Fake abortion clinics?!

First of all, I apologize for neglecting my blog for the past few days. Michael and I are still pretty busy with moving and related chores. Once we have the house more or less looking the way we want it, I plan on posting before-and-after pictures, so you can see why I've been so busy with it!

And now, for today's news:

Liberal and pro-choice women may know of the recent efforts of the pro-life camp to encroach on women's reproductive rights. In South Dakota they're attempting to undermine Roe v. Wade by passing a law banning abortion, and in my home state, Colorado, we can't get a law passed to allow emergency contraceptives to be more easily obtained - perhaps a deliberate attempt to prolong the race against time, and keep more women from being able to take EC in time?

The pro-life activists have plenty more dirty tricks up their sleeves, it seems. Planned Parenthood recently sent an announcement out on the fake abortion "clinics" that have been set up across the nation to bully women into carrying an unwanted child. These fake clinics may be called "crisis pregnancy centers," but despite their misleading names, they are not interested in the welfare of the woman: their sole purpose is to convince her to give up her right to choose when and with whom she has her children. They have been known to go so far as to make harassing phone calls and visits to women who have unwittingly visited their center instead of a real abortion clinic, even calling the police and making false claims. Each of these attempts creates a road block to the woman who wants to have an abortion, and while they are not permanent road blocks, they make it far more difficult and upsetting than it should be for a woman to exercise her right to choose.

Even worse, the government is paying these centers to harass women! It absolutely infuriates me that my tax dollars are enabling these centers to masquerade as abortion clinics in order to get their hands on people's personal information! If it was for any other purpose - racial hatred, for example, or identity theft - our government would put a stop to it, yet because it's for the purpose of coercing women into giving birth, they pay for it?!

If this makes you mad, you're not alone - but you can help. Planned Parenthood has set up a form letter that concerned citizens can use to send a letter to their representative, urging that he or she support the bill designed to put a stop to fake abortion clinics. If you're a writer, you can also use your talent to help spread the news online.

I hope you'll take action - what are we writers for, if not to make our voices heard?