Jezebel
roe vs. world
Posts Tagged “
pro-choice
”
roe vs. world
Some troubling news on the pro-choice front: according to the AFP, almost 70% of Italian gynecologists refuse to perform abortions, up from under 60% in 2003. "Italy legalized abortion in 1978 but pressure from the Vatican enabled doctors to claim a 'conscientious objection' and refuse to carry out the procedure," the NY Times reports. A large percentage of Italian anesthetists are also refusing to participate in abortions — nearly 50% these days. In Sicily, a whopping 84% of gynos will not perform the procedures. [Agence France-Presse via New York Times]
avant-garde assholes
Yale Senior Undergoes Multiple Self-Induced Miscarriages In The Name Of Art
Update: It was fake.
Yale University senior Aliza Shvarts, left, swears she's not trying to "scandalize anyone." Her art is definitely not designed purely for "shock value,". Even so, it's hard to know what to call Shvarts' senior thesis, "a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself 'as often as possible' while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages." Yup, in an attempt to start a dialogue about art and its relationship to the body, Shvarts is displaying plastic sheeting reportedly smeared with the uterine blood and tissue from her various miscarriages and projecting video of herself miscarrying into a bathtub. "I believe strongly that art should be a medium for politics and ideologies, not just a commodity," Shvarts tells the Yale Daily News. "I think that I'm creating a project that lives up to the standard of what art is supposed to be." The thing is, Shvarts' art isn't so much commenting on politics or ideologies but her own need for attention.
A Republican Senate candidate in Idaho has legally changed his name to "Pro-Life." Marvin Richardson originally had changed his middle name to "Pro-Life" when he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006 as a way to get the phrase on the ballot, but was not allowed to use it, because of ballot restrictions. So now he's changed his entire name, and Idaho officials will have to include the name on the ballot, because, much like Richardson's platform, they are left with no choice. [CBS News]
Which is grosser: A Planned Parenthood employee agreeing to take a donation specifically for aborting black fetuses, or that the donation was made by a pro-life group in order to catch an abortion provider being racist? Autumn Kersey, director of development for Planned Parenthood of Idaho, is the one who took the call from an actor posing as a donor who wanted "to eliminate black unborn children because 'the less black kids out there the better.'" Kersey replied with, "Understandable, understandable." You can listen to the audio here. Kersey's response is so unreal, we're thinking maybe she was just trying to gloss over all the crazy shit the caller was saying in order to get his cash. Maybe. You be the judge: The whole exchange can be read here. [Feministing]
film review
I Watched That Romanian Abortion Movie So You Don't Have To
How much of a plot can an abortion movie really have? It was a question oft-posed by the defenders of Knocked Up and Juno against all those haters who accused them of putting dangerous ideas in Jamie Lynn Spears' head. (Oh look, more fresh accusations!) And then came a film out of Romania that dared to state the obvious answer: you know what makes an abortion movie pretty interesting? When the abortion in question is illegal! 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days takes place in Romania two years before the execution of Stalinist dictaror Nikolai Ceausescu, who outlawed abortion in 1966 as part of a sort of reverse "one child" policy, in which couples who failed to procreate before the age of 25 actually found themselves fined. After the jump I'll tell you if it succeeded. More »
Roe Vs. World
Last Roe. Vs. Wade post of the day: Yesterday, a reader, Susan, wrote in to direct us to a fascinating and intense Frontline documentary on abortion available online. The film, which focuses on the stories of two women who allow the cameras in the room while the procedure is being performed, first aired in 1983. Says Susan: "It's really quite refreshing and surprising in the sense that I can't imagine this being broadcast on PBS in this day and age. Despite the fact that it's been 25 years since this was made, people seem to have shushed up about this topic more than opened up about it. " [PBS]
Last Roe. Vs. Wade post of the day: Yesterday, a reader, Susan, wrote in to direct us to a fascinating and intense Frontline documentary on abortion available online. The film, which focuses on the stories of two women who allow the cameras in the room while the procedure is being performed, first aired in 1983. Says Susan: "It's really quite refreshing and surprising in the sense that I can't imagine this being broadcast on PBS in this day and age. Despite the fact that it's been 25 years since this was made, people seem to have shushed up about this topic more than opened up about it. " [PBS]
roe vs. world
Pro-Life Teen Says "I Feel Like We're All Survivors Of Abortion"
In 1973, the World Trade center opened its doors, synthetic fabrics were a must, the Watergate hearings were televised, Adrien Brody was born, and abortion was legalized. Today, on the 35th anniversary of the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision, the cultural pendulum has shifted rightward (according to L.A. Times contributors Francis Kissling and Kate Michelman, "Twenty years ago, being pro-life was déclassé. Now it is a respectable point of view"). According to a Pew poll, 22% of young adults favor a total ban on abortion, 87% of counties have no abortion provider, and pro-life teenagers are "spiritually adopting" fetuses and telling LA Times reporters, "I feel like we're all survivors of abortion." More »
fetal positions
Unlike Alveda King, I Am Neither "Reformed" Nor A Murderer
Not only is today Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, tomorrow marks the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Wade. (Erica Jong weighs in here.) And did you know that one of the most vocal abortion opponents is Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece, self-described "reformed murderer" Alveda King? (King, seen above left, had two abortions when she was younger, and offers up this gem: "We give free sex education, free condoms, free birth control. That's almost like permission to have free sex.") Yup, less than a week after the news broke that the abortion rate in the U.S. is at its lowest in 45 years, the media is coming out with its inevitable "the women behind the abortions" stories, and the (not-so-surprising) news is that the majority of abortions are being performed on women who have already had kids, many of them college-educated. In fact, in the 35 years since Roe vs. Wade, there have been roughly 50 million abortions in the United States, with more than 1/3 of adult women estimated to have had one (a disproportionate number of those women are black or Hispanic). And on this, the eve of the anniversary of Roe V. Wade, I'll say it: I am one of those women.
More »
insemination nation
Experts Don't Understand Why Fewer American Women Are Getting Abortions
Almost exactly 35 years after the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision, new research from the Guttmacher Institute shows that abortion rates have declined significantly. The "rate" of abortions — also known as the number of pregnancies terminated per 1,000 women — has declined 25% since its peak in 1990, and, according to the L.A. Times, while in the early 80s, nearly 1 in 3 women chose abortion, today only 1 in 5 do. Pregnancy pundits from both sides of the abortion debate are unsure as to why, exactly, rates have plunged so drastically; one reason could be the legalization of the abortion pill, RU-486. (According to Guttmacher, 14% of abortions are induced via ingestion of RU-486, and the abortion rate is calculated only via stats on the number of "old school" D&C procedures.) More »
'pro-life' losers
All I Got For Christmas Was This Stupid Abortion Protest
Okay people, it's not puppytime just yet. There's been a series of anti-abortion mishaps out west this month. On December 6 in Albuquerque, abortion provider Dr. Curtis Boyd's clinic was destroyed by arsonists, reports the New York Times. This past Tuesday, two other abortion centers in the New Mexico city were seriously ravaged by fires. Police have arrested two 22-year-old men, Chad Altman and Sergio Baca, on suspicion of arson. Outside of Denver, paternalistic protesters are picketing outside the homes of contractors who agreed to work on a new Planned Parenthood building. Even on Christmas morning these jerks planned to show up outside the contractors homes to picket with signs of dead babies. What a truly Christian gesture! More »
broadsides
CNN Schools Us On The Concept Of Female Frenemies
- CNN the news network, known for its in-depth coverage of the Paris Hilton Goes To Prison Scandal, gets all deep in their exploration of "frenemies". Listen, sometimes really shallow girls turn on their friends over things like boys, and drugs, and fame. Is that so hard to understand? [CNN]
- A professor at Harvard's Dental School says dentists should be at the forefront of combating domestic abuse, as the most common injuries are to the victims' head and neck areas. [Boston Globe]
- Research supposedly shows that men who were born to overweight mothers have "poorer quality" sperm. In other words, KFed may LOOK cheap, but his spunk is actually quite expensive. [Daily Mail]
