I worry about this because not only can this magical pill reduce the likelihood of a gay offspring, but it can also ensure that little boys are masculine and little girls are feminine. Sounds far too Brave New World to me...
I'm watching "12th & Delaware" right now (if you're not sure what it is, see below post) and one particular part got me so angry that I had to sign onto Blogger and start writing a rant-filled post in here to keep myself from throwing things. I was fine for most of the film because all the lower-than-low deceitful and manipulative tactics used by the anti-choice crisis pregnancy center in Florida wasn't anything I haven't seen before: make the young pregnant woman get an ultrasound, make her hold a tiny plastic fetus, refer to her "baby" as "he" and "him," call her and her boyfriend "mommy and daddy," etc.
BUT THIS.
In one scene, a 24 year-old pregnant woman went into the CPC, and she was what the staff calls "abortion-minded," which means she is certain she wants to have an abortion and probably wandered into an anti-choice center by mistake, which the CPC staff admitted in the film they hope happens. The staff member, who is most shown in the documentary, sat down with the woman, already a mother of 2, and started talking to her about her boyfriend.
Young Woman: He's not the best boyfriend... he is verbally abusive. CPC Staff member: He's verbally abusive? Young Woman: Yeah. CPC Staff: For all you know, the baby changes him.
I'm still shaking. How dare you suggest a woman stay with an abusive partner in order to selfishly impose your own agenda. That was one of the most appalling tactics I have ever seen an anti-choice advocate use. They claim to be "pro-life," yet they tell a young impressionable woman to go back to her abusive partner because a baby might magically make things better. It just makes me sick.
Thanks to Feministing for the reminder that tonight is the premiere of the documentary12th & Delaware on HBO. This film highlights the intersection in Florida known as "ground zero" for the abortion rights battle because on this corner lives both a reproductive health clinic and an anti-choice crisis pregnancy center, right across the street from one another.
As mad as this documentary will inevitably make me, I'm excited to watch it. I sincerely hope the numerous ways in which CPCs are detrimental to women is apparent in the film because more people need to know the truth: these fake clinics are staffed with liars and harassers who don't trust women to make their own decisions about their own bodies. And sadly, CPCs greatly outnumber abortion-providing clinics in the U.S.
World Breastfeeding Week's purpose is to raise awareness about the numerous benefits of breastfeeding and to encourage society to stop viewing it as some sort of pornographic act that belongs in the home. New mothers have every right to breastfeed when and where they feel it necessary, but unfortunately we still have to fight for that right.
Learn more about what you can do in honor of World Breastfeeding Week at the official website.
In the Mexican state of Guanajuato, which holds the strictest abortion policy and the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country, and also refuses to teach comprehensive sex education, six women have been sentenced to 25 to 30 years prison time for the crime of violating Guanajuato's abortion laws. From womensrights.change.org:
Ms. Magazine reports that the six women were tried and sentence for homicide under laws criminalizing abortion. Activists working with the women reports that all six defendants were poor and had little education. Two were impregnated by rape, and all were abandoned by the sperm-providers. One had a spontaneous abortion, a.k.a. a miscarriage.
To have a woman charged with homicide and thrown in jail for making a decision about her own body is appalling to me... it sounds like something out of some horrifying dystopian novel. Too bad it's reality.
Today, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced the Stop Deceptive Advertising in Women's Services Act (SDAWS), which would crack down on crisis pregnancy centers, or fake clinics that claim to offer women all their options, but fail to provide abortion services or referrals of any kind. From their press release:
"Although I may disagree with their views, many crisis pregnancy centers are forthright and respectful. Unfortunately, some take a more underhanded approach to lure in women seeking abortions by using tactics that should be illegal," Representative Maloney said. "An unintended pregnancy is an especially difficult time to encounter deception, and deceptive practices should be outlawed. Women shouldn’t have to face the added stress of deciphering whether or not the clinic they choose offers legitimate medical services."
Senator Menendez said, "This legislation would simply help ensure truth in advertising related to reproductive health services. Women's reproductive health choices are very personal decisions, and they should never be influenced by deception or pressure."
Essentially, the Act directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish rules declaring it illegal for an establishment to advertise as a provider of abortion services if they do not provide such services. I wonder if it would crack down on other deceptive tactics CPCs use, such as deliberately placing themselves across the street from a real family planning clinic, so that women might accidentally wander into an anti-choice establishment instead. Probably not.
Interesting piece of news! A new report released by United Kingdom's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that there is no evidence to show that fetuses feel pain in the womb before 24 weeks, according to Women's eNews. 24 weeks is a few weeks short of the third trimester.
Apparently, the nerve connections in the cortex, which is the area in the brain that processes responses to pain, does not form properly before 24 weeks. But the report also points out that even in cases of abortions after 24 weeks, a fetus is naturally sedated and unconscious in the womb before the procedure.
I'm encouraging everyone to head over to AlterNet to check out a recent article, "My Boyfriend Stole My Birth Control": When Men Force Women to Get Pregnant Against Their Will.
Scary new evidence is showing that a significant number of women experience their partners trying to steal away their bodily control through "reproductive coercion," or the act of forcing a pregnancy onto someone.
In the largest study of this phenomenon to date, “Pregnancy Coercion, Intimate Partner Violence and Unintended Pregnancy,” published in the January issue of the journal Contraception, lead researcher Elizabeth Miller and others surveyed nearly 1,300 16- to 29-year-old women who’d sought a variety of services at five different Northern California reproductive health clinics. Among those who had experienced intercourse, i.e., who could be at risk of unintended pregnancy, not only did 53 percent of respondents say they’d experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner, but one in five said they had experienced pregnancy coercion; 15 percent said they experienced birth control sabotage, including hiding or flushing birth control pills down the toilet, intentional breaking of condoms and removing contraceptive rings or patches. These figures were consistent from clinic to clinic.
Currently, this phenomenon is little-known, and the prevailing stereotype is still "the woman—call her the femme fertile—who conspires to get pregnant, perhaps by 'forgetting' to take her birth control pills, as a way to 'trap a man' and force marriage—or at least keep him in her life." But people need to know that there is another scarily common situation out there: the boyfriend or husband who, disgusted by a woman's ability to have reproductive control, goes to heinous measures to force pregnancies, abortions, or miscarriages onto his partner.
This is some seriously fucked-up stuff. Spread the word, feminists. Please.
The first advertisement for abortion services to run in the United Kingdom hit the air earlier this week, and will run about 25 times throughout the next month. Specifically, it advertises Marie Stopes International, which is one of the world's leading family planning organizations.
The ad doesn't mention abortion services - it just refers viewers to MSI. Wow, 2010 and we're just seeing the first family planning services ad now.
A new report from Guttmacher Institute shows that the proportion of abortion patients who are poor has increased by almost 60%, from 27% in 2000 to 42% in 2008. According to the report, impoverished women are more likely to seek abortions because financial constraints deter them from wanting to have children. Additionally, financial constraints also make it more difficult to access contraceptives. Sharon L. Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, commented:
Gaps in unintended pregnancy and abortion between poor and more affluent women have been increasing since the mid-1990s, so—sadly—none of this comes as a surprise. Reproductive health disparities, and health disparities more generally, are endemic in this country and stem from broader, persistent economic and social inequities. We need to bridge these reproductive health gaps by ensuring that all women, regardless of their economic circumstances, have meaningful access to the full spectrum of information and services—both contraceptive services to reduce levels of unintended pregnancy and abortion services.
February 17th marked the beginning of the 40 Days of Life campaign, which is basically an excuse for anti-choicers to harass people outside clinics even more than usual for 40 whole days. If you need to access a Planned Parenthood or a similar clinic, be aware that the crazies will probably be on your ass.
BUT... oh, how I love reproductive rights activists. There is an excellent response campaign (hat tip to Feministe, who posted about this) called 4000 Years for Choice. This is especially great to check out in honor of Women's History Month. One need only take a look at their timeline to see that women have been finding ways to control their reproduction for thousands of years.
Crisis pregnancy centers, establishments that pose as clinics out to help pregnant women but in actuality are run by anti-choice staff, are prevalent across the country. Unfortunately, CPCs have a tendency to avoid revealing the fact that they exist to deter women from having abortions, and most are not obligated by law to do so.
HOWEVERRRR... Baltimore has now become the first city in the country to regulate their CPCs. The Limited Service Pregnancy Center Disclaimers Bill passed by a 12-3 vote in the Baltimore City Council and will now move to the the desk of Mayor Sheila Dixon, who is expected to sign it. The bill will require crisis pregnancy centers to post signs disclosing that they do not offer referrals for or information about abortion and contraception.
Seriously, why isn't this mandated everywhere? There are about 4,000 CPCs nationwide... four thousand establishments set up to deceive pregnant women. We only need to read stories from real women who have visited CPCs to know how awful they are:
I had a surgical abortion in April. When I discovered I was pregnant, I visited a Crisis Pregnancy Center (CPC). When I walked in, I was greeted warmly. They gave me a free ultrasound and seemed sweet and supportive. Then came the counseling session, during which I asked to be excused several times, and was told each time it was mandatory since they had given me an ultrasound for free. When I informed them of my decision to have an abortion, I was forced to watch a graphic video. I was suffering from morning sickness and I had to run out to vomit several times. They told me these were the consequences of sin. They warned me my fiance would never be able to look at me as anything other than the woman who killed his first child. I'll never forget the way I felt leaving the Crisis Pregnancy Center that day.
Read more about CPCs on the National Abortion Federation's website. And if there is one in your town, make a shitload of noise about it.
I watched a GREAT documentary with some of my feminist friends last night: "The Business of Being Born." It's a film about how in the U.S., women are often pressured to partake in the typical hospital birth, rather than explore their other options, such as a home birth. Hospitals are a business, and the scary part is that doctors will try to rush births in order to clear more beds and keep women moving in and out, even if it means giving them harmful medication.
There are some really beautiful home birth scenes in this movie. The interesting part is that the women who give birth at home or in water hardly scream, and the baby that comes out hardly cries. The environment carries so much less stress than hospitals do. I highly recommend seeing this movie... you will develop such a deep appreciation for the birthing process.
The Florida Secretary of State's office approved the language this week for a "personhood initiative" proposed by Personhood Florida and the American Life League. The ballot measure would amend the state constitution to say that:
The word 'person' and 'natural person' apply to all human beings, irrespective of age, race, health, function, condition of physical and/or mental dependency and/or disability, or method of reproduction, from the beginning of biological development of that human being.
The amendment seeks to outlaw ALL abortions, even in cases of rape and incest, and criminalizes most forms of birth control and well as emergency contraceptives.
In order to be on the 2010 ballot, supporters must gather over 675,000 signatures by February. From there, it requires 60% approval from voters to amend the state constitution.
Personhood intiatives have been pushed by anti-choice activists in several states (all failed in the 2008 election). They are dangerous measures, and similar amendments are currently being pushed in Colorado and Montana.
This isn't just defining a fetus as a "person," this is giving a fetus more rights than a grown woman. You would think that if both woman and a fetus are defined as a "person," they would have equal rights... but that's hardly what anti-choicers are seeking to do. Their plan is to take bodily rights away from women altogether.
The kind folks over at 15andCounting, an activist site/blog that discusses issues surrounding sex, sexuality, and reproduction, put together a "Feminist Blogs We Love"post. Appetite for Equal Rights made the list! And so did several other wonderful feminist blogs. Check out the list and pay each blog a visit.
And be sure to look over the 15andCounting website - it's a really great campaign. Here's a video with more information on what they do:
A new study finds that teen birth rates are highest in the most religious states:
The relationship could be due to the fact that communities with such religious beliefs (a literal interpretation of the Bible, for instance) may frown upon contraception, researchers say. If that same culture isn't successfully discouraging teen sex, the pregnancy and birth rates rise.
File this under: "what we've been saying all along."
I knew right away what it was, and going to their website confirmed it: a directory of crisis pregnancy centers. This commercial is designed to manipulate scared pregnant women, especially women of color, hence the fact that the ad was on BET and featured all black actresses. Oh, and there is the window that popped up when I clicked on the link to view the commercial on their website:
They titled the commercial "pregnancyline-black." The other advertisement features diverse actresses, though they are not all black, and it's entitled, "pregnancyline-english."
It's the perfect plan! Since black women are constantly getting knocked up and they are often poor with absent baby daddies, Pregnancy Line is there to direct them to "choose" adoption so their baby can go to a nice middle-class suburban white family that can give it a great life!
There are more crisis pregnancy centers in the U.S. than abortion clinics. To help eliminate these harmful and misleading establishments, get involved with FeministCampus.org's Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics. I held a protest against a local CPC and it went really well. I'm sick of seeing their bullshit advertisements and knowing that they are misleading thousands of pregnant women.
Abortion rights in Nicaragua don't exist. Since the country revised the penal code in 2007, abortion has been made illegal regardless of any circumstances, such as rape, incest, or when the mother's life is in danger. After sending researchers to Nicaragua to study how the ban is affecting people, Amnesty International put together a detailed report (PDF) on the situation, and called the ban a "cruel, inhuman disgrace."
Girls and women can end up in jail for obtaining abortions. And they can share a cell with the doctor or nurse that provided it. Medical professionals are often hesitant to treat pregnant women for illnesses such as malaria or HIV/AIDS out of fear that treatment could cause death or injury to the fetus, and they could be charged with providing an abortion. Many women and girls are terrified of having a miscarriage and being falsely charged with obtaining an abortion. One woman who was admitted to hospital following a miscarriage asked doctors to avoid treating her, frightened that it would look like she had deliberately asked them to terminate her pregnancy.
How did it come to this? In the January 2007 elections, President Daniel Ortega of the left-wing Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) backed the law banning abortion to win important conservative Roman Catholic support. When the ban was first signed into law, the presidency's website stated the the ban would help protect the "right to life." According to the website, legal abortion in Nicaragua "allowed the daily execution of innocent children in their mother's womb, in open violation of the Constitution which protected the unborn child."
Has anyone read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood? It's a dystopian novel, depicting a future in which women have no reproductive choices; their only value and purpose comes from their "duty" to bear children. As a naive high school senior reading that novel, I insisted that it could never happen.
There are important things that we must do. Your first task is to hit the button below this post that will allow you to tweet it. If you don't have Twitter, post it to Facebook. If you don't have Facebook, pick up the phone. Spreading the word is the next step after educating yourself. Next, visit Amnesty's "Take Action" site that allows you to send a letter to the Nicaraguan presidency. You need to register with Amnesty to send it, but registration takes all of one minute.
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