I'm mad as hell. While reading the news today, there were many things to get angry about, but this is the outrage that I chose to highlight:
Abortion. The Radical Religious Right. The Pro-lifers. The Lies.
One thing that I find very hard to take: dishonesty. I've been lied to many times in my life, so has everyone, I suppose. Lies serve no decent purpose. I am not talking about the "You look good in yellow." lie. Those kind of lies don't effect lives in a negative fashion - other than maybe sending loved ones out into the world looking...well...not their best. I'm talking about lies that potentialy hurt people.
"I did not cheat on you." "You are my soul mate.""No mom, I didn't drink at the game."
And of course I can't forget the lies like:
"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons."
But, this isn't about the many lies told to me by my ex-boyfriends, or my teenager. This isn't even about WMD's or lack there of. This is about the lies that are told to young teens in crisis across this country everyday.
87% of
federally funded "Pregnancy Resource Centers" are blatantly manipulating teens with mendacious propaganda, rather than providing the truth.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) released a report this week detailing an investigation into the validity of the information distributed to teens and women facing one of the most important decisions of their lives. As stated above, these "pregnancy resource centers" also called "crisis pregnancy centers" are federally funded and a priority of the Bush Administration. According to the report:
"Since 2001, pregnancy resource centers have received over $30 million in federal funding. Most of this money has come from federal programs for abstinence-only education. Additional funding has been distributed as 'capacity-building' grants to 25 pregnancy resource centers in 15 states as part of the new $150 million Compassion Capital Fund. Individual centers have also been the beneficiaries of earmarks in appropriations bills."
In short, this is YOUR TAX MONEY paying for LIES.
So, what are the lies?
"[The centers] provided false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion. Often these federally funded centers grossly misrepresented the medical risks of abortion, telling the callers that having an abortion could increase the risk of breast cancer, result in sterility, and lead to suicide and 'post-abortion stress disorder.'"
Are you kidding me? This is supposed to be counseling??
The facts:
The medical consensus is that there is NO increased risk of breast cancer due to abortion.
There is no increased risk of future infertility due to first trimester abortions.
Psychological stress is no more common after an abortion than after birth.
Aren't people faced with unplanned pregnancy dealing with enough issues that they deserve the truth?
I am a single mother. I gave birth to my daughter the day after I turned 18. I am a planner by nature. In fact, some say I over plan (I think there is no such thing). I had many plans for my life, and becoming a mother my senior year of high school was not among them. In three months my daughter will turn 18. My informed choice was to go through with the pregnancy and raise my child. If she were faced with the same challenge, I would want her to be able to make an informed decision. I am obviously pro-choice, but I've told you my story to emphasize the fact that, although pro-choice, when faced with the decision 18 years ago, I chose not to have an abortion. For some reason, I find that relevant, going toward my credibility - or better yet lack of "radicalness" regarding "the pro-choice" cause.:-) This isn't to say that those that make the abortion choice lack credibility or are somehow automatically "radical"! I'm just informing you all of my relevant background on the subject (and apparently, trying to be careful not to piss anyone off in the process)! :-)
That being said, I am angry that daughters across the United States are being lied to every day. More accurately, couples (it takes two to tango) across the United States are being lied to in a time of utmost vulnerability, and we are (in my case unwillingly) bankrolling the lies.
I could go on and on about the specific lies told. However, this would become an extremely long post! But, I recommend that you read the 18-page report (pdf) linked above so you don't miss the juicy lies like this quote:
"One center said that damage from abortion could lead to 'many miscarriages' or to 'permanent damage' so 'you wouldn't be able to carry,' telling the caller that this is 'common' and happens 'a lot.' Another center said, 'In the future you could have trouble conceiving another baby' because of scar tissue, a side effect of abortion that happens to 'a lot of women.'"
The main goal of these centers is to counsel teenagers and women to choose motherhood or adoption. I don't have a problem with that. I'm pro-choice, not pro-abortion, and my beliefs are certainly not unique among the pro-choice community. It's the lies that I have a problem with.
And it gets worse.
Not only are they "misleading" vulnerable people that seek out their help, many are falsely advertising their services! Check out this quote from the report:
"Pregnancy resource centers often mask their pro-life mission in order to attract 'abortion-vulnerable clients.' This can take the form of advertising under 'abortion services' in the yellow pages or obscuring the fact that the center does not provide referrals to abortions in the text of an advertisement."
*snip
"Other advertisements represent that the center will provide pregnant teenagers and women with an understanding of all of their options."
I do not have a problem with "pro-life" counseling centers. I have a problem with any counseling center that blatantly lies to its clients through falsely advertising their services and then presenting scientifically inaccurate "facts" about abortion.
How can this be legal?
How can my tax money go to support these lies?
How can any organization claiming to be based in Christian values support these lies? (I know that makes me sound very naive, doesn't it?)
Originally, I was going to end this post with the above questions, but I just have to add this one last thing from the report (not that this is a big surprise, I suppose):
"Prior to the Bush Administration, only a few pregnancy resource centers received federal funding. Beginning in 2001, however, federal funding of pregnancy resource centers increased sharply. In total, over $30 million in fereral funds went to more than 50 pregnancy resource centers between 2001 through 2005"
*snip
"For many pregnancy resource centers receiving federal abstinence funding, the grants represented a major increase in their annual budget, in some cases expanding their budgets by seven-fold."
SEVEN-FOLD???? Cuz apparently telling kids not to have sex solves the problem. Whatever.
Rant concluded.