Dear John,
Welcome to the August edition of the #BadFaithMedicine Breakdown! In it we chronicle the things we have been doing to call out the #BadFaithMedicine of anti-abortion fake clinics and the broader anti-abortion movement.
It’s back to school season, the perfect time to remind you that anti-abortion fake clinics are often the ones responsible for the shaming, incomplete, and often inaccurate abstinence-only sex education in schools. “Sexual risk avoidance” programming does harm to young people – immediately and over the long run. Students deserve comprehensive, affirming, inclusive, and ACCURATE information about how their bodies work, including safe sex and consent.
As the stated goal of the anti-abortion movement is ending abortion, you would think that anti-abortion fake clinics would be deeply invested in ensuring that young people had access to proven, effective education that lessened the risk for unwanted and unplanned pregnancies. But that’s just the thing: anti-abortion fake clinics want us to believe that they genuinely care about the well-being of children and families, but their true intent is control. Enforcing deeply flawed abstinence-only education in schools is just starting the regimen of control early.
More reading from Reproaction on this and related topics:
"Fake Clinics Play the Long Game by Targeting Schoolchildren", by Shireen Shakouri
“We’re in a moment where adults at long last are listening to teens’ demands for safe and supportive school environments. I look forward to a movement that tackles the forces working through public schools to keep young people in the dark about their sexual and emotional safety.”
"Abstinence-Only Education: Highly Funded, Highly Ineffective, and Very Harmful", by Angie Marie Luna
“Everyone deserves accurate, accessible, unbiased information about sexuality and reproduction and that includes abortion and curriculum that is comprehensive when it comes to sexual activity and orientation.”
And for some lightness, a meme for your enjoyment:
"SO YEAH THEY'RE ANTI-ABORTION FAKE CLINICS, SOME PEOPLE CALL THEM CPC’S BUT THEY'RE SO SKETCHY, MOST OF THEM DON'T HAVE MEDICAL STAFF & OFTEN LIE TO CLIENTS ABOUT THEIR GESTATIONAL AGE SO THEY CAN'T GET AN ABORTION & DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON HOW THEY CAN GET TAXPAYER FUNDING"
As always, check out our regularly-updated Fake Clinic Database, where you can learn about the anti-abortion fake clinics near you, and visit our #BadFaithMedicine campaign page with information and tools so you can fight back.
In Solidarity,
Tenaja Henson
Campaign Coordinator
Based in Greensboro, NC
P.S. – The school year is just getting started, and so are we. Donate today.
