This is just, wow. I have no words. Ok, that's a lie. I have one word: Bullsh*t. Make that two words: Hilarious bullsh*t.
This website aims to "expose choice as the killer it is".
How, you ask?
Why, by selling T-shirts and bumper stickers with pictures of babies being stabbed by machetes, of course!
But don't worry, that's not the only technique this campaign is using to convince the world of how wrong it is to give women autonomy over their own bodies. They've also created a mascot- That's right folks. Meet Judy, the talking embryo. All she wants is to "get out of here alive." Unfortunately, a machete (the abortionist's tool of choice, don't ya know) enters and puts an end to that dream. The fate of the woman whose cartoon stomach has apparently just been stabbed with a machete is left unclear.
There are a billion things wrong with this picture- the absence of recognition of a woman's personhood being one of them- but the most egregious in my mind is the cheesiness. I mean, as Chloe points out, can we at least have a little creativity? Some alliteration or something? Can I get an Emilia the Embryo?
Additionally, the "testimonies" from the models are hilariously fake, as evidenced by the tiny disclaimer after the fake comments and pics:
"*typical comments from typical young women but not necessarily these models"
Vomit. Next time you're going to launch a campaign against women's autonomy, maybe you should consult some real women first.
Big ups to Audacia Ray for the link.
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I like the irony of saying "We live in a sound-byte world where serious discussion of important issues is largely ignored."
... when you are a website called "Choice Kills".
Ah, but their website will thrive in this sound byte world! See? They thought of that one all by theirself.
They could at least have hired someone with some decent writing skills for this site. Or maybe a real graphic designer. They just make it way too easy to mock. (Which also, incidentally, makes it more terrifying.)
My favorite is: "I thought it was safe to have sex because if I got pregnant I'd have a choice. Well, it's a trap because you won't like either of the choices."
Thanks for posting this.
One thing I've been wondering lately: Are anti-choice men unable or unwilling to imagine themselves as a woman, embodied as female, and particularly embodied as a pregnant woman? Because some of them seem very well able to imagine themselves as fetal occupants of a woman's body...
And that's interesting to me. Because I think I spend a lot time imagining myself as male, whether or not I intend it. When I watch many movies and TV shows with a male protagonist, I empathize with and imagine myself as that particular male... That's just one example. I guess I'm just thinking about how women & girls are socialized to identify with and empathize with men & boys in a way that is not reciprocally taught to the men & boys.
Of course I know that men aren't the only anti-choicers out there. But sometimes I wonder if the anti-choice men imagine that they're fighting for their own, personal fetal life back when they were in utero. And maybe that's all they can see. They cannot successfully imagine themselves as female, pregnant, and needing or wanting an abortion.
this is an awesome comment!!
they also can't stand the thought of women and girls having sex and then getting pregnant by accident (unless they were raped or whatever), etc.
anti-choice males have always creeped me out.
anti-choice males have always creeped me out
Anti-choice anybody creeps me out!
Sounds like the same-old same-old of anti-choice propaganda--anthropomorphizing fetuses(in high school the born again kids used to hand out these xeroxed "fetus diaries" that invariably ended with "today my mother killed me"), the pregnant woman as a nameless faceless entity---really the only new thing they're bringing to the table is machetes.
What? Who are these guys who can imagine themselves as a fetus?
I've never given much thought to what it's like to be a pregnant woman. I don't see that the being pregnant is the traumatic part. I can envision not being able to go to school because I'd have to work to support a kid, and being stuck in an endless cycle of poverty, working retail, and having my hopes and dreams slowly die.
I wonder how many abortions could be prevented if the abortion abolitionists put their money into safe sex and getting kids not to get knocked up instead. Maybe they could just combine their efforts: "Abortion is a terrible choice to have to make, use a condom."
I don't see that the being pregnant is the traumatic part. I can envision not being able to go to school because I'd have to work to support a kid, and being stuck in an endless cycle of poverty, working retail, and having my hopes and dreams slowly die.
You think the physical reality of being pregnant and not wanting to be is so easy to separate from its economic significance? Maybe it is for some women. It wasn't for me.
Perhaps you could separate them into different painful issues, perhaps not. I'm sure that they're both bad, but I can better identify with the economic issue. I don't mean to belittle your feelings at all. I just mean that I don't need to empathize entirely with you to believe that women deserve a choice. Actually, I don't see that I do need to be able to put myself in your position at all. This issue isn't about my feelings. It's about a person's right to choose how to live her life. Whether I can identify with you or not really shouldn't affect the validity of your rights.
I do empathize with your having a choice though. Being pregnant with an unwanted child isn't something that I'd ever want to deal with. It's not like abortion, adoption, or keeping the child are easy choices. It's really in that class of problems that I don't want to know how I'd deal with, and will attempt to avoid. I'm just lucky I've never had to go through anything similar to what you've had to go through. So I won't tell you how you should have felt.
Every human being was an embryo/zygote/fetus before and anybody born after Roe v. Wade was up for grabs and could have been aborted an regardless, being born wasn't option for anyone- it was a priveldge granted by mothers who either wanted children, were pro-life and pregnant, pro-choice and didnt think aborion was for her or someone who decided on adoption. Most people living are pretty glad and grateful they weren't aborted so it isn't hard to see oneself or sympthize with an about to be aborted fetus.
However cismen couldnt envision being anything other than a cisman anymore than ciswomen cant envision being anything other than ciswomen. Besides, like a previous poster said you shouldnt have to put yourself in someone else's shoes to recognize their rights. Therefore cismen should be able to see women's rights as valid rights without thinking like women but rather as a human being.
Hi Phenicks, I'm sorry if my comment was hurtful or offensive. I was trying to express frustrations with anti-choice men based on what my reality has been. I wasn't trying to co-opt an experience that wasn't mine. I am a ciswoman, but I do feel masculine and feminine at the same time. I don't know how to explain it otherwise. I know it's not the same thing as being trans. I started to write a big long paragraph about empathy and rights and what I think about that, but it's not really important. I'm sorry for being hurtful. I'm trying to express a real frustration I have, but I'm gonna check my words more carefully in the future.
Argh, the grammar, "1 out of 4 of us don't make it out of here alive"
DOESN'T make it out.
Jeez.
I would have thought that worrying about their grammar was the least of their worries, y'know, in between saving foetuses from machete-wielding abortion doctors.
I know the last time I saw an abortion doctor about to use a machete, the last thing I was thinking about was was my grammar.
Like all pro-choicers, I was thinking about my hair appointment I had scheduled for later that day. Natch.
Erm... isn't that statistic in reference to the miscarriage rate, not the abortion rate? Because, hey, guess what? With or without choice, one in four zygotes won't make it out alive ... *gasp* ... prepare to be horrified!
Since you include zygotes, it's more like... only one in four make it out alive. 50-70% natural nonimplantation rate, and then of what remains, about 15% are miscarried and another 30% aborted. Abortion does account for more than miscarriage, sure, but Mother Nature is the one with the biggest casualty count.
Ah, sorry. Poor science and poor choice in words. I just think that zygote is an amusing term ...
But isn't it true that one in four pregnancies end in natural miscarriage? Or is abortion included in that statistic? (Or am I wildly off mark?)
Go easy on the kid! She hasn't even been born yet! Do you really expect children of this age to have completely mastered grammar?? Well, I see where this is all going...if you won't give a kid mercy for so much as a grammar mistake, no wonder all you pro-choice feminists are determined to KILL THEM for daring to exist!!!
(This is verbal irony, btw...not an actual troll comment... :) )
When I first read that (your comment, I didn't go to the site) I thought that meant 3 out of 4 people are immortal.
How about this? Life: No one makes it out alive.
That's fucking hilarious!
That's fucking hilarious!
It almost makes me think it is a argument ad absurdum. But, then, knowing some off-the-wall anti-choicers, well, almost.
"It's just an excuse to kill a baby."
Oh good lord, I'm gonna use that machete on someone, and it's not going to be a woman's uterus. This is totally disgusting and simplistic. AND hypocritical, for that matter.
Religion kills....
http://religion-kills.blogspot.com/
Or get this shirt instead.
http://www.zazzle.com/religion_kills_t_shirt-235253837818213653
Btw, I don't know about you. But I try to get pregnant just so I can kill babies.
I'm doing a persuasive speech about stopping funding to crisis pregnancy centers and the conclusion is required to have a "call to action" for the audience.
I have been sorely tempted to make my call to action something along the lines of, "What can you do about this issue? It's simple. Get an abortion or two to make up for those people who won't be getting one at CPCs."
Oh come on. Fighting for the right for abortion to exist is one thing, fighting against people looking to help women who have decided to carry to term is quite another. Most CPCs have tons of donations to give to mothers who are carrying to term which Planned Parenthood does not. It's hard to ask for cooperation in health care reform and sex education when you want to fight for the removal of their charity box.
CPCs are not just "looking to help women who have decided to carry to term," they do everything they can to FORCE a woman to carry to term. A recent congressional study found that at 87% of CPCs make it a practice to disseminate false information - that abortion causes breast cancer, "post-abortion syndrome," and will make you infertile and cause future miscarriages. They present themselves as real clinics but are staffed by non-medical professionals who hand out over-the-counter pregnancy tests, claim the test takes an hour to run, and in the meantime "counsel" women with medically inaccurate information to scare and shame them out of choosing abortion. They have also been known to lie about test results and tell women inquiring about abortions they are not pregnant when they really are, in hopes of delaying them past the abortion cutoff point. Subverting women's bodily autonomy in this way is NOT acceptable.
Sorry, a "charity box" doesn't excuse coercion and manipulation and flat-out lies. Also, the support that CPCs give to mothers who carry to term usually consists of giving them a place to stay and help with medical care UNTIL THEY GIVE THEIR BABY UP FOR ADOPTION. After that, they're on their own. Homeless, jobless, too bad. Depressed? Change your mind about adoption? Too bad. They'll lie and tell you you don't have the right to change your mind, even though there's a legal window in which you can. All CPCs want is the baby, the woman is just an incubator. And they don't want to help the woman have a productive life raising her own child, they push adoption so the baby goes to a "better" parent.
Shotgun Adoption
In Victorian slang, a "Judy" was a prostitute. But it's probably giving these folks far too much credit to think that they chose the name for this reason.
http://www.tlucretius.net/Sophie/Castle/victorian_slang.html
Are you guys sure this isn't a parody?
Well, it's easier to believe that it's a parody than that someone would put something this idiotic on the internet and expect it to be taken seriously. So...yeah. Maybe. I hope so.
Sadly, I find it very easy to believe "someone would put something this idiotic on the internet and expect it to be taken seriously." *shakes head*
Don't these people know that NOT having a choice kills women? But I doubt they'd care, usually the only life these people fight for is the life of a fetus and then you're on your own.
Personally I find the website completely hilarious. You just know it's a tiny group of people who scraped up enough money to get some art student to do their layouts at a steep discount, while all of them are patting each other on the back and going on about how they are doing "god's work".
What a joke! Do they not realize how completely ridiculous this makes them look? How cheap and amateurish?
Points for trying guys, really. Effort is what matters in the end, riiiight?
Ooooooh... this looks fun.
Prolife Webcomic ideas:
The Unfolding Adventures of Betty the Blastocyst!
The Life and Horrific Death of Frannie the Fantastic Fetus!
Zippy the Zygote Zaps the Fanatical Feminists!
Zippy the Zygote Shows Her Cleavage! (that will make sense to biologists :-).
Olivia the Ovule Wants your Hugs!
Tina Trophablast Blasts the Feminazis Away!
There's one that already exists.
http://www.umberttheunborn.com/
One already exists:
http://www.umberttheunborn.com/
One already exists:
http://www.umberttheunborn.com/
It's basically babies with clothig and computers inside of "bubbles" supposed to be "wombs" and the mother/parents are never shown. Creepy.
One already exists:
http://www.umberttheunborn.com/
It's basically babies with clothig and computers inside of "bubbles" supposed to be "wombs" and the mother/parents are never shown. Creepy.
One already exists:
http://www.umberttheunborn.com/
It's basically babies with clothig and computers inside of "bubbles" supposed to be "wombs" and the mother/parents are never shown. Creepy.
One already exists:
http://www.umberttheunborn.com/
It's basically babies with clothig and computers inside of "bubbles" supposed to be "wombs" and the mother/parents are never shown. Creepy.
Sorry that posted a million times.
Aw, man I really wish I hadn't looked at that. I'm home sick with a fever and about to take a nap, and I can already tell my dreams are going to echo with the creepy non-sequitor "Welcome to my womb-site."
Shiver.
Question: Why are all the fetuses girls? (I assume girls fetuses from the names and that Zippy has "cleavage") Lol, just a random thought that popped into my head while reading your list (they did make me giggle).
Are you SURE this isn't a POE? ( http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Poe's_Law ) because... Wow. It has to be, right?
How interesting that Judy the talking embryo (is she responsible for the foetal poetry that doesn the email rounds once in a while too?) is floating in space, quite detached from the woman's body. In fact, the woman is nowhere in sight. Which is quite indicative of pro-life thinking. Once you're pregnant, you disappear as an independent and autonomous human being.
How interesting that Judy the talking embryo (is she responsible for the foetal poetry that does the email rounds once in a while too?) is floating in space, quite detached from the woman's body. In fact, the woman is nowhere in sight. Which is quite indicative of pro-life thinking. Once you're pregnant, you disappear as an independent and autonomous human being.
Did you see the description of their logo? "It's as powerful an image as Jesus Christ on the cross."
Jesus Fetus - stabbed by a machete for your sins.
This is why I'm thinking Poe, to be honest. And the inability to use proper grammar.
I mean...it's just so outrageous.
OK, one thing that makes me think this might indeed be satire (other than that I think everything is satire) is how callous it is if they really believe that abortion is murder. If I were making a website against pedophilia, I wouldn't do it with creepy cartoon man after a cute cartoon child cutely screaming "Save me!" Just typing that makes me feel kind of creepy.
Though it seems you can actually buy the shirts, so maybe it is for real.
I'm thinking the shirts make it even more of a chance of being satire.
It also says at the bottom that the profits go to pro life organizations. I'm not sure of the legalities, but I wouldn't think you could say that without it being true.
"It's just an excuse to kill a baby."
Because lord knows that's all I've been looking for my entire life - an excuse to kill a baby.
hahaha. I thought that was what feminism is all about!
No, a true feminist would give birth to the baby and then eat it. Duh.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://library.thinkquest.org/C0122429/pictures/embryo.gif&imgrefurl=http://library.thinkquest.org/C0122429/glossary/Embryo.htm&usg=__m8d2FTnA7otf1VH_wD-tX8XWWtw=&h=403&w=538&sz=34&hl=en&start=7&um=1&tbnid=fnuklYKxtBztQM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dembryo%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1
I think they need a better idea of what an embryo looks like. Judy is a fetus. The majority of abortions are during the embryo stage (as I'm sure most of you already knew).
Also, I kind of wonder if it would be possible to change the machete for a coat hanger.....
*rolls eyes* wow, that's a really pathetic website.
Although I just gotta get my nitpick in as well. That's not a machete. this is a machete.
The thing in their logo is a Bowie knife, and specifically looks like a brand called K-Bar. I'm sure that was on purpose, as these are not utility or hunting knives, they're billed as fighting or self-defense knives.
A machete? Pfft.
The real pros use chainsaws.
Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw.
I think maybe less of this insanity would be accepted if logic courses were required in high school. Because this statement "The danger of Choice is that by accepting it as legitimate, you have already accepted killing your baby" just doesn't work.
i really really like how the "What's men's role in this?" section is the same font and color as the Home Depo logo...
Anti-Choice KIlls
and underneath, a woman bleeding out, hanger next to her, toddler screaming in the background.
Anti-Choice Kills
and underneath, actual pictures of the casualties from the domestic terrorists bombings of clinics.
Twisted "Christian" clutching cross in one hand and detonator in the other, in the background.
Anti-Choice Kills
and underneath a woman on her way to a clinic, ready to fight anyone in her way. In the background, a bomb at the door of the clinic.
Evidence that "Christians" at least the Born Again, Fundamentalists and certainly the fanatic, domestic terrorist types, do not see women and humans with a right to their own life. The fetus has rights first, it could be a male ! It could be deh baby Jesus come again to burn this shit down.
They are fucking idiots.
I laughed (this is ridiculous) and I cried (wow, these people really don't even consider the fact that women are the ones making these decisions- real live women with feelings and health- mental and physical- to think about).
After much thought I've come to the conclusion that this may be the work of Chris Morris.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Morris_(satirist)
Correction.
I hope this is work of Chris Morris.
Don't tell me anymore stuff! I LIVE with Anti choicers!
Please don't provide standard links (eg, evil link) to these websites - you're helping them! You are:
1) Giving them traffic.
2) Boosting their google rank.
#1 can't be avoided, but #2 can.
Instead of using a link like this:
evil link
use
evil link
By adding rel="nofollow", you tell google (and other search engines) to not include that link when figuring out how important the choicekills.com is.
If this is too tricky for you to do, then just type out, in plain text and not as a link, choicekills.com.
"I thought it was safe to have sex because if I got pregnant I'd have a choice. Well, it's a trap because you won't like either of the choices."
EITHER choice? I believe I have 3. Have they forgotten about the adoption option, or have they conveniently left that out of their propaghanda? I'm pro-choice, and I get a little frustrated that adoption choice gets left out of the discussion.
When I went to my local "anti-choice" groups website I clicked the link to "other options." Apparently they only option other than abortion is to give your child up for adoption. They had absolutely no information about how to get assistance so you could carry your pregnancy to term and keep your child.
Really? Interesting. This anti-choice site goes the opposite route and ignores adoption. Abstinence pushing I suppose. If we have sex, we'll end up pregnant and either fall under the terrible guilt of abortion, or suffer attempting to take care of a child. Better not have sex.
How can you have a talking embryo and not name it Emmy??
It's like they're not even trying.
Um, they are leaving out more than 1 choice. Not just adoption, but what about safer sex? Morning after pill? To pretend like everyone believes sex=pregnancy=abortion is crazy. There are a lot of (most?) women who don't think of it so casually, as just your regular contraception plan, like, Well, I can just get an abortion if I get pregnant! In the same tone you'd say, Well, I'll get Domino's if the local place won't deliver. Geez.
Also, the validity of the following as a feminist opinion is questionable, but many women would support choice without necessarily planning on using abortion themselves. I think that can often be articulated in a really condescending way, but supporting choice does not equal getting an abortion. And wanting an abortion does not equal wanting to kill a baby, but I think the absurdity there is patently obvious.
Gross and over the top. Why is it always pro-choicers trying to compromise? We're always the ones saying, Oh, let's promote safe sex! Let's promote adoption! Let's distribute the morning after pill and condoms! Let's improve wages, maternal health care, maternity leave, and childcare options, so that women can actually keep the babies if they want to.
Meanwhile, the people who supposedly hate abortions have only one method: end choice. Why not tackle it from all sides if you really hate it that much? But then, I guess they really just want to end women's right to choose, not abortions themselves.
I can't help but notice that Judy the embryo doesn't have an umbilical cord or a placenta.
Without those two things, I think her chances of survival are a bit lower than 75%, honestly.
For that matter, why don't they include stats on Abortions By Jebus (miscarriage)? Apparently God gives between 20 and 30% of embryos the axe, but you don't see these fuckwits banding together to create a website having an angstgasm about God Killing Embryos.
Besides all those true things you said, the logo looks like complete ass. That illustration would get laughed out of a first-year design class. It looks like somebody read the first chapter of "Adobe Illustrator for Dummies" and thought, hey! I'm a designer now! Ick.
I know.. I was looking at this and wondering what high school student did they pay 30 bucks to bullshit that typographic nightmare and throw in a fetus more reminiscent of an albino turd. And that knife... Oh that knife. Intro to illustrator, anyone? Gradient? Really? I can hear it now... "well I'll just make it fade from dark gray to light gray to make it seem shiny!"
Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant. Because gradient is known for making things look professional and really adding something to the work!
...
Kudos for trying, I guess. I pray it's a high school student, because then it wouldn't be too bad. But honestly it's probably someone from their bible study group who thinks of themselves as "artistic".
(Apologies for the rant.. But I'm a design student and I burst out laughing when I saw that logo. And that is exactly what the teacher would have said if it were in class and there were a critique.)
I love how all of the "testimonials" ended with the phrase "kill a baby" just to really drive the point home because if you asked three different women how they felt about abortion, they are totally likely to all end their story with the phrase "kill a baby".
Pro-lifers want everyone to have their baby, but they are vehemently against providing health care for all those women and babies, thereby increasing the chance of more births and healthy births. I find that the most deplorable part of their hypocrisy.
http://www.thealarmbell.com/journal/pro-lifers-hypocrisy-works-against-own-goals.html
I like that the little fetus is caucasian.
If I wind up with a bruise on my forehead tomorrow, I'll know why. Head, meet desk. Again.
Oh. My. God. How about this?
"The first is to abort your baby and have to remember it. The second choice is to have it and raise it by yourself."
WHERE THE FUCK IS DADDY? Because a woman having sex outside of marriage can't possibly have a loving, stable boyfriend, and a woman in a marriage can't possibly not want to get pregnant. Yea. And what about relatives? My mom told me once that if I got pregnant she would raise the baby for me so I didn't have to quit school (it weirded me out a bit, but I appreciate the sentiment). They are referring to a fraction of women. AND the entire middle "testimony" seems like it's anti-sex, not anti-abortion. I wish they would keep their frickin' causes straight.
Is it bad that, when I read the part about the bumper stickers ("3 x 11 1/2 inch _removable_ vinyl bumper stickers"), the "removable" part really struck me?
I'm not sure how I feel about my initial thoughts - ha! Removable. Abortion. I'm 12. (=I recognize that this is superficial and childish "humor".) Also, they did not see that. Haha, they're dumb.
Spluh - at least I'm questioning my ideas! Go me!