Wednesday, November 30, 2011

"Siri, why do Abortioneers care so much about you?"

Instead of petitioning Apple about Siri's propensity to be as helpful to women as a college bro with a pocket full of Rohypnol, we could be petitioning against the Hyde Amendment. We could be calling for increased funding for programs that train potential abortion providers. Instead, we're up in arms about a trendy gadget's robot not pointing us to the nearest locale where we can terminate or prevent a pregnancy tout de suite?

Yes. We are up in arms because this is not simply a matter of Apple or Siri's original developers being careless about introducing "abortion" into Siri's vocabulary, though that is, indeed, eyebrow-raising. It's a matter of a distinct lack of information about abortion, contraception, resources, and support that is all too prevalent throughout society. Whether or not this was an oversight on the development end (editorial comment: I doubt it. Those guys are basically rocket surgeons.) is irrelevant because at best society made it into something that is acceptable as an oversight.

Siri is not the be all and end all of resources for an unplanned pregnancy or for an unplanned marathon erection, but it is not so much the application of the application (ha, Apple pun intended) that matters as the fact that Siri has a huge impact on current culture and lifestyle. It is less of a matter of artificial intelligence's stance on abortion rights and access as it is a matter of implicit misogyny gone mainstream and explicit. Pre-Siri, we weren't quite so privy to technology's political and moral views, and we liked to think that it had none. That nonsense was limited to the absurd fringe groups. Now, here we are in 1984 2011 and we are slapped in the face with a reminder of how far we have not come and how easy it is for anti-choice, anti-women views to slip under the radar and into our phones, and that's not OK.

Screw Siri, but be careful because she can't access contraception.

Continue to sign the petition! We have 945 signatures!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Apple iPhone Siri Update

This past Sunday, I blogged about the Apple iPhone's Siri, and her noticeable lack of knowledge regarding abortion, contraception, and reproductive health in general.

I was thrilled to get a ton of feedback, via our wonderful readers and other sites picking up the story.

First things first:
The rumors are true -- Siri does not have any useful information about abortion/contraception/etc. Reader Amadi was amazingly helpful and provided screen shots of all the relevant questions we wanted to ask Siri. I highly recommend you check out her piece, which is fantastic. The images below are from her post.

Amadi notes there is a clinic less than three miles from where she was sitting when she asked Siri this question. Siri did not define abortion and did not offer to search the web, either.

Even searching by specific clinic names (and then with their street names) turned up nothing, while searching for a specific hardware store brought results, even though she searched using an incorrect specific name (!).

Birth control, EC, and rape queries were all similarly useless:

So, it seems clear we are on to something here. Now, there are two questions:

A. Was this on purpose? and
B. What do we do about it?

A. I don't know if this was on purpose or not. It is true that Siri is new technology and it's bound to have technical glitches. It is also true that Apple purchased this technology from another company. Norman Winarsky, one of the founders of Siri, was questioned on this topic, and he thinks "...what’s happening here is that Apple has made deals with Web services that provide local business information, and Apple probably hasn’t paid much attention to all the results that come up.”

I am inclined to agree with him, mostly.


The bottom line, though, is that whether this was on purpose or not, we'll never know. I imagine if Apple gets wind of this they will say it was an accident. This part doesn't matter so much as Part B.

Part B is where you come in.

We have created a petition we would like you to sign:

Send this to your friends and family. Tweet it, Facebook it, digg it, Pinterest it, and post it on whatever other newfangled sites that are now verbable.

The more people we get on board, the more likely Apple is to take notice and fix this!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Reproductive Health As a Human Right





Sunday, November 27, 2011

What's the Deal with Siri?


-What is an abortion?




How cute and clever!!! :/



And refer to other medical places based on a keyword:

Siri also has lots of other interesting pieces of advice:


Wednesday, November 23, 2011





What are you Thankful for?

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

Thanksgiving is this Thursday. You know what that means - turkey, mashed potatoes, family, friends, giving thanks...oh and mass hysteria evoked by the $50 dvd player that you must have. Watching tv this past week, I can't escape the increasing Black Friday commercials. Apparently it wasn't enough to make retail workers deal with stampeding shoppers at 5:00 am. Now they need to open on Thanksgiving. I've never been a fan of the intense commercialization of holidays, but I think this year it has gotten worse. Is this what the holidays are about?

For me, the holidays aren't about how much I can buy and how many gifts are under the tree. It's about family and friends. Despite the pressure this time of year to spend money on crap we don't need, there are ways to turn the commercialization around and do something good. Rather than going to the crazy stressball that is any store on Black Friday, make a donation to your favorite charity - donate to an abortion fund, Planned Parenthood, or NARAL! It's easy, and it doesn't take much to make a difference. With the year those of us working for abortion rights have had (and the tough year I foresee ahead), it would be a great way to show your support.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Their hearts opened when they had abortions

“As a woman exercises her power to create life she is given a glimpse of wholeness.” –Linda Weber

Every so never until now, a book comes along that makes an Abortioneer feel like they’re reading their creed. Linda Weber does such declarative magic with her new book, Life Choices: The Teachings of Abortion, and this Abortioneer is willing to bet that the smartiestpants among us are already stocking entire waiting room bookshelves with this universal masterpiece.

Weber interweaves abortion’s historical, medical, political, and cultural context in the US, with thoughtfully meditated reflections on the spiritual, emotional, social, and physical consequences of the abortion experience. With a gift for exalting the essence of pregnancy termination, Weber offers a deep and compassionate perspective on surprise pregnancy, life planning, and sexual fulfillment.

Um: “Women who choose abortion often achieve significant personal growth because the creative essence of pregnancy is redirected. Pregnancy as a profound inner experience directs us to do this.”

But also: “The way most abortions are performed within the medical system denies and distorts the experience. Choosing to have an abortion is an expression of a woman’s power in Life, but the medical system often reinforces the victimization of women by treating us as if we were being rescued.”

One more: “From Nature’s point of view, pregnancy is quite unremarkable and ordinary. It occurs in spite of and beyond anyone’s idea of it or feelings about it. It is arbitrary and almost careless in its placement and in its outcome.”

But really. I hope you read it soon and then knowing what you already knew and now have documented, I hope you share it the good way. Give it to someone who needs to cuddle up to truth, inspiration, and (authentic) hope as they ride the abortion roller coaster.

Title extracted from page 32

Thursday, November 17, 2011

When Abortions Get Familiar




Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Horsin' Around

I want to piggy-back on Vegan Vagina for a moment here, because I, too, am SO EFFING OUTRAGED about the whole Penn State scandal. Mostly because it reminds me far too much of another pervasive and ongoing scandal that has also been covered up for decades (perhaps centuries?) by people in charge and frequently reported not to be that a big deal.

Like VV said, the antis don't really care about kids. This we know, and have known since day one. They are generally the same folks to stand against child protections laws and provisions, and physically demonstrate their apathy by never volunteering to help children, only to make sure they get born. It really strikes a nerve with me because the protesters at my clinic are about 98% Catholic, who stand by the church in spite of confirmed child molestation over years and years and across continents, and who would never protest this behavior because, well, the church is home and it's always been there and why rock the boat over a few bad apples?

Meanwhile, you have losers still holding down the Church of Penn State, even when Sandusky can't be bothered to deny the allegations against him because they are likely true, and McQueary swears he did something about it but won't say just what, and Paterno laments that he should have done more (yes, he should have). But these guys are heros, so what's a little rape and cover-up here and there? They run the winningest college football team ever, LOL!

It seems there are way more antis than just those who protest at clinics. There are lots of folks out there who are anti children, anti family, anti justice, who just can't be bothered to do the right thing, let alone question authority to do it. Why stop at firing the Penn administration? Let's just fire all the antis.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

What does Penn State have to do with abortion?

I was outraged after reading about Penn State and how so many people allowed the continued sexual abuse/rape/assault to happen. When I first read the news I had just come off of a 2 week jury duty stint for an attempted rape and sexual abuse case...needless to say rape and sexual abuse and violence have been on my brain. Although, I would argue that our country has a ubiquitous rape culture so I never really get a break from my exposure to these horrific things. I'm not naive, as some of my fellow jurors were, to think that rape doesn't happen "here" or among "these types of people".

So after my first few readings of various media posts about the Penn State "scandal" I shot out an email to my fellow abortioneers. I knew they would get "it" and understand why I was seething. I immediately asked, "what does this have to do with abortion"? So, what DOES it have to do with abortion? PLENTY, as my fellow abortioneers showed me. We live in a place where "life" is valued until birth. Where we spend millions of dollars fighting for the rights of a zygote, but once that child is born we abuse it, ignore it, and forget about it. It is such an obvious connection that it is INFURIATING.

What other connections do you see? How has this news impacted you?

Oh, and reading this made me simultaneously soo soo happy and soo soo sad. I was so proud of this guy that I sent him some love on facebook...just to let him know I was thinking of can too, click here!

Monday, November 14, 2011

When Ads Get a Little Too Personal

All of us internet users are well aware of the amount ads we get as well as the personalization of them. When you make an any kind of account - through gmail, facebook, myspace (does anyone still use myspace?) - you're tracked through what you write, what you post, and what websites you visit. You then get ads that are designed to fit you. Sometimes these ads are perfect, sometimes they're totally off, and sometimes they're downright creepy.

I get a lot of these ads on facebook, and I tend to just ignore them because they're so prevalent. They're usually for becoming an ultrasound tech, which based on my abortiony nature isn't all that surprising. They all have pictures, usually an ultrasound photo. Makes sense for an ultrasound tech ad, right? The other day I noticed an ad to become a social worker. The picture seemed a little weird to me though.

What does a giant baby have to do with becoming a social worker? I mean, babies and social workers make sense, I suppose. It's a little weird. And I'm sorry, but the giant baby kinds of weirds me out.

Then today I noticed another ad for becoming a social worker except the ad was a little less relevant and a little more...well....creepy.

Not only is this irrelevant to becoming a social worker, it would also turn me off if I was considering becoming a social worker. Why would you use this picture? I know many people pro- and anti-choice alike who are turned off by plastic fetuses. This just seems like bad marketing to me. I also am noticing an alarming trend. These pictures are getting more creepy and anti-like. Is there an anti-choice group or marketing agency following me around on the internet?

Have you all noticed your facebook, gmail, etc ads? If so - start if you haven't - what kind of strange/creepy ads do you get?

Sunday, November 13, 2011

10-year-old gives birth in Mexico

In Puebla, Mexico, located an hour and a half east of Mexico City, a ten-year-old girl gave birth via cesarean section on October 22nd. She was 31 weeks along, and suffering from seizures, which is why she ended up in the hospital.

Both the girl and the baby are okay, but the baby is still in the hospital.

The first question, of course, is how did this 10 year old become pregnant? The authorities are looking into the matter to determine if she was raped. In Mexico (with the exception of Mexico City), it is illegal for a woman to have an abortion, unless she can prove she was sexually assaulted. If she can’t prove this, she may be fined or placed in jail. It is worth noting that there have been several cases of women being sentenced to up to 30 years in prison for this. That doesn’t exactly set a strong precedent for coming forward if someone has been raped and wants to get an abortion. Even more troubling, some research I did online suggested that Mexican law does not define incest as rape, but as consensual sex between family members (!!!).

This case is a perfect of example of why such laws are problematic. We don’t have the full story yet, so we don’t know what exactly happened, but at minimum it seems very unusual for a ten-year-old to be pregnant. Besides the obvious that she is a CHILD and therefore does not have the ability to even consent to sexual intercourse. Why should she have to “prove” she was raped if she wants to get an abortion for a high-risk pregnancy? Her uterus is most likely not yet fully developed yet, and cannot carry a pregnancy to term without significant dangers to her health.

And without access to legal abortion, young girls and women are likely to turn to unlicensed, dangerous people who lie about their backgrounds and perform abortions on women unfortunate enough to cross their paths. Though the whole “back-alley” abortion thing seems kind of cliché at this point, it unfortunately is a stereotype for a reason: these things happen.

I am glad the girl and her child turned out okay, but I wish that our world respected women and girls more, such that this poor girl wouldn’t have had to go through all this. I wonder if she can even have children in the future. :(

Thursday, November 10, 2011

To Have an IUD or Not to Have an IUD (And then, which type?)

Desembarazarme’s recent post about IUDs here got me thinking. IUDs definitely are more popular. Not so much the ParaGard, but Mirena is. Women are often asking for it and providers are generally – in my experience – urging women to use it. I hope, too, that as long-term birth control methods become more available, that our community doesn’t swing their biases towards one method over another (but , this does seem to happen). The thing is, no method is the savior of all birth control for all women. We’re individual, unique people and different methods fit our needs: including abortion as birth control.

I’ve talked about my very own personal choice to not use hormonal birth control for over 15 years. With my current partner, we combine natural family planning with withdrawal and Plan B to control pregnancy. It’s worked for us. I’ve only become pregnant when I’ve wanted to. Despite this, I’ve actually been considering an IUD for years. When I recently discussed this with my Gynecologist and explained to him my reasons for considering the IUD, he told me that Mirena “is the birth control of choice for female OB/GYNs…even for themselves…so that tells you something,” and admitted that he’d recommend it over the ParaGard (which contains no hormones, but generally causes heavier, longer periods and cramps).

The doctor at my clinic loves the IUD, too, and inserts them immediately following an abortion for many of our clients. Many of our clients soon have them removed, though, because there is “nuisance” bleeding for a few months with the Mirena (which has a small level of progesterone) and then no period at all. (Some of us like to have our period to feel more certain we’re not pregnant, even though you can have bleeding and still be pregnant.) Personally, I’m still a bit on the fence about it and since it does cost so much money, I find it hard to just “play” with the method and see if it will work for me, only discover it doesn’t, after forking out over $500.

What do you guys think?

P.S. If you want the recipe for the IUD cookies (they are super cool!), then check out this blog here.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Out of this galaxy

Turns out Initiative 26 is TOO EXTREME, even for Mississippi pro-lifers. Thank goodness! And even in spite of the governor opposing it publicly, then turning right around and voting for it...

Here's why 26 is about WAY MORE than just abortion:

- Any miscarriage can be considered suspect.
- Contraceptive methods that may affect fertilized eggs would become outlawed. Methods like the IUD oral contraceptive pills, that can reduce the need for abortion.
- In vitro fertilization for people who wish to conceive would become outlawed.
- The entire state constitution, where it refers to "persons", would have to be amended to ensure that nothing crazy goes on the books, like providing social security numbers to embryos, or counting them in the census.
-Because I really don't want to be in a situation where a pregnant person can take the HOV lane while my dog and I sit on the highway like idiots.

The point is, even one of the most radically "pro-life" states didn't go for this. It's good to know that reason and common sense are alive (though not necessarily well) in this place. But it really goes to show that you don't accomplish anything by losing your mind, and the only person who gets respect for being loud is Samuel L. Jackson.

So let's keep this "personhood" stuff to a minimum, OK? It's been repeatedly shut down because cuckoo-bananas politics simply doesn't work. Get over it!

And to the freedom fighters out there, remember that Mississippi is far from being out of the woods (remember their one little abortion clinic in the entire state?!). Keep up the great work!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Mississipians need your support!

Dear readers:

Please send love and well wishes to the women and families of Mississippi today, as they vote on a "personhood" amendment that will OUTLAW abortion and common forms of birth control, such as oral contraceptive pills.

Mississippians go to the polls today, and every vote counts: the most recent poll shows that 45% are in favor of the amendment, but 44% are opposed. 11% are undecided!


Visit today to donate or volunteer your time. You can donate funds or call voters (as I have!) to tell them how important it is to vote NO ON 26!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

There's no excuse for unintended pregnancy! ...Or is there?

If you're an Abortioneer, an aficionado of public health journals, or if you've watched TV or read a women's magazine recently, you know that IUDs are all the rage. We're moving away from the horror stories of the Dalkon Shield, away from myths like "IUDs are for women who have already had a kid and who only have one partner," and moving toward the realm where IUDs are commonplace, the everywoman's contraception. The thing is, though, I fear that we're also moving toward the place where if a woman gets pregnant, it's her own fault...OK, sure, we're already in that place, as far as the majority of misogynists are concerned, but the place I don't want to be is where the progressive, woman-centered, feminist reproductive health professionals start to believe it.

As I mentioned in my last post, IUDs are still far from accessible and affordable, but we seem to be moving in that direction, slowly but surely. I can see a generation of women who have a long-term, reversible, ultra-effective method of preventing pregnancy. But I can also see feedback such as, "Well, she deserves to be pregnant--she insisted on continuing to take pills when she could have been more protected by an IUD," "*sigh* I recommended an IUD, but she was afraid of side-effects, so now she has another unintended pregnancy," or "With such effective contraception available, that pregnancy was totally preventable."

With every technological advance, there are winners and losers, accolades ands caveats. I just wish that in the case of this particular advancement, there was not the ever-present danger of reverting to putting the onus of prevention on the woman...not to mention the burdens of blame and shame. My hope is that as we, as providers, encourage and educate about IUDs and the like, we don't forget about the condom on a banana instructions and real lessons on fertility awareness--thereby increasing the efficacy of legitimate contraceptive methods, whether or not they're award-winning in our books. In other words, I hope that we continue to respect women and their bodies and their choices, from contraception to termination.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Like a rug

My favorite thing about antis is the constant lying. I like it because it reinforces that I'm not an idiot. And the satisfaction that comes with just knowing, let alone demonstrating, that you're better than the competition is pretty much perfection.

My favorite lie? This'n:

This one is new to me, and I suspect it's also new to the antis, as it was printed on the back of a re-purposed sign that reads "Women Regret Abortion". I suspect that once that whole tactic got old and continued to have zero impact, they decided to take a new angle. One equally baseless and absurd. My final suspicion is that this stems from a semi-recent controversy in New Mexico, in which a man posted a billboard chastising his ex-girlfriend for having an abortion and robbing him of fatherhood. The billboard is just weird. Read about it from the antis' delightful POV: Antis make stuff up a lot.

Now, I can see myself being sympathetic to such a man, assuming that he were in a legitimate relationship in which there had been full disclosure from each partner about their parenting ambitions (or lack thereof) and clear respect for each other's wants. Clearly that is not the case here, ergo this guy and any other guy who pleads such a case (I haven't heard of any others) can go shove it. If he were in any kind of real relationship with a woman whose child he wanted to raise, he might have had more tact in expressing his parenting ambitions, perhaps before he reached a point of no return.

Point is, if he had made it clear that he wanted children and she had made it clear that she didn't, then he probably should have moved on. Enough said.

So all this pondering about these poor childless men had me a little confused. I mean, this is the only guy I know of who'd ever gone public about the loss of something he never had to begin with. I wondered, where were all these men? These sad sacks who wanted nothing more than to be daddies, but who were denied that honor by scorpion women who pierced their souls and aspirated their offspring. I started thinking back to my days counseling abortion patients and their loved ones. I'd spoken to hundreds of women who were pregnant but couldn't get her partner to contribute to her abortion fund, or to help her raise the child should she carry to term, or just plain couldn't find her partner! Certainly these were not the men who regret lost fatherhood. They actually seemed really content to act like the whole thing never happened.

I pondered it some more. I pondered and pondered until I decided that a) either the whole premise of "lost fatherhood" was faulty to begin with, or b) it's so crazy that it must be entirely legitimate and that something must be done!

Since I like to help out the little guy, I went with b.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Lost Fatherhood Network for Parenting Needy Children! Here at the LFNPNC, we care about children, but we care way more about the men who don't have them because they just can't manage to force a woman to have a baby. The LFNPNC is an online service that allows barren men to create profiles and be linked up with women searching for father figures. They can then fulfill their fatherhood dreams, be instantly wanted and accepted into the lives of children, without having to deal with those persnickety women who "just aren't ready to be mothers". The LFNPNC's mission is to
  • Help men finally feel good about themselves;
  • Give men a voice in a matter that is of great relevance to them;
  • Resolve the childless man crisis that pervades our society.
FINE PRINT: Additional, yet totally secondary benefits include:

  • Providing hope to children in struggling homes;
  • Supporting single parents in childcare;
  • Preventing single parents from having to choose between providing and caregiving;
  • Providing a very real solution to poverty in a wealthy nation;
  • Making single parents feel valuable in a society that does not support them.

But seriously. I would be down for some serious funding for anti programs that ACTUALLY HELP CHILDREN. Because the truth is, as we all know, antis don't actually give a shit about children. There are bajillions of struggling, born children out there who could really use help from these blubbering windbags, but instead they're out for whatever they can get their hands on. Any dude in this country could be a father if he wanted to. There is no shortage of need. But as things stand, a man in New Mexico who doesn't get his way can just slander a woman publicly and that's cool because he's a man and how dare a woman do something totally legal without his permission? THIS IS BULLSHIT.

Men out there, if you really care for children, then go do something for one. Adopt one. Babysit one. Read to one. Hell, just hold the door for one. Or, if you don't, then just be up-front about it. I have even less respect for these "lost fathers" than for deadbeat dads, because at least they're not liars. If you don't want kids, then just say so. If you do, Google "adoption agency" and you'll get 7,000,000+ results.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

All Saint's Day

All Saints Day is a Catholic holy day that celebrates Saints both known and unknown. I am no Catholic but for me this day is about celebrating ancestors and those who have come before us. I have many ancestors to celebrate today. I also celebrate many abortioneers, activists, and generally awesome people who have made it possible for the world to be the beautiful place it can be.

I would like to celebrate both of my grandmother's today. My mother's mother was a devout Catholic and a republican. She raised my mother who grew up to be a radical liberal. She swore I would be my mother's antithesis, the conservative daughter she always hoped for. I am not that conservative woman. When faced with an unintended pregnancy as a young Irish Catholic woman in the 1950's she was sent to a maternity home and essentially made to give her son up for adoption. Her spirit lives on in her children and grandchildren and I celebrate the amazing woman she was. I am because she existed.

My mother's step mother was a liberal Unitarian Universalist. She told my mother about abortion as a teenager by explaining to her that she had an abortion. When I heard this story it only verified how amazing my Grandma was. She allowed her daughter to see that abortion was not some vague thing that happened to bad or dumb people. Abortion is something good women and mothers experience. I'm thankful amazing women like my Grandmother paved the way for women to have reproductive choice.

At my first job in abortionland I had an amazing supervisor who dedicated her life to making abortion accessible to woman in spite of economic circumstances. She trained other young abortioneers like my self to be compassionate, objective, and strong. She passed away a few years ago of a long term illness. Each day I am thankful I met this woman, her passion and fervor is part of what has sustained me in this work. When I started working for her I was young, lost, and damaged myself. She offered me a since of drive and passion that has stayed with me into my adulthood.

Finally, we must always remember the women who fought for reproductive choice in pre Roe V. Wade days. We must remember provider's who have lost their lives because they were willing to risk their lives to save women's lives. We must remember the women who have lost their lives all over the world because safe abortion was not or is not available.

On this day of All Saint's, known and unknown, I raise up my ancestors and the those people who have acted as saints so women can have safe and accessible reproductive health care.