SUMMER OF TRUST

By Cody James

This upcoming Thursday, September 8^TH, is being promoted as National Pro-Life Chalk Day (read more on the National Prolife Chalk Day site).  If you have not yet encountered it, sidewalk chalking has become a common tactic of the Anti-choice movement.

I urge all supporters of abortion rights to take action this Thursday!  How?  Get your hands on some chalk and join me in the simple action of re-appropriating the harmful, hateful and blatantly mis-informational messages that will be appearing on the sidewalks of schools and public spaces near you.

Recently, Operation Rescue and their supporters chalked an array of typical Pro-life messages on the sidewalk in front of the clinic of abortion provider and Women’s rights advocate Dr. Leroy Carhart during the Summer of Trust events in Germantown, MD.  After first attempting to remove their messages, which is time consuming and laborious, we were able to much more effectively counter this tactic by altering the messages we found to expose the inherent lies contained within.

Here are a few examples of some of the re-appropriated messages from Germantown:

“Defend Life” became “Defend Women’s Rights”

Previously read “If it’s not a CHILD, you’re not pregnant”

You to yours

“Abortion Mends a Broken Heart”

“Pro-life is a lie, you don’t care if women die!”

At first it was difficult to decide exactly how to alter the messages left by the Anti-choicers, but as we got started exposing their lies came quickly and easily.

The re-appropriation of Pro-choice and feminist terminology, including the term “choice” itself, has become a major goal of the Anti-choice movement. Detournement of Pro-life chalk messages is a particularly effective way to combat this type of deceitful re-appropriation. Take a look at the list of example chalk messages provided by the National Pro-Life Chalk Day website (again, http://nationalprolifechalkday.com/) and consider the blatant misuse of terminology and how you would choose to re-appropriate the misinformation contained therein when you encounter messages like:

“Abortion Hurts Women”
“End Womb Lynching”
“Abortion is Racist”
“Social Justice Begins in the Womb”
“Human Rights for ALL: Born & Preborn”
“True Feminists are Pro-Life”

A couple tips:

• It takes a lot of chalk! Even those big sticks of sidewalk chalk run out very quickly, so bring plenty!
• Light colors like white, yellow and orange are much more clearly visible than darker colors.

The anti-choice groups promoting National Pro-Life Chalk Day are not currently publicizing specific locations where sidewalk chalking will be taking place on September 8th, however one of the main objectives of the sidewalk chalking tactic is to target a youth audience, so you can expect to find anti-choicers focusing on school campuses as locations. Don’t passively allow your campus to become a billboard for anti-choice rhetoric this upcoming Thursday! Social Justice begins with the people and there has never been a better time to hit the streets, chalk in hand, to proliferate the message that we will continue to defend bodily autonomy and the right to safe and legal abortion access.

In solidarity! See you in the streets!

Calling all Summer of Trust/Choice attendees!  Submit your favorite event photos to SummerofTrust@gmail.com. Please send JPEG files or links to your websites/Facebook/Blog/Twitter/Flickr or other various social media outlets if you would like them to be shared on the Summer of Trust website. We’d love to consolidate the images here for one stop viewing.

Galleries to view:

• World Can’t Wait’s Flickr set
• Femisisters
• Alan Gross’s album
• Lew Lorton’s photos

Here are some photos taken by Meghan von Gremp:

Photo by Isis:

By Laura Fausone

“It’s a lovely day here in Germantown, Maryland. I’m enjoying this beautiful weather and being with good friends….”

This is how I responded to a “reporter” who was trying to interview me and a few of my fellow feminists. Interview me only to have you spin my comments? Not likely. I was taking part in the Summer of Choice, Summer of Trust celebration in Germantown. Since Operation Rescue decided to declare “Summer of Mercy II” and target Dr. Leroy Carhart, supporters from around the country came together to thank of Dr. Carhart for his heroic stand to help women in crisis. Dr. Carhart is one of the few doctors who will perform a late-term abortion. Women who seek this procedure are usually in grave danger of dying if bringing a fetus to full term, or they have discovered that the fetus they are carrying will not be viable outside the womb. A late term abortion is less tragic than birthing a baby who will suffer and die imminently following the birth.

My friends and I flew to Maryland to help take a stand in this Celebration. Continue reading →

Updated August 15, 2011 – We’ve linked to some of these articles before, but here’s and updated list of news and blog coverage (we focus on the reports providing fair coverage of the prochoice perspective):

• Mother Jones’ “The Abortion Wars Come to Maryland”
• RH Reality Check, Jodi Jackson’s “At Germantown Clinic Protest, Operation Resecue’s Troy Newman Calls Pregnant Woman “Bitch”"
• RH Reality Check, Brady Swenson’s “Photos from the 2011 Summer of Choice/Summer of Trust Walk”
• RH Reality Check, Sunsara Taylor’s “Talking to Abortion Rights Activists in Germantown, MD” & “Summer of Choice: Walk for Choice at  Germantown Clinic“
• Care 2 Make a Difference’s “Summer of Mercy 2.0 versus Summer Celebration of Choice“
• Germantown Patch “Germantown enters the spotlight in national abortion debate” & The Scene as Abortion Protests Wind Down in Germantown
• Washington Independent’s “Summer of Mercy 2.0 groups work to close Carhart’s Maryland clinic“
• American Independent’s “Voices and images of Summer of Mercy 2.0, Summer of Celebration of Choice” & Hardened Summer of Mercy/Summer of Choice protesters dig in outside Carhart’s Md. clinic
• Rebublic of Gilead’s blog post, “Pro-Choice and Anti-Abortion Demonstrators Converge in Germantown, MD“
• RH Reality Check, Robin Marty’s “Summer of Mercy 2.0 Launches With Ultrasound Movies“
• The Millitant  “All out to Defend Maryland Clinic!”
• RH Reality Check, Summer of Choice: A Grassroots Response to Attacks on Clinics
• “Ms. Magazine “Summer Celebration of Choice Kicks off at Carhart’s Clinic” & Dispatches from an Abortion-Rights Battleground: Germantown, Maryland
• Amplify Your Voice
• Laura Kacere: Summer of Choice: Show Your Support and Thanks to the Doctors, Clinics, and Your Right to Choose, Activists Stand Up for Abortion Rights in Germantown, & They Say No Choice, We Say Pro Choice!
• Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
• Revolution Newspaper: Defending Abortion Doctor Carhart and the Lives of Women
• RHRealityCheck: STOKING FIRE: Clinic Violence Needs to Be Controlled
• Republic of Gilead: More on the Summer of Choice in Germantown, MD 
• Jodi Jacobson: Banners, Binoculars and Rosary Beads: Anti-Choice Misogyny, Naivete and Invasiveness On Display in Germantown & Ignore That Self-Affixed Halo: Anti-Choicers Know Just What They Are Doing to Incite Violence
• You can watch videos of activists in Germantown recorded by World Can’t Wait.
• Erin Matson: A Summer of Choice: What We Learned in Germantown
• Words of Choice: Summer of Celebration: We Say, Thank You, Doctors! Includes messages of support to Dr. Carhart from attendees of the Words for Choice event like this one: Dr. Carhart: When I learned you’d opened a clinic in Germantown, I was so proud you’d chosen Montgomery County for your practice. I’m deeply grateful for the sacrifices you and your family have made to ensure women have access to later term abortions. Sincerely, A.C.
• Socialist Worker: Summer of opposing bigotry
• Washington Post: Abortion is topic of dueling protests in Md.
• Debra Sweet, Director of World Can’t Wait, and Meghan von Gremp, Summer of Trust organizer, interviewed on KPFK-LA (audio)
• World Can’t Wait: This Weekend – Trusting Women and Celebrating Choice

 Summer activist continue to stand for CHOICE  in Germantown, Maryland. We are standing for the belief that women are able to decide when, how, and on what terms they reproduce.  We are raising our voices that abortion and birth control are absolutely necessary for women to participate fully, as equals, in society and our world.  We also know abortion saves  lives, and that therefore,  Dr. Carhart is a hero.  Here are  some activist giving thanks to Carhart for expanding his essential services to the East Coast in the face  of harassment:

You can view more gratitude and respect for Dr. Carhart here in the World Can’t Wait’s Flicker album and NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland’s facebook album and the @WordsforChoice tweets on “words 4 carhart.”

Additionally, Sunsara from the Revolution NewsPaper covered the first day of the celebration of choice here.  And the Germantown Patch made this video illustrating the vast differences in prochoice and prolife groups ideological stance in Germantown.  The Washington Independent article in which Troy Newman compares abortion to eggplant flavored ice cream can be found here.  (See above, Troy, we are not speaking about any thing close to the right to choose between ice cream flavors.)

Also, if you did not see this video message from KS NOW on the importance of standing up for choice, you can watch and read the post here.  As we stand up for choice, we hope you can stand up with us in any way you can!

Reproductive justice and prochoice activism are happening NOW on the streets of Germantown, and it’s not to late to join in! Get yourself to the Shady Grove redline stop or#97 RideOn bus, and be part of the on-the-ground  support for Dr. Carhart (the bus gets you right to the clinic, while the redline gets you close).

Yesterday was a whirlwind of a kick-off day! Clinic defense started early in the morning, with activist from all over the country (and one from France!) participated in the morning’s peaceful, prochoice presence.

The Kick-Off Walk was a great success: Over 200 walkers came, around 2000 in cash donations were made on the ground, and the activities resulted in over 12000 total for the Abortion Access Fund! We walked the 1.3 miles chanting “They say NO CHOICE; We say PROCHOICE.” Check out some pictures here. The overwhelming majority of responses to the walkers and prochoice  presence through out the day were positive: Honking, thumbs up and solidarity-fists in the air from passer and drivers by welcomed the prochoice presence.

A incredible, moving performance from Words for Choice followed the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and Feminist Majority’s inspired and informative peaceful presence training.  Thank you to all the organizations, activist and to the mass support the prochoice community is showing!

Here is some  coverage on the events, and check out the @SummerofChoice and @SummerofTrust twitter accounts for continued updates.

Kira Ann from KS NOW reports on Operation Rescue and our unwillingness to let their terrorism go unchallenged in Germantown

Washington Post Account of the Events (they’re a little off as there were over 200 people walking, but the pictures are great!)

A National poll was released earlier this week saying that the prochoice majority is growing.  The report detailed that only 17% of the Nation (down from 20% two years ago) opposed abortion under any circumstance. Those organizing with “Summer of Mercy 2.0″ are among the17% wanting there to be no abortion choice in the United States. These antis are a loud, fanatic bunch and they are expecting between 500-1,000 supporters to storm Germantown. In the face of such anti-abortion fervor, being silent in your support for abortion endangers abortion rights.

While antis rally, and loudly voice their anti-choice opinion, we need you to be visibly supporting choice.  We are geared up, ready to go support Dr. Carhart, and illustrate our appreciation for the right to choose.  Will you join in?

We know that not everyone can make it to the streets, but we’re hoping that you can each get involved in some way. These new poll numbers are a great, but when they really mean something is when we all become visible: in the streets, in the news, legislation and blogspheres.  There are many ways to stand up for choice, here are a few you can do to support this weeks movement:

You can donate to the Summer of Choice kick-off walk, which has already raised over 7,000 to increase access to choice. Financially supporting Germantown’s abortion services is a fantastic way to tell antis that harassing providers only galvanizes the prochoice movement.

Tweet-it-up #summeroftrust #summerofchoice #carhart #DrCarhart. Facebook tag Summer of Trust and Summer of Choice. Blog with us next week: We will be live blogging with from-the-streets updates, and hosting a blog carnival on why keeping abortion as a choice in the United States is important to you.

Any way you can show America is majority prochoice, do it! We are not willing to give up choice, and know that most of you aren’t either.

Two reports from activists working to make the Summer of Trust happen:

Confronting the “Genocide Awareness Project” in Baltimore
By Brandy Baker

Raising FUNds and Breaking the Silence in Los Angeles
By Meghan von Gremp

Continue reading →

Read and share these messages calling on pro-choice people everywhere to come to Germantown and support Dr. Carhart and the right to abortion:

Kari Ann Rinker writes in The Summer of Mercy, Shaping One Feminist at a Time that the original Summer of Mercy in Wichita, 1991 played a key role in her emerging feminism:

My small town upbringing had not given me cause to ever really think about abortion. I dare say that I hadn’t even really formulated a view one-way or the other on the issue. Seeing those shouting people, what struck me most was the mob scene that they created. I knew I didn’t like bullies and these people were most certainly bullying the women that entered that clinic.

and on RHRealityCheck.org, in From Wichita to Germantown: Standing with Dr. Carhart:

This Wichitan will be travelling to Germantown to stand with Dr. Carhart.  I will stand in memory of our fallen Doctor Tiller and for those doctors brave enough to continue providing this essential health care in spite of unspeakable threats and legal actions.  I will stand for Dr. Mila Means, who continues to face down the bullies in Wichita in spite of danger and harassment.  These thugs cannot be ignored.  They will not be denied.  They can only be met head on with all of the pro-choice might that we can muster.

Sunsara Taylor writes in Abortion doctor Leroy Carhart is a hero – Operation Rescue wants him dead:

The future of abortion rights, the lives of women and of the safety of heroes like Dr. LeRoy Carhart cannot be left to politicians or law enforcement or “someone out there who isn’t me.”  It is time – long past time – for all those to care about women to confront the fact that the future will hinge on what each of us will do.

And listen to her talk about the Summer of Trust on The Michael Slate Show, KPFK-LA July 22, 2011.