Jivin J’s Life Links 5-21-09
by JivinJ
Mr. President, you say that abortions are never undertaken lightly, and without acute anguish. I wish this were always true; and so do you, apparently. But some abortions – many, actually – are had for many reasons we would find common ground to condemn.
Will you join me, and others, in supporting a ban on abortion had for reasons of sex-selection of a born child? Sadly, many seek abortion not because they do not want a child, but because they do not want a girl. This is horrible, would you not agree? Mr. President, if you are serious about seeking common ground, would you not agree that our nation should ban the abortion choice when used for such an awful, human-gender-based reason?…
Having an abortion at a NAF member clinic has granted me a second chance. It has also given me back my choice; I’ve been allowed to make my own decision. I am pro-choice, pro-family, and pro-faith, and I trust this clinic.
Yeah, because a woman who just had an abortion is going to give a specific shout out to the National Abortion Federation. What’s the likelihood that a woman would even know the abortion clinic she went to was a NAF member clinic?
Bethany, dubbed the miracle Jigsaw Kid, has stunned medics with her unique back-to-front body.
The 6-year-old was born with 5 spleens, a hole in her heart, a diseased and back to front liver, 2 left lungs and her stomach on the wrong side….
Before Bethany was born doctors at Birmingham’s Women’s Hospital discovered her jumbled-up insides and also warned her worried parents that their child could also be suffering from Down’s Syndrome.
But [her mother] rejected an offer of an abortion and chose to go ahead with the birth, despite the odds being stacked against her.
1/3 of women who had an abortion last year were on their 2nd, 3rd or even 8th termination, new figures show.
The statistics will fuel the debate over whether some women are using abortion as a form of contraception.
In total, there were 64,715 repeat abortions in 2008, 33% of the total and up from 64,230 the year before.
A breakdown of the data showed 11,354 women had their 3rd abortion and 2,780 their 4th. The figures showed 46 women had had 8 or more terminations.
[Photo attribution: DailyMail.com]
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’ve also read that women in the UK often start out using regular contraceptives but are coming to rely more and more on emergency contraception. Sometimes taking it 20 or 30 times! This is NOT what it was approved for and of course prolifers warned that this is what would happen.
The woman in the article I read mentioned that she was sick of going to her doctor to get the drug and getting “the lecture”, so she went elsewhere to get the drugs.
As I’ve always maintained: the contraceptive mentality leads inevitably to abortion.
Repeat abortions freak me out because one would think that most women, if they had one abortion, wouldn’t want to have another one and would do whatever they had to do to not get pregnant with another baby they didn’t want to give birth to. I mean, even if you’re pro-choice, nobody loves having medical instruments inserted in her vagina and her uterus vacuumed, right?
I don’t know if these women have severe psychological problems or they’re hugely irresponsible or what the deal is. Maybe they just don’t see abortion as something serious. To a certain extent, I have some appreciation for the pro-choicers who think of abortion as a serious matter that requires a lot of thought before being undertaken. They tend to claim that everyone takes abortion seriously, though, which I don’t believe. Once I read about a woman who had an abortion because she, her husband, and her son were moving into a new house, and she didn’t want to have to deal with being pregnant while they were moving. This isn’t exactly “if I have another baby, I might not be able to feed my other seven children or finish school and get myself out of the housing projects.”
“SD Planned Parenthood is challenging SD’s informed consent law in court because they don’t want to tell clients abortion ends a human life.”
It’s no surprise the evil Planned Barrenhood doesn’t want to tell clients abortion ends a baby’s life. After all, why would they want to be forced to tell people the truth?
That is one of the things that make me so angry about so called “pro choice.” They go ballistic over ANY kind of reasonable restrictions, laws about parental consent, ultrasound and now this.
Of course, they know this increases the likelihood a woman will carry her baby and not abort it. It all comes down to money.
How absolutely evil.
Oh yeah, had my annual female exam at PP today. Besides it being affordable, the staff there were nice, the wait wasn’t too long (20 min & I got there early), and the office was clean and well decorated. The only issues I had with my visit, besides the organization’s abortion-rights ideology, was it felt rushed and they pushed contraception even-though I clearly told them we wanted to be open to the possibility of pregnancy.
Although the nurse practicioner I saw was nice, made me feel comfortable during the exam and answered all my questions. However for my infertility issues, she said I would need to see a fertility specialist. I would definately say they’re in the business of preventing pregnancies and birth rather than helping women become pregnant or planning wanted pregnancies.
As for the NAF blog women’s stories, for the sake of sharing all women’s voices, we ought to be encouraging women who are members of Silent No More Awareness and The PASS Support Site to submit their stories and see what happens, if their stories are published.
re: Paulsen’s “five questions”.
I have to say, I was bothered by the intellectual dishonesty of this man’s list of “questions” for the President. I know, and I’m sure he knows, that answering in the affirmative for any of these would entirely undermine the pro-choice position. Most audacious was the suggestion that the President support some kind of constitutional amendment banning abortion by the year 2050. Really now, if abortion is morally acceptable enough to be legal in 2009, why would it not be 41 years from now?
Marauder,
Have you ever read Forbidden Grief by Theresa Burke? There is a chapter on women that tend to be trapped in a cycle of wanting to “undo” what they have done after their first abortion and once pregnant AGAIN actually repeat the abortion and continue to lose self esteem. They want to rescue themselves and yet can’t seem to stop the cycle.
I found it very interesting and helped me understand what a woman who has had multiple abortions may have gone through. I have several friends that have had quite a few.
“The only issues I had with my visit, besides the organization’s abortion-rights ideology, was it felt rushed and they pushed contraception even-though I clearly told them we wanted to be open to the possibility of pregnancy.”
The obvious question, is why are you giving your hard earned money to PP who doesn’t stand for what you believe in?
I’d much rather forego a night out (dinner and a movie, for example) or a new purchase so I could give my money to a clinic I’m behind one hundred per cent. But that’s just me.
“I have to say, I was bothered by the intellectual dishonesty of this man’s list of “questions” for the President. ”
Devo,
I’m speechless.
I couldn’t imagine having to go through that many abortions if one was devastating. I never really connected abortion back to women’s rights and women’s esteem, but now that I have read Carla’s comments and in my own research, I’ve realized that this isn’t just devastating children’s rights: it’s destroying women’s rights, too. Am I the only person who ever wants to cry when I read about this?
Vannah,
No you’re not the only one. The big lie told to women is that abortion empowers women, when in fact, abortion takes away the very thing that makes them the women they are. I’m more and more convinced that the only people who can support abortion hate women and what women stand for.
Boy, Planned Parenthood’s lawyers in SD must be raking in the money. How many times have they gone to court over this informed consent law?
It’s a good thing the tax-payers aren’t getting stuck with the bill. Oh wait, they probably are.
“A feminist is a person who answers “yes” to the question, “Are women human?” Feminism is not about whether women are better than, worse than or identical with men. And it’s certainly not about trading personal liberty – abortion, divorce, sexual self-expression – for social protection as wives and mothers, as pro-life feminists propose. It’s about justice, fairness, and access to the broad range of human experience. It’s about women consulting their own well-being and being judged as individuals rather than as members of a class with one personality, one social function, one road to happiness. It’s about women having intrinsic value as persons rather than contingent value as a means to an end for others: fetuses, children, the “family,” men.”
Women are more than their uteruses. Nothing “makes women what they are.” Women are human beings–not walking incubators.
“It’s about justice, fairness, and access to the broad range of human experience” – Does that broad range of experience involve killing another person – their own child, Human Abstract? Are babies human? Are some babies female? Babies are human beings – not garbage to be disposed of as we please. The power to kill another human being does not make women more empowered or more free. It just makes women victimizers. Does raping a woman make a man more empowered? So how does killing a baby make a woman more empowered?
“It’s about justice, fairness, and access to the broad range of human experience” – Does that broad range of experience involve killing another person – their own child, Human Abstract? Are babies human? Are some babies female? Babies are human beings – not garbage to be disposed of as we please. The power to kill another human being does not make women more empowered or more free. It just makes women victimizers. Does raping a woman make a man more empowered? So how does killing a baby make a woman more empowered?
“The power to kill another human being does not make women more empowered or more free. It just makes women victimizers. Does raping a woman make a man more empowered? So how does killing a baby make a woman more empowered? ”
Here Here Jodi!!!
Women are more than their uteruses. Nothing “makes women what they are.” Women are human beings–not walking incubators.
Posted by: Human Abstract at May 22, 2009 12:24 AM—————————————————————————————————— HA, that’s the oldest and most stale lie that women bye into. Feminism hasn’t done women any favors. We are “incubators” by God’s design, and furthermore, women were not meant to have their children scraped out of their wombs. I second what Jodi has said. You know, it’s true. Abortion victimizes children, and there isn’t an ounce of empowerment in it.
HA, I’m all for choices, but our choices have consequences. We need to learn to think our choices through before it comes to an unwanted pregnancy. Yes. That means that you must give sex some serious thought, because it’s a serious action with consequences. Not only could it result in pregnancy. It could result in a serious disease. Think about it. 50 million abortions also means 50 million episodes of unprotected sex and counting. 4,000 abortions today = 4,000 episodes of unprotected sex.
I’d much rather forego a night out (dinner and a movie, for example) or a new purchase so I could give my money to a clinic I’m behind one hundred per cent. But that’s just me.
Many people are already foregoing nights out and extraneous purchases to make ends meet as far as rent etc. There was certainly a time in my life where I wanted to burn the next article that suggested, “Make your own coffee at home and save money!” or “Use Netflix instead of going to the movies!” because I was already making my own coffee (when I had spare money for that) and Netflix was a splurge, not a save, for me.
I’m a big fan of putting my money where my mouth is, but it definitely is a luxury not everyone can afford. So while I choose not to shop at WalMart, I would never in a million years tell someone else, “Maybe you should just stop buying lattes every day, and shop someplace that lines up with your beliefs,” unless they specifically asked for my advice. We have no idea what the lives of others are like.
Marauder,
Have you ever read Forbidden Grief by Theresa Burke? There is a chapter on women that tend to be trapped in a cycle of wanting to “undo” what they have done after their first abortion and once pregnant AGAIN actually repeat the abortion and continue to lose self esteem. They want to rescue themselves and yet can’t seem to stop the cycle.
I found it very interesting and helped me understand what a woman who has had multiple abortions may have gone through. I have several friends that have had quite a few.
Posted by: Carla at May 21, 2009 8:45 PM———————————————————————————————————————————————————— Carla, that’s one book I have not read, but it adds up. I knew of one woman who had 7 abortions. She ended up with a hysterectomy in the end, and she was devestated! Another woman I knew had 9. Most you meet have had 2 or 3. It’s not unusual anymore. Sad, but not unusual. I have read a lot of books about Madonna. I’m not sure if anyone knew or cared, but Madonna {pop icon} has had 11 abortions.
It’s like a cycle of self abuse repeating. Kind of like a woman who is a victim of domestic violence, yet she keeps returning to her abuser. That behavior is odd, to say the least. I believe women who have repeat abortions are stuck in a cycle of self mutilation. Carla, am I too far off in saying so?
I would agree, Heather. It breaks my heart all the more for women trying to get out of a vicious cycle.
The book is a must read. However there are some very heart wrenching stories. One I remember about a teenage girl who didn’t want an abortion but was forced by her family. She wanted that baby. She had a saline abortion and when she delivered, she grabbed her child and wouldn’t let go. These “caring and helpful” adults pried the tiny, blackened child out of her arms. She now has multiple personalities but not one professional connected her issues back to that traumatic abortion event.
A woman feeling empowered by having her own child sucked from her womb?
That’s a lie.
The abortion business is based on lies.
Human Abstract,
Just as your pen name implies, your whole statement is an ideological, illogical abstract. Even a pure Darwinist would agree that the female is ruled by the endocrine system and the fact that we can give birth is not some abstract, it is what makes us uniquely female. Abortion is a trauma to our endocrine system and our very innate being. We were created to give birth, nurture and further the species.
Abortion breaks down the family unit. It kills the baby, wounds the mother and undermines the rights of fathers. It breaks down society and perpetuates violence.
Your argument sounds so United Nations. Men and women are different, wake up. It’s a scientific, biological fact.
Are women human? Of course they are. Were slaves human? Of course they were. Are babies human? Absolutely. Why can’t we just treat everyone humanely?
Alexandra,
When it comes down to it, I’d say our choices define who we are.
You can choose to go to PP – I can refuse. Praise God.
Alexandra,
I didn’t mean that to be an attack on you personally. bad choice of words on my part. I’m speaking in general terms when I say “our choices define who we are” – It’s very important for me to incorporate my beliefs in my every one of choices. I don’t always succeed, of course.
…. that’s “every one of my choices.
(I think I need some coffee!)
If women are more than incubators, than they ought not to be forced to become mothers.
But children are more than property, and if they exist on this planet (which unborn children do), then what happens to their equality?
If women were all fine and dandy with abortion because it is empowering than why do they not call themselves pro-abortion? If abortion is the equivalent to voting or speaking one’s mind- well, I’m pro-free speech. If abortion were simply able to be replaced with another right, like voting, why don’t women call themselves pro-abortion like they’re pro-voting?
Why is it that women only do it when they have nowhere else to go? Why is it that they don’t love their experience?
Sorry, this was off, but I was thinking about an article from Gloria Steinem, and she always compares abortion to free speech; it’s upsetting because she has no idea what it’s like to live from day to day worrying like these women worry. How can she claim to be an expert? Some comments on this website just made me think of this. :(.
Carla, it’s sad that healthcare professionals would not recognize the PTSD that the young girl must be suffering from. Or sometimes it’s called PAS- Post Abortion Syndrome. I don’t really care for Dr. Phil, but one day he happened to be on talking with a married couple in crisis. He asked the couple, “Is there anything that either one of you can think of that may be causing this turmoil in your relationship?” The woman responded, “Well, I did have an abortion.” Dr. Phil responded, “Well why would that matter?”
Janet I agree that people can and should be able to prioritize the choices they must make. There was a time in my life when PP meant being able to also afford a dental cleaning. It’s dismissive to say, “give up a movie and put your money where your mouth is,” when you have no idea where someone’s money is going. I prefer to believe that people choose their priorities as carefully as I choose mine, at least until I have evidence to the contrary.
I’m not Dr. Phil, but didn’t he miss the obvious? It must be bothering her, or she wouldn’t have mentioned it!!!!
Sorry Dr. Phil. You blew it on that one!! The rhetoric is that abortion hurts no one. It helps women, it heals women, it empowers them.
No. No. No. And No.
Re Carla at May 22, 2009 12:58 PM
No matter how much you kick and scream and say “no no no” it won’t make it true for anyone else but you. Some people find dentists to be traumatic, does this mean that we are going to stop cleaning teeth?
Anti-choicers can try and traumatize people into being anti-choice, but it doesn’t make for a valid cause, all it does is prove that most people can’t stand the stage blood theatrics of the anti-choice movement.
I am not kicking and screaming. I am refuting the lies of the abortion business and the lies I was told at the clinic where my daughter died. When I walked into the clinic my baby was living and growing. When I left she was dead and her body was torn to pieces and I was never the same. An abortion story is irrefutable, Yo.
I do not grieve the day I get my teeth cleaned. I grieve the day of September 5th, 1990.
I don’t care what you can or can’t stand to be honest with you. You are here for a reason and so am I.
Right Carla. My girlfriend crashes in bed every April 4th, the day of her abortion. Covers over her head and sobbing on and off. The dentist doesn’t cause this reaction for anyone I know. Heck, most people don’t remember the exact day that the last visited the dentist.
Carla, If I could turn back time, I’d do it for you.
Carla, it is quite possible I will be in labor on September 5th of this year. (Due date is the 6th). If that happens to be the case, I hope I can find some way to help take away even one nano-crumb of the pain you suffer due to the lies of others who were in positions of trust.
I love you, sweetie.
Posted by: Carla at May 24, 2009 7:05 AM
I understand your pain, but in understanding that pain I also understand that it is not universally experienced by everyone has an abortion. I know when I experience something its hard to not univeralize it, but I realize that on many levels my experiences are mine alone, and cannot be expected to be shared or understood by most people.
Thank you Janet and Elisabeth!! If I could go back there I would tell them all at Meadowbrook Clinic to go to HE** and I would embrace my daughters life. But I can’t. Instead this coming Sept. 5th I will be running, biking and swimming in a triathalon in her honor. Mommy will start and finish if I have to crawl across the finish line!! Oh and I will have AUBREY written somewhere on me. Elisabeth, I will think of you in labor and you can think of me laboring to finish. HA
Yo,
You are preaching to the choir, babe. I understand that my pain is my own but I have met hundreds of women that have the same pain and thousands that fill out declarations for Operation Outcry. I am not assuming that EVERYONE feel the way I feel after an abortion…I was relieved at first…but to drown out my voice I always hear “abortion was the best thing I ever did.” That hardly refutes my experience. I understand what you are trying to say. I just know that I am part of a vast movement of men and women and I am no longer alone. That feels good.
This may have been the first conversation you and I have ever had, Yo La Tengo. Thank you for that. :)
Hey! Perfect timing for this!
http://www.lifenews.com/nat5082.html