glitter-femin1sts:

It’s story time.

Back in 1993, when time was young and dinosaurs still roamed the earth (okay, I’m totally exaggerating), my mother was 23 years old, in what she thought was a stable relationship, and majoring in Social Sciences at VCU. Until, in early March, she had to go to the hospital for heart flutters. That’s when she found out she was pregnant. Unsure of what to do, she went to an abortion clinic. However, she decided “This just isn’t for me”, walked out of the clinic, and on November 5th, I was born. I know, you guys are thinking “AILISH, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? THIS SOUNDS TOTALLY PRO-LIFEY.” Well, I’m not done. While she did decide to have me, she’s been a pro-choice activist for years. She has been to countless protests, has started multiple petitions, hell, we even have a poster in our house that says “This is a pro-choice home. This is the house that feminism built.” So a lesson to all pro-lifers, being pro-choice doesn’t mean you’re pro-abortion. Pro-choice means giving other people the choice of what they can do with their own bodies. Also, stop telling me “Be glad your mother was pro-life!” because that pisses my mother off.

-Ailish

dobbaaa:

My beautiful state is currently run by Jan Brewer, who is vehemently anti-choice. Long story short: The AZ house and senate are also anti-choice.

I’ve made a small list of clinics that won’t scare you into carrying a pregnancy to term and that can provide OBGYN care as a reference for myself and whoever else decides to read it.

I’ve had it saved onto my computer for a few months now, and I’ve just rediscovered it. I figured I’d share.

So yeah. Keep in mind, this only has a few resources.

Read More

dobbaaa:

propaganda-for-life:

URGENT ALERT! ANTI CHOICE LEGISLATION (HB 4117) IN ILLINOIS MUST BE STOPPED!!

stfuconservatives:

Reproductive Health and Access Advocates,

HB 4117 has been scheduled to be heard in the House Agriculture Committee hearing scheduled for Tuesday, February 21 at 2:00 p.m.  It is expected to pass out of this committee. HB 4117 would impose full ambulatory surgical treatment center (ASTC) licensing on all facilities where 50 or more abortions are performed each year. This legislation singles out abortion from other medical procedures for additional and expensive regulation.

The anti-choice groups have already sent out alerts to their members regarding this bill. We need to make sure that we are activating our supporters as well.  Here is what you can do right now to fight HB 4117:

• Call your  state representative( IL Capitol Switchboard: 217-782-2000) and tell him/her to “vote NO on HB 4117”
• Send a letter to state representatives explaining your  opposition to HB 4117.

To find out who your State Representative is go to:

www.elections.il.gov/districtlocator/districtofficialsearchbyaddress.aspx

Thank you!

Illinois Choice Action Team

The Illinois Choice Action Team is a group of volunteers committed to advancing NARAL Pro-Choice America’s mission.

——

Signal boost. From Capital Fax:

“By a 13-0 vote, before a standing-room-only room of angry abortion-rights supporters clad in “Women are not livestock” T-shirts and buttons emblazoned with a cow, the panel advanced legislation putting new financial burdens on abortion clinics.

“The bill, sponsored by Rep. Darlene Senger (R-Naperville), would require abortion clinics to be retrofitted to resemble outpatient surgery centers, meaning equipment such as defibrillators and ventilators would be required for the first time while hallway and parking-lot dimensions would have to change. […]

“The House Agriculture Committee, stocked mainly by socially conservative Democrats and Republicans from Downstate, has been the conduit to get guns-rights and anti-abortion legislation to the House floor for years — a fact critics of Senger’s bill zeroed in on.”

Trust me, this has nothing to do with making abortions safer, and everything to do with further restricting and limiting them.

-Jess

Are you fucking kidding me?

There’s more?

(via commie-femme)

amaditalks:

So Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure today announced that they will no longer give any funding to Planned Parenthood.

This funding allowed Planned Parenthood to provide breast examinations and referrals for mammography and ultrasound to patients at their health centers, patients who were able to be seen and treated at Planned Parenthood regardless of income or insurance, because of Planned Parenthood’s sliding scale fees and commitment to treating as many people as possible.

In the aftermath of this, which has turned into a flurry of opinion and counter-opinion, deleted comments on Komen’s Facebook wall, and a tweetstorm of epic proportion, some salient points worth consideration:

While pressuring Komen to reverse this decision is an option (and there is already an online petition going for that purpose) it seems unlikely to be effective. I am decidedly pessimistic about Komen walking back from this precipice.

Komen has said that this decision arose from a new policy of not funding any organization that is under government investigation. Since Planned Parenthood was already under investigation when the policy was changed, it’s pretty clear that the policy was targeting PP.

Moreover, this Komen policy and the subsequent de-funding came quickly behind the hiring of Karen Handel as Komen’s Senior Vice President for Public Policy. Those in Georgia recall that in 2010 Handel ran for governor of Georgia with a extremely anti-choice platform. This woman is responsible for policy decisions for Komen, and she is clearly opposed to Planned Parenthood.

And we cannot forget that the founder of Komen, Nancy Brinker, has long been tied to the highest ranks of Republican politics.

Komen didn’t cave to external pressure from the right wing, because the right wing is intrinsic to the executive power structure of Komen.

Those who rely upon Planned Parenthood as their health provider, who still need breast examinations, who still need funded referrals when there is an issue, well, they’re collateral damage in a culture war that begin more than 30 years ago and has always had its sights set not just on Planned Parenthood but any organization that supported or affiliated with them.

So where do we go from here?

Well we give Komen the business. We email (news@komen.org), we tweet (@komenforthecure), we call (972-701-2168). We absolutely refuse to donate, not directly, not by buying pink ribbon festooned (and pinkwashed) products, not by sponsoring someone for a 5K or a 3 day walk. So long as Komen plays politics with human lives, they should not see another single penny of our money.

But more importantly, far more importantly, we do donate to Planned Parenthood, we go over and above the money that they will lose because of Komen, we get every penny we can to Planned Parenthood to ensure that no one will go without a needed cancer screening, no one’s life will be placed at risk because of where they get their medical care.

Planned Parenthood — and its clients, by extension — must be our primary concern and our primary focus. The political battle will always be there, it can be put on hold for a while. The patients whose care is hanging in the balance cannot wait.

We must keep our focus, we must redouble our commitment, we must step into the breech.

Join me in making a tax-deductible donation to Planned Parenthood right now.

dobbaaa:

I don’t know about you guys, but statements that are labeled as “facts” that aren’t facts in the first place piss me off.

And uh, heads up: Rant time! (And I’ve only been up for 20 minutes!)

BONUS: I HAVE PICTURES.

I know people hate abortion. Anti-choicers hate abortion. Pro-choicers aren’t too fond of it, either.

Do you guys honestly think people want abortions for shits and giggles?

We want abortion to be safe and legal so people have the option. We aren’t forcing anybody to have an abortion done. We just don’t want people dying in back alleys, having complications, or carrying to term when they really don’t want to or if they can’t.

With that said, bring on the pictures!

No. Gender-selective abortion is super rare in the United States. Would you like to know why? Because most abortions happen way too early in the pregnancy to detect the gender of the fetus.

Abortions in the U.S. by 10th Week of Pregnancy
Gender is definitely unknown at this point.
 77%

Abortions in the 11th through 12th Week of Pregnancy
Possible, but extremely unlikely, that gender is known.
 12%

Abortions in the 13th through 15th Week of Pregnancy
Some will know gender by this point, but not most.
 6%

Abortions in the 16th through 20th Week of Pregnancy
Gender is usually determined by ultrasound around 20 weeks.
 4%

Abortions after the 20th Week of Pregnancy
Gender is probably known by now if an ultrasound is performed.
 1%

Detecting the gender of a fetus has to wait until 18-20 weeks. Please, use your eyes and find the 16-20 mark, followed by the 21 or more mark. Do you see that? 5.3 %. And let me tell you something: nobody wants an abortion in the second and third trimesters for funzies. 

Now, onto the references to Planned Parenthood:

Okay. I know for sure I’ve gone over this about a million times. 

In fact, on my computer, I have saved another pie chart to battle your pie chart.

Oh wow! Do you see that?! STD/STI testing, contraception, and cancer screenings make up the majority of the chart! 

Not only that, but PP provides prenatal care, adoption referrals, and general care. You know, not like I’ve said that 10,000 times.

WHAT A CONCEPT.

So please. For the love of Space God. Before you word puke false information everywhere, get your shit together. 

A+ love this! Thank you for always spreading TRUE facts instead of bullshit

fuckyeahchoice:

bebinn:

I’ve found new resources for people in need of access, funds, transportation, and lodging for abortions, so I’m compiling all my posts on the subject into one, for easy reference:

Need Help Paying for an Abortion? - National Network of Abortion Funds and The National Abortion Federation

Abortion Funds by State

National Abortion Funds (United States)

International Abortion Funds

Very relevant. 

(via keepcalmandveganon)

dobbaaa:

desliz:

speakfortheweak:

It doesn’t mean I’m religious.
Because I’m not.

It doesn’t mean I hate LGBT community.
Because I am a supporter.

It doesn’t mean I force women to give birth.
Because I never will.

Take what you want from my blog, but never assume I’m just your stereotypical pro-lifer. It is VERY possible to ask questions, state your opinions in a civil manner on this blog. I am respectful and I enjoy answering all questions received! 

Thanks for following! :)
-speakfortheweak 

Let me tell you some things.

I used to investigate child abuse and neglect. I can tell you how to stop the vast majority of abortion in the world.

First, make knowledge and access to contraception widely available. Start teaching kids before they hit puberty. Teach them about domestic violence and coercion, and teach them not to coerce and rape. Create a strong, loving community where women and girls feel safe and supported in times of need. Because guess what? They aren’t. You know what happens to babies born under such circumstances? They get hurt, unnecessarily. They get sick, unnecessarily. They get removed from parents who love them but who are unprepared for the burden of a child. Resources? Honey, we try. There aren’t enough resources anywhere. There are waiting lists, and promises, and maybes. If the government itself can’t hook people up, what makes you think an impoverished single mom can handle it?

Abolish poverty. Do you have any idea how much childcare costs? Daycare can cost as much or more than monthly rent. They may be inadequately staffed. Getting a private nanny is a nice idea, but they don’t come cheap either. Relatives? Do they own a car? Does the bus run at the right times? Do they have jobs of their own they need to work just to keep the lights on? Are they going to stick around until you get off you convenience store shift at 4 AM? Do they have criminal histories that will make them unsuitable as caregivers when CPS pokes around? You gonna pay for that? Who’s going to pay for that?

End rape. I know your type errs on the side of blaming the woman, but I’ve seen little girls who’ve barely gotten their periods pregnant because somebody thought raping preteens was an awesome idea. You want to put a child through that? Or someone with a mental or physical inability for whom pregnancy would be frightening, painful or even life-threatening? I’ve seen nonverbal kids who had their feet sliced up by caregivers for no fucking reason at all, you think sexual abuse doesn’t happen either?

You say there’s lots of couples who want to adopt. Kiddo, what they want to adopt are healthy white babies, preferably untainted by the wombs and genetics of women with alcohol or drug dependencies. I’ve seen the kids they don’t want, who almost no one wants. You people focus only on the happy pink babies, the gigglers, the ones who grow and grow with no trouble. Those are not the kids who linger in foster care. Those are certainly not the older kids and teenagers who age out of foster care and then are thrown out in the streets, usually with an array of medical and mental health issues. Are they too old to count?

And yeah, I’ve seen the babies, little hand-sized things barely clinging to life. There’s no glory, no wonder there. There is no wonder in a pregnant woman with five dollars to her name, so deep in depression you wonder if she’ll be alive in a week. Therapy costs money. Medicine costs money. Food, clothes, electricity cost money. Government assistance is a pittance; poverty drives women and girls into situations where they are forced to rely on people who abuse them to survive. (I’ve been up in more hospitals than I can count.)

In each and every dark pit of desperation, I have never seen a pro-lifer. I ain’t never seen them babysitting, scrubbing floors, bringing over goods, handing mom $50 bucks a month or driving her to the pediatrician. I ain’t never seen them sitting up for hours with an autistic child who screams and rages so his mother can get some sleep while she rests up from working 14-hour days. I don’t see them fixing leaks in rundown houses or playing with a kid while the police prepare to interview her about her sexual abuse. They’re not paying for the funerals of babies and children who died after birth, when they truly do become independent organisms. And the crazy thing is they think they’ve already done their job, because the child was born!

Aphids give birth, girl. It’s no miracle. You want to speak for the weak? Get off your high horse and get your hands dirty helping the poor, the isolated, the ill and mentally ill women and mothers and their children who already breathe the dirty air. You are doing nothing, absolutely nothing, for children. You don’t have a flea’s comprehension of injustice. You are not doing shit for life until you get in there and fight that darkness. Until you understand that abortion is salvation in a world like ours. Does that sound too hard? Do you really think suffering post-birth is more permissible, less worthy of outrage?

“Pro-life” is simply a philosophy in which the only life worth saving is the one that can be saved by punishing a woman.

That is seriously the best written response I have ever seen.

Holy crap…

slow clapping

(via commie-femme)

dobbaaa:

10 Things I’d Say to the Anti-Choice Fanatics Trying to End Access to Abortion

1) Most abortions take place early in pregnancy. Anti-abortion propaganda tends to focus on late term fetuses and even pictures of babies and small children, falsely implying that what’s evacuated during your typical abortion is basically the same as a baby. They shouldn’t be able to get away with this, but instead should acknowledge that nine out of ten abortions take place in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Additionally, the growth of medical abortion means a much larger percentage of abortions—-62% overall—-take place before the 9th week of pregnancy. In fact, in most abortions, the term “fetus” is incorrect, as doctors classify it as an embryo until the 11th week of pregnancy. At 8 weeks, and embryo is about ½ an inch long, and at 12 weeks, the fetus is a little over 2 inches long. In contrast, a full-term baby is an average 20 inches long, a full 40 times larger than the size of the average embryo during an abortion. The response to the bloody fetus pictures anti-choicers love should be pictures showing how small ½ an inch really is.

2) If not for anti-choicers, even more women would get abortions much earlier in their pregnancies. Most women want to terminate unwanted pregnancies as soon as possible, but there are some women who wait until 12 or 16 or even 20 weeks to terminate a pregnancy for elective reasons. Why do about 10% of women having abortions wait until early in their second trimester? It’s not because they’re stupid or indifferent to the growing fetus inside them. Research indicates that women delay having abortions because they have trouble deciding, they struggle to come up with the funds, and because they may have to travel and overcome legal obstacles to get an abortion. When anti-choicers focus on abortions that happen at 14 or 16 weeks, they should be asked what they’re doing to make sure women are getting abortions earlier: Do they support Medicaid funding? Do they want to help make sure there’s an easy to access provider in every county? If abortions after an embryo turns to a fetus bother you so much, you should be making sure women who want abortions can get them earlier in their pregnancies.

3) Doctors perform late term abortions because of medical indications, often on women who desperately wanted the baby. Anti-choicers like to lump all abortions together, implying that women wait until they’re 20 weeks pregnant or more to terminate a pregnancy because it somehow just occurred to them that they didn’t want to have a baby. But the rule of thumb with abortion is, “The later the termination, the higher the odds that the woman needed it for medical reasons.” Indeed, doctors who perform abortions after 24 usually require, as a matter of practice and of law, that the women have medical necessity reasons for abortion. Before he died, Dr. George Tiller had to have a second doctor confirm every diagnosis of a medical condition allowing post-24 week abortions. When he was accused of fudging these records to allow for elective abortions, the court found that Dr. Tiller innocent of all the charges.

Anti-choicers should be asked if they really can look a woman in the face whose fetus has defects incompatible with life or whose blood pressure is rising so high that it will kill her, and tell that woman that she shouldn’t be able to save herself or her family because later term abortions gross them out.

4) Women who get abortions aren’t afraid of being mothers. Anti-choice protesters like to shout at women going into clinics about how they would really like motherhood if they tried it out. In reality, women who have abortions are fully cognizant of the joys and pains of motherhood; 61% of women having abortion are already mothers. Anti-choicers who wax poetic about motherhood should be asked to explain why women who are already mothers would therefore choose abortion.

5) Abortion is physically safe. Anti-choice propaganda dwells on calling abortion clinics “abortion mills” and even going so far to call, as Michele Bachmann did, abortion an “act of violence” committed against the woman getting it. The truth is that abortion is a simple outpatient procedure that’s on the high end of safety for a medical procedure. The vast majority of abortions have no complications at all, and abortion is considered many times safer than childbirth. There are no long term health effects of abortion; anti-choice claims that it’s correlated to breast cancer have been repeatedly shown to be false. When anti-choicers get hysterical about how abortion is “violence”, they should be made to answer for the statistics that show it’s much safer than childbirth.

6) Abortion is mentally safe. In order to dissuade women from abortion, anti-choicers claim it will invoke depression and possibly even post-traumatic stress disorder. But repeated studies show not only that abortion doesn’t cause depression, but that giving birth can. In fact, mental illness can be a medical indicator for abortion; for women for whom giving birth can aggravate mental health problems, an abortion is often necessary to prevent further degradation of their mental health. Andrea Yates is good evidence against the contention that childbirth is a panacea, but anti-choicers should explain why they think they know better than the American Psychological Association when it comes to the mental health effects of abortion.

7) Women who get abortions take responsibility for their decision. Much anti-choice propaganda and legislation portrays women getting abortions as too stupid or cowed to understand the gravity of their decision. Supporters of mandatory ultrasounds argue that once women realize there’s an embryo in there, they’ll dash out of the clinic, an argument that assumes women must think they’re growing puppies or lemons in there and have to be set straight. The truth is that women who get abortions know that they’re terminating a pregnancy and are determined to do it long before they set foot in the doctor’s office. When dealing with supports of ultrasound laws, I recommend referencing this study of women who looked at ultrasound images before an abortion. The research showed that none of the women who did so changed their minds, and a substantial majority found that the images didn’t have much of an effect on their feelings at all.

8) Abortion providers are responsible medical professionals who work to make sure their patients are healthy and avoid future unintended pregnancies. Anti-choicers refuse to acknowledge that abortion providers are medical professionals who put their patients first, instead using terms such as “abortion industry” and claiming that abortion providers are trying to increase the abortion rate to make more money. First of all, abortion prices are relatively low compared to other medical procedures. Your average abortion costs around $500. The average cost of childbirth is 17 times as much. Ask an anti-choicer why a doctor who is just in it for the money wouldn’t go for the more lucrative profession of delivering babies.

When the words “abortion industry” come up, it’s fun to ask anti-choicers if they know what the term “non-profit” means, as the nation’s single largest provider of abortions, Planned Parenthood, is a non-profit. Additionally, Planned Parenthood works tirelessly to reduce the abortion rate by promoting sex education and contraception, the very tools necessary to prevent unintended pregnancy and therefore abortion. Contraception counseling to prevent future abortions is a regular feature in abortion care.

9) Women get abortions because they’re being responsible. Abortion is often characterized, even by some pro-choicers, as the result of women’s irresponsibility. Women are assumed to get pregnant because they were being irresponsible, and all too often, abortion is characterized as the “easy way out”. The truth is more complex. More than half of women getting abortions were trying to prevent pregnancy by using a contraception method the month they got pregnant. Moreover, it’s not like abortion is all cake and roses, but in fact it’s an unpleasant medical procedure that resembles all those other ones you get when you’re being responsible for your health. Most women getting abortions cite their personal responsibilities as a reason to get an abortion: responsibilities to actual children, financial responsibilities, work and school responsibilities. An honest society would view waiting to have children until you’re prepared for them as a sign that someone is responsible, instead of evidence that she’s irresponsible.

10) Conservative policies cause the abortion rate to be higher than it needs to be. No one wants an abortion. Women aren’t getting pregnant on purpose so they can enjoy an expensive suctioning of their uterine lining. So why are there 1.2 million abortions a year in America? Part of it is just bad luck; sometimes contraception fails and unwanted pregnancies happen. That will always be with us.

However, 46% of women who get abortions weren’t using a contraceptive method the month they got pregnant, indicating that conservative policies that discourage regular contraception use—-everything from abstinence-only education to objecting to any measures that make contraception cheaper and easier to obtain—-have been effective in keeping women from using contraception as regularly as they should. In addition, abortion rates are much higher for women living in poverty, and three quarters of women getting abortions say they can’t afford a child. If anti-choicers start moaning about the high rate of abortions, ask them what they intend to do about it. Do they want to make birth control free for all women? What about expansive social welfare that makes it easier for pregnant women living in poverty to say yes to having this baby? Most anti-choicers are generally conservative, and most will get really angry really quick if you start to mention concrete solutions to lower the abortion rate.

(via commie-femme)