Community | February 17, 2011 | 39 comments

"House" actress's chilling pro-choice ad

source: http://www.salon.com/entertainment/feature/2011/02/16/lisa_edelstein_justin_bieber_abortion/...

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We see a woman clad in "Mad Men"-era finery, slowly walking from the camera down a long hallway. A voice familiar to fans of "House" narrates. "Only decades ago, women suffered through horrifying back alley abortions, or they used dangerous methods when they had no other recourse. So when the Republican Party launched an all-out assault on women's health, pushing bills to limit women's access to vital services, we had to ask," she continues, as the image cuts between the woman opening a closet containing a single wire hanger and the distressed face of actress Lisa Edelstein: "Why is the GOP trying to send women back to the back alley?"

It's a powerful spot from MoveOn, one that couldn't be more timely, what with the GOP's recent tactics to rebrand rape so only women who've really been raped-raped would have access to abortion, or make it OK to kill abortion doctors. But what makes it all the more intriguing is the presence of a popular television actress, one who in fact plays a doctor. While celebrity culture doesn't lack for political points of view -- that's what the godless, liberal-controlled media that Glenn Beck is trying to save you from is all about, folks -- abortion is still such a wildly divisive, taboo topic that television and its actors generally bust out the 10-foot poles when it's broached. It's one thing for Hollywood to be riddled with joyous baby bumps -- isn't it great about Natalie Portman/Kate Hudson/Jane Krakowski! -- it's another to come forward in such a public way to support safe and legal choice. There are occasional exceptions, like Jack Black, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan's pro-choice spot for Barack Obama three years ago. But Edelstein's is not some cheerful get out the vote message. It's a stark and harrowing reminder that restricting access to abortion does not make abortion go away. It only pushes women to desperate, unsafe options that jeopardize their health and their lives. So why are so few actors and actresses willing to come forward and say the same? Sticking up for women's health, as Edelstein has, should not, in 2011, still be a controversial move.

But as if to illustrate the utter cluelessness that we are dealing with regarding abortion, noted lesbian-haired healthcare expert Justin Bieber told Rolling Stone this week that "I really don't believe in abortion. It's like killing a baby?" He went on to explain that even in cases of rape, "Um. Well, I think that's really sad, but everything happens for a reason. I guess I haven't been in that position, so I wouldn't be able to judge that." Maybe everything happens for a reason when you're a 16-year-old millionaire without a uterus, but it's a little more complicated when you're, say, a pregnant 13-year-old rape victim.

There's probably not a whole lot of intersection between Bieber's Wikipedia hacking minions and those abortion-loving fans of Fox medical procedurals. Neither is terribly likely to be swayed by the opinions of the other. But Edelstein's pointed, chilling MoveOn clip, which is reportedly going to start airing soon on various cable networks, is a bold step toward bringing an issue too long considered too hot, too much of a downer, right where it belongs. Into the living rooms of American families.

http://www.salon.com/entertainment/feature/2011/02/16/lisa_edelstein_justin_bieb...
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  2. tags:
    Republican,  Abortion,  Pro-Choice,  Abortion Rights
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39 comments // "House" actress's chilling pro-choice ad // Video

  • ThresholdBroken
    • 0
      ThresholdBroken  

    • As a pro-life supporter I hope these selfish females can take responsibility just as they understood what would happen if you have unprotected sex.

      As I just read some facts, only about 3% of abortions are because rape or life threatening cases, that is just pathetic..................... but I also learned that..........
      minorities tend to have more ..........Okay...........

      Women should have the absolute right........... yes Pro-choice!

    • 1 year ago
  • Numbz
  • nearandforever
    • -3
      nearandforever  

    • I don't think it matters which way they wanna kill the baby, as long as its sanitary doesn't hurt the woman.
      Right?
      So maybe the Republicans instead of forcing women to the back alleys, they can come up with an illegal but safe way to kill babies- that way everyone wins!
      cept the baby of course.
      but who cares.
      It depends on what you think is a baby.

    • 1 year ago
  • Schnookums
  • cclark_productions
    • +9
      cclark_productions  

    • I suck it up and pay $80 a month for birth control, birth control is 99% effective the least the government can do is allow me the freedom of a choice for the 1% chance of it not working. There are responsible sexually active women out there, and I'm tired of hearing the stereo type that all women that have abortions are reckless whores. Every circumstance is different.

    • 1 year ago
  • remanns
  • 3reddogs
    • +4
      3reddogs  

    • I'm old enough to remember exactly what this ad is trying to depict. In fact, a friend of the family back in the very early 60's was suddenly in Attica State Prison (I grew up in Buffalo) and no one would tell me why he was there. Several years later, when my mother decided I was old enough to understand, she told me he was in Attica because he had been performing illegal abortions. Shame on me, because he was Italian I had imagined all sorts of things but never that. My God, I can't believe I'm going to live long enough to see us go back to those horrific times.

    • 1 year ago
  • mitekillem
    • +7
      mitekillem  

    • The whole debate is retarded. RE-TART-ED !
      Why limit a woman's freedom in such a way? It's their choice, the death is on their head and their conscious, not yours.

      Government should have no involvement, other than to protect the freedom of these women to do just that. They definitely shouldn't be paying for it.
      It's a mistake to pay for a mistake.

      If the Government made it mandatory for all men earning under $30K a year, and/or on welfare to have a vasectomy, the GOP would be fighting like hell against that.
      Even though vasectomy's are fully reversible.

    • 1 year ago
  • Milieu
  • congoboy
  • mitekillem
    • +4
      mitekillem  
    • congoboy:

      Duh- genius. Abortion is murder.

      But so is starving the poor.

      So, it's okay not to murder a baby before it's born, but once it's born, it's okay to starve the family by cutting it off from welfare/unemployment.
      -- That too is Murder. WAKE UP!

    • 1 year ago
  • congoboy
  • Radical_Centrist
  • bundlebear
  • 3reddogs
    • +3
      3reddogs  
    • Radical_Centrist:

      Oh please ... these people are trained to turn no one away. According to the Washington Post, at least 12 clinics in six states received visits in January by men claiming to be engaged in sex trafficking. In each case, the clinic's staff notified federal and local authorities. Planned Parenthood also sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Jan. 18 citing its concerns about sex trafficking and suggesting that the visits might be part of a hoax. .

      Kinda funny how it's illegal for the government to entrap people but right-wing outfits like Citizens for Change think nothing of coordinating these ridiculous sting operations in pursuit of their agenda. Their doctored videos took down ACORN and now they've set their sights on Planned Parenthood. And the sheeple jump up and down and pee themselves with joy. Pah.

    • 1 year ago
  • hindotka
  • congoboy
  • hindotka
  • cclark_productions
    • +13
      cclark_productions  
    • hindotka:

      really?

      women's body, women's choice.. its as simple as that,
      we're more than baby factories without rights,
      its ignorant to judge all women that way when each specific instance is so different.

      Open your eyes and stop being judgemental and classifying all women as selfish reckless fetus killing machines.

      have some respect.

    • 1 year ago
  • timetide
  • CalPal
  • congoboy
  • congoboy
  • congoboy
  • bundlebear
  • congoboy
  • cclark_productions
  • cclark_productions
  • congoboy
  • congoboy
    • -5
      congoboy  
    • cclark_productions:

      oh ive known plenty of women and theyve asked me for much greater things. being a romantic at heart i have difficulty refusing the wiles of a woman. but i understand and appreciate your sentiment beautiful.

    • 1 year ago
  • cclark_productions
    • +2
      cclark_productions  
    • congoboy:

      I've come to realize that opinions are just like assholes.. everyone has one.

      A persons own choice concerning there body, life, and well being should never be talked slander against. At the end of the day everyone has to accepts their choices- its up to that person to live with their actions and consequences. Many people just choose to think a certain way about a given subject, but it's frankly no one's business, everyone deserves respect, especially when each circumstance is completely different from the last. (Also we have vagina's, so we automatically win)

      Okay I'll stop being a hippie now.

    • 1 year ago
  • MizPiz
  • congoboy
  • congoboy
  • royulery
    • +2
      royulery  

    • in the 60's, there were girls at my high school that resorted to the hanger. back then there was lethal religious stigma. our sick culture has come a long way, lets not go back to; little girls fishing inside themselves so they don't get thrown away.

    • 1 year ago
  • jamfan1921
  • August_K
    • +5
      August_K  

    • "It's a stark and harrowing reminder that restricting access to abortion does not make abortion go away. It only pushes women to desperate, unsafe options that jeopardize their health and their lives."

      And that's exactly what they don't understand.
      I'm starting to see who the real American Taliban is and it's not the imaginary group who we've been told it is.

    • 1 year ago
  • Itsbatman_Durr
    • +4
      Itsbatman_Durr  

    • i am anti abortion and think its murder but i also think that everyone deserves the right to make their own choice. i wish that they allowed men virtual abortions so if they didnt want to be financially or in any other way tied to the little meat puppet they could also exercise their choice..

      and if i could post partum abort some people that would be ok with me too

    • 1 year ago
  • congoboy
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