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Letters
Friday, June 16, 2006 12:00 AM

Coercing women in "crisis"

The National Abortion Federation releases a report detailing the harmful practices of crisis pregnancy centers.

The letters thread is now closed.

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Friday, June 16, 2006 01:20 PM

Confused

Aren't there laws on the books against practicing medicine without an appropriate license?

I'm surprised that, at least in the blue states, Planned Parenthood and the local medical boards haven't taken out after these people with a vengeance. Surely somewhere between the licensing, malpractice, fraud, and false advertising laws, there's got to be some way a clever lawyer could convince a court to shutter these so-called "clinics."

Friday, June 16, 2006 01:47 PM

Pregnancy Tests

A lot of girls and women I've known to go to these places are going to get a pregnancy test. If they knew that the pregnancy test any clinic or doctor would use is exactly the same as the one they could buy themselves at the drugstore, maybe some of them wouldn't go into those places to begin with (and those people hassle the women that turn out to not even BE pregnant, I assure you).

Planned Parenthood and other organizations should get the word out about that. Young, undereducated, and otherwise disadvantaged women are especially unlikely to be aware of this.

Friday, June 16, 2006 01:53 PM

At least

we now know where Tom Cruise got his ultrasound machine.

Friday, June 16, 2006 03:14 PM

An opportunity for civil disobedience?

The lawsuits sound great, but maybe we could also attack these places with a targeted plan of civil disobedience. What if a bunch of us (women, I mean) made appointments, took their free pregnancy tests to use up their resources, wasted their time listening to their "information", and then told them we thought they were self-righteous and preying on vulnerable women?

The less confrontational amongst us could gently suggest that that their resources would be better spent creating inexpensive, quality daycares, if they really cared about children.

Friday, June 16, 2006 03:23 PM

When I worked at an abortion clinic

in a small Louisiana city, the "Crisis Pregnancy Center" in town changed their phone number to be one digit off of ours. To catch the ones that misdialed. Classy! Then they use the Christian right's preferred method of persuasion, fearmongering, to convince them of how risky and painful an abortion is. Presumably they let someone else remind them that childbirth is neither particularly safe nor especially pleasant either.

So apparently being pro-life means that tricking people into having children they don't want or can't afford is totally fine, noble even. But once the kids are actually born? You're on your own. No welfare for you!

That the public may be paying for this kind of sanctimonious bullshit makes me want to throw up.

Friday, June 16, 2006 03:32 PM

why are we still subsidizing birth control?

why are men paying for women's birth control so they can go fuck around?

why are single guys stuck with this non-medical cost which benefits only women and their patners?

why are women carelessly getting pregnant and then expecting society to pay for their abortion?

why do women think it's fine to raise children without a man involved?

why are women allowed to walk away with a man's wealth in the majority of divorces?

why are women so unable to consider any but their own self-centered perspective?

Friday, June 16, 2006 03:39 PM

what is up with the censorship?

apparently if you post an opinion that is not well received, it gets removed?

is that what "feministing" means? i always wondered

Friday, June 16, 2006 03:50 PM

You have questions, I have answers.

First, we aren't really subidizing birth control, but I'll play along and pretend we do.

why are we still subsidizing birth control? The same reason we subsidize education, fire departments, roads, and other types of medical care. It's good for society. Why do we subsidize Viagra is the question you should ask, or why don't we spend more time and money developing a male pill.

why are men paying for women's birth control so they can go fuck around? They aren't. Society is. Men aren't all of society. And society realizes that accessable birth control is a good thing.

why are single guys stuck with this non-medical cost which benefits only women and their patners? The same reason that you pay school taxes even if you don't have a kid, and taxes that support the library even though you obviously don't read.

why are women carelessly getting pregnant and then expecting society to pay for their abortion? They aren't. Abortions are expensive. And pregnancies don't always result from carelessness. When they do, it's the men who are just as careless.

why do women think it's fine to raise children without a man involved? Because it is. Duh.

why are women allowed to walk away with a man's wealth in the majority of divorces? They aren't. When a partner has been found by the court to be the primary care-taker and is granted custody, the FAMILY gets child support. In situations where one partner works at home and child-care duites and another works outside of the home, recompense is due to the home-worker.

Friday, June 16, 2006 04:02 PM

Jenna

Good response. I never knew you spoke Troll!

Friday, June 16, 2006 04:26 PM

hm

why are women carelessly getting pregnant and then expecting society to pay for their abortion?

Unwanted children are considerably more expensive to society than abortions.

People are gonna fuck. Unwanted pregnancies will result. History has borne this out. Nothing will stop it from happening, so societies must perform damage control. And what is all this emphasis on women being the only culpable parties? That doesn't even make sense from a biological perspective.

Friday, June 16, 2006 05:06 PM

why?????

I think the real questions were:

Why can't I get laid?

Why don't women recognize my inherent superiority given to me by God, via my testicles?

Why aren't women submissive, the way I desire them to be?

Why has society changed to the degree where there something approaching a level playing field that screws with my sense of entitlement?

Straw men are fun to build!

Friday, June 16, 2006 07:25 PM

Sara is right

Most of those activities should fall under civil and quite probably criminal laws.

Litigate the living daylight out of those scam artists.

Friday, June 16, 2006 07:49 PM

Because it is. Duh

Eloquent. Elitist. Arrogant. And extremely wrong.

Friday, June 16, 2006 07:53 PM

Jenna makes a good case against public education

Why should everyone pay taxes for the education of a few rugrats?

Why shouldn't that be the burden of the selfish breeders who desire to spread their genes across our overpopulated earth?

Friday, June 16, 2006 07:59 PM

"even though you obviously don't read"

quite a snotty thing to say, no? do you know who i am? i could be your boyfriend, brother, father, or co-worker

women fool themselves by thinking they know men. in fact, men show them only what is needed to maintain a relationship.

i would wager money i could quote more poetry, shakespeare, or classic literature by heart than you've read in a lifetime

moreover, if you met me in person, you'd have no clue what i really thought about you and your agenda, since it is verboten to speak one's mind in a pc society

but just b/c people don't agree with your solipsistic female-first self-centered world-view doesn't mean they are illiterate trolls

you only have to consider a history of great men -- and their comments on women -- to demonstrate this

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