Reports from April 12 Abortion Rights Emergency Actions coming soon.
Watch April 11 abortion rights emergency webcast below
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Speakers include:
Dr. Willie Parker, award-winning doctor at the last abortion clinic in Mississippi Sunsara Taylor, writer for revcom.us/Revolution newspaper, leader of the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride, and initiator of StopPatriarchy.org Merle Hoffman, CEO of Choices Women's Medical Center, which has provided abortions and other health services to women since 1971 Donna Schaper, Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church Marge Piercy, poet, novelist, memoirist, via video Louise Bernikow, author, historian, long time activist Bill Baird, reproductive rights pioneer, jailed 8 times in the 1960s for lecturing on abortion and birth control David Gunn, Jr., son of first abortion doctor to be assassinated, via video message Testimony from: Susan Cahill, owner of the Montana abortion clinic that was destroyed and closed on March 3, 2013 about how this is an attack on all women Dr. Susan Robinson, one of only four doctors in the U.S. who openly provide late-term abortions; featured in the acclaimed documentary After Tiller Dr. Susan Wicklund, author of This Common Secret; My Journey As an Abortion Doctor Plus:True stories of illegal abortions before Roe v. Wade |
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FROM A PROFESSOR IN THE MIDWEST...
Did you hear the one about the psychologist, the musician, the student and two professors? They were all involved in deep conversation but nobody was really talking. No, it is not a joke. This was my situation a few weeks ago. This is why I am hosting a webcast viewing party on Friday night.
We were all at an event to recognize the importance of women in the military. How could we possibly run out of things to talk about? Somebody told a story about nurses in World War II. Someone else talked about the monument commemorating women in the Vietnam War. Then I talked about the staggering number of American female soldiers raped by their peers and then the crowd went silent. People started to move away and I did nothing to keep them engaged. This happens a lot lately; I am angry enough to speak out but don’t know what to do next. How do I sustain a conversation about truly important issues?
I live in the middle of nowhere in a community of educated silence. We are smart enough to come together for something important but we can’t actually talk about it. Don’t rock the boat, don’t make anyone uncomfortable, and don’t stand out in the crowd.
But someone did stay to talk about rape in the military. Then another person wandered back. After a few minutes I took another chance: I invited them to my house on April 11 to see the Abortion Rights Emergency Webcast. As we talked about women’s issues and then about the escalating war on women right now in the 21st century I found a way to sustain the conversation.
I don’t have to have all the words because I am part of a larger voice. Sunsara Taylor, Merle Hoffman, Dr. Willie Parker, and Bill Baird: all of these people will speak with me. Thanks to a live streaming webcast they can help me talk about these incredibly important issues. The war on women - including rape, dwindling accesses to birth control and abortion - all of these issues demand our outrage. Many of us were raised to say nothing, especially in the face of crisis; we need a little help to get over the first awkward silence. A psychologist, a musician, a student and two professors will be at my house on Friday. Even if we don’t agree on everything I cannot wait to have a real, honest, important conversation.
REGISTER NOW FOR THE LIVE WEBCAST.
Did you hear the one about the psychologist, the musician, the student and two professors? They were all involved in deep conversation but nobody was really talking. No, it is not a joke. This was my situation a few weeks ago. This is why I am hosting a webcast viewing party on Friday night.
We were all at an event to recognize the importance of women in the military. How could we possibly run out of things to talk about? Somebody told a story about nurses in World War II. Someone else talked about the monument commemorating women in the Vietnam War. Then I talked about the staggering number of American female soldiers raped by their peers and then the crowd went silent. People started to move away and I did nothing to keep them engaged. This happens a lot lately; I am angry enough to speak out but don’t know what to do next. How do I sustain a conversation about truly important issues?
I live in the middle of nowhere in a community of educated silence. We are smart enough to come together for something important but we can’t actually talk about it. Don’t rock the boat, don’t make anyone uncomfortable, and don’t stand out in the crowd.
But someone did stay to talk about rape in the military. Then another person wandered back. After a few minutes I took another chance: I invited them to my house on April 11 to see the Abortion Rights Emergency Webcast. As we talked about women’s issues and then about the escalating war on women right now in the 21st century I found a way to sustain the conversation.
I don’t have to have all the words because I am part of a larger voice. Sunsara Taylor, Merle Hoffman, Dr. Willie Parker, and Bill Baird: all of these people will speak with me. Thanks to a live streaming webcast they can help me talk about these incredibly important issues. The war on women - including rape, dwindling accesses to birth control and abortion - all of these issues demand our outrage. Many of us were raised to say nothing, especially in the face of crisis; we need a little help to get over the first awkward silence. A psychologist, a musician, a student and two professors will be at my house on Friday. Even if we don’t agree on everything I cannot wait to have a real, honest, important conversation.
REGISTER NOW FOR THE LIVE WEBCAST.
A Call to Action --
End pornography and patriarchy:
the enslavement & degradation of women
We are told that "equality for women has been won" and that "there are no limits to what girls can achieve." BULLSHIT!
Every 15 seconds a woman is beaten. Every day three to four women are killed by their partners. One out of four female college students will be raped or sexually assaulted while in college.
In recent years, pornography has become increasingly violent, cruel, degrading towards women; women are referred to as "cumdumpsters" and "fuckbuckets"; the “money shot” (ejaculation in a woman's face) is standard; humiliating cruelty—like violent "ass-to-mouth" penetration—is normalized, and racist bigotry is sexualized. Meanwhile, the broader culture has been pornified: pole dancing is taught at gyms, "sexting" is a national phenomenon among teens, and the strip club is the accepted backdrop to male bonding. All this is tied in with, and reinforces, the trafficking of millions of women and girls as literal chattel in the international sex industry.
This is NOT society becoming more comfortable with sex. This is society becoming saturated with the sexualized degradation of women. If you can’t imagine sex without porn, you’re fucked.
At the same time, a Christian fundamentalist-driven assault is imperiling abortion, birth control, real sex education, and women’s lives. Doctors are killed. Women who seek abortion (a safe, necessary, and perfectly moral medical procedure)—or even birth control—are stigmatized. 2011 saw the largest spate of legal restrictions on abortion since Roe v. Wade in 1973. Women who are not virgins or who do not choose to become mothers are shamed. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people who do not conform to traditional patriarchal gender and sexual norms are demonized and condemned.
READ MORE
Every 15 seconds a woman is beaten. Every day three to four women are killed by their partners. One out of four female college students will be raped or sexually assaulted while in college.
In recent years, pornography has become increasingly violent, cruel, degrading towards women; women are referred to as "cumdumpsters" and "fuckbuckets"; the “money shot” (ejaculation in a woman's face) is standard; humiliating cruelty—like violent "ass-to-mouth" penetration—is normalized, and racist bigotry is sexualized. Meanwhile, the broader culture has been pornified: pole dancing is taught at gyms, "sexting" is a national phenomenon among teens, and the strip club is the accepted backdrop to male bonding. All this is tied in with, and reinforces, the trafficking of millions of women and girls as literal chattel in the international sex industry.
This is NOT society becoming more comfortable with sex. This is society becoming saturated with the sexualized degradation of women. If you can’t imagine sex without porn, you’re fucked.
At the same time, a Christian fundamentalist-driven assault is imperiling abortion, birth control, real sex education, and women’s lives. Doctors are killed. Women who seek abortion (a safe, necessary, and perfectly moral medical procedure)—or even birth control—are stigmatized. 2011 saw the largest spate of legal restrictions on abortion since Roe v. Wade in 1973. Women who are not virgins or who do not choose to become mothers are shamed. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people who do not conform to traditional patriarchal gender and sexual norms are demonized and condemned.
READ MORE
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