Being Amber Rhea

I am so inspired by what SPARK (formerly Georgians for Choice) has been doing in response to Operative Save America being in town.

Reproductive Justice Summer 2008
Stand for Justice - Say NO to OSA

Monday July 14th: Stand for Justice Say NO to OSA!

• 9- 10 am Press Conference at SisterSong (1237 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd) Bring your signs and spirit.
• 6 pm PPNGO for Choice at Manuel’s Tavern hosted by Planned Parenthood. Play for awesome prizes like free gas cards! Bring some cash. Manuel’s Tavern is at 602 N Highland Ave and 404-525-3447.

Tuesday July 15th: Act Up for Reproductive Justice!

• 9 am sign shaking and banner dropping at Woodruff Park 84 Peachtree St. Bring your signs.
• 6 pm Sidewalk Counseling at OSA’s nightly rally. Carpool from SPARK at 743 Virginia Ave or meet at the Denny’s at 5534 Jimmy Carter Blvd. Bring your signs. Their rally is at Landmark Church at 3737 Holcomb Rd, Norcross.

Wednesday July 16th: Our Bodies, Our Lives!

• 9 am protest at Woodruff Park 84 Peachtree St. Bring your signs.
• 6-7:30 pm SisterSong panel: Women of Color and Abortion. Aderhold Learning Center at Georgia State University (60 Luckie St).

Thursday July 17th: RJ is Sexy! Positive Sexuality Matters!

• 9 am sex positive protest at Woodruff Park 84 Peachtree St. Bring your signs and we’ll have some cardboard poetry.
• 6-9 pm Movie Night at Georgia State University. Library South 8th Floor Colloquium Room (100 Decatur St).

Friday July 18th: Act Up for Reproductive Justice!

• 9 am Last day for banner drops and sign shaking before we bid farewell to OSA. Woodruff Park 84 Peachtree St.
• 5-7 pm Protest at Colony Square (1197 Peachtree St) 404-879-2250.

Saturday July 19th: Goodbye OSA! Don’t Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out!

• 9 am Carpool from SPARK at 743 Virginia Ave or meet at Denny’s at 5534 Jimmy Carter Blvd. Bring your signs as we say goodbye to OSA.
• After the farewell we’ll have a community celebration picnic at Best Friend Park at 6224 Jimmy Carter Blvd near their hotel. Yum.

Contact: Paris: 404-917-7694, Amanda: 770-375-5920, SPARK: 404-532-0022, www.SPARKRJ.org

I only wish I could participate more right now.

[Cross-posted at Radlanta]

Chris Hall on Dr. Waldo L. Fielding’s New York Times piece (which is a must-read, btw)…

The battles that get fought over abortion sometimes seem so repetitive and mired in moralistic bullshit on both sides that it’s sometimes hard to remember what the consequences of failure are. Sometimes “pro-choice” just sounds like a fundraising slogan that nonprofit corporations can use to wring a few extra dollars out of us. It’s easy to forget what the religious right wants us to return to, especially since so many of us never lived through it. Thanks to Dr. Fielding for sharing these unpleasant memories so honestly.

Two days ago was Blog For Choice Day. I didn’t do any blogging in recognition of it this year, because I honestly don’t know what I would say that hasn’t been said more eloquently before. Speaking of which, Antiprincess linked to one of the best posts ever written on the subject (which I bookmarked on del.icio.us exactly a year ago, coincidentally enough), and which everyone should read. It also sums up why I so strongly loathe Daily Kos and other “A-List” liberal blogs, and self-identified “progressives” who prattle on about a big tent and winning elections - with their fingers stuck firmly in their ears, as they reinforce the same old hierarchy of privilege and ass-haberdashery.

One time at Manuel’s, at a meeting about some sort of blogging PAC, I said, “Fuck Kos; I won’t be a part of anything that he’s associated with,” and I think I unwittingly hurt Catherine’s feelings. I felt badly about that, because Catherine is awesome and kicks much ass, and I would never want to hurt her feelings; so Catherine, I’m sorry. I probably should’ve prefaced it with something. That doesn’t mean my general sentiment would’ve been softened, though. And I have a feeling you can understand why I feel the way I do.

Anyway, here’s the introduction.

It’s always painful when places you thought might be one of the last few outposts of sanity’s owner and other readers decide they’re willing to trade your life away, and the lives of others away, and ultimately their own lives away, because for some reason, they genuinely don’t understand what’s at stake. Words are important, and so tonight, at Daily Kos, I as one of the written off, am going to write a diary for the first time, raise my voice, and once AGAIN tell so called ‘friends’ how much they’re hurting the people next to them. To say nothing of how much they’re cutting their own throats in the process.

Sorry Markos, but “abortion” IS the whole ball of wax. It is, for those of you who’ve read their “Art of War” our “dying ground,” it is one of the ‘must defends’ if we’re going to survive. Why? Because far from some cute little women’s issue deserving lip service and to be refiled under some more palatable heading, abortion is autonomy. We lose abortion, and we’ve lost the most basic ownership of our own bodies and lives, no matter what gender you happen to be.

Read the whole thing.

A follow-up to the letter from this post, published in the Augusta Chronicle today:

In Sarabeth Levine’s recent letter (”Banning abortion is not the answer,” July 15), she states one should work with the facts when trying to find a solution to an “unplanned and unwanted pregnancy.” True, abortion is the murder of an unborn child because life begins at conception; that’s a biological fact. Even John Kerry, that great proponent of abortion on demand, has admitted this.Ms. Levine states that teaching abstinence doesn’t work. Well, it worked quite well for generations until the advent of the birth control pill in the 1960s, followed by the “sexual revolution.” Then in 1973, the Roe vs. Wade travesty by the U.S. Supreme Court allowed abortion.Add the rampant, shameless and sexual environment created by the media and the influence of groups such as Planned Parenthood, and it is no wonder young people are so caught up in the web of sexuality.Sex education does little to prevent pregnancy. I challenge Ms. Levine to present proof that it does. Indeed, the subliminal message to young people is that it’s OK to have sex, just not to get pregnant. That’s why Ms. Levine writes, “The organization (Planned Parenthood) can help teach sexually active people how to protect themselves so they don’t get to the point where an abortion is needed.”Abstinence is the only way to protect our children from unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. It also helps preserve their innocence and upholds the moral integrity of our nation. When an unplanned pregnancy does occur, the answer is to put the child up for adoption. Many loving couples are waiting to adopt. Abortion is violent and destructive. It teaches our youth they were potentially expendable, and that violence is an acceptable means to solve problems. This is why abortion should be banned.

I love simplistic rationale, don’t you? To quote Sarabeth in the email she sent me, “Ever feel like people have missed the point?” If this writer is so wise and all-knowing, where is her “proof”, facts and sources? I challenge her to show them to me! I challenge her to prove to me that no one had sex out of wedlock (digression: does anyone else think that “wedlock” is a horrible-sounding word?) before the birth control pill existed. I’ve been on the pill since I was in 9th grade… so clearly I started having sex when I was 15. Right? Right??

…then Sarabeth is famous! :-)

For your viewing pleasure, here is her letter from Thursday, July 15th (you can also see the original here, but the Chronicle’s web site makes you register before you can read anything.)

One thing I have learned over the years is that you have to work with facts as well as reality when trying to find a solution to a problem. One problem, according to some, is abortions.The cause of abortions are unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. The solution, still being stated by many, is banning abortion and teaching abstinence. The solution has proven, however, to be ineffective. So where do we go from here? Maybe, to reduce the amount of abortions, we could look at communities’ sex education. We can continue to teach abstinence while offering forms of protection, such as condoms and birth control. We could allow Planned Parenthood to do more in our community. The organization can help teach sexually active people how to protect themselves so they don’t get to the point where an abortion is needed.Banning abortion and only teaching abstinence has proven to be a faulty solution in the past. What would make it work now?

Congrats on getting published, SB!