Push Back Time: Mock #40DaysOfPreyers

Among animals, predators seek the slow, the old, the sick. Among humans, street criminals target the frail, the encumbered, the solitary. Child sexual predators look for the lonely child, the "odd" child, the neglected child. Sexual predators focus on people they figure will be manageable, quiescent, compliant.

In short, predation requires vulnerability.

Of course, all predators make mistakes and take on "prey" who turn out to be stronger, louder, faster, and smarter than they thought. (The Ghomeshi trial comes to mind.)

The spring session of 40 Days of Harassment is set to begin on February 10. (It took me years to figure out that there are TWO of these bunfests a year. There's another in the fall.)

Organizers target particular abortion facilities (or non-abortion facilities, see Guelph below) for "prayer vigils," which amount to 40 days of non-stop harassment of clients and staff at often already-beleaguered clinics.

Let's call it what it is: bullying.

Let's refine that: it is self-righteous bullies preying on vulnerable people at what may be major crisis points in their lives.

Or in the case of abortion providers, preying on healthcare providers who daily face stalking, surveillance, and violence just for offering a safe, legal, common medical procedure. (See the recently published Living in the Crosshairs for first-person stories of what these heroic people go through.)

All predators expect a reward. Lions get a meal. Muggers get a wallet. Sexual predators get orgasms.

And anti-abortion predators get what we call martyrgasms. A strange satisfaction from shrieking epithets and threats at ordinary people going about their personal business.

Back in November, I said that here now in Canada we have the perfect opportunity to secure reproductive rights and access once and for all.

It seems to me this year's first anti-choice martyr-fest would be a good place to start.

Beginning with social media, let's use the tag #40DaysOfPreyers. (I'm not the coiner of that one; I'll reveal the author after I've gotten permission*.) Other suggestions are welcome, like #StayOutOfMyUterus, #HandsOffMyCunt, #NoBullyInMyLadyBits, and the one I and others have been using for years, #40DaysOfHarassment.

Let's take photos of them and their dumb-ass signs and post them on social media and/or dedicate a Tumblr or somesuch to the effort.

Let's counter-demonstrate. I love this story from a couple of years ago about a couple in North Carolina who made witty and weird signs to mock regular preyers at a local clinic.

In Canada, Campaign Lie has targetted clinics in nine cities:

Edmonton.

Vancouver.

Victoria.

a hospital in Guelph, where apparently no abortions are performed.

Oakville.

Scarborough.

Windsor.

Montreal.

In Saskatoon, they don't seem able to muster 40 days' worth of bullying and so are going for "40 Hours for Life in front of Saskatoon City Hospital."

The times will be from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon Monday to Friday, and 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm every day. Call 1-800-891-2070 for more information.

In the UK in 2011, pro-choice people responded with 40 Days of Treats. Bring snacks or little gifts to targetted clinics, donate to pro-choice causes. In short, respond to cruelty and bullying with kindness and support.

Let's push back. Let's reveal and mock these bullies for what all bullies are: pathetic losers with a weird hobby.

Who have no damn right to prey on vulnerable people.

DJ! will stay on this for all 40 days. Send photos, links, suggestions for hashtags.



* Coiner of phrase is modest, declined acknowledgment.

Pity the Poor Canadian Anti-Choice Movement: Lost and Losing

I've been thinking about the Canadian fetus freak movement lately and how despondent they must be. I mean, they've had absolutely no wins here and some -- admittedly minor -- defeats (see New Brunswick, PEI, and Ontario).

Yes, they litter the landscape with their idiotic underground fetus flags and gory postcards, but really, what have they got to show for their relentless SHRIEEEKING?

As compared to the US, where fetus freaks have been having an orgy of misogyny for the past four or five years.

I watch this stuff and even I get waaaay behind. This recent one, from Wisconsin, takes a cake of some kind.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said this week that he would sign a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy that does not contain exceptions for rape and incest victims, if the bill reaches his desk. The measure also contains a less-discussed provision that would allow the father to sue the doctor for "emotional and psychological distress" if he disagrees with the abortion, regardless of his relationship with the woman having the procedure.

Got that? Some rando guy can sue a doctor for performing an abortion on some woman he may or may not have had sex with. Reports did not detail whether DNA tests would be required.

The USian anti-choice festival includes all kinds of legislation on extended waiting periods, mandated lying by doctors, bans on telemed abortions, bans on certain methods of abortion, vicious parental notification rules, hyped up "safety" requirements for clinics, totally bogus claims of "fetal pain," egregious funding cuts for healthcare orgs that might possibly, sometime, maybe discuss abortion with patients.

Et fucking cetera.

Here in Canada, they got bupkis.

So, the latest fundraising SHRIEEEK from LieSite titled "Don’t Be Silent!"struck me as funny. (There is randomly strewn bold in this that I'm too lazy to reproduce.)

We can no longer afford to deny the hard truth: the threats to the freedoms of Canadians like you and me who believe in the sanctity of life and the traditional family are growing every day. 

Right now the push to implement Wynne’s sex-ed curriculum is in high gear, the legalization of euthanasia country-wide is on our doorsteps, and abortion extremists have even taken away the rights of pro-life doctors in Ontario to refuse to refer for abortions!

Now, more than ever, the unique investigative reporting of LifeSite is needed to combat the manipulation of the mainstream media and the growing anti-life and anti-family sentiments across Canada.  

However, with only 10 days remaining in our summer fundraising campaign,we have only raised $8,000 towards our absolutely minimum goal of $200,000.

Summer fundraising campaign? They have one for each season? Meaning they need to raise $800,000 a year?

Wow. That's a lot of dough to raise when you've got absolutely nothing to show for it.

A couple of weeks ago, I was also amused by the Fetal Gore Gang's revisiting of their three-year old wet squib of a campaign to appropriate the historic Abortion Caravan.

That might have been better titled "How we tried to hijack a prochoice icon and then got lost in Ottawa somewhere and failed to show up for the grand finale to the great amusement of our critics."

But on further reflection, I realized that the fetus freaks have had a recent victory.

They singlehandedly elected weirdo Patrick Brown as leader of the Ontario Conservative Party. (I refuse to put the word "progressive" in there.)

If you're interested in Ontario politics and/or grassroots organizing, read that Interim article.

Ontario zygote zealots were stoked that they had TWO double-plus good fetus freak candidates, Brown and McNaughton, contesting all-but-annointed Christine Elliott.

Then the dirty tricks started.

The week before the vote, pro-lifers began receiving a flyer from Concerned Conservatives of Ontario, which claimed Brown was not pro-life or pro-family, going so far as to attack him for being a bachelor without kids who could not understand family issues. CLC’s [Campaign Life Coalition] Jeff Gunnarson told The Interim this was a dirty trick, probably carried out by the Elliott campaign or one of her supporters.

CLC contacted their supporters with mailings, email reminders, and a voice blast urging them to vote for Brown and ignore the bogus Concerned Conservatives letter.
…

CLC supporters came out in force. McNaughton told The Interim in April that pro-life and pro-family voters were the most motivated to vote in the leadership, and it appears he was correct. According to numerous sources within the Brown campaign, their voter identification efforts found that about three-quarters of CLC supporters who bought a membership voted in the leadership contest. That, as one put it, “is an astonishingly high number.”

YAY! Congratulations, anti-choice. For as long as Brown is leader, you've guaranteed a non-Conservative government in Ontario.

Image source.

Tea Bagger Misogynists Target Liberal Party

Look out, Liberals!

Not only are the fetus fetishists gunning for you in a testerical new petition whinging about Trudeau's discriminatinon against Xians, they have other plans as well.

They are going to reprise their attempted take-over of the party from 30 years ago.

In particular, they're targeting the new ridings.

Here is Campaign Lie's Jim Hughes:

“Nomination meetings for those 30 new ridings will be held by each party. If we have a large number of card-carrying pro-lifers in each of these 30 new ridings it consequently increases the chances of being able to elect 30 new, pro-life MPs. Our goal is to have a large number of party members in every riding of the country,” says the website.

At the moment, there are only four or five remaining anti-choice Liberals. Karygiannis is turning to municipal politics and maybe some of the others will take the hint and decline to run next time.

Nonetheless it spells trouble for the Liberals.

Mr. [Nik] Nanos [of Nanos Research] compared organizations like the Campaign Life Coalition to the Tea Party in the U.S. where they play a critical role in determining the outcome of nominating their party’s candidates but have a less important role in Congressional elections. 

“They don’t necessarily play a significant role in the outcome of elections but they can punch above their political weight in a nomination race where 50 members can tip the balance in favour of one particular candidate or another. That’s the risk. It’s unlikely that those voters would have an impact on the election writ large,” said Mr. Nanos.

“This is the variation of the Tea Party impact. The Tea Party cannot affect the outcome of the U.S. election, but they can have a significant influence on who is [elected] through the primary process. That’s kind of the potential political heft that those groups have basically on nominations if they decide to get engaged.”

So, a bunch of Tea Bagger misogynists try to take over nomination meetings or ridings themselves. Liberal Head Office squelches them.

Cue MASSIVE whine-fest.

Here's some info on the previous attempt, Liberals for Life.

Liberals for Life was a pro-life advocacy group that worked within the Liberal Party of Canada during the 1980s and early 1990s. Some of its members were also affiliated with the Campaign Life Coalition, and, as such, the group was often accused of entryism.

According to its members, Liberals for Life was created after the national victory of Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative Party in the 1984 federal election. The organization attracted little attention until the early 1990s, when it endorsed Tom Wappel in his bid for the party leadership, and gained control of several riding associations.

The Liberal Party's constitution was amended to allow the leader to appoint candidates in certain ridings in 1992. Jean Chrétien defended the change as necessary to prevent "single-issue groups" from taking over the Liberal Party. It was generally understood that Liberals for Life was the primary target of this remark.

The movement effectively dissolved in 1993 after the Liberal Party formed government.

Chantal Hébert remembers (video here at around 9:30 mark).

It ain't gonna be pretty.

What needs to happen is that we and sensible people like Sandy Garossino must advocate and insist that abortion is NOT a "conscience issue", NOT a "free speech issue."

Abortion rights are essential to women's basic human right to bodily autonomy.

Indeed, is anything a "conscience issue" these fraught days?





I gotta learn to PhotoShop. If anyone is inclined, it would be very cool to replace the tea bags with fetus dolls.

UPDATE: k'in in the comments points out that they tried it in the 2012 by-election in Toronto-Danforth. Didn't work then either.


MORE UPDATE: Trifon Haitas, wannabe Liberal for Life, is a candidate in municipal election in Richmond Hill.


WOOHOO! Look what Montreal Simon made for me!

I haz excellent friends.

Sauce for the Gander

It appears that fetus fetishists are getting a dose of sauce for the gander.

A U.S. company that provides software solutions to nonprofit organizations has refused service to the Canadian pro-life group Campaign Life Coalition, accusing it of supporting “hate, prejudice and bigotry."

Campaign Lie hired a consultant to find a 'databank solutions company', who recommended The Databank in Minneapolis.

But [CLC's] Fonseca says that after filling out a form on the company’s website to view a free online demo on behalf of CLC, the consultant received an email reply from Bridget Kelly, The Databank’s sales manager. It stated, “Please continue your search for nonprofit software. Our company values are not a good fit for your organization's mission. There is no need to view our online demonstration today. Thank you.”

At that point the consultant wrote a strongly worded e-mail to the company, calling its decision "outrageous. The company’s CEO, Chris Hanson, wrote back, and far from apologizing, dug in his heels. “Campaign Life Coalition positions on just about every issue are in direct contradiction with not only our personal beliefs and company mission, but also many organizations we currently work with,” he said.

“Sorry if you feel offended by Bridget’s response but I’m offended by organizations that seek to violate and restrict the human rights of women, gays, lesbians and others. The only amicable resolution for hate, prejudice and bigotry is to eliminate it.”

Oh yeah, the people so quick to call for boycotts of products and companies they deem sinful don't like it a bit when someone has principles of their own -- like standing up for human rights.

I don't have a need for 'database solutions' but I know where I'd go if I did.


h/t @notmuchelse

Antichoice "pre-dead" embrace rebranding for youth.

“The young people seem to be taking over all the older groups and it’s hugely re-energizing,” said 23-year-old Jonathon Van Maren, communications director with the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform. “And I think that the older generation is recognizing that new tactics, new ideas, new blood in the movement is really what’s going to change it.”

He says youth have come in “droves” to the movement in the last few years.

“I spoke to a rally of older people and I remember the pro-life leader there said ‘Thank God you guys are taking over, now we can finally die.’ They were very worried there because there weren’t people in the pro-life movement and just in the last couple of years it’s just skyrocketed.”

That assertion tends to be anecdotal. Golob says membership in the CLC Youth group has grown to the thousands, but she doesn’t know precisely how many of those have joined in the last few years.

From here, with our emphasis.

On Twitter, CBC Parliament reporter Laura Payton posted some antichoice quotes from Allisa Golob of Campaign Life Coalition.

Throwing out reasons why women may have abortions, Golob says some women don't want to be fat for 9 months.

Anecdotal indeed. Is that why Faytene keeps herself anorectically thin? Fear of pregnancy fat?

Defend Against Defunding

Torontonians: As you are planning your various rallies, marches, and occupations for this weekend, remember Campaign Life Coalition's Defund Abortion Bunfest this Saturday at Queen's Park.

Of course, there's a counter rally planned.

Start: Oct 22 2011 - 1:00pm
End: Oct 22 2011 - 3:00pm
Location: North-east corner of College St. and University Avenue Toronto, ON, Canada

Organized by the Ontario Coalition for Abortion and the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada.

Never forget: Canadian fetus fetishists are slavering to instigate a War on Women just like the Rethuglicans in the US.

In a heartbeat.

Maybe one of the forays from the Occupy Toronto base camp could mosey up University Avenue at some point between 1 and 3. Just a suggestion. . .

Yet Another Abortion Defunding Gambit

Gearing up for their Defund Abortion Bunfest on October 22 at Queen's Park, the fetus fetishists have released another *yawn* poll.

The majority of Ontarians oppose taxpayer funding of abortion according to a poll commissioned by Campaign Life Coalition, LifeSiteNews.com, and The Interim. More than six in ten Ontarians oppose the status quo of paying for all abortions in the province while just three in ten support subsidizing this unnecessary, elective surgery.

According to an Abacus Data poll, 40 per cent of respondents think abortion should be available but only funded in medical emergencies, while 11 per cent think abortion should be available but never funded, and 10 per cent do not think abortion should be available at all. In contrast, 30% think abortion should be available and always funded. Another 8 per cent said none of those positions match their view.

I downloaded the PDF and got this:

While overall a significant majority (81%) of Ontarians feel that abortions should be available to those who choose to have one, a majority (61%) also oppose government funding of all abortions, including many of those who support access to abortion.

Now unless Ontarians are significantly stingier about funding medical care than Canadians overall, this doesn't square with consistent numbers from Angus Reid.

In three polls from January 2009 to Jan 2010 (I couldn't find any more recent), about 43% of Canadians are cool with funding all and 41% are in favour of funding only in emergencies.

In fact, the number saying 'fund only in emergencies' is down by 5 points over the period. But 'not fund at all' is up by 6 points (from 4% in July 2009 to 10% in July 2010). So I'd call that a wash.

The poll included another of those idiotic 'gotcha' questions fetus fetishists love. Like this one going all SHRIEEEKY over the fact that Canadians didn't know that there is no time limit on abortion under law. (There are of course medical guidelines on limits.)

This time they're going all SHRIEEKY over the fact that 91% of Ontarians don't know that abortion costs the government 'at least $30 million' a year.

Well, duh. Under our system of single-payer medicare, I betcha 91% of Ontarians haven't the foggiest what is spent on appendectomies, cancer care, childbirth, or any other medical procedure.

And that's a good thing.

I did find out how they came up with that figure spent on abortion in Ontario.

Statistical Evidence:

Abortions in Ontario per year: 32,000 (Canadian Institute for Health Information) to 51,000 (Source: Project for an Ontario Women’s Health Evidence-Based Report (POWER)
Average cost of an abortion: $1000 (Joyce Arthur, Pro-Choice Action Network)
Annual cost of abortions (excluding complications): 32,000 x 1,000 = <$32 M to $51M

(Isn't that sweet? Citing pro-choice Joyce Arthur as an expert.)

I have no reason to quibble with that number, but wouldn't it be more responsible to put it in some kinda context? Like, what do we collectively spend on childbirth, vasectomies and other 'lifestyle choices' (as the CLC spokesthingy styles abortion)?

I tried to find out what a vasectomy -- 99.5% covered by OHIP -- costs and this is the best I could find. It looks dodgy, but the figure of $500 to $1000 seems reasonable.

(Reversing vasectomies has been defunded and the 'unsnipping' will run you nearly $2000.)

This next quote is also sweet, considering that the fetus fetishists probably expected Tim 'Defund Abortion' Hudak to be premier at this point (emphasis mine).

“The poll results show that a clear majority opposes the status quo of taxpayer funding for all abortions, proving that politicians should not be afraid to address abortion defunding.” said Jim Hughes, President of Campaign Life Coalition. “What politician or political party will have the guts to stand up for taxpayers and accountability to resist paying for the personal choice to destroy an unborn human being?” asked Hughes.

Quick answer, Jim: Nooooobody.

Slightly longer answer: Because with the vast majority of Ontarians staunchly pro-choice, to do otherwise would be political suicide.

It's not too late, Tim

Hmmmm. Interesting timing. One woulda thunk this bunfest would be coordinated with the fetus fetishists' other fall fun fair, Life Chain, on October 2.

I've looked and can't find any info on whether this shindig is the first ever, tenth annual, or whatever. No qualifier of any sort. And usually the fetus fetishists love to highlight how long they've been holding their futile rallies and vigils and whatnot.

I wonder who they expected to be in the Premier's seat on October 22, you know, two weeks after the provincial election that at one point seemed a no-brainer win for the Cons.

Were they hoping for compulsive 'refuser to say' Tim Hudak who once mighta, kinda, maybe vowed to defund abortion?

Given his repeated flip-flopping on issues, maybe they were hoping the sight of a few dozen zygote zealots on 'his' new lawn at Queen's Park would flop-flip him back again.

Because currently Campaign Life Coalition's handy candidate rater has him down as 'pro-abortion'.

Ouch. That's gotta smart what with all the pandering to Christianists he's been doing.

(Interestingly, the fetus fetishists seem slow off the mark with their quiz. While many candidates have 'not replied' and many more [like Hudork, big surprise] have 'refused to answer', lots haven't yet been sent the survey.)

We've blogged about abortion funding being the potential wedge issue in the never-ending War on Women. Obviously, the fetus fetishists think they have a winner here.

Here's what the text on that poster says, including the mandatory breast-cancer and trauma lies:

At least 30 million dollars of taxpayer money funds elective abortion surgery in Ontario alone

*Additionally, the cost of abortion complications could escalate this cost of hundreds of millions of $ annually (Eg: breast cancer, trauma, infections)

But hey, it may not be too late to try to cash in those martyr markers, Tim. Canadian Life Chain locations are here. Pick a spot, hold up gory sign, and bingo! You're back in their good graces.


Aesthetic footnotes:
1. What's with the blobs? Everyone knows that 'blobs'® are prochoice symbols. They're appropriating our shit again. Waaa!
2. What's with the logo? Is that a heart with toesies? Eww. Creepy.


h/t AntoniaZ