Stop Patriarchy

Here’s a message sent to StopPatriarchy from Nikki who is coming to Washington DC for the Week of Action.  Read. Take a moment to think about what this means for women’s lives.  ACT. 

“Last year around this time a friend of mine bought the iPhone 4S, he was so excited about it and so was I. I wanted to play with Siri, the voice interpretation and recognition program that comes on that model and all subsequent models of the iPhone. The first thing I did, as a proud feminist, was to start talking to Siri about women’s issues. I asked Siri where the nearest abortion clinic was. Her response: 

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We’ll be stopping by here after St. Pat’s on Saturday.

Protest at Chiaroscuro Foundation office at 5th Ave. & 50th St. This group is responsible for major anti-abortion advertising including last year’s SoHo billboard which read “The Most Dangerous Place for an Afro-American is in the Womb.”  It’s a racist women-hating group that aims to shame black women who seek abortions.

SPREAD THE WORD!

In or near NYC? We’ll see you in the streets celebrating International Women’s Day!

But no matter where you are on March 10 - you can appreciate an abortion provider. From World Can’t Wait:

Thank an abortion provider

With the escalating vicious nationwide attack on the right to abortion and even birth control going on, this National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers takes on new profound importance. All of us who are outraged by this endless onslaught on the reproductive choice need to take that all that righteous outrage and focus it for the next two weeks into making sure March 10th, National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers is a big celebration of abortion and the precious doctors who make this right available!

In 1996, March 10th was declared a National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers by a group of national organizations and individuals as a way of giving back to the people who risk so much to ensure women have access to abortion.

March 10th is the anniversary of the murder of Dr. David Gunn, the first provider murdered by an anti-abortion extremist. Since then doctors and clinic staff continue to be attacked, their clients mercilessly harassed, their facilities bombed and burned, and their doctors and staff murdered. Yet they continue going to work, braving an increasing onslaught from fundamentalist extremists, because they know their services are absolutely indispensable to the equality of women in this society.

Watch Dr. Susan Wicklund on what difference it makes to get a note of support, in the midst of threats, from Abortion, Morality, and the Liberation of Women.

Invite your friends via Facebook to participate.

Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.

Find a clinic near you: National Abortion Federation LIST Abortion Clinics Online LIST. Bring flowers & thank you cards in person (we recommend calling first).

You can download, print and send cards to providers by clicking on one of the images below. Designed to be printed on 8 1/2 x 11″ paper and folded in 4 – use a notecard envelope to keep from folding again. Thanks to Heather Ault with 4000yearsforchoice.com for the great designs!

Message from Alexis Zepeda
Volunteer Clinic Escort, DC Abortion Fund Board Member

For all abortion providers, clinic staff, volunteer escorts and local fund volunteers…

When she looks at the piece of paper with your phone number on it, she wonders who will watch her kids, will she have to travel to a different state, does her credit card have enough space on it, how much will she get when she pawns her TV, will he come through with the $300 he promised her…can she do this?

She walks through the gauntlet of protesters – the same people some of you walk past every day at work and at home – but remains resolute in her decision. This choice of hers is only a real possibility because of your dedication to the notion that as long as there are unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, there must be access to safe and legal abortion care.

Your work is revolutionary and empowering. Your goals are simple: value women, trust women, listen to women. By providing the compassionate and skilled abortion care that women and their families need, you save women’s lives. You are heroes. Thank you for all that you do. Hearing that every day would still never be enough. On March 10, know that you all play a critical role in our movement’s struggle to fight stigma, judgment and prejudice.

Thank you!!

Abortion is a matter of the heart: for until one understands the heart of a woman, nothing else about abortion makes any sense at all.
- Dr. George Tiller

Banner created by artist Heather Ault, creator of 4000yearsofchoice.com

Be in DC Jan 23 to Stand Up for Abortion & Birth Control!

Be part of making this happen - contact stoppatriarchy@gmail.com

invite your friends on facebook

There is absolutely nothing wrong, tragic, unfortunate, or sad about a woman choosing to get an abortion. Nothing.

Why?

Because being forced to have a child against your will is enslavement. Period.

Why else?

Because fetuses are NOT babies. Fetuses have the potential to become babies, but until they are born they have no independent social or biological existence. They are a subordinate part of a woman’s body. Any state, religious, or family intervention which forces – or even pressures – a woman into subordinating her life, dreams and health to incubating that fetus against her will is completely unjust and illegitimate. It is immoral and it is enslaving.

But what about her responsibility? If she didn’t want a baby, shouldn’t she have thought of that before she “opened her legs”?

This argument is wrong on at least four levels. First, this suggests that it is wrong for women to have sex and that they must be punished for doing so (while applying a totally different standard to men). Second, this approach treats children – who should be wanted and well cared for – like nothing more than a punishment to women. Third, this ignores the fact that getting an abortion when one is not ready or eager to have a child is taking responsibility. Finally, this ignores the fact that it is the very Christian fascists who are criminalizing abortion who are responsible for denying increasing numbers of women access to birth control and sex education (which makes it enormously harder for them to protect themselves from pregnancy during sex in the first place).

But what about when a woman is raped? Or if she really wanted to have a baby but there is something wrong with the fetus or a danger to her own life? Doesn’t that make the abortion sad?

Again, fuck no!

If a woman is impregnated because of being raped, it is the rape that is the horrific crime – the abortion which prevents her from being forced to bear the child of her rapist is positive and liberating.

If a woman really wants a child but something goes wrong with the pregnancy, it is the medical problems that are the tragedy – the abortion that eliminates those dangers is positive and liberating.

*************************

Women are human beings, not incubators. A woman who cannot decide for herself when and whether she will have a child has no more freedom than a slave. Abortion is not something to apologize for, it is something to celebrate and defend. 1 in 3 women will have an abortion in her life, she is not wrong for doing so. It is time to declare loudly and boldly:

ABORTION ON DEMAND AND WITHOUT APOLOGY!!!

Sunsara Taylor writes for Revolution newspaper and is on the Advisory Board of World Can’t Wait. Follow her on twitter @sunsarataylor, friend her on facebook and add sunsarataylor.blogspot.com to your blogroll

There is absolutely nothing wrong, tragic, unfortunate, or sad about a woman choosing to get an abortion. Nothing.

Why?

Because being forced to have a child against your will is enslavement. Period.

Why else?

Because fetuses are NOT babies. Fetuses have the potential to become babies, but until they are born they have no independent social or biological existence. They are a subordinate part of a woman’s body. Any state, religious, or family intervention which forces – or even pressures – a woman into subordinating her life, dreams and health to incubating that fetus against her will is completely unjust and illegitimate. It is immoral and it is enslaving.

But what about her responsibility? If she didn’t want a baby, shouldn’t she have thought of that before she “opened her legs”?

This argument is wrong on at least four levels. First, this suggests that it is wrong for women to have sex and that they must be punished for doing so (while applying a totally different standard to men). Second, this approach treats children – who should be wanted and well cared for – like nothing more than a punishment to women. Third, this ignores the fact that getting an abortion when one is not ready or eager to have a child is taking responsibility. Finally, this ignores the fact that it is the very Christian fascists who are criminalizing abortion who are responsible for denying increasing numbers of women access to birth control and sex education (which makes it enormously harder for them to protect themselves from pregnancy during sex in the first place).

But what about when a woman is raped? Or if she really wanted to have a baby but there is something wrong with the fetus or a danger to her own life? Doesn’t that make the abortion sad?

If a woman is impregnated because of being raped, it is the rape that is the horrific crime – the abortion which prevents her from being forced to bear the child of her rapist is positive and liberating.

If a woman really wants a child but something goes wrong with the pregnancy, it is the medical problems that are the tragedy – the abortion that eliminates those dangers is positive and liberating.

*************************

Women are human beings, not incubators. A woman who cannot decide for herself when and whether she will have a child has no more freedom than a slave. Abortion is not something to apologize for, it is something to celebrate and defend. 1 in 3 women will have an abortion in her life, she is not wrong for doing so. It is time to declare loudly and boldly:

ABORTION ON DEMAND AND WITHOUT APOLOGY!!!

Sunsara Taylor writes for Revolution Newspaper, is on the Advisory Board of World Can’t Wait, and is a co-host on Equal Time for Freethought on WBAI 99.5 in NYC. Follow her on Twitter @sunsarataylor, friend her on facebook, and add sunsara.blogspot.com to your blogroll.