Scare Tactics

Some pro-choicers are using fear to educate this Halloween season.

by Mariel Waloff

Advocacy

E xactly one week after Halloween, Pennsylvania voters will either return U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum to Capitol Hill or replace him with Bob Casey Jr. While many consider the former a ghastly option, one campaign issue — abortion — has produced an actual house of horrors in Northern Liberties.

Last week, the Women's Medical Fund and Planned Parenthood hosted a sneak peak of "Nightmare on American Street: Right to Choose Denied," the newest haunted house in a city that's seemingly filled with them this time of year. But rather than axe murderers roaming Eastern State Penitentiary looking for screams from unsuspecting kiddies, "Nightmare" is being presented as an educational offering for an older set.

TERROR BEHIND THE LAWS: "Political zombie" Josh Marcus gets ready to frighten. : Michael T. Regan

"This is not for children," explained Susan Schewel, executive director of the Women's Medical Fund and treasurer of the National Women's Health Network. "We've rated it PG-13."

The idea is modeled on evangelical "Hell Houses," which are haunted houses put on by churches to educate about the supposed evils of homosexuality, abortion and premarital sex.

One room might display a rave scene where a "party girl" consumes an array of drugs, has sex with numerous partners and wakes up the next day feeling terrible about the sins she has committed. Another might show a gay man dying of AIDS and renouncing his homosexuality upon death.

"Nightmare," however, aims to present reproductive-rights horrors in a "campy, palatable and fun way," Schewel said. One vignette shows two teenage girls locked in prison; one for taking her younger sister across a state border to get an abortion. While that's not a felony in Pennsylvania, Schewel says a bill in Congress would make it illegal to cross state lines to avoid abortion laws in one's home state. Others show gorier illegal-abortion scenes.

While the final stop in a "Hell House" is generally a "redemption-room" scene of people washing away their sins and rediscovering their religion, "Nightmare" closes with information about how to advocate for accessible abortions and reproductive rights.

"There is a growing shame and stigmatization associated with abortions," Schewel said. A member of the National Network of Abortion Funds, her group provides assistance to women and teens in southeastern Pennsylvania who can't afford safe and legal abortions. "We want people to realize that abortions are inaccessible for many people, even though they are legal."

In many ways, the looming U.S. Senate election is a lose-lose for pro-choicers. Both candidates oppose abortion, but Casey relents when it comes to cases of rape, incest and danger to the life of the woman. So "Nightmare" is less about endorsing a candidate and more about joining a national movement recognizing 2006 not only as a dire time for reproductive rights, but the 30th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment.

Passed three years after Roe v. Wade , the Hyde Amendment banned federal funding, including Medicaid dollars, for abortions. Saying that abortion is still legal is technically correct, but 32 states currently ban Medicaid coverage for abortions and Congress refuses coverage to military personnel and their families, people on disability insurance and those who receive care from Indian Health Services. (Legally, they are supposed to cover the costs of abortions in cases of rape, incest and threat to the life of the woman.)

Seventeen states, including California, New York, New Mexico and Montana, provide state Medicaid coverage for poor women in most cases, but Pennsylvania is not one of them. The fact that Medicaid does not offer coverage means the Hyde Amendment specifically affects poor women, who are often women of color. (A first-trimester abortion costs between $300 and $400, while a second trimester abortion can reach $2,000, which exceeds the monthly budget of a family living at the poverty level.)

Volunteers have been busy building sets, spray-painting signs and rehearsing scenes to get their message out. Their creation will open to the public on Friday and Saturday in a decorated warehouse at 829 N. American St.

"What Roe v. Wade gave for abortions, Hyde immediately took away," Schewel said. "Saying anniversary implies that we're celebrating it. We're not celebrating it. We want people to understand that abortion is now out of reach for so many women."

(m_waloff@citypaper.net)