Right to Contraception Under Attack

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Caligastia
Have the anti-choicers who attacked and killed doctors ever done so with the blessing of anti-choice organisations? Has any anti-choice organisation ever condoned violence?

Officially, the anti-women's groups condemn violence, but it frequently seems to be with a nod and a wink. Just enough to keep the Feds from labeling them as terrorist groups and shutting them down.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Officially, the anti-women's groups condemn violence, but it frequently seems to be with a nod and a wink. Just enough to keep the Feds from labeling them as terrorist groups and shutting them down.

I heard NOW is having a march in DC this sunday. Hopefully things don't get ugly when the two protesting sides get together. I think NOW said they were bringing paint to throw over the pro-lifer's fetus signs.

[chequita guevara]

There's supposed to be a million pro-choicers in DC this weekend. I was planning on going, but things didn't work out.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Yes. There are a few terrorist organizations that engage in violence over this issue.

Really? Can you name an organisation on either side that has sanctioned violence? I've been having a discussion with Ben Kenobi about this.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
There's supposed to be a million pro-choicers in DC this weekend. I was planning on going, but things didn't work out.

Any idea how many pro-lifers will be there?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Caligastia


Really? Can you name an organisation on either side that has sanctioned violence? I've been having a discussion with Ben Kenobi about this.

The Shepards of the Lamb, I think is the name of one such group. They don't come right out and say violence is okay, but they publish the addresses and photos of doctors and their families, where they work, where they attend school, etc.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Caligastia
Any idea how many pro-lifers will be there?

Dunno. I wouldn't expect them to make a strong showing, based on past experience.

[Ramo]

since when having kids in the Islamic world had anything to do with freedom?

Just woke up so I can't tell where you're going with this.

I think he meant that having the choice of when to conceive or to give birth is freedom that women in all parts of the world should be entitled to, and that Islamic terrorists want to restrict that freedom.

The point that I was making is that with reproducive freedom, particularly with contraception, a woman can actually do something besides spitting out and raising kids constantly. Which imposes serious pressures on society to grant them more freedom (to go to work, to enter politics, etc.), and thus push towards secularism. And of course, Islamic terrorists tend not to be very secular.

[Elok]

Uh, Che?

When we Oppressors gather at the YMCA in the middle of the night scheming to reinforce the glass ceiling while women sleep, I have no doubt that you imagine us going MWAHAHAHAHA quite villianously. Have you thought of an actual motive too? If you haven't, I really can't say I think much of your delusions. This is not an Austin Powers movie. People don't sit down with checklists labelled EVIL TO PERPETRATE ON THE INNOCENT in real life; we "anti-woman" activists do actually believe in something positive. Entiendes?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Elok
Have you thought of an actual motive too?

It's religious and cultural. Look at the Promise Keepers, who believe that husbands/fathers should reclaim their "rightful place" as the head of the home. Look at the conservative Xians who've been arguing for thirty years that women should be in the home and not the work place. Who was it who fought the ERA?

It is all part and parcel of the same heterosexist movement. Men should be in charge, women are for breeding.

[Caligastia]

Bah! Women got to stay home for far too long! I'm looking forward to being a stay-at-home Dad.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Elok
This is not an Austin Powers movie. People don't sit down with checklists labelled EVIL TO PERPETRATE ON THE INNOCENT in real life; we "anti-woman" activists do actually believe in something positive. Entiendes?

/me decides to put away his checklist...for now

[The Mad Viking]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara

They aren't a small minority. Right-wing Christian fundies control the Republican Party. They passed a measure in Texas.

I think you have it backwards. The Republican Party controls Right-wing Christian fundies.

There is an excellent article in the latest Harpers that explains how the Repubs promise the Moral Majority the moon, over and over again; and aside from a few bones tossed there way, deliver the Military-Industrial Complex, oil-drilling in Alaska nature reserves, slack oversight on SEC violations, and so on. They use the Moral Majority rhetoric to get Americans of well below average economic means to support outsourcing their jobs to India & China.

We thought they wouldn't be able to restrict abortion, but they've managed to do just that.

Who thought that?

Do not make the mistake the Germans made, of thinking these people are clowns and will never succeed. If we dismiss them until they are powerful, we'll have a much harder time holding on to our rights.

Agreed. Why do we dismiss this minority, and not pedophiles? After all, they only molest a tiny minority of all children...

[DinoDoc]

5/10 for the ability to bring to combine a pedophile reference with a Godwin.

[Elok]

So, the logic is to ensure the continued societal disadvantages of women by...stopping abortion? Wouldn't our malevolent energies be better spent in cooking up PA-style studies "proving" that women become irrational during that time of the month, and hence can't be trusted with important jobs? The degree of "control" offered by preventing abortion is minimal. If the sole objective were to continue domination, it would be better to toss them a bone to keep them contented, rather than have a touchy subject like that causing resentment to no real benefit.

If nobody objected to Booker T. Washington asking economic equality to avoid giving the black man social equality, giving abortion would surely be a reasonable placation device in this instance. Going after women in the workplace, or at least birth-control in principle as opposed to those which could be construed as abortifacients, is a better angle of attack. The reason it ain't so is that this isn't some whacko conspiracy. There are genuine concerns for human life at work here, at least among the majority of us.