abortion

If you are among the record numbers of people who tuned in to yesterday's Super Bowl, then you had the chance to see the controversial Focus on the Family ad starring Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam. And if the ad shocked you at all, it was probably due to how tame it turned out to be.

What are you waiting for? Get reading!

What's wrong with this picture? (Hint: it's not the competing fonts).

This still, taken from the trailer of the film South Dakota: A Woman's Right to Choose might be the first time I've seen "a woman's right to choose" accompanying an in utero photo. Those are both articles of rhetoric from opposing sides of the abortion debate. Could this be a movie aiming to "edify, inform and not take sides?" Yes, according to director Bruce Isacson. But after reading Robin Acabin's assessment of the movie in the L.A. Times ("Creators of abortion film say they want honest debate"), I'm going to go ahead and say that it's not only unbalanced, but entirely pro-life.

On Saturday night the House of Representatives narrowly passed a health-care reform bill, changing the way Americans will access health insurance. Included in the bill was an amendment from Bart Stupak (D-MI), which "prohibits federal funds for abortion services in the public option." Women seeking insurance coverage for abortions must seek a plan outside the enrolled companies. Sixty-Four Democrats voted to include the amendment.

While the bill is heralded as the biggest step in health care reform since the New Deal, the Stupak amendment serves as a monumental setback for reproductive justice.

Read on for thoughts from other bloggers, but please share your thoughts on the bill, the amendment, and the future of health care below.

Irene Vilar’s extraordinary and incendiary new memoir, Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict, is a potential launching pad for a discussion about abortion that is more personal than political. Having terminated fifteen pregnancies in sixteen years, Vilar turns her experiences into a reminder that the complexity of abortion extends beyond the scientific and political arenas.

Here's how I spent mine:
- Being disappointed upon discovering it wasn't Pro-Cupcake Life Day
- Eating leftover cupcakes from Bitch's clothing swap/supporting a woman's right to choose
- WONDERING WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE

The Cupcakes for Life Campaign is as crazy as it sounds: literally shoving anti-choice rhetoric down kids's throats.

Ah, the weekend. A time to unwind and have some fun. This particular weekend, I am in New York for my friends' wedding . And you know what the best way to celebrate a wedding (or any special occasion, really) is, don't you? With LOLz, of course!!!

The first special occasion we're celebrating with LOLz this week is Senator Orrin Hatch's abortion amendments were summarily rejected. He wanted to make sure that "abortions could not be covered by any insurance offered through the planned health-insurance exchanges" and that women who wanted their insurance plans to cover abortions would have to buy additional abortion plans. You know, because everyone likes to plan out their abortions years in advance. At any rate, Hatch was shut down, and this puppeh is pretty happy about it:



As you may know, here at Bitch we're also celebrating our new iTunes channel. Subscribe today! These dogs already did, and look how much fun they're having:



Of course, LOLz aren't just good for celebrating special occasions. They are also good for making fun of things you hate. We hate Men's News Daily because they are total a-holes. (For evidence of said a-hole-ishness, check out this article on why feminists are to blame for unfair rape laws. Yikes.) This cat hates Men's News Daily, too:



So there you have it, some LOLz to brighten your weekend. If you ever feel like making a few feminizt LOLz of your own (and we know you will), visit the I Can Has Cheezburger? LOL Builder and send 'em our way. Kthxbai.

Quiz: Is this still from...
a) Jenny Slate's new short Eff-You you Effing Eff-wad?
b) a promo from the 2009 Quirkfest Filmfest?
or c) Juno II: All Grown Up?

It's actually from Obvious Child, a short film by Gillian Robespierre which combines a little of all of the above, but with one major difference: it's a funny, well-made movie that deals with unplanned pregnancy. (Spoiler alert: she gets an abortion and doesn't think twice about it!) Read on for the full film!

The healthcare debate this week has certainly been a lot of fingerpointing. In an effort to quash false rumors surrounding Obama's new healthcare plan (please let's never discuss the phrase "death panels" again), the White House went so far as to launch a "reality check" website. But one issue that's missing from the White House site is abortion. Despite the lack of an official White House debunk, the public dialogue on abortion has been just as packed with misinformation and exaggeration as the rest of the national conversation about healthcare reform.

Conservative websites are running with the National Right to Life group's headline that healthcare reform will be biggest expansion of abortion rights since Roe v. Wade. "Condition Red!" flashes the National Right to Life website.

That idea is aided by misleading statements from mainstream politicians. Representative John Boehner (R-Ohio) penned a piece in the National Review spelling out his take on Obama's healthcare plan:

"Fact: The bill as currently written will allow the federal government to classify abortion as an "essential benefit" — a health-care right that would be guaranteed to all Americans. This will make it illegal for health-care providers nationwide — even Catholic and religious-based hospitals with missions that reflect a fundamental moral objection to the killing of the unborn — to provide anything less than abortion on demand for anyone who seeks it."

But when the Denver Post ran a health care fact check, they showed that Boehner's "fact" is actually false. The Post explains that Obama's current health care plan does not override the federal law that bans Medicaid from paying for abortions except in cases involving rape, incest or when the mother's life is in danger. An amendment pushed by Lois Capps (D-CA) allows public and private healthcare plans to cover abortions in other cases, but they can't use federal dollars.