Reproductive Rights Round-Up

Lots of news and views to report on this front: 

Yesterday, while driving with the pooch to the beach, I spotted two small and silent anti-choice demos on  two rather busy intersections. Both were near churches, but that may have been a coincidence. They are probably, in some way, connected to the 40 Days for Life prayer-rama on right now. But I can't be sure as I did not stop the car and get out and ask.

I didn't have a camera with me so I could snap pictures but some of my Tweeps were digitally-equipped when they saw similar demos at other corners around town. (Credit for the photo goes to @michalhay.) I also have received reports of other demos in other Ontario towns.

The two I saw consisted of no more than 4-6 people, most of them men. One group was holding up signs that said ''Abortion kills children'' while the other's poster boards read ''Life: The First Right.''

Now, we can go around endlessly, as we already have many times on this blog, as to whether an embryo=a child. But, if you are going to talk rights here, then a woman's right not to be an incubator trumps a zygote's right to exist.

Meanwhile, over on Twitter, the ''I am #prochoice'' challenge continues, with women (and men) tweeting their reasons for wanting to protect a woman's right to choose in a time when that right is under attack. Read some of them here and here.

Here are two of my own Tweets:

If antichoicers told the Pope that condoms & the Pill should be available everywhere, maybe they'd be more credible. #prochoice

and

If antichoicers spent as much energy lobbying for daycare instead of shaming pregnant women, maybe they'd be credible. #prochoice

Common sense, no? If they're all about the ''child'' and not about punishing the woman for having sex by forcing her to bear the consequences of having sex -- kids as punishment, that's a concept -- then why aren't these people fighting for universal access to contraception and, when that fails, childcare?

Which brings us to this thoughtful post over at Feminists for Choice. Note that the figures are American but they are probably relevant here as well:

... it costs a mere $10K a year, per kid, for part time daycare at a center–but that’s for a school aged child! Placing an infant in day care is WAY more expensive–A NACCRRA report detailing child care costs for 2008 lists the cost of one year of full-time infant care at as high as $15,895! Considering that the median family income in the US is $50,740.00/year, some families are paying out as much as a THIRD of their annual income in day care costs alone!

A parent might be able to find lower-cost care, but that usually means placing their children in a home day care, but as NACCRRA points out, many are unlicensed and it is harder to accurately determine the level of safety/quality of care received at such facilities.

<SNIP>

Faced with such daunting day care rates, medical care costs, a couple of years worth of diapers, clothes, food, school supplies and anything else required for even the most frugal of budgets, even the average family is, realistically, quickly priced out of having a child. 

Unless we turn the clocks back to 1952 and make Mommy stay at home.

Which could explain that (sarcastic snort here) very helpful $25 (minus the tax) a week baby bonus the Harper Conservatives gave us instead of a national daycare program.

Speaking of contraception, I picked this up via the current, green-focused issue of Maclean's:

According to the UN, about 40 per cent of all pregnancies worldwide are unintended -- that's a lot of babies spewing CO2 into the environment and consuming precious resources. So, of all the green technologies out there, birth control might be the most environmentally friendly.

A new report from the Optimum Population Trust at the London School of Economics finds that for each $7 spent on basic family planning over the next 40 years, global CO2 emissions would be reduced by more than one tonne.

Seems simple enough, no?

But not according to those ''Be fruitful and multiply'' sexist nutbars.

(Oh and, while we're on the subject of contraception, check this out to clear up a common misconception.)

Finally, via JJ and Dammit Janet!, the story of the tweet heard round the world. (And I thought my Tweets made waves.) To begin at the beginning, with a minor bleep and some links, here is Penelope Trunk, the ''Brazen Careerist'' who tweeted about ... well ...

Recently I ran the following twitter:

"I'm in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there's a f**ked-up 3-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin."

Why the uproar over this twitter?

Not only have bloggers written whole posts about the disgustingness of it, but 70 people unfollowed me, and people actually came to my blog and wrote complaints about the twitter on random, unrelated posts.

So, to all of you who think the twitter was outrageous, think about this:

Most miscarriages happen at work. Twenty-five percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Seventy-five percent of women who are of child-bearing age are working. Most miscarriages run their course over weeks. Even if you are someone who wanted the baby and are devastated by the loss, you’re not going to sit in bed for weeks. You are going to pick up your life and get back to it, which includes going back to work.

This means that there are thousands of miscarriages in progress, at work, on any given day. That we don’t acknowledge this is absurd. That it is such a common occurrence and no one thinks it’s okay to talk about is terrible for women.

Exactly. It's like sitting in a board room, with buckets of sweat pouring down your face even though the AC is down to 65, and trying to pretend you are not having a hot flash. Why the secrecy? Why the shame over this perfectly natural and uncontrollable function that, I hasten to add, doesn't stink up the room? 

To continue:

To all of you who said I should not be happy about having a miscarriage: You are the ones short on empathy. Any woman who is pregnant but wishes she weren’t would of course be grateful when she has a miscarriage. Yes, there are many women who want the baby and have a miscarriage. I was one of them. I cried for days. I get it.

But if you have ever had an abortion, which I have, you would know that a miscarriage is preferable to an abortion. Even the Pope would agree with that.

And what is up with the fact that just one, single person commented about how Wisconsin has a three-week waiting period for abortions? It is absolutely outrageous how difficult it was going to be for me to get an abortion, and it’s outrageous that no one is outraged.

Wow, to be one of the teeny tiny nanofraction of the hundreds of thousands of women who have had abortions and have never admitted it publicly takes guts. Real guts. And to say you wanted another one?

It's a legal procedure. It's a woman's choice. But the way the holy rollers are carrying on, she should be a shame-faced slut made to bear her children whether she will love or care for them or not.

And, if you don't buy that, here's the relatively liberal Rick Sanchez of CNN giving Trunk the third degree.

Note that he refers to her as ''young lady'' -- and she's a mother in her 40s.

And did she say ''period?''

Why yes, yes, she did.

Heh.

Comments

[Jim M]

Why do all people, including myself, imagine or picture all the things most sacred to them as being female? Whether church, country, boat, quad, Hummer, etc, it’s always our Playboy Centerfold Pet of the year and never our best pound-for-pound mixed martial arts fighter.

But instead of pursuing the question of why all things feminine seem to rule so universally, or why the feminine should enjoy so much voluntary submission (perhaps coming especially easy from the most vocal men’s rights advocates), I would prefer to simply accept this phenomenon as a fact in order to pose a more interesting question (or at least try to top the last one).

Question is, if religious anti-choicers accept that we are all God’s children, then why do so many of the very same anti-choicers also accept (and often go further to proactively support) our female churches and countries in the abortion of so many of God’s innocent children via military confrontation?

I think it's equally fair to ask why the elderly men holding up the signs in the photo seen in this post do not see an equally worthwhile cause in holding up signs that say state-sponsored terrorism kills children? If it were abortion causing states to kill yet more children then I might automatically see the point of these signs... including the one held up by the guy who looks like he is trying to hide behind his.

[Jim M]

Something to add to my previous comment (which may have drifted slightly off topic to irony seen in the universal rule of the feminine compared with threats to humans rights of real, animate women) is that I think it is fair to question the Pope, himself, as recommended above in this post, on the apparent contradiction of forbidding both abortion and contraception. In my opinion, this question would be fair and perhaps more effective to pose as a question of loyalty to her, the Catholic Church.

However, the Pope is only the leader of the Church, or like a gatekeeper as far as she, the Church herself, is concerned (at least I think that's how it works), and therefore it should be equally important, fair and reasonable that all Catholics should consider the same question as a church family. Otherwise, how can it even become theoretically possible for the Pope to be loyal on behalf of all Catholics without getting beheaded by his own church family?

[Arnica]

Oh my God! I am so happy this woman had the guts to go to CNN to do this. And she is absolutely right, birth is a right. I too had an abortion when I was 20 yrs old, just about to enroll in college. Without support from my father (single dad) and boyfriend (now husband), I have decided abortion was the right choice. There was a griefing process but 10 years later with a 4 months old in my lap, I am again convinced that it was the right choice.

Why is it okay for people who get pregnant and tell the whole world and not okay for a woman who had a misscarriage to speak out how she feels. Each event is personal and should be respected.

I was in a Christian group where when I was to share my personal experince with Christ and they asked me to omit the abortion part. Which was absurd, because that was part of my journey that made me who I am.

Other should not mouth about abortion unleast they could offer emotional and financial support for the one that is carrying the child. Period.

[Tina]

You are my hero, Ms. Zerbisias. I am greatly appreciative that you speak your mind (and with such a wonderful writing style, I might add) about something that most people will never bring up aside from with their closest friends. I know what you mean about hoping for a miscarriage, and eventhough my mind is already made up as to what we would do if I were to get pregnant, I would also rather miscarry than have an abortion. It's heartening to find a woman who feels the same way.

Nothing makes me angrier than people on the side of the road protesting abortion, which is basically protesting a woman's right to choose her life and make her own decisions. Those men in the picture are lucky I do not live where I could see them, as I would have stopped and given them a peice of my mind.

Thank you again for re-creating my faith in soceity!

[Connie Donoghue, in Calgary]

Ya! Antonia! Go girl!!

Whoops! Do people even say that phrase anymore? Is it still in? Or has that phrase been challenged by the reactionaries as well?

Regardless, Antonia...I wanted to ask....how are your pets doing? And I ask that because, well to be perfectly honest there's been odd events involving animals in Calgary again: two guys jumped the Calgary Zoo fence very early Monday am and for some as-yet-unexplained reason jumped the fence into the tiger enclosure where one was badly mauled. ?? So of course I thought....ya, I bet there's going to be strange animal events in Toronto too! Lessee....they figured out the electrocution problems and stopped that (hopefully once and for all), and I'm pretty certain that everyone is STILL careful about what animals might find in parks and public places.....but you know I still cant help worrying about all the animal people in Toronto.

[Mike]

Penelope rocks. A brave woman to be so open.

She should be celebrated. People who don't like her are the ones who have the problem, no her.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

"If antichoicers told the Pope that condoms & the Pill should be available everywhere, maybe they'd be more credible. #prochoice"

Once, I actually did try suggesting that Campaign Life in a certain Canadian city make a deal with the United Way - CL would drop criticism of contraception if the UW dropped its promotion of abortion.

I was told some stuff about the "contraceptive mentality ..." etc., etc.,

Oh well

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

"If antichoicers spent as much energy lobbying for daycare instead of shaming pregnant women, maybe they'd be credible. #prochoice"

I've got a better idea yet. Why not channel all the energy into lobbying for a rejigging of the tax system, including income splitting of one salary between married couples, to restore to children the best daycare possible - their mother?

[Jim M]

From this post I have learned more about what it is like for women to go through abortions and miscarriages. I was pretty sure these things were no picnic before I read about them with this level of detail. It seems to me after learning these things that it would be useful for all men to know how complicated the medical procedures involved are, physical pain, emotional trauma, etc.

So, if it was here on this blog that I saw a video of a woman recently saying that abortions should be broadcast on live TV around the world (or was the idea to use the moon as a silver screen?), I think she might actually have a good idea if she were to show her programming on a Men's TV channels, almost but not entirely exclusive there, and maybe with a "Trading Places" spin every second episode.

Regarding the video shown at the end of this post, the self-described as "Catholic" CNN news anchorman's feigned squeamishness (or real, who knows) at the idea of just talking about abortion, miscarriages and the like, embarrasses me even as a former Catholic. Someone should make a caricature video or something to highlight him doing his anchorman's best to appear to be above discussing reality. 'Nice' work if you can get it, apparently. Just doesn't look very Catholic to me.