The proper groundwork for analysis of abortion is in every man’s absolute right of self-ownership. This implies immediately that every woman has the absolute right to her own body, that she has absolute dominion over her body and everything within it. This includes the fetus. Most fetuses are in the mother’s womb because the mother consents to this situation, but the fetus is there by the mother’s freely-granted consent. But should the mother decide that she does not want the fetus there any longer, then the fetus becomes a parasitic “invader” of her person, and the mother has the perfect right to expel this invader from her domain. Abortion should be looked upon, not as “murder” of a living person, but as the expulsion of an unwanted invader from the mother’s body.[2] Any laws restricting or prohibiting abortion are therefore invasions of the rights of mothers.

So, I think it goes without saying that I find the pro-life libertarian position to be hypocritical.

In related news, I received not one, but two copies of my new voter registration card. I officially changed my party affiliation (for the, what, fifth time?) and also had to update the address. I don’t know how I feel about this. I’m sure I’ll get annoyed enough to change my party again circa 2013.

Good times, good times.

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If you’re reading this from my Facebook notes, please go to the original blog post (located here) to comment.

This all led the author to use the term “fake lesbian relationship” in her headline.

Luckily, many other Bitch readers were also pretty pissed about the off-base and phobic shit in the article. Frankly, I am shocked that anyone from Bitch thought this article should have been run on their website, but before I delve right into that mess, I really need to unpack all the sterotypical garbage here.

1. Oh, those darn attention seeking bisexuals!

As one Facebook user remarked, no one claims that Paris Hilton isn’t into dudes because she’s used her sexuality for attention. The attention seeking portion of it doesn’t make the sexuality any less real or valid, and is so heavily rooted in bi-phobia. What bisexual hasn’t heard claims that they’re just doing it for the attention, especially bisexual sex kittens – who are also always doing it for male attention? Surely no femme looking sex kitten or vamp type could have actual desire for another woman or even be experimenting; nope, it must be Girls Gone Wild syndrome.

2. Why can’t these homos be two-dimensional Super Gays instead of being nuanced individuals?

I can’t believe that Bitch Magazine would allow something to run that was so dangerously close to making a “credit to your race community” argument. Dude, really? Do I have to make more of a point here? Seriously, Tila Tequila, Courtenay Semel, Samantha Ronson, Portia De Rossi, Fergie, Perez Hilton, Neil Patrick Harris, Margaret Cho, Andy Dick, Sir Ian McKellen, Elton John, Jim McGreevey, Barney Frank, Dan Savage, and Christian Siriano are NOT the emperors of gay people. None of ‘em hold that title. They are not saints, they are not perfect, and they are certainly not two-dimensional stereotypes. Are we good on this?

3. OMG TILA TEQUILA HAS GONE OVER HER 140 CHARACTER LIMIT OF GRIEF!

Before Shot at Love, the only real distinction Tila had was to be the person with the most popular Myspace page ever. Shocking that she might grieve online? Let’s be honest, yeah, it’s not the smartest idea. If nothing else, when you’re emotional, you are so much more likely to say things you’ll later regret, and given this twisted mess of clusterfuckery, it’s probably a much better idea to take a breather and log off Twitter for a few days. But is Tila Tequila really the first person to publicly mourn the loss of a loved one? Is she really the first person to make bad decisions on the internet? Even if she was the first to do it, how on Earth is this proof that this is somehow a “fake” lesbian relationship?

There was a lot of great feminist theorizing that could have happened here. We could have seen a discussion open up about the media circus surrounding Casey Johnson’s death, or even a discussion about any of the objectionable portions of Stein’s post; instead, Bitch Magazine’s web editor, Kelsey Wallace, felt that this bi-phobic tripe was a better use of bandwidth. How do I know this? Well, Ms. Wallace jumped into the fray of critical comments (after I had commented that I would likely never get another subscription to the magazine) with the following miffed comment:

Hi, this is Kelsey, the Web Editor at Bitch. Thank you everyone for your comments. I have contacted Natalie, the author of this post, and asked her to respond to your concerns about her interpretation of Casey Johnson and Tila Tequila’s relationship. Please keep our policy in mind that “Opinions expressed on this website are those of their respective authors, not necessarily those of Bitch.”

As for those of you who feel that all of the content on the Bitch Media website is rapidly declining and is at the level of a high school women’s studies course, please feel free to contact me (kelsey@b-word.org) to relay any specific criticism you may have.

Thanks again,
Kelsey Wallace

Notice two things: the statement does not address the specific issues others had with the post, and it uses a disclaimer to deflect all criticism onto the author. Opinion disclaimers are meant to protect a publication from extreme criticism over an unpopular view. In this context, it would be meant to cover the mag’s asses if they had someone writing about why they don’t support gay marriage because they don’t support marriage (for example). The disclaimer isn’t intended as a clever little shield to deflect rightful criticism such as horribly bi-phobic language and points made in a supposedly feminist publication. (What’s next? Are we going to see articles warning us about the Lavender Menace?)

By hiding behind it and hanging Natalie Stein out to dry, Kelsey (and, by extension, Bitch Magazine) might as well be saying, “not our problem!” I guess we’ll just ignore the web editor’s responsibilities re: approving pieces for publication. It was completely irresponsible to allow this article to run in the first place. The solution was to change the headline of the piece (to “Sapphic Salon: The Death of An Heiress, The Milking of the Press“), to completely disregard the issues within the article, and to give a half-hearted “sorry if you were offended” styled “apology” within Facebook comments. As of right now (11 pm EST, 1/9/10), there is still not an apology or any acknowledgment that the article was shouldn’t have been posted in its current form.

Considering that Bitch likely won’t be asking Angela Keaton to contribute any pieces to their site under the guise that her opinions are not necessarily shared by Bitch Magazine’s, I think it’s safe to call “bullshit.”  It’s even more depressing to me because it feels like Ron Paul campaign BS all over again.  Why is it that my issues – as an LGBTQA woman – can be sold out and dismissed, but it would be the worst crime in the world to give Jill Stanek a voice? (I say this as being one of the main organizers on this event.) I’m guessing that it will be a cold day in hell before we see Kelsey Wallace giving either Wendy McElroy or Camille Paglia a voice in the publication.

It’s the same old homo/bi-phobic crap that we queers have been subjected to since the beginning of friggin feminism. It’s tired and played out, but sadly, probably won’t fully change; instead, privileged straight people will continue to act like they know how we should feel about any subject. Maybe we would all be a little better off if we started listening to marginalized groups and stopped speaking for them.

Then again, what do I know?

Follow up: Kelsey Wallace, web editor of Bitch Magazine, ignores reader complaints.

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If you’re reading this from my Facebook notes, please go to the original blog post (located here) to comment.

Ron Paul.  Okay, three, if you’d prefer to roll with “Ron Paul rEVOLution REVOlution.”

A manarchist must have been hanging out at Passyunk and Bainbridge.

Every time a member of Campaign for Liberty parrots off the “Ron Paul Loves Freedom” standard talking points, God kills a kitten, then Rickrolls some unsuspecting n00b, and then follows up by teaching some poor sap the meaning of shock image.  You know, I could believe it if it weren’t for the hit-you-over-the-head obvious fact that “Ron Paul Loves Freedom” is officially 100% old meme.

Well, that and if I weren’t female.

When members of the Libertarian party slobber all over Ron Paul, it sends a message to women (and queers and Mexicans) that not only is our participation unnecessary, but also that our issues are not ones rooted in freedom.  Before you jump on me, I’m quite aware that there’s got to be a few participants in the Ron Paul REVOlution who are Hispanic, gay, and/or female. I’m also quite aware that every time some poor “freedom loving” 9/11 truthing stereotype prattles on and on about how Ron Paul is Love Over Love it takes every ounce of composure I have to not lean in very closely and scream “Ron Paul doesn’t give a flying fuck about my freedom.”

Yes, I get it.  He cares about issues very near and dear to your average libertarian stereotype: guns, prostitution,  weed, and keeping basement apartments legal.  While I share your love for those things, dear freedom fighters, I also happen to think that having autonomy over my own body is super cool.  I’ll also go so far as to say that you cannot be pro-life and a libertarian.

Yeah, I said it and I’ll say it again in more explicit terms: if personal freedom and choice are the crux of the libertarian argument, then you are a hypocritical fuckwad if you are a pro-life libertarian.

I fail to see the logic in trusting me with an AK-47, but not trusting me to make the decision that is best for my life and my situation.  I fail to see the logic in arguing that I should have the right to shoot an intruder – defined as “someone who is not invited into my home” – but I can’t remove an unwanted fetus from my body.  I fail to see the logic in allowing me to have access to a fully automatic gun capable of popping off multiple rounds with the touch of a trigger, a weapon which exists only to hunt (humans), but having a medical procedure that doesn’t impact you is “murdering a baby.”  Trust me, hypocritical pro-life libertarian asswipes, me having sex with you is not an option, therefore it is 100% none of your damn business.

Every time a libertarian tells me that Ron Paul is “good 95% of the time,” my head wants to fucking explode, because I’m part of that 5%.  As a woman in a heterosexual relationship, it’s unfathomable that the LP or it’s members would support a man who has shown me that he does not view me as trustworthy as a man.  When you remove the right of women to control what happens in their own bodies, you are saying that I am inferior to a man, all because of that pesky xx thing.

The fucked up shit is that, if you were to listen only to people like Catherine Seipp, you’d think that abortion was irrelevant.  Right, because there are absolutely no reasons why pro-freedom individuals should give a rat’s ass about abortion.  It’s not as if it’s another form of governmental oppression waged against a group of citizens.  If you want me to be 100% perfectly honest, this is a large reason why I have the nagging feeling that many of the female contributors on Reason are essentially affirmative action hires.  Their writing skills are nowhere near on par with the male contributors, and when speaking about feminism, it is clearly that they often haven’t pulled their heads out of their asses long enough to read a damn book or academic article about feminism. Instead, they figure that a Google search or two, and some recollections of some feminist stereotypes will be enough to write a thorough criticism.  Besides, it’s not like chicks can perpetuate misogyny, right?

In a libertarian context, freedom and liberty should be the most important aspects of any issue.  Period.  Given that I could lose my job during my pregnancy due to my inability to perform it while pregnant, I could be pregnant with a Tay-Sachs baby, I could be making too little to support myself and a baby without taking government aid, I could have taken every reasonable precaution to prevent pregnancy, or, like many a gun owner, I could just not want to be pregnant at this time, I don’t understand how abortion is not an issue of freedom.  All of these are valid reasons for an abortion (as are a million others).  Why are the same libertarians who argue that compulsory tax legislation is anti-freedom often so resistant to treating abortion like an issue of personal freedom?  Most concerning, though, is why is abortion being re-framed as a left v. independent issue?

As I said on Twitter, feminism and libertarianism are not mutually exclusive.  If you support the core argument of feminism, that women deserve equal opportunities to men, and you support one of the core arguments of libertarianism, that the government has no right to infringe upon your freedom, then they seem to work together far more often than they pull one another apart. My body and my right to determine what goes into or stays out of it are not political fodder.  Or, to put it more simply, either you love freedom, or you don’t.  If you do, that might mean having to accept things you don’t really like, that make you uncomfortable, or that gross you out.

I can accept that that a society with minimal government means garbage I don’t personally support will be legal.  Why can’t you accept it when it pertains to my life?

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If you’re reading this from my Facebook notes, please go to the original blog post (located here) to comment.

1. Become a clinic escort.
2. Submit your positive “abortion story” to I’m Not Sorry.
3. If you are a clinic employee, submit a story to I Am Dr. Tiller.
4. Use social networking sites as a way to, well, network with other pro-choicers and follow other pro-choice news. Twitter, Digg, Delicious, and Facebook are my personal favorites, and all have the ability to network/widely distribute information to like-minded people.
5. Be sure to Blog for Choice.  Every year, pro-choice advocates have organized a widespread blogging campaign called “Blog for Choice Day.” It falls on the anniversary of the landmark Roe v Wade decision (January 22nd, 1973).
6. Get involved with your campus pro-choice or feminist organization(s). If one doesn’t exist, create one.
7. Get involved with your local (non-campus affiliated) women’s groups. If one doesn’t exist, create it.
8. Volunteer! Local clinics often have a variety of regular volunteering opportunities. They range from stuffing envelopes to administrative duties. Bonus: Volunteering for a clinic is a great way to get your foot in the door with non-profit employers!
9. Thank your local abortion providers! National Abortion Provider Appreciation Day is March 10th. Send out postcards to thank clinics, doctors and staff members for staying open despite the dangers they face every day.
10. Thank local businesses as well as large corporations for financially supporting choice! Every so often, various anti-choice organizations will publish “boycott lists,” in which they instruct their supporters to boycott businesses for donating money to the pro-choice movement. Use those lists to your advantage and send out “thank you” notes/emails to all of the businesses listed.
11. Attend pro-choice marches and protests. Although Roe has been legal for over 30 years, we need to remember that reproductive rights are constantly under attack. Attending a pro-choice march or protest is a great way to visibly support choice and help turn media attention to our cause. You might only be one person, but if everyone took that attitude, our cause would fall flat on its face.
12. Organize pro-choice rallies and counter-protests. On October 30th & 31st, 2007, the “Genocide Awareness Project” arrived on Temple’s campus.  I, along with the other main organizer, was able to create a vocal and visible pro-choice presence to counteract “Genocide Awareness Project’s” message.  (This, of course, would not have been possible without the help of many friends and activists on Temple’s campus.)
13. Organize and participate in other pro-choice events! Hold a party for Roe on the 22nd. Organize an informal film screening or movie night. Go to the bar with your friends and talk about choice. Check out events hosted by community non-profit organizations.
14. Sign up for email lists from pro-choice organizations. This is one of the easiest ways to stay informed and in touch with the pro-choice movement.
15. Volunteer for phone banking/letter writing campaigns with your local clinic. Many times, you do not have to be an “official” volunteer with the clinic in order to come help out for a night or two. It’s an easy way to help give back to the movement, takes up one night of your life and is a great way to make new friends who share an interest!
16. Make a zine or a public blog that just openly and frankly discusses abortion. We’ve all heard anti-choice rhetoric that claims abortion “hurts” women. If you realistically and respectfully discuss abortion, you can show other people that abortion is a medical procedure that many women experience.
17. Read and support pro-choice publications. There are a myriad of pro-choice magazines, books and blogs out there. Check out our links section for our favorite sites!
18. Donate to groups that help low-income women afford abortions, such as The National Network of Abortion Funds.
19. See if your local clinic has a “Pledge-a-Picket” program. If not, make a flat donation to them.
20. Donate to Med Students for Choice.  Keeping abortion legal is meaningless unless there are trained OB/GYNs around to perform the procedures.
21. Are you crafty? Artsy? Have a lot of junk lying around? eBay your stuff and donate a portion of the proceeds to a pro-choice group through eBay’s partnership with Missionfish.
22. Contact your local or preferred clinic/non-profit if they aren’t listed through Missionfish. They might not be aware that you can easily donate money via eBay & Missionfish’s partnership.
23. Wear a shirt, patch, bracelet, necklace, lapel pin, button, etc. that puts out a pro-choice message. Don’t have any of this stuff? Make something!
24. Write a letter to the editor. Letters to the editor are a great way to bring an issue into the public eye. Even if your letter receives criticism, it forces people to think about the issue at hand.
25. Visit Vote Smart to see your representatives’ voting records. Although Democrats and Republicans are thought to be strongly pro and anti-choice (respectively), you might be surprised once you view their voting records. Voting records are the best way to find out how your rep really feels about issues that are important to you.
26. Write to and call your representatives and urge them to support reproductive rights. Sometimes, we have to remind our representatives that certain issues are important to us! If your elected officials see that a large portion of their constituency feels strongly about reproductive rights, they will be more inclined to vote for bills we agree with. Click here to locate your Congressperson. Click here to locate your Senator.
27. VOTE! This is the most effective way to voice your support or displeasure with an elected official. Also, did you know that sometimes referendums are placed on the ballot? This means that we are able to play a much larger role in which laws go through and which ones are discarded. Even if you don’t want to vote for elected officials, you can still allow your voice to be heard on referendums.  This is how Proposition 8, California’s anti-marriage equality law, became a law.  And if you really feel like voting is nothing but a real life South Park episode, then you can always….
28. Run for office under a third party.  Third parties are often looking decent candidates interested in running for office.  And while it’s true that you might not have much of a chance in winning a seat, you might also be able to at least stir up some shit.  Get people talking about the issues that are important to you.  If nothing else, it might influence Democratic and Republican candidates into modifying their tactics.
29. Get involved in pro-choice politicians’ campaigns.  This can be as seemingly small as donating $10 to a campaign or as time-consuming as volunteering to canvas for him or her.
30. Find out how your money is being spent. Don’t support anti-choice companies unless it is unavoidable.
31. Freely pass these ideas along. Even if you don’t have the time or money to use any of our suggestions, someone you know might!

I encourage you to pass this ever-growing list of ideas along, and please feel free to add more within the comments. If you’re able to take part in any of these, thank you. If you can’t, please pass them along. This is a time when we need to band together within the movement instead of act like divisive children or post silly “omg I would totally kick his ass!” faux bravado laden rants directed at Tiller’s murderer.

Credit is clearly not mandatory, but appreciated, as is digging this article.

I have a lot on my mind regarding this situation, mainly because I’m a woman who has fully benefited from the strides made in reproductive rights over the past 36 years. I had an abortion at 19 and I gave up a child for adoption at 20. I’ve used condoms, Depo-Provera, and Plan B. We will probably not actually start our family until I am about 35 and certainly won’t be done until my late 30s. Between my age and him being Jewish, genetic testing is not an option for us. It is mandatory, as far as we are concerned. Even if I want to give birth to that baby more than anything, if we should have the misfortune of my being pregnant with a Tay-Sachs fetus (for example), we will be in contact with a doctor who can provide me with a 3rd trimester abortion. Dr. Tiller’s death also hits me personally, because I have helped run letter writing campaigns supporting the businesses who chose to take his money and patients, even in the face of organized boycotts run by Operation Rescue. I have sent his clinic “thank you” cards on National Abortion Provider day, because I know it must be harder than hell to wake up every morning knowing it could be your last, when you didn’t sign up for that. I have donated money I didn’t have and time I could have spent playing video games to help the pro-choice movement and his clinic specifically.

Tonight, I will be doing something I often don’t do: mourning the death of someone I don’t know and whom I’ve never met.

Maybe it would be a lot easier to swallow this horseshit if the majority of pro-lifers were anti-war. But hey, who really cares about brown people? They don’t count, amirite? It’s cool to turn Afghanistan into a parking lot, but god forbid if I would like to utilize my constitutionally protected right to a legal medical procedure. Because oh fuck, we can’t kill the baybees, can we? That would be wrong. Unless it’s killing little brown children, of course.

And another thing, dude, I would swallow that shit a lot easier if these same pro-lifers supported stem cell research. I get it. You view abortion is murder. You view the women who have them and the doctors who provide them as murderers. You believe in the “sanctity of life.”

So, in your view, it’s better to incinerate these fetuses rather than use their stem cells to provide a breathing, feeling, sentient, born human being with a chance to cure their degenerative disease?

Stem cell research has become a far more maddening and frustrating topic for me since living with a roommate who has a degenerative disease. Obviously, I don’t understand what it’s like for him to live his life, as he has MS and I do not (nor do I have any diagnosed degenerative disease). But for fuck’s sake, I’ve seen him during both good and bad days. How can you sit and tell me that an unviable fetus has more of a right to life than he does? How can you sit there, look into your heart, and tell me that this motherfucker is beat because his cure might possibly require a dead fetus?

It seems to me that the pro-life movement should support stem cell research. Abortions already occur. They’ve been federally legal for 36 years. Prior to them being legal, they were still happening all the fucking time. Women will have abortions. Period. The legality or illegality is irrelevant. Why not let some good come from them? Furthermore, if the pro-life movement began to support stem cell research, doesn’t that mean that it might be easier to get stem cell research that doesn’t require the death of a fetus? If the funding is pumped into the research, maybe it might turn out that we can replicate stem cells without needing abortion, thereby better supporting a right to life for everyone.

I hate the “sanctity of life” argument. I would much prefer the argument that abortion is “ooky,” that your god tells you it’s bad, therefore you believe it’s bad, or that you just buy into the idea that women are dumb cunts who can’t make their own decisions for themselves. Cause let’s face it, when you cut through the bullshit, this “right to life” argument just boils down to religion, specifically Christianity; and although Christianity is so super pro-woman and in NO WAY SEXIST (holla at me, Eve!), be honest, Christianity [as well as so many other religions] are so rooted in sexist horseshit. I know, it’s shocking, isn’t it? So stop claiming that fetuses get some preferential treatment over adult humans and give me your real reasons for being pro-life. I’ll better accept “women are meant to serve men” than “omg! everyone has a right to life!”

And on an unrelated note, shut the fuck up with your blabbering that federal money pays for abortion. Unless you are referring to federal funding for Planned Parenthood (as well as other clinics) and are incredibly fiscally conservative, suck my fucking hypothetical dick. It doesn’t bother me when Libertarian Boyfriend bitches about pulling funding for various social programs/non-profits because he is CONSISTENT. His rationale isn’t “pull funding from PPH because it supports baby killing whores.” It’s “pull funding from everything and let corporations/private citizens fund them.” And though I disagree strongly with him on this point, I can respect it because he doesn’t have some fucked convoluted “pull funding cause I NO LIKEY ABORTION” ideology.

But most pro-life idiots who babble about federal money paying for abortion are almost always under the delusion that Medicare pays for abortion. Fucking Google the goddamn Hyde Amendment, you idiots. Under Hyde (passed in 1976), federal money (via Medicare) CANNOT BE USED FOR ABORTION. Period. State laws may vary, but if you hate it so much, fucking move to a state that doesn’t allow state funding to be used to pay for abortion. (Oh, just like so many people threw that sentiment around towards left-wingers during Bush’s monarchy administration.) Oh, and if you don’t like your tax dollars being used to fund OMG!MURDER!, then I guess all y’all should be uber pissed about funding Operation Iraqi Freedom, the war in Afghanistan, and the soon-to-be defunct Guantanamo Bay.

But that would be logical, right?

I’m also kind of sick of pro-lifers bitching about OMG! PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE PAYING FOR ABORTION! OMG! I’d hate to be the one to break it to you, but health insurance is not required to pay for either abortion or birth control. (And as even Libertarian Boyfriend pointed out, health insurance plans, including Medicare, should pay for abortion. Period. It’s a medical procedure and therefore should be covered under your medical insurance, even if that is federally funded.) I’d much rather have my health insurance paying for elective abortions or birth control than gastric bypass, or better yet, tummy tucks for gastric bypass patients.

Actually, that’s a comparison that I would love to see drawn more often. The pro-life movement bitches that abortion is unnecessary in most cases. (I’m talking the mainstream, moderate pro-life movement who makes exceptions for life/health of the mother, life of the fetus/severe fetal anomaly, and rape/incest.) I made my bed, I should lie in it; this is exactly what I want to tell my hypothetical children if they ever ask me why I chose to have them. Because I totally don’t want my children to think they were wanted. I want them to totally know that they were just my obligation.

Well you know what? You want to see more personal responsibility in men and women? Start fighting against health insurance companies covering gastric bypass, which is often a result of not putting the fork and fucking exercising once in awhile. Start fighting against health insurance companies covering heart attacks caused by eating 1/2 lb of baked mac and cheese in one sitting, ambulance rides for car accidents caused by erratic driving, rehab/detox programs, psych ward visits due to suicide attempts/threats, any health issues caused by obesity, cancer treatments for those who spent too much time in the sun or who smoked too heavily when they were younger, cirrhosis treatments for those who drink too heavily, endoscopies for those who stressed themselves so much that they developed ulcers, shooting victims who pissed off the wrong person or are too poor to move out of areas with high amounts of gun violence and drug cocktails for AIDS patients.

After all, these are all medical treatments we receive for choices we each made. If you look at abortion as an issue of personal responsibility, then shouldn’t we extend that to everything our health insurance plans typically cover? So what the hell is the difference between my insurance policy – whether it is state/federally funded or not – covering these things and not a legal, constitutionally protected medical procedure?

Oh that’s right. It all comes back to the “sanctity of life.” Despite the fact that we – in the United States – don’t seem to put all that high of a value on people’s lives when it’s shipping the poor off in droves to fight in wars. Or when we tell poverty stricken people in the inner city (or hell, in rural areas like Appalachia) that they’re screwed when it comes to better enforcing gun laws. Or when we don’t do more to protect the LGBTQ community from homophobic acts of violence. Or when we can’t use can’t use stem cells from the precious fetuses to help cure or prevent degenerative diseases because we’re stubborn assholes who get a bug up our asses about where they came from.

Sanctity of life, my ass.

The stem cell shit is really pissing me off. When you have someone very close to you who is suffering from a fast progressing form of MS, it’s very difficult to not hate every fucking idiot politician who tries to argue that it’s OMG! EVIL! OMG! KILLING BABIES! OMG! PLAYING GOD! When it’s the one fucking thing that might actually help prolong his life and actually increase his quality of life as well, it’s very difficult to not hate these self-righteous, religious propaganda loving assholes. FOR FUCK’S SAKE, I LIVE IN A STATE WHERE OUR REPUBLICAN SENATOR IS FAR MORE LIBERAL ON MANY ISSUES THAN OUR SUPPOSED LIBERAL DEMOCRAT IN OFFICE. Arlen Specter, for all his fucking flaws, votes pretty pro-choice and also supports stem cell research! And for fuck’s sake, even if you are prolife, even if your reasons for being prolife are rooted in religion, how on earth can you really argue that stem cells – which come from fetuses that have ALREADY BEEN ABORTED – are evil because of the way they are procured? You want to fight for a right to life? Try fighting for the right to live for every motherfucker out there unlucky enough to have been diagnosed with degenerative diseases like MS and Parkinson’s.

In terms of his economic stimulus plan, out of the top four industries he wants to create jobs for, two of them are ones in which women are highly underrepresented, and one of the four that is not is RETAIL. Yeah, somehow I doubt these are all retail management jobs and I’m guessing that the majority of those proposed jobs will NOT be ones that actually pay a living wage. How the fuck does that really help women – who make up the poorest of the poor? Welfare winds up paying more than $8/hour. I have a several year old study in which it was estimated that female welfare recipients with kids would need to make roughly $12-$13/hourly JUST TO MAINTAIN THEIR STANDARD OF LIVING. (Because you have to remember that once you get a job on welfare, your benefits started getting slashed; you have to remember shit like daycare, food expenses, rent, all things that a single mother receiving welfare would get for free or significantly cheaper than she would if she were not on welfare.)

In other news, I watched the inauguration coverage on CNN with friends and Libertarian Boyfriend.  He and I editorialized when necessary and I didn’t think it was his best speech. He was certainly not as charismatic as in many of his previous speeches.

Whatever, if anyone complains to me, I can always say “I didn’t vote for him.”  Then again, the joke’s on me, because Pennsy went blue in the end.

I did a quick Google search a few minutes ago and learned that we were lucky enough to register on Jill Stanek’s radar. We also got an entire post dedicated to us over at Life Advocates. As immature as it might be, I’m very tempted to pop over to both blogs and thank them for the attention. Hey, FMLA can always use more members.

Some observations:

The implication (of one of the blogs, I think Ms. Stanek’s) that all — or at least most — pro-choicers were born post-Roe is hilarious. My mother was my age when she had me, making her born way pre-Roe, and she ranted to me about “pro-life” clinic protesting and why she thinks it’s fucking stupid.

“May the fetus you save be gay” is mean? I’ll agree that it is a slightly problematic sign and I can understand why people would find it distasteful for many reasons, but mean? I could understand if you think it’s mean to that fetus because the Christian Right is generally both homophobic and anti-choice, but I don’t understand why else it would be mean….unless…you think it’s mean because you are homophobic! I know, I know. Crazy talk, right?

I know the guy holding the “Keep Bush out of my bush” sign. IIRC, he grabbed it because there were no other “generic” signs that would apply to men and we all need a little bit of humor to break up the tension. So why attack his gender and/or his looks? How on earth is that appropriate? If you homophobic, sexist bigoted fucks want me to NOT VIEW YOU AS HOMOPHOBIC, SEXIST BIGOTED FUCKS, then don’t act like fucking idiots, k?

Blah blah, we love abobo. I get it. It’s not that I think keeping abortion a decision between me and my doctor is hot, it’s that I think abortion is SEXY!

Hmm. Now I kinda want an “Abortion is SEXY!” shirt. And it’s all because of these horrible writers who don’t understand context, let alone the entire situation.

If I were an asshole, I advise everyone photographed to start flooding these bloggers with emails stating that they did not receive written permission to publish their likeness on their blogs. But I’m a pretty nice person, so I won’t.

Why am I pro-choice?

Because I’m a woman. Because the government should have no say in what happens in my body. Because I’m a feminist. Because men cannot carry a pregnancy to term. Because white women still make an average of $.75 to a white man’s dollar. Because pay disparities become even more abysmal when you take race into consideration. Because I never want us to return to the days of dangerous “back alley” abortions. Because, again, “back alley” abortions became even more dangerous when considering race and class. Because Gerri Santoro should not have died. Because Becky Bell should not have died. Because none of these women, or countless others, should have died, only to have their deaths mocked by oh so compassionate “feminists” for life. Because I realize that there are many factors that go into the decision to continue a pregnancy. Because an abortion can be the most difficult decision a woman makes or easiest. Because even if I disagree with a woman’s reason for aborting, I do not want laws based on my morality, values or preferences. Because historically, certain women’s reproductive choices have have been ripped from them because they were “unfit” for parenting. Because many of these same women are still manipulated into having their reproductive rights stolen from them. Because raging hardons are considered more important than 100% effective birth control. Because the government thinks it’s okie dokie to prevent me from getting a script filled if my pharmacist deems it “morally unacceptable.”

Because not being pro-choice makes absolutely no sense to me.