Molly Ivin's Column on the March for Women's Lives

[mburbank]

I can't go to this, but I'm putting some money into a scholarship fund for it. I don't make much money and I don't donate to many things, but read this and see what you think.

AUSTIN -- Women of America. This Sunday, April 25. Washington, D.C. The March for Women's Lives. Be there.

This is it. It's all on the line now. Everyone who thinks she's too old, too tired and has done this too many times before, be there. Everyone who has never been to a women's march, who thought all the rights had been long since secured, who thinks feminism is old hat and has nothing to do with your life, be there. Bring your daughters, mothers, nieces, friends, husbands, sons and significant others. If you can't be there, get in touch with a local women's organization and help raise money for a "scholarship" to send someone else to represent you.

Minority women, be there. The NAACP, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Black Women's Health Imperative and many other minority groups are co-sponsoring the march. You know better than anyone how the lives of working mothers are being stressed and deformed by the lack of institutional response to the need for child care and health care.

The March for Women's Lives is not just about choice on abortion but literally about life or death for women all over the globe. The 34 Million Friends organization (which has been raising money dollar by dollar to replace the $34 million withheld for the last two years by the Bush Administration from the United Nations Population Fund) will be there. Founders Jane Roberts, a retired schoolteacher from California (the embodiment of all the Mrs. Witherspoons of our lives) and Lois Abraham, a lawyer from New Mexico, have raised millions and enabled the United Nations to re-open clinics in Mali and Senegal that provide pre-natal care and contraception. According to the Population Fund, the loss of $34 million from the United States led to two million more unwanted pregnancies, 800,000 induced abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths and 77,000 deaths of infants and children. Bush is expected to withhold the $34 million appropriated by Congress for the coming year as well.

Anti-choice policies threaten the lives of women around the world. Kofi Annan said, "HIV infection and AIDS are spreading dramatically and disproportionately among women. Today, AIDS has a woman's face." The first official action George W. Bush took as president was to reinstate the global gag rule of the Reagan years -- no clinic that so much as mentions abortion, even to women who will die without it, can receive U.S. aid. Between 1972 and 1989, Planned Parenthood used USAID financial assistance to provide 330 million cycles of birth control pills, 1.3 million condoms, 14 million IUDs and provided $92 million in financial assistance to over 439 family planning agencies around the world. The gag rule cut all funding to Planned Parenthood. Of course more abortions were the result.

The March for Women's Lives is about our lives in another sense as well. Mountains of research show the quality of women's lives is directly connected to family planning. Our ability to get education, make money and participate as citizens depends on our ability to control the number of children we have.

Anyone who thinks the anti-choice movement is only about repealing abortion rights has not been paying attention. Their agenda includes limiting both knowledge about and access to safe contraception. Everything from "abstinence only" programs to the FDA's delay in approving emergency over-the-counter contraception is part of their agenda.

Republican women, be there. When George W. Bush ran in 2000, he never spoke of reversing Roe v. Wade. He spoke of "reverence for life" in the context of adoption policies and discouraging drunk driving. Many Republican women thought his anti-choice stance was largely convenient political posturing. The lengthening list of anti-choice executive orders, regulations, legal briefs, legislative maneuvers and, above all, judicial and administrative appointments can leave no doubt where we are headed. We are now going through the longest period of no change on the Supreme Court since James Madison was president. The most significant cases dealing with reproductive rights in the last decade have been decided by 5-4 majorities. President Bush has used recess appointments to put ultra-conservative judges on the bench. In a 1992 case, Clarence Thomas wrote, "We believe that Roe was wrongly decided, and that it can and should be overruled."

Barbara Bush, be there. You wrote in your book "A Memoir" that you are pro-choice. Sometimes, when a boy won't listen to his momma, she has to go outside family circles to make her point. Thousands of Texas women will be there with "Don't Mess with Texas Women" signs. Come march with us. Nancy Reagan, be there. You know President Bush's policy on stem cell research is derailing the search for a cure to Alzheimer's and other dread diseases. You have courageously spoken out on wanting to spare other families your pain. Join us.

Over 335 new state laws restricting a woman's right to choose have been passed in the last eight years. Eighty-seven percent of U.S. counties have no safe abortion provider. Twenty-four states have mandatory delays and state-prepared anti-choice propaganda. Anti-condom policies not only result in unwanted pregnancies but an increase in AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Right-wing legislation gives fertilized eggs more rights than women. Doctors are prevented from giving accurate information about birth control and abortion rights to their patients. Anti-choice terrorists continue to murder and bomb, intimidate and harass, but the Department of Homeland Security has no time for those terrorists. This is for our lives. Be there.

[mburbank]

If you need informtion on going or if you feel moved to make a donation, info can be found here:

http://march.now.org/index.html

[VinceZeb]

I wouldn't give a donation to that shit organization if I got 200% return on my money.

[mburbank]

Jeez, Calrissa, that's going to be a big disapointment. I think they were really counting on you.

[davinxtk]

Wow.

I didn't realize that this already criminal and unjust administration was as well engaging in a large scale "get back in the kitchen!"


I was actually planning on being there, and I thought it was just about abortion laws. Unfortunately I've ended up without a way to DC.

I'm sure it will be massive, and the press will shoot pictures of the crowds at eye-level to hide the numbers.
Then wait for the overhead shots of the conservative recoil. They'll be massive.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

According to the Population Fund, the loss of $34 million from the United States led to two million more unwanted pregnancies, 800,000 induced abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths and 77,000 deaths of infants and children. Bush is expected to withhold the $34 million appropriated by Congress for the coming year as well.

Doesn't the "Population Fund" and "two million unwanted pregnancies" sound a bit Malthusian to anyone?

The lengthening list of anti-choice executive orders, regulations, legal briefs, legislative maneuvers and, above all, judicial and administrative appointments can leave no doubt where we are headed. We are now going through the longest period of no change on the Supreme Court since James Madison was president. The most significant cases dealing with reproductive rights in the last decade have been decided by 5-4 majorities. President Bush has used recess appointments to put ultra-conservative judges on the bench. In a 1992 case, Clarence Thomas wrote, "We believe that Roe was wrongly decided, and that it can and should be overruled."

Okay, some confusion. So the rate of turn over on the benches is what decides the vibrancy of our judicial system? I don't recall reading that in the Constitution, but I may be wrong here. Is it wrong that if one Court ruled in favor of Roe v. Wade, that another might rule against it? Isn't that the nature of our judicial branch...?

Over 335 new state laws restricting a woman's right to choose have been passed in the last eight years.

I would be interested in seeing a list of these, or maybe even just a mentioning of what some of them do. If 335 new state laws have been passed over the past 8 years, then you can't merely place this all on Dubya, or just the Republican Polit-Buro for that matter.

I'm also curious to see if they're laws similar to the one just past in defense of unborn children who die as a result of parental homicide. I think that legislation makes perfect sense, despite any motives Repolitcrats might have in supporting it. If someone kills a pregnant woman, they deserve double the charge.

Twenty-four states have mandatory delays and state-prepared anti-choice propaganda.

Okay, now this is where she loses me. Everybody in the "family planning" movement argues that nobody really supports abortion, they merely support "choice." Many who support "choice," argue that we must reduce the need for abortions. Ralph Nader even believes this. So how exactly do you go about doing this, other than providing options, outlets, and consequences to women who are considering abortion? Is anything that even slightly discourages abortion "anti-choice propaganda"?

Anti-condom policies not only result in unwanted pregnancies but an increase in AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Right-wing legislation gives fertilized eggs more rights than women.

The latter statement is just bullshit. Most politicians, including those evil, rotten Republican MEN, realize the sensitivity of this situation. This is why most people don't want to even touch it with a 10 ft. pole. That's why it's left to southern conservatives who will never go beyond the House for most of their careers.

And I really resent the comment about "fertilized eggs" getting more rights than women. Unlike "fertilized eggs," which are not yet capable of thinking and acting on their/its own behalf, grown women have certain freedoms and "rights." I totally agree that we should have 100% easy access to condoms and other forms of contraception, but this doesn't mean we should simply become abortion procedure advocates. Again, everyone talks about "reducing the need for abortion," yet the desire to increase quick, easy, no questions-asked abortion access is like a runaway train, and even the slightest mentioning of counseling, waiting periods, etc. make you "anti-choice." That's anti-logical, IMO.

Anti-choice terrorists continue to murder and bomb, intimidate and harass, but the Department of Homeland Security has no time for those terrorists. This is for our lives. Be there.

Ugh. Again, let's see some numbers. Among those who will be in DC will be the DCRC (DC Radical Cheerleaders). They are essentially advocating the destruction of counter-protest materials, ie. the spray painting of anti-abortion banners or signs. The DCRC are an anti-corporate, anti-globalization group, which is a movement (bless its soul) that is linked to millions of dollars in public damage, predominantly in Europe.

There are those on the fringes who nobody wants to associate with, but "family planning" advocates try to pigeon hole the entire "anti-choice" movement into that fringe. That's unfair, and basically just wrong.