Archive for the 'abortion' Category

Pregnancy counselling and our ‘post-feminist’ world

Published by
Anna
at January 15, 2007 in Politics, abortion, breeding, choice, christianity and fundamentalism. 1 Comment

Apologies to all readers about the lack of updateliness over the festive season. I’ve had a bit of a break but it seems the patriarchy hasn’t.

As I’m sure most of you are aware, Minister for Health, Tony Abbott is up to his old tricks [link above]; restricting Australian women’s access to abortion in granting the Government funded Pregnancy Helpline contract to a company called McKesson Asia Pacific. What’s interesting about this is that McKesson is a company with no obvious bias towards faith-based healthcare provision and yet they have sub-contracted the training of counsellors out to the Catholic organisations, Centacare and the Caroline Chisholm Society. Organisations and individuals with ties to abortion providers were exempt from applying for the contract and yet here we have two organisations involved in the helpline with a most open bias in the opposite direction.

The Catholic stance on abortion is well-known. It has also recently been reported that Catholic hospitals refuse to provide Emergency Contraception/ The Morning After Pill to rape victims. It’s really not that surprising but considering Emergency Contraception prevents conception before sperm meets egg, if the doctors at those hospitals don’t know this, I really think their abilities to provide healthcare should be called into question. But as we all know it has never been about saving the bay-bees but punishing Eve, that wench.

One anti-choice organisation, the Australian Federation of Pregnancy Support Services (formerly known as the Australian Federation of Pro-life Pregnancy Support Services), which trades under the name Pregnancy Help Australia, has already received hundreds of thousands of dollars of Government funding. The AFPSS received $240,000 in 2003-04, $245,000 in 2004-05 and almost $300,000 in the last financial year. Considering their government funding seems to be rising and genuinely pro-woman counselling services are losing funding it seems the anti-choicers have achieved a monopoly over pregnancy counselling services in Australia.

Abbott says, “I hope that the availability of this kind of support service might, in the end, have some downward impact on the number of abortions.” Abbott’s continues to cite the bogus figure of 100,000 abortions each year. This figure is actually derived from a Medicare figure of 73,000 (exaggerating much?) for D&C which is a medical procedure performed for reasons including miscarriage which makes up two-thirds of that 73,000. So the actual number of abortions is closer to 25,000.

The demand for abortions has actually been falling steadily in the under-25 group (12 per cent in the past decade) and probably would continue to fall if faith-based organisations released their tenterhooks from women’s bodies. I wonder how many rape victims who didn’t get EC in time due to going to a Catholic hospital then had to seek an abortion?

Research by the Guttmacher Institute shows that abortion figures are much much lower in countries where it is safe and readily available and where attitudes to gender, sex and sexuality are much more progressive:

Most recent rates per 1,000 reproductive-age women

Legal

Belgium 7

Germany 8

Netherlands 9

Switzerland 9

United States 21

Illegal
Dominican Republic 47

Peru 56

Philippines 27

Uganda 54
Sources:Guttmacher Institute and WHO Regional Office for Europe.

As you can see in the countries where it’s legal the US leads the way in the number of abortions carried out, it also happens to be where the anti-choice movement is strongest. Coincidence? Or are pro-lifers killing the bay-bees?!

The theme for the next issue of Wo! is ‘Choice’ so if you have something to add to the discourse send to editor@wo-magazine.com . Features and articles don’t have to be focused on reproductive rights, the theme can be interpreted as broadly or creatively as you like.

Women’s lives don’t matter: Nicaragua

Published by
Anna
at November 21, 2006 in Politics, World, abortion, religion, struggle and violence against women. 2 Comments

Abortion has long been illegal in Nicaragua but had, up until now, been allowed where it would save the woman’s life if three doctors testified that the woman would die if she didn’t undergo the procedure. Now even that exception has been ripped away from Nicaraguan women.

Some figures from the Guttmacher Intstitute to keep in mind. In Nicaragua:

  • A quarter of all births (35,000) are among 15-19 year-olds but 86 per cent don’t want a child within the next two years and 36 per cent don’t have adequate access to contraception.
  • Half of 20-25 year old women had had a child before their 20th birthday
  • Nearly half of all births are unplanned
  • The rate of childbirth among adolescents is the highest out of any other Central American country.
  • Also higher than any other Central American country is the rate of maternal deaths which is 230 for every 100,000 births.

The WHO estimates that 78,000 women die from illegal and unsafe abortions each year (13 per cent of maternal deaths). Most of those of course occuring in developing countries such as Nicaragua. So even if access to a cheap illegal abortion is possible there’s no real out for these women. Imagine being powerless knowing that your death was imminent because your government couldn’t give a fuck. Pro-life indeed.

The leftist, Sandanista and former president Daniel Ortega sold women up shit creek in order to try to gain support from the Roman Catholic voting block and regain presidency. According to the linked NYTimes article his support for the ammendment was critical.

Only Dr prescribing RU486 harassed by forced-birthers

Published by
Anna
at November 8, 2006 in abortion, breeding and christianity. 0 Comments

Police are investigating attacks on the far north Queensland home of the only Australian doctor authorised to prescribe the controversial abortion drug RU486.

Caroline de Costa has blamed pro-life protesters for throwing eggs at her house and car in Cairns “on at least three occasions” in the past month.

The Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at James Cook University’s Cairns campus began treating Cairns women with the abortion-inducing drug RU486 in July.

[Full story]

Abortion and control: Debunking myths about the “pro-life” agenda

Published by
Anna
at October 9, 2006 in abortion, breeding, choice, christianity, fundamentalism and sex. 14 Comments

One thing that deserves reiteration in the whole pro-choice v. anti-choice dichotomy is the true intentions of “pro-lifers”. What they claim as their main aim (i.e. stopping abortions) rarely, if ever, correlates to their actions. To you and me, the idea of reducing abortions has a simple solution: stop unwanted pregnancies. And how? By thorough, comprehensive and accurate sex education and available contraception on demand.

The anti-choice movement’s actions belie their true agenda, and that is control of women’s lives. It is a myth that they are “pro-life”. They could be considered “pro-foetus” I guess, but the foetus isn’t the only “life” that is on the line, especially when abortion is outlawed as I’ve explored before .

Exhibit A: Anti-contraception

The anti-choice movement rails against contraception. They view pregnancy and STIs as a punishment for “fallen” women, that she should be forced to endure as punishment for having sex. Their true agenda here? Stopping women from being independent and sexual human beings- that is the domain of men, and women should only have sex when the pleasure of their husband is wont to be met (and for the sake of pro-creation of course). Their “abstinence-only” education is a fast-track to increasing abortion rates, not to mention how psychologically damaging this virginity fetishisation can sometimes be to young girls.

Restricting contraception, including emergency contraception (the morning-after pill) results in higher instances of unwanted pregnancies and thus abortion. This isn’t hard to figure out so those out there who consider themselves “pro-life” surely realise this to be the case. So I will repeat: Their agenda is restricting sexual and reproductive freedom not saving babies. It is about hating women. It is about relegating women to their “proper” sphere, which to the downfall of society, they have departed from in the past few decades.

Exhibit B: The rape exemption

Many “pro-lifers” concede an abortion exception to rape and incest victims. Even the most fundie Christian variety of pro-lifer concede some sort of exemption for “pure women”. As one US fundie put it an exemption in abortion criminalisation could be:

Continue reading ‘Abortion and control: Debunking myths about the “pro-life” agenda’

have your rapists baby! It’s better than paying for therapy.

Published by
Anna
at August 31, 2006 in abortion, rape and wtf?!. 2 Comments

I’m going to write a more considered post on abortion and control later. For now:

This guy, who obviously isn’t partial to the rape and incest exception in criminalising abortion, thinks women should have their rapist’s baby to help them “in coming to grips with the abuse they suffered.”

No really. True story.

Why are we giving more trauma to the victim of rape by encouraging her to abort her child?

Carrying such a child to term has been for many women a help in coming to grips with the abuse they suffered. Many victims of rape and children born of such attacks have testified to these truths.

He argues that the punishment is being meted out to the fetus instead of the rapist and that maybe capital punishment for rapists is the way to go, but he’s against capital punishment. That’s it in a nutshell.

Yep. No considerations for the punishment meted out to the victim in being forced to carry her rapist’s child to term! Women aren’t people anyway didntchaknow?

via Pandagon

Update

And let’s see just how extreme those who don’t accept abortion in any case can get. Here’s a news story (video) about an 11 year old Colombian girl who fell pregnant to her stepfather when he raped her. She got an abortion upon demand from her mother and the child who “wanted to go back to playing with her toys” according to one doctor in the story. However, the vatican has now said they’re going to excommunicate the doctors who carried out the abortion because they “wanted to share in the pain”. Yeah right.

Our bodies, the government’s womb

Published by
Anna
at August 22, 2006 in abortion. 0 Comments

Remember how I said I’d find out whether the anti-choice pregnancy counselling centres, accused of giving misleading information to pregnant women who wished to terminate were funded in Tony Abbott’s $60 million pregnancy counselling appeasement package. Well, the answer is no, as those contracts haven’t gone to tender yet.

The staunch anti-choice organisation the Australian Federation of Pregnancy Support Services (formerly known as the Australian Federation of Pro-life Pregnancy Support Services), which trades under the name Pregnancy Help Australia, is expected to bid for the contract however.

You see, pro-life and religious organisations are apparently impartial enough to run the proposed helpline but counselling services who have financial ties to abortion clinics aren’t. They are forbidden from tendering for the contract.

Pregnancy Help Australia currently don’t provide referrals for abortion, even if requested, as part of their policy and have also been accused of giving misleading information to women calling for information on terminations.

The currently receive annual funding from the Federal Government of about $245,000 a year, and this year that figure jumped to $300,000.

The AFPSS is a little more careful than the private organisation, Pregnancy Counselling Australia which lists the misinformation on its website and was alleged to have told the father of a rape victim, who was five weeks pregnant to her attacker, that he was a “bloody murderer”. This is only one of many horrible stories that were documented by the Pregnancy Advisory Centre and other counsellors, whose clients complained to them of the treatment they received at the hands of these organisations.

Bill calling for transparent advertising in pregnancy counselling vetoed.

Published by
Anna
at August 20, 2006 in Politics and abortion. 0 Comments

Well this isn’t very good:

THE Liberal MP who last week blocked moves to ban deceptive advertising by anti-abortion pregnancy counselling services received campaign funds from the aggressively anti-abortion body Right to Life.

A hard-fought 2004 election campaign by Senator Gary Humphries, the only federal Liberal MP in the ACT, was boosted by a $30,000 donation from ACT Right to Life to the Liberal Party.

As chair of the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee, Senator Humphries used his casting vote to veto a private member’s bill by Democrat senator Natasha Stott Despoja.

Senator Stott Despoja’s bill would have forced pregnancy counselling services to declare if they refused to refer clients for terminations.

>>Full Story

ACT Right to Life group was one of the ACT division of the Liberal Party’s biggest donors in the lead up to the 2004 election. What’s linked is the document from the Australian Electoral Commission that discloses the donations.

And in more Australian abortion news

Published by
Anna
at August 15, 2006 in abortion. 2 Comments

Women who live rurally and are in need of a termination are forced to travel hundreds of kilometres due to a lack of services and fears about privacy amongst other reasons.

La Trobe University conducted a study of 1200 women who live in rural Victoria and found that one in ten had travelled to Melbourne to get an abortion. Three women in the study even reported having to travel over 400 kilometres.

The report was published today in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
This lack of access in the bush obviously means that those people in the lower socio-economic sphere who may not be able to afford to travel are either forced to carry through to term a child they also can’t afford or there are women in the Australian bush finding some other means of terminating unwanted pregnancies.

Some women reported in a separate survey, done between November 2002 and June 2003, that medical services in their area refused to do the procedure, some due to ideological reasons.

—**—
And there’s more drama to add to the RU486 drama believe it or not.

THE health department could prevent Australian women accessing the abortion drug RU-486, despite a parliamentary vote removing ministerial control over the drug.

In a rare conscience vote earlier this year, Parliament removed Health Minister Tony Abbott’s ability to veto any approval for prescribing the drug.

Responsibility was instead handed to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

But in response to questions from ALP MP John Murphy, who opposes abortion, Mr Abbott said the Department of Health and Ageing’s secretary, or her delegate, could cancel registration of the drug under certain circumstances under the Therapeutic Goods Act.

>>Full Story

Adelaide: Counselling services giving misleading information about abortion

Published by
Anna
at August 10, 2006 in abortion and christianity. 0 Comments

It seems our very own pro-lifers are getting some tips off their US counterparts.

The South Australian Government’s Pregnancy Advisory Centre says, in a report to a parliamentary inquiry, that counselling services, both public and private, have been misinforming pregnant women about abortion.

The report sites 17 cases in which women were told things such as, abortion was sinful and they risked breast cancer and infertility if they went ahead with a termination.

The report has led to Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja introducing a private members bill, calling for pregnancy counselling services to be regulated. The bill has been referred to the Senate Community Affairs Committee.

The Pregnancy Advisory Centre in its submission to the inquiry said:

“These services clearly have an anti-choice/anti-abortion agenda, and use these strategies and directive counselling to emotionally manipulate and persuade women not to terminate unwanted pregnancies.”

This is all pretty interesting in the context of the fallout over the abortion drug, RU486 debate. When staunch catholic and Minister for Health, Tony Abbott, was stripped of his power to veto the drug earlier this year, he put in a contingency plan which involved $60 million to provide counselling to women with unwanted pregnancies.

Upon introducing the plan Abbott did not rule out whether the contracts for these services would go to pro-life or religious organisations. What’s linked is a rather lengthy speech by the Democrats on the increasing intersection in Australia between church and state. It’s quite interesting but here’s the relevant bit below:

In the past few years churches were actively encouraged to tender for contracts to provide counselling in custody disputes under the new family law act; and earlier this year church run services were encouraged to bid for new government monies to provide pregnancy and abortion counselling services.

Similarly pregnancy counselling services run by religious-based organisations and receiving government funding provide false and misleading advice about abortion, or refuse to provide women with information about clinics and hospitals that provide terminations.

So have the counselling centres that have been called into question today funded under Abbott’s $60 million program for pregnancy counselling? I’ll add this to my ‘to find out’ list.

Update Zone

When asked if he would support more regulations if the report found services were using false and misleading advertising, Mr Abbott would not comment.

“I’ll wait and see what the report says before I comment,” he said.

(From AAP- Sorry I don’t have a link to the full story).

And here’s a link to a opinion piece in The Age from Natasha Stott-Despoja.

Some things to read

Published by
Anna
at August 7, 2006 in Politics, abortion, rape and sexist. 0 Comments

Representatives from the indigenous Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council speak out about the system’s failure to protect indigenous women and children from abuse in remote communities.

Here is the transcript of the Lateline report in June which is mentioned in the above article, which featured Mantatjara Wilson. Sexual slavery reported in Indigenous community

–**–

With the rise in christian fundamentalism in the US it’s interesting to note that a reduction in abortion rates has stalled. Introduction of policies which make it harder for women to get Emergency Contraception and a rise in funding of misleading abstinence only education, amongst a host of others, obviously make it more difficult to prevent unintended pregnancies.

Here is the report.

Between 2000 and 2003, the abortion rate declined by an average of only 0.8% per year; the 0.6% decline in 2002–2003 was the smallest in those three years. By comparison, the abortion rate declined by 3.4% per year in the early and mid-1990s.

–**–

Greg Baum writes a hugely offensive article in The Age about the Senate Inquiry into women in sport and recreation. “WOMEN’S soccer is a joke” is the article’s opening line. Lovely