ProChoice Kansas Blog! - ProChoice Kansas

South Wind Women's Center!

1/17/2013

As you probably saw on the main page - the kickass people of the Trust Women Foundation were on the Rachel Maddow Show tonight, discussing the clinic renovations and plans for offering comprehensive reproductive health care in Wichita.

South Wind Women's Center will offer comprehensive women's health services. Everything from annual exams, prenatal care to abortion care. The women of south central Kansas deserve nothing less. Here are some ways you can help the clinic open.
1) Money. I know it's in short supply, at least at my house, but if you have some extra to support the cause - I strongly urge you to help out. Between renovations, staff and security - getting this off the ground is a major undertaking and those willing to take it on deserve our help.
2) If you live in the Wichita area - contact your city council member. BE POLITE! Rage while understandable and justifiable, isn't going to help the cause. Simply explain to your council member that you support the opening of South Wind and feel there is a need for comprehensive women's health care in this city.
3) Talk to your family and friends. A lot of people are afraid to identify as pro-choice, especially in this town. People have this misconception that there are so many more antis than there are of us and I really don't think that the the case. They are just much more vocal and are given a lot of free publicity/air time by our local press.
4) Letters to the Editor - a simple statement of support for the clinic and the cause.
5) If you are not currently happy with your reproductive health care provider, make a commitment to start going to South Wind as soon as it opens. It is up to the women of this community to take a stand, we need to value providers that respect us. Respect our right to determine our lives. Providers that Trust Women!

ProChoice Kansas fully supports the opening of this clinic. It is desperately needed in this community, both from a medical perspective and from a psychological one. The loss we suffered as a community when Dr. Tiller was assassinated is not really something that can ever be healed. But we can go on and guarantee women the health care that we know he would have wanted for them.

VAWA - This IS War.

1/2/2013

"The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), enacted in 1994, recognizes the insidious and pervasive nature of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and supports comprehensive, effective and cost saving responses to these crimes. VAWA programs, administered by the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, give law enforcement, prosecutors and judges the tools they need to hold offenders accountable and keep communities safe while supporting victims. VAWA must be swiftly reauthorized to ensure the continuation of these vital, lifesaving programs and laws."

The Violence Against Women Act - has been bipartisan supported legislation for nearly two decades - what's changed? More after the jump....

The GOP's Rape Exception Tactic

10/24/2012

This election season has given rise to an interesting phenomena - GOP candidates exposing the true aims of the GOP. When Mourdock and Akin speak of not allowing abortion, even in the case of rape or incest - make no mistake - these candidates exist at the will of the broader GOP. When Mitt Romney says we need mean like Richard Mourdock in the Senate, when Paul Ryan has sided with, co-sponsored and supported basically every anti-choice bill that Todd Akin ever dreamed of - one can only assume that they agree with them. That they support the idea of women being nothing more than incubators doomed to carry any embryo that happens to embed itself in her uterus - no matter how it got there. I, for one, reject the idea that my body is equal to a growlight in an aquarium - but I think all of this is distracting us from the larger aims of the GOP.
You have to wonder why these "fringe" elements are getting mainstream support - even though mainstream candidates seem to want to distance themselves from them. This is on purpose. By having these men out themselves as the most extreme form of knuckle-draggers - it makes all other candidates look "reasonable".
This is much the same tactic the anti-choice zealots have used to erode the right to choice in the last twenty years. The idea that some limitations on choice are reasonable has opened the doors to all of the bullshit legislation we are seeing now. Make no mistake - the next President will seat 1-2 or more Supreme Court Justices. Women cannot afford those judges to be Antonin Scalia-ites. If anti-choice legislation makes it through Congress - a President Romney will sign it. He's already said that defunding Planned Parenthood will be a priority for his administration. The women of this country cannot afford a President Romney. You can argue that the major parties are all the same, but on this issue and the fundamental equality of women - the parties are very, very different.
No woman should EVER, EVER be forced to carry a pregnancy to term against her will - consenting to sex does not equal consent to pregnancy - and Rape is Rape. It's time the GOP learned that and losing elections is the only way politicians learn.

Time to Bury the Hatchet and Get to Work!

10/13/2012

Anyone that has been associated with the reproductive rights or feminist causes in Kansas can tell you that there are multiple factions within the movement. Teams born out of infighting, legitimate squabbles and power struggles - I'm as guilty of this as anyone. This is largely why I've withdrawn from organized activism - it becomes about organizational leadership vs. the actual cause. This can lead to short-term successes for organizations, but doesn't usually end well in the long run. Membership declines, active members give up, a power base solidifies and everyone else feels feels excluded.

However, now is the time to bury the hatchet and get to work. The Trust Women Foundation has taken a big step in buying the clinic (Dr. Tiller's former clinic) - and it's up to the people who believe in reproductive freedom to get behind them, no matter what faction you align with.
As has been pointed out by multiple bloggers - the environment here is not hospitable. However, that should just harden our resolve.

THIS CLINIC MUST OPEN!

There is no other option! It is time to work together to make sure this happens. Right now, they need money for renovations! We can not allow the anti-choice terrorists to derail this, and we sure as hell can't let infighting among like-minded people to hurt this cause. The women of Wichita deserve better - we deserve access to full reproductive health care in our community and if Julie Burkhart and Trust Women are willing to fight this battle, we have to get behind them! ALL OF US!

Please donate what you can, proceeds from the Shop! are also going to this cause.
It is up to us to make this happen!

WOOHOO!

9/25/2012

The Trust Women Foundation has purchased the Women's Health Care Services Building here in Wichita - with the intentions of providing abortion care to the women of SouthCentral Kansas! This is the building that housed Dr. Tiller's practice until the time of his assassination.
Obviously, this type of endeavor is risky here in Kansas - lots of anti-choice crazies here. However, I think it's time to call on the people of Kansas - really the nation to stand up and say "NO!" The intimidation, the harassment, the bullshit stops now!
The women of Kansas have a right to reproductive health care! We will not sit idly by while another group of employees, doctors and patients are harassed, maligned and threatened. We will not stand by while politicians grandstand on an issue that is the most private a woman and/or family can make. We will not allow terrorism in our community! It ends now!
The Trust Women Foundation is bringing back our clinic, our right to full reproductive health care, right here in our community and we must stand with them!

Contraception = Abortion = Servitude

9/10/2012

This post is from the Kansans for Life Facebook page. If the "This is a great article" is an indication, Mary Kay Culp's organization is apparently both anti-abortion and anti-contraception.
At the very least, the person who updates their Facebook page agrees that the " 'freedom to choose' has not exalted them, but has effected their very reduction and abasement", they agree that "contraception and abortion have separated women from their true selves."

Let's consider this, shall we?

"...separated from their true selves."
That part keeps bothering me - I would like to point out that I knew long before I began taking the magic anti-baby pills, that I didn't want children. Don't get me wrong - I like kids - but I'm really not the maternal type. And you know what? THAT IS OKAY!
The idea that somehow my vacancy of my womb defines me - really, really offends me.

The right to birth control and abortion care are so much more to women than the ability to terminate a pregnancy. The ability to control our bodies, the ability to space our families, the ability to have a career, the ability to not feel like your body is betraying you every month, the ability to decide when the time is right, are all the result of advances in reproductive health care. The idea that it is perfectly acceptable for a woman to have a career and no children - the idea that a woman can stay home with her children are the very essence of choice. Women are defined by what they choose to be defined by, not the contents of their uterus.

Women have to be concerned about pregnancy for upwards of 35 years....think about that for a minute...that is a really long time to be wanting something or dreading something. The vast majority of women use contraception at some point in their lives. The reasons are as varied as the women that use them. Women do not have to make excuses or justify their use. Maybe it is the author's idea of women that is separated from the truth.

Oh and just as a little hint to the folks over at KFL - Successful contraception use prevents the need for abortion. Comprehensive sex education along with affordable and readily available contraception significantly decreases the need for abortion care. Abortion care will always be a needed service, but I think we can all agree that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

WTF, Representative Akin?

8/19/2012

From The LA Times:
If there is something everyone can agree on, it would seem that the idea that rape can result in unwanted pregnancy would be right up there at the top of the list.

Not so in Missouri, where the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate on Sunday advanced the theory that the female reproductive system shuts down when a woman is being raped, thus preventing conception.

Rep. Todd Akin, a tea party candidate who is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in the closely watched race, was asked in a local television interview about whether he supports access to abortion in the case of rape.

"If abortion could be considered in case of, say, a tubal pregnancy [which threatens the mother’s life], what about in the case of rape?" asked KTVI host Charles Jaco, in a clip that was disseminated by Talking Points Memo. "Should it be legal or not?"

"It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that's really rare,” Akin said, referring to conception following a rape. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child."

I honestly don't know where to start with this one. I'm not sure if it's the "legitimate rape" thing or the "female body has ways to shut that whole thing down" that bothers me more. Is this guy just a run of the mill misogynist willingly passing on flawed info? Or is he that ignorant of the female body that he thinks that's really how it works? Or is he just a lying, pandering, bullshitting, tealiban-esque asshat like the rest?

I really don't know the answer to that question - but here's what I do know.
If rape happens, it is by definition legitimate. If a pregnancy occurs from that rape - what happens from that point on is the woman's decision. Period. I realize that these tea party types think that Goldman Sachs or Exxon should not be regulated, but my uterus is up for discussion.

Representative Akin, should slink out of public life - back under the rock he came out from under. I hope the women in his life shame him for not only his arrogance, but his ignorance. And the Voters of Missouri - Seriously - this kind of nonsense has to be a deal breaker. (Of course, at least he didn't say they should have planned to be raped - ya know like you plan for a flat tire).

Honestly, if there was a way that the human mind could wish hard enough not to get pregnant - I'm sure we would have A LOT less unplanned pregnancies...

If you haven't seen the video - here ya go.

The Catholic Problem.

2/27/2012

I have tried to re-write this many times in an effort to be more diplomatic, to not offend anyone - but the truth is? I can't do it. I can't sugar-coat or placate anyone anymore.

Our Governor Sam Brownback seems to think it's incredibly easy to find a job, let alone a job with health insurance - because obviously if we silly, little women want our whore pills we should have to pay for them ourselves.

But here is the problem with that - Jobs are NOT easy to come by. Jobs with benefits are even harder to come by. (Look at the medical field in Wichita - the vast majority of hospital jobs have religious affiliation) What that blow-hard Brownback said was flippin' ignorance.

However, we all know he's a raging douchebag - NO ONE should have been surprised by his outburst. His concern for the Catholic Church and its delicate sensibilities was at the forefront of that entire interview - but I have to ask myself...where are the everyday Catholics?

Do they not understand that by supporting a Church that undermines their fundamental rights - is reinforcing and supporting that behavior? And potentially for a lot of non-Catholics too? Every time you tithe, every time you fill your pill prescription in secret - every time you ignore that little portion of the church's teachings - you are causing the problem. Now maybe the Catholic Church will never change its policy on contraception - but it's quite obvious that practicing Catholics sure aren't adhering to it. According to a recent Guttmacher study - 98% of Catholic women use some sort of birth control - yet they continue to practice and PAY to practice in a church that disallows that behavior. My message to Catholics - STAND UP FOR YOURSELVES! And if that doesn't work - find another Church to attend. Supporting their antiquated view on the subject of family planning is adding fuel to the fire - one that has the potential to burn all of us. The only way the Catholic church is going to change is from within.

Until then - I suggest the rest of us make it perfectly clear that the Pope and his pointy hat need to stay the hell away from our uteri.

Lying by Omission

2/7/2012

The Kansas House seems to feel that it's okay for doctors to withhold information from patients. Provided that patient is a pregnant woman.
"Among the most contested provisions of the bill is the section that would exempt a doctor from a medical malpractice suit if a woman claims the physician withheld information about potential birth defects to prevent her from having an abortion. In addition, a woman would not be able to sue if she suffers health damage from a pregnancy as a result of information withheld from her to prevent an abortion. A wrongful death suit could still be filed, however, if the mother died." (Article found here)
Translation: If your doctor sees something is wrong with your fetus or your pregnancy - they will be legally protected if they don't tell you - as long as you don't die. So basically, if they *think* you *might* abort - they can LIE to you. Lose your uterus? Can't sue. Have a child with birth defects? No recourse.

I can't begin to explain out absolutely LIVID I am about this. The rest of the bill is typical anti-choice bullshit - but this, this is a new low.

I worked in a pediatric neurology office for six and a half years - we saw children with seizures, genetic defects, hydrocephalus, extreme prematurity - that job has a lot to do with why I do not have children. Too much can go wrong. It got to the point where I was surprised and relieved when someone had a "normal" healthy baby. I watched families struggle with caring for a special needs child, husbands and wives torn apart over some perverse sense of blame. These situations should not be entered into lightly. (By the way, not all patients choose to abort when confronted with these types of situations, but this law would allow the doctor to make that assumption).

What these asshats are proposing would allow zealots with medical degrees to determine the course of their patient's lives. That is dangerous - and pretty frickin' unAmerican. Women have the right to know what is going on with their bodies - and with a fetus taking up residency there. Regardless of what a doctor may "think" his/her patient might do as a result of said information.

Here's an idea - if the idea of abortion is so abhorrent to you, if you are willing to DO HARM to a patient in violation of your hippocratic oath then I strongly suggest you find a new career. The personal morality of a doctor does not overrule that of a patient. Period.

The Problem with Pink

1/31/2012

No, this isn't a rant about how I hate the color pink and how retailers and designers think that if it's for a woman it has to be pink...that's for a different blog.

As you should be aware by now - the Susan G. Komen foundation has pulled its grant money from Planned Parenthood. Bowing to pressure from anti-choice zealots, the Komen Foundation has sold its soul to the anti-choicers to sell a few more pink KitchenAid mixers. This pisses me off on a multitude of levels...first, I support Planned Parenthood - they are a baseline, safety net for thousands of women. This move undermines the mission that the Komen Foundation supposedly stands for.

Second - because well, I don't like the Komen Foundation much to begin with. I feel their incessant pinkification of EVERYTHING detracts attention from ya know...CANCER. I support Awareness organizations that actually worry about awareness - rather than product placement. (Like my birthday wish to raise money for Lung Cancer Alliance).

Let me be perfectly clear - I fucking HATE Cancer. (Full Disclosure: My mom died at the age of 43 of lung cancer, she survived 3 months after diagnosis. Lung Cancer kills more people than breast, prostate, liver, colon, kidney and melanoma cancers COMBINED - yet we turn everything pink). I appreciate the strides that have been made, thanks in part to money raised by the Komen Foundation - but I really feel they have lost their way.

I stand with Planned Parenthood - The Komen Foundation will not get another dime of my money.