Tag Archives: prochoice

Sunday feminist roundup (30th March 2014)

Here’s what else I’ve been reading this week:

- Teen spirit: the fifth-wave feminists (theguardian)

- Moving Forward (everydayvictimblaming)

- The Invisibility of Disability (bottomface)

- No, I will not stop having ‘feelings’ about women’s lives and human rights (feministcurrent)

- #SexIndustryWeek: Manifesto – Indigenous Women Against the Sex Industry (feministtimes)

- When Cops Rape Crime Victims (msmagazine)

- Unsafe abortions have killed 1 million and injured 100 million in the last two decades (feministing)

- #SexIndustryWeek: The Future of Porn (feministtimes)

- Schools Policing Gender (echidneofthesnakes)

- Marlborough College is now running a school for “wives” (elegantgatheringofwhitesnows)

- RAINN – when support services fail to eradicate victim blaming attitudes (everydayvictimblaming)

- Let’s Talk About Domestic Violence in the Trans* Community (everydayfeminism)

- Stalked and beaten up: student stories of sexual violence in clubs (theguardian)

And the best of the quickhits this week:

“The same thing that motivates conservatives to try to ban abortion and restrict access to birth…

The same thing that motivates conservatives to try to ban abortion and restrict access to birth control is the same thing that makes them blame single mothers’ choices regarding men and sex for their poverty: a combination of sex-phobia and misogyny. Both attacks are based on the premise that a woman’s life is meant for service and suffering, and that poor women in particular don’t deserve to have anything. Not a moment’s rest. Not the ability to have sex without getting pregnant. Not a puppy for their kids. There’s a sadism at the heart of it and documentaries like this that put a human face on the person who is the victim of all these anti-woman, anti-working class, anti-human policies matters. So I highly recommend watching the documentary, and, more importantly, sharing it with people you know.

- Amanda Marcotte, “Myths About Contraception Insurance Coverage and a New ‘Paycheck to Paycheck’ Documentary” (via rhrealitycheck)

good point. sometimes strawmen arguments make important points.

good point.

sometimes strawmen arguments make important points.

While Hobby Lobby opposes offering contraceptive coverage, it does sell three types of knitting needles, just the kind that in the not-so-distant past, women who became pregnant and didn’t have access to legal abortion used to try and end their pregnancies themselves. So maybe they shouldn’t be selling those. [On rhrealitycheck]

Sunday feminist roundup (16th March 2014)

A double edition this week. Since the last roundup, we have, of course, had #IWD14. I was torn about it this year, for  reasons you can see here.

- Of Frats, Rape Culture and #TFM (Ms Blog)

- International Women’s Day: In defence of feminist dissent (Guardian)

- This Is Feminism: Speech at Cambridge Union Debate (Week Woman)

- Alison Bechdel: A Review (Lip Magazine)

- 25 Everyday Examples of Rape Culture  (Everyday Feminism)

- Sorry, Men’s Rights Activists, You Don’t Have Abortion ‘Rights’ (RH Reality Check)

- Men who need cookies are not feminist allies. (My Elegant Gathering of White Snows)

- Sexual harassment is ‘normal’ in clubs, but are things about to change? (Guardian)

- How To Attack A Feminist (Week Woman)

- This Is How Anti-Choice Brainwashing Starts (RH Reality Check)

And on the quickhits lately:

Birth Control Doesn’t Encourage Risky Sex. Someone Tell the GOP

According to new study that surveyed nearly 8,000 women and teenage girls, no-cost access to birth control doesn’t encourage women to engage in risky or “promiscuous” sexual behavior. Another related study conducted the same week (by me) finds that no-cost access to birth control does have one harmful effect on the populace: it continuously causes curmudgeonly Republican lawmakers to expel noxious whiffs of retrograde, sexist logic.

According to new study that surveyed nearly 8,000 women and teenage girls, no-cost access to birth control doesn’t encourage women to engage in risky or “promiscuous” sexual behavior. Another related study conducted the same week (by me) finds that no-cost access to birth control does have one harmful effect on the populace: it continuously causes curmudgeonly Republican lawmakers to expel noxious whiffs of retrograde, sexist logic.

The study, which was published in the Obstetrics & Gynecology journal this week, tracked the sexual behavior of 7,751 women between the ages of 14 and 45, all of whom were given free birth control for a year. Notably, the researchers found that the women surveyed actually experienced a decrease in the amount of sexual partners: according to the LA Times, “While 5.2% of the women reported having more than one male sexual partner in the past 30 days upon recruitment, 3.5% did so at month six and 3.3% did so at month 12.” For most women, it was business as usual — a whopping 70 percent reported no change in their number of sexual partners, 13 percent had fewer, and only 16 percent reported having more partners. The researchers also found that there was so increase in the rate of sexually transmitted diseases among study participants, indicating that they weren’t guzzling whore pills and throwing caution into the wind with feverish abandon. Huh. Who would have guessed. [Rest.]

Birth Control Doesn’t Encourage Risky Sex. Someone Tell the GOP

Porque Yo Decido: Spain’s war on abortion is not about morality – it’s about austerity

photo 466343451_zps6dfd333e.jpg

Porque Yo Decido. Because I decide. That was the title of a manifesto handed to the Spanish government on 1 February on behalf of the millions of men and women across the country who oppose the conservative People’s Party’s push to ban abortion. “Because it’s my choice,” reads the manifesto. “I am free, and I live in a democracy, I demand from the government, any government, that it make laws that promote moral autonomy, preserve freedom of conscience, and guarantee plurality and diversity.”

In late December, the People’s Party (PP) government, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, approved a bill that will make abortion illegal in all but the most extreme medical circumstances and in cases of rape. “That was when the explosion of resistance happened,” says feminist activist Cristina Lestegas Perez. “Since then, there have been hundreds of street protests, debates, demonstrations, parades, conferences, seminars, exhibitions and performances all over the Spanish states and overseas.”

Under the Franco regime, abortion was illegal in Spain. In 1985, laws were passed permitting termination of pregnancy in very limited cases, but so many Spanish women were travelling to Britain to have abortions that dedicated flights had to be chartered. In 2010, the law was finally liberalised by the then socialist government to permit abortion up to the fourteenth week of pregnancy. [Rest.]

Photo: A placard reading “A mother by choice” at a pro-choice protest in Spain. Getty

Porque Yo Decido: Spain’s war on abortion is not about morality – it’s about austerity

“Jean tells me from the outset I have three options

Jean tells me from the outset I have three options. “Keep the baby, and be a parent. You have a termination. Which obviously has consequences. Or you take the brave option… for adoption.” Nothing new so far, but then Jean throws me a curveball. She tells me, in no uncertain terms, that abortion has “been linked to crime”. This is a new one. Education for Choice have had reports of mystery shoppers being told they will contract breast cancer, but this is new territory. She waxes lyrical about the grief, anger and trauma of abortions having often led to women acting on those emotions and committing crime; “the anger it gets so bad that it can lead to crime… it’s definitely, definitely linked.

- Undercover at One of the UK’s Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Clinics

Unbelievable misinformation.

“The dusty old argument that female sexuality is a subversive force…

The dusty old argument that female sexuality is a subversive force that needs to be strictly controlled isn’t as dead as we thought. The mainstream conservative movement is bringing it out of hibernation, and this time with a twist: now they’re arguing that women need to have their rights taken from them for their own good.

- Amanda Marcotte, Female Sexuality Still Terrifying to Conservative Lawmakers

myth 2.

myth 2.

Welcome to Day 2 of the ’8 Days-8 Reasons to Repeal the 8th’ where each day running to International Women’s Day, Abortion Rights Campaign we will be busting 1 common myth about abortion in Ireland. So check back here for tomorrow’s myth and tweet your own at us @freesafelegal and using #RepealThe8th. [Visit site.]

“The question is not really when life begins…

The question is not really when life begins. The question is whether we recognize women and other people with uteri as humans whose lives have intrinsic value and the rights of agency, bodily autonomy, and consent. It is only because such a vast swath of our population cannot or will not answer a resounding and unqualified “yes” to that question that there is even space for a reprehensible debate about when life begins.

- Melissa McEwan, being amazing as usual. (via sashareads)

Sunday feminist roundup (2nd March 2014)

- The Anti-Choice Movement Is a Denialist Movement (RH Reality Check)

- Could this be the year the pro-choice movement goes on the offensive? (Feministing)

- “You made me do it”: A post about abuse (glosswitch)

- Rape Culture at the University of Ottawa (The Belle Jar)

- bell hooks on the State of the Feminist Movement (Feminist Law Professors)

Some from the quickhits:

 

“If there’s one belief that drives social conservatives…

If there’s one belief that drives social conservatism with regard to female sexuality, it’s that women can’t make good choices, and so their choices have to be made for them. That’s the argument underlying the panic over the hook-up culture (read: girls are too dumb to say no when they want to, so we have to say it for them), the hostility toward comprehensive sex education (if girls know their options, they may make choices we disapprove of), the move toward restricting abortion and contraception, the hostility toward single mothers, and all the knee-jerk anger—like Bill O’Reilly’s—over any hint that women might have choices.

- Slate on the Conservatism of ‘The Switch.’ (via bricorama)

“Every Saturday morning, I volunteer as a clinic escort at an abortion clinic

Every Saturday morning, I volunteer as a clinic escort at an abortion clinic in New Jersey. I’ve been called every name I can possibly think of: murderer, baby killer, “deathscort,” even a “stuck-up bitch.” I’ve been told I’m going to Hell, that I have a wicked heart, that I am an evil woman. I have even been sexually harassed by a male protester. But no matter what, I do not respond. None of us respond. We don’t even make eye contact with the protesters. We have learned to tune it out, more or less. But when these horrific insults are hurled at patients, I won’t lie: It sometimes becomes difficult to bear.

- Lauren Rankin, “Soundtrack for Abortion Clinic Escort: Lies and Vituperation With a Side of Prayer” (via truth-out)

“How ridiculously incapable of self-reflection can one be that one is able to acknowledge that …

How ridiculously incapable of self-reflection can one be that one is able to acknowledge that rape (forcing a woman to do something with her body she doesn’t want to do) is a Terrible Thing, but the denial of abortion (forcing a woman to do something with her body she doesn’t want to do) is a Moral Imperative?

- Shakesville: On Abortion Exceptions: “Rape, Incest, Threat to Life” (via ordinarymachines)

Fictional characters way more likely to die after abortion

Fictional characters way more likely to die after abortion than real people (full infographic and (c) ansirh.org). Commentary, feministing:

Reproductive health researchers from ANSIRH recently did a census of all abortion-related storylines in American television shows and films. Although we’ve lamented the dearth of abortions on screen–particularly on primetime TV shows–according to the survey, over the last century, there’ve been 385 abortion storylines in pop culture–and recent years have seen a spike. 

However, the researchers note, “these stories are often inaccurate and not necessarily true to most people’s experiences with abortion.” For one thing, fictional pregnant people are much more likely to choose adoption than they are in real life. And, as illustrated in the chart below, abortion is portrayed as much more risky than it actually is. While the procedure is one of the safest out there–the risk of major complications, let alone death, is less than 1 percent–almost 10 percent of fictional women died as a result of their abortions. (And others were murdered before they went through with it, which is also very disturbing and telling.)

Sunday feminist roundup (16th February 2014)

This week.

- Catholic dominance over hospitals endangers women (feministe)

- Teenage feminism – coming to a blog near you (The F Word)

- On SWERFs, TERFs and good girls (glosswitch)

- A Letter to My Son about Porn (Everyday Feminism)

- Sexual Identity and “Nigerian Culture” (The Feminist Wire)

- Oppression against women is much more nasty, brutal and barbaric (No Country for Old Women)

And the best of the quickhits this week:

 

UK abortion counsellors told women having an abortion would increase risks of cancer, sterility and pedophilia

(Image: The Independent)

British MPs are calling for a review of abortion counselling processes after an undercover inquiry by The Daily Telegraph found that women attending crisis pregnancy centres seeking terminations were being given shockingly inaccurate advice.

Reporters from The Daily Telegraph attended two crisis pregnancy centres, posing as women considering abortions, secretly filming the advice they were given. One reporter was told that there was ‘an increased statistical likelihood of child abuse’ after undergoing an abortion because this violates the ‘natural barriers that are around the child that you don’t cross.’ The counsellor further extrapolated that abortion can ‘really confuse relationships with children,’ resulting in sexual assaults, abuse and pedophilia. Right. Yep.

These kind of seemingly ‘impartial’ shock tactics, invoking ‘statistics,’ ‘science’ and ‘studies,’ were also employed to convince women that abortion can mean that they will be ’25 per cent less likely to be able to carry a future pregnancy to term.’ Despite the fact that the risk of sterility post-abortion in Britain is ‘very, very low’ the counsellor garishly explained that: ‘as with any operation you know you are introducing something from outside the body into the inside of the body and there’s always a risk but with abortion there’s also a particular risk of, obviously the instruments that are used are sharp and they can cut the wall of the womb.’ [Rest.]

UK abortion counsellors told women having an abortion would increase risks of cancer, sterility and pedophilia

My Belly is Mine

My Belly is Mine (FWSA blog)

The My Belly is Mine campaign was set up to support Spanish women in their fight against the proposed reform to Spain’s current abortion law. We stand in solidarity with Spanish women and defend their right to safe, legal abortion.

We are organizing immediate peaceful action in London and in other European cities in collaboration with Spanish and European pro-choice and feminist activists.

Under present Spanish legislation, women have the right to an abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy. In cases where the mother’s health is at risk, or when the foetus shows serious deformities, Spanish women have until the 22nd week to end the pregnancy.

A draft bill was approved by Spain’s cabinet on the 20 December 2013, which ensures abortion is only allowed in the case of rape, serious foetal deformity or if the pregnancy presents a serious mental or physical health risk to the mother.

Our immediate aims are:

To raise awareness in the UK of this proposed reform via online action
To commit to peaceful action in the UK in order to demonstrate our support to Spanish women and to help them defeat the bill.

We require your support in the dissemination of our campaign. Please contact us if you are interested in getting involved in the UK. [Rest.]