"Stop My Abortion" Site Was A Hoax

Via the Friendly Atheist:

Remember the anonymous woman who said she would go ahead with her planned abortion unless pro-lifers raised $1 million (which she said would be put in a trust fund for the child)? Turns out it was a hoax. A great big publicity stunt. The website ProLifeAntiWoman.com no longer has the woman’s plea. It’s now a website promoting the novel Strange Animals by Chad Kultgen. (The text that went viral was an excerpt from the book, it says.) The campaign may have backfired, though. The book was just released today by publishers Harper Perennial, and every review on Amazon so far has given it a 1-star rating.

Some of you called this.

Money Beg Of The Day

From the site:

I am a twenty-six-year-old female and I am currently 7 weeks pregnant. I have every intention of having an abortion, but I'm giving you a chance to stop it. I'm enrolled in a graduate program in a state that very recently passed extremely restrictive abortion laws that impose unnecessary waiting time to get an abortion and attempt to enforce rules that bypass the doctor/patient privacy privilege. I now feel more comfortable traveling to my home state to get an abortion than I do trying to get one here.

On July 7th I will start accepting donations on this page. I will accept donations for 72 hours, the same amount of time this state currently requires a woman to wait after a consultation with a doctor until she can have an abortion. If one million dollars is raised in those 72 hours then I'll have the baby, give it up for adoption and every cent of that one million dollars will be put in a trust fund for the child, which he or she will have access to when they turn 21.

I'll keep none of the money for myself so if I am to be vilified in this process, it can't be for that. If the one million dollar goal is not met by the end of those 72 hours, any and all donations received will be refunded and I will have an abortion that I have already scheduled for July 10th in my home state. Mathematically this means that every one of the 157 million Americans that identify as pro-life needs to donate less than one cent to stop this abortion.

The Friendly Atheist isn't impressed:

We talk about the importance of choice because pregnancy is so personal and women should have the right to make that decision on their own. What they do with their bodies shouldn’t be up to politicians — much less strangers with deep wallets. By forcing others to decide the fate of the fetus, she’s giving up the very thing we fight so hard to protect. If she wants an abortion, she should have one. And I’m glad she’s drawing attention to the myriad obstacles conservatives throw along that path — 72-hour waiting periods, unnecessary ultrasounds, abortion clinics being shut down for no good reason — but I’m guessing this stunt will just backfire, doing even more damage to our shared cause.

AFA Money Begs For DC Radio Station

Anti-Abortion Nutter Randall Terry: Send Me $200K To Protect Me From Muslims

Infamous anti-abortion activist Randall Terry claims have gotten death threats sent by somebody in a Texas town not far from the Geller shooting. "Coincidence? God knows." Terry would very much like it if people would send him $200,000 to protect his family from these Muslims. Oh, and also so he can finish his anti-Muslim movie. Coincidence? God knows.

RELATED: Randall Terry advocates for the criminalization of all forms of birth control. In 2004 his adopted son Jamiel came out in an Out Magazine essay, prompting Terry to blame Jamiel's gayness on his birth parents. Jamiel died in a car accident in 2011. One of Terry's daughters has converted to Islam and another was reportedly banned from his home after two pregnancies before the age of 18. Terry himself was thrown out his longtime church after divorcing his wife of 19 years and marrying his 25 year-old assistant. He ran for president in 2012 and was awarded two convention delegates after winning eleven Oklahoma counties in the Democratic primary.

100 "Scholars" To SCOTUS: Same-Sex Marriage Will Increase Abortion Rate

Over 100 alleged scholars have a filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in which they argue that the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage will lead to an increase in the abortion rate. The brief's author writes for the Heritage Foundation:

A reduction in the opposite-sex marriage rate means an increase in the percentage of women who are unmarried and who, according to all available data, have much higher abortion rates than married women. And based on past experience, institutionalizing same-sex marriage poses an enormous risk of reduced opposite-sex marriage rates. As the amicus brief explains in detail, redefining marriage in genderless terms—which is legally necessary to permit marriage by same-sex couples—undermines the existing social norms of marriage in ways that are likely over time to reduce opposite-sex marriage rates. For example, an “any-two-adults” model of marriage implicitly tells men (and women) that a child doesn’t need a father (or mother), thereby weakening the norm of gender-diverse parenting. Other norms, such as the value of biological bonding, partner exclusivity, and reproductive postponement until marriage, will likewise crumble. It is thus not surprising that, even in the short time that same-sex marriage has been officially recognized in some states at home and abroad, man-woman marriage rates have declined—even as marriage rates in other jurisdictions have remained relatively stable.

The brief, which cites such authorities as anti-gay crackpot Jennifer Roback Morse and discredited researcher Mark Regnerus, goes on at great length on the divorce and marriage rates in states that have legalized same-sex marriage. Many of the brief's signees are professors at religious universities.

Fox News Hires Alveda King

Fox News president Roger Ailes today announced the hiring of viciously anti-gay activist Alveda King.

“Alveda has brilliantly carried the legacy of the King family to the next generation and has been a source of inspiration for many Americans," Ailes said in making the announcement. "Her passion and mission for social change will be a valuable contribution to our network.” King is a prominent anti-abortion activist and serves as director of African-American outreach at Priests for Life. She has also courted controversy by speaking out against LGBT rights, proclaiming in 1998 that "God hates homosexuality" and comparing gay marriage to genocide in a 2010 speech.

Alveda King has been married three times and has had three abortions, but she's somehow against same-sex marriage and reproductive rights. She also bandies herself as Dr. Alveda King, even though hers is merely an honorary degree from a tiny Catholic school in rural New Hampshire. King has participated in many anti-LGBT campaigns, perhaps most notably when she robocalled against same-sex marriage for a Maryland hate group.

Headline Of The Day

Via the Associated Press:

An Idaho lawmaker received a brief lesson on female anatomy after asking if a woman can swallow a small camera for doctors to conduct a remote gynecological exam. The question Monday from Republican Rep. Vito Barbieri came as the House State Affairs Committee heard nearly three hours of testimony on a bill that would ban doctors from prescribing abortion-inducing medication through telemedicine. Dr. Julie Madsen was testifying in opposition to the bill when Barbieri asked the question. Madsen replied that would be impossible because swallowed pills do not end up in the vagina. The committee approved the bill 13-4 on a party-line vote. Barbieri, who sits on the board of a crisis pregnancy center in northern Idaho, voted in favor of the legislation.

RELATED: Last month Barbieri voted against Idaho's "add the four words" bill.

House Votes To Restrict Abortion Funding Despite Promise Of White House Veto

Via the Associated Press:

Republicans have muscled legislation through the House tightening federal restrictions on abortions, as thousands of abortion foes staged their annual protest march just down the street. The House approved the broadened abortion curbs by a near party-line 242-179 vote. The White House warned that President Barack Obama would veto the measure, all but ensuring that it would never become law. GOP leaders hurriedly pushed the bill onto the House floor hours after abruptly abandoning another bill banning most late-term abortions. They dropped that legislation after a rebellion led by female Republican lawmakers left them short of votes. The approved bill would permanently bar federal funds for any abortion coverage and block tax credits for many people and businesses buying health insurance that covers abortions. That would exceed current abortion restrictions.

The Family Research Council and other Christian groups are doing self-congratulatory backflips on Twitter even though the bill will never become law.

TEXAS: Anti-Gay AG Greg Abbott Beats Wendy Davis In Gubernatorial Race

Davis' support for abortion rights made her public enemy #1 in Teabagistan.  Celebrations are erupting on Twitter.

Robertson: For Halloween Give Satan A Black Eye For Legalizing Abortion

NEW YORK CITY: Red-Caped Catholic Loons Demonstrate On Fifth Avenue

TLC Blurs Duggars' Roe V Wade Shirts

The maker of an anti-abortion shirt is angry with TLC for blurring his message during this week's episode of 19 Kids And Counting.

Knowing how dedicated to the pro-life cause the Duggars are, I expected to see the shirts many times on their show. It really amazes me that TLC would censor this; it’s not like people don’t know the Duggar’s beliefs. Knowing that the shirt appeared in the previous episode without being blurred, I am wondering if they received complaints or negative feedback after it aired. I say we show TLC that there is so much more support for the Duggars wearing these shirts than there are complaints. I hope everyone reading this will tweet and e-mail TLC and let them know how disappointed you are that they would blur out this pro-life message.

The shirt reads: "I survived Roe V Wade, Roe V Wade will not survive me."

Tony Perkins Cheers Abortion Ruling

"All nine justices, including the President’s prodigies, agreed that creating an invisible barrier between pro-lifers and clinic entrances was a ridiculous infringement on free speech rights. In a state like Massachusetts, plenty of liberals objected to the practice and worked to pass a law that makes it a crime to knowingly stand on a 'public way or sidewalk' within 35 feet of an entrance or driveway to any place, other than a hospital, where abortions are performed. Massachusetts leaders claimed their law furthered public safety and order -- but the real aim was restricting pro-life speech. A transparent ploy the justices saw right through. Although the decision is narrower than we would have liked, the Court did agree that the Massachusetts law violated the First Amendment." - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, via email.

SCOTUS Rules Unanimously: Abortion Protesters Can Get Right In Your Face

Via Think Progress:

The Supreme Court unanimously struck down Massachusetts’ abortion buffer zone law on Thursday, ruling in favor of anti-choice protesters who argued that being required to stay 35 feet away from clinic entrances is a violation of their freedom of speech. The decision rolls back a proactive policy intended to safeguard women’s access to reproductive health care in the face of persistent harassment and intimidation from abortion opponents.

“By its very terms, the Act restricts access to ‘public way[s]‘ and ‘sidewalk[s],’ places that have traditionally been open for speech ac­tivities and that the Court has accordingly labeled ‘traditional public fora,’ ” the opinion states. “The buffer zones burden substantially more speech than necessary to achieve the Commonwealth’s asserted interests.”

Reproductive rights advocates had been hoping the justices would uphold the policy, which they say has gone a long way to ensure that woman can safely enter abortion clinics. More than 30 pro-choice organizations filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to rule in favor of Massachusetts’ buffer zone, which was approved in response to a mass shooting at several of the state’s abortion clinics.

Christianist groups are celebrating on Twitter. The above-linked article wryly notes that protesters are not permitted on the Supreme Court's 252-by-98 foot plaza. 

NEVADA: State GOP Drops Opposition To Gay Marriage And Abortion

Via the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Amid raucous debate, Nevada Republican Party conventioneers on Saturday stripped opposition to gay marriage and abortion from the party platform and endorsed Gov. Brian Sandoval for governor in the June 10 primary despite misgivings by conservatives, his criticism of the process and his absence from the meeting. By a show of hands, convention-goers adopted the platform as proposed by a separate committee without the two planks on marriage and abortion, following the Clark County GOP’s lead in removing hot-button social issues from the party’s statement of its principles. Some 520 delegates attended the convention, but less than half were present when the platform was adopted at about 7:30 p.m. Little debate preceded the vote, a far contrast to earlier in day. State party Chairman Michael McDonald said it was a successful convention at the end of the day. “I think it was about inclusion, not exclusion,” McDonald said, referring to the platform. “This is where the party is going.”

Log Cabin Republicans react via press release:

"The state party has made it clear that they want a 'bigger tent' and has welcomed us into it," said Ed Williams, President of Log Cabin Republicans of Nevada and a delegate at the convention. "Today's historic vote positions the Log Cabin Republicans of Nevada and our allies to be even more effective in demonstrating that the Republican Party is the party of limited government, personal responsibility and individual liberty." Log Cabin Republicans National Executive Director Gregory T. Angelo added: "Once again, our local Log Cabin Republicans members have made a critical difference pushing the GOP toward the right side of history by going where others fear to tread -- or cannot tread because of their party affiliation. The Republican Party is at a crossroads: in a year where the Massachusetts GOP rolled back the clock and added divisive social issues to its platform, the state Republican Party responsible for nominating Sharron Angle in 2010 seems to have finally learned to focus on the issues that truly matter to voters, which will lead to massive Republican wins at the ballot box this fall"

WASHINGTON: Abortion Clinic Arsonist Charged With Child Molestation

A man convicted of firebombing abortion clinics in the 1980s has been charged with molesting an eleven year-old girl.

At least eight people identified Curtis Anton Beseda as the man seen in video surveillance released to the media on Tuesday. Prosecutors on Friday charged Beseda, 58, with first-degree child molestation in connection with the groping.A judge issued a $250,000 arrest warrant for Beseda. Police say he hasn’t returned to his Snohomish apartment in a few days. His vehicle also is missing. Beseda became a convicted martyr for the anti-abortion movement in the 1980s after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for arsons at abortion clinics.

Beseda has long been a hero to the anti-abortion movement.

Beseda was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the 1980s for arsons at abortion clinics which made him a martyr for the anti-chice movement. In fact, Beseda was honored at a national banquet in 1995. When Beseda sent a letter from prison, it was read at the banquet. The letter urged support for Shelly Shannon, an Oregon woman who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for shooting an abortion doctor in Kansas in 1993, as well as setting fire to six abortion clinics.

An interesting story about Beseda's old crimes is here. (Tipped by JMG reader Sarah)

Bristol Palin Attacks Wendy Davis

"Gosh, children are sooo inconvenient, huh? I’m glad my mother didn’t put motherhood on the shelf when she was elected to City Council, then became our mayor, then Governor. Oh sorry – I mentioned my mother… Have you liberals gone into a tail spin of hate already? Did I lose you? I know you would rather think about Wendy Davis, so let’s get back to her. She’s more your type of woman. She left her kid, husband, made it into a false 'made-for-tv-movie-type-tale' and then demanded that Texans have the right to kill babies. That’s the woman you libs can really get behind! Let me be clear. I think it’d be so nice to have a husband take care of me, and my son, so I could attend school. (Any school — let alone, Harvard!) But the way Wendy Davis did it – by getting married and leaving him as soon as the ink dried on his last check – is downright pathetic. Plus, it perfectly shows that – no matter what they say – feminism is a farce. If you truly believe in strong, independent women, you’d be a conservative." - Failed reality show contestant Bristol Palin, writing for Patheos. (Tipped by JMG reader Dan)

At Yesterday's DC Anti-Abortion March

Note the camouflage cap on the fetus. Source.

Boehner Speaks At DC March To Ban Abortion, Pope Tweets Support

Politico reports:

Every January for the past 40 years, a large group of anti-abortion advocates has gathered on the National Mall and then marched to the Supreme Court to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Organizers say their participants in the past few years have numbered from 200,000 to 400,000, a large part of whom are young people, and yet they remain perplexed why one of the largest demonstrations in Washington, D.C., gets little of the attention they feel it is due. “It is sort of frustrating when you’re downtown freezing your tail off with hundreds of thousands of people, it’s the biggest you can imagine you’ve ever taken part in, and you go home and you watch the news or you pick up the paper and … you’re lucky if you get on the news 20 seconds of coverage,” said Kevin Bohli, director of youth outreach for the Catholic Diocese of Arlington. “You might have 10 people camped out in a park for Occupy getting news for weeks on end, but hundreds of thousands of people from all of the nation coming together and almost nothing.”

The wind chill in DC today is minus 8.

AUSTRALIA: Abortion Comment By Dan Savage Ignites Internet Firestorm

For several years the Sydney Opera House has hosted a forum titled the Festival Of Dangerous Ideas, where pundits and personalities like (the late) Christopher Hitchens, Julian Assange, and Alan Dershowitz have appeared. At this year's event, Savage was asked to present a "dangerous idea." His response:

"Population control: there's too many goddamn people on the planet. You know, I'm pro-choice, I believe that women should have a right to control their bodies. Sometimes in my darker moments, I'm anti-choice. I think abortion should be mandatory for about 30 years."

Savage's response is blowing up on Twitter this afternoon and is being posted across the wingnut-o-sphere. Pat Buchanan's biographer Tim Stanley goes off at Britain's Telegraph:

In retrospect, Savage might try to insist that he was only joking but there's no smile on his face and the point seems quite seriously made. It's also not funny. Had he said that old people should be exterminated to bring the numbers down, his career might be over. Because he said something similar about abortion, he'll probably be defended by radical pro-choicers. But what he's basically saying here is that women should be compelled to abort their children so that there are less people around to annoy Dan Savage. Of course, they already do this in China. The irony is that prior to this comment Savage and Hitchens were arguing about who was the more authoritarian: religious conservatives or free-loving liberals. With this statement on abortion, Savage answers his own question. In a way that should make both Left and Right shudder.

As you'll see in the clip, Savage was joking. And the audience did laugh.