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I hate picking on women. We're born at a disadvantage and in our wild flailing to stay afloat, we make such easy targets. But really, do the wives and girlfriends of the Ottawa Senators have to dress up in matching pink team sweaters and call their ad hoc union “The Better Halves?”

It's bad enough that these women have hooked up with bruised artist-athletes with careers of inevitably brief span, sold by hockey corporations as if they were cans of Spam, shipped around the continent without notice, thus dooming their wives' careers from the start. But must The Better Halves bully young pregnant women during their own brush with greatness? I'd like to ask the nice ladies about this, but these shy creatures are as hard to track down as the tiny, near-extinct, muntjac deer.

The Better Halves are giving a third of the proceeds of this year's $50,000 Christmas Tree raffle to First Place Pregnancy Centre, an Ottawa anti-abortion group run by Pentecostal Christians.

Planned Parenthood Ottawa is upset, in its customary polite way, and sent out a press release protesting charity money going to a group that is not what people might think it is.

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Unfortunately, it turns out that Mallick was wrong about this part:

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The raffle money is channelled through the Sens Foundation, the team's registered charity arm, which is matching every dollar raised by The Better Halves.

Not only does the foundation, which normally does good — make that wonderful — things appear to be breaking Revenue Canada's rules for charities, it is breaking its own rules.

Both the taxman and the foundation agree that donations can only support registered charities. They can't support “political or lobby” or “advocacy or special interest groups.” And they shouldn't.

...

Revenue Canada tells me that First Place is not a registered charity.

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Heather's getting some abuse from anti-choice nutcases on the CBC site where her article first appeared, but from what I can tell, she's getting mostly supportive comments for her piece.

They did issue a clarification at the bottom of the piece - that the anti-choice centre is registered as a charity under a completely different name. So it looks like they're in the clear tax-wise

But still - it really sucks that people think they're buying raffle tickets in support of a normally decent foundation, and then it turns out they're turning around and giving the money to religious anti-choice freaks who prey on young women in crisis.

Here's the column.

[ 04 December 2007: Message edited by: Michelle ]

(You're welcome, Michelle. )

All right! You beat me to it!

[ 04 December 2007: Message edited by: Sharon ]

Check out their "Who Are We Anyhow?" page. You would think, on a page where they're claiming to tell you who they are, they wouldn't mislead people about the services they offer, wouldn't you? You'd think they might tell their potential clients who funds them (a bunch of misogynist morons from some flat-earth pentecostal church):

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At First Place we exist for you, "first" and "foremost"!

We are a non-profit agency offering compassionate support and assistance to anyone facing an unplanned pregnancy or experiencing post abortion stress.

There are numbers of volunteers who are active at the Centre at any given time. An eight member Board of Director provides oversight to the affairs and direction of the agency. Since it was established in 1992, First Place has provided information, material aid, and peer counselling to hundreds of woman at a pivotal point in their lives. First Place Pregnancy Centre is non-profit & non-political. Our focus is not on the past, but on the future.

How we help:
Options counselling (parenting, adoption, abortion)
Ongoing peer counselling and support
Doula (Labor) Support
Post Abortion Recovery
Community Health Education Program & Peer Relationship Counselling
Referrals to community agencies (housing, adoption, medical, legal, educational, health, financial, etc.)
Practical support and supplies

Make First Place your "First" Choice.

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Fuckers.

As Mallick says, their SOLE reason for being is to prevent abortion, not to "help" young women. And they should damn well have to say so on their literature. It's outright misleading to claim that they offer "options counselling" without making it clear that they dissuade EVERYONE from choosing abortion.

[ 04 December 2007: Message edited by: Michelle ]

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Originally posted by Michelle:
Despite the really glaring error about the charitable status of First Place Pregnancy Centre (they ARE a charity, unfortunately), Heather is absolutely right about the fact that these centres are completely misleading about their mandate.

Check out their "Who Are We Anyhow?" page. You would think, on a page where they're claiming to tell you who they are, they wouldn't mislead people about the services they offer, wouldn't you? You'd think they might tell their potential clients who funds them (a bunch of misogynist morons from some flat-earth pentecostal church):

Fuckers.

As Mallick says, their SOLE reason for being is to prevent abortion, not to "help" young women. And they should damn well have to say so on their literature. It's outright misleading to claim that they offer "options counselling" without making it clear that they dissuade EVERYONE from choosing abortion.

[ 04 December 2007: Message edited by: Michelle ]

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Originally posted by EmmaG:

They still have no power to make the choice for a woman. Women are not dumb and are able to think for themselves when it comes to this issue.

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Edited for spelling

[ 04 December 2007: Message edited by: Summer ]

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Piché (Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Ottawa - N.Beltov) said she had contacted the Ottawa Senators Foundation to ask about their choice of charity.

"They replied saying that they were fully aware of their values and that they supported what First Place Pregnancy Centre was doing," she said.

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