Note: This is going to be a brief entry because I have a lot going on at the moment and haven't really had time to process today's events.

The quick of it is, there is a very large anti-abortion demonstration being held in front of the Coffman Student Union at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and the pro-choice groups WSAC and the UPCC need people to protest with us. We'll be starting at 8am tomorrow (the anti-choicers are returning at 6am) and going all day, no matter what the weather, until the anti-choicers leave. As a reward for our hard work afterwards, we'll all be heading to MPIRG's Take Back the Night rally (6pm, Loring Park).

You can read a more detailed description of the day's events and tomorrow's plans after the break.

Yes, you two. I'm the one who argued with you about the bias of the information in some of your pamphlets. I'm calling you out.

First of all, I was right. There is no connection between abortion and breast cancer. It was disproven a few years ago. Interestingly enough, your pamphlet hasn't been revised since the middle of 2005, around the time when the connection was debunked. Don't you think that a pamphlet on such a controversial topic would be updated to reflect such an important revelation? Most of the quotes in there were from the late 1980s and mid 1990s, when a number of inconclusive studies were published. That's right: inconclusive, and there are a number of papers that explain this.

I just had to share this video with everyone.  The anti-choice woman in the video is South Dakota's very own Leslee Unruh, who founded the National Abstinence Clearinghouse, and spearheaded the (unsuccessful) near-total ban on abortions in South Dakota.

She's really as crazy as she looks, I promise.

In case you weren't aware, Bush isn't terribly well known for his support of reproductive rights and factually-accurate sex education.  In fact, one could even say he's downright against them.

Unfortunately, Bush and his administration are finding it harder and harder to force their anti-choice policies on Americans.  They couldn't even get an abortion ban passed in South Dakota!

Instead, Bush has nominated Dr. Eric Keroack to lead the Department of Health and Human Services' family planning program.  He claims that contraceptives are demeaning to women, runs a crisis pregnancy center that actively coerces women into not having abortions, and provides patently false information about condoms and birth control -- namely, that condoms "offer virtually no protection" against some STIs.

It makes absolutely no sense to put someone who actively opposes anything but abstinence to be in charge of national family planning.

Don't let this nomination happen unopposed.  Several groups (including NARAL and Planned Parenthood) have links here and here where you can express your opposition to Dr. Keroack's appointment.