The New Abortion Caravan

[aubrietta]

Background: In 1970, women in Canada formed a caravan called The Abortion Caravan and traveled across the country speaking out about the need for legal, safe abortions. That year, an estimated 12,000 women died from unsafe abortions and an additional 20,000 were hospitalized. The women of the Abortion Caravan charged the government with the deaths of the 12,000 women and demanded that the law be changed, or they would be at war with the government. Nicely dressed in skirts and heels, they filed into parliament and quietly chained themselves to their seats in the viewing gallery. They interrupted the parliamentary proceedings by taking turns rising in different spots in the gallery and giving a prepared, memorized speech. Their protest effectively shut down parliament for the first time in over 100 years. For more info on the Abortion Campaign this radio doc: cbc.ca/thesundayedition/2010/03/the-women-are-coming.html

Beginning tomorrow, a "New" Abortion Caravan is launching in Vancouver. This ones goals are little different - to "bring awareness of the consequences of choice" Their aim to see abortion criminalized again. From their website:

On May 29, a team of young people who are survivors—all born at a time when their peers were being killed—will be re-tracing the steps of the 1970 Caravan. This New Abortion Caravan will also use vivid imagery. However, instead of focusing on a woman's "choice," this team from the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR) will use abortion imagery to force the Canadian public to consider what is being chosen.

These are the same people behind the "Genocide Awareness Project" which travels from one university campus to another and on main through fares displays giant bilboards of holocaust and genocide victims with aborted fetuses superimposed on top. The imagery is graphic and offensive, and so large that you have no choice but to see if if you are walking by. Their website is extremely offensive, with graphic images of holocaust and genocide victims, as well as aborted fetuses, so be warned before you click unmaskingchoice.ca

YUCK. :angry-screaming:

There is a counter-protest organized and me and my uterus will be at it tomorrow. I'm not bringing my four year old because, whoa, no way I can talk him through those images and that many angry people at this young age, but I will have my baby, so if any one has any clever ideas for what I can write on his little sign and on the white t-shirt I got for him to wear, please chime in.

And think of me tomorrow, as I stand for women's choice and reproductive freedom as it is likely that us pro-choice counter-protesters will be far outnumbered by the stay-at-home mothers with their gajillion catholic children and the busses of people the churches from the suburbs will bring in. It's not going to be pretty.

[darkplumaged]

Ugh, I didn't know this sort of thing went on in Canada (color me naive). I applaud you for standing up for women's rights and health--and for bringing your baby with you, as evidence that pro-choice women are not evil baby-haters. (No one sensible needs such evidence, of course, but most of the protestors are probably not sensible people.)

And yes, equating aborted fetuses with genocide victims is offensive beyond words.

[aubrietta]

I posted in the organizing group page on facebook, and I guess it can show up in any of my friend's facebook feeds and I've been wading through vitriol in my inbox ever since. People who have a known me for years but didn't know I have become pro-choice in have accused me of being a baby-hater and telling me that if I really cared about women I'd be pro-life. My "un-friend" finger has been a bit trigger-happy today.

My mom raised me picketing abortion clinics until it became illegal to do so in Canada. This is the first time there's been this kind of thing in my city for many, many years. This is the first time I'll be on this side of the fence.

[Maul the Koala]

Is there a schedule when these morons show up to campuses? I have a few Jewish friends whom I might be able to talk into having a counter rally when these morons start with their Holocaust comparison nonsense.

Edit: wading through it all, it's the same people who come and speak for the pro-life causes here each year. I've heard they aren't great speakers by even people who are prolife and attended the talks.

[Cran]

And yes, equating aborted fetuses with genocide victims is offensive beyond words.

QFT.

The other way round, it is distasteful and preposterous to me to label the protesters "survivors", belittling true survivors of genocide, crime and illness.

Over-privileged, misinformed and probably brainwashed children would hit the nail better.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

The "Genocide Awareness Project" came to my extremely liberal hippy college, which houses a freakin' institute on reproductive rights and employs at least two abortion rights pioneers from the 70s. I don't know why those fuckers thought they would get any traction, but they were roundly ignored. Except for a few people who couldn't resist yelling at them, it was like we all just collectively decided that they weren't worth the time of day. They are just so ridiculous and disgusting.

[xDreamerx]

Son of a bitch. I clicked on this thinking it would be what the name said, not some asinine hijacked version of it by right wing ass holes. If America ever goes fully off the deep end regarding contraception, I would be up for starting a caravan. Since it was legal in America first, a lot of the women helped shuttle Canadians across the border.

If I recall correctly, some of the young women on our side took the caravan to Trudeau's house with a big black coffin to represent all of the women who died as a result of unsafe abortions.

[slickcat79]

QFT.

The other way round, it is distasteful and preposterous to me to label the protesters "survivors", belittling true survivors of genocide, crime and illness.

Over-privileged, misinformed and probably brainwashed children would hit the nail better.

Absolutely. When they first said "survivors" I thought they meant people who had survived an attempted abortion...but, no, these people have absolutely no connection to abortion whatsoever. Besides being offensive, it's just stupid. There is not one single time in a person's life when their "peers" aren't dying from something, and it's not like these people could have possibly cared about the fate of their co-fetuses :roll:

[Lainey]

Oh god, it's spreading. These people sicken me.

I wonder what they'd have to say to me? I'm closer to an "abortion survivor" than any of them likely are. My mom wanted to have me aborted. I've been told this by more than one member of the family (I feel so loved...). Yet I'm almost rabidly pro-choice.

[Minerva]

Eww. Please let us know what creative stuff you come up with. They'll be in my part of the country before long.

[Peas n carrots]

QFT.

The other way round, it is distasteful and preposterous to me to label the protesters "survivors", belittling true survivors of genocide, crime and illness.

Over-privileged, misinformed and probably brainwashed children would hit the nail better.

Cripes, you have to be serious...survivor? I as well thought they meant they had survived an abortion attempt, but no they weren't even that. WTF...I agree completely tasteless.

I still don't get why a potential life is greater than a life that has been on earth for at least 8+ years.

[Zoom]

You should put "The Chosen One"

[aubrietta]

So my oldest child got really sick and I couldn't in good conscience drop him off at the babysitter so I had to stay home. However, there was a really great pro-choice turn out. Pictures were uploaded here:

flickr.com/photos/sylvia_mcfadden/sets/72157629961119422/with/7298836540/

[alba]

Absolutely. When they first said "survivors" I thought they meant people who had survived an attempted abortion...but, no, these people have absolutely no connection to abortion whatsoever. Besides being offensive, it's just stupid. There is not one single time in a person's life when their "peers" aren't dying from something, and it's not like these people could have possibly cared about the fate of their co-fetuses :roll:

By their logic I guess I'm a survivor because I was a wanted and planned child and not aborted, eh?

I find their appropriation of the caravan really, really sickening, and I'm so, so horrified that it's happening in Vancouver, which is meant to be one of the more liberal cities in Canada.

[Minerva]

So my oldest child got really sick and I couldn't in good conscience drop him off at the babysitter so I had to stay home. However, there was a really great pro-choice turn out. Pictures were uploaded here:

flickr.com/photos/sylvia_mcfadden/sets/72157629961119422/with/7298836540/

That's pretty awesome!

I find it sad that so many people who have uteruses and will probably make it their life's mission to have at least a few babies are holding "we need a law" signs. If we ever did get "a law", chances are it would only give rights to fetuses in the second half of pregnancy. This wouldn't affect people who need abortions since you can't get late abortions in Canada as it is, but it would affect these women should their pregnancies become dangerous and they disagree with their doctor about the best way to keep their baby safe. I don't know how prevalent homebirth culture is among Canadian Catholics (which all of these anti-choice protesters are), but fetal personhood enshrined in law could totally lead to them being arrested for having a homebirth against Dr's advice regardless of the actual risk. It's happened in the US. That's not to mention forced C-sections and criminal investigations for falling. They think they're calling for a law to punish people like me who never want to have children, but in reality I would most likely not feel the effect and it's them it would harm.

[Maude]

I love this one:

[keeperrox]

Beginning tomorrow, a "New" Abortion Caravan is launching in Vancouver. This ones goals are little different - to "bring awareness of the consequences of choice" Their aim to see abortion criminalized again. From their website:

It's interesting how the tone of the above implies that choice is a bad thing, and force is a good thing. I really have no use for people with that mindset.

[emmyfair]

I actually used to know the woman who heads the CCBR, back in my fundie Catholic days. There is a whole big group of them in the lower mainland. I used to hang out with them and another woman, Mary Wagner (google it), who protests outside clinics and has been jailed several times as a result.

I've been hesitant to post this here. I am so ashamed of myself for even knowing who these people are. I used to hand out those tiny feet pins with them when I was in my late teens. I wish I had some dramatic story to tell you, of how I changed my views, but I don't. It was a slow, gradual process. I left the church, I became a health care professional, I grew up, and saw the world in shades of grey instead of black and white. By the time I was 20, I had a totally different worldview, but I still had to fight a few more years to set my mind free from what the church taught me. Fear is such a mental prison.

What really made a difference for me was a higher education. I think this is why fundies are so hell bent on scaring their offspring away from school. Once I had learned some critical thinking skills, met people who thought differently than I did and yet were normal, kind, and patient with me, and lived in the real world alone for a while, it was over. Fundie bullshit doesn't stand up to well to reality.

I really hope the people involved in this "caravan" grow up and learn a little, too, because I really think they are causing so much more harm than good. They need to understand that.

[ElphabaGalinda]

I like the one that said "If I want the government in my uterus, i'd fuck Stephen Harper". I literally laughed out loud. And everyone knows that no one in their right mind would want to fuck Stephen Harper so it follows that no one in their right mind would want the government in their uterus :lol:

[Rosa]

Emmy, don't be embarrassed. You changed your mind before you even hit the age of majority! And I think you hit the nail on the head about education.

[aubrietta]

I like the one that said "If I want the government in my uterus, i'd fuck Stephen Harper". I literally laughed out loud. And everyone knows that no one in their right mind would want to fuck Stephen Harper so it follows that no one in their right mind would want the government in their uterus :lol:

you'll be scarred for life, but have you seen this? http://www.straight.com/article-689896/ ... ld-imagine

Emmyfair do you still live in the lower mainland? I have a similar story to yours, I was raised picketing abortion clinics with my parents until the bubble zones were put into place. Perhaps we brushed shoulders. I was our church's "Life Chain" organizational contact for several years. Do you remember the Life Chain? When it first began, thousands of people would line the streets holding signs that said "Abortion Hurts Women" "Abortion Kills Babies" and "Jesus Heals & Forgives" As the years went by the attendance dwindled dramatically, and I don't know if they even do it anymore.

It was when I became a doula that I began to recognize the need for a woman to have complete autonomy over her body and slowly, as you say, began to see the world in shades of grey and migrated onto the very pro-choice side of the fence.

I agree that it is education that changes things. I also think there is a great deal of moral certainty in ones youth that slowly dissipates with life experience and encountering a wide variety of people with varied experiences and backgrounds. The effort to keep their children from high education and protected in their bubbles of like-minded people perpetuates the mind-control.

[Maude]

you'll be scarred for life, but have you seen this? http://www.straight.com/article-689896/ ... ld-imagine.

Oh god, I thought I had successfully scrubbed that from my mind... :cry:

[emmyfair]

Emmyfair do you still live in the lower mainland? I have a similar story to yours, I was raised picketing abortion clinics with my parents until the bubble zones were put into place. Perhaps we brushed shoulders. I was our church's "Life Chain" organizational contact for several years. Do you remember the Life Chain? When it first began, thousands of people would line the streets holding signs that said "Abortion Hurts Women" "Abortion Kills Babies" and "Jesus Heals & Forgives" As the years went by the attendance dwindled dramatically, and I don't know if they even do it anymore.

Yes, I do remember the Lifechain! Sadly, I also remember holding those signs and feeling so conflicted. We might very well have stood by each other, what a small world. :) I don't live in the lower mainland anymore, I left in 2004 to move to northern BC.

Rosa, thank you for your comment! I really don't like the thought that I might have caused pain by what I did, but I do take comfort that as soon as I realized I was wrong, I stopped. I try to do little things to make up for it, as the opportunity presents itself.

[Lainey]

Oh god, I thought I had successfully scrubbed that from my mind... :cry:

Me too. I can only conclude that aubrietta is evil and out to get me. There's no other explanation. :cry:

[slickcat79]

I love this one:

LIKE :clap: