Abortion

Anti-abortion extremists in the US are waging a holy war against women (2/24/2024)

The Lancet

Women DO have a choice. Defeat Republicans or lose rights.

Forced pregnancy and birth in a country without paid leave, without universal healthcare access, and without universal childcare is just straight up sadism. Buffy the Psych Prof (@DrPsyBuffy)
the political vision that ties them together... gatherings in Northern California, where agri-business men team up with pastors who have direct access to the Trump White House; to North Carolina, where Christian nationalist leaders recruit clergy to their partisan activism; to Arizona, where charter school operators with sectarian agendas are indoctrinating schoolchildren on the taxpayer’s dime; and to Verona, Italy, where American representatives of what they call a “global conservative movement” gather with international far-right leaders to declare war on global liberalism. We will revisit the strategy meetings of the late 1970s in which it was decreed, several years after Roe v. Wade, that abortion would be packaged and sold as the unifying issue of the movement. The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, KATHERINE STEWART
Protect embryos worldwide? Critical to Republicans. Protect already-born children at our border? In Yemen where we support Saudi Arabia as it starves children? Or the rest of the world's children? Not important at all to Republicans (comment on a letter to the NYT)
The reversal of reproductive rights in America is contrary to global trends. Why? Compared with similar Western democracies, Republican voters are exceptionally socially conservative, religious and authoritarian. Pippa Norris
I think one can provide many illustrative examples of the way in which politics has interfered with the progress of health. And the influence of religion never did show itself until the Vatican began to use its influence through the church organizational structure, which, incidentally, probably is one of the best organizational structures the world's ever seen. So, one way or another, sometimes surreptitiously, the Catholic church used its influence to defeat, if you will, any movement toward family planning or birth control. Milton P. Siegel
All the children that could potentially come into this world that would be unwanted, unloved, and abused.Such a great sin to do that to a child because when a parent doesn't want a child, the child knows it. Actress Rosy Parez Talking to Nicolle Wallace
"But once you grasp the fact that legalizing women’s reproductive rights does not raise the incidence of induced abortions, only one issue remains to be debated. Should they be legal and safe or illegal and dangerous? Hmmm, tough question." George Monbiot Sex Pests
We should be able to acknowledge the complexity of private decision making, without threatening the right of private decision making.” Katie Watson
Pro Life ?
the political vision that ties them together... gatherings in Northern California, where agri-business men team up with pastors who have direct access to the Trump White House; to North Carolina, where Christian nationalist leaders recruit clergy to their partisan activism; to Arizona, where charter school operators with sectarian agendas are indoctrinating schoolchildren on the taxpayer’s dime; and to Verona, Italy, where American representatives of what they call a “global conservative movement” gather with international far-right leaders to declare war on global liberalism. We will revisit the strategy meetings of the late 1970s in which it was decreed, several years after Roe v. Wade, that abortion would be packaged and sold as the unifying issue of the movement. The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, KATHERINE STEWART
explanation for the sudden crime drop of the 1990s: the decision to legalize abortion ... The Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion nationwide potentially fits the criteria for explaining a large, abrupt, and continuing decrease in crime.
THE IMPACT OF LEGALIZED ABORTION ON CRIME* JOHN J. DONOHUE III AND STEVEN D. LEVITT

Supreme Court

Conservatives

Religion

Catholic

Population

Republicans

States

Women

Sex

Poverty

Privacy

Children

Guns

Death Penalty

Growth

Climate

Food

Pro-Lies

Equity Forward

The Supreme Court knows who is a woman and who isn’t. Women are those people the government gets to force to bear children against their will. Women are those people who can’t make their own decisions about their own lives. Women are those people whose bodies belong to the state. Ophelia Benson
“Violence against abortion clinics and providers has been part of the so-called pro-life movement virtually since 1973... The National Abortion Federation, the professional association of abortion providers has recorded a staggering 6,948 acts of violence against clinics and providers between 1977 and 2014, including eight murders, 17 attempted murders, 42 bombings and 182 arsons.” Katha Pollitt
No woman is completely free unless she is wholly capable of controlling her fertility; and ... no baby receives its full birthright unless it is born gleefully wanted by its parents." Alan F. Guttmacher (1898 - 1974)

Anti-Abortion Republicans Want Comstock Laws to be their Secret Weapon in 2024

‘Plain historical falsehoods’: How amicus briefs bolstered Supreme Court conservatives (12/4/2023)

US abortion rates rise post-Roe amid deep divide in state-by-state access (10/24/2023)

The SCOTUS Dobbs Decision Causes Moral Injury to Abortion Patients and Providers Alike (7/24/2023)

Death Penalty For Abortions Is On The Table In South Carolina (3/14/2023)

Republicans push wave of bills that would bring homicide charges for abortion (3/10/2023)

UN urged to intervene over destruction of US abortion rights (3/2/2023)

The ‘rogue’ Trump-appointed judge with abortion pill’s future in his hands (2/10/2023)

Abortion is a bread-and-butter economic issue. We need to treat it that way Rebecca Solnit (11/3/2022) The Guardian

Republican attack on Women's Rights.

Every medical association opposed SCOTUS overturning Roe, so do a majority of people.

SCOTUS has been captured by the religious right and overturned Roe, a decision that is anti-democratic, anti-science, life threatening for many women, and is visibly resulting in chaos nationally. Every medical society and a majority of people opposed overturning Roe. It's religious bigotry vs science yet again.

Republicans have a right to practice their religion, but not to impose it on anyone else. Keep religion out of medical practice.

Small government Republicans think they can legislate women's most sensitive personal decisions instead of trusting them to make their own most informed choice.

Bear in mind that the Evangelicals, the Catholic Church, and the Republican warriors in the culture war are a serious danger to democracy, a motivator of violence, and insofar as they are unwilling to acknowledge climate damage and overpopulation they are a danger to the habitability of the planet.

Hypocrisy is on full display as Republicans advocate for the unborn, but find that paying for basic needs for survival like food, healthcare, or education are too expensive. They don´t seem to care much for the living, only the unborn. Their treatment of migrants and children at the border is proof of their disregard of human rights. So is torture.

Their belief in 'small government' allows imposing their religious beliefs on women and the rest of us. Even if it means apocalypse. After all, they are expecting it, it validates their deepest beliefs, and, being climate deniers, they may accomplish it.

Abortion on the ballot: here are the US states voting on a woman’s right to choose (10/11/2022)

Privacy and the Body: Privacy International’s response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s attack on reproductive rights (7/22/2022)

The great GOP abortion backpedal: Republicans slowly realize they live in a partisan bubble (9/1/2022)

The Irish Lesson by Fintan O’Toole (8/2022)

States With Abortion Bans Are Among Least Supportive for Mothers and Children (7/28/2022)

The Anti-Abortion Movement Is in Denial (7/29/2022)

In 6-to-3 Ruling, Supreme Court Ends Nearly 50 Years of Abortion Rights (6/24/2022)

We’re Not Going Back to the Time Before Roe. We’re Going Somewhere Worse
We are entering an era not just of unsafe abortions but of the widespread criminalization of pregnancy. (6/24/2022)

How Republicans pass abortion bans most Americans don’t want (6/8/2022)

What the Buffalo Tragedy Has to Do With the Effort to Overturn Roe (5/21/2022)

Polling on Abortion Opinion Misses How Much Would Be Tossed Out With Roe(5/20/2022)

Meet Sir Matthew Hale, the 17th century misogynist that Justice Alito mentioned 9 times in his leaked SCOTUS opinion (5/7/2022)

As the US supreme court moves to end abortion, is America still a free country? (5/3/2022) Guardian

Yes, we’ve become Gilead. (4/25/2022)

Texas abortion ban forcing thousands to cross state lines for procedure – study (3/9/2022)

Vermont could become the first state to guarantee the right to abortion in its constitution (2/8/2022) Washington Post

‘Historical accident’: how abortion came to focus white, evangelical anger (12/2/2021) Guardian

What We See in the Shameful Trends on U.S. Maternal Health (11/21/2021) NYT

Overturning abortion rights would violate international human rights treaties ratified by the US (11/8/2021)

Abortion Has Never Been Just About Abortion (9/15/2021)

There’s a straight line from US racial segregation to the anti-abortion movement (9/8/2021) Randall Balmer in the Guardian

UN experts condemn Texas abortion law as sex discrimination ‘at its worst’ (9/7/2021) Guardian

Texas Tries to Upend the Legal System With Its Abortion Law (7/19/2021)

They Say They Are Attacking Abortion. They Are Really Hurting the Poor. (2/16/2021)

Protect the Right to Choose - Make Roe Law

Revealed: $280m ‘dark money’ spent by US Christian Right groups globally (10/27/2020)

Links

Pro-Lies

Women on Web

National Women's Law Center

NARAL

NOW

International Planned Parenthood Federation

Pathfinder International

Abortion in the US by State

How to be Pro Life

Media Matters

Emily's List

Organizations: Sexual and reproductive health and rights

National Partnership for Woman and Families

Abortion Access

Christian Choice

The Abortion Rights Activist -- Reports news on activist issues and violence alerts.

Left Out -- Pro-life philosophy from -- surprise -- a liberal's point of view.

International Planned Parenthood Federation

plannedparenthood.org

Prochoice America

Center For Reproductive Rights

National Abortion Federation -- The voice of abortion providers.

Planned Parenthood -- Excellent pro-choice statistics and arguments.

On The Issues - quotes from the candidates.

Having Kids

Rewire News Group

Population Connection

Freedom From Religion Foundation

Abortion Freedom

Pew Worldwide Abortion Policies

What Does the Bible Say About Abortion?

FFRF

Anti-Abortion Violence

ACLU Reproductive Freedom

Matt Bowman

Guttmacher Institute

AllAboveAll

Equity Forward

Population Matters

Population Connection

Carole Joffe, PhD

Center For Reproductive Rights

Physicians for Reproductive Health

HHS Watch

Dispatches from the War on Women

Poverty and inequality

Voice of Choice

Sea Change Program

Trust Women

Scott Lloyd

The Abortion Rights Activist
Reports news on activist issues and violence alerts.

Left Out
Pro-life philosophy.

National Abortion Federation
The voice of abortion providers.

Planned Parenthood
Excellent pro-choice statistics and arguments.

Emily's List

The Vatican Role

NSSM 200

Summary of principal issues concerning abortion: (10/2019)

Republicans claim to value liberty, but won't allow choice if it is at odds with their ideology. If they really valued liberty, they would stay out of individual personal medical decisions of all kinds. Instead they would repeal the ACA with no replacement throwing 32 million off healthcare.

Republicans don't believe in family planning, birth control, a women's right to choose, gay marriage, sex education, or other population limiting policy.They are, in many ways, like the Taliban. They are sometimes violent about it.

Human population has grown beyond earth's sustainability, the kids will inherit a hostile planet. But Republicans do not acknowledge a problem, oppose a women's right to choose, family planning, reproductive rights or even sex education.

Right to Life

Republicans only seem to care about the 'right to life' for the unborn, certainly not for those children in concentration camps on the border, For the 16,000 children who die each day of starvation, they have said little. In their trade-mark hypocrisy and disdain for international norms, they strongly favor the death penalty. More Americans are shot dead by toddlers, but Republicans love their guns. They do not hesitate to send thousands off to endless wars.

Religious groups, including Roman Catholic Bishops, have been willing to block any meaningful health care reform in order to impose their views on abortion. They made no secret of their opposition. Patrick Kennedy or even President Biden famously may no longer take communion. The latest Republican tax bill is estimated to throw millions off their health insurance. That's what 'pro-life' means to them.

Bill O'Reilly, indoctrinated by Catholics, is credited with the death of at least one abortion doctor. Religion, without a doubt, is a leading motivation for violence, terrorism, and war. Abortion has been a major cause of political polarization and violence in the US. The religious right loves guns.

Violence from religious fundamentalists has been effective in reducing abortions.

All major religions make women second class citizens.

Ten Million Children Worldwide Die From Lack of Health Care. (Does the 'pro-life' movement know about this ?)
According to Teresa Cerojano in The Associated Press, "More than 200 million children worldwide under age five do not get basic health care, leading to nearly ten million deaths annually from treatable ailments like diarrhea and pneumonia, a US-based charity said Wednesday." (5/6/2008)

'Pro-life' Republicans can not bring themselves to accept health care as a right. Further, it appears they are willing to remove millions of people from health insurance to pay for huge tax cuts for the wealthy. If that is not moral hypocrisy, what is ?

Population growth is a fundamental driver of the multiple disasters that Republicans are fast leading us. It is population growth that accelerates carbon pollution, forest conversion to cropland, species extinction, that are changing the climate. It is visible in record heat waves, glacial melting, the shortage of fresh water, droughts, pollution, forest fires, rising sea levels, fisheries collapse, ocean acidification, As more areas become uninhabitable there are certain to be more wars, probably nuclear, and massive immigrations.

Just as Republicans deny global warming, doubling down of fossil fuels, withdrawing from the Paris agreement, continue to build nuclear weapons at a massive scale, ready deep bunkers for high level officials, build walls to keep 'them' out, they have targeted Planned Parenthood, and refuse to grant women the right to choose.

(Check pages on limits to growth, environment. Population, women, and Sex, before you make up your mind about this.)

The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime

SCOTUS lies

State Campaigns to Outlaw Abortion Barely Mentioned by Major Outlets (5/19/2021)

They Say They Are Attacking Abortion. They Are Really Hurting the Poor. (2/16/2021)

Republicans employ new ‘extremely aggressive’ tactics to ban abortion (2/12/2021)

The Apps For Ireland's Anti-Abortion Campaigns Allow User Data To Be Shared With The NRA (2/2021)

Catholic Priests used to perform abortions, and it was considered a lesser sin than fornication (10/1/2020)

Poll: Majority of adults don't support overturning Roe v. Wade (9/29/2020)

"In 1969, President Richard Nixon established a separate Office of Population within USAID and gave it a $50 million annual budget." In 1970, President Nixon signed a bill creating a commission to evaluate national population growth, which he described as “explosive In every way as we head into the last third of this century.” https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/17/archives/nixon-signs-bill-creating-commission-on-population.html. Also in 1969, He spoke before Congress on the issue.:" "Special Message to the Congress on Problems of Population Growth." http://www.population-security.org/09-CH1.html Unfortunately, churches and conservative groups went ballistic at the recommendations of the Commission: The recommendation boldly confronted explosive issues: Abortion – decriminalize it; Contraceptives – remove the remaining legal bars to their availability; Sex education – make it available to all through schools and community institutions; Immigration – freeze legal immigration at 400,000 a year and stop illegal immigration; Equal Rights Amendment – support it and other efforts to ban all discrimination based on sex. So here we are. Letter to the New York Times (2/18/2021)
Protect embryos worldwide? Critical to Republicans. Protect already-born children at our border? In Yemen where we support Saudi Arabia as it starves children? Or the rest of the world's children? Not important at all to Republicans (comment on a letter to the NYT)
Almost 8 billion people on earth. Think of all the consumption that is, depleting the world's resources. Think of all the space that takes, pushing out all other species. Think of the the denial about over-population that goes on, when birth-control should be a world-wide human right. NYT letter from Ontario, Canada.

Senator Sanders

"I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is." Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B.

Lost Your Job Because of COVID-19? Republicans Want to Restrict Your Abortion Coverage. (5/14/2020)

Abortion by Telemedicine: A Growing Option as Access to Clinics Wanes (4/28/2020)

pro-life ?

Red States Are Exploiting Coronavirus to Ban Abortion (4/6/2020)

Humanity’s survival on earth starts with having smaller families

The State of Abortion and Contraception Attitudes in All 50 States (8/13/2019)

US abortion policy is 'extremist hate' and 'torture', says UN commissioner (6/4/2019)

Abortion and crime: who should you believe?

Bravo to the Netherlands, Canada, Sweden and other countries for providing more money for womens health to try to make up for what Trump is doing." Nicholas Kristof
How hard is it to imagine, for example, people who strongly believe that abortion is murder deciding that judges or other officials who protect abortion rights should not be able to live peaceably with their families? ... Of course, this is not hard to imagine at all, since abortion opponents have assassinated abortion providers in their homes and churches, firebombed their clinics and protested at their children’s schools. The Roman Catholic Church has shamed politicians who support abortion rights by denying them communion. The failure to acknowledge this history is a sign of the reflexive false balance that makes it hard for the mainstream media to grapple with the asymmetric extremism of the Republican Party. We Have a Crisis of Democracy, Not Manners: Michelle Goldberg
Teen Birth Rate by State
The abortion policy in this country looks most similar to the immigration policy. And like immigration, abortion is deterred through Isaac Newton elements—time and space. Both sides treat these issues as a battle over morality, neither bring in the clear politics of necessity. With a lot of money, perhaps immigration and abortion are choices. But without money, both are acts of self-defense. If you need to immigrate, you do it. If you need an abortion, you do it. Neither are ideal, both are too often necessary. Nick Pemberton
Protect embryos worldwide? Critical to Republicans. Protect already-born children at our border? In Yemen where we support Saudi Arabia as it starves children? Or the rest of the world's children? Not important at all to Republicans (comment on a letter to the NYT)
“I am pro-life. I care about the life of every child: every child that goes to bed hungry, every child that goes to bed without a proper education, every child that goes to bed without being able to be a part of the Texas dream, every woman and man who worry about their children’s future and their ability to provide for that future. I care about life and I have a record of fighting for people above all else.” Wendy Davis
No matter where you think about the kind of cosmic question of where life begins, most Americans can get on board with the idea of, alright, I might draw the line here, you might draw the line there, but the most important thing is the person who should be drawing the line is the woman making the decision. Pete Buttiegieg
"Choosing not to bear a child for whom a nurturing environment cannot be guaranteed isn't a denial of responsibility— it's the ultimate assumption of responsibility for oneself and the world." In Defense of My Right to Abortion in Macedonia

What Happens if Roe Is Overturned? Answers to 7 Questions on the Battle Over Abortion (12/3/2019)

Abort to Save a Child From a Life of Suffering? (11/2/2019)

Abortion Pills Should Be Everywhere, I bought them online. They’re easy to get, and they’ll change everything. (8/3/2019)

Abortion opponents don’t care what happens to an unwanted child, and they’ve never cared about the mother. (6/23/2019)

Court Rules That the Trump Administration’s No-Abortion Policy Should Remained Blocked While the Case Proceeds as a Class Action (6/14/2019)

New economic research resurfaces debate about the link between legalized abortion and crime reduction (5/24/2019)

A Dutch Doctor Has Been Mailing Abortion Pills to Women in the US. Now the FDA Is Going After Her. (5/2019)

The Anti-Abortion Nuts Are Playing for Keeps This Time Around (5/9/2019)

The Most Dangerous Time for Women’s Rights in Decades (5/15/2019)

People Support Fetal ‘Heartbeat’ Legislation Until You Tell Them What It Does (5/7/2019)

Trump refugee chief keeps spreadsheet of teens who want abortions: report (4/6/2019)

The Republicans of Gilead, A louche administration takes aim at reproductive rights. (2/25/2019)

What Brett Kavanaugh’s Dishonest Anti-Abortion Dissent Reveals About His Supreme Court Agenda (2/17/2019)

An Abortion Provider—and Formerly Undocumented Immigrant—Tells Her Story (1/18/2019)

Fascists Find Fertile Recruitment Ground in Anti-Choice Movement (12/11/2018)

In Wake of Anti-Choice Senate Vote, Argentines Join Movement to Abandon Catholic Church (8/19/2018)

With the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh, Roe v. Wade is likely dead (7/10/2018)

Why We Are Leaving the G.O.P. (6/24/2018)

Abortion wars flare for midterm election campaign (5/26/2018)

‘Scarlet A’ Wants Less Shouting About Abortion and More Talking (2/14/2018)

Republicans in Congress Consider a Bill That Would Ban Most Abortions (11/1/2017)

Richard Dawkins on Abortion (10/24/2017)

Teen Immigrant Wants an Abortion but the Government is Stopping it (10/19/2017)

Sex, Sanctimony and Congress (10/5/2017)

The US Has the Highest Maternal Death Rate of Any Developed Country. Why Aren't We Doing More About It? (7/27/2017)

How Trump signed a global death warrant for women (7/21/2017)

The Abortion Battlefield (6/22/2017)

Donald Trump vs Women's Health (5/20/2017)

The Global Gag Rule Isn't Just About Abortion — It's A Sign Of What's To Come (1/23/2016)

How the Vatican influences population growth policy (12/27/2016)

Trump’s Anti-Abortion Order Is Actually Likely to Increase Abortions (1/23/2016)

Poland’s great leap backwards (11/11/2016)

One hundred years after Margaret Sanger opened the nation’s first birth-control clinic, Republicans are still attacking Planned Parenthood.(10/17/2016)

4 Ways Research Has Reframed the Abortion Debate (7/14/2016)

Whether you’re pro-choice or not, the abortion debate is not about you (6/4/2016)

The Return of the D.I.Y. Abortion (3/5/2016)

Should you 'come out' about your abortion? (3/1/2016)

John Oliver on Abortion (2/21/2016) Video

43 Years After Roe: We’ve Come a Long Way, Maybe? (1/22/2016)

Violent anti-choice rhetoric must end, or anti-abortion violence never will (11/29/2015)

Republicans Proven Wrong: Anti-Abortion Laws Hurt Women (10/8/2015)

5 different ways Republicans will try to take down reproductive rights this fall (9/23/2015)

The Fight For Unplanned Parenthood (9/18/2015)

The Coming End of Abortion Rights…and Contraception? (8/19/2015)

Majority of Americans are Pro-Choice (5/29/2015)

Types of Attacks on Planned Parenthood (2014)



Republicans Take Aim at Poor Women (6/22/2015)

Hillary Clinton on Abortion (4/18/2015)

Congress Must Stop Playing Politics with Abortion (3/26/2015)

Abortion Clinics Scarce in Deep South (7/14/2014)

The Battle Over Abortion in the Catholic Church (7/12/2014)

Open Season on Reproductive Health Care Clinics": A Clinic Escort Responds to McCullen Ruling (6/27/2014)

Another Quote from the Madhatter's Tea Party - Birth Control (video about a minute)

GOP Vaginal Probe

The Seven Most Common Lies About Abortion (3/9/2014)

More Anti-Abortion Bills Threaten Reproductive Rights In Ten States (2/19/2014)

Why Do We Have Unsafe Abortions in the United States ? (2/6/2014)

GOP's War on Women


Opponents of abortion rights often make the same misleading arguments. Here's why they're wrong. 7/23/2013

Why the Relentless Assault on Abortion in the United States? (7/23/2013)

Republican Congressman: Fetuses With Guns Won't Be Aborted (4/15/2013)

The Campaign to Outlaw Abortion (3/30/2013)

New Anti-Choice Legislation to Watch (1/31/2013)

Definition of Hypocrisy (1/25/2013)

Enough With The Abortion Myths: Here Are  the Facts (1/22/2013)

50 Reasons to Boycott the Catholic Church (11/26/2012)

Tod Akin: It's Not A War on Women, It's a war on Critical Thinking and Democracy (8/20/2012)

Obama vs Romney on Contraception (8/12/2012)

GOP Makes Contraception an Election Issue (7/19/2012)

Americans, Including Catholics, Say Birth Control is OK (5/22/2012)

Legalized Abortion and Crime

Opus Dei and the War on Birth Control: Neofascism Within the Catholic Church

GOP Pushes Personhood Bill (11/8/2011)

Battling Over Birth Control (11/24/2011)

The Birth Control Solution (11/2/2011)

Mitt Romney: "Absolutely" Wrong For Women (11/2/2011) Video 1 Minute and 30 Seconds.

Anti-Choicers Know Exactly What They Are Doing to Incite Violence (9/9/2011)

10 States Where Abortion is Virtually Illegal For Some Women (6/12/2011)

Catholic Leader Says Woman Should Die With Her Fetus -- When Did Woman-Hating Go Mainstream? (5/24/2010)

Whose Team is it, Anyway ? (11/2009)

Fifth Abortion Doctor Assassinated in US (6/21/2009)

The Vatican Role.

Maternal Mortality FAIL in the U.S. (3/12/2010)

Why We Should Disregard a New Study Showing Abstinence-Only Ed Works (2/2/2010)

Utah Governor Signs Law Charging Women and Girls with Murder for Miscarriages. (3/9/2010)

A Pro-Life Death Sentence (2/25/2010)

The abortion issue, pushed by 'conservative' religious groups including the Catholic church, is a leading cause of domestic terrorism. It represents a level of intolerance that makes these religions a threat to the public good and the political process. (See Religion.)

Christian supremacists including evangelicals and Catholics (not to mention their Republican benefactors) have held up health care reform so they can impose their will on the abortion issue. Abortion, one of the most personal of health issues for women, might better be thought of as a women's right to choose.

Keeping women in their place is a common thread in right-wing ideology.

Emilys List on notice

You have to wonder about Republican's 'values'. Because a large fraction of the US population is without access to health care, there are many thousand unnecessary deaths, untolled suffering, bankruptcies, insecurity, and economic dislocation. Republicans claim to be pro-life, but most think the death penalty is appropriate for many crimes. If Republicans were really pro-life, they might take action for the 16,000 children worldwide who die of starvation each day.  

When intolerant religious fundamentalism leads to violence and paralysis of public governance, it is time to fortify the wall between church and state. Religious schooling should be subject to public oversight so that it does not breed ignorance and bombers. Churches that breed violence, many of them love guns, at the very least should not be tax exempt. We are paying plenty for their wars.

Women should abandon medieval religions where they are second class members. So should anyone else who cares about them.

Women are not allowed into the Catholic hierarchy, and tend to be second class members of fundamentalist or evangelical religions as well.

According to one version of 'Freakonomics', children who are wanted do much better. Considering that population has already exceeded the planet's carrying capacity and that the environment is rapidly deteriorating, limiting further population increase is prudent. See the forecast.

It is clear that religious intolerance concerning abortion has incited terrorism and violence. Just as the Taliban does.

Since human population has exceeded the carrying capacity of the earth, there should be no controversy.

As the bumper sticker says: If you are against abortion, don't have one.


Whose Team Is It, Anyway ? Katha Pollitt (The Nation)

Bearman and Bruckner ...note that communities with the highest populations of purity ball attendees also have some of the country's highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In Lubbock, Texas, where abstinence-only education has been mandated since 1995, the rate of gonorrhea has risen to double the national rate, while teen pregnancy has spiked to the highest level in the state. A congressionally funded study of adolescent behavior, Add Health - the most comprehensive of its kind in history - revealed another dirty secret of the Christian right: White evangelical women lose their virginity on average at age sixteen, younger than any group besides black Protestants. (from Max Blumenthal's excellent book Republican Gomorra Page 157)

HOW POPULATION GROWTH CONTROL THREATENS THE PAPACY

Catholic Bishops Put Sex Obsession Ahead of Mission to the Sick and the Poor

Why the Catholic Bishops Who Pushed Through the Stupak Amendment Are Hypocrites

Freakonomics on the relation of abortion and crime.

The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime

Most Americans Support Reproductive Freedom

Steve Kangas on Abortion.Hell Hath No Fury

(Note the next paragraphs shamelessly taken from notes to 100 Ways America is Screwing Up the World: John Tirman. This is number 80.

80  The Global Gag: Family Planning the Extremists’ Way
“Our continuing research shows the gag rule is eroding family planning and reproductive health services in developing countries,” says the Population Action International and a coalition of other organizations on their Global Gag Rule web site.  Their campaign deserves close attention.

The Science magazine article is “The Mexico City Policy and U.S. Family Planning Assistance,” by Richard P. Cincotta and Barbara B. Crane, from an October 2001 edition.  Michele Goldberg’s excellent coverage in Salon from June 2002 contains statistics as well as analysis.  The news item about China is cited by Sierra Club and others.

“Since 2001, the US government has used its power as a leading donor to family planning programmes to pursue policies in conflict with global agreements on reproductive rights. Prominent among these policies is the Mexico City Policy (or Global Gag Rule), which restricts non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in developing countries that receive USAID family planning funding from engaging in most abortion-related activities, even with their own funds. This paper reviews the history and political origins of the Gag Rule under several Republican party presidents. The Gag Rule has not achieved an overall reduction in abortions; rather, where it has disrupted family planning services, the policy is more likely to have increased the number of abortions. This paper concludes that the Gag Rule is a radical intrusion on the rights and autonomy of recipients of US funding. Regardless of whether or not it is rescinded in the future, the underlying issues in the politics of US reproductive health assistance are likely to persist. NGOs that wish to free themselves from the constraints it imposes must find the means to end their dependence on USAID funding, including turning to other donors. NGOs should also take the lead in opposing policies such as the Gag Rule that violate global agreements.”

Or try: Exportable Righteousness, Expendable Women by Ann Hwang – “The U.S. government is the largest donor to family planning programs around the world. But the country's backward-thinking "global gag rule," championed by "right-to-life" opponents of abortion, is actually likely to result in the deaths of more women.”

Planned Parenthood is of course a leading organization on this issue.  See also Center for Reproductive Law and Policy

Video

Reversing Roe (in theaters and streaming on Netflix.)

Lake of Fire

When Abortion Was Illegal

Bibliography

Bad Faith, Race and the Rise of the Religious Right by Randall Balmer

The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism By Katherine Stewart

How Our Modern World Is Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, Threatening Sperm Counts, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race By Shanna H. Swan with Stacey Colino

The New Handbook for a Post-Roe America, The Complete Guide to Abortion Legality, Access, and Practical Support by Robin Marty

Freakonomics on the relation of abortion and crime.

The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime

Life's Work, a moral argument for choice: Dr Willie Parker

History and Harms of the Helms Amendment (on-line)

PRO: Reclaiming Abortion Rights: Katha Pollitt

The Search for an Abortionist: The Classic Study of How American Women Coped with Unwanted Pregnancy before Roe v. Wade
by Nancy Howell Lee, Mark Crispin Miller (Editor)

Abortion: the clash of absolutes: Lawrence H. Tribe

Before the Shooting Begins: Searching for Democracy in America's Culture War: James Davison Hunter

Life Itself: Abortion in the American Mind, Roger Rosenblatt

The Search for an Abortionist: The Classic Study of How American Women Coped with Unwanted Pregnancy before Roe v. Wade by Nancy Howell Lee