Category Archives: Announcements

Unfortunately, this blogger didn’t have the time or the energy for this year’s Anti-Choice Awards as planned. Not for lack of people and orgs up to no good to nominate, oh no. That would have been great, actually. Well, there’s always next year.

2010 has been somewhat of a big on the front-lines of choice-land. Most of it is not good news. Happy new year.

(Note: You’ll find that most of this is US-centric news. Sorry, I’m American and don’t often get news from elsewhere.)

• January 22:
  Roe v Wade decision 37th anniversary.
• January 29:
  Scott Roeder is found guilty premeditated, first-degree murder of Witchita abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller in May 09.
• February 15: The Golden Coat Hanger launches (although under a different name, first juliewashere88, then iwasherebblog) with the introductary post (A =/= BC).

• February 22:
  Angie Jackson announced on her YouTube channel, “I am having an abortion. Right now.” She went on to live-Tweet and blog about her experience in an effort to destigmatization the common medical practice, inspiring other women to do the same. “… I’m having an abortion right now. It’s not that bad. It’s not that scary. It’s basically not a miscarriage.”
• February 24:
  Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle signs the Healthy Young Adult Act, updating sex-ed standards to be comprehensive, medically accurate, unbiased, and age-appropriate.
• March 21:
  In order to get Health Care Reform passed, President Obama issues an executive order barring federal funds from going towards abortion services with exceptions only for rape, incest, and imminent maternal mortality. The Nelson compromise was only slighter than the Stupak-Pitts amendment passed by the House.
• March 24:
  Juneau County, Wisconsin District Attorney Scott Southworth threatened to arrest and charge teachers for contributing to the delinquency of children if those teachers follow the sex-ed law which was signed by Gov. Jim Doyle which requires education on birth control use and STD prevention.
• April 4:
  Scott Roeder is sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 50 years.
• April 5:
  Thanks Abortion announces it is Under Construction and asks women to submit their positive abortion stories for posting.
• April 16:
  Thanks Abortion announces its official launch.
• April 19:
  Canada refuses to participate in abortion-funding in G8′s effort to improve maternal health in developing countries.
• May 9:
  The Pill turns 50. Happy anniversary. American Life League launches another “The Pill Kills Day.” In 2008, ALL claimed that the Pill kills babies (although it doesn’t,) in 09 they claimed it kills women (although it doesn’t,) and this year they claimed it kills the environment (although it doesn’t.)
• May 24:
  First abortion advertisement on UK television airs, after a study found that less than half of adults in the UK knew where to go for advice when facing an unplanned pregnancy and 76% believed that television adverts should be shown at appropriate times.  ”If you’re pregnant and not sure what to do, Marie Stopes International can help.”
• July 9:
  NBC airs episode of Friday Night Lights in which one young high school girl, Becky, has an abortion, a subject rarely addressed with follow through in television and movies.
• July 13th:
  Aaron Gouveia, who accompanied his wife who was having an abortion for a wanted but non-viable pregnancy, confronted anti-choice protesters harassing people outside the clinic. He caught the exchange on video and posted it on Daddy Files, The Good Men Project and YouTube. The video went viral appearing on Salon, Jezebel, BoingBoing, Rachel Maddow’s blog,  Slate, Current, and many prochoice blogs.
  
• July 14:
  Edwin A. Graning filed suit against Capital Area Rural Transportation System in Texas for firing him. For what? For refusing to do his job as a bus driver when his job required him to bring a passenger to Planned Parenthood. The The American Center for Law and Justice, a Christian-centric, anti-choice, far-right law firm founded by none other than Pat Robertson, takes Graning’s case.
• August 2:
  HBO airs documentary 12th and Deleware, created by the same team behind Jesus Camp. 12th Details the relationship between a woman’s health clinic called A Woman’s World and an anti-choice “Pregnancy Care Center,” and the struggles of women seeking accurate medical information and care.
• August 13:
  FDA approves Ella TM (ulipristal acetate,) a prescription-only emergency contraceptive which can prevent pregnancy up to five days after unprotected intercourse.
• September:
  In an astounding feat of mental acrobatics, Jim Garlow blames unemployment on abortion. Really.
• September 9:
  U.S. District Court Judge Phillips ruled Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell unconstitutional
• September 22:
  This year’s 40 Days for Harassment Life began.
• October 12:
  Judge Phillips granted an injunction ordering the Department of Defense to cease enforcement of DADT.
• October 19:
  Military recruiters are allowed to accept openly gay recruits for service.
• October 20:
  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals approves the Department of Justices request for a stay on Judge Phillips’ ruling. DADT was ended for just over a week.
• October 25:
  MSNBC airs documentary The Assassination of Dr. Tiller, narrorated by Rachel Maddow, investigating the people and groups responsible for the climate which lead to the 2009 murder of Dr. Tiller by Scott Roeder.
• October 26:
  Dr. Henry Morgentaler, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor and abortion provider, was selected by The Globe and Mail as one of 25 Transformational Canadians, for his service ensuring and protecting choice in Canada (Even when it got him incarcerated.)
• October 31:
  This year’s 40 days for Harassment Life ended. The next attack is scheduled for March 9, 2011.
• November 1:
  Plaintiffs in DADT case appealed to the Supreme Court to overrule the stay, but the USSC declined intervention.

• November 2:
  Coorado voters rejected PersonhoodCo’s so-called “personhood” amendment by a margin of 3 to 1 for the second time in as many election cycles. I still have my NO62 bumper-sticker. Mad props to Protect Families Protect Choices for their efforts in defeating this dangerous measure.
• November 8:
  Dallas-based Operation Rescue/Operation Save America director, Rev. Philip Benham was found guilty and sentenced to 2 years probation for residential picketing and two counts of stalking. His Old-West style “Wanted” posters, much like the ones that preceded the assassinations of abortion providers, as was the case with Dr. Tiller last year, are not protected free-speech.
• November 10:
  Saudi Arabia, a country in which women are not allowed to vote, wins seat on a UN board for women’s rights.
• November 15:
  Canada’s Carleton University bans anti-choice club Carleton Lifeline for being discriminatory, although they said they would reinstate club status and funding if the club would resubmit a non-discriminatory constitution. The club failed to do so by the deadline. The club’s vice president who, along with other club members, was charged in a trespassing incident, claims that the school’s anti-discrimination policy is discriminatory.
• November 30:
  House passes the Women Veterans Bill Of Rights, again declining to repeal the military’s ban on abortion services provided at military hospitals, even at the expense of the patient.
• December:
  Abortion.com’s fanpage of over 100,000 “likes” was suddenly removed by FaceBook without warning. Abortion.com has been unable to reach FaceBook to remedy the issue. There is now a FaceBook page Restore Abortion.com.
• December:
  Pennsylvania House Republican, Joe Pitts, of the Stupak-Pitts amendment, sponsors Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would cut off federal funds to organizations that provide abortions, even though federal funding for abortions is already blocked by the Hyde Amendement and the Health Care Reform law. The goal is to de-fund Planned Parenthood which receives government grants as a health-care non-profit and offers a wide-range of services to men and women on a sliding scale to accommodate low-income clients. Pitts’ rationale? Unemployment. WTF.
• December 6:
  A poll conducted by Democratic pollster Hart Research Associates indicates that most Americans don’t trust Sarah Palin on matters of abortion and birth control, and sex ed.
• December 9: Angie Jackson makes #6 in Top Tweets in Time Magazines Top 10 Everything in 2010.
• December 16: The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Ireland’s anti-abortion laws violated the human rights of a woman battling cancer who had no choice but to go abroad for an abortion. Abortion is illegal in Ireland, and carries the penalty of life in prison.  Sadly, the ruling did not end bans on abortion in Ireland.
• December 18:
  Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was finally repealed by congress.
• December 21:
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix revoked St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center’s Catholic status because last year the staff there performed an abortion on an 11-weeks pregnant woman to SAVE HER LIFE! Incidentally, is anyone besides me terrified by fact that these misogynist theocrats get to control hospitals?
• December 22:
  Canadian Parliament reject’s Bill C-510 “Roxanne’s Law” by a vote of 178 to 97. The bill was aimed at banning “coerced abortion,” (protections from which already exist) risking criminalization of abortion.
  President Obama signed legislation ending DADT.
• December 28:
  MTV to air special tackling abortion. No Easy Decision will follow a young women, including Markai from 16 and Pregnant, as they deals with ending their pregnancies.