected by this bill.
- Cut tax benefits to organizations and/or individuals who select an insurance policy that covers abortion
Today, most private health insurers cover abortion services. Under the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, tax subsidies that are given to small business owners and individuals who purchase insurance that covers abortion would be cut. This bill would, in fact, ensure that all private insurance companies stop covering abortion services, even when abortions are medically necessary.
This bill has given me some serious Whoopi Goldberg on the topic of Roman Polanski “rape rape” flashbacks. I am highly uncomfortable with–and downright refuse to allow–a group of men to sit around and dictate to women and girls of this country what, exactly, constitutes real rape. Rape that matters. Rape that counts.
The reason why I was so provoked to speak up on Twitter, on Facebook and on this blog, and gladly give up a day’s work, is because this bill is a blatant, shameless attack on women and girls who are already marginalized and stigmatized in this country. More than half of the rapes that occur in this country go unreported. The reason for this is because there is already too much in the way of rape survivors who report their attacks. In rape cases, it isn’t the rapist who is ever on trial, it’s the victim. It is the victim who is asked:
“What were you wearing?”
“How much alcohol did you consume?”
“How many people have you had sexual relationships with?”
“How frequently do you go out partying?”
“Did you previously know the man you’re accusing of raping you?”
“Have you ever been sexually active with that man before that night?”
“Were you flirting with that man or giving him mixed signals to make him think you enjoyed his advances?”
“How many times did you say no?”
“Did you try to fight him off of you?”
And the list goes on and on.
Rape cases, as they are prosecuted in this country, are fed to a jury as a woman filing charges after experiencing “buyer’s remorse” and it is an ugly, misogynistic process. Until we stop putting the victim on trial and actually start giving rape and sexual assault survivors the justice they so rightly deserve, we will not see an increase in people reporting their attacks.
Another reason why I feel so strongly about doing whatever I can to spread the word about this bill and how downright wrong, unjust, and shameful for women and girls is because this bill could have affected me. As a survivor of childhood sexual assault and multiple rape, this bill could have limited my rights to reproductive health care and services that I could have needed as a result of my attacks. Who are Chris Smith, John Boehner, any of the 68.5% of Boehner’s Caucus, or anyone who actually supports this attack on the female gender, to tell me that my attacks weren’t real; that the extreme, traumatic and mental-illness-inducing violations of my being, when I was a child and again when I was a teenager, didn’t matter or didn’t count?
They can’t. No one can. We won’t let them.
For information on how to make your voice heard and stop the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act read here.
While Reading “Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex”: I Hope Godzilla is a Euphemism. Oh, Wait…
I recently received a copy of Rachel Kramer Bussel’s newest anthology, Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex. It’s damn near perfect for me, a lover of sexuality, of sudden sex, and reading about it. Not to mention that each story is 1200 words or less and for someone who has very limited time in their daily life to sit back and enjoy a good book, I love being able to read two or three short stories in the amount of time it takes a fresh pot of coffee to brew.
Yesterday I started reading Salome Wilde’s contribution, “Too Wondrous to Measure” and at just the third line I got a little confused, as if I had missed some very pertinent information that the storyline relied on. The two words that tripped me up were claw and tip. Claw tip. By the seventh line it was all cleared up. Godzilla had entered the picture and I could do nothing but wonder, and perhaps halfheartedly hope, that Godzilla was what we were calling an unnamed, mysterious lover who happened to be, well, too wondrous to measure, if you will.
By the third paragraph we get into the Godzilla movies–the original movie is the only one that depicted him correctly, by the way–and with a turn of the page I read the sentence, After a few mishaps requiring stitches and a bit of psychotherapy, turning me on and getting me off was relatively simple to achieve. Immediate thought? Not a euphemism. Definitely not a euphemism.
An erotic story written from the perspective of a woman in love with and fucking Godzilla is certainly interesting and by far the last thing I would have thought I would read in this book. It took me by complete surprise, hence my absolute need to share it with all of you. However, by the time I got to the second-to-last paragraph and learned that this woman thought she was pregnant and had been having odd dreams of (and I quote) “little lizards skittering across my bed and newts in my bathtub,” I had about all I could take of the Godzilla fantasy of Salome Wilde.
All things considered, this story left a lasting impression, and for that, Salome Wilde, you win.
Steve Martin’s Song About the Lack of Atheist Songs
Last night, Amanda Marcotte tweeted a link to a pretty fantastic video of Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers performing an original song, ‘Atheists Don’t Have No Songs.’ I retweeted the link, posted the video on my Facebook, but also wanted to post it here because I think the majority of the people who read this site would find it equally as fantastic. Awesome enough, the song itself is actually pretty good.
So, take a look at the video below. Lyrics are after the jump. You’re welcome.
Monday, December 13, 2010Salvation Army Refuses to Distribute Harry Potter and Twilight Toys and Other Things You Should Know About the Christian Organization
The Salvation Army and their bell ringers and big red kettles have been out in front of popular stores and malls since immediately after Thanksgiving, as they are every year, collecting funds that are assumed to go to people in need during the holiday season. Additionally, they have also been collecting toys at malls, schools, police stations, and other locations and again, these toys are assumed to go to underprivileged children for the holidays. Except for the toys the organization deems “inappropriate”–those toys are stocked in warehouses and left undonated, only to collect dust, and then disposed of, as reported by the Toronto Sun who recently uncovered that the Salvation Army refuses to distribute Harry Potter and Twilight toys.
A man in Calgary who admired the amount of toys collected by the Salvation Army had volunteered to sift through a southeast warehouse that housed unused, donated items. This volunteer learned that toys depicting Harry Potter and Twilight were left undonated due to the themes of wizardry, vampires, and werewolves that are “incompatible” with the Christian beliefs the organization holds. The volunteer said he was told by Salvation Army officials that these toys are “disposed of” and are not given to other charities, which Capt. Pam Goodyear refuted in an interview with the Toronto Sun, saying that the toys are given to other agencies and are “distributed in another manner where parents can choose.” An odd statement to make when she then was unable to provide even the name of one of these “other agencies.” Not surprisingly at all, the Calgary volunteer asked an official what was to be done with a donated plastic M-16, in which he was told, “That’s for the 10-year-olds.”
So to recap, toys that are linked to stories, figments of their author’s imagination (with added Mormon ideology mixed in for fun in Twilight’s case), are ungodly and immoral enough to be banned from being given to underprivileged children during the holiday season, yet plastic depictions of very real weapons used in war in which countless innocent people are left for dead are just fine and dandy. That is some stellar logic!
I know of several people who buy brand new toys every year just to put them in collection boxes of the Salvation Army’s toy drives. Considering the popularity of Harry Potter and Twilight over the recent years, I would be willing to bet that several people have bought these toys for the sole purpose of donating them only to, unbeknown to them, have their money completely wasted by this “charity” organization by the decision to dispose of these toys.
This isn’t the only thing the Salvation Army has done to make people question the authenticity of the word “charity” in conjunction with their name. No, they have been doing some pretty horrific and utterly sickening things for quite some time now, including getting into bed with politics.
Another issue that is “incompatible” with Christian beliefs are the rights of GLBTQ people. Among the Salvation Army’s list of invested interests, along with quite literally throwing away money by disposing of donated toys they don’t agree with for one reason or another, is actively denying GLBTQ people help, support, and rights.
The Bilerico Project wrote about how the Salvation Army insisted that they and their partner break up and leave the “sinful homosexual lifestyle” in order to receive assistance while homeless. When they refused, the Salvation Army turned these two homeless people away and they were left to sleep on the streets.
In 2001 it was found out that the Bush Administration had made a “firm commitment” to the Salvation Army that would have allowed them to disobey state and local laws that prohibit discrimination against gay people when administering programs with federal funds. When this secret deal was made public, that firm commitment didn’t hold up very well and the Salvation Army was held to the same law everyone else was; as it should be. Not wanting to grant domestic partner benefits to their staff, in 2004 the Salvation Army threatened to close soup kitchens, homeless shelters, foster care programs, and HIV services in New York City if they were to be expected to follow the law that insists city contractors must extend benefits to domestic partners.
You can find out more about the Salvation Army’s list of anti-gay stances in the video below:
When I mentioned on Twitter that I was writing a post about the Salvation Army, a friend of mine tweeted back with a link to a post he wrote about how he was personally attacked by the Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking, a branch of the Salvation Army.
maymay talks openly, honestly and intelligently about sex and is the creator of Kink On Tap. In his own words, he works to “[empower] sex-positive activists and educators to put together low-cost, high-value, fast-paced, user-generated sexuality conferences called KinkForAll unconferences.” These conferences (or unconferences) operate on the belief that sexuality affects all aspects of life; they are open to anyone who has an interest in learning or contributing to an open and safe discussion about sexuality. The Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking, which is a tremendously misleading title when you really just begin to dig into the ideology that surrounds this group, sent out an email to their mailing list subscribers painting maymay as a child molester, a sex slaver, and a “nightmarish creature.” They described the KinkForAll unconferences and thus sex-positivity as a whole as “slimy, putrid, decaying, nasty, trash.” This is seriously wrong.
So when you’re walking in or out of a store and a Salvation Army bell ringer starts calling after you and asking you to donate, feel good about declining and walking away, knowing that your money is not being used to forward a bigoted and shamelessly discriminatory agenda.
Sex-Positivity
I'm passionate about sex-positivity and believe every sexual being should have the freedom to explore their sexuality safely and without condemnation. I even lost my ad network after my refusal to censor myself after reviewing feminist porn.So if you're in the market for sex toys, porn, books, etc. take a look at the retailers below, all of which are feminist-friendly.
Out Campaign
The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.
