From the horse's errr... mouth

HAHAHAHAHA! Oh, yes. Hey, remember "the Pill Kills"? Sure you do, because I never stop mining the thing, rich motherlode of comedy gold that it be; sorry peeps, but it's just too funny. And now, I am sad to report, the backpedaling has begun.

After all the fainting, pearl-cluthing and shrieking about "chemical abortions" and "9-day-old babies" (meaning 9-day-old microscopic blastocysts) done by Jill Stanek, SUZANNE and that other useless douche, following the June 7th protest Scott Klusendorf of the "Life Training Institute" said quotes an article by "Serge" (Dr. Rich Poupard) that says:

"Sorry, Jill, you are simply wrong here."

He's one of theirs, and even he doesn't believe it. B-b-but w-w-whaaat HUH!??

"I've been interested in this topic for a number of years, and have reviewed much of the medical literature on the topic. I often joke that I am probably the only oral and maxillofacial surgeon who subscribes to the journal Contraception, which I do in order to have electronic access to all of their back issues. In short, I have done my homework here, and can say without a doubt that Jill has seriously overstated the evidence we have for a post-fertilization effect from OCs."

He The Poupard article quoted by Klusenorf goes on to explain some of the (duh hello, obvious) reasons that the Pill can't be said to cause chemical abortions, wags a finger and winds things up:

"There is a real controversy regarding this issue, and science does not have all of the answers. Let me state this plainly: anyone who believes they know absolutely that OCs cause endometrial changes that result in "chemical abortions" is simply wrong. They don't. I don't know for sure either. Cool web sites and T-shirts do nothing to change this fact. Pro-lifers who overstate this case are acting very irresponsibly."

Irresponsible fetus fetishists, spreading disinformation: that sound about right to you? Fuckin' A damn straight it does, because we already know that's just what they do. It's interesting to note that when it comes to disinformation, this Scott guy knows whereof he speaks. The purpose of his "Life Institute", which is supported by a motley fundamentalist crew including the ubiquitous Focus on the Family, is to teach anti-choicers how to get their message across:

"Scott Klusendorf, LTI president, travels throughout the United States and Canada training pro-life advocates to persuasively defend their views in the public square. He contends that the pro-life message can compete in the marketplace of ideas if properly understood and properly articulated."

Basically a fetus fetishizing spin doctor, in other words, and even he couldn't work with this "Pill Kills" thing (as indicated by his agreement with the article he posted)*. To anyone with a functioning brainstem this would be proof positive that "the Pill Kills" is the kind of bullshit that can't be dressed up as anything but -- well, horseshit at best. Hey, look in the comments at the LTI blogpost -- there's Granny Grump, aka Crazy Christina of the 30-day prayer assault, and even that whackadoo isn't buying it. But don't be surprised if a few voices in the wilderness dig in their heels and insist on continuing along this path... and I'll be right behind them, cheering them on.

*UPDATE (June 19): Scott dropped by the combox to inform me that the article I quote and link to wasn't actually written by him, but rather by someone named "Serge" (Dr. Rich Poupard). Scott reproduced it as an opinion he concurs with. I stand corrected, and edited as indicated.

Yes!!!

Culture of Deathbloggers alert! On my nightly cruise by FD (my #1 source for up-to-the-minute wingnuttery), I see there are plans afoot for some anti-Pill blog-bursting action this weekend! Woohoo!!!

"How about a blog-burst?" Yeah, how about one? Do it doit doitdoitdoit!!!

Let's hope there are lots of extremely alarmist posts, chock-full of "credible" evidence from *reliable* sources like lifesite (HAHAHAHAHA!) and Pharmacists/Physicians/Ob-gyns/Butchers/Bakers and Candlestick makers "for Life". Let's have bombast! Let's have diatribes! Let's have "SHRIEEEEEEK!" And best of all...

...let's sit back, munch popcorn and watch while anti-choicers show the world what this whole "pro-life" thang is really all about. As the brilliant PZ Meyers said a couple of years back, winding up a post about Plan B contraception:

"The ugly intent of the right wing fundies is unmasked right here, with no phony piety to hide their goals. They want the power to regulate a woman's physiology against her will.

What contraceptive method do you use? If it's not abstinence, you ought to realize that these kooks will be after you, next."

Yes, this is one situation where the correct response is "Bring it on!"

Making the cut

Today Birth Pangs posted an all-points bulletin for Culture of Death bloggers about the "The Pill Kills!!!!11! (shrieeeeek!)" protest, coming soon (Saturday) to a birth control clinic near you. That's the big day when scientifically-challenged, leg-humping, bible-thumping fetus fetishists will converge on Planned Parenthood offices across the USA. If their facebook group is any indication, Saturday's event promises to be a popular insurrection like no other: 131 confirmed, 131 maybes, 389 declined, and 162 haven't replied. Oh well, what can you expect -- the facebook group has only been up for, oh I don't know, 6 weeks??? Yes, this is clearly the defining issue of our time.

An unhappy little sidebar to this situation is that in spite of my best efforts, I was unable to make the cut as an American Life League-approved "Culture Of Death" blogger, as did Birth Pangs (#2 with a bullet!). I thought my Culture of Death cred was impeccable, but I'm obviously not trying hard enough. What would increase my Culture of Death gravitas... maybe something like this?

Or how about a Culture of Death facebook group? I bet I could get more than 262 people on board in 6 hours, never mind 6 weeks. The Culture of Death is nothing if not proactive. Oh, and there are several orders of magnitude more of us -- that's helpful, too.

I'm lovin' it

And what's not to love about the "Pill Kills" campaign?

The latest fork in the anti-choice propaganda path (and that's "fork", you pervs) is a little weird even for these braindead dingbats. Given their virulent opposition to abortion and the difficulty they've had in making any inroads against it, it seems strange to be campaigning against something that prevents abortions. But these guys argue that the pill enables people to have more sex (noooo!!!), thereby ultimately causing more abortions. For many of these people that's what this thing has always been about -- sex and punishing women who dare to have it. And encouraging the state to step into our playpens bedrooms and make it more difficult and punitive for those who do.

But even the most reality-challenged anti-choicer knows this is far too radical a fodder for the mainstream grist-mill, so they're dressing it up with a little pseudo-science (hello ID?) that supposedly shows the pill is an (shrieeeek!) "abortifacient". Never mind that their whole premise is dead wrong -- the pill prevents ovulation. In the rare scenario where an egg manages to escape, then manages to get fertilized, then manages to make the cut as one of the few that aren't flushed out at the end of the month... even then, the pill just makes implantation more difficult. This is an awful lot of hurdles for an awfully tiny number of renegade ovum. Certainly it doesn't qualify the pill as an "abortifacient" and most definitely not something that "kills babies".

But never mind that -- the mask, as they say, is off... and I for one couldn't be happier.

So now it's time to ice the cake: let's have a look at the brain trust behind this campaign -- the American Life League (or "Atrocious Lies League" to the reality-based community). Scanning ALL's "Roster of Associates", the first thing that jumped out at me was "Pro-Life Wisconsin" because it sounded familiar. Well yeah. They're the cretins who famously held supported "Paul Hill Days" last July, an event celebrating the notorious anti-abortion terrorist who shot a doctor and his escort outside a clinic. And double-plus cool -- they even held a re-enactment of the shooting:


The president of Pro-Life Wisconsin, who was coincidentally caught on video in the vicinity at the time, said she was just praying at the abortuary. Maybe it's just me, but if I were trying to run far away from a group of extremists I didn't want to be identified with, I think I'd pray at some other abortuary. Or maybe take a rain check on the prayer for a few days. But that's just me.

Anyway, I am drifting, but you get the gist. This campaign will be a hard sell even in the best of scenarios, but add to it that old saying about "the company we keep", and wow. The potential is endless.

We can only hope they blogburst it.

(Edited for clarity - "Paul Hill Days" wasn't a PLW-sponsored event, but some of their members were apparently in attendance as noted above.)