PZ Myers hosted the first ever Pharyngula podcast tonight and guess who participated? That's right, me!
I haven't actually watched it. I don't know if I actually will watch it. It was my first time doing anything like this, so I was understandably a little nervous. (Mr Darkheart's advice? "Pretend you're testifying in front of Congress." Yeah, that's real helpful-- especially considering that I like and respect the people that I was having a conversation with tonight, but I feel that if Congress took flying fuck off the Twin Bridges, matters would only improve.)
Thursday, June 21, 2012
For shits and giggles
More "inspiration" from Checkmate, Pro-Choicers! (If you're wondering what's up with the "old news" posts tonight, I'm doing a little, uh, research and writing about these topics is helping me get my thoughts in order.)
You know who else thought abortion should be illegal? Checkmate, Anti-Choicers.
It's sad, but after reading the top three pages, the "Checkmate!" arguments can all be refuted with: you don't actually know what pregnancy entails, you don't actually know the history of your own religion, and this isn't an argument, you're just waving your dumbassery around. The pic above is the closest thing to an "inspired" post Rebecca has put up in the last few days and she managed to get Godwin all over her blog* (and be totally wrong in the process).
Hate to say it, but this one I actually agree with (although not in the way that the anti-choicers would hope). Of course we need to make abortion available for women who have medical complications, whose lives are threatened by their pregnancies, or for fetuses that have genetic disorders/developmental abnormalities.
That being said, allowing policy makers to decide that the middle ground in this debate is preserving the life of the pregnant woman has been, in my humble opinion, the reason why state legislatures have felt free to propose legislation restricting birth control and abortion access. We allowed (and I am just as to blame as anyone else) our elected officials to ignore the reality that abortion allows women to have a higher standard of living, pursue education and a career, and to raise her family as she sees fit.
An anti-choicer may label this argument as being about convenience, but so the fuck what? Indoor plumbing is a "convenience", the supermarket is a "convenience", hell your car is a "convenience". Unless you're arguing that we should be digging our own wells and shit pits, that everyone should be growing all of their own food, or that never touching a petroleum product is the "moral" thing to do, your anti-choice argument doesn't hold any water. All of these things increase our standard of living, just like family planning.
*And, by extension, mine.
It's sad, but after reading the top three pages, the "Checkmate!" arguments can all be refuted with: you don't actually know what pregnancy entails, you don't actually know the history of your own religion, and this isn't an argument, you're just waving your dumbassery around. The pic above is the closest thing to an "inspired" post Rebecca has put up in the last few days and she managed to get Godwin all over her blog* (and be totally wrong in the process).
Hate to say it, but this one I actually agree with (although not in the way that the anti-choicers would hope). Of course we need to make abortion available for women who have medical complications, whose lives are threatened by their pregnancies, or for fetuses that have genetic disorders/developmental abnormalities.
That being said, allowing policy makers to decide that the middle ground in this debate is preserving the life of the pregnant woman has been, in my humble opinion, the reason why state legislatures have felt free to propose legislation restricting birth control and abortion access. We allowed (and I am just as to blame as anyone else) our elected officials to ignore the reality that abortion allows women to have a higher standard of living, pursue education and a career, and to raise her family as she sees fit.
An anti-choicer may label this argument as being about convenience, but so the fuck what? Indoor plumbing is a "convenience", the supermarket is a "convenience", hell your car is a "convenience". Unless you're arguing that we should be digging our own wells and shit pits, that everyone should be growing all of their own food, or that never touching a petroleum product is the "moral" thing to do, your anti-choice argument doesn't hold any water. All of these things increase our standard of living, just like family planning.
*And, by extension, mine.
Awe, poor widdle Republican dum dums
Hey, everybody! It looks like there's a bunch of you visiting today, so I should probably bother to fucking post something, huh?
Guess who is upset that they are getting national coverage over the abortion debate?
If you answered "Michigan's Republican lawmakers" step forward and claim your prize!
That's kind of funny that Rep Genetski doesn't recognize that the group that very well may have written (or at the very least inspired) Michigan's proposed ban on abortions after 20 weeks are active on the national scene. So, Bob. A question. Are you trying to clumsily deflect attention away from your shitty, unpopular legislation or are you a dumbass who doesn't know what side his bread is buttered on? Remember, these two options aren't mutually exclusive.
Moving right along: I note that women "in the womb" (or as I like to call them, female fetuses) are still more important than actual grown ass women. I'm not surprised that ol' Bobbo would feel this way, however I am incredibly frustrated that these conservative doucherockets think that they can get away with co-opting and corrupting woman's rights to jam their anti-woman agendas down our collective throats. Our lady brains aren't so soft and fluffy that we can't figure out what you're doing, asshole.
What about the male fetuses (or for the intelligence impaired: "men currently living in the womb"), Bobarino? Don't they matter to you?
Guess who is upset that they are getting national coverage over the abortion debate?
If you answered "Michigan's Republican lawmakers" step forward and claim your prize!
“This is a state rights story and they are trying to make it an attack on women and a national issue,” said state Rep. Bob Genetski, R-Saugatuck, during a Holland Chamber Governmental Affairs breakfast this week for West Michigan legislators.Abortion isn't a national issue? O RLY?
“The only attack on women is on the ones that are currently living in the womb,” he said.
The Washington-based group [Americans United for Life] drafts "model legislation" including gestational limits on abortions, additional regulation on abortion clinics, and bans on insurance cover for abortion and ultrasound requirements. In addition, it is pursuing efforts at both the federal and state level to defund Planned Parenthood.(Emphasis mine.)
That's kind of funny that Rep Genetski doesn't recognize that the group that very well may have written (or at the very least inspired) Michigan's proposed ban on abortions after 20 weeks are active on the national scene. So, Bob. A question. Are you trying to clumsily deflect attention away from your shitty, unpopular legislation or are you a dumbass who doesn't know what side his bread is buttered on? Remember, these two options aren't mutually exclusive.
Moving right along: I note that women "in the womb" (or as I like to call them, female fetuses) are still more important than actual grown ass women. I'm not surprised that ol' Bobbo would feel this way, however I am incredibly frustrated that these conservative doucherockets think that they can get away with co-opting and corrupting woman's rights to jam their anti-woman agendas down our collective throats. Our lady brains aren't so soft and fluffy that we can't figure out what you're doing, asshole.
What about the male fetuses (or for the intelligence impaired: "men currently living in the womb"), Bobarino? Don't they matter to you?
Monday, June 18, 2012
Go mayors, go!
TPM:
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It's not surprising that the mayors don't see PP as some sort of catch-all boogeyman-- they're on the ground, they see the good that Planned Parenthood does. If people trust their mayors (I know that I trust mine), maybe maybe this could help turn the tides in the debate over family planning.
At their annual meeting in Orlando, Florida over the weekend, the U.S. Conference of Mayors approved a resolution in support of funding for Planned Parenthood and women’s access to abortion services and contraception. The nonpartisan organization representing mayors from over 1,300 cities criticized both state governments and Congress for attempting to roll back women’s access to reproductive care.The resolution specifically mentions the good the Planned Parenthood does for women and communities:
WHEREAS, reproductive-health care and the overwhelming majority of services provided by Planned Parenthood health centers is basic health care for women, including cancer screenings and breast exams, and;Page 18 of the Adopted Resolutions of the 80th Annual Conference of Mayors
WHEREAS, for many women with limited incomes, Planned Parenthood clinics are their point of entry into the health care system and their ongoing source of primary care services....
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It's not surprising that the mayors don't see PP as some sort of catch-all boogeyman-- they're on the ground, they see the good that Planned Parenthood does. If people trust their mayors (I know that I trust mine), maybe maybe this could help turn the tides in the debate over family planning.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Personal news and Michigan *facepalms*
First off, on Wednesday I found out that the DarkFetus is a girl! Not only that, but I am very healthy and my pregnancy is progressing along normally, so yay!
I'm so happy that I'd throw myself a party, if I could.
Anyway, real news. You all heard about this out of Michigan, right?
I'm so happy that I'd throw myself a party, if I could.
Anyway, real news. You all heard about this out of Michigan, right?
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Good news, everyone!
The CT Mirror: Abortion to be considered essential health benefit
While hundreds of Connecticut residents rallied in New Haven against abortion and federal requirements that religious organizations cover their employees' contraceptives, officials at the State Capitol complex took up a measure on whether the insurance everyone will have to purchase under the federal health law will cover the procedures.Assuming that the Supreme Court doesn't strike down the healthcare reform law*, in 2014 all Connecticut women will have a health plan that covers abortion services. All women.
The panel unanimously decided that abortion is an essential benefit, and it will be covered in the plan they select.
My mind has been blown. CT is actively making abortion easier to access in a time when every other goddamn fucking state in the US is making pregnant women jump through humiliating hoops just to exercise her rights over her own body.
Three cheers for Connecticut!
(via Rock the Slut Vote and Addicting (ugh) Info)
*And if it is struck down, that would present a great opportunity to create a single-payer system, but that's probably asking too much of the Democrats.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Bic... for her?
For fuck's sake. It's bad enough that disposable razors are divided between "his" and "hers", but now Bic offers Bic for Her ballpoint pens! I shit you not:
This has got to be the absolute stupidest wad of gendered product I've seen in a good long while. My number one consideration when buying a writing utensil is whether or not it actually writes, not if it matches a fucking gender stereotype.
When are you going to come out with Bic for Him, Bicsters? I imagine you could really gussy it up by making it out of used tires or some other "manly" shit.
When are you going to come out with Bic for Him, Bicsters? I imagine you could really gussy it up by making it out of used tires or some other "manly" shit.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
And now for something completely different: The Rules are back!
Oh barf. You all remember The Rules, right*? Shitty dating advice from a couple of women who, to put it mildly, think men should be pursuers and women should passively wait to be courted. Well, Ellen Fein and Sherie Schnieder are back with more "advice" for this new fangled wireless digital age! (Not Your Mother’s Rules, how fucking precious.) Aren't you excited? (Warning: this piece is extremely hetero-normative. I have no idea if these "rules" apply to gay men &/or lesbians or if Fein and Schnieder even care about same-sex couples.)
From an interview with JDate (yeah, I know):
So much for being yourself. Or having self esteem. Or knowing what you want. The trick is to be "mysterious". Keep him guessing, ladies! All men totes love not knowing what the hell is going on with you.
Trust his instincts, not yours. Your fluffy pink lady brainz can't handle the agony of picking a date that's right for you, you had better just let the menfolk make up your mind for you.
From an interview with JDate (yeah, I know):
Avi: Have The Rules changed at all since the 90′s when the book first appeared?Equal what for what now? Did the pay gap disappear while I was sleeping or something?
E&S: No and yes. No, because women — despite equal pay for equal work — cannot chase a guy like they can chase a career without possibly getting hurt and dumped. Men have a type/look and love a challenge, so it is a waste of time and doesn’t work whether you are in 1950, 1990, or 2012.
Yes, new technology (such as texting, Facebook®, Skype™ and Twitter) has made it harder to be mysterious, so we had to rewrite the first book for the new generation. It’s called Not Your Mother’s Rules and it will be out in February of 2013.
So much for being yourself. Or having self esteem. Or knowing what you want. The trick is to be "mysterious". Keep him guessing, ladies! All men totes love not knowing what the hell is going on with you.
Trust his instincts, not yours. Your fluffy pink lady brainz can't handle the agony of picking a date that's right for you, you had better just let the menfolk make up your mind for you.
Doctors speak out... kind of
Salon: Doctors caught in the abortion wars
Where are you AMA? Where is the support for your members and the patients that they treat? Why are you so silent on the issue of whether doctors are allowed to practice medicine?
[Doctors] Angell and Greene also called for professional organizations like the American Medical Association and “particularly, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to take a public position on behalf of the patients they are pledged to serve, and to support their members in doing so.” But ACOG’s new president, James T. Breeden, did have a letter published in the New York Times this week, saying, “These laws are not grounded in science or evidence-based medicine,” and proclaiming, “Our message to politicians is unequivocal: Get out of our exam rooms.”Jesus, it's about damned time. Where have the majority of doctors-- not just OB/GYNs, but all physicians who are concerned about proper patient care-- been in the abortion/'contraception debate? Abortion providers are targeted and labelled "baby killers" by our own representatives and, if the most extreme anti-abortion bills are passed, face fines, jail time, and the loss of their medical license for doing what is right and necessary.
Where are you AMA? Where is the support for your members and the patients that they treat? Why are you so silent on the issue of whether doctors are allowed to practice medicine?
Antiabortion doctors, some of whom used to be abortion providers and have the zeal of apostates, have been a visible part of the antiabortion movement from the start, their testimony essential even when it’s disputed by the majority of the medical establishment. In fact, all four OB-GYNs in the U.S. Congress are antiabortion, most visibly Rep. Ron Paul.Well, of course. It's like that panel on contraception-- we can't allow really really real experts to testify, oh no! We can only hear the opinions of those who will not challenge our fucked up way of thinking.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Check, um, mate?
Since it seems like Checkmate, Pro-Choicers!* is everywhere today, what the hell, I'll weigh in too.
First, let's start with the About ME! section, shall we?
But you rock on with your immature self, Rebecca. I can't wait to hear these pro-life arguments that are so staggeringly good that I do a complete about face.
And now onto the meat!
First, let's start with the About ME! section, shall we?
This blog is run by me!Well, no shit. We're off to a smashing start.
My name is Rebecca and I started this blog to point out the stupid things that anti-lifers (or pro-deathers) have to say about abortion!Wait for it...
Abortion is murder, plain and simple.There we go. Logic!
The goal of this blog is to make anti-lifers see how stupid they are being and stop supporting murder! If you have a hypocrisy or flaw in logic that you see pro-abortion people using, submit it!The abuse of exclamation points is giving me a headache. Either that or the color scheme is. You just have to be aggressively girlie, don't you, Rebecca?
But you rock on with your immature self, Rebecca. I can't wait to hear these pro-life arguments that are so staggeringly good that I do a complete about face.
(Please keep all submissions, comments, and reblogs kind and Christ-like. Even though many girls who have abortions may be sluts, this blog is not about calling them sluts. It is about stopping the new holocaust!)The "new" holocaust, huh? Honestly, Christians, I know that you wish that the Holocaust happened to you, but you really need to stop appropriating another group's suffering to feed your own self righteousness. At the absolute best it's tacky. At the worst... well, it's not a surprise that you're a bunch of fucking anti-Semites.
And now onto the meat!
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Pregnancy and abortion
Once again, my apologies for the lack of updates for the past few days. As I have mentioned a whole crapload of times already, I am using my current pregnant state as an excuse to get away with just about everything. Including ignoring this blog that I promised myself that I'd update at least once daily.
Oops.
It's been a long, strange trip so far. Right now, I'm just starting the 19th week and I swear, I feel like an inside-out piñata. I'm thinking about naming this little goober Max in honor of Max Weinberg, 'cos I've obviously got a drummer all up in there.
Anyway, the point of this post wasn't (solely) to pat myself on the back for being most excellent at this pregnancy thing. As you may have noticed, I've been reading about and writing on abortion lately, especially when it comes to states trying make abortion/family planning services illegal. The right to choose has always been near and dear to my heart-- I wouldn't feel like a fully functioning member of society if I didn't have access to both birth control and abortion.
Oops.
It's been a long, strange trip so far. Right now, I'm just starting the 19th week and I swear, I feel like an inside-out piñata. I'm thinking about naming this little goober Max in honor of Max Weinberg, 'cos I've obviously got a drummer all up in there.
Anyway, the point of this post wasn't (solely) to pat myself on the back for being most excellent at this pregnancy thing. As you may have noticed, I've been reading about and writing on abortion lately, especially when it comes to states trying make abortion/family planning services illegal. The right to choose has always been near and dear to my heart-- I wouldn't feel like a fully functioning member of society if I didn't have access to both birth control and abortion.
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