Each lent, many anti-choicers decide to camp outside abortion clinics and spread lies and misinformation about abortion. This year, a number of pro-choice groups are running a #prochoicefriend campaign to try and counter-act this shaming of those who choose abortion.
Interested in helping out? Here’s what you can do to:
TWEET!
The account for this project is @40DaysofChoice and the hashtag we’re hoping to use is #prochoicefriend. Please tweet messages like:
“To all my friends - if you ever decide to have an abortion, I will support you in any & every way that I can! #prochoicefriend “
“If you ever decide to have an abortion, I’m your taxi! #prochoicefriend”
“Need to talk about an unplanned pregnancy? I’m here and I’ll never judge! #prochoicefriend”
and more creative ones that you can come up with! Also please tweet photos at us, with your own message on a sign or photoshopped in! We’re hoping to get a massive collage by the end that we can turn into a video.
SHARE ON FACEBOOK
Share longer statuses on Facebook. This is one we came up with but it would be great if people can make up their own:
“Dear friends, family and anyone else who likes me – I just want to let you know that if you ever decide to have an abortion, I’ll support you! I’ll give you a lift to/from the clinic, I’ll make you tea, I’ll cook you dinner, I’ll talk to you if you’re not sure about it or just want to talk – whatever you want and/or need I’ll be happy to help :) there are too many people out there trying to make women feel ashamed for their choices, I just want you all to know that I would never judge any decision you make!”
UPLOAD A PHOTO
We’ve set up a Flickr account where we’re going to gather all the photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/fortydaysofchoice/) so if you want to send one to the Facebook page, Twitter account, or email (fortydaysofchoice@yahoo.com) it, we’ll get them all up on the Flickr!
MAKE A VIDEO
Same goes, the more material we have the better, we’re hoping to get a great piece done by the end!
SPREAD THE WORD FAR AND WIDE PLEASE!
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.
I reblogged this about six months ago, but I feel it needs to be posted again.
reproductive rights are human rights
Meet new Dame Steph in her first video on battling cissexism in the pro-choice/reproductive rights movement.
In case you missed the news, Steph will be filling in for a few weeks while Jenn’s on a break, so go say hi in the comments :)
This Dame:
Tumblr: http://briefbutstillinfinite.tumblr.com
Those Pesky Dames:
Tumblr: http://thosepeskydames.tumblr.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thosepeskydames
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thosepeskydames
Pro-choice movements and forced sterilisation
For every woman wanting to stop a pregnancy, there’s another person who’s being denied the chance to have a child. This is only scratching the surface, so please contribute your thoughts and knowledge to the discussion!
Links!
NHS sterilisation information: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Female-sterilisation/Pages/Introduction.aspx
Force sterilisation in India: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/15/uk-aid-forced-sterilisation-india…
Iron Fist Campaign in Puning, China: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chinese-state-holds-parents-host…
Swedish cissexist law: http://feministing.com/2012/01/17/sweden-keeps-forced-sterilization-law-for-t…
Justice for indigenous Peruvian women: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/peru-reopen-investigation-forced-sterilization…
UK woman with learning disabilities considered for forced sterilisation: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8321705/Disabled-mother-could-be-steri…
This Dame:
Tumblr: http://tgandthetwins.tumblr.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/missraaae
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThosePeskyDames
Our Tumblr: http://thosepeskydames.tumblr.com/
The morality of aborting an unconscious violinist
My 2nd year abortion essay: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/61316328/Abortion.doc
Have any more ‘wacky’ thought experiments? Think ‘wacky’ thought experiments are bull? Let me know in the comments below!
Judith Jarvis Thompson: “A Defense of Abortion” (the originator of the unconscious violinist) http://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/Phil160,Fall02/thomson.htm
More background “A Defence of Abortion” and the famous violinist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Defense_of_Abortion
Those Pesky Dames:
Tumblr: http://thosepeskydames.tumblr.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thosepeskydames
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thosepeskydames
This Dame:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/somekindofbecca
Tumblr: http://www.somekindofbecca.tumblr.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/beccarothwell
Reproductive Rights Rant
A rant about birth control and abortion rights, focussing on the UK and the US.
Links!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/04/reproductive-health-civil-rights-issue
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/16/house-democrats-walk-out-contraception
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/01/senate-republican-obama-contraception-bill
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/mar/15/ban-abortion-after-6-weeks-passes-mississippi-hous/
http://globalcomment.com/2012/ignoring-anti-choice-extremism-in-texas/
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/03/arizona-outdoes-everyone-new-anti-abortion-bill
http://jezebel.com/5890058/this-is-how-much-it-costs-to-own-a-vagina-an-itemized-list
Contraception info:
UK: http://bitemebeautiful.tumblr.com/post/10696250650/uk-contraception-morning-after-pill-abortion-info
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Contraception/Pages/Introduction.aspx
US: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/birth-control-4211.htm
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/emergency-contraception-morning-after-pill-4363.asp
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/abortion-4260.asp
Captions should go up on Wednesday
Those Pesky Dames:
Tumblr: http://thosepeskydames.tumblr.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thosepeskydames
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thosepeskydames
This Dame:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/somekindofbecca
Tumblr: http://somekindofbecca.tumblr.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/beccarothwell
Courtesy of this facebook page. So excellent.
From the photos [credit: Grace Fallen Photography]:
- “If you can’t trust me with a choice, then how can you trust me with a child?”
- “‘No self-respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party that ignores her success.’ - Susan B. Anthony, 1872
- “Would you kill your wife to spare your fetus?”
- “I don’t own a womb, and I don’t want to own anyone else’s!”
- “‘No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body.’ - Margaret Sanger”
- “Every baby wanted/ Every mother willing/ Pro-choice”
- “Legalized abortions were not the start of women having abortions. They were the end of women dying from unsafe and unregulated abortions. Don’t go backwards!”
- “This is not a theocracy. Keep your myth out of our government.”
- “Things that belong in a uterus: IUDs, babies, hormones. Things that do not belong in a uterus: religion, laws, men, ‘persons,’ misplaced moral outrage”
- “In Oklahoma, 3,429 children are already awaiting adoption (most recent statistic: 2009)”
