Apex Mayor Keith Weatherly claims to have received a call from a citizen who told him that abortion care was covered in the town’s health plan. According to WRAL’s highly sensationalistic coverage, Mayor Weatherly said he didn’t believe it was true until he looked into it.

Maybe this is exactly how it happened. Maybe. But it’s interesting that no mention was made of the fact that Apex Mayor Keith Weatherly works as a legislative assistant for none other than Republican Minority Leader Paul Stam–a longtime crusader against a woman’s right to make childbearing decisions. Just google “Paul Stam abortion” to see a sample of how long Stam has been trying to stop a woman’s right to choose.

Perhaps it’s purely coincidental that Rep. Stam’s most recent Twitter entries reveal he was hard at work trying to ensure that abortion coverage was excluded from national health care reform.

It’s possible that Rep. Stam never discussed abortion and healthcare coverage with his legislative aid, Mayor Keith Weatherly.

But if the NC House Minority Leader Paul Stam was at all involved in this decision, even as citizen Paul Stam, wouldn’t WRAL have told us? Wouldn’t other Apex citizens, particularly town employees whose health benefits were cut want to know?

The Apex Town Council unanimously decided to eliminate insurance coverage for abortion from all town employees’ Blue Cross Blue Shield benefit plans. The change went into effect yesterday.

If you’ve been paying attention to any discussion around Health Care Reform at the federal level recently (Change Fail post), you won’t be surprised to learn that media coverage and comments from public officials have made it painfully clear that this is about far more than what benefits are or are not in a particular health insurance plan.

The politicization of women’s personal reproductive lives definitely didn’t stop with Stupak and  now we have found it at our own back door.

Media coverage of the issue thus far points very directly to the problems. WRAL’s sensationalized coverage could have you thinking the Apex employee’s health insurance plan was covering illegal drug use rather than a safe and legal medial procedure. Meanwhile, the story in the Cary News quotes Councilman Mike Jones saying very candidly that the underlying issue for him is the moral issue of abortion. (emphasis mine)

I’m not sure at what point our society decided that it was okay for one elected official’s moral beliefs to be the deciding factor in what an entire group of people (*ahem* women) can or cannot have access to. What’s next? Fertility treatment? Birth control? How about (as Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said so astutely) erectile dysfunction medication and vasectomy coverage?

The fact is that elected officials shouldn’t be able to cherry pick what reproductive health care coverage they’re okay with and what they’re not and force those decisions and the beliefs that motivated them on everyone else. Abortion care is basic reproductive health care for women and 87% of insurance plans currently cover abortion care. The reason for this is simple (allow me to repeat): Abortion is a safe and legal medical procedure. In fact, it is a procedure that one out of every three women will experience in her lifetime.

Unfortunately, politically motivated single-issue attacks like this one have a tendency to snowball and it’s looking like Wake County employees’ benefits could be up next on the chopping block when the County Commissioners meet later in the month. We know you’ll want to help so plans are in the making! Stay tuned to facebook.com/ppcnc and twitter.com/ppcnc to find out how you can be part of the campaign to protect women’s health in your community!

MLK volunteers at Planned Parenthood

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, I joined a dozen other Planned Parenthood volunteers in picking up trash and debris near the health center in Chapel Hill along 15-501. I’m interning with Planned Parenthood this semester, and it was awesome to see our volunteers come out energized and excited about doing work on our day off. This event has become an annual tradition (2 years in a row!) and it was great to see a diverse group of community volunteers come out to help. We were joined by a group of Young Democrats from UNC Chapel Hill, graduate students, health clinic employees, along with some long time volunteers who just care about this work.

 Picking up trash was a new experience for many of our volunteers. Usually when we volunteer we are marching, holding signs on the side of a major street, or phone-banking to identify pro-choice advocates. I chatted with Michelle Pakonis, a volunteer and student from UNC. She commented that at first she wasn’t really sure why she was here. “I came because I thought we were going to clean around the health center, so that when patients came they would feel respected by the space. However I finished that pretty quickly and wound up working a lot near the highway. At first I didn’t see a lot of trash, but the more time I spent near the road, the more trash I realized there was. I was not doing this just for the patients of Planned Parenthood, but for the larger community that I live in.”

We found quite a variety of trash on our pick-up. Memorable pieces that were collected include a large metal rusty pipe, an advertisement for a Kung Fu center in Durham, a giant orange traffic cone, and of course the typical spare tire. Much was accomplished, and a great time was had by all!-

 Lee Storrow, UNC Student

I apologize in advance for another post about the trial of Scott Roeder but, now that the trial has started, interesting news stories keep popping up. The New York Times has a lengthy article with the latest updates of the trial, as well as information about a development that’s been unfolding… namely, how schisms have begun to develop among anti-choice activists about how to approach the ongoing trial (more information on this can also be found here).

Some prominent “pro-life” individuals, such as Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, have attempted to distance themselves from Roeder (for reasons the linked Wikipedia article makes fairly clear). Others, such as Randall Terry (who actually founded Operation Rescue but is no longer affiliated with the group), have been more ambiguous with their sentiments. According to the Times piece, Terry has refused to condone or condemn Roeder, but also made it a point to mention that “George Tiller shed the blood of 60,000 innocent children.” I could write several blogs about Terry alone (his hypocrisy is something to behold, but I think his reluctance to even feign sympathy for the Tillers says enough on its own.

But even as they try to distance themselves from Roeder, the fact remains that it’s organizations like Operation Rescue, who railed against Tiller for years, that are at least somewhat accountable for the circumstances that led to Dr. Tiller’s death. Their message was that Dr. Tiller must be stopped, and their tone and sentiment said “at any cost.” Roeder’s own words make this frighteningly apparent. From the Times (emphasis mine):

So, Nola Foulston, the prosecutor asked him, do you feel you have successfully completed your mission?

“He’s been stopped,” Mr. Roeder said.

But do you feel you have successfully completed your mission, she asked again.

“Yes,” he said.

As mentioned in Seth’s earlier post, an anti-choice superbowl ad that Focus on the Family produced is set to air during the Superbowl. 
 
A blogger at AlterNet.com, Tana Ganeva, has also spoken to the Tim Tebow situation.   ” How stupid would you feel if you aborted the next Tim Tebow, leaving the world with only tens of thousands of other football players?”

Read her blog and see  the opportunities to take action she has suggested.  The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is also organizing around this issue:
http://capwiz.com/rcrc/issues/alert/?alertid=14609101

While I often have a love/hate relationship with the Internet (being able to buy a CD at 3am: good… hours of my life lost to trolling evangelical web sites: bad), one of the things I’m most grateful for is its ability to give us access to stories that we may never otherwise hear about, whether it’s because the subject matter is a topic the national media won’t cover or because it takes place in a part of the world far removed from our own lives and culture (or in some cases, both).

Take, for instance, the story of a teenager in Bangladesh. After being raped by a man from a neighboring village, she was sentenced to, and given, “101 lashes for having conceived during the assault.” More details can be found here, but suffice to say, the village elders who condemned the girl to her punishment saw no reason to take any action against the alleged rapist. That’s right… in this situation, the survivor of a rape was beaten severely, while her attacker was given no punishment whatsoever.

The outrageousness and sheer horror of this judgment speak for themselves, and I’m going to resist the temptation to compare the plight of women’s rights in other nations with the struggle here. Instead, I’ll just say that it’s amazing to me that I can have the ability to learn about this woman’s story when, ten or fifteen years ago, the travesty of justice this person has endured would have gone completely unnoticed. While I obviously hope that no woman has to face similar circumstances, I know that desire is naive. But if I can gain anything positive out of this situation, it’s this: the more we have access to these stories, the more we become aware of the systemic problems in areas of the world many of us never think about… and awareness tends to be the first necessary step towards change.

I am pro-choice because there is no decision more profound than deciding to bring a child into this world.

I trust a woman to know when she is prepared to love, support and care for a child. I trust the more than 60% of women who have abortions who are already mothers and know well the all consuming love and responsibility involved.

I trust young women who know their life and their future has meaning beyond giving birth as a teenager. I trust these young women to know that one day they will make a fabulous, loving parent but not today.

I trust women whose birth control has failed to know they did not desire to be pregnant. I trust women who failed to use birth control to know that bringing a child into the world should never be punishment for a mistake.

I trust women who decide that they are ready to love, nurture and care for a child with all of their heart, energy and passion.

I trust women.

The Onion recently did a parody of anti-choice bills disguised as bills to help inform women.  The faux AR bill in the Onion piece would require a woman to name her fetus and clear out and paint a nursery.  All this in the name of “supporting women through the process.”

New Law Requires Women To Name Baby, Paint Nursery Before Getting Abortion

“Common sense tells us that viewing an ultrasound, naming the fetus, and painting the nursery gives women the information they need to make sure they’re making the right decision.” - The Onion reporter

“All of these are common-sense measures aimed at protecting the women and children of North Carolina from the physical, emotional and psychological harm associated with abortion and promoting a culture of life.” - NC Family Policy Council in reference to waiting periods and informed consent.

The sad fact is that 24 states actually do require a waiting period for women to access abortion care. Most of these require a 24 hour waiting period between the mandatory counseling and the abortion procedure. This is especially hard when women have traveled a long distance to access the counseling and the care.  Then they must incur additional expenses to stay overnight in the area or travel back and forth.

What does a mandatory waiting period say? It certainly does not acknowledge the fact that women know what is best for them and their families. It doesn’t appreciate the fact that women, from the moment they realize they are pregnant, are determining the best choice they can make in that situation.

You know what it does say, it says “We don’t trust Women.”  Who is the we?  Lawmakers in 24 states and so called pro-life advocates like the NC Family Policy Council who insist on putting roadblocks between women and the medical care they seek.

Planned Parenthood trusts women.  We believe a woman facing an unintended pregnancy deserves compassionate care, the full support of her doctor, family, and friends, and access to information to assist her in making her decision.  We believe that woman knows her circumstances better than anyone else and is the person most equipped to make a decision about her future.  WE TRUST WOMEN.

The Onion, the online sattirical site recently reported that ”Internet Archaelogists find ruins of “Friendster” Civilization.

Internet Archaeologists Find Ruins Of ‘Friendster’ Civilization

A great comedy? yes, or is it a great tragedy?  Many of us are now devoting a good deal of time to social networks.  Social networks that have evolved from Friendster.  Can you imagine if you had invested the same amount of time in Friendster that you’ve invested in Facebook?   yikes.

Are we in danger?

Let’s look at the most recent stats for social network sites (according to Social Network Watch)
Comscore ~ 10/09 /Unique Visitors (000)
1. Facebook (97,372)
2. MySpace (64,066)
3. LinkedIn (20,024)
4. Twitter (19,242)
5. Digg.com (14,488)
6. Classmates (13,882)

Facebook is clearly the fastest growing network site, but will it persevere where others failed. 

Here are few things it has going for it that lead me to believe it will: 

1) real users
2) more than 50% active EVERY day
3) less annoying flashes per page than Myspace
4) no autobot messages from Fake people
5) sound advertising system that seems to produce results without overly annoying

Tim Tebow for those out there who don’t know, was, until recently, the quarterback for the University of Florida football team. His collegiate career over, he’ll soon enter the NFL draft, where he may or may not be a huge superstar.

So how is this relevant to Choice 2.0? Well, Tebow’s story is somewhat well-known, at least in the evangelical world. According to the good folks at Wikipedia, when Tebow’s mother was pregnant with him, she became quite ill, a result of which she was given medication that had the great possibility of causing a stillborn birth. Doctors told her that it may be wise to consider abortion, but she refused, and gave birth to Tim. 22 years later, Tim’s become a poster child for some in the anti-choice crowd, and more pressingly, will evidently appear in a commercial for Focus on the Family, a prominent anti-choice, anti-gay evangelical group, which they hope to have air during this year’s Super Bowl. While the actual script of the ad is unknown, it’s apparent that both Tebow and his mother will appear, and that the gist of the ad will be anti-abortion.

Various sporting blogs have weighed in on this, some more sarcastically than others. Even through the snark, it’s clear that this is a rather unprecedented move for an up-and-coming athlete, and much space is being devoted to how this will impact his popularity with fans and, in a larger context, his entire career.

Tim is entitled to feel however he wants to about issues, as is his mother. What concerns me, however, is the effect this kind of argument has on women who are in similar situations to the one faced by Tebow’s mom. Yes, Pam Tebow did not choose to have an abortion and she was lucky to give birth to a child who did not have any of the disabilities or problems that doctors feared. But by holding up the story of the Tebows as an example, Focus on the Family implies that all women can have this result, if only they have enough faith. So what then happens to the women whose children aren’t so lucky? What happens to their faith? Will they wonder what they did to not be as blessed as Pam Tebow?

I fear that, by glorifying the story of the Tebows, it’s going to lead some women down a path in which they ignore the advice of doctors, instead choosing to listen to medical advice given to them by those who have no business doing so. And where, I wonder, will those women turn, if they’re not as fortunate? Not every mother can give birth to the star quarterback. No matter how hard she prays.