National Blog for Choice Day

Today is National Blog for Choice Day - the 39th anniversary of the landmark Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision. In honor of the occasion, NARAL Pro-Choice America has called on like-minded, pro-choice citizens to blog about how we will do our part to elect pro-choice candidates in 2012.

Not surprisingly, right now most of the choice-issue focus seems to be on the national scale, especially the presidential race. A nice overview of where Obama and Romney stand on these issues can be found here. But instead I'd like to turn our attention to state-level politics, because this is arena where the damage done is more real, effective, and critical. In other words, real women are affected every day by state-level legislation concerning their reproductive rights. If you've been reading my blog in the past couple years, you're no doubt familiar with my musings on North Carolina's abysmal record when it comes to abortion access - see here for a quick overview of these restrictions.

So, I'll keep this short and sweet: my part in electing pro-choice candidates in 2012 will be to implore each of you to (1) look up your state representatives if you don't know who they are already; (2) look into their voting record on pro-choice and anti-choice policies; (3) figure out if these candidates are up for re-election this year; and finally (4) vote with your conscience - should a crummy politician really have a say in your and your partner's reproductive health or should that be a personal decision between you and your medical professional?

Thanks for reading.

12th & Delaware

I just got back from seeing the documentary “12^th and Delaware,” a very powerful film about “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs) in the United States. Everyone – whether you’re pro-choice or anti-choice – should see this film by the same folks who brought us “Jesus Camp.” But if you don’t have the opportunity to do so (I think screenings are limited), then read on.

CPCs are non-medical, anti-choice facilities that spread harmful lies and withhold important information under the guise of providing safe, medically-sound pregnancy care services. According to NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina, there are at least 122 CPCs in North Carolina, and about 1000 in the U.S., according to the film. The dangerous misinformation these places spread includes claims that abortion causes breast cancer, abortion is very risky and unsafe, and that condoms and other forms of birth control are ineffective. CPCs also use manipulative tactics such as shaming women with religious ideology, suggest women delay decision-making until it's too late to have a legal abortion, offer free ultrasounds to emotionally manipulate women, and offer incentives to women (mostly poor women) who choose not to have an abortion. Additional info on CPCs in NC can be found here.

If you've seen Jesus Camp, you know that Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing have a knack for obtaining real, raw, honest footage that shows things - especially PEOPLE - how they really are with no accompanying commentary. Grady and Ewing filmed women going into an abortion clinic as well as women entering (in some cases mistakenly) a CPC, both located at the corner of 12th and Delaware in a town in Florida. The film showed women being treated at the CPC and being counseled at the abortion clinic. ALL of the lies and manipulative tactics that I mentioned in the preceding paragraph were documented in this film. For example, early in the film we see a 19 year old woman who had already had one abortion and is seeking another at the CPC (she apparently meant to go to the abortion clinic across the street, a mistake that happened to many other women). As Anne, the main provider at the CPC, launches into her spiel of lies and misinformation, all I can think is "Abortion #2? Someone please tell that girl about birth control! Give her some condoms!" When the woman mentions she has no insurance, all I can think is "Someone please tell that girl about Planned Parenthood!" Spoiler alert: after her non-medically-certified ultrasound, the women leaves and we soon find out that she got her abortion anyway, just as she had already decided to do. Anne is understandably near tears when she learns this, as am I, but my feelings are intensified by the outrage I feel at CPCs for doing essentially nothing to ensure this woman will not be seeking Abortion #3. But more than this, what these CPCs ARE doing (e.g., telling them condoms don't work) probably increases the likelihood of yet another unintended pregnancy and abortion. And they call themselves "pro life."

There were plenty of other places in this film where I nearly lost it. There was a woman who was heading into the abortion clinic and is stopped by the pleas of a group of protestors. In Spanish, they beg her not to kill her baby. She looks fearful, but listens, before finally telling them in a shaking voice that she is a single mom with 6 children already and no government support. "We'll give you whatever you need!" the protestors insist, "clothes for your children, money, food." One has to wonder for how long this charity actually lasts. According to the NARAL NC report on CPCs, "the assistance by many CPCs is, in reality, sporadic and contingent upon submitting to religious education." Some CPC volunteers even admitted that they only help women for a few months before cutting off all help.

The film also featured several women who indicated that their partners were abusive or refused to wear condoms. One woman at the CPC mentioned that her partner was verbally abusive. Rather than offering any comfort, counsel, or referral to a domestic abuse center, Anne instead said something along the lines of "a baby would change him," as if unwanted babies are the remedy for domestic violence.

But what really moved me to tears was a soft-spoken 15 year old girl. Near the beginning of the film Anne and the others at the CPC successfully scared this girl out of having an abortion with their usual inaccurate scare tactics, including inflating the risk that abortion could result in death. The girl is allegedly 7 weeks pregnant (I say "allegedly" because the film shows how this CPC deliberately made women think they were several weeks earlier in their pregnancy than they actually were to make them think they had more time to re-evaluate their decision). We see this girl again near the end of the film at which point she is 7 months pregnant. She expresses shame and worry, but what really gets me is that she mentions she decided not to have an abortion because of what Anne had told her, and that instead she was trying to end her pregnancy by doing things she perceived to be harmful for the baby, like drinking vinegar and lifting heavy things. Anyone who thinks criminalizing abortion is the answer - THINK ABOUT THIS GIRL AND OTHERS LIKE HER.

Let me be crystal clear. Abortion is tragic. I doubt any decent person would disagree with that. The decision to have an abortion should by no means be taken lightly and should be aided by counseling (as it most certainly is at Planned Parenthood and other legitimate medical facilities). We can all agree that abortion needs to be reduced and ideally eliminated. But the way to reduce abortion is NOT to lure women with misinformation and empty promises. The way to reduce abortion is NOT to criminalize it. The way to reduce abortion is NOT to tell women that condoms don’t work. The way to reduce abortion is NOT to withhold information about contraception from women prone to unintended pregnancies. The way to reduce abortion is NOT to withhold counseling and other professional support from a woman who’s just confided in you that her partner abuses her. The way to reduce abortion is NOT to scare a 15 year old girl with lies so that she decides not to have a safe, medical abortion and instead abuses her own body.

I encourage you to check out the situation with CPCs in your state, but if you're a fellow North Carolinian, listen up – this is important: first, do NOT buy a specialty “Choose Life” license plate when you’re at the DMV, as $15 of your money will be funneled to CPCs; second, do your homework before the next election and make sure you VOTE OUT anti-choice representatives in our state legislature. It is because of them that NC passed HB 854, the "Women Know Nothing" Act that requires women seeking an abortion to obtain an ultrasound 72 to 4 hours before the procedure, even if they already had one. The clincher is that this law also requires the state to maintain a registry of organizations that provide free ultrasounds for pregnant women, which means - you guessed it - this registry is littered with CPCs. As noted in that previously referenced report, "Legitimate public health clinics are often unable to offer all of their services free of charge, meaning that the law will effectively direct low-income women to these ideologically driven CPCs without any mention of their anti-choice agenda. By forcing the government to create and maintain a registry of these groups, the law, in essence, establishes a state-sanctioned channel through which women are referred to CPCs."

So again, fellow North Carolinians, two things to take away from all of this:

1. Don't buy "Choose Life" license plates
2. Show our anti-choice legislatures the door, and feel free to put a boot in their ass on the way out.

If you know what's up with CPCs in your state, please comment here - I'd be very interested!