Blog for Choice

Today is the anniversary of Roe v Wade, the United States Supreme Court decision that a woman has a right to privacy and a right to abortion. This year’s prompt for Blog for Choice Day asked, “Given the anti-choice gains in the states and Congress, are you concerned about choice in 2011?”

Yes.

The anti-choice political leaders have already started on their agenda by trying to pass bills to restrict a woman’s access to abortion and cut federal funding for abortion. This is worse than trying to just outright illegalize abortion because it can appeal to those who are mixed choice and doesn’t completely overturn the ruling of Roe v Wade. But the outcome will be the same. Even if abortion remains legal, placing heavy restrictions on access to abortion will leave women with no place to go when they need help the most.

So yes, I am very concerned.

MTV Acknowledges the Option of Abortion

One of the most popular reality shows is MTV’s “16 and Pregnant” which instigated the spinoff show, “Teen Mom”. The sad thing about these shows that teenagers find so entertaining is that it only shows one side of the whole story, only one option. Last week, MTV aired a new spinoff that shows another, viable option for unexpected pregnancies called “No Easy Decision”. The episode followed the story of Markai and James, a teenage couple who decide that abortion is the best decision for them.

Markai and James were previously stars on “16 and Pregnant” through their pregnancy with their first child. The show revealed how difficult raising a child is, especially when young and faced with other hardships such as trying to graduate from high school and make a living to support your new family. When Markai becomes pregnant for the second time she and James come to the conclusion that abortion is in the best interest for the whole family financially and emotionally.

As explained in “No Easy Decision”, there are three options when faced with an unexpected pregnancy: becoming a parent, adoption, or abortion. All three choices are no easy decisions. As Markai says in the episode, either decision she makes there will be a “what if”. The most powerful thing you can hold onto is your freedom of choice, so that you can make the right decision for YOU.

Watch “No Easy Decision” from MTV.com

No Easy Decision - MTV Shows

Also check out:

www.itsyoursexlife.com

www.4exhale.org

Anti Choice Pseudoscience

On Monday, there was an article in the Washington Post about a new study that disputes the link between abortion and mental health. It has long been the agenda of anti choice advocates to dissuade pregnant women from seeking abortion by providing so called “medical” advice. One such “medical” scare tactic is Post Abortion Syndrome. Sounds fancy, right? Post abortion syndrome has yet to be scientifically proven as an actual medical condition and is not acknowledged by any professional medical or psychological organization. Anti choice advocates define post abortion syndrome as a form of posttraumatic stress caused by the guilt of having an abortion. In the Washington Post article, Study disputes link between abortion and mental health problems, Rob Stein writes about how a new study based on the same statistics and data used by anti choice advocates to “prove” post abortion syndrome, shows no casual correlation between abortion and mental health. In other studies, abortion has been found to make many women feel relieved, quite contrary to the reports of anti choice supporters. This does not go to say that abortion does not negatively affect some women, but carrying to term a pregnancy can also negatively affect some women. Stress is caused by any change in a person’s life and is not limited to abortion but to any aspect of a pregnancy and therefore medically accurate information and not a series of pseudoscience is important for every woman to make an informed decision. While it is the anti choice agenda to dissuade abortions by any means, it is the pro choice agenda to provide medically accurate information and let the woman choose.

Nevada County high school students! It's your legal right to have medically accurate HIV/AIDS information!

A group of Boston-area teens are pushing the city school department to provide access to condoms and comprehensive sex ed in all high schools.

What about you? In California it's a law that HIV/AIDS classes must be taught twice, once in junior high and once in high school. And those classes MUST be medically-accurate, and MUST provide local sources where students can get condoms, tested, and counseling. And if the schools teach sex ed, it must also be medically accurate.

How does your high school add up? Not too well in the past...read about Citizens for Choice's effort to ensure that you do get medically accurate sex ed.

And then demand medically accurate sex ed!

Take back the Ursus Arctos Horribilis!

There was an interesting blog today in the daily report for the National Partnership for Women and Families. Gail Collins, New York Times, writes that she "think(s) it is time to take back the mama grizzly," which former Alaska Gov. and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used as a symbol of GOP female candidates in the midterm elections. Feminist writer and activist Gloria Steinem told Collins that real female grizzy bears "are famous for their reproductive freedom." She added that they "mate later than other bears," have fewer cubs, wait longer between pregnancies and "re-absorb the embryo into their body" if they are faced with a poor situation for raising cubs.

Is this true? Is the female grizzy bear a better symbol for the pro-choice crowd? Of course we needed to check out the sources and you can check them out also, on Wikipedia.

• grizzly bears have one of the lowest reproductive rates of all terrestrial mammals in North America
• once mated with a male in the summer, the female delays embryo implantation (birth control!) until hibernation, during which abortion (abortion!) can occur if the female does not receive the proper nutrients and caloric intake.
• on average, females produce two cubs in a litter and the mother cares for the cubs for up to two years, during which the mother will not mate (of course they're not married so they should be abstinent!)
• once the young leave or are killed, females may not produce another litter for three or more years depending on environmental conditions.
• grizzlies are subject to fragmentation, a form of population segregation, which can decrease the average litter size (more birth control!).
• ...and they can reabsorb the embryo.(Eastern Slopes Grizzy Bear Project)

And btw, blond grizzlies are rare and they don't look white.

And the heat goes on...

It's so very unfortunate that the House of Representatives will now be ruled by anti-choicers, who will do all they can to make not only abortion illegal or difficult to obtain, but also birth control. They will not doubt try to slash government subsidies for family planning - especially the government subsidy that currently keeps Family PACT afloat (the California state-run family planning program.)

As Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the anti-choice Susan B. Anthony group "This shift in numbers from pro-abortion to pro-life women is historic and not accident. It is a corrective moment for the women's movement who must either drop abortion out of its center or risk dropping off the face of the earth."

Oh, I don't think so.

Positive Sexuality!

If you're a teen, you need to visit Coalition for Positive Sexuality.

Here's what they say:

You have the right to complete and honest sex education. Demand information from your school, healthcare provider, and parents.

We have a quick and easy online tour through the most important topics for teens who are sexually active now or just thinking about having sex. It's called "Just Say Yes" because we're tired of people telling us what we can and can't do. There's no preaching. No moralizing. Just the facts.