Jivin J’s Life Links 11-8-10
by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat
- According to New York Magazine, George W. Bush’s view on abortion was affected by an incident in which his mother (who is pro-choice) showed him the remains of a child she miscarried. The story will be recounted tonight in an interview on NBC with Matt Lauer:
- After Barbara Bush suffered a devastating miscarriage, “she said to her teenage kid, ‘Here’s the fetus,'” Bush told Lauer, “gesturing as if he were holding the jar.” …
Bush says he got special permission from his mom to recount the private incident in print. Lauer reads an excerpt from the memoir where Bush, who had to drive his mother to the hospital, wrote, “I never expected to see the remains of the fetus, which she had saved in a jar to bring to the hospital.”
In the interview, he tells Lauer, “There’s no question that affected me, a philosophy that we should respect life,” adding that, “[The anecdote] was really to show how my mom and I developed a relationship.”
- A traveling abortionist may have performed abortions in ND after her medical license there lapsed.
- The Live Action blog has a Center for Bio-Ethical Reform video showing an individual at IN Purdue-Fort Wayne (IPFW) being arrested after vandalizing one of their displays.
- At First Things, Richard Stith argues that pro-lifers should work to add Stupak Amendment language to the health care reform law instead of attempting to repeal it:In order to explain my position, let’s step back a moment to remember the situation prior to the new law, when health care was, except for the poor, much more market driven. The market was not favorable to life.While Medicaid for the poor excluded elective abortion under the Hyde Amendment, many or most health plans automatically included fully elective abortion, giving the insured person no choice in the matter and very few effective ways to protest. Simply repealing the new legislation would presumably restore that market situation….However, if the healthcare law were amended to exclude all elective abortion—that is, if the Hyde Amendment were universalized and made permanent – pro-lifers would have the best of all worlds and pro-choicers would face their worst nightmare. The rules against funding elective abortion that were once applicable only to the poor would now become applicable to all, taking abortion totally out of the mainstream of healthcare and making it something no one would have covered who had not previously and deliberately chosen an abortion rider.

Don’t read the comments at the NY magazine. They’re horrific.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/video/sherri-shepherd-talks-abortion-guilt-shame-12087428
Thank you Mr Stith – I said the same thing on this board months ago – pro-lifers missed a huge opportunity already. Imagine a government plan without abortion that more and more of the population shifted to. Gets people off of a lot of private plans with abortion coverage.
Thanks for the link CC. I had thought that Steven Crowder at Big Hollywood had Sherri Shepherd mixed up with Whoopi when he said she’d admitted to multiple abortions, because I’d only seen her recount feeling insulted by the callous attitude of a “counselor” and walk out. I guess she returned – more than once.
And Barbara Walters, I’ve got news for you: there’s no “could be” about that fetus being a brother or sister. It was. Our familial ties – by blood/DNA – does not originate in a hospital delivery room, but at the moment of conception.
All that said, I still think Mrs. Bush could have sheilded George W. from that sight. I don’t care that he was 17 and old enough to drive her to the hospital. Shudder.
I’m still trying to figure out what exactly was the point of the exchange between George and his mother. You’d THINK she’d be pro-LIFE after experiencing that. Who would show their son their miscarried child as if he/she were just a jar of pickles or something? How did she still remain pro-CHOICE after that???
“All that said, I still think Mrs. Bush could have sheilded George W. from that sight. I don’t care that he was 17 and old enough to drive her to the hospital. Shudder.”
.
uh, 17 is old enough for military service. Just saying.
Very cool random act of culture.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU
I would have shown my children their miscarried sibling. There is no mistaking the humanity of the unborn.
He should have used that anecdote to explain why he became an alcoholic instead.
At least you are linking dead fetuses to substance abuse, Joan. Many post-abortive men and women have revealed how they turned to alcohol to drown the pain of having taken part in the destruction of their own child.
Your comment in some way validates their pain. In your own awkward way, you are starting to reach out, good for you.
yes the NY magazine comments show just how depraved, stupid and carnal most proaborts truly are…… :(
I must take exception to Richard Stith’s argument that pro-lifers attempt to put a pro-life amendment on the Obama/Democrat Health Care Reform bill instead of repealing the bill. The people behind this bill are, for the most part, radical secular socialists and anti-life. I do not think it is likely that these people or this bill can suddenly be converted into a pro-life philosophy or position. I am aware, of course,
that some on the right, such as some libertarians, are also essentially pro-abortion.
But they, at least, are less likely to use their influence to implement their philosophy by the means of government tyranny.
Raymond, I agree with you. The Healthcare reform law that we have now is, at it’s core, anit-life at all stages, not just for the unborn. Besides, supposedly we have “legislation” like the Hyde amendment to prevent taxpayer funding of abortion – but somehow, despite these empty promises from politicians, Planned Parenthood receives millions every year from our tax dollars.
And ironically enough, President Bush signed many of those bills into law – bills that included funding for abortion. He is only nominally pro-life – or too cowardly to actually do anything about it. He had a Republican controlled Congress and did not outlaw abortion. Fantastic. :(
I agree with you, Liberty. The Republicans use prolifers to get into office but then pretty much throw us under the bus. That’s why I’m not a Republican (or a Democrat, either).
I am prolife, but I am pro-peace and pro-social justice, too. Any president who sends thousands of young men and women to their deaths in unnecessary wars is NOT pro-life!
Hey Philly, same here. :) I’m working for an organization that tries to hold politicians accountable for their pro-life claims on the campaign trail. It’s an unbelievably hard job.
Are you by any chance of a Libertarian mindset? I am! Though I don’t agree with their pro-abort stance… it’s really inconsistent. :P
Don’t forget that it’s not just the unborn that socialized medicine kills- it’s the elderly, chronically ill, premature and disabled. That’s why this MUST BE REPEALED, not reformed.
Liberty, I am not sure about my feelings about libertarianism. But there are some libertarians for life.
Meh, I’m not surprised at NY magazine. Never read that rag.
@Lauren:
“Don’t read the comments at the NY magazine. They’re horrific.”
Ugh. You can say that again.
Rarely am I moved to write “letters to the editor,” but I’ve just fired one off to the New York Magazine. I know they are not responsible for the (disgusting) attitudes and opinions of the commenters (sp?), but there is at least one comment there that should have been subject to moderation.
“despite these empty promises from politicians, Planned Parenthood receives millions every year from our tax dollars.”
Money well spent. If PP decided to go for-profit, no longer providing the subsidized or free services that they currently offer, the reproductive health of thousands of communities would be adversely affected, and make no mistake: PP could become an extremely profitable private enterprise if it went in that direction.
PP could become an extremely profitable private enterprise if it went in that direction.
Joan,
I sincerely believe PP profits well…one way or another. I don’t think they’re really hurting for funds. Especially the docs that perform abortions. They don’t seem to hurt for funds either. One doc said that when they gave up doing abortions they took a significant financial loss. Make no mistake, PP may taut the line they’re in it for the women, but they aren’t really all that compassionate.
All that said, I still think Mrs. Bush could have sheilded George W. from that sight. I don’t care that he was 17 and old enough to drive her to the hospital. Shudder.
On one hand, as a parent, I understand your feelings here. OTOH, I can’t help but wonder if that was a God-ordained event (she had no one else to drive her).
He was not a child — think for a moment of the carnage and gore the average 17yo guy has already seen depicted in movies and video games — and this event solidified in his young mind the reality of life in the womb.
At that moment in time, no one but God knew he would be president one day. I truly believe he was there at that moment for a reason.
joan, have you never done anything wrong? Would you like to run for prez and have your entire past laid open for the scrutiny of every American? I would not.
There are a zillion alcoholics in this world. It takes real courage and perserverance for an alcoholic to walk away from alcohol. I say GOOD FOR GEORGE! that he was able to overcome it.
He is imperfect, as are we. I say GOD BLESS HIM!!! For me, it was a real delight to see him on TV and hear him speak again. I didn’t realize how much I had missed him until then. No, I didn’t always agree with him. Even so, I had (and have) tremendous respect for him.
I agree with the assertion that this awful teachable moment was probably ordained by God knowing that someday this very conversation would go on with people all over the nation.
shes so fit