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Looking for Common Ground in Pittsburgh

May 20, 2013 By Sarah Leave a Comment

Last week I went to Pittsburgh to give a book talk. Before the event I wondered idly what kind of questions I might receive during the discussion portion, which has consistently been my favorite part of talking about Generation Roe. I’ve had my share of anti-choice audience members and even a crasher during a talk in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and I actually like having such a diverse audience, having a chance to hear different opinions and perspectives.

The Pittsburgh audience was polite and attentive, at least while I was talking. But once the discussion portion began, it soon became clear that a number of members of the local Feminists for Life chapter and other anti-choice audience members would be satisfied with nothing less than raising their voices, calling me a liar, refuting the nonpartisan sources I used for research purposes, and willfully take both my written words and spoken answers completely out of context. The hour that I spent in a nonstop whirl of questions, comments, answers, and thinly veiled insults was quite unlike any other experience in my life.

Clothing, Sexuality, and Personal Responsibility

May 13, 2013 By Sarah 1 Comment

When I was ten or eleven, my father took me clothes shopping. I fell in love with a dark green and black skirt and sweater set, but when I modeled it for my father he shook his head. “That’s way too much black for you,” he grumbled. “You’re too young.” I begged and pleaded, but to no avail; the skirt and sweater went back on the rack.

After reading Bruce Feiler’s column in yesterday’s New York Times, I’m tempted to call my dad and tell him how lucky he was that the sweater covered my chest and arms and the skirt reached my knees. Feiler, and the various experts he quotes, discuss what to do when daughters decide that they want to dress in a more provocative manner than their parents think they should. I’m already anticipating having many clothing arguments with my daughter in about a decade, so I was glad that several common-sense tactics were suggested.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Women Tagged With: Abortion, bruce feiler, clothing, contraception, new york times, reproductive health, roe

Live Action Proves Its Irrelevancy Once Again

May 8, 2013 By Sarah

The anti-choice group Live Action has been making quite a stink over the past few weeks, releasing heavily edited videos that purport to catch abortion clinic employees and abortion providers making inflammatory statements about abortion. In their latest video, two pregnant women took hidden cameras into appointments with Dr. LeRoy Carhart and asked him about the recent death of a woman who was seen at the Maryland clinic where Dr. Carhart practices.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Abortion, Women Tagged With: Abortion, anti-choice, leroy carhart, live action, maryland

Abortion in Pop Culture: The Degrassi Franchise

May 1, 2013 By Sarah

As a cable-deprived child growing up near the Detroit-Windsor border in the 1980s and 90s, my television choices were limited to the networks, PBS, a few syndication channels, and the CBC, or Canadian Broadcasting Company. This short list was further narrowed by my parents’ dislike for many of the networks’ offerings and general belief that their children shouldn’t watch a lot of TV.

One show that did meet my parents’ criteria for worthwhile entertainment was the Canadian teen show “Degrassi Junior High,” which evolved into “Degrassi High” and, after an extended break in the late ’90s and early ’00s, lives on today as “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” Revolving around a group of students at the titular school, all of the “Degrassi” iterations dealt with a range of teen issues including, but in no way limited to, drug abuse, depression, eating disorders, suicide, sex, and peer pressure. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Abortion, Young Adult Tagged With: canada, cbc, degrassi high, degrassi junior high, degrassi the next generation, morgentaler, roe v wade, spike, teen nick

Abortion in Popular Culture: Dirty Dancing

April 24, 2013 By Sarah

Abortion in Popular Culture: Dirty Dancing

This is the resurrection of a short series I did in 2010 for Feminists for Choice. I’ll occasionally examine how abortion is portrayed in film, television, books, and music. Feel free to offer suggestions via Facebook or Twitter.

The first time I saw Dirty Dancing was at Space Camp. All of us campers were in a large room while the staffers attended to various administrative duties, and someone had the bright idea to fire up the VCR and distract us from the general boredom and disorganization with Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze. This plan worked pretty well, until a counselor decided to hold a piece of paper over the television during the racy scenes. That was when a room full of pre-adolescents, most of whom had been half-watching the film, decided that we really, really wanted to see what was going on behind that lined notebook paper. There were catcalls and complaints and then the movie was swiftly turned off.

Johnny and Baby in bed may have been deemed too adult for a group of middle school kids, but it is a testament to the creative team behind Dirty Dancing that a movie whose plot point hinges on illegal abortion was so skillfully done, most people forget that abortion is even an element of the film. Yet Penny’s illegal abortion is the very reason that Baby and Johnny were thrown together in the first place.

My Letter in the New York Times

April 17, 2013 By Sarah

As a long-time New York Times reader, I was thrilled that a letter I sent to the opinion page editor was chosen for publication!

On Sunday, April 14 the Times published “Courage in Kansas,” an op-ed in support of Julie Burkhart and the South Wind Women’s Center. My response, which can be found online and in the April 17 print edition, read:

To the Editor:

“Courage in Kansas” (editorial, April 14) presents a compelling picture of reproductive rights in this country. It is to be hoped that law enforcement officials will take the threats against Julie Burkhart and her clinic seriously and provide any necessary protection.

That those who provide a legal medical service may require federal protection speaks volumes about how stigmatized abortion is in our society.

One in three women will terminate a pregnancy by 45, and many of these women express gratitude for their ability to obtain safe abortion care. Yet too often they remain silent about the importance of ensuring that others have the same access.

A different but no less potent form of silence is found in many abortion rights organizations, which continually allow the opposition to dictate the terms of the debate and discussion.

As long as such silence persists, abortion will remain stigmatized and politicized. Julie Burkhart and those committed to protecting reproductive choice deserve better. It’s time to break the silence.

SARAH ERDREICH
Washington, April 14, 2013
The writer is the author of “Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement.”

Filed Under: Abortion Tagged With: Abortion, julie burkhart, kansas, new york times, south wind women's center

Mississippi’s Last Abortion Clinic Remains Open!

April 16, 2013 By Sarah

A federal judge has blocked part of a state law that could have closed Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only clinic in Mississippi. Last year, the state passed a law that would have required that physicians at abortion clinics have admitting privileges at local hospitals. While the physicians at JWHO tried to comply with that mandate, no area hospital would grant the privileges. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which has represents the clinic, “the physicians responsible for vast majority of the clinic’s patients were not granted privileges by any of the hospitals in the area-with several hospitals refusing to even process the physicians’ applications, citing hospital policies on abortion care.”

Today’s ruling by District Court Judge Daniel P. Jordan III blocks the remaining forms of enforcement of this requirement, and prevents the state Department of Health from revoking the clinic’s license for being unable to comply with the admitting regulation. In his opinion, Judge Jordan wrote that “Closing its doors would — as the state seems to concede in this argument — force Mississippi women to leave Mississippi to obtain a legal abortion.” The judge also stated that Mississippi’s position in the case “would result in a patchwork system where constitutional rights are available in some states but not others.”

Filed Under: Abortion Tagged With: Abortion, jackson women's health organization, mississippi, women's health

Kansas Weighs New Anti-Choice Laws

April 16, 2013 By Sarah

The South Wind Women’s Clinic in Wichita may offer a place for women to receive abortion care, but anti-choice legislators in the state are hoping to impose new restrictions on the procedure. Both the state House and Senate have passed a bill that would define life as beginning at fertilization, and anti-choice Governor Sam Brownback is expected to sign it into law.

The bill does more than include language about when life begins. It would also mandate what information clinics must give women about abortion risks—including the medically inaccurate claim of a possible link between breast cancer and abortion—and fetal development; prohibit clinic employees from providing sex education in schools; ban terminations performed solely because of the sex of the fetus; and prohibit the use of tax credits, tax preferences, and public funds for abortion services, as well as prevent public health-care services provided by the state from being used in any way to carry out abortions.

Antis Freak Out Over Nothing; Also Known As Monday

April 11, 2013 By Sarah

A recent op-ed by Marc Thiessen in The Washington Post shows off the anti-choice movement’s flair for using emotionally manipulative language and glossing over the facts. In “Planned Parenthood’s Defense of Infanticide,” Thiessen claims that a Planned Parenthood representative was “caught on camera defending infanticide.”

During a recent political hearing in Florida, Planned Parenthood’s Alisa LaPolt Snow was asked what the organization’s response would be if, in the case of a failed abortion, the fetus was born alive. Snow’s answer? “We believe that any decision that’s made should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician.”

That seems like a perfectly reasonable response to me. After all, who else should be asked to make a decision in that moment? Isn’t that what happens with any child, whether they’re five minutes old or five years old? Let’s say that a five-year-old was gravely ill. Who would be in charge of making his medical decisions? His parents and physician. That doesn’t mean that I’m advocating killing five-year-olds. It means that in America, as in much of the world, parents are the ones that make medical decisions for their children.

Hospital Refuses to Accomodate Pregnant Employee, Places Her on Unpaid Leave

April 8, 2013 By Sarah

Late last month, the National Women’s Law Center filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Amy Crosby, a pregnant hospital cleaner in Florida. Crosby was forced to take unpaid medical leave when her employer, Tallahassee Medical Hospital, refused to accomodate Crosby’s doctor’s request that she not be required to lift anything heavier than 20 pounds. At the time that Crosby was placed on leave, she was 23 weeks pregnant.

Tallahassee Medical Hospital’s response was particularly puzzling because they had previously allowed other employees who had temporary physical disabilities or on-the-job injuries to be transferred to lighter duty. Yet in Crosby’s case, she was told that if she did not return to work by April 11, she will be fired even though the hospital still refuses to follow her doctor’s request.

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Filed Under: Women Tagged With: amy crosby, florida, national women's law center, pregnancy, women's health

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