femifist

I have yet to find a “pro-life” organization that supports and promotes  birth control.  If you’ve read my previous blogs on this subject matter, you are aware that I am pro-choice, but a big advocate on simply preventing unwanted pregnancy before it occurs.  As an open-minded individual who likes to look at issues from many angles, I have navigated several “prolife” websites.  Here are my findings:

1.  http://www.prolife.com/ is a religious-based, anti-choice website, that considers “career and education” false gods that women worship.  The site shows several pics of mutilated fetuses and has interviews with former abortion providers who claim that they always believed they were committing murder, but it was such a lucrative business that they continued to do so.   I could not find any mention of contraceptives throughout the site.

2.  http://www.prolife.org/  Prolife.org is an informative website about what is happening in the news in regards to abortion laws.  There was no mention of contraceptives that I could find.

3.  http://prolifeaction.org/about/  Prolife Action seeks to overturn abortion laws by way of peaceful protest.  They work on recruiting young people to join the anti-choice movement.  They discuss abortion and it’s aftermath.  There is no mention of contraceptives.

4.  http://www.prolifeblogs.com/mt/mt-search.cgi?search=contraceptives&IncludeBlogs=2&limit=20  Prolife Blogs is a site where bloggers discuss anti-choice issues.  The link is what came up when I did a search for contraceptives.  One article claims that “normal women can’t remember to take the pill consistantly, thus leading to more abortions.”  There are several articles about risk factors of the pill and how it isn’t as effective as we are led to believe.  There is NO information on how to properly use contraceptives at all.  I should add that most of these blogs seemed to be written by men.  From personal experience, I can tell you that during the 8 years that I was sexually active with men, I was on the pill (Or-tho-tricyclen and later Or-tho-tricyclen Low) and using condoms.  I never had ANY complications or adverse side-effects and I have never been pregnant or had an STD.

Now lets take a look at some Pro-choice websites:

1.  http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/index.html  Naral Pro-Choice America is a pro-choice organization that supports a woman’s right to choose, family planning, comprehensive sex education, and birth control.  There weren’t any details about actual abortion procedures as I was hoping there would be.  There are NO opinions, just facts present.

2.  http://prochoice.com/  Pro-choice.com is actually NOT a pro-choice website.  The site gives information on 3 options: parenthood, adoption, and abortion.  The majority of the site is saturated with opinions, as most anti-choice websites are.  There is no mention of birth control.

3.  http://www.prochoice.org/  Pro-choice.org is an organization called the National Abortion Federation.  This site was VERY informative.  It goes into detail about every type of abortion procedure and gives many ways that you can get involved in your community.  There is mention of Emergency Contraception, but not of promoting birth control pills or condoms.

4.  http://www.protectchoice.org/  Protect Choice is an organization dedicated to bridging the gap between young women and the organizations that serve them.  They promote comprehensive sex ed, birth control, and reproductive rights.  I was delighted to see the image of the woman, raising her fist in solidarity, incompassed by a woman’s symbol.  I have this same image tattooed on my leg.  I fell in love with the image at The March For Women’s Lives in 2003.  A picture is worth a thousand words…

I urge you to read all the information you can get your hands on about this topic, educate yourself, and speak with women who have had abortions or chosen not to.  Get the real story from the people that lived it.  AND, for goddess sake, promote birth control, will ya?