More late night madness from me. On Friday and Saturday nights Dan and I have a tendency to stay up very late at our computers, goofing around, reading and playing games.
Today I made a pair of baby booties that I originally intended to donate to a local charity. At the beginning of this year I made a small resolution to craft at least one charity item a month this year. The first one was a small blue cotton cap for the Knit One, Save One campaign by Save the Children. Unfortunately I didn't notice until I was looking for the address to mail it to, that I had missed the deadline. Even more unfortunately, I missed the announcement on their website that the deadline had been extended until about one day too late. So, I'm not off to the greatest start.
I had some really cute leftover baby yarn that is green with rainbow flecks, in a nice soft washable acrylic, so I thought I'd try making these booties for the unnamed local charity. I figured what the heck, it's a nice short project and I have the yarn and the time, why not?
But once again, not thoroughly researching the charity in question has been my downfall. Part of the reason I haven't mentioned their name is that I've discovered that they support a local "crisis pregnancy center" which is another word for an anti-choice non-medical clinic designed to frighten and coerce pregnant girls and women (who are already terrified enough, if they are going to a crisis center) not to have abortions.
Now, I'm not for or against abortion itself, but I am of the opinion that it is up to each individual human being to make that choice for herself. (Either way - I'm against women being forced to continue pregnancies in countries where abortion is illegal, and I'm also against state-ordered abortions like in China.) What is more disturbing about this particular propaganda center is that on their website they list in their "topics to discuss" something about when birth control is abortion. Which is another way of saying that the birth control pill, and emergency contraception, are abortions. Which is medically inaccurate, because hormonal contraception can not terminate an existing pregnancy. These are the sort of people that believe that women do not have the moral agency to decide when and whether to bear children, and who see all unwanted pregnancies, regardless of the circumstance, as a positive thing. That all young women should be compelled to start popping out babies as soon and as often as possible. That contraception should be illegal or at least inaccessible. (I'll get off my soap box now.)
The upshot is, I'm not going to give my cute little green booties to this particular charity. My cousin is having twin boys this spring, so I'll probably make a set in green and a set in blue and give them to her. And maybe make a little green hat to match the little blue hat, so they can have those too. I guess I don't feel too terrible about things, since taking care of one's family is as noble a cause as any. But I'll definitely stop and do my research, the next time I decide to make a charity project, before I start stitching.
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