Pro-life blog buzz 2-5-13
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.
- Moral Outcry and Wesley J. Smith explain why the Department of Health and Human Services’ so-called “compromise” is really just more of the same – a violation of religious freedom.
- At ProWomanProLife, Andrea Mrozek includes a clip of her interview with conservative Canadian media personality Ezra Levant regarding live birth abortions taking place in Canada. Live birth abortion, while only recently coming to light in Canada, was made public in the U.S. years ago by our own Jill Stanek, resulting in the passing of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.
- Right to Life of Michigan points out that the majority of Americans lack accurate knowledge of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton – two cases that shape our country’s current abortion law.
- Pro-Life Wisconsin has a two-part series on personhood and why it matters.
- Suzy B notes the latest example of Obamacare’s coercive tactics and restrictions on federal grants:
Recently the North Dakota State University froze a $1.2 million federal grant it had received because the grant requires the university to team up with Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider, to implement a sex education program under Obamacare. University officials are concerned that accepting the grant could potentially be a violation of state law, which forbids taxpayer funding of abortion businesses such as Planned Parenthood.
Now, Planned Parenthood and their allies are attacking the University for freezing the grant.
Send an email in support of the university’s decision, here.
- Reproductive Research Audit has a weekly round-up of articles on reproductive health issues, including two which prove that even in matters of abortion reporting, there is no common ground between the pro-choice and pro-life camps.
- Voice for Hope shares an excellent speech by Serrin Foster of Feminists for Life on the feminist case against abortion.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/kAQHsmDG-BI[/youtube]
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.
The Catholic hospital in Denver apologized for the way it defended itself against the lawsuit against it, when it said a fetus is not a person.
Thank goodness insurance companies will now have to provide coverage for nuns! (Wesley Smith article). No more sleepless nights worrying about that injustice.
Everyone should watch the video of Serrin Foster – it is worth the time investment. I would try to point out the hilites but the whole video is good.
Jack B I think you will appreciate the video.
Why do people keep commenting to me on posts I haven’t commented on? Very odd. I might look at the video later if I have time, it’s really long.
Tyler, I think her presentation is absolutely ONE OF THE BEST THAT IS A GREAT PRIVILEGE to listen to!
The video of Serrin Foster’s speech may be longer than a lot of videos that are shared on the internet, but it’s a GREAT speech! She has so many good points in this and honestly it’s not even as long as some TV shows that people think nothing of sitting down to watch. It’s all in what you are willing to spend your time on something frivolous or something that actually has meaning to it.
One of the largest difficulties with sellingPL is that people often falsely perceive that if fundamentally involves a-lack-of-freedom (perhaps from its dogged adherence to the worst of conservatism)while the very words pro-choice gives an illusion of freedom./ It would be veryu interesting if this debate said : BE PL, THE CALL TO TRUE FREEDOM !
Have we PL got the guts? …. I HAVE A DREAM,( a hope)… THAT ALL MEN/WOMEN/CHILDREN WILL BE TREATED AS EQUALS and beyond, as Americans!
Just so everyone knows, Serrin’s speech grows from a snowball to avalanche of ideas. It is not one of those rollercoaster, up and down speeches.
“falsely perceive that if fundamentally involves a-lack-of-freedom”
No, I’m pretty sure that perception isn’t false at all. I certainly
didn’t feel free when I was pregnant. I didn’t feel free when I went
through childbirth. I felt pretty free when he went home with the couple
who adopted him. My experience is what made me pro choice. The fact is,
I’m not even sure I would have made the same choice if I hadn’t been
pressured by a pretty fundamentalist christian family that told me I
didn’t really have a choice. I was young, naive, and still identifying
as a christian at that time, even though my heart was never really in
it. I’ve managed to shake it off and live much more true to myself as an
atheist. I later married and we didn’t have children.
So, sure, you can lead a woman to pregnancy and childbirth, but you
can’t make her care too much about any of it if she’s just plain not
interested. Most people tout the “rush of love” aspect immediately after
birth, but I never felt that. Ultimately, my parents actually wanted me
to keep him. As controlling as they were, that was one thing I
absolutely put my foot down about. I told them that they were more than
welcome to adopt him themselves if they felt that strongly about it. It
was pretty amusing how quickly they backed down after that. I know many
pro-lifers say that for them it isn’t about punishment, per se, but I
can tell you that that’s exactly what my parents were all about. I
really was damaged goods in their eyes, for the rest of my life. I
didn’t have much contact with them after I married, and I didn’t miss
them. My in-laws stepped into the gap and became the loving and
non-judgmental family I had always yearned for.
It was a closed adoption, and he’s 31 now. I’m hoping that means that
he’s not going to try to contact me at this point. It’s an unsettling
feeling, that a stranger might call someday wanting . . . well, I don’t
know what. I don’t know if my answers would bring him any peace or
closure. I’m sure his parents did a good job, and I certainly hope
that’s enough. It should be.
I wish that all if this was unusual and exceptional, but it’s not. When
I was more active in my adoptive parent support group, there were much
sadder and tragic stories. The common theme is that many people are
going to feel sorrow and regret no matter what choice they make, and
there are a lot more women than you might expect who just never had any
maternal instinct at all.
Wow. Such a callous attitude towards another person. Put aside the fact that they are your own flesh-and-blood, but just another person in general. Giving them life instead of killing them has made you support killing them. Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot.
Umm, thanks for not killing your kid, but since they got to live, maybe some other kids like him should be allowed that same chance?
What is our society coming to? I need to invest in a violin so I can play it while civilization finishes collapsing.
As someone in her early 30’s, this could be someone I know personally and care for dearly. But nah. Just kill ’em next time.
“So, sure, you can lead a woman to pregnancy and childbirth, but you
can’t make her care too much about any of it if she’s just plain not
interested. Most people tout the “rush of love” aspect immediately after
birth, but I never felt that.”
So what? My mother completely hates me, doesn’t mean I should be dead. I’m sorry you regret that you had to go through childbirth for someone you didn’t give a crap about, but that’s life.
“I know many
pro-lifers say that for them it isn’t about punishment, per se, but I
can tell you that that’s exactly what my parents were all about. I
really was damaged goods in their eyes, for the rest of my life. I
didn’t have much contact with them after I married, and I didn’t miss
them. My in-laws stepped into the gap and became the loving and
non-judgmental family I had always yearned for.”
It’s not about punishment for most pro-lifers. Your parents are just emotionally abusive and you can’t judge everyone on your experience with them.
“I wish that all if this was unusual and exceptional, but it’s not. When
I was more active in my adoptive parent support group, there were much
sadder and tragic stories. The common theme is that many people are
going to feel sorrow and regret no matter what choice they make, and
there are a lot more women than you might expect who just never had any
maternal instinct at all.”
If a woman doesn’t have a maternal instinct, her child shouldn’t suffer for it. If she can’t love or care for the child, someone else can. What’s not right is killing a kid because his mom doesn’t love him.
Adoption is not perfect, and I think a lot of people would rather help girls keep their child rather than adopt out, but it’s better than killing the kid off. You still managed to get married and live out your child free life, your son has parents who actually love him and cared for him. I don’t see how this story would be happier if your son had just died.
You still managed to get married and live out your child free life, your son has parents who actually love him and cared for him. I don’t see how this story would be happier if your son had just died.
I didn’t get the impression that it was a question of being happier. I didn’t read where she said she thinks he should be dead, just that she’s not sure what she would have done if the situation had been different. She’s giving an account of her own experience that doesn’t pull any punches and that isn’t particularly comfortable to read.
It seems like some people don’t like it that she’s not a more sentimental or sympathetic individual, maybe having something to do with the fact that she’s not interested in an adult relationship and apparently didn’t think about her son too much beyond the adoption. But he’s here and has his life. I don’t see what difference it makes that she doesn’t know if she’d do it again. It’s done. It seems she made sure that it didn’t happen again, so that’s good.
I’ve read with great interest Ginger’s story. THis lack-of-empathy-towards-your-own=child or being void of maternal instincts is not condemning but MAY BE one sign of extreme zinc deficiency or an under-developed cerebellum (back part of the brain that coordinates movement and emotions). This is rare, but not unknown … like some developmentally-handicapped people who need to rock back and forth, to stimulate that brain-region (aka R. Restack’s ‘The Brain: the last frontier”.
I am sory, I almost forgot that Ginger had quoted me and she emphasized over and over, about not feeling-free. First off, the emotional aspect of freedom, while important, does not even begin to answer ALL aspects of what freedom means. If this were not so; all those American soldiers have been fighting (and dying) for a ‘feeling’ or, for your ‘feeling’…???
You should also be aware that at childbirth a woman releases chemicals called endorphins. These natural pain-killers are morphine-like and IMO are the reason why most women feel euphoria at birthing. If there is pre-existing damage to the cerebellum, she would fel nothing at all ie. no maternal feelings kicking-in.
So, she’s low on minerals, brain damaged, and and had no cause to “feel” any loss of freedom at a difficult time in her life. Instead of being a person who seems to be pretty articulate and thoughtful about her experiences. And, you just plain don’t like her because she doesn’t behave like a “mother” should. Beautiful.
I’m sorry, I thought we come from a society where a lack of empathy for others is seen as a defect of one type or another. Thanks for telling us otherwise, Bearman and Ginger!
” I didn’t get the impression that it was a question of being happier. I didn’t read where she said she thinks he should be dead, just that she’s not sure what she would have done if the situation had been different. She’s giving an account of her own experience that doesn’t pull any punches and that isn’t particularly comfortable to read.”
It’s that she’s arguing for abortion on other threads, is the issue I have with her. I’m glad she didn’t raise a kid she didn’t want, no one should raise a kid that they don’t care about and don’t want. If someone knows that they aren’t cut out to be a parent, forcing them to raise a kid is not going to be a good idea. I only have a problem with her arguing for abortion, because I don’t think that the fetus needs to die because of someone’s lack of interest or ability to parent.
“It seems like some people don’t like it that she’s not a more sentimental or sympathetic individual, maybe having something to do with the fact that she’s not interested in an adult relationship and apparently didn’t think about her son too much beyond the adoption. But he’s here and has his life. I don’t see what difference it makes that she doesn’t know if she’d do it again. It’s done. It seems she made sure that it didn’t happen again, so that’s good.”
I was actually really, really trying not to sound judgmental about her lack of interest in her son, I might have failed a bit because of my own personal biases, but I don’t think she’s bad or wrong for not being loving or interested in her bio son. I just get annoyed by people using experiences like that to argue for abortion.
“So, she’s low on minerals, brain damaged, and and had no cause to “feel” any loss of freedom at a difficult time in her life. Instead of being a person who seems to be pretty articulate and thoughtful about her experiences. And, you just plain don’t like her because she doesn’t behave like a “mother” should. Beautiful.”
Well, do you disagree that it’s somewhat aberrant for parents to feel nothing toward their children? It’s certainly not the norm, most parents feel some attachment and warmth toward their children, and it’s a minority that feel no parental instinct towards them. I don’t think she’s evil or insane or anything like that, but it’s atypical. But anyway, it’s a moot point because she recognized that about herself and put her foot down and didn’t raise a baby she didn’t want. Which is good, that was the best option in that situation for her and the kid. What I don’t like is she seems to use the fact that some women would make terrible mothers or have no attachment to their children to argue that killing the unwanted fetuses would be a good solution to this. Even though her story seemed to turn out just fine this way. That I don’t get. I get that there are people who don’t want their children, I don’t get how people can claim that not letting them live is preferable to a story like hers.
I feel empathy for her, xalisae. But you’re scolding ME about empathy. Right. And yes, I know, xalisae, that I have very little to offer someone who’s smarter than the average bear.
I only saw her comment on one other thread, Jack, and she wasn’t arguing for abortion. She said she didn’t know what she would do if she had it to do over again. If she doesn’t know, then she doesn’t know.
Well, I will say I’m glad that she was able to go on and life her life without kids just fine, and her son got to have his life too. I wish that more people who didn’t want or care about their children would do so, it would save everyone a lot of terrible childhoods.
I’m glad too, Jack, and I wish more people would do that, as well.
hI Bearman,
I’ve been involved in PL-work for much more than 3 decades now, During that time, I have also done some bio-chemical studies on zinc deficiency. It is the fundamental mineral in human function (much the same way calcium would be THE MINERAL of note in human STRUCTURE. What I provided was one possibility!
Before thinking this highly improbable ::: over 70% of USA women and men deficient in zinc; a graph showing major mood swings in pregnant women and the infamous post partem depression + the onslaught of puberty are ALL special periods of very high zinc usage fora growing human; if enough zinc and vitamin B6 are used during gestation fullly 93% of ALL genetic defects will end.
I do fear that myopic foolishness will prevail and one generation will follow yet another, with even lower zinc levels. This will increase illness, mental and physical … suseptability to viruses, bacterial contageons; alcoholism; homosexuality and many ‘sexual’ strained-areas; likely criminality too … the list is far too long … oh yeah, most cancers, cystic fibrosis, etc …. GETTING THE PICTURE, NOW!!!
I’ve never heard all that info about zinc, John, thank you. I wonder how much zinc levels affect those with garden-variety depression? Antidepressants seem to be pretty hit or miss. We could probably all use a better balance of all kinds of minerals.
I feel empathy for her, xalisae. But you’re scolding ME about empathy. Right. And yes, I know, xalisae, that I have very little to offer someone who’s smarter than the average bear.
I’m scolding you both for your absolute lack of empathy for the child involved in all of this. The notion that a man is alive today because his mother didn’t have him killed, but then that same mother sitting here second guessing it, “But…I didn’t really care…*shrug*…I mean…I guess I coulda killed him. And, I mean, I definitely support having him killed now more than I did back then…” a person pondering the life of another person with basically a shrug and a life-or-death scenario weighed with all the consideration of a “Eh. Six in one, half-dozen in the other, right?” WHILE YOU CHEER HER ON…
That is not empathy, guys. Not even CLOSE to empathy. More like, the opposite of empathy. Our society runs on empathy. Knowing there are such cold people in the world is frightening.
Xalisae, you really take the cake. Nowhere did I ever say or even give the impression that I don’t empathize with that young man. Quote it. Show me. Prove it. Back it up with some facts, xalisae. I don’t know why Ginger is the way she is. But I’m willing to consider the possibility that she’s just a damaged and screwed up individual, just like many people are. People like you will not bully me into having no compassion for people like Ginger. And you are most definitely a bully. I even have empathy for you, xalisae, because your sneering and derision make you seem a smaller person that you probably are.
Cake? Aww. I prefer tiramisu.
“ I don’t see what difference it makes that she doesn’t know if she’d do it again. It’s done.”
That shows ambivalence towards the kid and his situation there, Hillary. You don’t think it makes any difference that if she had it to do over again now, he might not come out alive. There is no empathy in the “Pro-Choice” position when it comes to the child involved. They are mutually exclusive. The position is inherently “damaged and screwed up”, which brings me to my next point…
Screwed-up people DESERVE to be sneered and and derided. I find it absolutely HILARIOUS when ANYONE with pro-legal abortion leanings has the GALL to call ME “a bully”, when their entire position is predicated on the notion that it is okay to kill your child as long as they are vulnerable enough. As long as they depend on you enough. As long as they are helpless, quiet, weak, and small enough. I’m “a bully”? So be it. I will gladly and happily bully the bullies. They have it coming.
I don’t really care how I seem to you. I don’t really honestly care how I seem to anyone, frankly. I’m not who I am, how I am, in the fights I am to win some sort of popularity contest. Making friends is not very high on my priority list. Never has been. Helps me keep my ideals strong and healthy. :)
Bearman
I am no professional anything (and know very little in medicine). Yet there are hints of a depression link to a zinc-deficit. By far, the sensory system that utilizes the most zinc (especially in its formative stages) is the optic nerve. There is a seasonal-depression that affects many in North America during winter months called SAD..Seasonal-Affective-Disorder. Sufferers often respond favorably to very bright lights …. vacationing in tropical zone also does the trick.
Zinc is highly involved in any sort of healing process and is often severally depleted by a high fever; a severe burn and often drug interactions. So despondency could imply that zinc in the cerebellum is in flux.
You don’t think it makes any difference that if she had it to do over again now, he might not come out alive. Nope, no gold star for you. It doesn’t make any difference in THIS case, because he IS alive. Whether she would do something different is irrelevant because she CAN’T, you see.
Screwed-up people DESERVE to be sneered and and derided. According to you. Everything according to you isn’t so, however, and it’s a good thing. I think you’re pretty screwed up, so I guess you deserve that treatment too.
I’m “a bully”? So be it. I will gladly and happily bully the bullies. They have it coming.
:: slow clap :: Good for you, xalisae. Good for you.
Making friends is not very high on my priority list. Never has been. Helps me keep my ideals strong and healthy. Okay, if you say so.
” Screwed-up people DESERVE to be sneered and and derided. I find it absolutely HILARIOUS when ANYONE with pro-legal abortion leanings has the GALL to call ME “a bully”, when their entire position is predicated on the notion that it is okay to kill your child as long as they are vulnerable enough. As long as they depend on you enough. As long as they are helpless, quiet, weak, and small enough. I’m “a bully”? So be it. I will gladly and happily bully the bullies. They have it coming.”
Well see I don’t have pro-legal abortion leanings but I think there are better ways to deal with some people not having appropriate emotions toward their children. If we make it so shameful and stigmatized to admit that you shouldn’t be a mother, that you don’t care about your kids and they will be better off with someone else, why would anyone admit it and come forward to receive help or find a different home for their kids? People are affected by the way that society and people on an individual level treat them. I know you aren’t, which makes you strong, but you are quite a rarity.
I do agree that people who don’t want their children are dangerous to them, obviously. But people like my mom, or people like Ginger, who aren’t cut out to be a mom… I think that it will be more helpful to be like “Okay, I understand you don’t want this child, let’s put him somewhere else and you go get your tubes tied please” then just be angry at them for not expressing the appropriate emotions, you know? I fail at this, mostly because of my personal issues, but I would rather push down my anger and try to get more people in these situations to come forward, rather than try to smack them down and make it so they don’t reach out, because I think terrible things can come of that.
Not wanting to parent a child/lacking maternal or paternal instincts towards them IS NOT the same thing as being able to kill them, whether it be via abortion, drowning them in a bathtub or toilet shortly after birth-WHATEVER.
THAT is where the “screwed-up” portion that I was talking about really rears its ugly head.
I did discriminate between the two in my original comment. So, no gold star for you.
Jack,
I find women who give their children a better life they know they never could through adoption admirable. They might not care, but the child does, and that matters. And it is WORLDS AWAY from killing.
“I find women who give their children a better life they know they never could through adoption admirable. They might not care, but the child does, and that matters. And it is WORLDS AWAY from killing”
Oh yeah, definitely. I just think that people should be encouraged to recognize these limitations in themselves more, instead of being shamed? You know what I mean? If someone is told over and over they are supposed to be a mother to their child, even when they know deep down that they are incapable of doing so, don’t you think that causes some terrible situations?
John,
Wait up on that derailing of the thread you’re chugging on down. I think I recommeneded a site to you last year that concerns the importance of minerals to health.
A local sports radio host lost his sense of taste after chemotherapy and I suggested to him that zinc was known to help with that. I only got a “thanks for your concern” form email so I don’t know if he followed up.
I’m scolding you both for your absolute lack of empathy for the child involved in all of this. The notion that a man is alive today because his mother didn’t have him killed, but then that same mother sitting here second guessing it, “But…I didn’t really care…*shrug*…I mean…I guess I coulda killed him. And, I mean, I definitely support having him killed now more than I did back then…” a person pondering the life of another person with basically a shrug and a life-or-death scenario weighed with all the consideration of a “Eh. Six in one, half-dozen in the other, right?” WHILE YOU CHEER HER ON…
That is not empathy, guys. Not even CLOSE to empathy. More like, the opposite of empathy. Our society runs on empathy. Knowing there are such cold people in the world is frightenin.
You still haven’t shown where I have a lack of empathy for anyone. You don’t know whether what you described is her actual thought process or not. You know that she seems “cold.” You know that she’s pro choice. You know that she still has very ambivalent feelings at this stage of her life. You don’t know, as she also does not know, that she WOULD have had an abortion if she had it to do over. You haven’t shown where I rah-rah “cheered” her on. Empathy and cheering are two different things. You feel utterly qualified to decide for me what empathy is and whom I should empathize with. And, yes, you’re a bully about it, as if all your foot stomping and fist shaking is actually intimidating. It’s not.
You do know that there are a lot of “cold” people in this world, don’t you? As frightening as it is, it’s hardly anything new to humanity. And a lot of those cold people are parents themselves, raising children that would have been better served being adopted by more loving families. I’m not pro-abortion, xalisae, but you seem quite invested in stuffing people into square holes no matter how much of an ill fit it is.
I don’t see what difference it makes that she doesn’t know if she’d do it again. It’s done. That shows ambivalence towards the kid and his situation there,
No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t make any difference NOW because there’s no time machine to travel to the past and UNDO it. He’s here and has, presumably, a good life. There’s no use in worrying about what “might have been,” because it is what it is NOW.
Hans as you know, I have a genetic disorder that cripples me. I also am fortunate to have 6.5 years of academic training post high school. The vast majority of people afflicted with my disease are children-young people who too often die before the age of 30 (often BEFORE 20). So I wrote this book about FA(my disease) and nutrition. Took me 18-plus years!
It was received as a huge ho-hum ….. even before it was read! [even my older brother won’t read it and he reads everything else!] So self promotion is out (haven’t got the time, would rather prepare for DEATH.)
Thanks Hans for trying …. with the DJ AND with me too! ‘ … FREE AT LAST! THANK GOD I AM FREE, AT LAST! (kinda wonder if MLK would think that freedom = a choice)