Pro-choice cartoon series mocks pregnancy care centers
I have a new long piece at Cartoon Movement about faith-based crisis pregnancy centers in the Bay Area.
I visited a bunch of them over the last couple months pretending to be naive and knocked-up.
~ Graphic journalist Susie Cagle, introducing her 18-slide cartoon depiction of pro-life crisis pregnancy centers in San Francisco, This Is What Concerns Me, September 15. Click cartoon to enlarge.
Sep.16, 2011 10:15 am |
Pregnancy care centers |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
“Fertile looking lay counselor?”
Wow, no prior bias there….
(Do all the workers at abortion clinics and Planned Parenthoods look…er… “infertile?”)
Kel, I was just going to say, what is “fertile-looking” even supposed to mean?
I’m also not sure what “a visible range of religious faith” is supposed to mean. Even by her own cartoon account, religion never comes up in the counseling session. It’s just the same tired “They’re trying to make America a theocracy!” propaganda.
I’ve always wondered why, if pregnancy centers are such fountains of misinformation, why don’t they videotape the sessions like Live Action did at PP? Probably because a comparison of the two videos would make it clear that PP is the real culprit.
When you get down to it, her problem with First Resort is simply that they don’t do or encourage abortions. Period, end of sentence.
its a CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTER! NOT AN ABORTUARY! What about helping women does this person NOT understand? These CPCs are there are to HELP WOMEN. Many of them have free baby supplies, parenting classes, ultrasounds done by a certified technician, etc, etc, etc
They are listed under ALTERNATIVES in the phone book!
And of course this woman won’t tape this…cause there won’t be anything bad to show!
Really, really, really sad!!!
Pro-abort propaganda, and not even clever propaganda at that. “All hail the mighty abortion! You must bow down!”
Anyone who still insists that it’s all about “choice” is deaf and blind. There’s only one acceptable choice: abortion.
I don’t know, but all the things she listed in her cartoon look good to me! She forgot to mention the hugs counselors get from these scared women when the leave the centers with ultrasound pictures of their babies. :)
A talented and creative pro-life artist could have fun with this!
Many of her panels had nothing to do with CPC’s but were propaganda for Planned Parenthood. She also does NOT offer any specific “misinformation.” I also notice that most pro-choicers cry foul if you do NOT also encourage and refer for abortions. Why do they have so much trouble understanding their own euphemism “choice?” That’s why they picked the word ‘choice’ years ago (read Bernard Nathanson’s books, which give a good history of the abortion industry). They painted themselves into a corner with it; they claim to be concerned that women have choices but they only approve of abortion.
There is nothing that this woman presented that is actually bad. She just doesn’t like anyone being encouraged NOT to kill their baby. So sad.
The cartoon you’ve posted looks like an ad for a workshop on how easy it is to offer help to pregnant women in your community.
I just read the whole thing. It’s like she went to ONE CPC, with her biased anti-CPC goggles firmly in place, and angrily judged everything said.
Oh gasp, the intake form asks about religious preference! So does the intake form at every ER I’ve ever been in, where’s her pictorial expose on that???
“The delay is the crucial part.” Oh gasp! A CPC takes a crucial hour and a half out of our whole lives!!!! Waaaahhhh! Well so did Shrek 2. Where’s her outrage on that??
She insinuates that it’s evil conservatives blocking PP and limiting elective abortion-as-contraception’s fault that “only 64%” of hetero couples use contraceptives. Like if we’d only step aside 100% of them would and no one would get an abortion unless “necessary”. Completely ignoring the fact that nearly every single woman getting an abortion states on her intake form that she’d been “using” contraception the month she got pregnant.
Her “cagey” phone conversation conveniently ends right where the “caginess” would have begun.
She also fails to list all the other FREE services CPC’s provide including but not limited to; free baby supplies, baby furniture, diapers, maternity and baby clothing, referrals to free maternity homes, parenting classes, childcare during classes, etc. “They don’t do anything” is extremely subjective. Where not much can be done for a non-pregnant anti-CPC activist desperately looking for dirt in a clean house, a pregnant woman in need will find a gold mine of help and support!
What CPC is unaware that plan B is an early abortion pill? Did she record that convo? This report is hard to believe.
“As long as they have appropriate information to make that decision that’s what we want.” Yeah right. This from the people who brought us “it’s not a heart beat, it’s heart TONES.” and “that is not a baby”, and “the heart beat does not begin until 17-18wks”. Obviously they want “accurate” information out there! *eye roll*
The abortion information CPC’s provide fills the void that the abortion providers leave when they conveniently ignore all the dangers and risks of the product they’re selling. Video after video clearly shows all the lies and misinformation PP is willing to sling at their “customers” in order to encourage them to buy their product. Every abortion they sell is $300-$500 in the bank. A CPC prevents an abortion through education and support and what do they gain? Their services are FREE! So it’s not monetary. They give away (at least ours does) hundreds of thousands of dollars of free services and gear/supplies every year!
The whole cartoon reads like a PP commercial and lament that more money isn’t being poured into the 3 billion + yearly PROFIT company. I wonder how much her kick-back is?
That’s a pretty disgusting website overall. “There is more than one truth” ? oookay…
“The delay is the crucial part.” Oh gasp! A CPC takes a crucial hour and a half out of our whole lives!!!! Waaaahhhh! Well so did Shrek 2. Where’s her outrage on that??
ROFL!!!
If any CPCs are dishonest about not providing abortions, I don’t agree with that. However, a CPC’s dishonesty won’t kill anybody, unlike an abortion clinic’s lies, so I can’t get too worked up about it.
Lousy, perpetually cold city, poorly drawn cartoons.
Oh! Oh! I finally get to put in my 2 cents as a pregnant woman who went to a local CPC for help. I volunteered for Birthright for years but I never counseled (I did all the grunt work around the office because that was what I was most comfortable with at the time.) But recently I went to another pro-life CPC in my town and they were WONDERFUL. They gave me a free ultrasound, had an R.N. check me over, they offered all sorts of financial help to me and information EVEN THOUGH I told them I am pro-life and in no way will EVER abort my baby. Still they offered me love and support. One of the women was young and pretty and ugh, fertile looking. The other women were definitely post-menopausal so there goes that stereotype… ha ha. Though they told me happily about their grandbabies so obviously they embraced their fertility in their younger years.
They cried tears of joy with me when I cried as I watched my sweet baby twirling on the screen and touching her face. They asked my religious beliefs so that they would not offend me by giving me a Bible with verses about children bookmarked for my encouragement. They are not there to preach to women and need to know religious beliefs so they don’t step on toes. They gave me a pink hand-crocheted baby afghan made specifically for their CPC because they winked and told me they thought my baby is a girl also.
I had recommended CPC’s to many women in crisis over the years and this was the first time I ever went to one as the woman in crisis. I just needed some encouragement and they were there to give it to me and so much more. I can’t wait to send them a thank you note and a picture of my bundle of joy when she/he is born.
They never charged me for their time or their services. They didn’t ask me to make a donation. They didn’t tell me they needed cash or credit care UP FRONT before they would help me. No, the abortion clinics do that. These women just offered help and love to me because they love women and their babies that much.
Exactly, Sydney. I volunteered for BirthRight years ago(They call it BirthChoice now where I volunteered). Everything was FREE and/or donated…including our TIME. The ladies who ran that particular CPC were mostly Catholic (My mother and I are Pentecostal), but not ONCE was Religion ever mentioned to the women/girls who came there for help. We gave out maternity/baby clothes, diapers, layettes, car seats, etc.
It was pretty thrilling for me to get to do the pregnancy tests, as I was the first to know that a new life was on the way ;)
Also, not once while we were there did a girl even HINT at wanting an abortion, although some of the other ladies told us of young girls they were working with who were considering it.
We were told that, if the situation came up, volunteers even offer to go WITH a girl to tell her parents of her pregnancy, and they also take girls/women to OB/GYN appointments.
As the song goes “Love don’t cost a thing” ;)
Sydney, would you be kind enough to post that on the cartoonist’s website? It drives me crazy when I see anti-CPC propaganda claim that all they do is proselytize women and delay them from having “needed” abortions. Your story destroys the stereotypes.
Yes, Clarice, I’ll post it right now. Its “awaiting moderation”. You know they won’t post it. You know it.
Miss Cagle failed to mention any of the assistance that was offered to her. It seems that nothing would satisfy her… except a quick rush to an abortion table.
Her parents praised her every day for years, and taped all those pictures to the refrigerator…. and now it has come to this.
She’s not even a good cartoonist yet. She should focus on that a little bit more, I think. Then try to become a political cartoonist. If you think about it, there is nothing insulting about being fertile looking, women are supposed to be fertile, that is normal. There is nothing wrong with old brochures if they are accurate. And thanks for the free advertisement with regards to the comfy chairs and the ultrasound machines. Now people know where they can wait comfortably for their turn to see and hear their baby. So really, the cartoon is a backfire, try harder next time so we can start a real argument.
Yeah, “fertile-looking” is really weird. What does that mean? Young? Ovulating? wtf?
I’m guessing she meant “maternal.” Because, you know, that’s just a synonym for “dowdy.” LIKE YOU WILL BE IF YOU HAVE A BABY. I heard that they stuff you into Mom Jeans before the epidural wears off, so you can’t even fight back. Doctor’s orders. Should’ve never walked into that CPC.
it would be interesting to see the cartoon for PP.
lots of blood, the grim reaper, baby parts, a few dead women here and there, knives, suction machines, body bags, Vlad the Impaler…..
Alexandra… LOL! I lost all sense of style since becoming a mom and man, when I walked into that CPC they convinced me to wear those pleated jeans from the 80’s and early 90’s.
They should have an illustration of an abortion, why not, it’s Planned Parenthood for yu. Maybe that would be a reality check. (and whoever did this drawing has no idea what pregnancy crisis centers do)
I think that what many pro-choice women find disconcerting about faith-based pregnancy help centers is that they so often do not mention that they are faith-based right away. If a woman is looking for strong Christian support during her pregnancy, then faith-based centers are a great place to go. However, if a woman is looking to receive information from more diverse points of view, then these sorts of places would not be a good fit for her. No woman should ever be penalized or made to feel guilty because of an unexpected pregnancy, and no woman should be pushed into making decisions before she is ready or without all of the facts. I think these are both things we can agree on as women.
littlemissy,
You make a good point. More secular Pro-Lifers should be involved in CPC work. That’s why when I go back to school, I’ll be working towards becoming an ultrasound tech so I can volunteer my time to try and prevent women from making a choice to kill their gestating child, from the point of view of someone with medical expertise, the mother of a child who was carried through a crisis pregnancy, AND someone who is not religious.