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The Judy Blume Abortion War
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The godmother of tween literature set off a pre-Mother's Day battle between Planned Parenthood and right-to-life groups, with tactics borrowed from the 2008 campaign. Rebecca Knight goes to the front line of a fight about abortion—and money.
Judy Blume, the pioneer of pubescent ‘tween lit, is used to controversy. This week, however, she also got death threats. Famous for her angst-y young adult novels like Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Blubber, and Forever, Blume now finds herself smack in the middle of an online battle royale with Planned Parenthood on one side, and right-to-life groups on the other.
For the under-the-radar fight, which has raged over the past 48 hours, these two camps have adopted the tactics of modern political campaigns—both their fast-paced Internet pattern of thrust and parry, and their ability to turn every perceived slight into an urgent fundraising opportunity.
“We live in an ‘us against them’ world and these ‘crisis circumstances’ are a perfect way to raise money.”
It started innocuously enough. On Wednesday, Blume, a longtime public supporter of Planned Parenthood, sent an email to supporters on behalf of the group’s advocacy arm, soliciting donations to the organization in honor of Mother’s Day. The email, which went out with personalized subject lines—“Are You There, [Recipient's Name], It’s Me, Judy” —tells supporters that a charitable contribution to Planned Parenthood “is a gift any mother will appreciate.”
“No organization that I know of supports motherhood and all that it means more than Planned Parenthood,” the email reads. “Say thanks this Mother’s Day with a gift that honors her courage by making a donation to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in her name.”
The link between that most sacred of Hallmark holidays and an organization best known for "child prevention," including, at some clinics, abortion services and morning-after pills, proved powerful fodder for right-to-life groups, who quickly seized on the email. “Quite honestly it turns my stomach to think about celebrating Mother’s Day by giving to an organization that kills babies,” says Christine Schult, who wrote about Blume's email at Catholic Media Review, an online publication.“I think that someone who writes children’s books should not be promoting abortion.”
In an article posted on Lifenews.com, Steven Ertelt, the editor of the publication, went further, urging readers to complain to Blume via mail or her Web site. Apparently, his readers did so in droves. Blume has been "inundated" with hate mail, harassing phone calls,—and even death threats—from "anti-choice extremists,” according to Planned Parenthood.
Ertelt, for his part, says he skeptical about the death threats. “Making up supposed death threats and harassing calls is a common tactic from Planned Parenthood, who gets upset when they are deluged with complaints about what they do,” he says.
Not one to let a good controversy go to waste, Planned Parenthood doubled down on Thursday, sending out an email from the organization's president, Cecile Richards, using the attacks as another solicitation for donations. “Nothing—NOTHING—would make Judy happier than to know that the backlash has resulted in more support for Planned Parenthood and the women they serve." She adds: "We rarely respond to these outrageous attacks, but when it comes to Judy Blume, well, I can’t stand by and do nothing. I just can't."
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Rebecca Knight is a journalist in Boston who has written for The New York Times, Financial Times, and USA Today among other publications.
A recent leak from the White House let slip that Obama is searching for a Supreme Court justice who will overturn Roe v. Wade.
I guess it' s payback for all of the money and support he received from organized religion during his campaign.
Sure he is and sure it is.
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to overrule long-standing law that stops police from initiating questions unless a defendant's lawyer is present, another stark example of the White House seeking to limit rather than expand rights.
The administration's action - and several others - have disappointed civil rights and civil liberties groups that expected President Barack Obama to reverse the policies of his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, after the Democrat's call for change during the 2008 campaign.
Since taking office, Obama has drawn criticism for backing the continued imprisonment of enemy combatants in Afghanistan without trial, invoking the "state secrets" privilege to avoid releasing information in lawsuits and limiting the rights of prisoners to test genetic evidence used to convict them.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090423/ap_on_go_su_co/us_obama_defendants__ rights
ps some flack from a bunch of pro choicers can't compare to the $$$ and votes Obama gets from organized religion
Seriously, what's wrong with you? Did you think you would actually achieve spreading this obvious lie. Doofus.
What's your source, sonofloud? No one in the media has reported any such thing. Obama is very pro-choice, so why would he appoint a justice who will attempt to overturn Roe?
sonofloud does not seem to be aware of the recent flack over the National Day of Prayer, and how Obama handled that perfectly; in my opinion. He got off topic, way off.
Yeah, right. That was probably "leaked" on the Rush Limbaugh show. Obama will not be appointing a justice who will vote to overturn Roe.
Michelle would kick his ass if he did that :)
This whole thing makes me sick. Both sides are just a product of our outdated tribal "we must defeat them" mentality exploited for money and votes.
Before planned parenthood admits that there are plenty of proven drawbacks to abortion and many forms of contraception even if you attempt to discredit all moral and religious reasons they have no credibility in my mind.
On the other hand the right to life movement is so insanely ineffective and disorganized its pathetic. They have taken in billions of dollars and voted in huge masses for whatever politician pays them lip service. What do they have to show for it? Ok that gag order thing, which has had virtually no effect (according to a catholic bishop I can't name just now and many others). There hasn't even been VOTE in the senate in forever.
Seriously people how much work is it to draft a bill to ban, lets say, late term abortions with no strings attached (and therefore no easy excuses to vote against it). Like 2 days work for some helper dude.... maybe the first sponsor looks over it once. Pro-life haven't even reached that, this is the definition of ineffectiveness. Thats of course aside from the fact that (allegedly) pro-life politicians held absolute power a few years ago and did nothing. Wake up people they are using you!
(P.S. if anyone thinks they need my opinion on abortion in order to judge my post please ASK and don't assume. It should really have nothing to do with my beliefs on this subject whether my statements hold water)
...billions of dollars and voted in huge masses.. What do they have to show for it? It has already been decided. So why are they?
Dear everyone,
I think there is a gap in our (women and men's) knowledge about spiritual law-- which covers all religions, by the way! Unless a woman consciously understands the spiritual consequences of having an abortion, consequences that are not altered by her belief or disbelief in God's law, she cannot make a truly free choice. Therefore, the simple fact is that the people who are encouraging women to have an abortion are actually encouraging these women to violate God's law and thereby create spiritual consequences, or rather karma, that their souls might take several lifetimes to repay.
I firmly believe that if a woman truly understood the spiritual implications of abortion, she would most likely choose not to have an abortion. And I wish I had known about this when I was younger...then I would have made a better choice. Each child has a soul. Please consider the soul--and the destiny-- of that child. If you prevent that soul from being born, then you are preventing that soul from achieving her/his destiny on this planet, and your own soul will pay a HUGE karmic debt. If you're interested in more about this, you can look up the Hindu or Buddhist, Christian or Jewish response to abortion. And if you think "Thou shalt not kill" is out of date, it is not. You are responsible for every action you take in this life. Please, investigate the spiritual aspects of your actions. Thanks for listening. I hope this helps shed some light on the subject.
Although I am pro-choice, I find your posting very thoughtful and eloquent. I don't believe that an embryo has a soul, but you do get at a tremendously important issue: that the choice to have an abortion has spiritual consequences for anyone who is in the process of considering it and also after the event. If a woman doesn't feel her decision on some spiritual level, then she probably shouldn't be a mother to begin with.
Maryellen3: You misspoke: NOBODY is "encouraging" women to have abortions. There are groups and people working to ensure that everyone who wants or needs to have an abortion retains the right to have one. There is a HUGE difference.
Since you are sure you're on the morally correct side of this issue, I'm curious: what's your stance on birth control? I would think that, logically, you're all for birth control, which is the only way to prevent pregnancy. Even if you advocate abstinence for teens, or even unmarried people, (something that has been proven not to work), do you advocate for married people? I ask because some people who are against abortion for religious reasons are also against all forms of birth control, which I do not understand.
Also, related to this issue, what do you do to help the children whose mothers can't afford to have them? If you're against abortion, then you must have formulated a plan for taking care of them once they're here. What's going to happen to these children, so that they don't suffer?
My dear, there is no spirit involved in conceiving, growing and having a baby. That's just a bunch of bunk generated by powermongering politicians to misle people like you into supporting them - while they cheat on their wives and vote for wars that kill millions more than they save. These people, are not Pro-People, they are Pro-Power for themselves. Don't confuse Pro-Life with a loving attitude it just aint there. Don't confuse Pro-Choice with forced abortions - it just aint there.
Don't confuse your Religion with spirituality = that definitely aint there.
@estcruzer
I'm not sure anyone can be sure when saying there is or isn't a soul/spirit involved. Neither stance is really provable so anyone claiming either of them is more than just their own belief is just parking more argument.
The whole soul question is not the only question either, even though it tends to steal the spotlight most of the time. The feeling of guilt and unexplained depression and so on felt by many women who have had abortions, or mis carriages for that matter doesn't in my mind come from the womans surroundings and is therefore not a cultural/belief issue.
I think if were were talking about whether or not some kind of mandatory counseling before abortion should be done, where the woman can choose between a councilor talking from a religious or a biological standpoint about the drawbacks and alternatives to abortion then we would get a lot more consensus and lower the abortion rate considerably, on the other hand less people would receive money and power because of our endless fighting.
Or how about this - why not let women and their gynecologists make all of the relevant decisions on abortions?
Every woman should have the right to control her reproductive destiny - period!
And that means every woman should have the right to have an abortion!
please stop calling it the morning after pill - it's not just for drunken sluts, you know.
When people finally understand that being "pro choice" is NOT being pro abortion, maybe then "cooler heads" will prevail.
Exactly.
Hear, hear. NO ONE, NO ONE is pro abortion.
I believe we need a new lexicon for this.
Reproductive freedom, or reproductive justice is more accurate.
Love your username. I'm one who tends to see the glass half full, too. Although I think you are absolutely correct in your observation about what "pro choice" does not equate to, I don't think I share your optimism on this issue. The problem, IMO, is that only "cooler heads" are able/willing to make any effort whatsoever to try to "understand" the nuances of people's positions or the gross oversimplifications inherent in any labels. Also, there are too many "professional hot heads" around these days whose primary objective in life is to become rich (obscenely rich, I think) by fomenting irrational fears and misunderstandings. My faint optimism is challenged almost daily when I see how the "pro life" polemicists continue to rant and label those who see nuance and complexity in this issue as "pro abortion," or by logical extension, "pro death."
Your leading "When" speaks to your optimism. I suppose if I had written your comment I would have started with a more cynical "If." I hope you're right.
I think its stupid that few people want to find ways to meet in the middle. In Europe there seems to be less fighting and there are far fewer abortions.
In my town, where these two groups have been battling it out for nearly four decades, this kind of stuff is normal. It dates back to when we didn't have mandatory sex ed (prior to AIDS) and the RTLers hammered the school board with pickets of bloodied baby dolls on crosses (BBDOC) to stop sex ed from being taught.
The PPers then stared up in town, not only offering family planning, since the local health dept. was badgered by the same BBDOCers from doing so, but teaching sex ed in the summer to "mothers and daughters together," "fathers and daughters together," etc.
They'd hold these meetings in mainstream (Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal) Christian churches. The BBDOCers would be out in force there, too, marching in front of all these 'tweeners.
You think you got it bad where you live? Consider the nut-haven I live in.
BBDOC?
I can't wait to go out and buy Judy's books for my neice now. Oh and I am going by and making a donation to Planned Parenthood as well. They so more then "kill babies" for you uneducated people. They also promote safe sex by way of condoms. But I guess having a baby with no way to feed is better then prevention? The regilious nut jobs of the world crack me up. Don't have an abortion, have the baby and then let it suffer in 3rd world condidtions. Who cares if mom and baby have food or clothing or shelter.
Well said!!
Obviously, keeping the baby is not the only option.
So, what? Give the baby up? That makes me soooo mad! To what? A foster care system that doesn't even attempt to take care of the children in it? That's the alternative?! You know, I would listen about the abortion argument if people would tell me that all the children in this country are being taken care of & loved. Instead, we just don't want them aborted but then nobody stands up to do something about their QUALITY of life!!! Isn't that important? Are you out there helping out all the homeless children sleeping on our streets? Is there enough GOOD foster homes out there to take care of all of these innocent babies born in to a life they have no control over? Until that is the case, I will always be pro-choice! I think it is hypocritical to complain about the abortions & do nothing about the crisis all these children are living through!
I wish Congress and the Supreme Court would just stay the heck out of my uterus. Overwhelmingly organizations filled with men who will never face the question of whether to terminate a pregnancy or carry it to term...they need to butt out. And frankly, no one has any right to butt into what someone does with their uterus. Is that plain enough??
Agree! Like another reader said, pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion. Nobody wants to go through an abortion...but having a baby is not always the right thing for some people and it is up to them to make that decision...not someone else!
I'm so tired of Planned Parenthood being characterized by the right as "The Abortion Provider". Their mission is - and has been for 90 years - family PLANNING. If you plan your family you won't need an abortion, what is so hard about that?
PP has always provided free access to birth control to those who need it and education in its use. Any conservatives reading this who are offended by the notion of teaching a teenager how to use a condom should stop reading this right now and go read Meghan McCain's column "The GOP Doesn't Understand Sex". Get with it, people, if you are AGAINST abortion you should be FOR birth control.
I go back to the days when abortion was illegal, before Roe vs Wade. That did not stop abortions. Unwanted pregnancies were terminated in Mexico, Israel, Japan and Newark, NJ. The sad results, some times meant that some women could never have another child or did not survive the unclean abortion. It's a personal choice. And when one makes that choice not to have a child it is because that woman feels that she could not be a good mother at that point of her life. And when she feels that she can be a good mother, she'll have a child. As for the founder of Mother's Day, she was never a mother: didn't have the guts, and was too crazed at being a "good daughter." Right to Lifers do not have the right to tell women what to do with their bodies.
Remember too that the procedure was performed all over the United States for those who could afford had their ambiguous D&C, medical record documentation wasn't what it is today.
the religious right
they want to force every pregnant woman (even the raped) to bring a child into the world
but if the child is sick or starving they cry "tough luck"
gotta love these people who make no moral sense at all...oh yeah...it's just politics...they sucker good people into supporting the wealthy elites by pretending to be "moral"
When will we put as money and energy into the living "forgotten" children of our society?
Maybe, if these two groups could make this their "common ground" and work together to better the lives of all children, we all would benefit.....and millions of children would be saved.
I totally agree with this. The adoption and fostering programs need to be much more viable, and maybe you could convince women to bring their child to term if they knew they could put them in a system that would protect and place the child if they didn't have the ability or desire to be a mother. There are thousands of men and women that want to be parents and don't have the ability to get pregnant and don't have the huge outpouring of money needed to adopt OR if they do, things have fallen through for them.
There is no "common ground" here.
One side supports freedom for women.
The other side supports the tyranny of the uterus and the baby carriage.
There is no two groups, Planned Parenthood has been doing the right thing for 90 years. The right-to-lifers sprang from the brain of a Republican that need a very divisive issue to generate more "conservative" votes.
In fact trying to merge the two groups right now is like trying to merge the Democrats and Republicans righ now - there is no need, the RTL and Republican leadership are WRONG and Anti-American.
There are women who are impregnated under horrific circumstances....but the majority of abortions occur by women who made the "choice" to have sex. There are plenty of programs today to help single mothers--I was one of them. I also work at the welfare center now where I live, helping women get out of poverty. Aborting a child doesn't solve the thought process behind how she got pregnant in the first place. There are plenty of people who want to adopt, but restrictions in this country make it easier to go overseas--I am adopted, too.
So, I work the firing lines. I know first hand the difficulties, and yet I am still pro-life. If anything, I subscribe to "choice for all" including the unborn. I beleive in protecting all life, including that of the Planned Parenthood workers/doctors. Life is life. Let's cherish it. Let's look at the main reason why a woman would choose to kill her unborn child--let's change thought processes. PP isn't the only agency that teaches sex ed.
Fetuses do not THINK therefore they cannot make CHOICES!! There was no need for some outside group of people to help me with my "thought process" when I got pregnant. My birth control method failed. My thought process went something like like this: "Oh my, I am pregnant. I was taking birth control so I would not get pregnant. I do not want to have a baby. What should I do now? I will not have a baby. I will have an abortion." And, I did. No regrets.
I agree with the education portion of this message- we need to educate our children early on, before they can get pregnant and teach them about sex, babies, safe-sex, communication and choice.
Then those that "'choice' to have sex" can also choose to have babies - or not.
As an aside, my wife and I went through LaMaz (sp?) training before her first child (I say hers because she did almost all of the work up to and including birthing). Unfortunately it was after "we" were pregnant. It is an eye opener and should be mandatory education for our children prior to puberty - along with lots of other "adult" education such as how to take care of a crying baby, what family is really all about and lot's of other hard things that come along with having your first baby, if it's unplanned.
Maybe your welfare clinic could host these early year trainings since the schools are such chicken's about educating our kids?
Seems to me the argument would be moot if everybody would just accept a couple of points. First, that sex is part of being human. Second, that not all humans have education, information, and common sense.
Effective birth control is one way to eliminate unplanned pregnancies. Education about these methods will do even more.
But when an unplanned pregnancy occurs, it should be the woman's decision through the second trimester. Medical emergencies thereafter.
Keep in mind that not all abortions are for unplanned pregnancies, and not all are for single women.
Keep in mind that abortion is also a medical proceedure, necessary and life-saving.
Go out and read some gynceology/obstetrics textbooks, will you? And then talk to some children who were crack or meth babies, or who have fetal alcohol syndrome.
Then tell me what their mothers, who wanted and couldn't get abortions, should have done.
Shame on women on both sides of this issue who allow themselves to be pandered to by extremists - pro-choice and pro-life extremists! What ever happened to lucid, intelligent debate? It seems to me all anyone is capable of is knee-jerk emotional reactions! Embarassingly ridiculous!
I want a "Right to Life sur tax" on every person who supports right to life. The money would be used to pay the expenses, in full, of every "unwanted baby" in America through college if they desired to go that far. Any time more money is needed the "sur Tax" would automaticly increase. It's time "Right-to-Lifers" put their money where their mouth is.
"Surtax" is one word, Einstein.
Gosh! What better way to remember Mother's Day than to support the group who helped you kill your inconvenient baby!
Good to know Judy Blume is smart enough to support PP.
The trouble is that right-to-life zealots rarely pay a price for their actions. The sociopath who maintains a web site listing abortion providers as murderers and posts their home addresses, is protected by the First Amendment. Eric Rudolph, with the help of like-minded believers, lived comfortably for years before he was arrested for killing two people and injuring at least 150 others. The list could go on.
One the happiest moments of my life came several years ago when I was volunteering as an escort to patients of an abortion clinic. As I led a woman to the entrance, one of the habitual protesters struck her with the wooden handle of his gruesome sign. (You know, the torn & bleeding fetus picture.)
So I hit him in the throat. And again. And when his father tried to intervene. I hit him in the throat, too.Unhappily, they recovered.
Steven Ertelt doesn't believe Judy Blume received any death threats after he encouraged his lunatic acolytes to harass her.
Steven Ertelt is the perfect moral argument for abortion.
Yes, adoption programs need to be out there front and center. I think everyone on both sides means well. However, information is power and if we knew better, we would do better. If you use contraception because you do not want to bring a child into the world, that is fine, but to use abortion as contraception is another thing entirely.
Unless a woman consciously understands the spiritual consequences of having an abortion, consequences that are not altered by her belief or disbelief in God's law, she cannot make a truly free choice. Therefore, the simple fact is that the people who are encouraging women to have an abortion are actually encouraging these women to violate God's law and thereby create spiritual consequences, or rather karma, that their souls might take several lifetimes to repay. Lifetimes!!!!
I firmly believe that if a woman truly understood the spiritual implications of abortion, she would most likely choose not to have an abortion. Look up the the Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, and Jewish response to abortion. It is in all religions: thou shalt respect all life, and "Thou shalt not kill." Unfortunately, though someone may not want to be pregnant, there are consequences to their actions, and now there is another soul involved, a soul who has a destiny and purpose on earth, and who is here to fulfill that destiny, just like you. Thus, whether you believe it or not, you will pay a huge karmic debt if you choose to abort the child. If only I had known this!! I wish I had known the spiritual consequences of abortion when I was younger, and unfortunately did not make the right choice because I did not have all of the information. Now I do, and so I share what I know.
Gosh, I think I will send a donation to Planned Parenthood in Judy's name. I hadn't even heard about this fluff, but now that I have, the money will be sent. :o)
Good idea. Ditto.
Who'd ever believe that the controversy would rage on for so long. Death threat from Right to life groups have in the past turned out to be more than threats. They have a long, bloody history. Apparently, life ceases to have value as soon as you disagree with them. Years ago I was harassed by a right to life zealot who was passing out literature at a public function while neglecting two tired cranking crying toddlers. About a year later, we met again after she had allowed her flavor of the week boyfriend to hit her 5 year old in the head with an hammer fracturing his skull. I have long wonder how they reconcile their obsession with imposing their value onto others and their total lack of concern for these children after they are born.
Our forefathers created the separation between church and state for cause. It is frightening that we have allowed a political party to blur this line to such a great extent. I honor and respect the decision of the mother who chooses to continue the pregnancy if she is also prepared to take responsibility for the best interest of the child once it is born as I do the mother who chooses to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. I have a right to expose others to my values. I do not have the right to impose my value on them.
Very well said.
Repubilican party has all ways been the do as I say and not as I do party they will fight for the rights of the unborn but when the baby gets here they will not support the child with education,health care or any thing else, so what happens to these unwanted babys is not their concern they are pushed off on the nation as their problem like they are not part of the nation well not in till the next election
sonofloud, Planned Parenthood has never resorted to murder and assassination as Prolife has. That 'organization' founded by religious leaders will deny information to young people. Your mentality is still trapped in the Dark Ages.
For sure Planned parenthood never assassinated or murdered anyone, as Right to Lifers' have. Providing information and minding ones own business is not a crime.
I recently visited a Planned Parenthood facility to get an abortion, and while I'm not familiar with all the things the organization has done over the years the people who helped me were the most kind and caring healthcare professionals I have ever dealt with. Despite having been wholehearted pro choice for as long as I can remember, such politically jacked up phrases as "pro life" and "pro choice" faded away into the slop bucket of other euphimisms, and I realized that when the decision is yours it's far from simple, deeply personal, and one is likely to have regrets no matter which option one chooses. I saw a ultrasound of my never to be born child, and felt an instant connection. While I'm glad that my practical side won and I had an abortion, and I will always support a woman's right to abortion, I'm still going to wonder what this tiny bean shaped image in the ultrasound may have grown up to be. When I see my friends who have children that bring them so much joy I wonder if I made a terrible mistake, and aborted the greatest love I could ever know. So to those of you who also support abortion rights, please remember that while often overzealous, nasty, and downright wrong the pro life agenda is, such an opinion does not always come from a hateful heart. Sometimes it comes from a loving heart that simply doesn't understand that for some people having an abortion is the right thing to do. Chances are that they also come from the same people who would look down on a woman for recieving financial assistance from the government, so that they may feed and house thier child. To all you pro life, or anti choice, (whichever you prefer) people it's none of your business if a woman wants a perfectly legal medical procedure. I see your point but you are making a heartbreaking decision more painful, without getting any closer to achieving your goals. Abortion is hereto stay whether you like it or not, so take your life sized pictures of Jesus and get away from Planned Parenthood! To the woman protesting outside the facility where I recieved an abortion (and to all of her ideological clones), who told me I was going to hell and that she would pray for me in the same breath, I would like to say I don't want your prayers and when I see you in hell I hope we can continue this conversation.
Thank you.
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