GAP is back!

GAP is back - please stop by the Terps for Choice Table outside the Union to chat, vent, or ask for more information about abortion!

GAP: Myth vs. Fact

Myth 1. Women who have abortions suffer from “post-abortion” syndrome.

Fact: There is actually no such thing as “post-abortion” syndrome. Studies indicate that the rate of depression in women that have obtained abortions are the same as the rate of depression in all women in society. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depwomenknows.cfm

Myth 2. Supreme Court cases Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton gave women the right to abort through all nine months of pregnancy.

Fact: These cases actually give women the right to abort until the fetus is viable, that is until it can survive out of the uterus, typically the beginning of the third trimester. After the fetus reaches this viable state, which varies from pregnancy to pregnancy, severe restrictions are imposed to prevent abortion unless the mother’s life is in strict danger. It is important to note that the recent Federal Abortion Ban does not distinguish between pre-viability and post-viability abortions, or make an exception for the health of the mother.

Myth 3. There is a link between abortion and breast cancer.

Fact: A recently released (last week) Harvard study shows that there is absolutely no link between abortion and breast cancer. Their posters are hopelessly outdated. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/23/health/webmd/main 2718947.shtmal.

Myth 4. Fetuses are able to feel pain as early as 8-13 weeks after fertilization, when most abortions occur.

Fact: A JAMA study shows that fetal pain is unlikely prior to the third trimester, as the fetus at this point has not developed the physiological structures necessary to perceive pain.

http://www.jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/294/8/947

Myth 5: Abortion Is Genocide:

Fact: Genocide is officially defined as actions done with the intent to destroy a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. GAP applies this definition to abortion by stating that the national group in danger is “unwanted” unborn children. But because abortion is not an act done with the intention of destroying all “unwanted” unborn American children, and furthermore because it happens on an individual basis it is not genocide. There is no united group effort to destroy all “unwanted” children.

10 Year Study Disproves Abortion-Breast Cancer Link

This will be good with GAP coming up!

There is no evidence that having had an abortion increases the risk of
breast cancer," Thun tells WebMD. "This is a subject that has received
a lot of visibility; something that has been looked at repeatedly. There is strong scientific consensus this is the case."

Take Back The Night

A huge thank you to all of you who came out for Take Back The Night - it was a huge success and I think you should all be very proud of yourselves for helping to end violence against women.

Federal Abortion Ban Upheld by Supreme Court

• Today the Supreme Court upheld the Federal Abortion Ban, which includes no exception to protect a woman’s health. This decision represents a monumental departure from prior cases, and with it the Court today effectively eliminated one of Roe v. Wade’s core protections: that a woman’s health must always be paramount.

• Just seven years ago, the Court struck down a similar ban, with Justice O’Connor casting the decisive vote to protect a woman’s health and the right to choose. Today, President Bush’s two new appointees, Roberts and Alito, provided the votes that eviscerated Roe’s promise of protecting women’s health.

• The Federal Abortion Ban outlaws certain second-trimester abortions, and does not include any exception for when a woman’s health is threatened. In upholding the ban, the Supreme Court ignored three decades of precedent requiring protections for women’s health, and retreated from Roe’s requirement that politicians not endanger women’s health when regulating abortion.

• The Federal Abortion Ban, which the Bush Department of Justice is now empowered to enforce, trumps state laws and constitutions that offer greater protection for a woman’s right to choose than does the federal constitution. Solidly pro-choice states are now subject to an abortion restriction enacted by an anti-choice Congress.

• Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion upholding the ban, which was joined by Chief Justice Roberts, along with Justices Alito, Scalia, and Thomas. Scalia and Thomas wrote separately to re-state their longstanding position that Roe should be overturned in its entirety. Justice Ginsburg authored the dissenting opinion which was joined by Justices Breyer, Souter, and Stevens.

• Justice Ginsburg appropriately criticized the majority’s decision: “Today’s decision is alarming. It refuses to take Casey and Stenberg seriously. It tolerates, indeed applauds, federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). It blurs the line, firmly drawn in Casey between previability and postviability abortions and, for the first time since Roe, the Court blesses a prohibition with no exception safeguarding a woman’s health.”

• The ban imposes a criminal penalty of up to two years in prison for physicians who are convicted of violating the law. Doctors can now face federal prison time for providing what they conclude is the safest possible care for their patients.

TAKE BACK THE NIGHT!

Help end violence against women by coming out to TAKE BACK THE NIGHT on April 18th!
6:30 PM: Rally at Nyumburu Amphitheatre
7:15 PM: Twilight walk through College Park
8:00 PM: Candlelight Vigil and Open Mic Speakout

Please bring donations of unopened shampoos, conditioners, lotions, soaps, makeup, and canned goods to benefit local battered women’s shelters.

If you are interested in speaking at the open mic, please contact Terps for Choice at terpsforchoice@gmail.com.

Sexual Health Spring Fling a success!

The first annual Sexual Health Spring Fling was held on Wednesday, March 28th and was a huge success!
Students lined up to play the Penis Ring Toss, the Ovum Beanbag Toss, answer trivia questions, play the pick-a-duck STD game, and to Label the Labia. Those who were successful won cotton candy or popcorn. Students could also purchase t-shirts and goodie bags containing condoms, candy, and other treats.
We also raffled off three viberators and two packages of emergency contraception to five lucky students.
Stay tuned for pictures and information about Take Back The Night, coming up April 18th!

Meeting Tomorrow!

There will be a meeting tomorrow night at 7pm in the Edgar Allen Poe room. Heather Sullivan will be doing her Talking About Choice training, which promises to be interesting and informative.

Save the Dates!

Save the following dates for the spring semester!
February 27th - Heather Sullivan from NARAL Pro-Choice America will be doing a Talking About Choice training at our usual Tuesday meeting!
March 7th - Take Back The Night Coalition meeting - any student organizations interested in cosponsoring TBTN should attend this meeting.
March 28th - Sexual Health Spring Fling! This will be an awesome carnival event to promote safer sex on campus.
April 18th - Take Back The Night! Speak out against sexual violence.

Spring Semester Events!

Terps for Choice is Back!
We have met twice to begin planning our spring semester, and they have been two great meetings.
Upcoming Events:

• Look for a Terps for Choice table at the Vagina Monologues. If you haven't been to the Vagina Monologues yet, it is a fantastic show put on by a wonderful group of actresses, and the profits go to a great cause - ending sexual violence against women. The show will be February 14th and 15th in the Stamp Student Union and tickets are on sale at the Hoff theatre until then.
  
• Reproductive Rights Education Day! March 28th will be the annual Reproductive Rights Education Day, featuring information about safer sex and your reproductive rights.
• Take Back The Night! We, along with SAFER, will be Taking Back The Night in April this year. If your student organization is interested in cosponsoring the event, please contact terpsforchoice@gmail.com

Interesting Article

This is a great article about anti-choice women who obtain abortions.
"We have anti-choice women in for abortions all the time. Many of them are just naive and ignorant until they find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy. Many of them are not malicious. They just haven't given it the proper amount of thought until it completely affects them. They can be judgmental about their friends, family, and other women. Then suddenly they become pregnant. Suddenly they see the truth. That it should only be their own choice. Unfortunately, many also think that somehow they are different than everyone else and they deserve to have an abortion, while no one else does." (Physician, Washington State)

Medical Students for Choice Conference Opportunity

There is a regional Medical Students for Choice conference being held this weekend at the Johns Hopkins Medical School campus and students from NARAL campus groups around the state will be attending!
If you would like to table from 12-1 in Baltimore, please email us - terpsforchoice@gmail.com - and let us know!

Looking towards the spring!

Meeting times have moved to Tuesdays at 6:30 pm, hopefully the time shift won't bother too many of our members! Don't forget-even if you can't make it to meetings, there are plenty of other opportunities available.
Here is what we have planned for the spring:
1. T-Shirt sales (t-shirts will be available at our first meeting, other than that we will be selling them at a tba date and time, probably outside of the Union)
2. Film Viewing - we hope to show a mainstream film such as Dirty Dancing or Kinsey related to abortion or birth control in the Hoff this spring.
3. Film Series - we will be showing a trilogy of films about abortion in the past, present, and future. The series will begin in March as a part of the Terps for Choice Women's History Month celebration!
4. Take Back The Night! We will be planning an event for Take Back the Night this spring.
5. Reproductive Rights Education Day - This year's RRED will be much bigger than last year's. Hopefully we will get community businesses and other local and student organizations interested in the event and the day will run more like a health fair specifically focused on educating students about reproductive rights/health!
6. Crisis Pregnancy Centers legislation - more on this to come, but our key legislation issues will probably involve working on research about local CPCs to make sure they are imparting fair and unbiased information.

It's going to be a busy semester! In addition to our regular meetings, we hope to have two committees - one to work on the film series and one to work on TBTN and RRED. Since the committees will probably meet at a different time than our regular meeting times, it will be a great way for those who are not able to make those times to stay involved.

New Year, New Look!

Here are some T4C Evening of Chocolate Pictures for you to enjoy!

Happy New Year!

New year, new choices, new opportunities!
If you have been unable to join Terps for Choice so far, or just can't make our meetings - we are moving our meeting time for the spring semester, so if you want to leave a comment to say what times are best for you, we will try to get a consensus and schedule meetings when it is best for everyone!