Oh oh: Mea culpa, mea culpa! I have to retract something I said here, regarding the Sens Foundation "Better Halves" fundraiser, "First Place Pregnancy Centre" and its status as a registered charity. It was originally thought that FPPC wasn't a registered charity, since that's what Revenue Canada told Heather Mallick. However, it turns out that while FPPC isn't registered under that name, it is a registered charity under its real (but for some reason, disguised) name, "Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Ottawa". Would it be rude to wonder why they feel compelled to disguise their real name? Well, that's another post for another day. So the Sens Foundation can relax: they're not doing anything that contravenes tax law. They're just supporting a group whose sole purpose is to coerce women into becoming unwilling Fetal Support Systems. No problem, no problem at all... well, unless you're stuck on that old "womens' right to self-determination" thing.
Okay, as a proud and beleaguered member of Leafs Nation I expect to take a beating on the ice from the dastardly Ottawa Senators occasionally. But I don't expect them (or their better halves) to throw their support behind groups that would undermine their female fans' and foes' reproductive freedom. So when the Sens' wives and girlfriends launched a fundraiser this week to benefit some good causes, it seemed like a great idea... until Birth Pangs News revealed that one of those causes was the cause of fetus fetishizing: a "pregnancy centre".
"Pregnancy Centre" sounds benign enough, like maybe it's a Planned Parenthood-type organization where one could get birth control, assistance with pre-natal health care, or if the pregnancy was caused by a shot that slipped past the goalie, an abortion. The reality is "Pregnancy Centres" only target pregnant women who've already made their decision to become un-pregnant, for the express purpose of talking them out of it. They do so by disseminating disinformation and outright lies in order to coerce women who've made their choice into consenting to be unwilling incubators.
"Ottawa, November 27, 2007 – On Monday, November 26, 2007 the wives and girlfriends of the Ottawa Senators – the Sens “Better Halves” – launched a holiday fundraising campaign. One of the organizations set to benefit from the money raised is the First Place Pregnancy Centre, an organization in Ottawa that claims to “want you to be empowered to make your choice”, but which will not provide women facing an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy with referrals to abortion services. As a pro-choice organization, Planned Parenthood Ottawa is concerned that generous Senators fans contributing to this fundraising campaign may do so without knowing that a portion of their donations is going to support an anti-choice organization."
Well, that should be a Lifetime Penalty for Interference... in the lives of women! You might even think about shooting the Sens an email asking them to crosscheck those nefarious fetus fetishists out of the fundraiser and right into the sin bin!
UPDATE: Via Beijing York in the comments: The plot thickens. It seems "First Pregnancy Centre" is being dishonest with the Senators organization on more than one level. According to Revenue Canada and the Sens registered charity arm, only registered charities qualify for such donations -- no "special interest" groups allowed. Guess which one of these "First Pregnancy Centre" is -- hint: it's not a registered charity. Therefore the Sens would be breaking Revenue Canada's charity rules, and even their own charity rules, if they gave donations to FPC. Heather Mallick has the goods.
