comments_image -

The Right-Wing Map to Outlawing Abortion

Abortion foes have mapped a two-part strategy to chip away at reproductive rights. The plan begins with stacking the judiciary with antiabortion judges and ends with a string of state and federal legislation that puts services out of reach for many of America's most vulnerable women.
 
 
LIKE THIS ARTICLE ?
Join our mailing list:

Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email.

 
 
 
 

width=1

width=1

Planned Parenthood Cashes In

Tamara Straus, AlterNet

Just in case Bush isn't sure that a majority of women opposed his run for the presidency, he need look no further than the pot of gold planted before Planned Parenthood. In late January, LA Times columnist Patt Morrison told readers that in honor of George W's anti-abortion stance she was going to give him a special gift for President's Day: a cash gift to Planned Parenthood in his name.

Good ideas tend to travel quickly. Good ideas that allow people to exercise their anger move like lightning. And so did Morrison's, flying hurly-burly around the InterNet via e-mail. Within three weeks, thanks to Morrison's ironic pledge, the nation's largest reproductive health and right organization received more than $300,000 from approximately 15,000 individuals.

Typical messages sent to Bush on President's Day were as follows:

"Mr. Bush, I have contributed to Planned Parenthood as a statement that you do not have the consent of the people of the United States to deny women of the US and the world the right to make our own decisions about our bodies and our beliefs." -- New York, NY

"You are the current resident of the White House. Please be aware that you did not win the popular vote. Your position on a woman's right to choose is a primary reason for that fact." -- Louis Park, MN

Such electronic activism proves not only that the Internet is good for something but that Planned Parenthood and other reproductive rights organizations may soon have their moment in the sun, however unfortunate the circumstances.

Besides their recent monetary windfall, Planned Parenthood's latest sub-site RoevBush.com (which includes excellent information about the reinstatement of the global gag rule, RU-486 restrictions introduced in Congress and President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft's record on reproductive freedom) received more than three million hits in its first weeks of operation.

The National Organization of Women (NOW), in cooperation with the Feminist Majority, Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League and other women's groups, also has declared a state of emergency to bring attention to the gathering anti-abortion forces. They will be staging a kick-off march -- an "Emergency Action for Women's Lives" -- in Washington, DC on April 22. For more information, go to: www.now.org.

width=1

width=1

For the first time since 1992, supporters of abortion rights are without a friend in the White House. Gone is the president who vetoed attempts to outlaw partial-birth abortion. In his place stands a commander in chief who, in one of his first official acts, moved to block U.S. funding of overseas family-planning agencies that dare to mention terminating unwanted pregnancies.

"When Congress sends me a bill against partial-birth abortion," Bush the candidate told the nation, "I will sign it into law."

Even before his inauguration, Bush tapped as attorney general John Ashcroft, a man who spent much of his public life opposing not only abortion but forms of birth control, like IUDs, that prevent a fetus from taking hold. During his confirmation, Ashcroft assured liberals Roe v. Wade is "settled law." Nobody on either side believes him.

Abortion foes have mapped a two-part strategy to chip away at reproductive rights, as a first step to doing away with them all. The plan begins with stacking the judiciary with antiabortion judges and ends with a string of state and federal legislation that puts services out of reach for many of the most vulnerable Americans. The government's message, says Cindy Pearson, director of the National Women's Health Network in Washington, is that "if you're not middle-class and a legal adult, we're going to make it harder and harder to get an abortion."

submit to reddit

-
Email
Print
Share
LIKED THIS ARTICLE? JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST
Stay up to date with the latest AlterNet headlines via email
Alternet Special Coverage - Occupy Wall Street
Advertisement
Most Read
Most Emailed
Most Discussed
On REDDIT
On DIGG
 
loading most read content ..
Advertisement
Listen to The AlterNet Radio Hour with Naomi Klein, Sarah Posner and Dean Baker!

By Joshua Holland | AlterNet

 
 
San Francisco Police Department Releases 'It Gets Better' Video

By Tara Lohan | AlterNet

 
 
Occupy Protesters Mic-Check Palin During CPAC Speech

By Adele M. Stan | AlterNet

 
 
Apple, Accustomed to Profits and Praise, Faces Outcry for Labor Practices at Chinese Factories

By Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez | Democracy Now!

 
 
Could Santorum Actually Beat Romney? And Would the Obama Campaign be Ready?

By Steve M. | Booman Tribune

 
 
Bill Moyers: The Economy Has Been Engineered to Screw Over Millennials (With an AlterNet Shoutout!)

By Staff | AlterNet

 
 
Maher: Conservatives Are the Ones Dividing the Country

By Sarah Seltzer | AlterNet

 
 
In Kansas, Is Catholic Church Trying to Destroy A Victim's Advocates Organization?

By Julie Cain | Ms. Magazine Blog

 
 
Obama vs. the Concern Trolls on Nonsense "Religious Liberty" Issue

By Digby | Hullabaloo

 
 
At CPAC, Santorum Surges Despite Idiotic Claims; Romney Poses as 'Severe' Conservative; Gingrich Makes War on GOP

By Adele M. Stan | AlterNet

 
 
 
Reverend Billy Talen
 
 
 
loading ...
POWERED BY DIGG'S USERS
 
[ page served from web 1 ]