A few years ago I had to explain to a nice older woman friend of mine, a witch, that the Landover Baptist site was really satire and they weren't coming to get us. I have high hopes that O'Reilly, et. al. have the same problem with this in extremely poor taste goof.

First, this must be at least embellished or made up. Until it's verified that this party occurred, I'm not going to believe it.

I'm with @bernbart.

The reason this is tacky (aside from the mixing of social / fundraising) is that even if you are pro-choice (I am, fully), abortion is a grave and serious thing. It is not like other medical procedures which are involved in saving a life or restoring someone's health; while I don't think having an abortion is "baby killing" (a fetus is not the same thing as a baby), it's certainly some act of destruction. It's tacky to use modes of celebration to mark such an event.

Reaching out to friends: yes.

Asking for support, emotional or fiscal: yes.

Having a fundraiser: sure.

Having a gathering of friends and loved ones: absolutely. Especially if it is commemorative or spiritual in nature.

Having an abortion PARTY: disgusting. It's more crass and crude than having a divorce party -- and I don't care how bitter your divorce was, have some dignity. A wake is a gathering of friends for mutual support in a difficult time (death), but it is NOT a party.

Yeah, I know, there are plenty of readers here who think it's fine to have a *party* to commemorate a grave, serious, and/or distressing time. You're entitled to your opinion. A party is for celebration. Celebrating an act of destruction, dissolution, and / or death is vulgar. It has nothing to do with feminism -- it has to do with taste and dignity.

I would never, EVER participate in a *party* for a horrible life event. Fortunately, none of my friends have yet proven themselves to be so tasteless.

And I'm surprised that the Broadsheet writers took the bait, and didn't express more skepticism. Even one of the conservative bloggers you cite, Tracy, is highly skeptical, before s/he goes on to slam liberal women (link at sig).

Even if there are elements of truth in it, it's not possible that the writer, in disguising the identities of the players, is being totally honest in his sketch. Do any of the portrayals ring true to anybody? They don't to me.

I have been involved, peripherally, in exactly one abortion in my life. In college, a friend of a friend decided on an abortion. My friend accompanied her to the abortion clinic for support. My friend was so upset she asked me to accompany her for support. So there we were, the three of us, freaked out, somber as can be, none of us able to speak. We were about 20. This was over 20 years ago, before rightwing nutjobs would bring religious crap into the forefront of the abortion debate, but we all knew it was not a lightly made decision, and none of us took it that way.

Since I only knew the pregnant woman slightly, I didn't know the details about her use of birth control, or the guy involved, or how she paid for the abortion. But sitting in that waiting room, I knew that she did not make that decision lightly, and, looking around at the other women and the teens present, neither did they. The atmosphere was nearly unbearable. That day, more than anything else in my life, caused me to commit to using birth control correctly and consistently.

Do I think some women get abortions easily? At this point in my life, almost nothing surprises me. There are idiots everywhere. (Google Darwin Awards.) Do I think most, all, or many women opt for abortions as a method of birth control? Not a chance. Why on earth would you opt not to use a $1 condom, or any other form of birth control, and instead go through a $400 abortion, or however much it costs? It's just not logical. And there are many, many other factors, besides cost.

Ultimately, liberals who fall for this story are once again letting the rightwing set the parameters of the debate on reproductive rights.

Remember the recent internet hoax from 'April's Mom" where the girl simply invented the story of being pregnant and struggling with the decision not to have an abortion?

And remember it was 100 bullshit?

Now we have another blogger writing about a group of callous women basically making fun of aboriton and, hell, even bringing the young ones along so they can hate babies too!

And maybe at some point they even made him spit on the Bible and renounce Jesus!

Cuz, ya know, that's just how them San Francisco Liberals are up in that part of the country that hates America!

Do the writers of Salon.com REALLY believe that this party even occured at all?

What was the exact date of the party? Is there a single person there who can verify the events described?

No?

Cuz it's all bullshit just like the April's Mom hoax was.

People (especially the allegedly intelligent writers on Salon) need to stop assuming everything they read is real.

PS -- I just came from a Anti-Abortion party where they strapped a young women to a bed and made her give birth and she died! They all laughed and didn't care because they hate women and view them only as breeders!

(see how easy it is to just make shit up?)

And could it possibly be a coincidence that this story is appearing now, just as Congress is debating whether reproductive rights will be included in health care reform? Not a chance.

Actually - are they even debating it? Does the overwhelmingly male Congress even care? Is there even a debate? Was that disgusting Hyde Amendment even challenged back in 1976?

Meanwhile. liberals are going to waste energy, and worse, time, falling all over themselves explaining and justifying this stupid story, while Congress quietly deletes reproductive rights from health care.

This shit has to stop. Liberals must take back the ability to reframe the debate. Now.

I am calling on Broadsheet writers to write a strong rebuttal to this story, and call BS on it. There are plenty of holes in it. Question why the story's coming out now, as Congress is trying to exclude reproductive rights from health care. Tell liberal writers not to fall into the rightwing trap. Call on liberals not to let the rightwing frame the debate, yet again. Call on liberals not to let the rightwing sidetrack us while Congress quietly betrays us on healthcare.

Again, I say, this shit has got to stop.