• About
  • Links
  • Sex & Herbs & Birth Control
  • Questions to Ask Your Priest

ahkoblitz

~ Sex, Abortion, and Contraception

ahkoblitz

Tag Archives: terrorism

A New Book Describes the Women’s Wing of the U.S. Anti-Abortion Movement

01 Saturday Jul 2017

Posted by Ann Hibner Koblitz in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

anti-abortion movement, anti-abortion violence, Catholic Church, Catholic women, Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Evangelical men, terrorism

Marissa Haugeberg

I just wrote a review (for a librarians’ journal) of Women against Abortion: Inside the Largest Moral Reform Movement of the Twentieth Century by Karissa Haugeberg, an assistant professor of history at Tulane University. At first, I was put off by the subtitle, because the idea of dignifying anti-abortion zealotry with a term like “moral reform movement” is abhorrent to me. I myself would never use such a phrase for the same reason I never call opponents of abortion “pro-life” — like many feminists, I am sickened by the hypocrisy of that term.

As it turns out, however, one should not judge a book by its cover — or its subtitle. This is a nuanced, sophisticated, and balanced account of three decades of anti-abortion activism in the U.S. on the part of overwhelmingly white, largely working class Catholic and Evangelical women. By the end of the book Haugeberg has made it abundantly clear that there is nothing the least bit moral about the terrorist violence of the anti-abortion movement.

Haugeberg argues against the widespread notion that most acts of violence against women’s health clinic personnel have been committed by white Evangelical men. She demonstrates that women were coordinating violent “rescue” actions (vandalizing and bombing clinics and assaulting and terrorizing staff and clients) “long before Evangelical men joined the movement.” In large part, the Catholic women’s early turn to “rescue” violence was prompted by their frustration with most Catholic priests’ and nuns’ disinclination to actively oppose Roe v. Wade. Juli Loesch, for instance, cut off her relations with a group of Benedictine nuns because of their ambivalence about abortion.

Haugeberg repeatedly notes that most of the (Catholic) women who embraced anti-abortion activism initially went to some effort to portray themselves as seriously interested in women’s welfare. The crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) were set up by these women supposedly as a more female-centered alternative to the male-led and Evangelical-dominated anti-abortion groups, which were overtly anti-feminist, if not misogynist, and which put fetal personhood at the heart of their rhetoric.

But the CPCs quickly degenerated. Though still employing a discourse of concern for women’s health and wellbeing, the CPCs have unashamedly turned to “deception, coercion, and terror” in their attempts to prevent women from accessing abortion. CPC personnel routinely lie to women about how long they’ve been pregnant (thus moving them past the time limit for legal abortion in many states). CPC staff show fabricated abortion videos, make outrageously inaccurate claims about abortion hazards, intimidate and terrorize women seeking abortions, and publish confidential information about them and their families.

Haugeberg’s book is fascinating and well written. But it is not an easy read. She uses their own words as much as possible in chronicling violent anti-abortion fanatics such as Shelley Shannon (attempted murderer of Dr. George Tiller and intimate friend of the killers of Dr. Tiller, Dr. David Gunn, and others). Those words are smug and self-righteous, and it takes a strong stomach to read the sanctimonious justifications of their violent attacks.

Haugeberg criticizes the distinctions often made by scholars and the media between supposedly peaceful arms of the anti-abortion movement such as the CPCs and the terrorists who over three decades have killed eleven people, attempted to kill another 26, and committed close to 2000 acts of arson and vandalism. Violent anti-abortion activists move freely among the various factions of the movement, and their terrorism is virtually never condemned by the national organizations. The actions of female anti-abortion terrorists have met with tepid response by state and federal officials as well. All too often, their repeated violent acts do not lead to criminal charges and rarely result in jail time.

Pages

  • About
  • Links
  • Sex & Herbs & Birth Control
  • Questions to Ask Your Priest

Posts

  • Blue Hawaii
  • Boycott the Red States for the Sake of Women’s Health
  • U.S. Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade
  • Backlash Against the Misogynists
  • Dr. F. J. Taussig, Abortion, and the Washington University Medical School
  • With a Little Help from Their Friends
  • “Fetus-Centered” yet High Infant Mortality
  • Women of Texas: South of the Border for Reproductive Rights
  • U.S. Bishops vs the Vatican
  • Anti-Abortionists Took Part in Attack on the U.S. Capitol
  • Huge Victory for Argentinian Women
  • Hypocrisy and the Geneva “Consensus” Declaration
  • A Tale of Two Books
  • Abortion Access During the Pandemic
  • U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic As Excuse to Attack Abortion Rights
  • Clarence Thomas Race-Baits Abortion Rights Advocates
  • An Opportunity for Indonesia?
  • Congratulations to the people of Ireland!
  • The Outrage of El Salvador
  • “Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics”
  • A New Book Describes the Women’s Wing of the U.S. Anti-Abortion Movement
  • Melinda Gates Makes the Same Mistake as Margaret Sanger
  • Professional Women’s Basketball Team Takes a Stand for Women’s Reproductive Health
  • How to Lie without Lying
  • The New Face of Misogyny in the U.S.

Your comments are welcome, but please…

Your comments are welcome, but please (a) no anonymous posts and (b) no abusive or profane language. We reserve the right to edit for length. All comments must be related to the topics of the posts and pages. Except for that, your contributions will be posted unaltered and unedited.

Recent Comments

KS on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
Ann Hibner Koblitz on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
KS on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
Ann Hibner Koblitz on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
KS on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…

Archives

  • May 2023
  • October 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • September 2021
  • June 2021
  • January 2021
  • October 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • March 2020
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • December 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • February 2016
  • September 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • July 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013

Posts

  • Blue Hawaii
  • Boycott the Red States for the Sake of Women’s Health
  • U.S. Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade
  • Backlash Against the Misogynists
  • Dr. F. J. Taussig, Abortion, and the Washington University Medical School
  • With a Little Help from Their Friends
  • “Fetus-Centered” yet High Infant Mortality
  • Women of Texas: South of the Border for Reproductive Rights
  • U.S. Bishops vs the Vatican
  • Anti-Abortionists Took Part in Attack on the U.S. Capitol
  • Huge Victory for Argentinian Women
  • Hypocrisy and the Geneva “Consensus” Declaration
  • A Tale of Two Books
  • Abortion Access During the Pandemic
  • U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic As Excuse to Attack Abortion Rights
  • Clarence Thomas Race-Baits Abortion Rights Advocates
  • An Opportunity for Indonesia?
  • Congratulations to the people of Ireland!
  • The Outrage of El Salvador
  • “Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics”
  • A New Book Describes the Women’s Wing of the U.S. Anti-Abortion Movement
  • Melinda Gates Makes the Same Mistake as Margaret Sanger
  • Professional Women’s Basketball Team Takes a Stand for Women’s Reproductive Health
  • How to Lie without Lying
  • The New Face of Misogyny in the U.S.

Recent Comments

KS on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
Ann Hibner Koblitz on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
KS on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
Ann Hibner Koblitz on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
KS on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…

Archives

  • May 2023
  • October 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • September 2021
  • June 2021
  • January 2021
  • October 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • March 2020
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • December 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • February 2016
  • September 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • July 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013

Pages

  • About
  • Questions to Ask Your Priest
  • Sex & Herbs & Birth Control
  • Links

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • ahkoblitz
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • ahkoblitz
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...