Wanna preserve women’s rights to abortion? Go to church.
I’m an atheist, but am actually not being sarcastic. The No on 73 Campaign for Teen Safety kicked off today at Immanuel Presbyterian Church on Wilshire, to a crowd of about 200 people, even more ethnically diverse than the church’s schedule board (left).
And among the speakers was Rev. Louis Chase, who said he’s counselled many teens, and that parental consent laws don’t facilitate family communication, but instead create a tremendous amount of friction within the family: “I am pro-choice because of my religion, not inspite of it.”
My father was a preacher. Wish he could’ve been more like Louis. Others:
CA Assemblymember Judy Chu: Gave some stats about how laws like Prop 73 don’t stop teen abortions, but just make them engage in riskier behavior, like back alley abortions, a la Becky Bell.
Chair of the LA County Democratic Party Eric Bauman: Called Prop 73 the “Incest Protection Act,” pointing out that the law especially punishes girls from abusive families.
CA Senator Gloria Romero: Said Prop 73 is the Schwarzenegger’s way of getting the most fundamental right wingers out to vote for 4 other key anti-women props:
- 74 &75: tenure and paycheck rules that hurt nurses and teachers — the majority of whom are women,
- 76: healthcare slashing, which’ll affect many woman-led single parent households, and
- 77: redistricting, to be done by retired judges — 89% of whom are white men.
Carla Hill, teen parenting program director. Pointed out that forcing children to talk about abortion with their parents — or worse, a judge — as opposed to other kind adults — grandparents, uncle, etc. — that the child may feel more comfortable with — erodes parental rights.
My fave speaker: Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who said best what I was trying to articulate in my post about Roberts’ confirmation hearings. She said: “If you can’t make decisions about your life, your body, then the other decisions really don’t matter very much.”
Of course, anti-choicers often point to the judicial bypass as a way out for girls from abusive families. First of all, this bypass requires Herculean feats of scared teens. Aside from the sheer difficulty of navigating the complex legal system and the fear involved in telling a courtroom judge one’s personal problems, the geographic and language barriers are at times insurmountable. Some Cali towns are 2 hours from the nearest juvenile courhouse, and many Cali teens are not native English speakers.
And even if they got there? The NY Times (free subscription required) reports that a bunch of judges have refused to hear such cases, on “moral grounds” (via Thoughts from an Average Woman).
To do my part to kill this thing, I signed up to work the phone bank! Two Thursdays from now will be my trial by fire. The goal: to reach 600,000 voters before voting day.
Waters: “Women, our lives depend on it.”
Update, 11/9/05: Prop 73 defeated! (Along with all the other props –_
Filed in: prop73 losangeles california roevwade prochoice
I wish CA’ians good luck on defeating Prop 73.
As for the judicial bypass, I can report that TN has a number of judges that are refusing to hear these cases (posted about it at one point) — they think they can pick and choose which laws to uphold. It sucks big time.
Comment by CE Petro — October 1, 2005 @ 5:19 pm
cool, I’m phonebanking this week for Prop 73 too!
god, I wish Schwarzenegger wasn’t such a jackass. I’m irritated with his position (esp. since he claims to be pro-choice) … but I think we actually have a good shot of defeating it.
Comment by Stephanie — October 1, 2005 @ 7:46 pm
And how fabulous that the Presbyterian church is part of the struggle. Good for them. Good for you. Good for women!
Comment by Andrea — October 2, 2005 @ 10:11 am
Yey! Stephanie — when are you phone banking? If it ever gets tough, I’ll think, well… if Steph’s doing it, I gotta do it too :)
And thanks for the encouragement, CE Petro and Andrea — Wish you all could be Californian girls…
Comment by Siel — October 2, 2005 @ 5:53 pm
Quote: Of course, anti-choicers often point to the judicial bypass as a way out for girls from abusive families. First of all, this bypass requires Herculean feats of scared teens.
Have you ever thought that Prop 73 will help get girls out of that abusive situation? When the girl goes to the judge as a judicial bypass under Prop 73, the judge is required to report abuses, whereas abortion clinics, according to this study, are more likely to not report it, even though it is illegal not to. Thus, without Prop 73, abuse is much more likely to continue, and that in itself is enough reason to vote for it.
Comment by KT4JC — October 2, 2005 @ 8:40 pm
kt4jc — I actually find Planned Parenthood’s actions depicted in the article you cited quite heartwarming. Readers can check it out themselves, but it’s about a pretend 13-yr-old caller seeking an abortion because she doesn’t want her parents to find out about her relationship with a 22-year-old boyfriend.
Why should Planned Parenthood report this? Granted, I’d venture to say that 13 year-olds in similar situations were likely taken advantage of by these older men. However, who would bear the brunt of the “punishment” if the parents found out? It’s only in the very open, accepting type of families — i.e. the type of family that wouldn’t've neccesitated the 13-year-old calling PP in the first place instead of talking to her parents — that the 13-year-old wouldn’t be chastized as a slut, whore, idiot, fallen and ruined girl, etc., for not “keeping her legs together.”
I’m all for getting abusive men punished. But not at the expense of ruining a 13-year-old girl’s life.
Comment by Siel — October 2, 2005 @ 8:56 pm
So you would have Planned Parenthood break the law to “help” them. Don’t you think that letting the abuse continue would ruin the girl’s life more?
Comment by KT4JC — October 6, 2005 @ 9:34 pm
No, I don’t think that, silly. I think some laws are unjust and idiotic.
Toodles –
Comment by Siel — October 7, 2005 @ 8:50 am
Sorry dear — I’ve been staying up nights because I’m afraid my last comment was too glib. My reasons on why I think Prop 73 would hurt girls more than Planned Parenthood’s policies couldn’t be explained any better than this minister’s thoughts here.
Hope that helps –
Comment by Siel — October 10, 2005 @ 10:23 pm
Dear brothers and sisters,
May the peace of our Jesus Christ be with you always.It is indeed a great joy for me to share the same faith in our saviour with so many human beings of this planet.
Please this is my first opportunity to write to you. I am a full time evangelist with village Evangelistic Ministry.Our vission is to preach, teach, train leaders and to equip villages.Village have been left behined and denied by many ministries.Villages are deeply rooted in traditional beliefs and cultures which are sometimes against God.They worship many gods and idols and also live in poverty and ignorance.They lack modern materials such as videos and christian tapes.They also luck literature such as Bibles in english and tracts and christian books.
Village Evangelistic Ministry is trying its best to give these villages the Word of God through we do not have the neccessary literature we need,we are interdenominational and have opend 40 fellowship having about 1,000 members.We have crusade, revival meetings, seminars, leadership training for both women andmen, and personal evangelism. We lack many materials to give to all those whom we train. So please I am requesting you to donate me some literatures such as : 150 Holy Bibles in english ,send as many spiritualleadership books as possible, 5 Bibles dictionaries and commentaries and anything that is vital in english.We are praising the Lord for any assistance that you can give.
Please we hope and believe by our almighty God that you are going to help us.Becuase as it is written in the Bibles at Mathew 5:16 that, Let your light so shine before man that they may see your good work and glorify your father which is in heaven.Please I will end heere with greetings to all of you. PLEASE I AM BEGING YOU TO REPLY AND ASK FOR MY POSTAL ADDRESS IF ONLY YOU CAN HELP ME.MAY OUR ALMIGHTY GOD RICHLY BLEES YOU ALL.
Your’s faithfully in Jesus
Lawrence Oppong
New E-mail oppong@goatmail.com
Comment by Lawrence Oppong — January 5, 2006 @ 2:59 am