We shouldn't blame Bill O'Reilly alone for spreading hatespeech against Dr. Tiller, satisfying though that accusation is, He has had plenty of company in the chorus crying out "death" for a man dedicated to saving the lives of those already born and helping them with terrible decisions.

The debate over the agency of the anti-choice movement and the reactions of the journalistic community is wide and varied. I've chosen to post this sample of reactions by journalists gathered by Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic online. He has also provided links to a number of partial birth stories if you're interested in the most volatile part of the debate. I'd like to remind people that partial birth abortions are the smallest part of the entire abortion issue, with most abortions being conducted in the first trimester: partial birth was always the hot-button issue the anti-choice campaigners and George Bush used to get their foot in the door of Roe v. Wade.

And while the rats scramble to cover their tracks, Dr. Tiller's fellow physicians continue to give his patients care, despite the ongoing dangers at the Kansas clinics. Remember them in your prayers, please.

You knew I'd surface sooner or later to talk about doctor and abortion care provider George Tiller's murder in his church on Sunday. Please note in the MSNBC article how quick the anti-abortion organizations are to disown the murder their rhetoric has nurtured. I'm sure FOX's lowlife pontiff Bill O'Reilly will be quick to do the same.

It seems that there are some areas in American life in which persons who claim to be followers of the Prince of Peace, who preached "love thy neighbor," "let him who is without sin cast the first stone," "turn the other cheek," and forgiveness in the face of his own torture and murder, can go out to commit arson, assault, and murder, and expect for the rest of us to understand, approve, and/or give them a free pass. They demand the right of life from an organism that cannot express an opinion, while they take it from those who can not only give opinions, but act on them. They claim to love the "preborn," but do nothing for them when they are born into bad conditions, attend underfunded schools, and receive inadequate healthcare, and preach hate for those who oppose their supposedly religious views. They preach disobedience to the law of the land, and then pretend shock and horror when capital crimes are committed in the name of their cause.

There was more to George Tiller than that numbered bullseye. Yes, he had a family, including the wife who got to see his body in the lobby of their church. He had children and grandchildren. But he had others, too, like this woman from DKos's diaries:

The George Tiller I Knew
by loree920 [Subscribe]
Sun May 31, 2009 at 09:45:47 PM EDT
[Promoted by Meteor Blades]

Like many in this community, my heart is heavy today. There have been many great diaries that talk about Dr. Tiller's years of service to women, and the threats he has endured throughout the last years of his life. My story is a bit more personal and I want to share it with all of you to give you more insight into the man.

In 1975 my Mom noticed an indention in her left breast. She called and made an appointment with her OB/GYN, Dr. George Tiller. After his initial examination, he ordered a biopsy. While performing the biopsy he immediately knew that the lump was cancerous. Instead of just closing and scheduling surgery, he “grabbed a handful”, his words not mine. Her cancer Dr. credited this quick thinking by Dr. Tiller with saving her life, and due to this she didn’t even have to undergo chemotherapy.

Several years later my Mother and I were driving by his clinic in Wichita. Mom started complaining of chest pains, so I drove into his parking lot and ran in to get help. Dr. Tiller was by Mom’s side immediately, and stabilized her, before the heart attack could cause severe damage.

In 1980 I was pregnant with my first child. I had no insurance and couldn't afford a doctors appointment until I was approved for a medical card.. Mom told Dr. Tiller and he brought me into his office where he examined me, free of charge. I can credit him with the very first picture taken of my son.

The last story I have to share is about my friends who could not have children. Dr. Tiller’s office worked with several attorneys in the Wichita area to provide adoption services for his patients who wanted this option. My friends have a 10 yr. old boy now, who is loved and adored.

I’m not a great writer, so I apologize that this isn’t nearly as eloquent as some of the diaries on Daily Kos. I just wanted to get this story out to you, so you could hear how this man wasn’t just a tremendous fighter for women's rights. He was a brilliant physician, and a kind and compassionate human being. RIP Dr. Tiller and thank you for all you did for my friends and my family.

-----------------------------------------------------------
These people are thugs, bullies, and murderers wearing the mask of faith. They are narcissists who believe everyone must think as they do. They are sociopaths who believe women have no right to their own bodies. And if they continue as they have been, this is what modern women can look forward to (and please, read at least some of the comments).

Am I still preaching to the converted? When are we going to get O'Reilly off the air, and start driving some of these troglodytes back into their caves?

On the 19th, when I was flattened with the first day of a three-day migraine, Senator Hillary Clinton sent the following to me.

Heres the link to the NY Times article she and Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood co-authored, posted in a previous thread by eponablackhorse.

I wish Clinton had done this sooner, but I'm really glad she did it.
It's been pointed out to me that Clinton was going to bat against this measure earlier this summer, long before I'd even heard of it, so I am rescinding my remark. I feel erasing it would look as if I were pretending I never said it, so I'm striking it out instead.


_______________________________________________________

A special message from Hillary Clinton about Planned Parenthood and the women, men, and families they serve


Dear Tamora,

The Bush administration is at it again — threatening reproductive freedom and women's health. Their latest new proposal from the Dept of Health and Human Services could jeopardize health care for millions of women.

That's why I'm working with my colleagues in the Senate, and my friend Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, to stop them.

Cecile and I wrote an article that is appearing in The New York Times today [see above link/tp], alerting the nation to what will happen if the Bush administration moves ahead with the HHS rule.

Those who are anti-choice, anti-family planning see the period of transition between administrations as a window of opportunity. In its final months, they're pressing the Bush administration to do one ridiculous thing after another. We need Planned Parenthood to make sure that common sense wins out over ideology.

One day, we'll live in a world where Planned Parenthood can simply go about its work providing women with essential health care information and services. But, that day isn't here yet. Until it arrives, you and I will have to keep counting on Planned Parenthood to speak up and challenge dangerous ideas that undermine women's health. And Planned Parenthood will have to keep counting on us to support and sustain its vitally important work at critical moments like this.

Sincerely,
Hillary Clinton


Sorry for the tardiness, but I had to post this here, tardy or not!

Here's another Planned Parenthood petition against what's now being called "the conscience rule" that is being considered by Health and Human Services, the rule that will let individual health care providers decide if their convictions allow each one of them to give women abortion advice and care. Please sign it, or one of the other petitions linked here, here, here here, and here (Planned Parenthood's first petition).

The deadline, September 25th, for public comment on this rule is eleven days away. Don't let it slip by without registering your opinion.

And remember, if McCain and Palin win in November, even the adoption of non-legislative rules in these matters may be wiped clean away by a one candidate who has said he wants a Supreme Court that will rule on "strict constitutionality," and has said that he regards Roe v. Wade as being anti-constitutional by that analysis, and a vice president (under an old and unhealthy president) who is anti-choice. Act while you can.

Right before we left for Dragon*Con, Tim shot me a petition from the ACLU, giving us yet another source to use to put the pressure on Health and Human Services. I hope everyone is keeping an eye on this and keeping the pressure on, particularly since, except for Keith Olbermann on MSNBC a while back, no one in the mainstream media is even talking about this.

It's truly scary, how quiet people are being about something with such potentially disastrous consequences. I don't know about you folks, but I'm more worried than ever.

edited to add:
lilithschilde suggests getting in touch with your senators and congresspeople to see if they can bring some pressure to bear, and I think it's a good idea.

into the hands of everyone but the woman concerned part 3

nanashi_jones posted this very useful piece of information in part 2, which I am now re-posting so everyone will see it!

Here's the bill in all its glory:

45 CFR Part 88

I find having the words on hand lends extra venom to responses.

The bill itself directs "electronic comments" to go through Regulations.gov, so if anyone wants to go that extra mile, that option is open.

One way that can help is citing the specific broadening of words like "sterilization procedures" so that it is not left vague. Telling government officials to change something gives them wiggle room and leaves them asking "What something?" and a terrifying space to rewrite and claim compliance. If we can call them on a specific word or phrase, they have all the wiggle room of a steel box.

Thanks, nanashi_jones! This is a big help!

into the hands of anyone but the woman concerned, Part 2.

This AP article provides more information about the new rule, exactly what it says, how it can be stretched, and when we should worry.

I say we should really worry, right now.

If you haven't signed the NARAL petition or the we'll-ask-you-for-money-first Planned Parenthood petition, I ask that you consider doing so. We have to move fast--September 30th isn't that far away.

kallaneboi has also thoughtfully provided us with a link to MoveOn's petition.

Probably everyone knows this by now, but I want to cross-post what Planned Parenthood is saying about Bush's latest attempt to have government take control over women's bodies:

President Bush's regulatory change lets health care providers define abortion, which could threaten access to birth control and broader reproductive health care, and allow federal funding for so-called "crisis pregnancy centers" that refuse to inform patients of or provide patients with a full range of reproductive health care options.

Now that the new rule has been issued officially, we need you to speak out during the official 30-day comment period before the rule can go into effect.

We need as many people as possible to submit comments to the Department of Health and Human Services before the official comment period ends on September 25.

[this part is from the generic letter they are asking people to send]
I am writing to oppose the so-called "conscience" rule recently submitted by Secretary Leavitt. This regulation poses a serious threat to women's health care by limiting the rights of patients to receive complete and accurate health information and services.

At a time when more and more families are uninsured and under economic assault, we find our health care system is in crisis and our president taking steps to deny access to basic care. Women's ability to manage their own health care is at risk of being compromised by politics and ideology.

You can find the mail, edit it and sign it, at the Planned Parenthood site linked above, on the main page, under "Breaking News," the link that says take action today,. The mail goes to the Department of Health & Human Services, which makes the final ruling. If you want more information, click on this link for Planned Parenthood's longer release on the subject.

I don't know if the clown prince has nothing more to lose, so he's jamming every fucktard idea he had out there to see what he can get away with, or he thinks these things are his precious "legacy," or he thinks we're so fixed on the presidential race that we won't notice his sleazy maneuverings, but I hope there are plenty of people who will tell him that once, just bloody maggot-swilling ONCE, he won't get away with it. That he is going to fail in yet another attempt to force his parochial views on this entire country, that we are going to hold to that silly, old-fashioned idea of liberty for all.

It's not Bush's to take. Don't let anyone give it to him. Please.

Edited to add:

If you'd like a structure that doesn't hit you up front with a request for cash before delivering information or a way to protest, you might want to try NARAL's protest. You might also want to look at NARAL's home page--they are lobbying for a strong pro-choice plank at the Democratic National Convention in September.

Published in BBC Online:


India baby girl deaths 'increase'
There is a cultural preference for male children in India

The number of girls born and surviving in India has hit an all time low compared to boys, ActionAid says.

A report by the UK charity says increasing numbers of female foetuses were being aborted and baby girls deliberately neglected and left to die.

In one site in the Punjab state, there are just 300 girls to every 1,000 boys among higher caste families, it says.

ActionAid says India faces a "bleak" future if it does not end its practice of cultural preference for boys.

Girls 'condemned'

ActionAid teamed up with Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to produce the Disappearing Daughters report.

More than 6,000 households in sites across five states in north-western India were interviewed and statistical comparisons were made with national census date.


The real horror of the situation is that for women avoiding having daughters is a rational choice
Laura Turquet, ActionAid

Under "normal" circumstances, there should be about 950 girls for every 1,000 boys, the charity said.

But it said that in three of the five sites, that number was below 800.

In four of the five sites surveyed, the proportion of girls to boys had declined since a 2001 census, the report said.

The research also found that ratios of girls to boys were declining fastest in comparatively prosperous urban areas.

ActionAid suggested the increasing use of ultrasound technology may be a factor in the trend.

The document says that Indian woman are put under intense pressure to produce sons, in a culture that predominantly views girls as a burden rather than an asset.

It says many families now use ultrasound scans and abort female foetuses, despite the existence of the 1994 law banning gender selection and selective abortion.

The charity also blames other illegal practices - such as allowing the umbilical cord to become infected - for the growing gender imbalance.

"The real horror of the situation is that, for women, avoiding having daughters is a rational choice. But for wider society it's creating an appalling and desperate state of affairs," Laura Turquet, women's rights policy official at ActionAid said.

"In the long term, cultural attitudes need to change. India must address economic and social barriers including property rights, marriage dowries and gender roles that condemn girls before they are even born.

"If we don't act now the future looks bleak," Ms Turquet said.

Some 10 million female foetuses have been aborted in India in the past 20 years, the British medical journal the Lancet has said.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wonder. I just wonder . . .

Does anyone know if a similar study has been made in North America?

Enough talk is coming up over this portion of yesterday's BBC article on abortions:
Two attempts to change the law were stopped by conservative women's groups.

They say a change in the law would promote promiscuity, and weaken the moral fibre of Nigeria.

"Making more abortions available is not the answer," says Saudata Sani, a female member of the House of Representatives for Kaduna state, in northern Nigeria.

"Women need to be educated about their rights over their body and given opportunities to plan their families, but it must be done in a way that protects public morality."

that I wanted to break it out here, in part to make my own point (if I can't be grandiose in my own LJ . . .), and in part to keep the discussion about women and girls being made to adhere to other people's ideas of what is proper for the conduct of their lives.

I put up the whole article because I wanted to give younger members an idea of what it was like before Roe v. Wade. But the truth is that much of this stuff is still going on here, not just in developing world countries like Nigeria. It's just less well hidden in developing world countries.

I wanted to re-post luna_the_cat's well-informed post to yesterday's thread here:
This is also a country with a high rate of violence against women, and the idea that a man could/should/would be criminally prosecuted for beating up his wife or girlfriend simply gets laughed at. When the girls say "their boyfriend won't let them use contraception" that may well mean "or they risk a severe beating". Ditto that for even trying to refuse sex. There is, unfortunately, a great culture there of male entitlement. (Have dealt with the spillover of that as we currently have a very large population of Nigerian students where I work.)

Anyway, you can look closer to home for this. Many of the countries in South and Central America are like this, or even worse. Consider, for one example, El Salvador, where abortion is completely illegal even to save the life of the mother; it is considered far less of a sin to let the woman die, of say a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, than it is to abort any developing fetus. After all, all this sort of thing is up to God. (Makes me wonder why they bother with any sort of medical treatment, of anything, if they really go by that argument.)

Or, just for giggles, consider the Philippines, where ANY form of birth control except for the "natural, rhythm method" is illegal, because they don't want to "ruin Filipino values" (that's a quote from Manila City Mayor Jose Atienza, by the way).

Everywhere that bans abortion has the same result: lots more women die, because sometimes taking the chance with your life seems like a better option than being forced to have a child. Aside from that, even more women end up with children they can't afford and the whole family suffers for it.

I have a distinct problem with defining the interests of any entity where it is reasonably possible to debate its personhood, as being more important than the rights and interests of an indubitable person, if you see what I'm saying.

And I'm afraid the usual emotive arguments about "but it's a life!" become just remarkably meaningless once one has been plating cells for a while. Undifferentiated cells turn into heart cells by default, did you know that? If you don't tell a stem cell to be something else, it turns into a heart cell. And they start "beating" as soon as they become mature enough to build up an ion potential. There is nothing freakier than opening a cabinet to find a whole tray of petri dishes full of little, fluttering "hearts". But that's pretty much the point at which one stops equating "has a heartbeat" with "is alive". Sure, they're alive. Just in precisely the same was as kidney cells are alive, and considerably less than the way that baby mice are alive. It doesn't maintain quite the same emotional pull.

As an interesting side note, in my historical perambulations of New England town records of the 17th C., I was startled to realise that the Puritans themselves had an awful lot of pregnancies of unmarried girls...and an awful lot of these were "lost". And, it was considered far more acceptable for an unmarried young woman to lose the pregnancy, than it was to bear a baby and name the father. It's a far more interesting take on "morality" than what makes it into the standard mythologised history.

And to it I want to point out that promiscuity and morality are all too often cited in our own cultures as reasons to rid ourselves of abortion, sex education, and readily available contraception. We can't look down our noses at developing world countries for this, not when "promiscuity" and "public morality" are used by everyone from parents to elected officials to school commissioners to say "our girls and young women have no brains about their lives." This is not just a developing world problem. It is our own as well.

When I did the Blog for Choice Day, I remember there were at least a couple of posts from younger women saying they hadn't known how bad it could be when I was young, or when women who were older than me were young.

Today I found this report on BBC World News online. If you change the national references, and use terms like "knitting needle" or "coat hanger" instead of "stick," and add granny remedies with local materials instead of Alligator chillies, you'll get an even clearer idea of what it was like here, before Roe v. Wade. This is the world we could return to if our courts give in to pressure and decide we are not equipped to make decisions about our bodies and futures.


Saving Nigerians from risky abortions

By Andrew Walker
BBC News website, Abuja

When she discovered she was pregnant, Faith stole a few thousand naira - about $40 - from her mother to pay for a secret abortion.

Women in Nigeria
In Nigeria women can only get an abortion is their life is at risk

The 21-year-old wasn't ready to have a baby, she said.

She doesn't have enough money to look after a child as she earns only 300 naira per day, just over $2.5 (£1.30).

"They put iron inside me, it pains a lot," she said in a written answer to questions from the BBC.

"I was vomiting, and felt sad."

The "doctor" was not trained to perform abortions, and may not have been qualified at all.

Faith is fortunate to be alive.

Figures show that 10,000 women die every year in Nigeria from unsafe abortions, carried out by untrained people in unsanitary conditions.

That is 27 deaths every day.

According to the US-based Guttmacher Institute, that is one sixth of the total number of women who die worldwide from such procedures.

( more behind cut )
"Women need to be educated about their rights over their body and given opportunities to plan their families, but it must be done in a way that protects public morality."

Other medical specialists say that the law is just a part of the picture.

"Even if it was possible to get a legal abortion, many women would not be able to get a safe one," said Dr Francis Ohanyido, the president of the International Public Health Forum.

"Medical facilities vary widely and it is almost impossible to guarantee quality."

Cultural taboos mean even if there was a clinic in their town, it would be impossible for most women to go there, he said.

Among the 12 women the BBC questioned, five said they believed it would be wrong to make abortion more easily available.

Sharle, a 25-year-old university student, who had an abortion so she could continue her education, said she regretted what she did, saying it was against God's commandments.

The idea is to keep it personal, so here's what I know.

I am 52 years old. When I was born, abortion was illegal. We had girls who "got in trouble." Girls who "had to get married." "Shotgun weddings." Quite a few of my cousins "got in trouble" and "had to get married." Guys "paid for their mistakes" and married the girl they got in trouble, or they paid for a back street, back alley abortion, which the girl did or did not survive. Some girls whose guys didn't pay for their mistakes went away for a while to stay with a relative and returned, changed. If you were that girl's close friend, you might found out that she'd had a baby, and had given it up for adoption. Sometimes the girl chose to keep the baby. Of course she couldn't hold her head up again. Of course all the men would come around, because they knew she was "easy." A "slut." A "round heels." There was the living proof, in the form of a kid--somebody else's kid, that few men of the time would want to raise. Real men didn't pay for somebody else's mistake. And the girl would work a job, or two jobs, to support herself and her child. Or worse, she might--whisper it--go on welfare. Her kid would grow up and go to school, and every day she or he might hear that name, "bastard." It wasn't just a curse word then. A bastard was a kid with no father and a mother who was a whore.

( More behind cut )I've never had an abortion. I've known women who have had one, two, and three, for every reason you can think of. Some are guilty. Some regret, but would have made the same decision. Some just say, "Hell, yeah, and I'd do it again!"

I remember that trapped, breathless feeling I had, thinking of all of my cousins who "had to get married," and I thank the Supreme Court of that time for our right to choose.

Don't let us get slack, folks. Don't let us lose this. You may never need it, but what if you do--and what if it's not there? What if you have too many kids or just enough right now? What if you're raped; what if you can barely support yourself; what if you took or were given the wrong drug; what if you carry a deadly gene? (Mine is Huntingdon's Corhea, with a 50/50 chance of being passed on to a carrier's kids if the carrier has it, and the carrier may not know until long after s/he's had kids.) What if you're ill and a pregnancy puts your life at risk?

What if some other poor soul has one or more of these issues and needs help? What if she needs to know she isn't trapped? What is fair to her, and to that unborn child? Isn't it better to have a child born when it's wanted, when it will be healthy, when it can be cared for?

Vote for choice, because that's what it is. Each of us gets to decide what's right for ourselves. We get to choose to let the next woman decide what's right for her. And so on, woman by woman, each exercising her own conscience and her own power over her own body.

That's tomorrow, folks! Time to remember Roe v. Wade and what choice means to us; how important it is that we HAVE a choice. Will you be there, bloggiting away? I will!

You can also click on the icon above to go to NARAL's site for more inforama!

See, it was just a background thing. Only a handful of people online ever mentioned it when White Tiger #2 came out, including that one poor guy who kept trying to get a fight going about us being pro abortion and how that was bad (he found no takers because no one seemed to care). We didn't even understand why anyone would mention it, when we were ripping off an anti-abortion billboard near where we live, and just used it as a background thing, like all those precursor to Civil War headlines when Angela walked past news kiosks.




Then Tim did a read-through of the trade paperback. And Lo!




But--but--hello? It's not even naughty bits! It's a precursor to Civil War, which we were told to include as often as possible to help justify our not being part of the Civil War continuity. It's satire. And it's background! We see Citizen Steel's projectile weapon and Emma Frost's bikini wax, but a billboard gets the mosaic?

This is the real world--and we can't even use it as background? Oh, how we are naughty.

So hang onto those copies of Issue #2, Sports Fans. The ones with the Real!!!! Shocking!!!!!! Background!!!!!!!!! Billboard!!!!!!!!!!!