Reproductive Rights
Summer of Trust
- Category: Reproductive Rights
By Debra Sweet
Against the backdrop of a wave of anti-abortion legislative assaults, Operation Rescue has announced plans for a "Summer of Mercy 2.0" targeting the brave and outspoken Dr. LeRoy Carhart in Germantown, MD July 30-August 7. This organization is the same group that hounded Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, KS, for years (until he was assassinated by one of their associates in May '09). Their original "Summer of Mercy" in 1991 shut down access to the Dr. Tiller's clinic for six weeks and resulted in 3,400 arrests, a very alarming history to invoke.
World Can't Wait will join with others to mount a serious and determined showing of public support for Dr. Carhart and the Germantown, MD, clinic whose practice he has joined. We held a successful initial discussion on last week's conference call.
Backing Down the Most All-Out Assault on Abortion Rights Since Roe
- Category: Reproductive Rights
 Next Walk for Choice: May 21
See below for details |
By Lina Thorne
This is a moment for sober reflection. How did we get to this point and what do we do now?
HR3, the most extreme anti-abortion federal bill yet, just passed the House of Representatives and moves on to the Senate now. If it becomes law, health insurance that includes abortion coverage would no longer be tax deductible, and the IRS could be required to audit rape victims. 512 state-level bills restricting access have been introduced in the first three months of 2011. Many of these bills directly challenge Roe. For instance, there is the so-called "heartbeat bill" in Ohio, which would ban all abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected - supported by many of the fascists hoping to run for the presidency in 2012, from Michele Bachmann to Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee. A fetus supposedly testified for this bill in the Ohio legislature, taking the surreality to another level. Then there is the Louisiana "feticide" bill which decrees 15 years hard labor to punish women and doctors for abortions.
Walk for Choice: March 26
- Category: Reproductive Rights
There can be no “common ground” with those making war on women. It's time to get ourselves together and stop them.
Abortion is not murder. Fetuses are not children. Women are not incubators.
A dangerous new wave of attacks against women’s basic right to control their reproduction - from abortion to birth control - began with Republican election victories last fall. Using anti-scientific claims that abortion harms women, they are going to take us back to the 1960s when thousands of women died every year from illegal abortions. The anti-abortion crowd is slashing funds for pregnancy prevention and health care for low-income women. As much as they talk about unborn fetuses, their "morality" does not extend to providing for children who need public schools, health care, and someday, college educations; nor children born in countries currently being bombed by the United States military. This culture war is not about fetuses - it's about nothing less than the social role of women and our most basic rights.
Many cities will be holding "Walks for Choice" this weekend.
Find a protest near you.
See reports on the previous Walk for Choice.
March 10: National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers
- Category: Reproductive Rights
By Debra Sweet .gif)
March 10th is the anniversary of the murder of Dr. David Gunn, the first provider murdered by an anti-abortion extremist.
Standing Up For Women's Right to Abortion and Birth Control is Righteous!
- Category: Reproductive Rights
By Lina Thorne
In more than 50 cities on Saturday February 26, thousands of women and men gathered in the streets in unpermitted “walks” to express outrage against the anti-women attacks coming from seemingly all directions. This action was pulled together in only 3 weeks, via online social networking: Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. The director of the whole national effort is Raven Geary, a feminist blogger who came up with the idea after watching events in Egypt unfold. At the rally, she said she was simply fed up and tired of it all: they want to take away our right to abortion, birth control, and now even our access to pap smears!
Walking4Choice in 60+Cities
- Category: Reproductive Rights
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New York City |
By Debra Sweet
Photos from Walk for Choice
New York City: I went on the very fast Walk that zoomed up Broadway from Foley Square, around Washington Square Park and back down in a little over an hour. There were 101 people — I counted, with 2 older than me, and about 70% women under 25, a few younger guys. They wanted to walk & scream with their home made signs. They did really loud whoops under awnings that got attention, and generally favorable comments. People wanted to talk to me about my sign, but we didn’t have time to stop and talk to anyone if we wanted to keep up. The main chants they did were “We Have A Choice! We Have a Voice!” and “What do you want? Choice! When do you want it? Now!”
Stand Up for Women’s Right to Abortion & Birth Control in 2011!
- Category: Reproductive Rights
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Find a protest near you! |
A dangerous new wave of attacks against women’s basic right to control their reproduction - from abortion to birth control - began with Republican election victories last fall. Using anti-scientific claims that abortion harms women, they are going to take us back to the 1960s when thousands of women died every year from illegal abortions. The anti-abortion crowd is slashing funds for pregnancy prevention and health care for low-income women. As much as they talk about unborn fetuses, their "morality" does not extend to providing for children who need public schools, health care, and someday, college educations; nor children born in countries currently being bombed by the United States military. This culture war is not about fetuses - it's about nothing less than the social role of women and our most basic rights.
Virulent New Wave of Anti-women, Anti-abortion Attacks
- Category: Reproductive Rights
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UPDATED FEBRUARY 21
By Lina Thorne
From the “guerrilla activists” trying to take down Planned Parenthood to the state and federal legislators (from both parties) further restricting women’s access to abortion, 2011 has seen more assaults on women’s most fundamental rights yet – even more even under the Bush years. There are 3 anti-abortion federal bills and more than 200 state level bills restricting access to abortion (and cutting funds for birth control, cancer screenings and other basic care for women into the attacks for good measure). Many of the state-level bills pose fundamental challenges to Roe v. Wade, paving the way for Supreme Court challenges down the line. What we need is an outpouring of resistance to this assault on the humanity of women!
Merle Hoffman, director of Choices Women’s Medical Center says: “the right to reproductive freedom is like the right to breathe: it transcends laws.” Why is that the case? And why must justice-loving people stand against this new wave of attacks on women? Listen to a conversation with Debra Sweet, Sunsara Taylor, Dr. LeRoy Carhart, Merle Hoffman and Carole Joffe on why abortion is such an important moral and political right.
The Morality of the Right to Abortion... And the Immorality of Those Who Oppose It
- Category: Reproductive Rights
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Via Revolution newspaper:
January 22 marks the 38th anniversary of the historic 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide. Before Roe v. Wade, thousands of women in the U.S. were seriously injured or died each year from unsafe, illegal abortions. Countless others were forced to bear children they did not want. The legalization of abortion meant that, for the first time, women could decide whether and when they wanted to bear children. It was, and is, central to the emancipation of women.
But immediately afterward, and in an escalating way over decades, that right has been under steady assault. Laws have restricted access to abortion for young women, in later months of pregnancy, and have subjected women seeking abortions to unscientific and biased lectures. Positive portrayals of abortion have been nearly banned in culture. Politically, it is beyond the pale of mainstream discourse to unapologetically support a woman's right to choose whether or not to have a child.
Stand Up for Women’s Right to Abortion Jan. 22-23
- Category: Reproductive Rights
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By Debra Sweet
Dr. LeRoy Carhart, long-time colleague and friend of Dr. George Tiller (assassinated by an anti-abortion activist in May 2008) has remained undeterred in his life’s mission to provide women with safe, caring abortion services when they need them. YOU are needed in Germantown, MD and the DC area this coming weekend to stand up for Dr. Carhart and women’s right to abortion and reproductive control.
Abortion Providers are Heroes!
Anti-abortion groups from around the country will be converging on Washington, DC on January 24 for their annual “March for Life” in opposition to the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Along with the larger mobilization, there are plans to directly target Dr. Carhart at the clinic he now works at in Germantown, MD. They must not go unopposed – people who respect the humanity of women and recognize their right to control their own reproduction must stand up to these bullies.
The Assassination of Dr. Tiller
- Category: Reproductive Rights
Watch the full documentary
Reviewed by Lina Thorne
The day after he was shot in both arms by an anti-abortion activist in 1993, Dr. George Tiller went back to work and announced, "Women need abortions and I'm going to do them." This remarkably brave man had already endured years of harassment and threats: his clinic suffered $100,000 worth of damage after being bombed, weeks of blockades by glassy-eyed anti-abortion fanatics... he and his staff were stalked by these so-called "activists" who followed him home, yelled at him and everyone attending his church, and flyered his neighbors with "Wanted" posters. His staff, women like Drs. Susan Robinson and Shelly Sella, his office administrator and nurse, were similarly targeted with these posters: which often featured their photos, home addresses and other personal information.
Reproductive Rights