Pro-life news brief 1-28-13
by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat
- New York Times editorial writer Juliet Lapidos seems to favor a rapist’s right to choose. She believes somehow legislative language – which is clearly designed to punish rapists who coerce their victims into abortion – will ban abortion in cases of rape. I’m not sure if she is willfully ignoring the section of the legislation which reads “with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime” or if in her attempt to parrot pro-abortion blogs, she never actually read the text carefully.
- Ross Douthat on the various attempts to claim “Misogyny!” is the main motivating factor of the pro-life movement:
But such an understanding was too simplistic when Nellie Gray [pictured left] founded the March for Life, and it’s grown steadily less compelling with time. As Jon Shields of Claremont McKenna College pointed out last year, pro-life sentiment has been steady over the last four decades even as opposition to women in the work force (or the military, or the White House) has largely collapsed. Most anti-abortion Americans today are also gender egalitarians: indeed, Shields notes, pro-life attitudes toward women’s professional advancement have converged so quickly with pro-choice attitudes that “the average moderately pro-life citizen is a stronger supporter of gender equality than even the typical strongly pro-choice citizen was in the early 1980s.” Among the younger generation, any “divide over women’s roles nearly disappears entirely.”The pro-life cause has proved unexpectedly resilient, in other words, not because millions of Americans are nostalgists for a world of stricter gender norms, but because they have convinced themselves that the opportunities the feminist revolution won for women can be sustained without unrestricted access to abortion.
[Gray photo via gpb.org]

That there are 3 million unplanned pregnancies per year shows that a male-centric view of sexuality is persistent. Does anyone really believe that if it were up to women, the type of sex resulting in pregnancy would be that popular?
If women insisted on only sex acts best suited for FEMALE enjoyment, there would not be so many unplanned pregnancies.
Jill,
“The pro-life cause has proved unexpectedly resilient, in other words, not because millions of Americans are nostalgists for a world of stricter gender norms, but because they have convinced themselves that the opportunities the feminist revolution won for women can be sustained without unrestricted access to abortion.”
This is foolishness at its worst. The pro-life cause (not talking about death penalty here) is resilient because pro-choice/pro-abortion means death for innocent human beings…as long as there are human beings watching out for the innocent ones, there will be noise in defense of those who cannot speak for themselves, and lots of it…
God please give us the resolve to end the slaughter…
Since LS mentioned the death penalty — which IS at least relevant to “life” issues — I’d like to mention that in the state of Georgia, the vast majority of juries go for Life Without Parole rather than death even though the latter is an option. Part of that may be that they just think the death penalty is too much trouble. After all, the condemned murderer will probably spend about 20 years on death row before the big moment. Thus, why not just lock that person up and throw away the key?
While LWOP IS indeed a bit more humane and civilized than the death penalty, by HOW MUCH is it more humane? For some murderers, it will hardly make any difference whether they receive the death penalty or LWOP. If the person is 60 years old, he or she (usually he) can pretty much expect to expire of natural causes whether on death row or not since appeals will take so long.
However, what must it be like to receive LWOP when young? The song “Mama Tried” laments, “I turned 21 in prison doing life without parole.” It seems to me that we have to be realistic. I agree with the horrible, monstrous murderer Ian Brady on this one: if someone is sentenced to LWOP and has been in prison for a long time, that person should be able to apply for voluntary euthanasia. This could be considered a “self-inflicted death penalty.”
That a person might after several years in prison prefer to die is not unreasonable.
Perhaps there IS nostalgia for old-fashioned gender roles. Why are the re-runs of “I Love Lucy,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” and “Leave It To Beaver” so enduringly popular? One reason might be the respect that is shown for the female characters in their homemaking roles.
Although Peg Bundy was a lazy, no-cooking and little cleaning housewife, one reason “Married . . . with Children” had such longevity was that her TV-watching stay-at-home constituted a refreshing alternative to all the ambitious, career-oriented, can-do female characters populating the tube. I saw a woman on “Baggage” who proclaimed “I Want to be a Peg Bundy-style Housewife.” Yes, a lady who wants to be supported by a man and enjoy bonbons and TV is an endearing contrast to Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, and many other women in the public eye.
Someone needs to get her own blog.
“Does anyone really believe that if it were up to women, the type of sex resulting in pregnancy would be that popular?”
Yes…
Regarding statutory rape: I asked a friend who is President of a Crisis Pregnancy Center if they report suspected cases. He answered, “We are legally required to report suspected cases of abuse and we do.”
Someone needs to get her own blog.
When the Sun shines upon Earth, 2 – major Time points are created on opposite sides of Earth – known as Midday and Midnight. Where the 2 major Time forces join, synergy creates 2 new minor Time points we recognize as Sunup and Sundown. The 4-equidistant Time points can be considered as Time Square imprinted upon the circle of Earth. In a single rotation of the Earth sphere, each Time corner point rotates through the other 3-corner Time points, thus creating 16 corners, 96 hours and 4-simultaneous 24 hour Days within a single rotation of Earth – equated to a Higher Order of Life Time Cube.
(It’d probably be like Time Cube, only about adoption.)
^ That just made my day!
Why get your own blog when you can hop on here and derail derail derail?