The anti-choice protest 40 Days for Life began yesterday, and for the next forty days clients of Planned Parenthood will be subjected to harassment from protesters. The protest, which takes place during the forty days of Lent and forty days in the fall, focuses on reproductive health care facilities and specifically on Planned Parenthood. This protest has been happening for several years and each year they have expanded the protest to more locations around the country. However, locally the protest has received less media coverage and the amount of protesters who have continued the vigil throughout the protest has also diminished. But, something is different this time.
What makes this 40 Days for Life different is that it is the first protest since the former director of Planned Parenthood Abby Johnson resigned, and joined the organizer of the protest the Coalition for Life. When Johnson first resigned I was among the first to question the validity of the claims that she made against Planned Parenthood. Recently investigations by Texas Monthly, and the Texas Observer also raised questions about the legitimacy her conversion. Fellow KEOS radio show host and blogger, Shelly Blair, was interview for both of those stories, and appeared on Biased Transmission last night and gave more insight into those events.
That is the only thing that is different this time. Nothing has changed about the message of the protesters, and none of the information given to clients has become more factual. Nothing has change the fact that women need access to reproductive health care, and the protesters continue to harass and impede women's ability to access reproductive health care while having their privacy protected. Nothing has changed the dedication of the employees of Planned Parenthood, and the volunteers who escort patients into the facility. Nothing has changed except that there is a new face on the other side of the fence.
After being involved with Planned Parenthood for eight years, either as a volunteer or as an employee, Abby Johnson suddenly resigned this week and joined the Coalition for Life. So why would someone who had dedicated so much of their life working for reproductive rights suddenly not only change their views on abortion but on the complete scope of reproductive rights? After conducting an investigation and interviewing several sources it has become clear that this was not a spiritual awakening.
The story that Johnson has repeated is that she had a "change of heart" after witnessing an abortion through an ultrasound. According to an interview with ABC News, Johnson held the probe on the patient's abdomen during the procedure, and according to that interview Johnson was unclear as to the reason why she was there during this procedure because it was not a normal part of her duties. According to an interview with World Net Daily, Johnson said that for "whatever reason, the physician had called me back to assist with the procedure."
However, Johnson did not just happen to witness the procedure, and the procedure did not actually even take place at the Planned Parenthood that Johnson was the director of in Bryan, Texas. Johnson was visiting another clinic in the Houston area; she was there visiting a doctor that Bryan clinic was considering utilizing for abortion procedures. Johnson was specifically interested in the doctor because of the very fact that the doctor used the ultrasound, which makes the abortion safer, more efficient, and many believe more humane for the fetus. Confidential sources also confirmed that Johnson was pleased by the visit to the doctor and impressed with the procedure.
For over a year and a half I have been a volunteer escort at the Planned Parenthood reproductive health care facility in Bryan, Texas; this particular facility is located in a town home to arguably the most conservative public university, Texas A&M, and is known as one of the most anti-choice areas in the country. Located just steps from Planned Parenthood is an organization that opposes reproductive rights, the Coalition for Life. The fence that surrounds Planned Parenthood serves as the frontline between those that support reproductive rights and those that opposed reproductive rights. This week someone crossed from one side of the fence to the other: the director of the Planned Parenthood joined the Coalition for Life. How could something like this happen? The story is more complicated than the mainstream media is reporting.
Early on Saturday mornings, the days during which surgical abortions are performed; I arrive at Planned Parenthood and walk through the double doors and sign-in on the volunteer check-in sheet. I put on the yellow and orange volunteer vest, and check out a security badge. Over the next several hours I spend my morning escorting clients into the facility. Volunteer escorts meet clients at their cars and welcome them to Planned Parenthood, and as soon as the clients open their car doors the protesters being shouting through the fence. Escorts simply walk clients from their automobiles to the front door of the facility, and this demonstrates to the clients that we are there to support them. After clients leave the facility escorts walk the clients back to their automobiles, and then ensure that they have a clear path out of the driveway.
The protesters outside of the facility will shout through the fence at the clients the entire time they are arriving and leaving. Also, the protesters will stand along the driveway holding brochures and pamphlets while attempting to get the clients attention. The brochures and pamphlets include factually inaccurate information and intellectually dishonest claims. Often the false link between abortion and breast cancer is claimed in the literature, despite the fact that according to the American Cancer Society "the scientific evidence does not support the notion that abortion of any kind raises the risk of breast cancer." Also, the claim is made that women who have abortions will suffer "post-abortion syndrome," however, "post-abortion syndrome" is not recognized as a legitimate medical condition by either the American Psychological Association (APA) or the American Psychiatric Association.
It was during these mornings that I met Abby Johnson, the director of the Planned Parenthood in Bryan. Johnson was always open to talk about the issues dealing with reproductive rights, and I have always known her to be an outspoken and an opinionated advocate of reproductive rights. Sometimes Johnson would visit with the volunteer escorts in front of the facility, and complaints about the protesters seemed to always be one of the topics of conversation. When it comes to the protesters Abby had plenty to complain about. As a volunteer and then later as an employ of Planned Parenthood, she had seen times when the protesters were much more aggressive and much more hostile towards the clients, volunteers, and employees. In fact Johnson herself has been the victim of harassment, and even death threats. While Coalition for Life does not claim responsibility for the actions of all of the protesters, the Coalition for Life facilitates an atmosphere that contributes to those actions.
Every day during 40 Days for Life protesters stand in front of the fence at the Planned Parenthood in Bryan, and every day they spread misinformation and lies to the patients that utilize the clinic for reproductive health care. The protesters regularly attempt to pass information to the clients of Planned Parenthood both verbally and in written form. However, much of the information that the protesters try and give the clients is both intellectually dishonest and factually incorrect. Often false information is given about the services provided at Planned Parenthood and the facts about abortion and reproductive health care.
One of the pamphlets that are often given to clients, titled "10 Reasons to Avoid Planned Parenthood," includes several factual inaccuracies and misrepresentations. The first claim listed is that the services at Planned Parenthood focus only abortion, and that while over 6,000 abortions were performed less than 300 women received prenatal care. The truth is that according to annual reports abortion only makes up 7% of the total services provided at Planned Parenthood. Also Planned Parenthood does provide both prenatal care and adoption refers for women that chose not to terminate a pregnancy.
According to the Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas 2006 annual report, 87% of the patients visited Planned Parenthood for family planning: 89,611 out of the 103,004 patients. Also, 4,969 people were tested for HIV and counseled on prevention. Only 6,811 patients who visited all of the area Planned Parenthoods, including the Houston metropolitan area and Bryan-College Station, terminated pregnancies.
Another distortion of the facts include implying that surgical abortions are dangerous, even though less than 0.3% of abortion patients experience a complication that requires hospitalization.
On a Saturday I got out of bed at six in the morning, and put on some comfortable clothes threw a good book in my backpack and put some good music on my iPod. Then I rode my bicycle about three miles down the road to Planned Parenthood. Why would I get up so early on a Saturday just to go to Planned Parenthood? Because not sleeping in on a Saturday morning can make an important impact on women's reproductive rights. I started volunteering at the local Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas about a year ago, and in many ways I feel that it has been one of the most significant things that I do as an activist that effects people's lives.
Every day women walk through the doors of reproductive health facilities, and in many of these facilities women must deal with harassment for what is a very private and personal choice. The protesters that line up in front of these facilities claim that they are there because they care about women, and that they want to see an end to abortion. However, it is difficult to believe that the protest care about women when they participate in a culture that is patriarchal in nature and decidedly anti-woman. It is also difficult to believe that they want to see an end to abortion when they oppose every policy that actually reduces the number of abortions.
Early on Saturday mornings I arrive at the Planned Parenthood clinic, a facility that has been routinely targeted over the years but has enjoyed loyal support from community members. Sometimes if you arrive at the clinic in the early morning there are not protesters, but this week marked the first week of the anti-choice protest 40 Days for Life. As I came through the gate I noticed about half a dozen protesters in front of the fence that surrounds Planned Parenthood, and I parked my bicycle near the front door. The Planned Parenthood I volunteer at is surrounded by a fence, and staff and patients park inside the fence that provides a barrier between them and the protesters. Some reproductive health facilities are not as fortunate.
The anti-choice movement is not about abortion, but then again, the pro-choice movement is not about abortion either.
Today marks the first day of 40 Days for Life, an anti-choice movement that began in College Station, Texas. In 2004 the Coalition for Life began protesting outside of the Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas for the forty days of Lent. Protest of Planned Parenthood is nothing new, however, this protest was held for twenty-four hours a day for forty straight days. Throughout the day and night protesters stood in front of the fence with their heads bowed, or stood on the sidewalk holding up protest signs. Over the last several years the 40 Days for Life protest have expanded to twice a year, and according to the web site has spread 212 cities throughout the United States and in two other countries. Word has spread through social networking sites, and also through church communities.
The Coalition for Life likes to characterize the protest as peaceful, and emphasizes the prayer and display of protest signs. However, protesters regularly verbally target patients, volunteer escorts, and Planned Parenthood employees. The medical staff that works at Planned Parenthood has regularly been targets of verbal abuse, and some of the staff has received death threats. The volunteer escorts, who walk patients from their cars and are there as a welcoming presence, are also targeted by the protesters. The moment that a patient opens their car door the protesters begin shouting through the fence, and giving false information about reproductive health care and Planned Parenthood. In the past the Coalition for Life has distanced themselves from actions taken by protesters at Planned Parenthood, and does not take responsibility for the actions of the protesters.
Since the Supreme Court issued its decision on Roe v. Wade there has been a struggle in the United States over reproductive rights, and that struggle has included violence. This year for the first time since 1998 an abortion provider was murdered, and the rhetoric of the anti-choice movement has become increasingly vicious. After the murder of George Tiller in his church earlier this year, there is only one doctor in the country that specializes in late term abortions; Doctor Warren Hern is now the only place for women in the most difficult of circumstances to go if they need a late term abortion.
One of the most tragic things in the reproductive rights protest is the stories of women who have been actively involved in the anti-choice movement who then either desire or need an abortion. Those in the reproductive health care field have told me stories of patients that consider themselves pro-life but felt that their situation was justified. A doctor that performs abortion in Arkansas has told me stories of anti-choice protesters who would bring in their crying daughters to have an abortion at the very facility that they protested with the parents. In an article in Esquire magazine, Doctor Hern described one incident with a teenage patient:
"What brings you here? he asked. I have to have an abortion. Why? I'm not old enough to have a baby. But you told the counselor we should all be killed? Yes, you should all be killed. Why? Because you do abortions. Me too? Yes, you should be killed too. Do you want me killed before or after I do your abortion? Before."
There has been a discussion in the last few months of the extremism that has been surfacing in the public discourse over several issues and the most prominent of the issues is currently health care. The rhetoric from conservative lawmakers, commentators, and the blogosphere has been increasingly severe, although they have repeatedly denounced violence while invoking increasing vicious rhetoric. Across the country townhall meetings have erupted with constituents, who may have legitimate concerns, shouting down lawmakers and invoking violent and distasteful images; North Carolina Congressman Brad Miller received a death threat because of his support for the health care reform proposed by Congress.
However, this situation has been present in the reproductive rights debate for decades, and now that the relative calm of the Bush Administration is over another wave of violence may be around the corner. The murder of Doctor Tiller is not an isolated incident, nor was it perpetrated by a "lone wolf." Scott Roeder, the man accused of murdering Doctor Tiller, is involved in a fanatical network of anti-choice activist. According to a report by the Kansas City Star, since Roeder's arrest he has been visited in jail by the man behind the Army of God web site, two convicted clinic bombers, and several other radical anti-choice activists. One of the activists that visit Roeder said that they "support the shooting of George Tiller as justifiable homicide." This also comes after Roeder made a threat after Doctor Tiller's murder that there are "many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal."
Are Americans really more pro-life? The truth is that it is the wrong question. The question of whether or not someone identifies as pro-life or pro-choice has as much to do with the terms themselves that it does with their views on abortion.
A recent Gallup poll reported that 51% of those surveyed identified as pro-life, while 42% identified as pro-choice. For the first time since Gallup began polling on the subject in 1995 a majority of Americans self identified as pro-life. However, when you look at the public's specific views on the legality of abortion it has remained relatively constant over the last thirty-five years. Since 1975 at least 48% of those surveyed believe that abortion should be legal under certain circumstances, and at least 22% of those surveyed believe that abortion should be legal under all circumstances. While those surveyed who believe that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances has never had more than 22% and as low as 12%. Currently 53% of those surveyed believe that abortion should be legal in certain circumstances and 22% believe it should be legal in all circumstances.
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation asked if respondents would want the Supreme Court completely overturn its Roe v Wade decision, and 68% of those surveyed did not want the decision overturned. Public opinion in support of Roe v Wade has remained constant, if not increasing, over the last twenty years. This is perhaps a much more truthful depiction of the public's overall opinion on abortion, there is a difference between a people self identifying as pro-life or pro-choice and their propensity to support legal abortion. Nate Silver of 538 notes "the terms 'pro-choice' and 'pro-life' are at least somewhat fungible; years of Democrats saying things like 'I am personally opposed to abortion, but I don't think I have a right to impose my few on the rest of society'."
The following is the first installment of a Left of College Station series: The Issues We Face, an in depth look at the issues that progressive activist will face in the coming year and the coming 111th Congress and 81st Texas Legislature.
Reproductive rights will continue to be an important issue and the public debate may intensify in the next year, despite electing a pro-choice President, having Democratic majorities in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and defeating anti-choice legislation in California, Colorado, and North Dakota. The defeats that the anti-choice movement has been handed this year will galvanize the activist in that movement, even though for the first time in eight years the anti-choice movement will be on the outside looking in.
And herein lies a sharp difference between the two political parties. To the Republican Party, the "health of the mother," "health care" and the related "health care crisis," "education," "farmers," "environment," "Joe six pack," "Joe the plumber," etc. are all rhetorical talking points, not real issues to be solved with real solutions.
I would add "unborn" to this list of throwaway phrases. When you value the unborn with lip service and devalue poor childern's nurtitional, healthcare and educational needs, are you not living out the very essence of hypocracy?
This moral sloganeering defines for me the problem with our politics over the last 30 years. I blame the Republicans for setting us on this path. Howard Wolfson , reviewing Rick Perlstein's Nixonland puts it this way:
Perlstein correctly states that Nixon came "to power by using the anger, anxieties, and resentments produced by the cultural chaos of the 1960's," and defines Nixonland as the state of total political warfare over class and cultural conflicts.
Nixonland, the book, ends in 1972, but Nixonland, the place, endured, through the 70s and 80s, up until George W. Bush's re-election in 2004. Welfare queens, Willie Horton, Swiftboats; all Nixonland tactics, all designed to cleave Americans along racial and cultural lines. Perlstein writes, "What Richard Nixon left behind was the very terms of our national self-image: the notion that there are two kinds of Americans. On the one side the "Silent Majority"...On the other side are the "liberals."
The politics of Nixonland proved very successful for the Republicans, if not for America. Of the ten Presidential elections between 1968 and 2004, Republicans won 7. The only two term Democrat elected in that period was hamstrung for three-quarters of his Presidency by a Republican Congress. In Nixonland conservatives mostly set the agenda and framed the debate. When Bill Clinton famously declared "the era of big government is over" in 1996 he was conceding the obvious -- in fact it had ended at least a decade earlier.
Today was the second day of the 40 Days for "Life" campaign, and the first day that Planned Parenthood in Bryan was offering services since the campaign began on Tuesday night.
Last night the two sides of the abortion debate where separated by a fence.
The Coalition for "Life" (CFL) began its 40 Days for "Life" campaign last night; the CFL Executive Director, Shawn Carney, spoke to a group of anti-choice protesters outside the fence of the Planned Parenthood in Bryan. Inside the fence the Planned Parenthood employees, volunteers, and community supporters gathered together in support of choice.
How the Coalition for Life has targeted Planned Parenthood and uses misinformation and religious beliefs to prevent women access to affordable health care and impede their reproductive rights.
(Many thanks to those walking the walk to make a difficult time in a woman's life a little easier. - promoted by boadicea)
Last week...
Last week I called Planned Parenthood and volunteered to escort. So, Monday morning I road my bike up to Planned Parenthood, and met with one of the clinics medical professionals.
As I rode up to the clinic I noticed that there were no protesters, which I did not mind at all. I parked my bike outside the door and left my backpack on the handlebars; there is a sign on the clinic door that is a notice not to bring backpacks are bags into the clinic (for obvious security reasons). As I came in through the double doors the clinic did not seem out of the ordinary, it looked like just about any other medical facility I have ever been in. After checking in at the front desk one of the clinics medical professionals came out of the "Staff Only" door and greeted me.
The staff member showed me into a room where volunteers sign in on a check-in sheet and where the volunteer vests are kept. After sitting down she asked me a few questions, and then she had several forms that I had to fill out and sign. Some of the forms I filled out where information about myself, and others where forms that protected the privacy of staff and clients. Then the staff member told me what to expect when I escorted, and things to do and things not to do and how to interact with the clients and how not to interact with the protesters.
It did not take long to fill out the paperwork, and in about fifteen minutes I was done. My information would be reviewed and after approval I would receive an email regarding what times I could be available for escorting.
Choice. It is something that all Americans have in many different circumstances. However, there are some who believe that are choices must be limited. There are some who believe that abortion is immoral, and that it should be made completely illegal. However, those that are proponents of eliminating this choice ignore the consequences of losing that choice and ignore the far reaching effects of legislating morality.
A woman's right to choice is increasingly under attack, and those that are anti-choice are making the voices heard more and more and the politicians that are anti-choice are trying to push anti-choice agendas in the legislatures, the courts, and now in this very important general election. If John McCain and Sarah Palin are elected in November the right to choice is over, Roe v. Wade will be overturned, and contraception will be outlawed.
This is something I was writing live on my final day in Denver. This was a great panel, if not a terribly well-composed diary.
Sitting in a panel with Cecile Richards, Nancy Keenan, Dr. Eliza Buyers, and Dr. Ruben Alvaro
They're speaking about Amendment 48. This issue will not stay in the boundaries of Colorado. It will be a testing ground for this kind of law across the nation. It's interesting to see another state being a lab for bad government.
They aren't talking about this on the anti-choice sites. They want to keep this under the radar, so that people will think this is benign, and the amendment will pass quietly without comment. It's a strategy, and we have to bring it to the nation's attention.
Like both James Dobson and Tony Perkins' pro-war Family Research Council prayer team, Conservative Woman is hell on both Islamist plots and abortion - but what happens when their twin "Christian" crusades collide?
What is happening is exactly what anyone should have expected. Pregnant Iraqi women and their babies are dying in unprecedented numbers - and women who fear adding to that horrendous death toll with their own lives and those of their children are taking what they see as a lesser gamble by seeking out illegal and unsafe abortions.
The War on Terror is making us all safer, one tiny terrorist at a time.
In Life's Dominion, Ronald Dworkin posited that although most people believe that abortion is sometimes justifiable, they also believe it "a kind of cosmic shame when human life at any stage is deliberately extinguished."
Dworkin concluded that "because opinions about abortion rest on differing interpretations of a shared belief in the sanctity of human life, they are themselves essentially religious beliefs" -- which made the banning of abortion an unconstitutional establishment of religion.
But as self-styled political "moderates" decide that some forms of human life count more than others -- and that Christian conservative votes count most of all -- there's plenty of cosmic shame to go around.
Equipped to Serve is a popular training resource for crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) or, as they call themselves among themselves, "pregnancy center ministries." The first of the "Seven Fundamentals" at Equipped to Serve begins as follows.
"Truth is a very different thing from fact. ... Truth in the inward parts is a power, not an opinion."
Maybe that explains why the "truth" presented by CPCs strays so very far from the facts.
