I wrote on August 4 that a July 28 New York Times article about Planned Parenthood’s decision to abandon the term “pro-choice” had triggered a race war within the abortion movement.

This was because Planned Parenthood steered NYT journalist Jackie Calmes to seven white leaders of abortion groups for quotes but no women of color.

Plus, Planned Parenthood gave no credit to WOC groups for expanding on abortion advocacy to include other “reproductive justice” issues, a term WOC coined two decades ago. This July 31 tweet didn’t come out of nowhere…

We give honor to the Black women who came together in 1994 to name what we now know as #reprojustice. #KnowYourHistory

— SisterSong: National Women of Color RJ Collective (@SisterSong_WOC) July 31, 2014

On August 5 the racial schism burst into the open when Monica Simpson, Executive Director of SisterSong, published “An Open Letter to Planned Parenthood” at the pro-abortion website RH Reality Check:

Whether stemming from oversight or from deliberate exclusion, the New York Times story, “Advocates Shun ‘Pro-Choice’ to Expand Message,” and the Huffington Post essay, “We’re Fighting for Access, Not Choice,” suggests very clearly that Planned Parenthood did not inform the reporters of the long-term work of scores of reproductive justice organizations, activists, and researchers that have challenged the “pro-choice” label for 20 years.

Many of us received feedback from… Jackie Calmes, confirming that this history was not presented to her by the mainstream reproductive rights organizations with which she spoke. This is not only disheartening but, intentionally or not, continues the co-optation and erasure of the tremendously hard work done by Indigenous women and women of color (WOC) for decades.

[W]omen of color RJ organizations have sought to instill a reproductive justice framework into these fights - not always with the support of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America or its affiliates.

In fact, in 2011, when Planned Parenthood and other allies were given the opportunity to understand and work on the intersectionality of issues in Mississippi while working in partnership with SisterSong, the organization failed to step forward. The fight to defeat both the “personhood” and the voter identification amendment reflected a clear attack on the rights of Black women in the state.

Yet, when urged to see the connection between reproductive health rights and voting rights, PPFA rejected the notion. As a result, “personhood” was defeated and the voter ID initiative passed, leaving Mississippi more vulnerable to new “personhood,” anti-abortion, and other discriminatory and counterproductive laws in the future.

As an aside, that was an interesting take on how voter ID laws may negatively impact abortion at the ballot box. If the theory holds true, voter ID laws will not just help pro-life voter initiatives but also pro-life candidates.

Another aside, it’s also interesting that RH Reality Check published this letter.

Simpson (pictured left) listed several demands that included a “face-to-face meeting between executive directors of national WOC-led RJ organizations and PPFA leadership….”

“This public infighting is something we never used to see,” noted Cheryl Sullenger, senior policy advisor for Operation Rescue, in an email. “They used to keep this kind of thing behind closed doors. It’s a good sign for us.”

Then here’s another good sign, a July 29 letter to the editor in the New York Times from Susan Wysocki (pictured below right), board chairwoman of Catholics for Choice:

As a lifetime advocate for women’s health, I fear that your article may give rise to a misperception about the reality of abortion rights advocacy by highlighting the campaign strategy of one organization, Planned Parenthood….

Election cycle messaging campaigns, whatever they may be, cannot obscure this simple fact: If you will not say that you are in favor of choice, you are no advocate for women’s health and lives.

So Planned Parenthood is now publicly engaged in a two-front war with groups on its own side, on the issues of racism and strategy.

Sabotaging abortion zen

I cannot overstate how unsettling it was to the equilibrium of the abortion movement for Planned Parenthood to publicly renounce the truly hallowed term ”pro-choice.” “Pro-choice” is their identity, it protects them, it lets them sleep at night.

It is even the legal name of hundreds if not thousands of groups, like Catholics for Choice (see above), Center for Choice, Choice USA, Clinicians for Choice, Feminists for Choice, Medical Students for Choice, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Republicans for Choice, Rock for Choice,  Voice of Choice, 4000 Years for Choice, etc.

At least one Planned Parenthood even has “choice” in its name: Planned Parenthood Center for Choice in Houston.

But back to Planned Parenthood and its racism problem – which is really nothing new since it was founded on racism and eugenics - Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards issued a response in an “Open Letter on Reproductive Justice and ‘Choice'” within hours after Simpson posted her open letter.

The buck does NOT stop here (unless it’s $$)

Interestingly, Richards never addressed the huge gaffes Planned Parenthood made in shaping the NYT article other than to say she was “eager to talk to you about the events of the last few weeks, and what we can learn from this experience going forward.” There was no apology.

Furthermore, although Simpson addressed her letter specifically to Planned Parenthood, outlining where Planned Parenthood had failed WOC abortion groups, Richards dragged the rest of the abortion industry into the melee, writing “how Planned Parenthood and other organizations have sometimes fallen short….”

I’m sure groups formerly known as “pro-choice” appreciate standing with Planned Parenthood as racists.

Double diss.

[Photo of Simpson via elixher.com; photo of Wysocki via flickr.com]

by Hans Johnson

Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) has released a series of political ads falsely accusing his opponent Cory Gardner (R-CO)  of having extremist anti-contraception views. In the latest video, the Udall campaign focuses on Rep. Gardner’s 100% pro-life rating.

The ad features a mother and/or actress holding a girl no older than five or six, who says: “I want my daughter to have the same choices I do.” The only thing missing would be for her to look in her daughter’s eyes and say, “Like the choice I had of whether or not to abort you.”

[youtube]http://youtu.be/26sbLmONB2Y[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: LifeNews]

by Kelli

Basic macroeconomics says that any such loss in population will result in a collapse of the necessary aggregate supply and demand to sustain long term national economic growth. The population loss due to abortion would have the same negative economic impact as any population loss due to war, epidemic, or natural disaster.

~ “Former liberal community organizer turned pro-life consultant” Mark A. Olson, discussing his research in which he finds that abortion has cost America “more than $16 trillion in federal revenue – or approximately the amount of our current national debt,” as quoted by Live Action News, August 1

[Photo via garyherbert.com]

by Hans Johnson

In an interview with Katie Couric for Yahoo! News, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked, “All three women justices were in the minority on the Hobby Lobby decision. Do you believe that the five male justices truly understood the ramifications of their decision?” Ginsburg replied:  “I would have to say, no. But justices continue to think and can change, so I’m ever hopeful that if the court has a blind spot today, its eyes will be open tomorrow.”

While left-leaning media applauded the Justice’s remarks, others were outraged by her thinly-veiled charge of gender bias on the Court. Here are the reactions of The Five on Fox News:

Also weighing in  was the program Outnumbered and lawyer and radio host Mark Levin.

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

by Carder

Year after year the anti-life politicians keep giving taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood and facilitating the aborting of millions of innocent babies in every way they can. Yet Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and the rest of the Supreme Council keep letting these pro-abortion politicians parade around as legitimate Knights. By doing so they are telling Catholics and the world that good Catholics can be pro-abortion. This is a grave scandal and it endangers souls.

And now things are even worse… These politicians are backing the federal government’s efforts to coerce Catholic institutions and individuals into paying for abortions and contraceptives. The anti-life politicians want to force their fellow Knights, and all Catholics, to violate their consciences, and to commit mortal sins! They are actually, literally persecuting the Catholic Church, yet the K of C Supreme Council seems to have no problem with them!

~ Kenneth M. Fisher, head of Concerned Roman Catholics of America, admonishing the catholic charitable organization Knights of Columbus for failing to address the problem of pro-abortion politician members’ disregard for Catholic teaching, Canada Free Press, August 5

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• Ad Week asked 6 women in advertising to rebrand “pro-choice.” The results are… well… ummm… see for yourself. If this is the best they can come up with then maybe abortion advocates should stick with “pro-choice”:
  

  Simply evolving the language and sentiment from pro-choice to something like pro-me would acknowledge that reproductive rights are a personal decision, one of many, that young women actively participate in every day.

• Toledo’s last abortion clinic, whose licensed is scheduled to be revoked in a week, is claiming they’ll become a “women’s clinic” which doesn’t perform abortions if their surgery license is taken away:
  

  Capital Care’s owner Terrie Hubbard said her attorney will file a petition with the court next week asking that the clinic be allowed to continue offering abortion services while appealing the state order.

  Even if the stay is not granted, however, Ms. Hubbard said she plans to keep Capital Care open as a women’s clinic. The clinic would offer gynecological services as well as abortion counseling, Ms. Hubbard said.

• In Florida, a woman has been arrested months after leaving her newborn child under a sink. She claims she hid her pregnancy because she was forced to have an abortion previously:
  

  A police document shows Breanna LaSean Ross was 18 years old when she gave birth in January. She told police she hid her pregnancy because previously, her mother and the mother of her baby’s father forced her into having an abortion. She thought they would make her do the same with this pregnancy.

  Thankfully, the baby girl was found alive.

by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN, and Kelli

• Bound4Life writes about Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit against the state of Arizona in which they are seeking to prevent the enforcement of legislation that would require them to prescribe the chemical abortion pill RU-486 according FDA safety guidelines. So much for caring about women’s safety.

• ProLifeBlogs links to a story from Soconvivium about an Ohio Planned Parenthood abortion clinic that was fined $25K for “shocking” health violations. These stories are becoming more and more common – and less and less shocking:
  

  These stories are no longer all that shocking because freestanding abortion facilities often slum it in terms of adhering to medical regulations. As the Kermit Gosnell story illustrates, state regulators often ignore abortion mill violations.

• At First Things, Michael J. New says there are reasons for optimism, despite a judge’s recent ruling striking down Alabama’s admitting privileges law:
  

  The 11th circuit may look to the 5th circuit for guidance, as they have recently considered the constitutionality of two similar laws. They upheld a Texas law requiring admitting privileges for abortion doctors, but struck down a similar law in Mississippi. However, the fact that the Mississippi law would have likely resulted in the closing of the lone abortion center in the state weighed heavily on the judges. However, since there are abortion doctors with admitting privileges in Alabama, this law would not close every clinic in the state. Furthermore, in their ruling on the Texas law, the 5th circuit did not find that increasing the travel distance to obtain an abortion posed an undue burden. Time will tell.

• Kansans for Life notes that a recently closed abortion facility blames the state law requiring informed consent – that medically accurate information must be given to women and girls considering abortion. However, on their website, the facility went so far as to insult Republicans (“They are stupid. Let’s vote them out of office.”) in the introductory paragraph before posting the required information. They also posted screed that would make Amanda Marcotte proud:
  

  Aid for Women so hated having to post the statement, “The abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being” on their website’s consent form, that they added this ‘commentary’:

  This [statement] is untruthful because the fetus is quite dependent upon, not separate from, the maternal placental oxygen and nutrient acquisition and kidney’s waste disposal. The word “whole” implies “complete” but the fetus is not truly completed until birth. Also, cancer is unique, human and living, yet not deserving of life.

  So much for expecting an abortion facility to provide medically accurate information.

• Clinic Quotes shares a 2004 statement from former Planned Parenthood President, Gloria Feldt, who refused to participate in a TV interview discussing the murder of abortionist Bernard Slepian after the program host asked a National Right to Life representative to join the discussion:
  

  But by air time, the host had found a representative from the National Right to Life committee to oppose me. “To be fair,” she explained… Fairness, my eye. Would you have gay bashers on to “debate” the murder of Matthew Shepard? Give Al Qaeda operatives airtime to present their views in defense of the bombing of the World Trade Center? Sociopaths don’t deserve this kind of attention.

• At Live Action, Becky Yeh says Planned Parenthood should be turning 50 shades of pink over their promotion of abuse – romanticized in the novel 50 Shades of Grey – to teens as sex education:
  

  Like Christian Grey, Planned Parenthood whisks away naive, inexperienced young girls like Anastasia Steele through charisma and curiosity. Though Steele is punished and abused through the BDSM relationship, Grey has no intention of loving her. Teens are tricked to hand over their virginity, like Steele, in order to be subjected to torture and abuse in the name of pleasure. The crux of 50 Shades affirms that.

  Consider how Planned Parenthood caters its sex education materials to young people. Under guise of safety, the organization’s promotion of abortion-inducing drugs, BDSM and other controversial sexual practices, is anything but safe. The organization continues to push the normalcy of dangerous sexual practices through its printed materials, education and through a panel of sexperts who encourage teens in dangerous 50 Shades type relationships. Not only does the organization have an ironclad grip on children at a local level, Planned Parenthood’s pen pals in the White House and state legislatures continue to enforce the institution’s pro-abortion ideology through legislation and funding. In fact, Planned Parenthood was a key sponsor of a seminar for educators of teenagers titled “50 Shades of Safe,” which promotes BDSM relationships as safe and normal.

  Live Action‘s latest SEXED investigations further expose Planned Parenthood’s dangerous sex advice for kids. The series under covers Planned Parenthood counselors teaching teens how to whip and torture their partner, visit local adult sex shops and view pornography secretly. Teens are counseled to use handcuffs, watch “educational pornos,” tie their partner to a bed or tree, and even defecate on each other for sexual pleasure….

[Photos via newsnet5.com and libertosdoopressor.blogspot.com]

by Kelli

From dtac, a communications company in Thailand, comes a commercial which reminds us that “technology can never replace love.” Some complain that the video does new fathers a disservice, assuming them to be incompetent at taking care of children, but others believe the video is a reminder of how much we need each other. With the YouTube video dtac writes:

Today mobile technology is so crucial that it becomes among the things many people can’t live without. Mobile technology development strives to bring solution for communication obstacles and replace many, many things in our life. That’s why some people believe technology makes the impossible possible. Meanwhile, the more advanced technology has developed, the more longing we have for the one thing… the thing that technology can never replace.

This commercial recalls the one thing that drives our life forward.

If you believe that ‘heart’ makes the world we live, allow your heart to open wider to people around you.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/PmCDxY2lJAE[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: Susie Allen; Reflections of a Paralytic]