HW 41 - Independent Research

ASPECT: How do figures, whose roles are to inform the public, involved in the dominant practices of birth, that includes abortion, use different mediums to influence how the majority of people perceive abortion as either acceptable or unacceptable? How do these efforts influence the way mothers make birth decisions? 

A.)

- Hartocollis, Anemona. "City’s High Abortion Rate Defies Easy Explanation." New York Times (2011): 1-2. Web. 30 Mar 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/nyregion/04abortion.html?pagewanted=1&sq=abortion&st=cse&scp=30>.

       Anemona Hartocollis, a mother and a metro reportor, takes a look at how pro-life and anti-abortion advocates perceive New York City's 41 percent abortion rate.  Religious figures have made efforts using religion as a catalyst to influence women in communities to make decisions dealing with abortion to comply with their beliefs and values.  Ruben Diaz Sr., State Senator of the Bronx, argues that abortion was "nothing less than an attack on minorities" and pushed anti-abortion ministers to promote this interpretation.  In contrast, Christine C. Quinn, the City Council, reasons that referring to "a woman's legal right to an abortion as a 'genocidal plot' is not only absurd, but it is offensive to women and to communities of color...Every woman deserves this right to make health care decisions for herself."  Women still seem to be ambivalent about their options in abortion and therefore the abortion rate in NYC remains essentially unchanged.

- Dominus, Susan. "The True Mission of ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centers’." New York Times (2010): 1. Web. 30 Mar 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/nyregion/12bigcity.html?scp=5&sq=pregnancy&st=cse>.

       Susan Dominus, a metro columnist in the NYTIMES, uses data from Naral Pro-Choice New York's yearlong investigation, to show that crisis pregnancy centers, including E.M.C. centers around the city, do not provide all alternatives and choices dealing with pregnancy, and are thus biased in providing certain services to women.  According to the National Cancer Institute, crisis pregnancy centers in NYC have been offering information that has been medically proven to be false.  In contrast, Councilwoman Jessica S. Lappin, Democrat of Manhattan proposed a legislation that requires the crisis pregnancy centers to make their mission, as a service to the community, clear, not misleading, to all women who visit the centers.  Women find it difficult to seek a pregnancy resource center with "no loaded history or agenda whatsoever" because most centers are partisan.  This article reveals what efforts are made to influence a community perception of abortion.

- Robbins, Liz. "Billboard Opposing Abortion Stirs Debate." New York Times (2011): 1. Web. 30 Mar 2011. <http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/billboard-opposing-abortion-stirs-debate/?scp=5&sq=abortion&st=cse>.

       Liz Robbins, a writer for the NYTIMES, reports the controversial anti-abortion billboard erected in SoHo by a pro-life group based in Texas called Life Always.  Stephen Broden, founding member of Life Always, reasons the erection of the billboard was not meant to be racially implicative but, coincided with Black History Month to highlight the disproportionate number of abortions among blacks.  In contrast, Joan Malin, the president of Planned Parenthood of New York City, found the billboard offensive because it focused on the high rates of abortion rather than that of unintended pregnancies.  Women in the SoHo area felt offended that the message of the billboard was only targeted at black women.  The billboard exhibits how pro-life groups attempt to provoke a certain group of people to think of abortion in NYC as genocide.  

- Johnson, Abby. Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey Across the Life Line. IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2011. 288. Print.

       Abby Johnson, once Planned Parenthood leader, tells her story how she had gone from pro-choice to pro-life by joining Coalition for Life.  In this change, she embraces the "feeling of holy awe"(254). Johnson finds the pros and cons of both sides of abortion and argues that the most important goal in providing a pregnancy resource is educating people about all options and alternatives.  In a religious manner, Johnson encourages mothers to be open to all options instead of staying abortion-oriented.  Johnson's book can be found in Barnes and Noble in Religion/Inspritation under Christian Inspiration.  Johnson uses her own experiences as once an advocate of abortion and now, an advocate of pro-life to push readers to reveal the atrocious truths about anti-abortion groups.  This book is a perfect example of how a member of our society chooses to convey abortion, "the law of the land."

- Lorber, Janie. "Liberals Fight to Preserve Abortion Funding." New York Times (2011): 1. Web. 30 Mar 2011. <http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/liberals-fight-to-preserve-abortion-funding/?scp=81&sq=abortion&st=cse>.

       MoveOn.org, a liberal political action committee created a commercial that advertised the message that a woman shouldn't be forced to revisit the old means of aborting children by using a coat hanger, due to the curtailing of women's access to reproductive health care by the Republican Party.  Democrats at a news conference on Capitol Hill called the bills made to limit the access of contraceptive services a "war on women" because it would also mean reduced access to cancer screening and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.  In contrast, Republicans, like Mike Pence, believe that the spending cut on abortion funding is an opportunity to close the big federal deficit.  The majority of woman who have read Lorber's article are angered by the Republican's bills and somewhat ignore the video made to accommodate women's rights.  MoveOn.org's commercial is an example of the propaganda certain political figures use to induce biased ideologies of abortion.  

VIDEO: "We Won't Go Back" featuring Lisa Edelstein

B.)

       All the sources I have collected are all examples of how the media, certain people in the book industry, and political figures use different types of means to alter the way a group of people view abortion.  By researching this topic, I will have a better understanding of what people in our society believe is morally right and wrong in topics dealing with birth and abortion.  In the majority of my sources, I found that many authors used religion as a catalyst to persuade people to perceive abortion as a sin against God.  Others have made abortion, at least in NYC, seem like an attack or rather a genocidal plot against specific races.  On the pro-choice side, democrats approach abortion as a fight for women's basic right to their health care.  Having conducted this independent research, I want to interview my peers to examine their take on how they are influenced to look at abortion as either acceptable or unacceptable.  I will present to them some of the shocking arguments local important figures in our society have made about abortion that have influenced me to question Planned Parenthood's motives and that of other organizations alike.  After completing my culminating project, I hope to have a better understanding of my peer's opinions that surround the topic of abortion and their take on evaluating how their opinions came to be.