If you’re like me, your reactions this coming Wednesday’s “Day without a Woman”—the latest radical feminist protest on behalf of “the human rights of women and all gender-oppressed people”—may include one or all of the following:

• Roll your eyes and throw up your hands in disgust.
• Hurl something at the television as you watch yet one more biased news report claiming that all American females staunchly agree with the angry women involved in the so-called “Day without a Woman”.
• Or, last but not least, simply pull the covers over your heads and go back to bed hoping that when you wake up Thursday morning the world will be somewhat back to normal, if that’s even remotely possible.

The main focus of event is to encourage women to walk off their jobs for a variety of reasons, including the promotion of leftist ideals and the continued protest of the election results. Since 1909, according to the United Nations website, March 8^th has been set aside as International Women’s Day; it is meant to mark the contributions of women to society around the globe and “to affirm the principle of equality between women and men.” But apparently, according to the same group that brought us the ranting and raving of the likes of Whoopi, Madonna, and Ashley Judd on January 21^st, this is a day about “rights” including “open access to safe, legal, affordable abortion and birth control for all people” and “our obligation to uplift, expand and protect the rights of our gay, lesbian, bi, queer, trans or gender non-conforming brothers, sisters and siblings. We must have the power to control our bodies and be free from gender norms, expectations and stereotypes.”

In other words, it’s another way to promote radical feminist causes, which always include abortion-on-demand and birth control at the top of that “rights” list.

So it is certainly understandable to have an exasperated or even angry response to what should be called “Day without Politically-Correct Women”. But there are several better ways to not only respond to the latest extreme lefty shenanigans.  The fact is, there have been some concrete, positive efforts by many real, positive women who believe that their authentic feminine identity is not wrapped up or directly tied to abortion, birth control, “gender issues”, or hatred for particular political leaders.

They are women who don’t want to take their concerns out on their employers or their children by abandoning their responsibilities for a day.  They are women who believe in the sanctity of life from conception until natural death.  They are women who believe in the dignity of all people and respect the variety of roles women serve in both the home and the world.

Here are two very constructive and dignified ways to speak up this week about true feminism and womanhood:

Women Speak for Themselves Gatherings: This wonderful movement is the brainchild of law professor and Vatican consultant Helen Alvare. The organization was established a few years ago as a response to the Health and Human Services mandate imposed on religious institutions and Christian business owners under the Obama administration—a mandate that many of these entities are still fighting in the courts.  The small group WSFT gatherings are designed to bring together women in a comfortable and non-threatening home setting to spread the truth about what Christ and his Church really teach and say about issues such as abortion, contraception, and marriage.  The idea is to speak the truth in love; it is based on the knowledge that many people don’t really know what the Church teaches, having often formed their opinions and reactions through media reports and secular accounts. WSFT even provides topics, questions, and recipes.  So, while others are  grabbing their protest signs and taking to the streets in defiance, grab some friends and a bottle of vino and engage in fruitful discussions.

Lady Day: “Pure Goodness at Work!”: Catholic blogger Colette Zimmermann came up with the idea of using the day to honor the Blessed Mother as well as to counter the upcoming feminist strike.  In a press release she raises some great questions that too many who are drinking the March 8^th Madness Kool-Aid are choosing to ignore:

“But how many women can really skip work?  What about mothers?  What about nurses or any woman who works in society to help others?  We can’t skip work!  And furthermore, we don’t want to. Lady Day is a positive response, a day for us to celebrate God’s plan for women as pure and good.”

Suggestions for “Lady Day” include dressing up fashionably but modestly and heading out the door for tea with friends and then sharing thoughts and pictures of your tea time experience on Facebook and Twitter.

If you have another idea on how to productively spend National Woman’s Day, pass it on.  Perhaps you’re going to take your Mom out to lunch or visit women in a nursing home.  Maybe it’s a day to volunteer at the local pregnancy resource center or to pray outside a local abortion facility.  Speaking of abortion facilities, I wonder how many women will be walking off those jobs on Wednesday?

Whatever you do to counter the very destructive messages being promoted by radical feminists this week, remember St. Peter’s exhortation defend your faith in Christ with “gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet 3:15), and St. Francis de Sales’ reminder that we catch a lot more flies with honey than vinegar—or, as the case might be, with wine, cheese, and a good cup of hot tea.

Update (March 7, 2017): Some ways you can participate in celebrating the true dignity of all women:

• Use hashtag #RealWomenDontQuit on Wed. March 8th on Twitter and on other social media outlets.
• Send Teresa Tomeo peaceful, dignified ways to promote women by commenting on her blog or Facebook page.
• Tag Teresa Tomeo or direct message her your ideas on Facebook or Twitter.
• Forward this Email to your friends and family.
• Retweet #RealWomenDontQuit Tweets on Twitter.
• Post & Share your thoughts about #RealWomenDontQuit on Facebook.
• Pin the #RealWomenDontQuit image above on Pinterest and include the hashtag.
• Post the #RealWomenDontQuit image above on Instagram including the hashtag.

Reprinted with permission from The Catholic World Report.

The report, published in the Asian Pacific Journal of Breast Cancer Prevention, concluded that ‘compared with women who had no history of induced abortion, women with a previous induced abortion had a significant increased risk of breast cancer.”  For older women there was an even higher breast cancer link.

This study has all the possibilities of a great story.

I use the word possibilities because, as a seasoned journalist I understand how the media operates when it comes to covering negative abortion related stories:  they don’t.  I am probably dreaming that this new study revealing yet more fallout from abortion will see the light of day on-line, on the air, or in print in secular news circles.  The pattern of a media blackout on certain topics continues regularly.  Just this week, ABC News all but ignored what one would think would be a major attention grabber:  an additional 43 lawsuits filed by dioceses and other Church related organizations over the HHS mandate requiring employers to cover contraception and sterilization in their insurance plans. 

I hope I am pleasantly surprised, but in case I am not, I am asking everyone to share this story now for the good and well-being of all the women in your life.  This new study comes from China, yes China.  China’s been making headlines lately regarding the case of blind Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng who recently sought asylum in the United States.  Chen has been speaking out against China’s one child and forced abortion practices for years.  As a result, he has been tortured and imprisoned and his family threatened.  Despite his efforts to protect women and unborn children, the secular media have mostly described him as a “human rights advocate”.  Little or no attention is given to the pro-life focus of his work.  And now just days after he arrives here in this country this new study is released; a study conducted in China that shows more evidence of an abortion-breast cancer link. 

The report, published in the Asian Pacific Journal of Breast Cancer Prevention, concluded that ‘compared with women who had no history of induced abortion, women with a previous induced abortion had a significant increased risk of breast cancer.”  For older women there was an even higher breast cancer link.

The story angles and tie-ins are obvious.  Here we have one of the most well known pro-life and human rights advocates on American soil.  What does he stand for?  Why did he have to seek help from the United States?  He defended women who wanted their children and tried to stop the forced killing of their children in the womb.  Wouldn’t it make perfect sense to follow up the latest developments in the case of Chen Guangcheng with a story, however brief, on this new study from China? 

I’m not the only one who wants to shout “hello is any one listening?”  The report has also caught the attention of Janet Morana, co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.  Silent No More is a ministry that reaches out to post abortion men and women and allows them, if they choose, to share their stories.

“This is a perfect time for a study that finds an abortion-breast cancer link to come out of China, while the world’s attention is still focused on the fate of forced abortion protester Chen Guangcheng.  Perhaps it is time for an honest assessment of how this common surgical procedure-sold to American women and forced on unwilling Chinese women-is actually hurting all women.”

Speaking of studies, reports and surveys dating back more than 30 years show those working in most of our major newsrooms support legalized abortion.  In a perfect world, a reporter’s opinion shouldn’t matter unless they are writing for the Op-Ed page.  As Janet Morana said, it is indeed a perfect time but the world we live in along with the majority of the media, is far from perfect.   So the possibilities of such an abortion related story getting coverage are unfortunately somewhere between slim and none.

So let’s make this study the news it ought to be.  Spread the word: Guangcheng has arrived and so has further confirmation of a link between abortion and breast cancer.

“Everyone I know is applying for grad school, or ending their college relationships, I’m just getting drunk.” ~Kelyann Wargo, University of Michigan

Kelyann Wargo – a 20s something undergraduate – advertised a new business venture:  the “Walk of Shame Shuttle.”  According to one article in the Chicago Sun Times, the shuttle service offers “a post-hookup ride home or to the dorm for students who wake up somewhere else after a night of debauchery.”  Not only is the Walk of Shame shuttle service – at a cost of five dollars per ride – cheaper than your regular cabbie might charge, Wargo proudly explains she also offers the girls a high five, a bottle of water, and – are you ready for this – a coupon for Plan B, the hormonal abortifacient more commonly referred to as an “emergency contraceptive” or “morning after pill.”  Plan B is a drug that comes with an entire set of medical and moral issues, despite its approval for sale by the Food and Drug Administration.

I truly wish Wargo and the students she claims she is trying to help could have heard the testimony of Dr. Miriam Grossman, a Jewish mother and doctor with a specialty in child and adolescent psychiatry.  Dr. Grossman spoke recently before the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. According to the Catholic News Agency, Grossman urged the United Nations to stop supporting a culture where “sexual license is celebrated.” The doctor explained that there should be great concern for such an attitude particularly for our young women since a woman’s biology leaves them “highly vulnerable to sexually-transmitted diseases.”  In a recent interview on my radio program Dr. Grossman also spoke of her work as a counselor on a California college campus.  She witnessed first hand both the physical and the psychological fall-out of today’s hook-up or so called sexually liberated life-style, something we don’t read about in Cosmo or see on Reality TV.

I truly wish I could talk to Ms. Wargo.  I have learned the lies of the modern culture after suffering far too many serious bumps and bruises practically all of which were brought on by my own bad choices.  I would tell her that there is a better way – a way for her to become a woman of dignity and worth.  I would tell her that we serve a loving and merciful God who always allows U-turns.  Over and over again he forgives us and welcomes us back.

So how do those of us who have the scars to prove that the wacky wild of our own day offered wasn’t all that wonderful share our concerns with those women who are caught up in today’s hook-up culture which, thanks to Snooki and Kim, is portrayed as hip happiness?  That’s why I do what I do now in terms of speaking about how my return to my Catholic roots saved my marriage and turned my life around for the better.  Yes, God allows U-turns but He also provides a better way; His way or as he tells us in John 10:10 “the abundant life.”

How is the young Ms. Wargo to know she’s headed down a dead end?  Even the media conceals the truth:  whether it’s local media outlets in Michigan that have picked up the story or major dailies including the Sun Times, about the only negatives or questions that have been raised concerning the Walk of Shame Shuttle have to do with whether, thanks to higher prices at the pump, the business will actually be profitable in the long term.  Meanwhile, Ms. Wargo compromises her – and her customers – emotional, physical and spiritual health.

Maybe it’s time for another student to try a different approach.  Maybe another young, enterprising coed could offer a healthy alternative service:  a ride home before midnight, the “No Shame Shuttle” that gives a “high five” or an “at a girl” to young women for taking care of themselves in a culture determined to damage and exploit them.

Maybe then the Walk of Shame shuttle will be exposed for the real shame it is.

They may not have had an abortion but somewhere along the way they had been deeply wounded.   The bottom line: despite our major differences concerning the life issues, we are really not that different.  

I have been covering the national March for Life in Washington, D.C. for many years now.  It is an incredibly moving experience for a variety of reasons.  Firstly, literally hundreds of thousands of people show up every year rain or shine at the end of January.  Sometimes the weather can be extremely brutal as definitely was the case this year as we marched up constitutional afternoon in bone-chilling drizzle.   Secondly, it is quite a pro-life shot in the arm to realize that we are not alone in this battle to save babies and turn the tide on the culture of death.  It’s also inspiring to see the majority of the crowd is made up of young people in their high school and college years.  These dynamic pro life activists are bright, articulate, and extremely tech savvy.  They are the future of the pro-life movement and the future is in good hands.

            There is also something else that has moved me greatly as I return each year; my own attitude toward pro-abortion advocates.  While the pro-abortion crowd numbers about two dozen on a good year for them, they always manage to get the lion’s share of the media coverage and that media coverage usually begins at the same moment post-abortive men and women are giving testimony in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.  The abortion supporters do their best to not only keep the cameras focused on their small but enthusiastic crowd, they also make every effort with their familiar chants of “get your Rosaries off my ovaries” to drown out the voices of the speakers taking part in the Silent No More Awareness campaign annual event.   When I first witnessed their actions, I was angry to the point of disgust.  I was particularly angry with the women who absolutely refused to listen to the voices of other women; women who discovered that ending the life of their child did not lead to the freedom and relief they expected.  Why didn’t these advocates of so called “choice” care about what they have to share?

            Year after year I would return.  Year after year I would witness the same antics from what seemed like the very same protestors.   However, the more I grew in my own faith the more I also began to notice something else. What began to speak to me even more loudly and clearly than their chilling chants or their “keep abortion legal” signs, was the pain on their faces.   These women were coming from a place of hurt. They may not have had an abortion but somewhere along the way they had been deeply wounded.   The bottom line being that in the end despite our major differences concerning the life issues, we were really not that different.   There but for the grace of God, go all of us.  Although I never had an abortion, I certainly wracked up my share of grave sins before coming back to my faith.  And only by God’s grace was I able to turn away from the messages of a damaging culture, save my marriage, and more importantly, God willing, my soul.  Now when I see the protestors, instead of getting angry I pray for them.

This weighs heavily on my mind right now given what is happening in this great country of ours.  The Catholic Church along with its core teachings is under attack and so are the religious freedoms of every American.  As if that isn’t enough, women are also under attack.  Mandating “free” contraception and sterilization for the female population will result in more bondage and greater pain.  We need to do whatever we can at every level to stop this mandate from being initiated.  At the same time, I believe we women who have been rescued from the radical feminist agenda need to reach out to those still caught in its clutches.  This way we might not only help save our country but help God save souls.

Teresa Tomeo is an author, syndicated Catholic talk show host, and motivational speaker with more than 30 years of experience in TV, radio and newspaper.

In the year 2000, Teresa left the secular media to start her own speaking and communications company. Teresa’s daily morning radio program, Catholic Connection, is produced by Ave Maria Radio in Ann Arbor, Michigan and now heard on over 170 Catholic stations nationwide through the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network. Her talk show is also carried on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio and local here in the Dallas-Ft Worth area on Guadalupe Radio.

Teresa is a columnist and special correspondent for the national Catholic newspaper, Our Sunday Visitor. She appears frequently on EWTN Catholic Television. Teresa and co-hosts the new EWTN program The Catholic View for Women. Teresa has also been featured on The O’Reilly Factor Fox News, Fox & Friends, and MSNBC discussing issues of faith and media awareness.

In 2008 Teresa was chosen as only one of 270 delegates from around the world to attend the Vatican Women’s Congress held in Rome marking the 20^th Anniversary of John Paul the Second’s Letter entitled On the Dignity and Vocation of Women.

As a speaker Teresa travels around the country addressing media awareness and activism, as well as sharing her reversion to the Catholic Church. Her latest book, Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ, Not Conformed to the Culture was just released in October of 2011 from Ignatius Press. Her first book, Noise: How Our Media Saturated Culture Dominates Lives and Dismantles Families, is published by Ascension Press and is a Catholic best seller. Her second book, Newsflash! My Surprising Journey from Secular Anchor to Media Evangelist was published in September of 2008. Teresa has also co-authored a series of best selling Catholic books called All Things Girl for tween girls focusing on modesty and chastity.