There are a lot of things celebrities shouldn’t do but they do anyway; if you take one look at Miley Cyrus you’ll have at least twelve solid examples. But, in my opinion, the most paramount “don’t” is using their popularity and influence to enter the political arena. Whether they’re getting naked for PETA or founding organizations, it really never seems to end well. However, the liberal cause constantly finds itself relying on the flashing smile of celebrity influence.

Recently a number of celebrities with apparently nothing better to do have come together to put on a show called “A Night of One Thousand Vaginas!”. Aside from the name (which, come on, nothing better came to mind?) the show shocked me on another level. The show is put on by a reproductive rights advocacy organization called A is For… (I know, these people don’t have a talent for naming things) and will raise money for the Texas Abortion Fund. This money will help women in Texas obtain safe and legal abortions. Although- as always- I hesitate to use the word safe to describe a procedure in which death of a human is the aim and result.

The organization is playing off The Scarlet Letter, claiming that giving women the right to abortion is reclaiming a symbol of shame (the A) that has stained us since the beginning of time. They claim that they have been founded as a result of an unprecedented attack on woman’s fundamental human rights. This attack, they claim is the result of

so-called “personhood” bills and a systematic campaign of dis-information, the overriding message we’re receiving is one we thought we’d overcome a long time ago: that women are too ignorant, too confused, too selfish and too thoughtless to be trusted with the control of our own bodies.

Here is their video echoing the same message.

I’ve always been a strong advocate for woman’s rights. I believe woman 100% deserve safe healthcare environments. In fact, I believe that if women actually had access to adequate support there would be no need for abortion clinics (which I expand on in this post). But the notion that pro-life legislation is the result of dis-information or of the belief that women are ignorant or selfish is completely ludicrous and an abuse of the facts.

As someone who is adamantly pro-life, I have the interest of the woman at the forefront of my mind. Like the original “feminists” such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and modern groups like Feminists for Life, I ascribe to the idea that both encouraging women to get abortions and putting them in a societal situation where abortion is the only option is the ultimate oppression of women.

This fundraiser and this organization take a drastic step by viewing abortion, not even as a necessary evil but as a positive thing. They are raising money for abortion in the same way one might raise money to alleviate hunger. How about raising money to support education for women in low-income situations? How about the beautiful option of adoption? What kind of society are we becoming that we are raising money and encouraging mothers to pursue this drastic option?

Organizations like A is For are trying to do a good thing- they are trying to make sure women have the healthcare they need and that they feel supported and free to make their own choices- but they are abusing and misinterpreting facts to tell women that abortion rights are the key to this freedom. Because, honestly, if we were really giving women the freedom to make their own choices, would women be choosing abortion?

So, instead of hosting a flashy, celebrity supported advocacy campaign to raise money to help women make a drastic decision let’s actually raise money to help women receive cancer screenings, pre-natal care, education, child-care and counseling. To me, this sounds like a lot more like giving women freedom of choice then making abortion the easiest option.

I’ll end by citing on of my favorite quotes on the issue by Susan B. Anthony who says:

“Guilty? Yes, no matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; but oh! thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime.”

To me, this reminds us that compelling a woman to make the choice to obtain an abortion is, in fact, indifferent to her fate. What advocacy organizations like A is For don’t realize is that by making it easier for women to get abortions they are not necessarily helping them but making the most dramatic and invasive option the easiest route to take.