Pro-life news brief 8-24-12
by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat
- CNN has posted the Republican party’s plank on the sanctity and dignity of human life.
- The Obama campaign really has no shame. They’re attacking Mitt Romney for not wanting to waste his time talking about Representative Akin’s comments and fulfilling the media’s and the Democratic party’s dream of it lasting another week in the news. This attack from a campaign which doesn’t allow reporters to interview campaign surrogates unless they give them veto power over their quotes.
- At The Atlantic, Rebecca Rosen badly garbles abortions in America pre-Roe. This paragraph is embarrassing. Where are the editors?
Of course no official statistics were kept, but Reagan cites some late-19th-century doctors as estimating a rate of about two million abortions per year. Studies confirmed their prevalence: One, of some 10,000 working-class women who visited birth-control clinics in the late 1920s, found that 10 to 23 percent had had abortions. A smaller study at a clinic in the Bronx in the early 1930s found that 35 percent of women – Catholics, Protestants, and Jews alike – had had at least one abortion. And of course, because abortion occurred mostly on the black market, they were very dangerous: One estimate placed the annual death toll at 5,000 women.2 million abortions a year in the late 19th century? That abortion rate would be astronomical. The census bureau estimates there were only around 76 million people in the U.S. in 1900. So approximately 1/4 as many people were having nearly twice as many abortion as today? Back when abortions were illegal? If Leslie Reagan thinks 2 million annual abortion is a good estimate of late-19th-century United States, then maybe you shouldn’t believe a word she says because she’s clearly not competent.
Rosen then provides some other numbers for women who said they had abortions but does nothing to show how those unnamed studies would prove anywhere near 2 million annual abortions especially since the percent of women who supposedly admitted to having had abortions in one of the studies is lower than the number (1/3) touted by abortion advocates today.
Lastly, she doesn’t mention that the annual death estimate of 5,000 has been debunked for decades.
How do these people find writing jobs?
[Graphic via jezebel.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.
Sheriff candidate says he would use lethal force to stop an elective abortion. He then apologized, a little bit.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/08/23/sheriff-candidate-apologizes-for-saying-he-would-use-deadly-force-to-stop-abortions/
You guys have a new hero today.
If it’s illegal at the time, sure. The only reason people are getting a pass on it now is because this particular variety of homicide has been legalized. After it is illegal again, I don’t see why lethal force to protect a citizen wouldn’t be warranted.
So, Hal, how are your kids? ALL of them?
xalisae, thanks for asking. They’re doing great. All grown up and my pride and joy!
Not ALL of them, Hal. But you know that.
Is your daughter kicking herself yet because she didn’t choose Dartmouth, Hal? :)
It is not improbable that there were more abortions in the 19th Century than there are today. Contraceptives were MUCH less effective. They were almost hit or miss. Having a baby out of wedlock could cause a girl or woman to be disgraced, making them much more likely to abort out of sheer desperation.
In addition, some people may have still subscribed to the “quickening” standard that had been rejected by 19th Century scientists due to discoveries in embryology and the development of the stethoscope.
Please don’t treat this as unwelcome news. It could indicate something VERY GOOD. That despite abortion’s legality, we live in a relatively low-abortion time period!!!! I hope that is true and think it could be.
Hi Bobby! No, she’s in her last year at another fine institution and getting a good education. How are your little ones?
Bernard Nathanson already admitted, in published writing, that the 10,000 statistic was simply a made up number. But the abortionistas think that if they lie often enough, people will buy it.
Let’s see in November who’s buying what.
“she’s in her last year at another…”
BOOOO!
“…fine institution and getting a good education.”
Nah, I”m glad to hear that. My goodness, a senior now. And here I remember when she was making the decision. Fantastic. Our girls are doing well. Growing up fast. Our oldest starts pre-school in a couple weeks!
Hold them tight Bobby. One day they’re starting pre school, the next day it seems they’re starting college.
Unless they’re ground up in a collection jar. Then they don’t get to do those things.
xalisae, I’ve never thought about it that way before. OMG, the horror, the horror.
I’m sure they’d appreciate your sarcasm about the matter were they alive today to hear it. Thank you. Good day.
Fortunately there are laws to prevent Hal from killing his born pride and joy if/when he tires of them. Otherwise, who knows what he’d do.
or Hal, getting married!
If the author of that article had used these unnamed studies in a research paper or thesis, she would have received an F!
“After it is illegal again, I don’t see why lethal force to protect a citizen wouldn’t be warranted.”
So when abortion is illegal, there will be carte blanche to murder abortion doctors. How very pro-life. Thanks, X, for another beautiful screen grab that shows just how very sick and very lethal you “pro-life” extremists are. (More fund raising for us) Way to alienate the mainstream. Saving fetuses and killing the post born. Wo hoo!!!!
But dream on X. If Roe is overturned, abortion will still be legal in the enlightened states like mine. Will you and your biker boy friend be stationed at states borders to do an internal to determine if those women, crossing the border, might be pregnant and on their way to an abortion?
But killing abortion doctors because “lethal force” is necessary? Here’s the thing, X. Lethal force against would be murderers is really dicey even in cases involving the post-born. But if you and your anti-choice zealot pals want to go all Clint Eastwood, make my day. Just don’t do it in RI cuz you’ll end up doing hard time for a long time. But then again, in the fetus fetishist states (read poor, obese, sick, uneducated) you’ll be heroes. Once again, I’m happy to live in an area where women are trusted.
And I’m happy to live in states far, far away from you where children are protected.
“And I’m happy to live in states far, far away from you where children are protected.”
But what’s the maternal health index? What’s the literacy rate? What’s the teen pregnancy rate? What’s the poverty index? But let’s talk about protection. What’s the rate of child abuse?
Tomorrow is Saturday and that’s abortion day at Planned Parenthood. And you-can’t-stop-it. LOL.
And BTW, when abortion was illegal, in my beautiful blue state, we drove the women up to Canada. It was like the underground railroad. Some of the drivers were actually liberal Protestant clergy from the local Ivy school. But try as you might, you won’t bring us back to those days.
Heck, what’s your birth rate? Are you slackers up there going to be pulling your demographic weight? C’mon! Rhode Island could single-handedly plow Social Security under if you don’t step up the action in them parts . . .
“But try as you might, you won’t bring us back to those days.”
Of course not. Your generation is calcified in the culture of death, like some bizarre Giger statuary. We’ll get to your children though.They’ll be the next generation of pro-lifers. Poetic justice. :-)
“We’ll get to your children though.They’ll be the next generation of pro-lifers. Poetic justice.”
Given that our college students, particularly those at Brown, are fully on board with reproductive choice, I don’t think so.(The Catholic kids at Providence College are too drunk to know what’s going on.) But come visit us some time. History, scenery, and progressive people in a progressive state founded on religious tolerance. What’s not to like? (And very close to Boston, too)
But what’s the maternal health index? What’s the literacy rate? What’s the teen pregnancy rate? What’s the poverty index? But let’s talk about protection. What’s the rate of child abuse?
I don’t really care, because the “legal killing rate” of children will be ZERO. I’ve met plenty of highly educated people who are cold, callous, and cruel towards others, so I don’t see why you insist on bringing up the literacy rate (Peter Singer comes to mind). I’m from a very poor family myself, so you’ll have to tell me which of my siblings mom and dad should’ve killed to make my life more comfortable, because darn it, that decision is just too far above my pay-grade. I’m not sure about the teen pregnancy rate, but I also don’t see how that would relate to abortion. I mean, my ex-husband had completed California’s liberal-as-they-come comprehensive sexual education programs starting in 3rd or 4th grade, and that didn’t do him much good. He still seemed mystified that I was able to get pregnant after we had sex, and I got pregnant with our daughter when he was 18. He was reckless, where I tried to insist we be safer since I was mindful of the outcomes of sex, since all I had was my background in Biology and my parent’s recommendation of abstinence. So, you can figure THAT one out.
What’s the rate of child abuse? I’m astonished you have the gall to bring that up, since I’m sure you’ve met plenty of children who you would’ve preferred to have been abused to death in utero so that you wouldn’t have had to trouble yourself with them. How compassionate of you. My daughter’s first year of life was touch-and-go due to her father neglecting her. Would you like to come over to our house and tell her why you think she should be dead right now? Please tell me how killing a child earlier in their life is not abuse. Tell me how killing a child “fixes” abuse and should not be qualified as abuse itself.
But really, thank you for your overt disdain of people like me in your comment. Thank you for that. Perhaps your absolutely venomous attitude towards people from bad situations and the disenfranchised is part of the reason we Pro-Lifers have been making positive PR leaps and bounds this year, with more people considering themselves Pro-Life than ever before. I should really, really thank you for that, since your condescension to the poor is almost a daily exhibit for you here.
The shame is that CC’s right — there’s much to like about Rhode Island and its people. That CC extols the high virtues of its moral nadir in championing abortion is a bloody shame.
CC in Poland, circa 1940:
Tomorrow is Saturday and that’s extermination day at Auschwitz. And you-can’t-stop-it. LOL.
So I’m told, rasqual. My “biker boyfriend” can’t speak highly enough of the place. He went to culinary school there where he graduated nearly top of his class. Because he’s so…like…dangerous and stuff.
It was funny…when I first dragged him into the world of all things prenatal human rights, he told me that being on the sidewalk was too nerve-wracking. He’s not very aggressive, and preferred to inquire about volunteering in a support position at the CPC across the street while I wage my crusade outside. So, I must admit, CC gave me quite a chuckle earlier.
But, he absolutely fell in love with the area, and urges me to go there sometime. I told him we have to arrange a trade-his visitation of California and my family that still resides there with me in exchange for me accompanying him to the East Coast to meet up with his friends.
A-hyuk, I’m durned excited about it! I hears they gots some reel purdy outhouses up there, y’all! 9_9
I just realized something:
With my background in art/music and science, and my fiance’s in the culinary arts and literature, we must be collectively like her idea of Anti-Choice Hannibal Lecter. I wonder if she tells her cats spooky stories about us and our evil deeds against wymyn on stormy nights.
You really should move in across from CC. ;-)
Unless they’re ground up in a collection jar. Then they don’t get to do those things
And there you have it folks! The compassionate prolife mindset
Jake,
I thought that was the compassionate Pro-Choice mindset, since I’m actually AGAINST children being ground up into a collection jar.
“Thank you for that. Perhaps your absolutely venomous attitude towards people from bad situations and the disenfranchised is part of the reason we Pro-Lifers have been making positive PR leaps and bounds this year, with more people considering themselves Pro-Life than ever before.”
Meanwhile, you will enthusiastically support the vice presidential candidate who wants to slash expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit and make cuts to unemployment benefits, food stamps, Pell Grants, housing assistance and Medicaid. Oh, while reducing the top individual income tax rate from 35% to 25%. Yeah.
Joan, would you support Ryan if he thought we should kill the poor to save them from their misery?
joan,
If the nation collapses under the weight of our debt, we’ll all be up shhh creek without a paddle. I’d rather reduce debt, end overspending, and keep job creators here so we can get out of this mess. But I also enjoy John’s point!
X, I for one would love to meet your biker boyfriend. Jus’ sayin.
Courtnay,
We have a dinner party with some of his friends and a bunch of chefs next month. You’d be welcome to attend. <3
I would love to, X, except I am going to have to work in order to support my family. I am one half of America who supports the other half.
Have fun, and if you’re ever in TN (lots of unenlightened, pregnant teens, I suppose), you know where to go. Well go bug some Episcopalians!
How is the “YER NOT PRO LIFE IF YOU EVER ACCEPT A KILLING” still going on? That is the most ridiculous, goofy, disingenuous non-argument-mantra I’ve ever heard. Are you not anti-crime, if you believe those innocent of crimes should not be punished? Is it really required that we say “anti-crime provided the person is actually a criminal.” Must we really say “pro-life provided the person is innocent of the use or attempted use of deadly violent force?” Effing ridiculous.
Hey guys, this is off-topic, but a while back, some of you asked to hear more about my experience with depression and my suicide attempts, and I’ve finally got around to writing an entry on it on my blog: http://mylifeinreflection.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-depression-story.html