abortion

Rebick showers on May

12/20/2006 by Debra

Judy Rebick is no stranger to the abortion debate.

She is one of those who helped in the fight to provide women with a choice.

Ms. Rebick is seen here fending off an attack on Dr. Morgentaler at the opening of a clinic in Toronto.

Too bad the debaters club doesn’t realize that this sort of thing still happens. It happens to ordinary women making perfectly legitimate choices for themselves and to the doctors who provide needed medical procedures.

In Ms. Rebick’s own words;

Dear Elizabeth,
I would have written sooner but I have been travelling.
Since I got back, I have carefully reviewed your statements on abortion and I have to say that I am sorry but I will no longer be supporting you or the Green Party in any way.
As you know I was very supportive of your running as leader of the Green Party and despite my differences with some of the platform of the Party I have up until now felt that your presence added a great deal to the federal political scene. But now you have questioned the most important victory of the women’s movement of my generation.
If you had said that you personally oppose abortion but you support a woman’s right to choose, I would have been fine with that. Instead you said that a woman’s right to choose, something tens of thousands of Canadian women fought for for decades, was trivializing an important issue. It felt like a slap in the face.
Since you have so little respect for me or for the women’s movement which mobilized for so long to win this hard-earned right, I hope you will understand that I ripped up the cheque I had written to the Green Party and you can no longer rely on me for support.

ETA:Apparently someone at this site either thinks I am anti abortion or that it would be a hoot to send the anti choicers my way. Why do the anti choice crowd make it so easy to question their intelligence?

Wheel of misfortune

12/15/2006 by Debra

Italy has revived the medieval practice of establishing special depositories where parents can safely and anonymously abandon their unwanted newborn babies.
From the as far back as the 8th century, it was common for desperate mothers to lay an unwanted child on a wooden wheel, which was half inside the wall of a convent and half outside. This allowed mothers to leave their babies without been seen.
Today’s version of the so-called “foundling wheel,” follows the same concept, but has been updated. The new foundling wheel offers a heated cradle area and is located half inside the Casilino hospital in Rome.

Some would ponder why we are still using medieval concepts to deal with women’s issues. Some might ponder the circumstances of these pregnancies, the emotional after care of the mothers and children.

Others might say

“It represents an intelligent and efficient way for social structures to face dramatic situations…it follows the call of all those struggling to give children, women and all those who live in difficult conditions, equal opportunities and dignity,” Turco said in a statement.

huh.

Here’s a list of things that contribute to equal rights and dignity see if you can find the one that doesn’t seem to belong;

Obviously this is better than a child being left in the street but rights and dignity?

I don’t think so.

I May have to scream….

12/14/2006 by Debra

After beginning this post I realized I was just too angry to write a nice explanatory post.

I’m angry…I’m angry that some really think that a womans’ right of control of her body is something they can have high school level debates about.

I’m angry for my daughters. I’m angry because of the young woman I know who was kept away from all friends and family until it was too late to abort and then beaten so badly that she miscarried at 22 weeks.

I’m angry for the victims of rape forced to carry the evidence of the sperm of the prick they never wanted in their body.

I’m angry for the women who birthed till they died. I’m angry for the women who had to beg and be shamed by a panel of doctors who decided whether their choice to abort was frivolous or not.

I’m angry for all the women who have had to deal with some bastard thinking he had any fucking right deciding what she could or could not do.

I’m angry for the women fought and bled and died to get us as far as we’ve come only to have their victories put up as dartboards on frat boy walls.

Perhaps the white knights could climb off their high white horses for just a second or two and pay attention.

Abortion= a woman’s right to control a) her own body b) her own destiny c) her own life.

Why would you even put that up for debate? Who the fuck gave you permission to discuss what goes on in my womb?

Will we next be treated to a debate on whether or not rape is really a crime? If a woman has no say over her own body then how can rape exist?

And after all we wouldn’t want women saying no frivolously.

Reproductive rights are not up for political ~~wankers~~ wonkers to debate.

My body MY FUCKING CHOICE!

A woman’s right to life

12/10/2006 by Debra

The center will appeal to the Nicaraguan human rights council and the Supreme Court, arguing that the law violates a women’s right to life.

Think about that sentence for a minute…..

Has it sunk in?

A woman’s right to life

Who would ever have imagined in the year 2006 almost 2007 that we would be debating whether or not a woman’s life was worth saving.

Nicaragua has decided to enter the debate. Resolved that a fetus, even a dead one, takes precedence over a woman.

The public prosecutor for crimes against women is investigating whether doctors fearful of punishment even before the newly-passed abortion law had gone into effect stood by while Jazmina del Carmen Bojorge, 18, died from complications to her pregnancy.
Bojorge was awaiting her second child when she and her 5-month-old fetus died this month in a public hospital in Managua. Bojorge’s family says they took her to a hospital when she complained of limb pains and weakness. When her condition worsened, doctors say they determined her fetus was dead, but Bojorge went into shock before they could save her.

and

Ana Isela Vega, who was three months pregnant when she suffered a miscarriage this month, was refused the necessary procedure to evacuate her uterus in a public hospital in the city of León, said Marta María Blandón, Central America director of Ipas. According to Blandón, the doctors worried they could not operate for legal reasons. Under pressure from women’s groups who explained that the law did not forbid removing an already-deceased fetus, the doctors finally operated.

Of course we know that anti choice types only create these types of laws because of their great love of children.

Um…maybe not

Asked in an interview this month about the case of an 8-year-old Nicaraguan who was raped in 2002 and whose family fought successfully to get her a legal abortion the following year, Navarro replied, “If a 9-year-old is raped, she should have the baby, because that child has rights.”

I’m guessing he wasn’t talking about the 8 year old child.

[article here, you need to register (it’s free) to read the last page]

Day 13 (Dec. 6th Action)

12/05/2006 by Debra

Menstruating: the act of being something that bleeds for 5-7 days and doesn’t die.

When we are born, we are usually born head first but it is what is between our legs that matters most.

Before the colour of our eyes, the shape of our nose, while we are still learning to draw breath, our lives are mapped, our dreams limited, our destiny set by the act of being born with a vagina. [Read more…] about Day 13 (Dec. 6th Action)

Day 10 (Dec. 6th Action)

12/02/2006 by Debra

Are you a person?

It might be assumed that this battle has long since been fought. I would venture to say that assumption is false.

True the women of today may have the vote, but do they have the power? Certainly those of a “certain class” do as they always have, but do the vast majority of women? Do the women who have achieved some success within parties have any power? If they do, why do all the current leadership races (liberal, Albertan conservative) consist of middle age white men? [Read more…] about Day 10 (Dec. 6th Action)