choice activism

action alerts: use your voice!

call for submissions: it's a bloody evolution

announcing an upcoming book: i will choose

submit an item to the STP action alert

Scariest Quote of the Month
Submitted by Melisse Gelula

"The promises of our Declaration of Independence are not just for the strong, the independent or the healthy. They are for everyone – including unborn children....We share a great goal: to work toward a day when every child is welcomed in life and protected in law."

George W. Bush
from a memorandum on abortion issued 1/22/01

Melisse responds: As Bush and his team interpret it, the Declaration of Independence made no specific promises to women. Every female, regardless of her age or desire to parent should bear a child, the U.S. just won't care for it, feed it, cloth it, give it heath care, let the mother stay home without demeaning them for taking welfare, or paying for enriching childcare so a mother can work.

Stop Abortion Restrictions Before They Start!

Submitted by Melisse Gelula

Welcome to a new era (or an old one with a new figurehead)!
Wasting no time after his inauguration, on January 22, 2001, President Bush's media department released news that "the president does not support using taxpayer funds to provide abortions", (CNN 1/22/01) and will block money to "international groups that provide both abortions and abortion counseling."

Similarly, the New York Times reported on Jan. 22, 2001, that the Bush administration also plans to investigate the legality of RU486: "Asked about the recently approved RU-486 abortion pill, [White House chief of staff Andrew] Card said, We're going to take a look at all of the regulations. We're going to take a look at all the executive orders." (NY Times)

Translation: This is code for stopping the legalization process and imposing restrictions on RU486's use.

This, it seems clear, does not bode well for the next four years. Bush's nod to 28th anniversary of Roe V. Wade is blatant: He plans to restrict the domestic and international practice of abortion. (And with the power conferred upon him as president of possibly the world's most powerful nation, he can.)

Anticipating Bush's every move on abortion (Ashcroft's presence on the scene did give us a head's up), already Planned Parenthood has set up an activist arm of their regular Web site at www.roevbush.com. (That's Roe v. Bush.com.) This informative site will help you join the campaign to protect Roe v. Wade.

Your New Year's resolution? (It's only February after all.)

Create and implement forms of resistance and activism to stop this man from depriving women of the right to an abortion.

TRANSITION WATCH: 100 DAYS OF ACTION FOR CAUSES THAT MATTER

The next 100 days could be critical for a host of important issues facing the nation. President Bush will make more than 6,000 political appointments, he will submit a new trillion-dollar budget, and he may issue a round of Executive Orders with far-reaching implications for our environment, our civil rights and liberties, and economic priorities.

TransitionWatch aims to make sure concerned progressive voters get the information they need to know what’s going on, and can take action as quickly and easily as possible. TransitionWatch is non-partisan, but not unbiased. Sponsoring groups include Greenpeace, Feminist Majority, The American Civil Liberties Union, and the International Campaign for Tibet.

call for contributions:

it’s a bloody evolution: gen x women rewrite their reproductive destinies

We are two women of feminism’s third wave, one on either side of 30. Like many women of our generation, we are engaged in thinking about our experiences around sexuality and find ourselves making choices around fertility, relationships and reproductive health that, just a generation before, were simply not possible. To be sure, a collision of factors has created a revolutionary shift in the way many American women experience themselves as female and fertile. Collectively, our generation represents an amazing diversity of experiences. However, the mainstream media seems bent on presenting our experiences in absolute, essentialist and dualistic terms.

You know the jig: Virgin vs. Whore, Straight vs. Gay, Celebrity Mother vs. Welfare Mother and so on. Motherhood is still idealized and expected in spite of women’s other creative capacities. And behind childbearing, a walk down the aisle—the supposed apex of romance—is still presented as the legitimizing act a person seeking adult status can perform.

Well, the jig is up!

We are seeking to capture the truth of women’s evolving sexuality, in all its bloody complexity and messy contradictions, as experienced by the first generation of women to come of age following the "sexual revolution." Particularly, we are interested in the perspectives of women of feminism’s third wave, those in their 20s and 30s whose lives represent a refreshing resolution of either their feminist mothers’ ambivalence towards being fertile and female or the cultural shame imposed on women’s bodies and their biological processes.

We want to capture how women’s experiences are shaped by economic class, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical ability, geographic location, educational attainment, and any other demographic intersection. Contributions may include written or photographic essays, collage, painting, poetry, one-act plays, cartoons, posters, journal entries or other creative expressions.

Topics may include your experiences with the following issues: abortion, adoption, breast health, breast size, breast as fetish, breastfeeding, contraception, decisions to parent or not to parent, gender expression, HIV-AIDS, infertility, sexuality, menstruation/menstruation ritual, motherhood, pregnancy, safer sex practices, sexually transmitted infections, women’s biological processes and various healing approaches.

The deadline for submissions is Aug. 1, 2001.

For more information email us at BloodyEvolution

soon to be published:

I Will Choose: Women and Men Write about Abortion
Edited by Krista Jacob, Ashley Sovern and Melisse Gelula

Over 40% of North American women will have at least one abortion in their lifetime, yet women who decide to terminate a pregnancy still do so in a culture which shames and silences them for their choice. Many factors contribute to this silencing: a desire for privacy, anti-abortion propaganda, inadequate emotional support, fear of repercussions from family, friends, co-workers, and lovers.

I Will Choose: Women and Men Write About Abortion is an upcoming book edited by three young women raised in the generation following Roe vs. Wade. They employ a feminist perspective, and pay special attention to issues of class, race, gender, sexuality, age, and other interlocking oppressions.

Through personal testimony from clinic workers, political activists, and women who have had abortions, this anthology illuminates the reality of abortion and dispels myths perpetuated by those who seek to restrict reproductive choices. Various perspectives within the pro-choice movement merge to reveal a contemporary and holistic view of reproductive freedom; the voices resonating with particular poignancy as the country prepares to welcome a vehemently anti-choice President into the White House.

By combining personal testimony with feminist theoretical analysis, I Will Choose: Women and Men Write About Abortion is an important contribution to helping shape a culture where the abortion experience is not only safe and legal, but also dignified and free of shame.

submit an action alert item

If you are a third wave feminist and would like to post information about an upcoming project or if you'd like to submit an issue to the STP Action Alert page just:

Email us