Articles about Abortion
April 20th, 2010 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
We found this great piece by Alex DiBranco on the Change dot Org Blog, and thought we should share it.
Of all the creepy things I don’t want to see in my campus newspaper, up around the top of the list is advertisements lying to and shaming rape victims who choose to have an abortion.
In a series on RH Reality Check, Robin Marty looked at anti-choice advertising by the Human Life Alliance (a Crisis Pregnancy Center). Marty reports that the “advertising supplement” is riddled with lies, starting with the Table of Contents, where it claims that abortion in America “is legal through all nine months of pregnancy for any reason.” Seriously, if that was true, pro-choicers wouldn’t have any work to do.
From there the insert pursues further common anti-choice deceptions, such as breast cancer scare tactics; inaccurate conflation of birth control with abortion; and gory, frightening, but completely false descriptions of abortion procedures and side effects. But what really takes the cake is the shaming and manipulation of rape and incest survivors, who are told they will feel they’ve “conquered” their assault by giving birth.
The advertising supplement informs students, “In the only major study of pregnant rape victims ever done, Dr. Sandra Mahkorn found that 75 to 85 percent chose against abortion” (underlying message: so if that is your choice, something is clearly wrong with you). What was the “major study”? Why, it was the decisions of 37 women who came to the study’s author for advice. Besides the fact that this is not enough women to be scientifically significant, gee, I wonder if the biases of the rape counselor against abortion had any impact. The medically unsound ad further takes it upon itself to tell doctors to advise against the trauma of abortion for rape victims, without consideration of the unique situation facing each woman.
Oh, and in case of incest, according to the insert, abortion has never ever had a positive impact for the victim. It’s just the abusive parent who wants it; “the incest victim is more likely to see the pregnancy as a way out of the incestuous relationship because the birth of her child will expose the sexual activity.” Really, incest victims should hope they get pregnant as a means of escape? And it won’t be clear to anyone unless she give birth? There are better ways to address incest than saddling a child — since most incest victims are minors — with a child she can’t take care of, and her immature body might not be prepared to give birth to.
The Human Life Alliance has particularly targeted University of Wisconsin schools, with at least seven papers in the system agreeing to disseminate their lies (kudos to the student newspapers who have rejected these ads). Many students are upset at seeing the deceptive ads, however, and are speaking up; in a Letter to the Editor in the Student Voice at UW-River Falls, Nikki Shonoiki denounced the inaccurate “ads”: “Nothing was being advertised here; instead, you [the editor] contributed to the dissemination of 12-page tasteless booklets of disinformation designed to denigrate and shame women who receive abortion care.” And at Stony Brook University, where a campus paper also ran the ads, the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance began a campaign against these problematic inserts and Crisis Pregnancy Centers.
Insist on truth in advertising by signing this petition telling student newspapers running HLA inserts to join their peers who have rejected these inaccurate, agenda-driven ads.
No Comments • Posted in: Abortion, Sex Ed
June 4th, 2009 • Contributed by Frances Irwin
As seemingly everyone knows, Dr. Tiller, a Kansas gynecologist, was killed on Sunday because he was willing to provide abortion services. I never met Dr. Tiller, but I am familiar with his work. I work for a family planning agency in Wisconsin that is prohibited form providing medical referrals for abortion services. This makes providing information to patients seeking such services a challenge, but we manage to thread the needle.
As a result, I understand that health care workers who make abortion services available are everyday heroes. But Dr. Tiller was different.
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No Comments • Posted in: Abortion
June 4th, 2009 • Contributed by Dahlia Ward
This blog was originally posted on June 3rd on the ACLU’s Blog of Rights. It was written by Sondra Goldschein and Allie Bohm.
On Sunday, May 31, Dr. George Tiller, a doctor in Wichita, Kansas, who for decades provided abortions for women even in the face of harassment and violence, was murdered at his place of worship. Sondra Goldschein and Allie Bohm, both of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), attended events in New York City and Washington, D.C., honoring Dr. Tiller’s life.
Sondra Goldschein writes:
When I heard about the murder of Dr. Tiller on Sunday evening, I went from shock to tears to fear to loss. I could feel those emotions but I couldn’t put into words what a tragedy his death is. I finally found the words from Dr. Tiller himself.I attended one of at least forty events across the country honoring Dr. Tiller’s life on Monday night. I was one of a large group of people in downtown Manhattan who heard a story about Dr. Tiller that cut to the core of who this remarkable man was. The story was told by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
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No Comments • Posted in: Abortion
April 15th, 2009 • Contributed by Lon Newman
O would some power the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us.
(O would some power the gift to give us to see ourselves as others see us.)
Robert Burns, Poem “To a Louse” – verse 8
Scottish national poet (1759 – 1796)
For almost a year now, Pro-Life Wisconsin (PLW) has maintained a protest campaign at our family planning and WIC clinics in Central Wisconsin. PLW activities have included a ‘verbal hijacking’ of our Raising Women’s Voices “Speak Out” on women’s health care so that those who wished to speak on issues unrelated to abortion or contraception were by-and-large unheard in the auditorium. Over the Lenten season, PLW and its local supporters participated in the “40 Days for Life” national campaign — conducting a ‘continuous’ prayer vigil outside our clinic offices. When asked by local reporters why they were participating in this effort, they said it was to stop abortion. We do not perform abortions at any of our facilities. As the 40 Days effort has come to an end, we want to share what we have learned.
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No Comments • Posted in: Abortion, Action, Family Planning, Policy
March 30th, 2009 • Contributed by Sue Kettner
My friend Anne, who is a family planning educator in Oneida County, sent me this article. We at FPHS were already noting a request for long-term, low maintenance methods. This was a post on the Huffington Post on Friday, March 27th, written by Christina Page the author of How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America.
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No Comments • Posted in: Abortion, Birth Control, Family Planning
March 29th, 2009 • Contributed by Frances Irwin
Today we had some of the world’s smallest, happiest, and politest protesters. Everyone should smile for the camera.
No Comments • Posted in: Abortion, Action, Birth Control
January 26th, 2009 • Contributed by Frances Irwin
At the end of last week, President Obama rescinded the “Global Gag Rule” which prevented US foreign aid money from providing assistance to pretty much any organization that in anyway said anything positive about abortion. There has been a LOT of talk about it in the media on both sides. Here’s a sampling of some of the stories.
CNN – Amid Protests, Obama backs ‘right to choose’ on Roe Anniversary
New York Times – Obama Resverses Rules on U.S. Abortion Aid
New York Times Editorial – Women’s Health, Ungagged
For more information, check out RHRealityCheck.org or Change.org.
No Comments • Posted in: Abortion, Birth Control, Family Planning, Policy
January 14th, 2009 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
[From the Guttmacher Institute]
January 22, 2009, marks the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. This anniversary comes two days after the inauguration of the first prochoice president in eight years and at the beginning of a new administration and a new Congress whose leaders recognize that behind almost every abortion is an unintended pregnancy.
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No Comments • Posted in: Abortion, Birth Control, Roe V. Wade
December 30th, 2008 • Contributed by Lon Newman
As the fable goes, an eagle is brought to earth by an arrow fletched with his own feathers.
Listening to the spokesperson for Pro-Life Wisconsin as he defended the new ‘right of conscience’ regulations on Wisconsin Public Radio last week reminded me of the wisdom of the tale.
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1 Comment • Posted in: Abortion, Abstinence, Action, Birth Control, Emergency Contraception, Policy, Sex Ed
October 6th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
[From Guttmacher Institute]
Clandestine Procedures Endanger Women’s Health
New research on abortion in Mexico has found a significant increase in the rate of abortions despite legal restrictions that virtually ban the procedure in most parts of the country. Between 1990 and 2006, the abortion rate in Mexico increased by one-third—from 25 to 33 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age—according to a study released today by El Colegio de Mexico, the Population Council Mexico Office and the Guttmacher Institute. As a result, Mexico’s abortion rate is now higher than the average rate worldwide (29 per 1,000) and the average regional rate for Latin America and the Caribbean (31 per 1,000). In the same time period, the number of women obtaining abortions annually in Mexico increased by 64%—from 533,000 in 1990 to 875,000 in 2006.
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No Comments • Posted in: Abortion
