Virtual Bowl-A-Thon: Part 2

A while back, I published a blog post about the Virtual Bowl-A-Thon and my participation in it.

Well, thanks to six amazing people, I reached my goal! Not only that, but I collected $155 dollars, instead of my original goal of $100. I'd like to take a moment to thank the six people who donated to my part of the fundraiser, and to the many other people who donated to the whole thing! The original goal for the Virtual Bowl-A-Thon was $125,000, and we have raised over $150,000! Take a moment to think about that. Take a moment to think about how many women that will help. Isn't it spectacular?

I really hope some of the people who donated are reading this, especially the six people who donated to my cause. I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you so much. You're really making a difference.

P.S. It's not too late to donate! The Abortion Gang still hasn't reached it's final goal. Can you help?

Do You Trust Women?

Do you trust women? I do, and so do Lana Wilson and Martha Shane- two wonderful, pro-choice, documentary filmmakers.

These two amazing ladies are in the process of making a documentary called "Trust Women: The Story of Two American Abortion Doctors". Who are those two doctors? They're Dr. LeRoy Carhart of Nebraska and Dr. Warren Hern of Colorado. These two doctors were friends of the late Dr. George Tiller and are very outspoken pro-choice activists- despite the fact that their work and their activism puts their lives in danger. Not only that, but Dr. Hern and Dr. Carhart are two of the very limited amount of doctors in America who provide late term abortions. This makes them the perfect targets for anti-choice terrorism and harassment, yet they still go on. These people are heroes.

This documentary will profile the lives of these two courageous abortion providers. It's purpose is to "celebrate the amazing work these doctors have continued to do in the face of constant harassment and threats from anti-choice extremists" and "to change the way people see abortion doctors". Lana Wilson and Martha Shane have already begun meeting with and interviewing Dr. Carhart and Dr. Hern.

I believe that productions like this are great steps towards creating a pro-choice, pro-woman climate. Not only that, but this documentary has the potential to change the way many people see abortion providers. Too often, abortion providers are portrayed as the evil, greedy, baby murderers. Our providers have to be recognized as the heroes that they are. For all that they sacrifice for women's liberty, isn't that the least that they deserve? However, to go through with this project, they're going to need your help.

It's simple, really. Making any kind of documentary costs money. So, because of this, I'm going to ask you to donate to this cause. This documentary won't come into existence without your help, and, seriously, wouldn't you like to see this film? I know I would. Pro-choice friends, let's make this film a reality! By the way, if you donate at least $10, your donation will be rewarded with some awesome gifts. The rewards get better and better the more you donate.

And, just in case you need some convincing, here is a beautiful quote from our wonderful Dr. Hern. You can find some literature by him here.

“Why do I perform abortions? Because it matters. It matters for the health of the women I help, it matters for the health of their families, it matters for the health of our society and, now, it matters for freedom.”
—Warren M. Hern, MD, MPH, PhD
Boulder, CO

Spoken by a True Rape Apologist/Anti-Choicer

And here we have it, folks. Yet another anti-choice rape apologist who is attempting to rip open people's wounds. Guess what? I'm not going to let it work.

Not to say that I'm surprised. You shouldn't be either. It's just your average, every day, act of anti-choice misogyny.

Yes, I'm going to call you out when you imply that a pregnant 11 year old girl wasn't really raped. You know what you did. Yes, those quotation marks make a big difference. You know what that FOX article was trying to say, and you're going to shamelessly support it. I will call you out on your BS.

In case my readers are confused, this whole argument was a result of justsnapd8 tweeting this article.

Forget all of the crap in the actual article. I'm still at awe with the title. A 'rape' victim? Yeah, that poor girl was a 'rape' victim. She was 'assaulted'. 'Violated'.

I KNOW I can't be the only one that sees a problem with those sarcastic quotation marks.

Women's Bodies Are... Pieces of Land?

Why am I not surprised?

The anti-choice, anti-woman organization CatholicVote.Org has found their own little way to celebrate Earth Day-objectifying women by equating their bodies to pieces of land. They said that they are celebrating Earth Day by "celebrating nature’s greatest gift – human life". They don't mention the word abortion in the ad, but I find that it's always safe to assume that when an anti-choice organization speaks of "celebrating human life" they really mean "destroying women's lives". This is not new, nor is it surprising. I mean, doesn't this look familiar to you?



I also find it interesting to note how, in these types of ads, the woman's existence is not even acknowledged. She is reduced to a pregnant belly. She is portrayed as nothing more than an incubator. She is portrayed as a "thing", not a real person with her own emotions and story in life.

So very pro-woman, eh?

P.S. Please help me support women. I'm trying to raise $100 dollars in ten days for abortion funds. I'm on day 2, so to be on track I need 5 more dollars. Can you chip in that much?

Virtual Bowl-A-Thon

I am blessed. I am blessed to live in a country where women's liberty is respected by law (at least, to a point). I am blessed to live in an area where me and my friends can access an abortion if need be. Not only am I blessed to be able to make a choice with any pregnancies that I may have, but I am blessed to have the money to exercise my right to choose, or to help someone else exercise her right to choose.

However, I am also privileged. I recognize this fact. Some women are in abusive relationships. Some women live in cars. Some women live paycheck by paycheck, with absolutely no extra money to spare in case of an emergency because they already have 3 kids to take care of with no other person around to help them raise those children. I have it a lot easier than those women, and I am going to fight for their right to choose, too.

The right to choose, however, goes much further than allowing the legality of abortion. The right to choose means having access to abortion. Having access to abortion means having enough providers, having providers close by, having the means to visit a provider, and having the money for the procedure. What would the right to choose mean without all of those things? Absolutely nothing. Many women honestly can not afford to have an abortion. What of them? What of their right to choose? As pro-choicers, we are obligated to support the right to choose for all women, not just those who are privileged enough to afford it.

This is where the abortion funds come in.

I'm participating in the "virtual bowl-a-thon" started by the National Network of Abortion Funds. The bowl-a-thon is a fund raising event to help women who could not otherwise afford an abortion get one. I'm fund raising with the Abortion Gang. There are women in need out there, and they need your help. Can you donate anything at all to help them? $20? $10? $5? Any amount will help. Thank you!

Silent for a Cause

Last Friday was the Day of Silence, dedicated to the end of the (sometimes deadly) bullying and harassment of homosexual people, bisexual people, and transgender people, particularly on campus.

To be honest, I'm not normally fond of the idea of staying silent to promote a cause. I'd rather wear or do something that brings attention to the cause and voice my opinion loud and proud. However, this year, I decided to give the day of silence a chance. I went to my classes with a piece of duct tape on my arm that read "D.O.S-NOH8". I carried cards around with me explaining my silence and I brought a lot of extra duct tape and cards for other people to participate.

The responses I got were almost all positive. Some people gave me hugs, words of encouragement, thumbs ups, and friendly smiles. Some people found the day of silence amusing ("I could NEVER be silent for a whole day! I'm too much of a motor mouth!) Others didn't even notice that I was silent, because I'm normally a very quiet person. My day was going well.

Or at least, it was going very well until it was time for quartet rehearsal. It's not that they harassed or berated me. They didn't. They were actually fairly accepting of my silence (although they did tease me a little bit, but that's to be expected coming from them). It's the discussion that the day of silence led up to. My own day of silence led up to the three of them, all anti-choicers, discussing their silent day. It led up to them pulling out every anti-choice lie and piece of propaganda they could think of.

"Abortion kills women!"

"The vast majority of women regret their abortions!"

"Abortion causes infertility!"

"Most women who have abortions are screwed up and suicidal afterwards!"

"No one actually thinks abortion is right."

and one I've never heard before:

"The only people who have had more than one abortions are prostitutes. Everyone else who has one never has more than one because they know it's wrong." (W...T...Fruit)

And there I was, trying to maintain my silence, thinking about how they had to discuss this at the worst possible time. Normally, I'd speak up. If it were any other day, I would have called out their lies and we would have gotten into a huge argument about abortion (with it being 3 to 1), and then quartet rehearsal would have been totally ruined. However, I felt obligated to maintain my silence on that day, out of respect for my homosexual, bisexual, and transgender friends. I attempted to ignore them by occupying myself by applying rosin to my bow and by tuning my instrument. I felt like I was about to explode.

I was so conflicted.

I thought back to the things I read on dayorsilence.org, and I remembered that it said that you can choose your own level of silence. That was when I decided that I was going to break my silence, in order to call out the lies.

BUT it was too late. They had already moved on to another subject, and it would have been awkward for me to call them out at that time. I let it go, and I totally regret it.

When I went home, I did a little bit of research on their "silent day". I had some experience with it, because I always used to counter protest it when I was in high school, but what I really wanted to know was when it started. Why is there a day of silence to end LGBT harassment, and another day of silence to end women's rights? I had a hunch that someone stole someone else's idea. After searching their the anti-choice silent day website, I found this:

Now, something that started its first year as just a few thousand students from 300 campuses has grown into a world-wide outpouring of love and action. The Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity is in it's 6th year, and last year we had students from more that 4,800 campuses in 25 countries stand together in solidarity.

(emphasis mine)

Just to be sure, I checked out dayofsilence.org and found this:

The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. Each year the event has grown, and now hundreds of thousands of students participate to encourage schools and classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior. Founded in 1996, the Day of Silence has become the largest single student-led action towards creating safer schools for all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

(emphasis mine)

Now, to be fair, no one can say for sure that the anti-choicer who started Silent Day stole the idea. It's just a thought.

Anyway, I've been thinking about these two days of silence for the past few days. I feel like anti-choicers really enjoy steal- ahem, I mean, using progressive tactics in order to advance their own causes. They take away reproductive liberty and call it reproductive justice, they take away women's basic human rights and call it feminism, and they take a tactic that was originally meant to bring awareness to the bullying and harassment that those in the LGBT community face and turn it into a day that is meant to silence and shame women. Am I the only one that thinks that these people should come up with their own ideas? Isn't it kind of funny to see how they're trying to make their movements look like ours in order to make themselves look better? What do you gals and guys think?

A Culture of Life

"Give The Gift Of Life"

"It's About Life"

"Save a Life!"

If you're at all involved in the abortion "debate", slogans that are similar to these should sound very familiar to you. The side of the abortion debate that masquerades as "pro-life" uses similar slogans all the time. They claim that they're saving lives, that they're on the side of life, and that they are the ones who are promoting a "culture of life".

However, the slogans that I just listed are not from anti-choice groups. They're from Florida Blood Services, the organization that helped me donate blood last Friday.

Now, although the anti-choice movement and blood donation centers have similar slogans (and, to those who are very misguided, similar ideals), these two groups could not be further apart. Only one of these groups is truly on the side of life, only one of these groups is truly saving lives, and only one of these groups is actually promoting a culture of life. Which group is that, you ask? Do I really have to say it?

Now, many anti-choicers seem to be confused about how to promote a culture of life. It seems that, for some of them, promoting a culture of life includes:

1) Taking away people's liberty.

2) Harassing doctors and their patients

3) Lying to others.

4) Enforcing laws that kill women.

5) Killing doctors.

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't think any of those things are promoting a culture of life. Here's what I think promotes a real culture of life:

How to promote a culture of life:

1) Donate blood

2) Become a vegetarian or vegan.

3) Do not promote restrictions on health care

4) Do not promote laws that do nothing but kill.

5) Volunteer to help those who are less fortunate or less privileged than you are.

6) Donate to a charity.

7) Adopt an animal in need.

8) Volunteer to help animals in need.

9) Protect liberty (and yes, that does include reproductive liberty).

10) Show your appreciation for people who save lives. Thank them.

At least, that's how I like to promote a culture of life. What do you do to really promote a culture of life?

Abortion Gang: Where My Heart Is

For those of you who don't know, the Abortion Gang is a group of young women (and maybe men? I don't know all of them yet ;)) who blog about reproductive justice. We're here to show the world that young women do care about reproductive rights, and that we're not just sitting here idly while our rights are taken away.

If you have time, check out my new post for the Abortion Gang. It's about how my heart is in reproductive rights, and why I'm so dedicated to repro rights. There are a lot of great posts and great bloggers on the Abortion Gang, so you should check out the other posts, too!

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

From the National Sexual Violence Resource Center:

What is SAAM?

The month of April has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). The goal of SAAM is to raise public awareness about sexual violence (focusing on sexual assault and rape) and to educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence.

Here on the SAAM site, you will find information and materials for both the upcoming SAAM campaign as well as past campaigns. While the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) creates these campaign materials for SAAM, we encourage state and local organizations and groups focused on sexual violence awareness and prevention to tailor these campaign materials to their local communities.

By working together and pooling our resources during the month of April, we can highlight sexual violence as a major public health issue and reinforce the need for prevention efforts.

Some very scary facts from RAINN:

there were 248,300 sexual assaults in 2007

1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime

9 of every 10 rape victims were female in 2003

About 3% of American men — or 1 in 33 — have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime

15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under age 12

7% of girls in grades 5-8 and 12% of girls in grades 9-12 said they had been sexually abused. (I, personally, am surprised that it's this low. I have a feeling that many of these young victims did not recognize their assaults as assaults.)

93% of juvenile sexual assault victims know their attacker.

Victims of sexual assault are:

3 times more likely to suffer from depression.

6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

13 times more likely to abuse alcohol.

26 times more likely to abuse drugs.

4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.

Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.

60% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police.

only about 6% of rapists ever serve a day in jail.

73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger.

38% of rapists are a friend or acquaintance.

28% are an intimate.
7% are a relative.

One positive fact:
Sexual assault has fallen by more than 60% in recent years. (THANK GOD!)

Let's bring a halt to sexual assault and rape, and let's do it the right way.

The Pro-Choice Church

We all know (or at least, I hope we all know) that there are pro-choice Christians. There are Pro-Choice Catholics, there is the Disciples for Choice, there is SYRF, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and others. Today, I'll be writing specifically about the Lutheran Church and its statement regarding abortion.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has this statement on its website. Now, I'm warning you now that there's a lot of anti-choice language in their statement. However, that does not mean that the church takes an official anti-abortion stance. I find their position to be very progressive and liberal for a church.

Section III starts off with a bunch of anti-choice rhetoric (hey, I warned you).

"We mourn the loss of life that God has created.[A] The strong Christian presumption is to preserve and protect life. Abortion ought to be an option only of last resort. Therefore, as a church we seek to reduce the need to turn to abortion as the answer to unintended pregnancies."

This part plays into the "abortion is a bad word" sentiment or the "I support the right to abortion, but I do not like abortion at all" kind of sentiment that many pro-choicers express. It's not ideal, and it's a problem. However, look at what comes next:

"We also deplore the circumstances that lead a woman to consider abortion as the best option available to her. We are moved particularly by the anguish of women who face unwanted pregnancies alone. The panic and isolation of such pregnancies, even in the best of circumstances, can be traumatic. Poverty, lack of supportive relationships, immaturity, oppressive social realities, sexism, and racism can intensify her sense of powerlessness. The prospect of having and caring for a child can seem overwhelming."

This is a sentiment that anti-choicers hardly ever express. As pro-choicers, we should respect pregnant women, and try to understand the situations that they're in. Not all of them are in desperate situations, but many of them are. Those women need our help and understanding, not our judgment.

It goes on to speak about sexual responsibility, sex outside of marriage, contraception, etc. I won't get into that right now. In section IV, it states:

"Because of the Christian presumption to preserve and protect life, this church, in most circumstances, encourages women with unintended pregnancies to continue the pregnancy." and "This church encourages and seeks to support adoption as a positive option to abortion."

More anti-choice sentiments here. As pro-choicers, we should encourage the woman to do what's best for her. Adoption isn't always a more positive option than abortion, and abortion should not be portrayed as a negative option at all. However, it's important to note that encouraging a woman to go through a pregnancy is not the same as forcing her to do so. It's pressuring her, which is morally wrong, but this says nothing on their stance about legal abortion.

Okay, here's where it gets juicy!

"This church recognizes that there can be sound reasons for ending a pregnancy through induced abortion. The following provides guidance for those considering such a decision. We recognize that conscientious decisions need to be made in relation to difficult circumstances that vary greatly. What is determined to be a morally responsible decision in one situation may not be in another.

In reflecting ethically on what should be done in the case of an unintended pregnancy, consideration should be given to the status and condition of the life in the womb. We also need to consider the conditions under which the pregnancy occurred and the implications of the pregnancy for the woman's life.

An abortion is morally responsible in those cases in which continuation of a pregnancy presents a clear threat to the physical life of the woman.

A woman should not be morally obligated to carry the resulting pregnancy to term if the pregnancy occurs when both parties do not participate willingly in sexual intercourse.[E] This is especially true in cases of rape and incest. This can also be the case in some situations in which women are so dominated and oppressed that they have no choice regarding sexual intercourse and little access to contraceptives. Some conceptions occur under dehumanizing conditions that are contrary to God's purposes.

There are circumstances of extreme fetal abnormality, which will result in severe suffering and very early death of an infant. In such cases, after competent medical consultations, the parent(s) may responsibly choose to terminate the pregnancy. Whether they choose to continue or to end such pregnancies, this church supports the parent(s) with compassion, recognizing the struggle involved in the decision.

Although abortion raises significant moral issues at any stage of fetal development, the closer the life in the womb comes to full term the more serious such issues become.[F] When a child can survive outside a womb, it becomes possible for other people, and not only the mother, to nourish and care for the child. This church opposes ending intrauterine life when a fetus is developed enough to live outside a uterus with the aid of reasonable and necessary technology. If a pregnancy needs to be interrupted after this point, every reasonable and necessary effort should be made to support this life, unless there are lethal fetal abnormalities indicating that the prospective newborn will die very soon."
(emphasis mine)

So, the church disapproves of abortion in cases where the fetus is considered "viable". The church approves of abortion in cases of rape/incest, when the life of the woman is endangered, and in cases of fetal abnormalities. Keep in mind that, if a reason for abortion isn't listed in their list of abortions that they do approve, that does not necessarily mean that they take an official stance against it.

Later on, they recap on their stance.

" this church opposes:

* the total lack of regulation of abortion;
* legislation that would outlaw abortion in all circumstances;
* laws that prevent access to information about all options available to women faced with unintended pregnancies;
* laws that deny access to safe and affordable services for morally justifiable abortions;
* mandatory or coerced abortion or sterilization;
* laws that prevent couples from practicing contraception;
* laws that are primarily intended to harass those contemplating or deciding for an abortion.

The position of this church is that, in cases where the life of the mother is threatened, where pregnancy results from rape or incest, or where the embryo or fetus has lethal abnormalities incompatible with life, abortion prior to viability should not be prohibited by law or by lack of public funding of abortions for low income women. On the other hand, this church supports legislation that prohibits abortions that are performed after the fetus is determined to be viable, except when the mother's life is threatened or when lethal abnormalities indicate the prospective newborn will die very soon.

Beyond these situations, this church neither supports nor opposes laws prohibiting abortion."

Anti-choicers: Before you claim that the Lutheran Church is against elective abortion, please read that last line over a few times. Let me make this clear. The church lists situations where abortion is definitely justified (rape, incest, life of woman, fetal abnormalities), and it lists one situation where they consider it immoral (post-"viability" abortions). The last sentence confirms that the church is not necessarily against elective abortions. It states that it is neither for or against laws that prohibit those abortions. In other words, the Lutheran church does not take an official stance on those procedures.

I find the Lutheran Church's stance on abortion quite liberal and progressive for a church. I'm glad that it's the church that my boyfriend is apart of. :)

Anti-Choice Love

So, lately I've been rereading a lot of the anti-choice comments I've been getting on my blog.

"you are totally Cuckoo."

"If you have any love for any women other than the one in the mirror, I have yet to see it. It's painfully obvious you hate that one, too. Enjoy your bitterness and anger. At the end of your life, it's all you'll have left."

"Women like you make the rest of us look like fools. If that's feminism, please keep it to yourself. And if you were truly a rape victim" (emphasis mine)

"You'll make a great abortionist. Unfeeling to the last, except when it comes to number one."
*side note- Why, thank you for telling me that I'll make a great doctor.

"you are deranged and dangerous."

"you are just as predatory as those you claim to despise."

"I really believe the only way you could ever live with yourself is to tell yourself that you are helping us."

"You are pathetic and I'm not wasting another minute on you. Hater."
"You don't speak for all women, and you sure as hell don't speak for this one, predator."

"But I'd bet everything I own that no one lost a life when your (wisdom) teeth were pulled. Too bad the wisdom was taken along with the teeth."

"Proud ProLife Feminist Mother puking in mouth with the thought of Not Guilty coming in contact with anyone's daughter."

Always remember: If an anti-choicer is pissed off at you, starts calling you names, and starts assuming things about your life, you've probably been doing something right.

"I Don't Support Roeder BUT..."

I've sure you're all familiar with the anti-choicers who say things like "I don't support Roeder, but Tiller was a murderer!" or "I don't support Roeder, but I sure do understand where he was coming from!" They're everywhere. These kind of comments infest blogs like Jill Stanek's blog and Operation Rescue. It's very telling of the "pro-life" movement. Very telling indeed.

To me, the "I don't support Roeder BUT.." people are just as bad as the people who openly support what he did. They're like rape apologists, in a way. It's not much different than saying "I don't support rape, BUT she really shouldn't have been wearing that skirt" or "I don't support rape, BUT it was partially her fault for flirting with him beforehand". Rape apologists are pro-rape, and the antis who make excuses for Dr. Tiller's assassination are pro-murder. Let's look at some examples. Let's look at this comment, posted on Jill Stanek's by Joe on April 2, 2010 4:44 PM. Joe starts out by saying this:

"I do not support what Scott Roeder did."

That's fine and dandy, but you can totally see the murder apologism coming, can't you? He goes on to say:

"However, the person he killed was not an innocent human being. The person whom he killed had killed 60,000 human beings. 60,000!"

AHA! THERE IT IS! Didn't take you long, buddy.

"Scott Roeder understandably believed that something had to be done to stop this evil." and "He didn't kill for his own benefit, he did it to save the lives of the unborn. He may in fact have saved unborn live" (emphasis mine)

And here he goes on to portray Roeder as the hero. You, my friend, are one reason why abortion providers live in constant fear of being murdered. By law, you may be innocent, but in your heart, you should know that you have blood on your hands.

"It is a mistake for our movement to demonize people like Scott Roeder. Criticize what he did, but understand why he did it. Since he killed someone who had killed a large number of people and would continue to do so, I felt that this should have been taken into consideration and he should have been given a lesser sentence."

Translation: I don't support what Roeder did, but I support what Roeder did.


Good job, Joe. This is why I use the term anti-choice, not "pro-life". By the way, no one on Stanek's blog objected to what you said. No one. Let's take a look at the comment section at Operation oppress-you to prove that you aren't the only one. This one was posted by Anne Robertson on May 31st, 2009 12:34 pm.

"While I would never encourage or condone such action I cannot pretend to feel sadness at his passing. He has taken the last infant life that he will."

I bet this came from a person who has claimed in the past that she feels sadness for every human life lost. Again, no one objected to this comment. No one. Think that one is sick? Check out this next one, posted by Sarah on June 2nd, 2009 10:03 am.

"I had just been praying every night for two weeks when it came to abortion to save their souls or slay them dead! and now Tiller is dead!"

At least she's not hiding the fact that she's pro-murder. She continues to say "God ALLOWED it to happen" .. And God allowed the Holocaust to happen. Humans have free will. Just because God allowed Roeder to murder an innocent man doesn't mean that that's what God wanted. Hell, God allows abortion to happen. Do you think God wants abortion rights? (I do, but that's besides the point.)

Now, Sarah goes on to say that she DOES feel sad that he was killed. Um.. what? Why were you praying for his death, then? Once again, not one soul in the comment section called Sarah out on her pro-murder stance. No one.

Scott Roeder is going to be in prison for the rest of his life, but as you can see, there are still terrorists and terrorist supporters. There is no doubt that there will be much, much more violence to come because of people like Jill Stanek, Troy Newman, Cheryl Sullenger, and their followers. No doubt at all.

Hijacking Feminism: The Feminists Who Hate Women

You all know who they are. They call themselves "pro-life feminists". They're the ones that claim that "women deserve better" than having equal rights. They're the Susan B. Anthony List. They're the Feminists for Life.

They're liars, frauds, and misogynists.

There is absolutely nothing feminist about forcing women through pregnancies. There's nothing feminist about intentionally traumatizing them. There's nothing feminist about supporting causes and laws that kill women. Nothing feminist at all. Those people are just as feminist as they are pro-life (meaning, not at all).

I'm not the kind of person that will try to take away someone's "feminist card", but I do draw the line at certain points. If someone believes that rape is okay, then that person isn't a feminist. If someone believes that women shouldn't have the right to vote, then that person isn't a feminist. If someone believes that women don't deserve to have bodily autonomy, then that person isn't a feminist. I strongly believe that the only reason these people call themselves "feminists" is not because they care about women, it's because they want to make it look like they care about women, just like antis who kill doctors try to make it look like they care about life. Either that, or they care about women, but only in some cases. It's sort of like how my parents love me, but if it came between choosing between me and a fetus, they'd let their politics get in the way of family.

Personally, I see a pattern. Antis try to take away women's basic human rights, and they call it feminism. They force women through pregnancies and call it reproductive justice. They kill doctors* and call it "pro-life".

You know what the worst part about this is, though? Some, maybe even many, real feminists are okay with anti-choicers calling themselves feminists. Seriously? Would you be okay with someone who believes that women shouldn't get the right to vote calling themselves a feminist? No? Then why call an anti a feminist? I would venture to say that the right to choice (abortion, pregnancy, VBAC, etc) is even more of a basic human right than the right to vote. The right to your own body should be considered a God given right. It's an essential part of our liberty. It should go without saying that someone who believes in taking away a huge part of our liberty isn't a feminist.

It's time to take off that veil, antis. We know who you are, and we aren't about to let you hijack feminism.

*Speaking of killing doctors, in case you haven't heard, Scott Roeder (the terrorist that killed Dr. Tiller) has gotten the hard 50. You're in there for life, terrorist!