A few weeks ago, Broadsheet commented on a scary Washington Post article about how so-called pregnancy resource centers have received more than $60 million in grants for abstinence education and other programs from the Bush administration. The article also found that more than a third of the funding under the auspices of "faith-based initiatives" is going to these bogus health organizations, which often advertise under "abortion services" in the Yellow Pages.
Today, Broadsheet received a press release from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., with even more troubling news about these centers. The release, titled "Federally Funded Pregnancy Resource Centers Mislead Teens About Abortion Risks," reports that a new study sponsored by Rep. Waxman found that investigators who called federally funded centers posing as pregnant 17-year-olds were provided false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion, including that abortion leads to breast cancer, infertility and mental illness.
For example, operators at seven of the 25 centers called told the caller that having an abortion could hurt her chances of having children in the future. One center said that damage from abortion could lead to "many miscarriages" or to "permanent damage" so "you wouldn't be able to carry," telling the caller that this is "common" and happens "a lot." For more details about these truly disturbing findings, go here.
The abortion doctor
Susan Wicklund has received death threats and worn a bulletproof vest to work. But what really scares her, she writes in "This Common Secret," is the war on reproductive rights.
By Eryn Loeb, Salon
How abortion changed the world
From a sketchy underground doctor to the American fight against communism, a look at the unlikely forces that helped spread global family planning.
By Michelle Goldberg, Salon
What's wrong with the new pro-lifers
The progressive anti-abortion movement still doesn't truly value the life and identity of the mother.
By Frances Kissling, Salon
Is there a next generation of abortion providers?
As if the threat of violence and divisive politics weren't enough, getting trained is almost impossible.
By Kate Harding, Salon
When abortion was a crime
Reagan, an assistant professor of history, medicine and women's studies at the University of Illinois, dedicates her disturbing work on abortion in America before Roe v. Wade to "the lives of... women who died trying to control their reproduction."
The abortion debate
An incredibly interesting debate that looks at both the pros and cons of abortion from a secularist viewpoint.
“Egg-as-a-Person” Initiative on the 2010 Ballot in Colorado
My Saturday at the abortion clinic
Secular Sunday School: Blasphemy Laws
Weed: Shall Ye Be California's Savior? 