Your Body is a Battleground
Questions and discussion-starters are always welcome!
The title of this blog comes from Barbara Kruger's artwork of the same name which can be viewed here.
Anti-abortion violence has been a critical part of the so-called culture wars since the 70s. And it raises profound issues that as a democratic society, built on a constitutional system and carefully constructed culture of religious pluralism, we have dealt with poorly.
Although the vast majority of anti-abortion leaders condemn violence and consider acts of violence to undermine their cause; serious crimes, including acts of violence against abortion providers continue. Most recently, there have been three burglaries and two arsons against Atlanta area clinics and the offices of ob gyn physicians, making regionalnews. However, the doctors who have been victims of the burglaries and one of the arsons believe that although they do not perform abortions, they were being targeted in retaliation for public opposition to antiabortion “fetal pain” legislation recently signed by the governor.
These are the actions of terrorists.
Remember when doctors did what was in the best interest of the patient? Remember when refusing to provide care could get you fired or even arrested? Well, those days are coming to a close as doctors and nurses have been freed by the GOP from any ethical or moral restraints. These days, a medical practitioner can simply ignore a patient because treating them goes against their “religious beliefs.”
I’m gonna be sick.
Just change your doctor? I wouldn’t go to Auxilio Mutuo for an abortion because they’d laugh at me and send me to a non denominational hospital. An otherwise excellent hospital though.. :/
Not everyone has the option or privilege of changing doctors. Many smaller towns have very limited options when it comes to hospitals and doctors.
This is dismissing the problem, doctors should not be denying care to their patients on religious grounds.
But how can you even be a doctor and deny EC on religious grounds? That means the doctor has a fundamental misunderstanding of what the medication does.
30 Rock addresses whitewashing in the media
(Source: raptorific, via stfuconservatives)
Who was Dr. Tiller?
Dr. George Tiller was a physician based in Wichita, Kansas. He was one of three physicians in the US who performed abortions past 21 weeks.
He studied at the University of Kansas School of Medicine and graduated from there in 1967. His parents and sister were killed in an accident and he was left to take care of his sister’s child which required him to relocate to Wichita where his family’s practice used to be. His father performed abortions there and Tiller intended to close the clinic and move on but after hearing about a woman who died from an illegal abortion, Tiller kept the family practice open and became an abortion provider (he originally wanted to be a dermatologist).
Tiller became a prominent pro-choice advocate in the years that he practiced medicine and never wavered from his stance on reproductive rights.
Dr. Tiller performed abortions for nearly 40 years before his murder on May 31st, 2009.
What did Dr. Tiller do?
Tiller performed abortions past 21 weeks, unapologetically. He performed them on fetuses that were not viable due to birth defects but also on healthy, viable fetuses. Tiller did not just perform late-term abortions, he performed first and second trimester abortions as well. In addition to that, he was the medical director of his women’s health clinic and provided reproductive care to his patients with a number of various services (pap smears, pelvic exams, breast exams, etc.)
How did anti-choicers target Dr. Tiller?
The anti-choice terrorist group, Operation Rescue, made it a goal to target Tiller. A branch specifically moved from California to Kansas to target his clinic and his work. Operation Rescue’s efforts to shut down the clinic by protesting, harassing, and attacking it did not work so they began to target Tiller with lawsuits in the hope that the cost of the numerous lawsuits would cause Tiller to no longer be able to keep the clinic open financially.
A notable case was that of the death of a patient that received a late-term abortion at Tiller’s clinic who later died from sepsis. Tiller was investigated by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts and it was determined that no wrong-doing was done by Tiller. Operation Rescue formed a petition to have a grand jury investigate Tiller. Once the investigation had been completed, no indictments against him were filed.
Bill O’Reilly, the host of Fox News show The O’Reilly Factor, featured Tiller’s work on his show numerous times before Tiller was murdered. He often referred to Tiller as “Tiller the Baby Killer” which fueled anti-choice rhetoric even more. O’Reilly held a featured segment on his show that included documentation showing that mental health issues were sometimes used as justification for a late-term abortions at Tiller’s clinic and the implication was that mental health is not a justifiable medical issue to abort a pregnancy.
Bill O’Reilly does not have a medical degree, a psychology degree, or a psychiatry degree.
In 2009, Tiller was charged with 19 misdemeanors and investigated for allegedly consulting an unaffiliated physician to certify a late-term abortion abortion (Kansas law only allows abortions past the point of viability if two unaffiliated physicians certify that the pregnant person will experience substantial and irreversible impairment of major bodily function). He was found “not guilty” of all charges almost 2 months to the day before he was murdered.
The Kansas Board of Healing Arts, however, also investigated these claims and, in 2012, revoked one physician’s license for not physically examining patients that she referred. Tiller had been murdered three years prior to the board’s decision.
Were Dr. Tiller or his clinic and staff subjected to violence?
Yes.
The clinic staff, including Tiller, were all harassed at home and at the clinic. Their addresses were circulated in anti-choice groups and in some cases, posters were hung in neighborhoods that the staff lived in to “alert” neighbors to the work the staff members did.
In 1986, his clinic was firebombed by anti-choicers and had to be rebuilt. In 1993, Tiller was shot by an anti-choice activist. He was shot in both arms and returend to work the next day. The woman who attacked him had been found guilty of several violent attacks on abortion clinics. She is serving 33 years in prison for her attack on Tiller and her convictions for clinic violence.
In 1998, Tiller began wearing body armor in public due to the FBI alerting him to being targeted by anti-choice militants.
In 2009, Tiller was shot while attending church. He was shot in the head and died. His murderer, Scott Roeder, was arrested shortly after murdering Tiller and was convicted of first-degree murder in 2010. Roeder had a history of being connected to attempting to bomb an abortion clinic (he was arrested for the having the explosives in his possession but was unable to follow through with the planned attack).
Love,
Rabble
Meira Levinson talking about her new book No Citizen Left Behind. (via bostonreview)
Wow. Just, wow. Quote of the week.
(via motherjones)
(via always-tete)
temporarily breaking my tumblr hiatus to tell you about my experience on the bart today:
i was chillin on the richmond line, on my way home from dinner, and like the only seat left was behind this really nasty lookin white guy with even nastier lookin dreads….lmao they were so fucking ugly and they were right in front of me i couldn’t help but stare. literally they were the most pathetic attempt i had ever seen, and hella long and stringy. they were so bad i even considered taking a photo because it was so fucking unreal.
anyways he noticed me staring and turned around all defensive and shit and was like, “i don’t appreciate being treated like an animal in a zoo. i am not a specimen. stop objectifying my body. i see you staring. these dreads are part of my religion. i am rasta.”
and like all i could do was laugh tbh. i straight-up laughed at him to his face. it had to be a joke that a young white male was telling me to stop objectifying him and treat him like a human. like LMAO WHAT
but more importantly after I laughed he was about to say something else defensive and dumb and all the sudden this dude with actual dreads standing across the aisle yelled out, AYO CRACKA SHUT THE FUCK UP NOBODY CURRS BOUT YO RACIST WHITE BOY CULTURAL APPROPRIATION STRUGGLES AND YO NASTY ASS HAIR SIT IN YO DAMN SEAT AND ACCEPT YOU THE MOST VANILLA MUHFUCKA IN THE MUHFUCKIN BAY
omg it was the best and funniest thing that has ever happened to me on bart
(via always-tete)
—my straight, white, privilege-denying, upper-middle class roommate
Yep, doesn’t matter how many different ways women, poor people, people of color, or anyone in the LGBT community is getting screwed over, as long as her dinner conversation is pleasant and no one is sad.
I’m sure it’s easy for HER to say, since almost anything that occurs in the world of politics will work in her favor.
Canada’s teen birth and abortion rate drops by 36.9 per cent
Better access to contraception, higher quality sex education and shifting social norms have contributed to a 36.9 per cent decline in Canada’s teen birth and abortion rate between 1996 and 2006, according to a report released today by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada.
America’s emphasis on abstinence-only sex ed “tends to result in a higher percentage of teens becoming pregnant,” as does the country’s lack of universal health care. Poverty is another factor.
Among the four countries compared for 2006, Canada boasted the lowest teen birth and abortion rate per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 (27.9), followed by Sweden (31.4), England/Wales (60.3), and the United States (61.2).
(via republicanidiots)
I’ve found new resources for people in need of access, funds, transportation, and lodging for abortions, so I’m compiling all my posts on the subject into one, for easy reference:
Need Help Paying for an Abortion? - National Network of Abortion Funds and The National Abortion Federation
National Abortion Funds (United States)
Abortion funds cannot cover the entire cost of your abortion, but they will give as much as they can and help you find other funds and ways to pay for your abortion.
Some clinics, including Planned Parenthood, offer their services at a reduced fee for those who can’t afford the regular price. Contact the clinic nearest you to see if that’s an option.
Medicaid covers abortion in 15 states. Check to see if yours is one of them.
Fund Abortion Now has a checklist of ways to raise money for your abortion. If you’re running out of ideas, check it out.
(via rabbleprochoice)
