choice

Breastfeeding Moms Receives Death Threats

May 10, 2013 By Elin and Hennie Weiss 1 Comment

A Swedish organization attempting to assist parents with issues relating to breastfeeding created their own take on Gangnam Style with a video showing mothers breastfeeding in public. The organization wanted to discuss public breastfeeding in a humorous way, making it less dramatic. In a few days the video was played over 34,000 times on Youtube (it has now been removed) and surprisingly many people raged over the content of the video, even going as far as posting aggressive comments and death threats in the comment section that were directed towards the women.

We have previously discussed a variety of Feminists For Choice connected to public breastfeeding. We discussed breastfeeding at the playground and touched on the subject of breastfeeding and the sexualization of women’s breasts. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Women's Health Tagged With: Breast Feeding, choice, public breastfeeding, women's breasts

Jane About Thisismyabortion.com

April 17, 2013 By Elin 2 Comments

Feminist Conversations is a regular feature here at Feminists For Choice. Today we are talking to Jane, founder of the website thisismyabortion.com. On the site, Jane shares pictures of her abortion and the website has received many comments from women all over the world.

1. How did the project come about?
This project came about after I had an abortion. The day I went in for my procedure, I was bombarded by anti-choice fanatics outside the clinic displaying bloody images of dead babies. It was horrific. I was determined to know what my abortion would look like. I decided to take pictures with my phone of the abortion after the procedure was over. It took some time for me to decide to publish these photos and make a project out of it.

2.What was your main goal when deciding to show pictures of your abortion? Was it mostly personal or also political?
The main goal for me was educational. I felt vastly manipulated by the anti-choice protesters outside that clinic that day. They took advantage of my fragile state in an unscrupulous calculated manner. It was, and is, blatant propaganda to fulfill an anti-choice agenda. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Feminist Conversations Tagged With: Abortion, anti-choice, antichoice propganda, choice, Jane, thisismyabortion.com

Abortion 101: What to Know Before You Go

January 14, 2013 By Guest Leave a Comment

Today’s post comes courtesy of FFC contributor Sarah Erdreich and guest contributor Sarah Cohen, who worked at the National Abortion Federation hotline for several years and currently lives in Philadelphia with her husband and their cat.

January 22, 2013 marks the 40^th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. All month, we’ll be running posts examining various aspects of this landmark ruling. If you’d like to contribute, let us know!

When you work in reproductive rights, people pepper you with practical questions about getting an abortion. How much does the procedure cost? How long does it take? Does it hurt? While the answers vary depending on the particular circumstances, there are a few tips you should know.

First, confirm that you actually are pregnant. This might sound obvious, but as many of us know, it’s surprisingly easy to lose track of when your last normal period occurred. If a home pregnancy test shows a positive result, you are probably pregnant; home test kits rarely give a false positive. If a home pregnancy test shows a negative result, it’s possible that you’re too early for the test to detect a pregnancy. Most test kits come with two in the package, so wait a few days and, if you still think you might be pregnant, take the second test. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Abortion Tagged With: Abortion, choice, Feminist Majority Foundation, naral, national abortion federation, national network of abortion funds, national organization of women, Planned Parenthood, Roe v. Wade, women's health

Jo Ann Dale of KRCRC Talks Faith and a Pro-Choice Attitude

December 12, 2012 By Elin Leave a Comment

Feminist Conversations is a regular series here at Feminists For Choice. Today we are talking to Jo Ann Dale, board member of the Kentucky Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (KRCRC) about the organization, faith, and a pro-choice attitude.

Tell our readers a little bit about Kentucky Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (KRCRC).

KRCRC, in existence for three decades, is an affiliate of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC). The backbone of RCRC was a network of religious leaders who had been quietly helping women locate abortion services in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They formed RCRC following decriminalization (Roe v. Wade) because they believed it would take several years for the right to become firmly established. As time went on, RCRC broadened from a specific focus on the legal right to abortion to address larger matters of reproductive justice, including contraception and structural impediments to women’s access to reproductive rights.

KRCRC carries on this work in Kentucky. Our primary focus is on abortion, contraception, and sexuality education. We maintain contacts with faith leaders from many traditions, and we provide speakers and materials for community and congregational programs. We attempt to reassure and educate those women who have been confused by the misleading or outright inaccurate statements of so-called “crisis pregnancy clinics,” whose goals are actually to eliminate abortion from the options facing a pregnant woman. We provide spiritual and emotional support for escorts and abortion provider staff, who are faced with scorn and ridicule from the protestors who gather at the clinic. We partner with other groups, such as Planned Parenthood of Kentucky and the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, to further shared goals. We maintain a list of pastoral counselors who can provide true “all options” counseling to the woman who is confused or conflicted about an unwelcome pregnancy or about perinatal loss. We monitor activity in the state legislature, and we talk with legislators to make it clear that the religious voice does not speak only from the far right, but from the middle and the left as well.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Feminist Conversations Tagged With: choice, faith, Jo Ann Dale, kentucky, KRCRC, pro-choice, Religion

Oh, Brother! Jane Romney Speaks

September 5, 2012 By Jodi Leave a Comment

Jane Romney could have lived out the rest of her brother Mitt’s presidential campaign in relative anonymity—at least among me and my uppity abortion rights-demanding, birth control-loving friends. But then like many a big sister before her, Jane had to go and open up her mouth and get all newsworthy …

Mitt Romney would never make abortions illegal as president, Jane Romney said when National Journal asked her about the subject after a “Women for Mitt” event.” He’s not going to be touching any of that,” she said. “It’s not his focus.”

Feminists for Choice Fundraiser in NYC

August 30, 2012 By Jodi Leave a Comment

On September 7, 2012, Feminists for Choice will celebrate New York’s historic role in protecting women’s reproductive rights at a happy hour fundraiser for the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF). With the Republican National Committee drafting what committee member Russ Walker boasts is “the most conservative platform in modern history”–a document that promises more rights to a zygote in a petri dish than to the living, breathing, thinking woman who might hope to carry that zygote to term–there’s no better time to support the grass roots efforts of the NYAAF to ensure that New York remains the safe haven for women it has been for generations.

When Keeping Your Child is No Longer Your Choice!

July 2, 2012 By Elin and Hennie Weiss Leave a Comment

In the last week, a horrible story about a Chinese woman forced to undergo an abortion while 7 months pregnant has caused quite the upheaval in China and in the rest of the world.

Since 1979, China has reinforced the one-child policy as a strategy to control a fast growing population. There is however exceptions to the one-child policy, such as a second child may be allowed if the firstborn is female. In terms of controlling and reducing the population, the policy has been successful. But there have been many subsequent consequences related to the policy. For example, female infanticide and forced abortion has become increasingly common as male children are deemed more desirable. The ratio of females to males in the nation is also very uneven, as is the overall age of the Chinese population (described as the 4-2-1 problem where one child will be required to care for two parents and four grandparents as they age).

As unrepentant pro-choicers, we feel that women should have the right to make their own decisions concerning their bodies and reproduction, and this includes the choice to carry, give birth to, and care for your own child as well. The problematic notion of the one-child policy not only highlights women’s extremely limited reproductive choices and reproductive rights, but also gender inequalities, as well as inequalities influenced by a person’s social class and status. [Read more...]

Filed Under: International Issues Tagged With: China, choice, Forced Abortion, One Child Policy, women

Feminism and The Politics of Choice

June 21, 2012 By Guest 3 Comments

Today’s guest post comes from Juli Myers, a middle-aged trans woman who lives west of Phoenix. Originally from the Amish Belt of central Pennsylvania, Juli is new to Arizona, new to writing, new to activism, and new to being a woman. Juli regularly blogs for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona. In Juli’s opinion, Arizona is amazing; blog writing is as enjoyable as she thought it would be; activism is full of too many cranks; and she’s loving the hell out of transitioning.

This was supposed to be an essay about sexuality, and it was going to be until I read something this morning that discomfited me a little bit.

In one of the groups to which I belong, a rather long conversation thread was carried out regarding the objectification of women. A series of photographs which were done as part of a protest portrayed scantily clad women (as well as men), and these pictures were published with cutesy slogans. The pictures of overly attractive, under-dressed people were the hook, and the captions were the message. By about a 3:1 margin in this group discussion, this use of sex was seen as gratuitous and demeaning to the women in the photos and, presumably, to all women everywhere.

There was some give and take in the discussion. Interestingly, it seemed that the few who voiced the opinion that there was nothing wrong with the use of sex to make a point felt compelled to almost apologize for expressing their views. Indeed, while they were willing to be conciliatory about their side of the argument, the contrary point of view did not defend as much as aggressively pursue their side.

The argument for the anti-sexuality side appeared to boil down to a few key points: the use of a woman’s sexuality is sexist; any use of a woman’s body that appears to emphasize her sexuality is exploitative; a woman may not feel empowered by using her sexuality in such a way; if you disagree with any of this, you are not a feminist.

My problem with this argument? I disagree with every one of those arguments against the use of sexuality, and I DO consider myself a feminist. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Feminist Theory, Guest Writers Tagged With: choice, feminism, objectification of women's bodies, sexuality

The Multiple Abortion Question

June 19, 2012 By Sarah 7 Comments

A recent essay in The New York Times Magazine thoughtfully addressed the issue of multiple abortions. The writer recounted her emotions and actions following a second unplanned pregnancy, and the reasons that she chose to have an abortion again.

The comments on the Times’ site ranged from supportive to judgmental, which is no great surprise. It’s rare that a piece about abortion or reproductive choice or contraception will run in a mainstream publication without inciting a fair number of both pro- and anti-choice comments, and at least the Times commenters kept things reasonably civil. But what really jumped out at me were the comments that began, “I’m pro-choice, but…”, and listed the reader’s reasons why women shouldn’t have more than one abortion.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Abortion Tagged With: Abortion, choice, multiple abortions, New York Times, women's health

“Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, loved you.”

January 26, 2012 By Roxanna 7 Comments

Inspired by Merle Hoffman’s new book Intimate Wars, we’re sharing some of our own most memorable pro-choice/social justice personal actions this month. If you’d like to contribute, let us know!

The first time I discovered I was pregnant I was twenty-two years old, an art school drop-out on social assistance with no home in particular. I was couch-surfing, chain-smoking and imbibing illegal substances of all kinds. The father of my foetus was a man I had known for about two months. I was crazy in love with him even though my friends disliked him and seemed concerned for my well-being. I thought he was just intensely passionate. Turns out he was intensely abusive.

When I got the news from my doctor’s office that I was not just pregnant but four weeks pregnant, I stubbed out my last cigarette and ran excitedly to tell my boyfriend the news. I had been pro-choice for years and had never, ever wanted to have kids. I had no job, no money, no permanent residence, and had just been knocked up by a virtual stranger. Logically it seemed like a no-brainer that I would have an abortion; it’s not practical to be penniless and pregnant, but on the contrary, I was ecstatic, something I never would have thought I’d feel at the prospect of becoming a “welfare mom.” No one I knew was as thrilled as I was that I was pregnant given my circumstances but I knew that becoming a mother meant becoming an adult. It meant that I had to stop messing around, start taking care of myself, and grow the fuck up. No more Gen-X slacking, no more drugs, no more all night partying. Becoming a parent gave me a focus and drive to better myself, to make myself worthy of the person growing inside me.

The second time I discovered I was pregnant I was in my mid-thirties. I had left my son’s father just before my son turned four and had been more or less on my own ever since; occasionally being involved with incredibly supportive partners. I was about five years into a fantatic career in publishing that I had worked my ass off to establish, having put myself through night school while parenting full time. I was making a decent salary, my son was happy and healthy, we lived in a great child-friendly neighborhood. I was no longer a houseless slack-ass jerk, I was a capable, confident, career-minded sole-support parent and damn proud of it.

After a few months of casually dating an old art-school friend, I realized with shock that I was pregnant. Shock because I knew the exact moment that I had become impregnanted: less than twenty-four hours before vomiting as a side effect from the morning after pill. I had rushed to the pharmacy and dutifully read the instructions and took the pills as prescribed. I wanted to do the responsible thing; concentrate on my career, continue to parent my son, and keep enjoying my hard-won life. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Abortion Tagged With: Abortion, choice, morning after pill, plan b, stories