Susan and Amanda, Welcome to the Lake.

Welcome Amanda, and welcome, Dr. Wicklund. Thanks so much for being here today.

Aloha, Amanda and Susan!

Dr. Wicklund, it is a very brave book, and thank you for not only what you do but your willingness to stand publicly for it.

Your story about your grandma made me cry.

Hello, Amanda,

Good for you and bless you. Anti-abortion laws are burkas Fundies want to impose on us.

Hi everyone! Great to meet you, join this chat about abortion.

Welcome, Dr. Wicklund, and I second what Jane said about Flower Grandma. She loved you and knew you were doing the right thing.

Also I want to add my voice to say the story about your grandmother, Dr. Wicklund, was very moving. One thing that gets lost in some of the wrangling over the exact death by abortion statistics pre-Roe is how many of them were unreported or reported as something else—anecdotal evidence would suggest that the death rate was many times higher than the reported rate because the shame of abortion meant that it was often classified as something else.

Another important point that the story illustrates is how the vast majority of injuries or deaths due to illegal abortion were due to people trying to do it themselves, or with inexperienced friends. The Back Alley Butcher is largely a myth—most third party illegal abortion, as Dr. Wicklund details in her book, was performed by qualified doctors and other practioners who knew what they were doing. But the law made it hard to find these people, and desperate women resorted to wire hangers or douching with bleach, which is what cause most deaths and injuries.

I am here. Sorry for the delay

Dr. Wicklund, I’d like to talk about the concept behind the title of your book: “This Common Secret”. As you mention, abortion is a very common surgical procedure, yet there’s been this intense effort to force people, women especially, to be silent about it, as if silence would make it go away (and certainly, acting silent and ashamed about it will make it easier to be outlawed). Yet of course abortions won’t go away — they just won’t be done safely. The AIDS activist motto “Silence = Death” comes to mind. (On edit: I see that Amanda’s brought up a similar topic at #8.)

Hi, thank you so much for writing this book!

The story about Flower Grandma has been very hard for some of my family to accept. It has caused some deep sadness over the fact that she held this just to herself for all those years.

The silence of abortion is exactly why I wrote this book. But it has had an amazing response at the events I have done around the country. I think people/women are finally ready to find their voices on this issue. I believe it is the only hope we have to de-mystify and reclaim out reproductive rights.

Amanda, One of the reasons I talked about the doctor in Grantsburg was to show exactly what you mentioned: that many of the people who did abortions in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, did indeed know what they were doing.

How has the response to publishing this book been for you? It’s such a contentious topic. What’s the range of reactions you’ve been seeing?

I’ve had people confide in me they had abortions, I don’t know if they would be willing to admit it out loud, even today.

From another review of the book:

In enunciating her support for abortion, Wicklund notes that “before 1973 and the passage of Roe vs. Wade, an estimated 1.2 million women had illegal abortions in the United States yearly. As many as 5000 died each year as a result.” She states that she would give more credibility to opponents of abortion if they made meaningful efforts to help women avoid unwanted pregnancies, but that they are often also opposed to any form of birth control.

Dr. Wicklund, that review (California Literary Review) also indicates you chose to restrict your practice to those in the first trimester. Can you discuss how you came to that decision?

Dr. Wicklund, I had the pleasure of hearing you interviewed a while back on the Diane Rehm show, and I was inspired by your story. I found both the stories about your family and your comments about your neighbors very interesting. I hope to read your book soon. Thanks!

From this review:

Susan Wicklund, M.D., states that one the best kept secrets in the nation is the fact that some 40% of women in this country have an abortion at some point. “Equally important and revealing,” says Wicklund,” is the fact that women who have abortions come from every level of education, every income bracket, and every age from puberty to menopause. They are Catholic and Jewish, Protestant and Buddhist, agnostic and atheists. They are, in truth, our sisters, aunts, grandmothers, music teacher, neighbors and best friends.” Some patients were also the young victims of rape or incest.

Really, it has been overwhelming. I find that in inner-city book stores and venues where there is a diverse group of people, we often find outselves throwing questions and ideas back and forth for as long as 3 hours. In these places people will tell there stories, they will say the word “abortion” without hesitation, etc. Then I go to a more conservative place where all the poeple there are 30-45 year old white woman who cannot say abortion out loud, but want to speak with me privately after the event and to then discuss their stories/experiences/fears/secrets. And with each event I do there is a request for 3 more. I am having thoughts of doing an extended “discussion” around the country in coffe shops, bookstores, libraries, private homes, etc. But in the meantime am trying to get another clinic going in Bozeman.

The anti-choice movement has focused on putting a friendlier face in the past few years, trying to downplay the misogyny that motivates them and saying things like, “Abortion hurts women.” (Not if you need one, it doesn’t, I say.) I would think that a friendlier face strategy would mean less blockades and vicious protesters. Have you seen the protesters lighten up these past few years?

Many reasons for restricting to first trimester. First, it is by far the most common. More than 90% of ABs are done in the first trimester. Second, it is a simple 5 or 6 minute procedure and really does not require anything more than a local anesthetic. It takes more staff and parts of two days to do second trimester abortions.

Welcome Dr. Wicklund.

Thank you.

I thought it was interesting that you thought there were as many reasons that women exercised choice as there were women you treated, that no generalization about that act was possible.

On the other hand:

The professional protesters are the ones I fear. They are mostly men, and for them protesting is a full-time obsession. They target different regions i the country or particularly vulnerable clinics. They bring their hate-filled slogans, their planes that fly over towns and cities pulling banners depicting bloody babies, their confrontational tactics. When they come to town, I wear my bulletproof vest and carry my gun. Unfortunately, their views have infiltrated the laws and policies of our country and the lives of my patients.

I know abortion opponents seem to truly believe that they are protecting innocent life, but I always wonder what would happen if you ask this kind of hard-core aggro protester if it would be okay to waterboard Islamofacist fetuses in Guantanamo Bay. If they thought would help “win the war” I have a fair degree of confidence that it would, though I’ve never asked any of them.

Part of why the public believes that the protesting has gone away, or at least lighten up is because the media just doesn’t report it as much anymore. Here in Montana there is currently less “in your face” protesting than in the past, but I expect that will change if I get a clinic going in Bozeman. I also know that in some parts of the country it is still very strong. Ohio clinics have loud, vocal and aggressive protesters on a daily basis, as does much of Florida and Mississippi. they seem to travel in groups around the country, targeting certain clinics more than others. And did you know that 3 clinics in New Mexico had arsons in December? One was burned to the ground.

Clearly, some of the most ardent protesters, people who say they want to protect life, are the ones that believe it is OK to gun down doctors. They call it justifiable homicide. And, yes, I am sure they support all the terrible things we are doing around the world right now.

The abuse you suffered was pretty severe, what with them following you to the airport and stalking your daughter. Do you think that you were singled out for any reason, or was it just a geographic thing?

Also, I do suspect we’re going to see an upswing in violence. Anti-choicers feel there’s an overturn of Roe right on the horizon, and the possibility of progress for their cause might be a motivator. There was an attempt to bomb a clinic here in Austin sometime back.

Why do you think women are so reluctant to talk about it? To me, this phenomenon is much worse now than it was 20 years ago.

In developing your stories, have you noticed significant changes in attitudes over time — how are people changing? And where do you think this debate is heading?

I think they target the doctors they think are the most vulnerable and likely to quit if exposed. I am a woman, therefore I am supposed to be vulnerable, right? And I had a young daughter. And, up until the 60 Minutes piece, I had never talked to the media. I had avoided protester confrontation at all costs. To them, I appeared to be scared and hiding. Maybe I was. But once I “fought back” by exposing THEM, they learned I would not back down. They saw my family and neighbors support me. They see now that I am not at all ashamed of what I do and that I am willing to be vocal about all situations I observe. After 20 years, they cannot expose or intimidate me.

Welcome Dr. Wicklund, thank you for being here. Your question is my question. I see young undergraduate and graduate students in my work, and am so distressed to hear them begin a conversation with: “Well, I’m not a femminist…” and I want to say, “Why NOT?’

I think one reason even ardently pro-choice women might be afraid to admit out loud that they’ve had abortions is because they feel like they failed somehow. They weren’t as painstaking with the contraception as they needed to be or something. And women nowadays, especially my generation, is under a great deal of pressure to be perfect. An abortion feels like you made a mistake, and making a mistake is inexcusable to a lot of women.

Thank you being vocal!

I am afraid that the anti-abortion rhetoric has had a major impact on how people think about abortion. Their language is inflamatory and misleading and emotional. They “make up” science, saying things about abortion and about the embryo that are not true, but when repeated often enough is taken as truth by the general public. That, and the fact that most women of child-bearing age have never known a world without legal abortion. I am very fearful that the protesting will indeed increase again.

how did we get here? how could we(women)let it go this far and this long?we’re living in crazy world and the crazies are running the show from the top of the barrel to the bottom of the barrel. women are so strong and can endure so much pain it just doesnt make any sense to me. do you think we’ll say enough is enough?

hi susan!

i stayed in birmingham in an apartment for a month a few years ago and my balcony was directly across the street from the clinic where the doctor was murdered there……in the apt. building were fellow cop friends of a cop that was harmed, too…(sorry, don’t remember how many were killed and injured) ..i knew people all over the area,but mostly i was in country club republican areas, but the violence that took place there kept being repeated to me when they learned where i was staying, it really softened opinions……of who has what rights, and what happens when someone violently takes the law into their own hands. many people told me about it, most of them republican, not one of them gave a speech about anti-choice, struck me as strange. the violence didn’t help the anti-choice cause in that city.

another time, i was working outside for the phone company, and i had to work on a line that was in the building of a clinic in cincinnati……….protesters didn’t want to let me enter the building, even though what i was working on had nothing to do with the clinic………i called the police on them….they had been making a ’presence’ there for months and months and i was sick of them…i got in trouble from my boss, i wasn’t supposed to get involved, but they really irked me off…..they had to disperse after that!!!!!!!!….what they didn’t know was that i had been to that clinic a few months before, and they didn’t have a right to keep people away…….they didn’t just do abortions, they did paps and birth control…….women’s health……

my sister worked at planned parenthood for years.

and i’m not ashamed to say i had an abortion and why.

and i’m not ashamed to call the anti-choice people out when they break the laws that are in place to guarantee the rights of someone that chooses to have one.

so, thank you, doctors like you, for being there when i needed one.

and just to add to the story, my dad went with me.

I’m afraid you’re right — and the attack on science is broad based, not just on this issue. We have a lot to turn around.

Yes, we are expected to be perfect. But we are human. We have imperfections in every aspect of out lives. We eventually accept it, or we become dysfuntional. I try to get women to see the difference between being upset that they got pregnant in the first place, vs being upset about having to make the decision between abortion or going full term.

I have met a doctor in Vienna that runs an abortion clinic and a museum of the history of contraception and abortion. Touring the clinic, and speaking to him and his historian was very enlightening. Though not without protests, his clinic is safe, and protected by the government and the press as well. Even in a Catholic country, his clinic and museum have respect.

One of the favorite tactics of the legal arm of the anti-choice movement lately has been to accuse abortion and contraception providers of concealing sexual abuse of girls. This is part of their attack on contraception as well as abortion, but it does raise the question, how often do you see frightfully young patients who are being abused by older men? And how do you handle it?

and i meant to mention, what about the clinic that has to close because they can’t get an agreement with a local hospital?

forget what state, but they made a law, knowing the clinic couldn’t comply.

it’s coming from all directions.

I hope every day that women and men will indeed say “enough is enough” and that we will have a revolution of sorts. People in the streets, even. We have lost so many personal freedoms and loose more each day. Even if we get a democrat in the white house, we have a Supreme Court just poised to overturn Roe v Wade. And we all know how Roe has been essentially gutted as it is. And I am concerned about ALL of our rights, not just reproductive rights.

I think one reason even ardently pro-choice women might be afraid to admit out loud that they’ve had abortions is because they feel like they failed somehow. They weren’t as painstaking with the contraception as they needed to be or something. And women nowadays, especially my generation, is under a great deal of pressure to be perfect. An abortion feels like you made a mistake, and making a mistake is inexcusable to a lot of women.

I also think that this is part and parcel of the right-wing’s efforts to turn back the clock. Concerted and well-funded efforts were made starting in the 1970s to create “think tanks” that were essentially sheltered workshops for people who would then be sent out as “experts” to the media — whose members were being pushed rightward, either by intimidation or outright purchase (Jack Welch buying NBC, then hiring Republican National Committee chair Roger Ailes to run its news division — then Ailes being hired by Rupert Murdoch to start FOX News, etc.).

When I was in college in the early 1980s, I knew a girl from rural Iowa who never used birth control. Ever. See, that meant you were planning to have sex, which made you a slut! So about once every year, she’d go off somewhere and have an abortion. Go figure. (And she wasn’t a dumb girl by any means — just brainwashed.)

Please send me information on this museum. A website, maybe?

Thank you, Dr. Wicklund and Amanda for joining us today. Such an important book.

I have seen a handful of cases of abuse of young women by older men and have always reported it to the authorities. At times have gotten social services involved. And not unusual to help get a woman to a domestic violence shelter.

How well do you think that pro-choice groups like NARAL are supporting what you do? Are there any improvements that you think could be made, legislatively or politically, that you think would be really helpful?

Yes, I will. I have his card at work, but I might be able to find it here soon. If I have to wait until Monday, you can find me at:
cedmonson at clevelandart dot org

http://www.case.edu/artsci/dit…../Fiala.htm

Dr. Wicklund. There are links to the museum in Cleveland, too.

I think they target the doctors they think are the most vulnerable and likely to quit if exposed. I am a woman, therefore I am supposed to be vulnerable, right? And I had a young daughter. And, up until the 60 Minutes piece, I had never talked to the media. I had avoided protester confrontation at all costs. To them, I appeared to be scared and hiding. Maybe I was. But once I “fought back” by exposing THEM, they learned I would not back down. They saw my family and neighbors support me. They see now that I am not at all ashamed of what I do and that I am willing to be vocal about all situations I observe. After 20 years, they cannot expose or intimidate me.

This is a very good point.

The smarter ones also know that you and your family members will be watching for any hint of nastiness, particularly illegal nastiness, on their parts, and know better than to give you ammunition to use against them.

Phoenix—the “just get abortions, don’t use birth control” mindset makes a certain kind of sense if you think of sex as a sin that needs to be balanced by some kind of punishment. Abortion, while simple, is not comfortable, is a pain in the rear to take time to do, and is expensive. (Though I suppose 1 abortion a year is probably less than 12 months worth of pills or condoms.) So getting the abortion is sort of the doing-rosary way of balancing the scales. But just preventing the pregnancy in the first place? It comes across to some as just making it too easy for you.

Which isn’t to add to the guilt for not using contraception, of course. I’d say that most of us who haven’t had to have abortions have been more lucky than perfect.

Which goes back to the “secret” part of the book title. Unplanned pregnancy is very visible when it comes to actually giving birth. Most women who get pregnant by accident and choose to have it don’t feel a need to conceal the “whoops” part of the equation. But there’s this silence hanging over women who have a “whoops” and have to walk a different path.

Thanks for all the good you have done, Dr. Wicklund.

I think NARAL is doing a great job at working to get pro-choice people elected. I fully support NARAL. But I think that Ellie Smeal’s group, The Feminist Majority has really been a major player in helping clinics and doctor’s “on the ground” with clinic defense, safety, protection, etc. The un-sung heroes are those that operate the abortion funds to help women in financial trouble pay for an abortion. One of the things that angers me the most is when a clinic turns away a woman when she is short on funds. We need help getting the word out to women that these funds are available. NNAF is a good resource.

Absolutely. Thanks for the support.

George W. Bush is against legal terminations of pregnancy. But he is unwavering in his support for the killing of pregnant women and children in Iraq. Of course GWB is also dead set against stem cell research. Support for legal termination of pregnancy: another reason to defeat McCain.

Dr. Wicklund, your book mentions the graying of abortion providers problem—there’s not enough new doctors willing to provide abortion to replace the ones who are retiring. This especially alarms me as over 50% of medical school graduates are women nowadays. What do you think we can do to address this problem?

yes, it’s crystal clear to those who want to know the truth. the democrats must accept their party is also on the take also. gods speed and thank you so much for your courage. http://www.dailykos.com/story/…..544/463202

I am so glad you brought this up. People hear that McCain is a moderate Republican, and MANY of them think he is soft on abortion. NOT SO!! He is very much against abortion and will make it illegal if given the chance. There are many pro-choice republican women out there that need to get this message. They will not support him if they know he is anti-choice.

I have a difficult time understanding why men should have any say so in what a woman decides to do with her body. Anymore than I would be able to fathom how a woman would have the right to decide what a man does with his body. Seems rather simple to me.

There is a group called Medical Students for Choice that is trying to address this. Many of them will be trained to do ABs, but very few will actually do them in their practices. Many group practices will not let their partners provide abortions and need to be called on the carpet for this. If every pro-choice woman would ask her own doctor where they stand on the issue, and then act accordingly, it would make a big impact. For instance, if your doctor is unwilling to even discuss abortion with a patient, much less give them a good referral on where to obtain one, tell him/her you will be having your records transferred to another doctor. ie, take your business elsewhere. But what else can we do to increase the access? I am hoping that the dialogue created around this book will help me find that answer.

It does seem simple, but the reality is that in this country right now, men are in control of most things. Very scarey.

Ironically, McCain hedged when asked what he’d do if his daughter wanted an abortion, and tacitly admitted he’d support her. So choice for him and his family, but not for us plebes.

Over turning Roe v. Wade during a a McCain administration is pregnant with probability. McCain must be defeated.

they will never over turn roe v wade. it’s their ace in the hole for turning out the vote.

And if Roe is overturned, we will continue to see women seeking abortions, and we all know there will be deaths and tragedies. Then what? THEN the Freedom of Choice Act? Why wait? Why wait until women go to jails for having illegal abortions?

I would dispute that about NARAL. They endorsed Al Wynn over Donna Edwards, Joe Lieberman over Ned Lamont and Lincoln Chafee over Sheldon Whitehouse. They seem to be more interested in helping people retain their incumbency than assisting pro-choice representatives to get elected. And this was after Lieberman and Chafee helped Alito get on the bench (both of their opponents would have voted against).

They also gave cover to Democrats to vote for the fetal anesthesia bill (Planned Parenthood and NOW did not).

Mike Huckabee recently said this:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee…has announced his support for the Colorado Human Life Amendment.

“This proposed constitutional amendment will define a person as a human being from the moment life begins at conception,” Huckabee said in a statement, according to a Denver Post report.

“With this amendment, Colorado has an opportunity to send a clear message that every human life has value. Passing this amendment will mean the people of Colorado will protect the sanctity of life from conception until natural death occurs,” he said.

Huckabee also has expressed support for a similar amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Given that, even absent intentional clinical abortion, a fertilized ovum “unborn citizen” has about a 40-50% chance of making it to term (better than 25% fail to attach to the uterine lining at the outset), and given a U.S. annual live birth rate of about 4 million, that would work out to somewhere between one and two million potential “child abuse / murder” cases to investigate and prosecute, under the Equal Protection Clause.

Don’t kid yourselves that there wouldn’t be a horde of “pro-life” lawyers eager to jump right in, the mind-numbing preposterousness of it notwithstanding.

I knew the lawyer who sued for “foster parent custody” of the frozen embryos at the center of the celebrated TN Davis v Davis case.

Swell to have such morally wonderful people around.

I hear lots of people saying this, but how do we make the public understand that for many women in this country, abortion may as well be illegal already?

Thank you for this. I will go back into the records and then talk to Nancy Keenan to see what the reasoning might have been for these particular endorsments.

It’s unlikely that there will be an outright overturn of Roe, but there has already been a door opened for a ban on abortion that sidesteps Roe. Carhart v. Gonzalez banned a specific late term abortion procedure, using the argument that women can’t be trusted to make their own decisions, because they might regret them. The flaw in Roe was that it wasn’t decided on the basis of equal protection. Now anti-choicers have a foot in the door for arguing precisely that women should have less rights than men, because we’re less capable.

Dr. Wicklund, what do you think you’ll do in the event that abortion becomes technically illegal where you live and work?

Dr. Wicklund, thank you so much for your dedicated service to women in the fight for reproductive rights. Your fire and determination gives me hope. I’m off to buy copies of your book.

What is Joe Lieberman’s position on termination of pregnancy. I honestly don’t know.

Do you think the Human Life Ammendment has a chance of passing anywhere it is currently being considered? and would it hold up in higher courts?

Thanks, Christine. And please pass the book around and encourage woman to talk about reproductive rights openly and with conviction.

Lieberman is pro-choice. The argument against a NARAL endorsement is that there’s a definitive difference between the parties on the issue. A pro-choice Republican is close to useless for the cause. They can vote pro-choice, but if Republicans hold the majority in Congress, it’s impossible for any active pro-choice work to get done in the legislature.

As in many situations, I can only speculate what I would do if abortion became illegal. I think Rebecca Gumperts is a genius in her decision to have a ship out in international waters where she has a complete clinic and is doing abortions for woman off the shores of countries where it is illegal. I guess we will all have to be creative.

I would not be surprised to see such an initiative pass, but, no, under any cogent reading of the existing federal constitution, it would have to be struck down. These “Life-Personhood-Begins-At-Conception” advocates cannot prevail absent a federal constitutional amendment conferring “person” status on the fertilized ovum. And, I don’t see that happening.

Dr Wicklund, thank you for coming to the Lake and spending the afternoon with us. Amanda thank you for hosting this book salon.

Everyone who has not read this important book, please buy one and talk about it.

Yes, but anti-choice Democrats are more dangerous than pro-choice republicans in my opinion.

i think they’re throwing red meat to 23%ers. it’s always been about control. control using religion. control using fear. the rules and regs rarely apply to the elite.

Thank you everyone! Thank you so much for your wonderful book, Dr. Wicklund.

BTW, Joe Lieberman came out against making Plan B contraceptives mandatory for state hospitals receiving public funds, saying that it was only a “short ride” for rape victims to a hospital that offered them.

He received the NARAL endorsement after that. This was CT NARAL’s big issue that year. It essentially cut the legs out from under them.

And after Lieberman voted against cloture (with Lincoln Chafee, which put Alito on the bench) NARAL sent out an email to their supporters telling them to thanks both Chafee and Lieberman (because they gave a perfunctory “no” vote on the floor when it didn’t matter).

It seems I’ve written 251 posts on NARAL and Lieberman alone, now that I look at it.

Thanks so much for being here today, Dr. Wicklund. You’re a real hero and we appreciate your dedication and courage.

I had the great fortune to work at one of the last true women’s clinics in Gainesville Florida in 1991-1992. During the day I helped do all of the work leading up to seeing the practitioner, including talking about birth control methods. During two nights of the week I got to assist the Dr. during the abortions–and on one of those two evenings there were second trimester abortions that went up to 24 weeks (above that and they quickly drove up to Georgia who went up to 26 weeks, I believe). There were many reasons why there are second trimester abortions–but the two groups that stood out for me were the women who had gone through amnio and other tests and found out that the fetus had just a brain stem or some other tragic condition and the other big group were young girls, some I remember were as young as 12, who had been too afraid to tell anyone until they were much further along–and a lot of those girls had been subject to sexual abuse.

During those years there were plenty of protestors and rallies during that time. I distinctly remember this one where all of the feminist practitioners of the competing clinics were standing together and were stating that they saw many women they recognized having had abortions carrying the anti-choice banners and signs. It was an early lesson in right-wing hypocrisy and disconnect.

I miss those wonderful, committed individuals, from the doctor, to the NP & PA, and the rest of the clinic workers. I’m coming to this post late but look forward to reading it through and very much look forward to reading this book.

Basically, the pro-choice pro-life debate is irresolvable: Pro-choice proponents say the federal government has absolutely no control over a woman’s body. Pro-life proponents say that life begins at conception and not at birth. Never the twain shall meet, period.

I wonder what you think about this impasse. (and it is one, let’s not make any mistake about that)..Dr. Susan Wicklund…

DAmnit! I’m too late, huh.

I actually TiVo’d this and watched it from Book TV, last weekend I think.

I would like to give people a way to stop the anti choice movement in their tracks. I saw Dr. Susan Wicklund’s appearance on C-SPAN which got rebroadcast again this morning.

Dr. Susan Wicklund talked about the weakest link of the Doctors.

We need to go after the weakest link of the anti choice movement, namely some of the corporations that support the anti choice movement.

I want women and men to call Domino’s Pizza whose new CEO also opposes abortions for women, and also Curves for Women Health Club, again the CEO opposes abortions for women, and DEMAND that their CEOs use their influence to:

STOP demonstrations of abortion clinics

enactment by congress and signed by the president, a law legalizing abortion

and until that happens you will refuse to buy their products and will not patronize their business.

Most of you recall that over 20,000 women called Verizon about 4 months ago and forced Verizon to stop censoring NARALs text messages in 2 hours under threat of a consumer boycott. 2 hours!!!

The pro choice movment needs to make hundreds of thousands of phone calls to 2 big anti choice companies and legally threaten their income from you.

When you unionize with hundreds of thousands of people to call these two companies and tell them you refuse to do business with them, you will crush the right wing and shut them down in the area of abortion rights.

Go forth and make some phone calls and organize!

http://www.democratz.org