Don’t Get Tricked, Get Treated

Part of me thinks that Halloween is simply no time for activism. It’s my favorite holiday, for one; a day I love to spend with my family—particularly my daughter—as well as create new plans for the “New Year,” as some people perceive Halloween to mark. Why would I want to spend such a day of merriment, festivities, and joy on activism?

That said, I am an activist at heart, and I have definitely used Halloween for political events in the past. It is, after all, right before Election Day; I distinctly remember trick-or-treating and asking people to vote against Bush in 2004. (That was one obsessed fall…) I’ve also often used Halloween as an opportunity to raise funds for UNICEF, along with many other families; I think that’s a much worthier way of spending the holiday than for political means, these days. Maybe I’m just getting old.

The Choice Campus Blog is suggesting that we use the week of Halloween as an action week against false “crisis” pregnancy centers in a week called “Don’t Get Tricked, Get Treated” Week. It’s very true that crisis pregnancy centers pose as these helpful places for women faced with unplanned pregnancies, when in reality a lot of them lie to women, make up scary facts about abortion (abortion does, by the way, have some scary consequences, just like any surgery; but much of the “facts” presented by crisis centers are both biased and false, intended to scare women into carrying out unwanted pregnancies).

I certainly don’t object to doing these activities all week; in fact, it is very important that women arm themselves with all the knowledge possible prior to making such serious decisions, and these clinics need to be pressured into providing the truth about their services. I may partake in a few of them myself in my own community leading up until Halloween.

I don’t, however, think it’s necessary to do so on Halloween night while you’re out trick-or-treating, particularly with children—just as I no longer think it’s cool to go as Dick Cheney with devil horns, growling at unexpected door-openers, “Don’t vote for Satan!” Okay, it’s still a little bit funny, but Halloween night itself is for families, not politics.

If you do want to get involved in next week’s Don’t Get Tricked, Get Treated Week, here is a list of all kinds of things you can do—from fact sheets you can pass out, to haunted clinics you can hold (hey, if churches do it regarding gays, AIDS, abortion, and other issues they consider sins, why not?), to signs you can hang up and more, there are plenty of resources to get you started.