Pro-life blog buzz 8-20-13
by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN, and Kelli
We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.
- Culture Campaign notes another Planned Parenthood closing – this time in New Jersey. With no fanfare or explanation, the facility in Manville closed. The clinic had come under fire in the past through Live Action stings.
- Clinic Quotes shares remarks on abortion regret from now-deceased actress Gloria Swanson (pictured left):
The greatest regret of my life has always been that I didn’t have my baby… in 1925. Nothing in the whole world is worth the baby, I realized as soon as it was too late, and I never stopped blaming myself. - Big Blue Wave wonders if pro-lifers should consider sidewalk counseling at IVF clinics. In a couple’s quest for a child, it is easy to get embroiled into the process without understanding the issue of the sanctity of human life. BBL quotes Dr. Peter Saunders at Christian Comment:
Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Alton recently asked in parliament how many embryos have been created in each year since the commencement of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Act 1990, and how many of these have resulted in live births.Figures given in reply by the Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health Earl Howe showed that 3,806,699 embryos have been created since 1990. Between 1992 and 2006 a total of 122,043 live births occurred according to figures from the HFEA given alongside his reply….
122,043 live births from 3,806,699 embryos represent a success rate of 3.21%. Or, to put it another way, 3,684,656 embryos never made it to birth.
- Live Action discusses the success of the A&E show Duck Dynasty, where the starring family talks about abstinence, pro-life values, and the beauty of adoption instead of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Clearly, audiences long for a positive message in media:
The Abstinence Clearinghouse website recently posted a video of Jase and Missy, a couple on the show. Jase is one of Phil’s (the Patriarch of the family) four sons…. Jase and his wife unashamedly admitted they chose to wait till marriage to have sex….Along with abstinence the Robertsons address the issue of abortion. Phil Robertson… is a strong supporter of the pro-life movement. Phil’s son Willie shows his love for children by being an adoptive father… [of] a bi-racial son, Will.
- Life Training Institute says if we really want to win hearts and minds, we need to learn to “argue” like Westley from the movie, The Princess Bride:
In The Princess Bride, Westley is confronted with sword fights, hand to hand combat with a giant, a battle of wits to the death with a rude Sicilian, and the efforts of an evil prince to separate him from his true love. Though not lacking in strength or will, almost every engagement is peppered with wit and warmth. Even in his more terse and threatening exchanges with Prince Humperdink, his aggression is constrained by the necessity of the situation. It offers a good picture to evaluate our own exchanges in the impossibly charming light of Westley the stable boy turned Dread Pirate Roberts. - The Leading Edge wonders if viability should even be an issue in the abortion debate:
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I don’t watch reality shows, or any mainstream shows (or wait, do I even watch non- cartoons?!), but I may need to check out Duck Dynasty. =)
I’m 100% for sexual abstinence. However, one problem with this approach is that abstinence often sells best to those for whom it matters least.
For example, most biographers of the brilliant director Alfred Hitchcock agree that (ironically in view of his own girth), he became turned off to wife Alma Hitchcock’s body as it swelled during pregnancy. His biographers also agree that he did not turn back on after their daughter, Patricia Hitchcock, was born.
Luckily for everyone, they did not divorce when the marriage became sexless. I say “luckily for everyone” because Alma made many important contributions to her husband’s movies.
How can something like this be predicted? It can’t be. In addition, it’s pretty irrelevant to the abortion debate as it is unlikely Alma would have aborted any subsequent pregnancies.
I have a close friend who is a virgin approaching 50. Her virginity status is unlikely to change as she is asexual. However, her abstinence is also pretty irrelevant to the abortion question as the same condition that renders her asexual also renders her sterile.
Many couples in long-term relationships often come to a point where they abstain. Sexual interest just gradually diminishes over time.
This happens with other things than sex. My mother had been a heavy meat eater most of her life. She occasionally eats chicken but mostly abstains from meat. I asked, “Did you make a conscious decision to become a vegetarian?”
She answered, “No, I just lost the taste for meat.” There is no “pun” in here. We were talking about eating roast, spare ribs, steak, etc. I just think it is parallel to the way sexual interest can diminish.