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f pyypflg CONTACT as AT P.O. BOX 1027. ATHENS, CA SOSOS OR MAIL@ELACPOLE.COM
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CHOICES NO. 1
I picked up your magazine dated Jan. 27
due to its cover, (which read], "Want anti
abortion rhetoric and an invitation to
church?" I was happy to know that I wasn't
going to have to figure out ii the article was
biased, since it was so clear from the front
page. So. as I read the article by Melissa
Link ( “Some Choice Why You Can't Get an
Abortion in Athens '], I kept looking for tlie
dagger, but I'm writing to inform you that I
was pleased to find what I thought was a fair
article. Melissa reported what happened at
the center and refrained from personal edi
torializing I was expecting a condemnation
of this pro-life (not anti-abortion) organiza
tion I»ut she chose to let the reader decide
their personal views Thank you. Melissa,
and flagpole, for a good article
i wish Jennifer Baumgartner [ "Immaculate
Contraception"] could have done as well I
find her comments that second wave femi
nists "declared that women would never be
free until they could control their own
bodies" unbelievable Why is it never said
tfi.it women are tree to choose not to have
unprotected, reckless sex with a man who
has no commitments to them other than to
fulfill their own urgent sexual desires? How
about having sex in a loving, committed rela
tionship in which two people are prepared
to accept the "product of conception" (the
baby) Sex in marriage now there's a novel
thought
Larry Boling
Athens
CHOICES NO. 2
Life should be so valuable. We save ani
mals, whales and children outside the
womb But not inside the womb. To me if a
heartbeat is stopped, that's murder. If
people would plan pregnancy, then abor
tion wouldn't be needed Unless it's needed
because of complications in the preg
nancy/birth If it’s a choice, then people
that want to commit suicide due to a life-
threatening illness should. Because it's
their choice Nobody should say anything
against that
Jamie Benko
Athens
CHOICES NO. 3
I am pro-choice to the fullest extent this
side of Being Not Evil, which all qualifies as
good! Females must take control, be respon
sible. and stop playing the role of damsel in
distress just to get some ass and then run to
the clinic to get an abortion! If cnntraceji-
tives she insisted did not work, then that is
what the safe abortion clinic is for. But I
think females should seriously take a more
serious view of their involvement in repro
ductive coupling!
Martin K Baker I!
Athens
CHOICES NO. a
About four years ago my wile Trudy and I
had the good fortune to travel to India to
pick up our newest daughter, who at the
tune was residing in an orphanage in the citv
of Poona. Our daughter Pratiina's birth
mother had been in an institution similar to
the one described in Melissa Link's article on
the Athens Pregnancy Center So Melissa's
article struck a personal chord in me
I have always felt that pregnancy was a
private affair for both mother and father, and
that I. and certainly no politician, should
determine the choice that she should be
asked to make concerning the pregnancy
However the word choice means “option " If
there are no options then how can one make
a choice? I believe that institutions like the
Athens Pregnancy Center, and the institution
that my daughter’s mother was in m India,
provide the other option, the other choice,
that women should have if they should
choose not to terminate their pregnancies
In the world of "pro-choice" is there not
room to support both options? I am reminded
of the policy of “The Farm" in Tennessee that
openly invites women to come there to have
their babies The Farm cares for those babies
until the mother reaches a point in her life
when she wants or is able to take on the
responsibility of parenting herself
I am so grateful when I look at my
daughter, that her mother was given a
choice, and if not for places like the Athens
Pregnancy Center, this may not have been
possible
Charles Gardner
Athens
CHOICES NO. S
I'm writing in response to Melissa Link
and Richard Fausset's article “Inside the
Athens Pregnancy Center." In very obvious
ways, they wrote the article to show how
insensitive and one-sided the Athens
Pregnancy Center was towards unmarried
women All I can say is “duh!" With very few
exceptions, any pregnancy center in the
country is going to give you a one-sided
argument primarily featuring their personal
and political views on what pregnant women
“should" do. I believe the fluiyrole is missing
the point to suggest that it is somehow
“duplicitous" to call yourself a pregnancy
crisis center and fail to offer abortions
thereby luring women into a bad situation
The center does what it claims to do: It
offers a tree test, counseling, and confiden
tiality. That they shouid have to advertise
their pro-life stance is ridiculous
Just as this clinic firmly portrayed abor
tion in an unfavorable light, pro-choice
clinics often just as firmly portray it as the
only option for young scared women Where
the Athens Center uses phrases like “the life
inside you" and “baby" other clinics use
words like “it" and "your pregnancy" robbing
the fetus of any personal identity — which
(as any doctor will tell you) is not a piece of
pro-life rhetoric The fetus is alive and it is
separate from the woman Should a pro-
choice clinic include in its advertisement,
"pro-choice affiliated" or include "feminist"
in its title? I don't think so. although you will
get just as much of a one-sided view in that
establishment as you would in the Athens
Pregnancy Center.
The facts are fairly simple and most of
them were stated in the article Abortion is
the only medical procedure that you can
undergo without knowing the risks Why do
you think that is° Possibly because the horri
fying and very sad truth is that words like
“scraped." "suck." and “puncture" are
absolutely accurate, no matter what tone of
voice they're said in. Many women go into
an abortion having no clue what is hap
pening to them or what the side effects
might be and that's simply wrong. Another
fact: There are many safer alternatives to
having an abortion and many times these
alternatives are not fully offered to young
women. Pro-choice clinics offer an abortion
hard-sell and the adoption no-sell, or they
liresent adoption as too difficult and time-
consuming to be worthy of serious consider
ation The choice to have an abortion is so
inevitable, in fact, that it is jiomtless to
explain the risks.
The fart that a serious medical procedure
with notable side effects is viewed as the
"easy” way out is just as insulting as having a
waiting room filled with pictures of married
couples and young babies in a center where
the frequenters are usually single, sad.
scared young girls There is no perfect clinic
that will show all the options and philoso
phies in an honest, equal opportunity way.
They are all slanted by their affiliations.
A pro-life clinic isn't doing women a dis
service by presenting them with the less
popular pregnancy solutions. It's called the
freedom of choice... The choice NOT to have
an abortion and not to pressure women into
having abortions: the choice to give the
options they believe in. what they think a
woman “should" do. This decision is not
restricted to the pro-woman faction alone
Megan Lovett
via the Internet
CHOICES NO. G
Kudos to Melissa Link for exposing this
"pregnancy crisis center" for what it really is.
Why does the religious right feels it neces
sary to further confuse and terrify people
that suffer the horror of an unplanned preg
nancy? It’s yet another great example of the
unchristian tactics that are employed to try
and “recruit" the rest ■'[ us into Christianity.
Gee. why is this country’s churchgoing pop
ulation decreasing so rapidly? Perhaps these
people’s time would be better spent praying
for their own salvation after practicing such
deceit Then again, I sup|iose they are too
busy building bombs and hiding Eric Robert
Rudoljih to do that...
B. Waddell
Athens
CHOICES NO. 7
Thank you. Melissa Link, for exposing the
sordid underbelly of the Athens Pregnancy
Center. To think that you were exposed to
"images of blue-eyed toddlers in crisp gowns
of starched cotton and lace, a dreamlike
tuzzy photo of a young mother cradling a
sleeping newborn, and an illustration of
happy youngsters holding hands in some
sort of rmg-around-the-rosies game"! HOW
DARE THEY!!*! D*** THEM AND THEIR EVIL.
BUCK HEARTS!!’ This kind of “ART" has NO
BUSINESS at a pregnancy center, especially
where it might be seen by expectant
mothers
Then, thanks to Ms Link's exceptional,
unbiased reporting, we come to find that
they have hired “a perfectly coifed
fortysomething woman" as their recep
tionist. WILL THE DEPTHS TO WFilCH THESE
VILE PEOPLE SINK NEVER COME TO AN
END??? Imagine, hiring a well dressed jierson
to represent your business, AND A WOMAN
AT THAT?? At a pregnancy center, no less!
Then, to top it all off. she speaks with “an
airy and polite Southern accent"! How long
must they have searched to find a woman
from Georgia with a polite Southern accent,
just so they could continue this mean-spir
ited charade?
Please forgive me (or continuing to sub
ject you, the reader, to the dastardly prac
tices of this monstrous organization, but
their nefarious deeds do not end here. They
also employ (1 swear in the name of all that
is holy that I am not making this up) A PREG
NANT WOMAN!!! One can only shudder to
think what kind of sick, twisted mir.d would
think that it is right for a pregnant woman to
volunteer at a pregnancy center. Just when
things couldn't seem to get any worse, this
woman Tiffany (if indeed that is her real
name) INVITES MS LINK TO CHURCH!!! And
offers to sit with her! I'm surprised Ms. Link
didn't run screaming from the building after
all that she had had to endure
Thanks once again to Ms. l.ink, whose
journalistic integrity speaks for itself (for she
would never use a false pretense, like pre
tending to be pregnant, in order to investi
gate an organization she was accusing of
being duplicitous)
I urge all of you to join me with torches,
axes, pitchforks, or whatever you can find,
as we hunt down every last person associ
ated with the Athens Pregnancy Center and
remove this heinous blight from our commu
nity rOREVER!”
Philip Weir.rich
Bogart
A few weeks ago I wrote a letter ( Wo Soul
" Jan 20] responding to the Soul Miner’s
Daughter slam asking “why not take this
great amount of space and write about some
thing from which readers can benefit: tell us
more about Josh McKay’s trip to Indonesia
and its musical repercussions on Macha's
instrumentation and composition. .."
► wore letters on page 17
THIS Mtlhll WOILI
by TOM TOMORROW
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OF COURSE, I LIKE To BAL
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SUCCESS WITH AN AIR OF
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a FLAGPOLE FEBRUARY 10, 1999