My concern is that many women probably think they can find the "complete, accurate information and compassionate peer-counseling" that A Woman’s Concern promises, when in fact this crisis pregnancy center (CPC) uses lies and deceitful tactics to convince women not to get an abortion. CPCs have already been written about by other blogs a lot (Feministing, Choice USA, RH Reality Check...), but I wanted to do my own, thorough analysis on a CPC. I chose A Woman’s Concern because the anti-choice group on my campus is affiliated with it, and I previously tried to expose their tactics, in what little way I could, through my college newspaper.

I could pretty much go paragraph by paragraph, if not sentence by sentence, detailing what is an exaggeration, a trick, or an outright lie. That would be a little too tedious, so I will instead focus on some of the information they provide on abortion, emergency contraception, and (premarital) sex.

Rev. Jim Wallis may be spoiling for a fight on reducing abortion, but he's picking on the wrong side of the political spectrum.

Originally posted at RHRealityCheck.org - Information, News and Analysis for Reproductive Health and Justice.

First of all, Happy 10th to my oldest son, Duncan.

You are a mighty mini warrior.

Bob Sanders.

Go Hemp!!

Okay, check out this image.

Here at SCUM-O, we pride ourselves in finding out more about each and every one of these faceless, nameless pluggers, so that to us they are more than just "Crony #32" in the credits.

Tonight, without further ado (clichés for the clichéd): Dr. W. David Hager.

(Crosspost from Green Mtn Daily)

Since February, the world's largest database on reproductive health (including information on STDs, birth control and the like) has been programmed to ignore the word "abortion" in database searches. "Popline" is administered by Johns Hopkins University and if you're scratching your head, scratch no more - it's federally funded. The US Agency for International Development expressed concern after finding what a spokesman called "two articles on abortion advocacy." University officials seem to be up in arms (the dean of the Public Health School has called for the term to be reinstated), and NARAL wants to know who is responsible.

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
Fertilized eggs are not people.
So no constitutional rights for you.

This November, Colorado voters may decide if human zygotes will have the same constitutional protections as living, breathing people who go to work, put off cleaning the house and futilely try to score on the weekends.

Amid all the excitement and speculation surrounding today’s primaries, one important piece of political news has been largely overlooked — the president’s 2009 budget that was released yesterday, and what it means for sexual and reproductive health.

EDIT: Women interested in the proposed support group, please email me at OpEdna@gmail.com so you don't have to post your email addresses on here.

Two nights ago, kept awake by pain, I wrote a diary, "What About the Medical Debt I Already Have: an Endometriosis Sufferer's Tale" about my battle with endometriosis. Because I posted it at midnight central time, many interested readers did not get a chance to see it until it was already too late to comment. So I am reposting below, with an important update.

The kindness from commentors overwhelmed me. I felt nervous about sharing, but soon learned I was not alone, even on Kos.

I'd like to try and form some sort of support group for any women on Daily Kos suffering from chronic reproductive diseases that take a major physical, emotiona, and financial toll on our lives. I'd be interested to hear your suggestions below as to how this could work (email? rotating diaries?).

The original diary is reposted below for those who missed the chance to comment. Thank you all again for your kindness and support.

I got home from work today to find yet another trademark double window white business envelope with a return address reading "so and so Medical Services, Inc." These envelopes make me nervous. Just when I think I've paid down or set up installment plans for all of my medical debt, another envelope arrives, asking for $318.60 ("but we'll accept $223 if you pay in full today!") for some laboratory/medical service that my insurance didn't pay in full. I can call the number listed to settle the debt or arrange a payment plan, but only until 6 P.M. Eastern Standard Time. I look at the clock. It's 6 P.M. Central Time, which is about the time I get home from work every single day, if the trains run on time and the weather isn't awful.

I think to myself, "Of course." I'll either have to call from work, keeping my voice low so that the colleagues in my neighboring cubes don't hear me calling a debt collector, or sneak out into the frigid January air during my lunch break, juggling my cell phone in one hand, and the invoice and my credit cards in the other. All because of my ovaries.

This summer for a while I tried to post action alerts about measures that could help to reduce abortion, measures that prolife and prochoice people alike could both support in good conscience....

Bush's Environmental Pollution Agency political commissars showed their devotion to profit and politics by approving, in the classic Friday afternoon announcement, the use of methyl iodide aka iodomethane aka Midas.
the LA Times calls it:

Despite the protests of more than 50 scientists, including five Nobel laureates in chemistry, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday approved use of a new, highly toxic fumigant ....

which is
   

Ranked as one of the most hazardous compounds (worst 10%) to ecosystems and human health.

I just received the following e-mail from Planned Parenthood of Aurora, Illinois.

Dear X,

Finally! Just minutes ago we received our occupancy permit from city of Aurora Mayor, Tom Weisner and we will be OPEN FOR BUSINESS TOMORROW!

Instead of holding a rally at city hall tomorrow night, we invite you to attend a press conference at our Aurora health center to celebrate our first day of business! Here are the details

What: Press Conference
Where: Aurora Planned Parenthood Health Center, 3051 E. New York Street, Aurora, IL
When: Tuesday, October 2, at 10 am

*We encourage anyone who is interested to attend the Aurora city council meeting on their own to monitor the discussion, but we will not be rallying outside city hall.
While it's a travesty that the opening of our health center became such a politicized issue, we never could have won this battle without the incredible support of pro-choice residents in Aurora, Naperville, and other local communities, as well as our supporters throughout the state and the nation. Thank you to every person that stood up for us at City Council, that rallied at City Hall, that gave a donation, that signed a petition, and that supported us in so many ways during this fight.

The Act of Sex has always been political. One can go back to the earliest texts in our history and find rules regarding when sexual acts are appropriate, in some places you might find out what sexual acts are more appropriate than others, and you can learn about the consequences for those who don't follow those rules. One can also go back in history to find people who insist on breaking those rules and creating others that are less restrictive; rules that relate to how to participate in each sex act safely, rather than "don't participate in that sex act at all, ever."

Tonight we're going to talk about reproductive health and safe sex tips; with an emphasis on the politicization of safer sex and what that means for our generation and those that will follow. Of course, the consequences for those who aren't engaging in safe sex will effect us all one way or another, whether it's a teen pregnancy epidemic, or the spread of a variety of STDs, which apparently costs us more than $14 billion per year, to people we know and love. First we'll talk about the front lines in the fight to keep reproductive health private between a woman and her doctor, and then we'll talk safe sex tips.

Women of Kos, I need your stories.

I am in the midst of a second appeal with my health insurance provider over their refusal to pay for a simple blood test, CA125, the one that detects ovarian cancer.

I need your help to find out if this is happening to many women, and I figured that with the active health reform community that we have, including nyceve and all of us who want to see this kind of nonsense stop, the women of Kos might be a good source of data.

Read on for the history and a chance to give me some hard data to use to fight this company.

Your support is needed right now for the All Healthy Children Act (S. 1564/HR 1688). This bill will secure health care access for millions of poor pregnant women and children who currently are uninsured or underinsured.

Please join in the Healthy Child Campaign of the Children's Defense Fund.  Here individuals can send emails in support of the Act to their representatives.  Organizations can join the 1000+ groups across the country that have already endorsed CDF's efforts for health care justice.

Personally, I think it would better to call these measures the All Healthy Pregnant Women and Children Act, the Healthy Pregnant Women & Child Campaign.  Why must the women be made invisible? And while I'm at it: why not universal health care coverage, for all humans, adult or child, pregnant or nonpregnant?  At the same time, why not participate in these movements in the right direction?  And surely this legislation will make a big difference to beleagured citizens in their everyday lives and struggles, including pregnant women whose economic & health care access difficulties back them against the wall, with abortion the only evident relief in sight.

Cristina Page has a winning strategy for pro-choice Democrats this campaign season -- tell the truth. Pro-choice policies alone result in dramatic declines in the need for abortion.

Nearly 38 million pounds of toxic chemicals, known or suspected to cause reproductive disorders, were released by U.S. companies into the air and water according to a report released yesterday by Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG).

"These toxic pollutants are the worst of the worst and pose tangible threats to public health that must be addressed," said Kirpal Singh, the group's staff attorney.

However, the Toxic Pollution and Health report may be the last complete analysis of its kind since the Bush Administration drastically reduced the standards by which companies will now self-report emissions data on more than 600 toxic chemicals. Alarmingly, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified the basic toxicity of only seven percent of the most frequently manufactured chemicals in the U.S.

A recently released poll finds U.S. voters are surprisingly clear on who should have control over their sexual and reproductive health and lives: and it's not the government.

Sen. Sam Brownback's remarks that rape and incest victims should carry a pregnancy to term amount to verbal rape of the body politic.