Solidarity

I'm back from a my hiatus! My first post was published back in January and not too long after, Gov. Walker announced he would strip public employees of their rights as workers. The battle has taken me away from my other commitments these past few months because I work for a union that represents public employees in Wisconsin. It has been the fight of our lives and the sense of urgency and solidarity between unions and progressive community organizations has been incredible.

The week it all started, I received an email from both NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin expressing the immediate need for everyone to stand together against Gov. Walker and Republicans legislators.

Here's an excerpt from NPCW's email blast:

"I have an unusual, but absolutely critical, request of you today. We are asking you to join with us to support our Union brothers and sisters who face an unprecedented attack. NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin has never made an ask like this before, but the rights of Wisconsin citizens are in jeopardy.

"On Friday, we heard about Governor Walker's budget repair bill, including his plan to strip all rights of public employees to organize and bargain collectively. Walker's attack will impact ALL public employees on the state and local levels, including our teachers, nurses, child-care workers, public defenders, and thousands of other workers that provide the services we depend on.

"As reproductive rights advocates, we know that government should never be in the business of taking away people's rights. The Unions have long stood by NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin in our collective fight for progressive values. And the Unions were critical partners during our fight for health-care reform last year. Now, we must stand together with the Unions to protect working women, men and families."

Solidarity between those who advocate for workers' rights and those who advocate for reproductive rights has been crucial in more than just the fight for federal health care reform and the fight to save collective bargaining rights.

Just weeks ago, we saw a federal attack on women's rights when conservative politicians attempted to cut all funding for the vital health care services Planned Parenthood provides nationwide. And labor stepped up to stand with women.

I sincerely thank all those who have joined in the fight for workers' rights and women's rights. We can see firsthand how standing together can truly make a difference. Keep the pressure on! Our fight for basic rights is never over.

Book Review: The Girls Who Went Away

Baby Boomers might vaguely remember that one girl in their class. In the middle of the year, she suddenly disappeared for a couple months. The excuses for her absence were varied. "She's studying art in Paris." "She's on bed rest for mono." "She's visiting relatives in Florida." Whatever the reason for her absence, she'd come back to school as quickly as she left. Though she was gone for months, she was reluctant to talk about what she did on her fantastic adventures. Sometimes, she would barely be the same girl that she was before she left.

Ann Fessler explores their stories in The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden Story of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade. Between the end of WWII in 1945 and the passing of Roe v. Wade in 1973, thousands of pregnant, unmarried teenaged girls were forced to give their babies up for adoption. Fessler, herself an adoptee, interviewed women about their experiences.

One of the first things that struck me was that this was a largely middle class phenomenon. Upper class girls came from families that could afford to pay a reputable doctor under the table for an abortion, or send their daughters on "vacation" to a country where abortion was legal. Lower class girls tended to come from communities where single mothers were common. They had no reputations worth losing. It was the middle class girls who had parents that could not afford to pay for abortions or lose their hard-earned status.

Many of these girls were sent to unwed mother homes. Others stayed in host homes and were treated as servants and free babysitters. Others were essentially prisoners in their own homes. One woman recounted how her parents forced her to never leave the house and avoid walking by windows when she was pregnant. When she went to the basement to get something and a neighbor dropped by unannounced, her mother locked her in the basement for two hours until the neighbor left.

Many of the women described this time as feeling like they were on an assembly line. The only direction to go was forward, and other people seized control of their lives. Their parents decided the girls were going to give up their babies for adoption, and the matter was settled. At the unwed mother homes, the girls were given almost no information on what was happening to their bodies, their legal rights after their babies were born, or resources that would help them if they wanted to raise the babies themselves. The girls were not treated as individuals, but rather conduits for giving babies to older couples. One woman was resistant to adoption until her counselor said, "One day, your son will be on the playground and another child will call him a bastard. Is that what you want?" The girl decided then that adoption was the better choice. Later in life, she joined a birth mother support group and found out that other girls had been told the same thing, literally word for word. The conversation that changed this woman's life had been nothing more than a script.

Quite a few woman faced lifelong problems as a result of their experience. Some decided never to have children again, feeling that it would be unfair to the child that they "gave up." Others had many more children to fill the void left by their first child. Some women entered abusive relationships, convinced that they didn't deserve anything better, while others had lifelong guilt and depression Health problems are rampant in women who were victims of the Baby Scoop Era. When looking at the psychological and physical problems experienced by these women, one can't help but draw a comparison to the anti-choice movement's (repeatedly disproven) claims that abortion causes health problems and depression. These birth mothers are experiencing real problems, but for the longest time they were denied the right to even acknowledge what they went through.

It's no contest--this is the saddest book I ever read. The stories are heartbreaking, and it makes me wonder how many women I encounter from that generation are carrying this pain inside of them. I have also learned that these unwed mother homes and strong-arm adoptions are not just the product of the past. According to Kathryn Joyce's article from The Nation, "Shotgun Adoption," many Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) have relationships with Christian adoption agencies and unwed mother homes that funnel women to these agencies. For example, the CareNet location in Madison is connected with Elizabeth House. The ultimate goal of the CPC model is not just to use lies and scare tactics to convince women not to get abortions, but to coerce women into to placing their babies for adoption. Christian adoption agencies such as Bethany Christian Services, the nation's largest adoption agency, have been accused of withholding information on the mother's legal rights regarding adoption, lying about the availability of open adoption and counseling, luring the mothers to give birth in states that restrict birth parent rights, and refusing to connect women with resources if they ultimately decide to raise the child. These agencies call the mothers "saints" for "doing what's best for your child," but when the mother raises objections to how she is treated, they respond, "Well you should have thought of that before you spread your legs."

We have an anti-choice, anti-contraception governor who is committed to removing the Family Planning Waiver. If he succeeds, he will ensure that more women will face unplanned pregnancies and be at the mercy of these organizations. More than anything, I finished The Girls Who Went Away with a renewed commitment to fight so that women can continue to have access to accurate, non-biased information for every possible sexual, reproductive, and parenting choice. It is through access and information that women will be best equipped to make the decisions that are best for them and avoid the injustice that has afflicted a generation.

What would it be like.

Seems no one has had much time to blog lately, as I’m sure we have all been preoccupied with the unprecedented attack on citizen’s rights here in Wisconsin.

We cannot allow ourselves to compartmentalize such attacks as unrelated. Stupak on steroids (HR3), Walker’s budget repair bill, Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 - one attack after another on America by conservative extremists. Using the economic crisis as an opportunity to further a political agenda, radical conservatives seek to extend their influence and power by imposing absurd, unnecessary, and extreme economic cruelties. None dare mention taxation of corporations and the rich, making them finally pay their fair share, to meet an economic crisis they created. Instead, we the common people are told we must again carry the burden of their debt. All the remedies proposed by these extremists accomplish nothing towards balancing budgets or mitigating the economic crisis. We are told we must be stripped of social programs that seek to improve conditions for the average American. Programs that reduce crime and poverty provide jobs and opportunity. We are told we must accept the devastation of public education. We are told we must sacrifice our most basic rights as citizens. Stripping this nation of all that is humane, decent and just will not improve our situation or moved us closer to economic recovery. So what is the real goal? The goal would seem to be the creation of an ignorant, easily controlled electorate economically contained by poverty without access to information other than official conservative propaganda.

Let us think for a moment and imagine what it would be like to NOT have this constant struggle with our own government simply to maintain our basic rights. What would it be like to be able to devote the time, energy, and money wasted countering such assaults, on dealing with the real issues that now demand our attention? Issues like our economic situation, the creation of sustaining employment for our people, improving public education and creating accessible higher education, the eradication of poverty and ignorance, developing sustainable lifestyles and protecting our environment.

By continually revisiting the same unnecessary power struggles the ignorant and greedy of our society are holding back the true potential of this nation. Holding back the evolution of our society towards the fulfillment of humanity’s great promise. The founding premise of our National Character: all our citizens enjoying social, political, and economic equality.

It must be clear even to the most disinterested observer that such attacks on the American people are part of a coordinated effort across the nation to further the consolidation of wealth and political power into the hands of an oligarchy of the privileged few. The painful imbecility of the conservative extremists, the absurdity of their wealthy masters’ flawed notions of humanity and government simply defy description. But it represents the most significant threat to our national security this country has ever faced.

It is time to work towards the passage of laws forbidding tampering with the function of democratic government by the wealthy and by corporate special interests. Forbidding the transmission of lies, innuendo and falsehood as news or campaign ads. We must halt, and reverse the consolidation of wealth and deny it a strangle hold on democracy.

Dave

WI Stands in Solidarity

Of all the opportunities I have had through my experience at UW-Madison, witnessing 13,000 outraged activists protest at the capital is one I will remember forever.

Governor Walker has proposed his Budget Repair Bill to address the large budget deficit incurred in previous years. I agree that changes are necessary, but the approach being taken is unfair to WI's middle class.

Vital services such as education, protection, and healthcare are all under attack in this proposed bill and I am proud that many people residing in WI are stepping up, many for the first time, and are asking for another option. This is not a partisan issue. This is an issue of WI public sector being asked, no, forced to take on more cuts, to make more sacrifices than their well off private sector counter parts are ever asked to take on.

I hope that everyone will take into consideration the effects this bill could have on the education of the children who are our future, the access to healthcare provided to us by Badgercare, the protection provided to us by our correctional facilities, and the future of this great state. Where will everyone go when WI becomes the backwards state?

I witnessed teachers plead for their students. I witnessed firefighters plead for their futures and their public sector colleagues. I witnessed students plead for their futures, their teachers, and their parents.

Solidarity. It moved me today. It invigorated my passion. It revived my spirit.

One attack after another....

It's been one attack after another. Relentless. Reprehensible. Repugnant.

By any adjective, the actions of the newly-elected Congressional representatives belie the reasons for which they stated they were running for office. Instead of fulfilling campaign promises to focus on jobs and the economy, there appears to be a lottery for the most outrageous and vicious plan to deny basic health care services, birth control and abortion services for the women of this county.

If these women get their services from such places as free clinics or Planned Parenthood, they are typically among the poorest. Preventing them from accessing birth control will keep them poor. That means their children will be poor. Children who grow up in poor families don't have the opportunities that children in better financed families have. Do the math.

In an economy like ours is now, making it difficult for women to access birth control is truly one of the most unjustifiable positions anyone can take. In addition to the affront against women making decisions about their own health care, it borders on economic terrorism. Providing birth control reduces the need for abortions. Providing basic, preventive health services are less expensive than restorative health services. Do the math.

And the idea of redefining rape to make it more difficult to get an abortion is also insane. Rape is always forcible. Why should women have to put themselves near death's doorstep to prove that they were raped?

And allowing hospitals to deny women a life-saving abortion? And preventing women from purchasing insurance that covers abortions even when they use their own money?

What next? How about something on jobs and the economy? Something that doesn't include keeping women and children in poverty. Something that won't drive this country into a poverty-ridden, third world country.

Where is the outrage?

Since the University of Wisconsin announced its intention not to continue with plans to provide second trimester abortion services at the Madison Surgery Center or an alternate location in Madison, the medical community has been eerily silent. Throughout the debate over whether or not to provide abortion services at the MSC, doctors and others in the medical profession spoke out in support of the plan. They stood with us, testifying to the need for this critical service.

Two years ago, the plan was approved. We waited. And waited. And waited. In May of last year, the UW announced that the MSC was not a suitable location and went to work finding an alternate site. Again, we waited. And waited.

The MSC never began providing the services. In December, shortly after the election of Governor Scott Walker and anti-choice majorities in the State Senate and State Assembly, the UW announced that it would not be moving forward with its plans, citing security concerns:

Monday's announcement ends that attempt, said UW Health spokeswoman Lisa Brunette. She said the surgery center "was really the only viable option within our system, and we have concluded that it cannot be secured to the extent necessary for patient safety and privacy."

NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin and other advocacy groups reacted immediately, expressing our disappointment and outrage that the UW and MSC let down the women of our community.

Subeck, of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, said most second-trimester abortions are performed when the woman is in medical danger or has learned that something has gone terribly wrong with the pregnancy. "I would have hoped (UW Health) would have continued its commitment to the entire spectrum of women's reproductive health," she said.

Outraged citizens spoke out through their letters to the editor, their blog posts, and even their Facebook pages. The community was outraged, but where were the doctors? The nurses? The medical students? The medical community as a whole has been eerily silent in response to this news.

On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Dr. Doug Laube - a Madison physician who chairs the national group Physicians for Reproductive Choice - wrote a column calling on his colleagues to express their outrage that the UW and MSC let down the women of this community and left a gaping hole in the availability of reproductive health services with their decision.

“It is just appalling to me that there is not one lick of criticism out there from anybody who represents the physician practices in town,” says Dr. Doug Laube, a professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin, who was not involved with UW Health’s plans.

He calls the Dec. 13 decision a hypocritical one, counter to both UW Health’s claim to offer comprehensive women’s health services and an earlier vote by its board to offer the abortion services at the Madison Surgery Center, which is jointly owned by UW Hospital, UW Medical Foundation and Meriter Hospital.

We agree with Dr. Laube and join him in calling upon his colleagues to express their outrage. NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin is committed to ensuring the full range of reproductive health services is available to women in our state, but we cannot do it without the help of the medical community. We know that medical professionals in the Madison area are upset, outraged, and concerned for their patients who can no longer access this critical care. Now it is time to step up and let the University of Wisconsin and Madison Surgery Center know that they let the community down.

3am

So it’s 3 in the morning and I’m using this time to write, not having had a chance for the last week. Why 3am you ask? Why would a man with 2 toddlers not be sleeping at 3am when he knows he desperately needs that sleep? Because I am sick to death of evil lunatics forcing their way into political office rather than being arrested for treason or shuffled off to the mad house where they belong.

Yes, I refer to the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”. There is a good article in Mother Jones about this if you need an update.

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/republican-plan-redefine-rape-abortion

Among the more odious provisions of this ill conceived, poorly drafted, and vaguely defined act is a redefinition of rape! WHY would anyone wish to empower a rapist, you ask? Because if we can only redefine rape as something that is not a crime we can prevent women from having abortions! Bravo! And by that logic we could cure cancer by simply killing the patient, no more cancer, problem solved!

We currently have no federal (tax payer) funding for abortion, so any reasonably intelligent person made aware of this would probably ask why would we need a No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act now? The obvious answer is we don’t. This bill is only a political expedient. The people who proposed this bill know they cannot safely make any sort of direct challenge to Roe vs. Wade because if it were somehow over turned they would lose their political power base. This singular issue, the issue of abortion, consolidates and controls an otherwise disparate voting group who could not be unified by other means. Anti-choice politicians have to pretend like they’re doing something so they make these ill-conceived attacks as a show to their constituents that they’re going to deliver on their promise about fighting abortion. In my opinion, I don’t believe they want the bill to pass or they would have taken there time and done a better job on it. There will be greater political mileage for them if it doesn’t pass and they know this. When it doesn’t pass the anti-choice politicians can make other lame half- assed attempts and claim they’re still in the fight. Because the fight is all they have to offer. If the fight were ever over people might start paying attention to the fact that such individuals are dangerously ill equipped to govern and should never have been voted into office in the first place.

A little voice in the night just called to me to change a diaper. I went to her, changed that diaper, hugged her tight, gave her a kiss, managed to find her pacifier in the dark and put her back to bed. What sort of world will the irresponsibility of single issue voting offer her? When misogynistic people are placed in power, people who are willing to brutalize and endanger all our children with diminished rights, diminished protections under the law, we must ask the question: is our national interest served by this sort of unnecessary subterfuge? What is accomplished? Other than that the undeserving managed to gain power to line their pockets and the pockets of their wealthy masters. We as Americans and responsible voters cannot allow locale state or national elections to be viewed as a referendum on a single issue. The people we entrust with our power derived from our assent, our vote, will have a broad impact on our future beyond the limited scope of any single campaign issue. Depend upon it!