today, the corpse of irony was found stomped and mangled in a gutter

[rone]

Via diepunyhumans:

Planned Parenthood is proud to offer yet another t-shirt in our new social fashion line: "I Had an Abortion" fitted T-shirts are now available. These soft and comfortable fitted tees assert a powerful message in support of women's rights.

"Proud to offer"?  "Support of women's rights"?  I don't think anyone in their right mind thinks that an abortion is something that's GOOD to have.  This is just going to give the pro-life wackjobs more ammo — "See, Planned Parenthood wants women to be PROUD of killing their babies!"

Comments

[merde.livejournal.com]

oh, god. what a fucking train wreck.

i mean, i can see the point of such t-shirts. and the value. but the way they chose to promote them is... appalling.

that said, i might wear one, if only for the endless opportunities to smile at those who tell me i'm going to hell and say, "yes, that's the only place i can get away from people like you."

[kerri9494.livejournal.com]

i mean, i can see the point of such t-shirts. and the value.

I'm missing both the point and the value completely. Can ya enlighten me?

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

Please ignore the *thud* *thud* *thud* *thud* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* noise, as it is just my head beating itself into a raw pulp against my monitor.

[mdyesowitch.livejournal.com]

I should get one for hoppie.
-m

[mdyesowitch.livejournal.com]

Feh. Doesn't come in XL. Apparently there's a size restriction on people having abortions and hoppie doesn't fit into their narrow confines of people who can be proud to have had an abortion.
-m

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Seein' as how it's a girlie T, he might need an XXL. Still, i think he should wear a L anyway; it should do a great job showing off his nipples.

[kodi]

You know, I think I'll stick with my plan to print up a couple "My Ancestors Fought Under General Sherman" shirts. This shirt just doesn't seem like it would cause fistfights quite fast enough.

I think the saddest thing about this is that they're blatantly cribbing the idea from the "HIV Positive" tees, but appear to have totally missed what it is about HIV, and the language of the shirt, that makes the "HIV Positive" shirt work, and this one fall flat.

[broken-gizmo.livejournal.com]

*blink* *blink*

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

Guh?

He'd never do it, but if I could get Erik to wear one that'd be perfect.

[spoonfeeding.livejournal.com]

Well, in a way they're right. Having an abortion is a thing that only trashy drug addicts and godless liberals would stoop to- it's an invisible crime against God and man since, sadly, they don't brand you with a big "A" right after sucking the fetus out. You have no way of knowing who in your neighborhood has that dirty little skeleton in their closet.

These shirts will change everything. First Sally comes out to her garden in one, and you can hate and gossip about her spitefully. Then Susan comes out in one. then, Miriam, then Laura, then Rosalind, until practically every woman on your block- even churchgoing women with families- have been seen in one.

Imagine what that would do for the social stigma of abortion- women's dirtiest little secret (well, next to rape, I guess)- if it were so visible as to seem normal.

Yes, I agree with you that it's not going to happen, but hey, take asecond to imagine a brighter future.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I don't object to the T-shirt; it's the marketing campaign that i find inadequate. I really don't think it helps PP's image to be selling them; if someone else sold them and sent proceeds to PP, that would probably be more sensible.

[spoonfeeding.livejournal.com]

why do you hate women?

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Because they won't show me their boobies!@

[merovingian.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to make it a habit to ask people this wonderful question within 10 minutes of meeting them.

Sadly, I'm bluffing.

[sambushell.livejournal.com]

You'd rather "I had an abortion and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."? Or perhaps a weaker, ambiguous statement like "You know someone who had an abortion."?

Why should Planned Parenthood not encourage women to open this dialogue in this way? It isn't really about commercial branding of abortions: it's about visibility.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Why? I believe it's clearly stated in the original post: because it'll encourage the pro-life wackjobs. You probably have some very broken idea of what "dialogue" is if you think an "I had an abortion" t-shirt is going to open dialogue.

If women want to buy this shirt as a statement, hey, go for it. I think that Planned Parenthood's goals would be better served by not selling such an incendiary T-shirt (and, again, declaring that they're "proud" to do so). But what do i know? It's not like i have a uterus.

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

How about an arrow pointing downwards and text reading "I aborted stupid."?

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

*boggle*

[ikkyu2.livejournal.com]

I don't think anyone in their right mind thinks that an abortion is something that's GOOD to have.

Why not?

Big problems: unwanted kid, woman looking at having her life totally disrupted - 30 minute, safe, slightly painful medical procedure. Problems solved.

It's not all that big a deal, except for the people who spit on you as you come out of the clinic and shoot your doctor with a high-powered rifle while he's making Sunday breakfast.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a manicure. What was i thinking?

[ikkyu2.livejournal.com]

Dunno. Back to work, infidel.

[agentelrond.livejournal.com]

Five close friends of mine (that I know of) have had abortions.
None of them are gonna talk about it openly, but at the same time none of them are ashamed of what they did, nor do any of them regret the choice they made.
I think it's a good idea to remove the stigma.
At the same time, my understanding of PP was that their aim was to make abortions as unnecessary as possible. And this won't help their cause one bit.
This cannot serve in any constructive fashion.
And though I hate to sound so coldly pragmatic, couldn't they have picked a non-(presidential)election year to introduce this shirt?

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I think it's a good idea to remove the stigma. At the same time, my understanding of PP was that their aim was to make abortions as unnecessary as possible.

Bingo. Thanks for getting to the kernel of what i was trying to say.

And, yes, bad timing, too.