Pro-life vid of day: Duggars say, “Life is beautiful”
UPDATE 7/31 1:20p, JLS note: I’ve been schnuckered. According to starcasm.net and Slate.com, the Duggar video below was made to promote Tennessee’s Amendment 1, when it wasn’t. All I had to do was look at the date of the original video, September 10, 2012, and I would have known. But I was in too big a hurry when forwarding it to Hans. So I’ve reworked the title of this post and removed the erroneous information. I’m sorry, my bad.
by Hans Johnson
The Duggar family is known for promoting their Christian family values on their popular reality show 19 Kids and Counting.
Not as well-known is their involvement in the pro-life movement supporting pro-life candidates and laws. Last October husband and father Jim Bob compared abortion to the concentration camps of World War II. He was supporting Ken Cuccinelli in his bid for governor of Virginia at the time, and there were calls for the campaign to distance itself from his remarks.
Mr Duggar did not back down, saying, “Let me clarify. We have since 1973 had 55 million abortions, so what we have going on is a baby holocaust.”
They appeared in this video for Every Life Is Beautiful:
[youtube]http://youtu.be/ivwT9kcuhYM[/youtube]
Emaildailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.
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.
Duggars. Ugh.
Did somebody mention “the Taliban…”? ;)
Comparing Duggars to Taliban and terrorists is so incredibly ignorant.
The real war on women, as perpetrated by the Taliban and other Islamists, includes:
Slavery
Rape
Honor killings
Stoning
Denial of even primary education
Genital mutilation
No access to travel without male family member
Polygamy
The Duggars do not support any of those awful things.
Hi Mary Ann,
I agree comparing the Duggars to the Taliban is a stretch, but the Duggar girls have never, to my knowledge, travelled independently, or taken their own vacations. Daddy D has always hovered over them like Zeus hurtling lightening bolts from Mt. Olympus.
Even poor Jana, a grown woman, needed parental blessing to leave the house and spend a weekend with a bunch of women on a religious retreat.
The lives of these young women and girls are very rigidly controlled.
It is easy to look at another family and criticize the way that they live.
The Duggar daughters appreciate the loving care of their parents. Go now, and care for your own daughters (if you have not already killed them).
Hi Del,
How do you know what the Duggar girls think or appreciate?
I recall Jill wanted to be a nurse. I knew Daddy D would put the kibosh to that.
There have been threads about the Duggars before, and by no means is it a stretch to compare them to the Taliban. The dad is simply an egomaniac, and his daughters (and sons, quite a bit) are subject to what is truly heinous over-control.
https://www.jillstanek.com/2014/03/draft-pro-life-vid-day-duggar-girls-discuss-new-book-on-purity/
This thread has good information on the connections to Bill Gothard and the Pearls – connections that totally put the lie to the Duggars just being “eccentric,” etc. Those poor kids have been forced to smile for years, while suffering abuse.
I thought the video very touching. And I love the T shirts! They WILL be the generation that abolishes abortion.
Hi Jasper,
I see the father as a controlling tyrant and the mother as self absorbed and needing to be the center of attention.
The way they have treated little Josie, often with complete indifference, has set my teeth on edge and shows these parents to be who and what they really are.
I think there’s too much legislating & judicial involvement in abortion, abortion rights advocates use Roe v. Wade to call for abortion on demand, no regulations & rules & states/local health departments can’t even do their jobs & inspect/regulate abortion clinics to ensure basic medical standards & local regulations for ambulatory medical centers are being followed, for fear of lawsuits, backlash, & because of all the red tape. In what other speciality field do we let medical clinics & physicians regulate themselves? I for one would like for abortion to deemed constitutionaly neutral, the same as any other surgical/medical procedure, return it to medical oversight by the states, & let the state & local health departments do their job & set standards & regulate abortion clinics like they do any other ambulatory surgical center.
As for the Duggars, I’m glad I’m not the only one here who wonders about that family…
I do think JimBob has the personality of a manipulative controller, who expresses control over his wife & family under the guise of love. Michelle, I think she has self-esteem issues, which is why she clings to JimBob & fills a void/hole in heart with babies (like teenage girls from broken homes who purposely get pregnant), & the kids are just really sheltered.
I forgot to add, in reference to Michelle Duggar, once the babies get a little older & loose their cuteness & unconditional love, hitting the terrible twos, she hands them off to the older sibling & has another one.
“As for the Duggars, I’m glad I’m not the only one here who wonders about that family…”
You’re not the only one by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, they’ve been the cause of many epic fights in these threads.
I would love to see these folks focus on raising the brood they have produced rather than dumping childcare, laundry, homeschooling duties and housekeeping on the poor daughters. I would LOVE to see how Ma and Pa would manage if all the daughters 14 and over were sent on a trip for a year to learn how to function in the real world on their own. At least one of the younger sons gets to have his own business. Josh couldn’t have functioned as an adult if Daddy didn’t buy him car businesses to manage and then get a job in DC because he has the right last name.
Geez, they should have as many kids as they want but they should be doing ALL the parenting, not assigning older kids to do so.
Good on the pro-lifers on this forum who don’t totally “toe the line” as far as the presumed response, and who recognize the horrible things being done to the Duggar children in the name of some nonsense in the parents’ minds (or really, just in the father’s mind).
I have also had a change of heart about this family. Heaven forbid but could you imagine if one parent became a widow or a widower?? Its already a mad house. And I also feel the older girls should be able to have a social life. Anyway has anyone seen sister wives? Wow. There are like 14 kids or more in that picture and one legal marriage between Kody and Meri. Ive been hearing reports that Kody favors Robin and there is some jealousy as Kody said “I dont care that you cant cook. Youre pretty.” The 2 wives in the middle are having troubles. Kody is another egomaniac telling the kids if they dont follow polygamy he will disown them. At least neither family are killing their children.
Heather, you are so right about “sister wives,” and the similarities between the Duggars and the hardcore LDS Mormon child abusers in Utah, etc. (not to mention the Taliban and some other religous extremists that pretend their beliefs justify the subjugation of women and children, to a horrible degree).
Things go on for years, and then eventually one of them breaks free enough to tell the real story – it’s happened with the LDS, the Taliban, etc. Only a matter of time until one of the Duggar kids comes clean. FWIW – I would not be surprised if this is shortly after “Jim Bob” dies, and they are finally, no longer living in fear of him.
Tenn says: “At least one of the younger sons gets to have his own business.”
How about one of the daughters being able to pursue a business of her own?
It’s clear that they are so far from that…. And this is with the rest of us seeing 99% what Jim Bob wants us to see, nothing more.
All we get are fleeting, momentary glimpses behind the curtain of the TV show, the merest flickering of the purposeful facade that the Duggar parents maintain, at all costs.
Hi Joanne,
I do not see anything pro life about serial reproduction or a husband determined to impregnate his wife despite the serious risk another pregnancy could pose for her. When I saw Jim Bob grinning like a moron when announcing Michelle’s 20th pregnancy, I wanted to belt him in the mouth.
Rusty Yates anyone? I have always held him personally responsible for the deaths of those children. He put producing another child ahead of the safety and well being of his mentally ill wife and their children, thus failing miserably in his responsibilities as a husband and father.
Aye, Mary, ‘Rusty Yates’ indeed.
I have never been a fan of the Duggars and I never watched Sister Wives but it seems that in both family systems, a woman is valued most when she is of reproductive age. Since women generally spend a third of their lives in the post-menopausal years, what happens then?
Well I havent watched either show in a year so ive just read that Robin is pregnant again…”wife” number 4 from sister wives which will make 18 kids. Also Meri…the first and only legal spouse has only one child and it remained that way because of infertility problems. Now Meri wants to go back to school admitting that her lifestyle has held her back from doing a lot of things shes wanted to do. Ive read shes not thrilled about the pregnancy news. Its so obvious Kody favors Robin while Christine and Janelle just kinda fade into the wood work. Anyway Ive also read the wives are sticking it out despite it all. They kinda have to. TLC is paying their bills! Ive read that when they arent taping they have little to no interaction with one another.
Yes Mary i remember Jill wanted to become a nurse. Whatever did happen? And is Michelle pregnant now? Wow wee that makes 20. Mary I agree with you on the Rusy Yates topic. Ive read their story and many ppl forvet Andrea Yates WAS a nurse! Sometimes I forget myself. Tyra Banks had Rusty on her show and I believe he works for NASA. Yes he was told to stop impregnating Andrea. Its always possible she still could have killed the children they had already had d/t hearing voices and her hallucinations. We will never know but she indeed was having visual and auditory hallucinations. Tragic. I believe Rusty told Tyra hed remarried and had started a family.
@Phillymiss what happens in the post menopausal yrs? I suppose if Kody wants more kids in old age he might begin looking for another new younger wife. ???? So confusing.
“Duggars. Ugh.”
I’m going to go with this one.
Good heavens heather,
How do you keep track of all those wives?
Jill never became a nurse, just as I predicted. I knew Daddy D would never let her attend college, live in the real world, or enjoy any kind of economic independence. She is where he wants her. Married off to a man of his choice.
No Michelle is not pregnant, that was a few years ago. The baby died in utero around 5 or 6 months.
It enrages me about Rusty. If anyone should have sat in jail it was him. Andrea was a nurse but her mental health was so fragile that I don’t think she was even competent to make a sound decision concerning another pregnancy. That’s where a loving, concerned, and truly Christian husband would have acted as such, and Rusty failed miserably to do so.
Well at least he has a happy life now, unlike his ex wife and five dead children.
T
Mary i agree with you. Rusty should have gotten a vasectomy and told his wife “Baby we just cant have anymore kids. Docs say its a bad idea.” Being selfish works both ways. Yates probably never thought such a thing would ever happened. I believe Andrea has been move from prison to a mental institution. And yes Rusty has remarried and has children.
Yes Mary sister wives is quite a brood. Robyns pregnancy ( not Robin ) Will make 18 kids. Robin is divorced so she had kids with her ex. Meri is the only woman legally married to Kody and it was her idea to bring her own brothers ex wife into her relationship with Kody after their divorce. Janelle and Christine have the most children. And thank goodness kody wouldnt answer questions about the familys sex life and how they share him. Robin was also Meris idea who has already bore a son for Kody and is now pregnant again. I personally think Meri is the most attractive. She reminds me of a friend of mine. Same face eyes voice. But ive heard there is trouble in paradise because Robyn is the slimmest wife. The others are working with a personal trainor to try to regain their once slim figures because they feel Kody is no longer attracted to them since theyve packed on the pounds. Its complicated ik but Kody dotes on Robyn like a high school boy in heat. Hes earned the internet nickname Grody Kody.
Mary…remember the old saying…careful what you wish for.
Jim Bob needs to wipe that cheese-eating grin off his face, and change some diapers.
Okay, but seriously, in the fullness of time we will see if any of the kids escape the regimentation, and have careers and lives that are truly their own, rather than through their dad/subject to his approval, etc.