Pro-life blog buzz 10-7-14
by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN, and Kelli
- Culture Campaign reports that Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has ruled that Planned Parenthood and other health professionals will no longer be obligated to report statutory rape except when the perpetrator is believed to be the girl’s parent or legal guardian. For those who thought that electing this man along with Clinton crony Terry McAuliffe as VA’s governor was a “pro-woman” idea, you are seeing the fruits of your labor: no one will be expected to help these children. CC quotes the Washington Free Beacon:
“It is my opinion that a Virginia Department of Health (VDH) licensing inspector who is a nurse and who, during the course of a hospital inspection, learns from the review of a medical record that a 14-year-old girl received services related to her pregnancy is not required to make a report of child abuse and neglect pursuant to Virginia Code § 63.2-1509 unless there is reason to suspect that a parent or other person responsible for the child’s care committed, or allowed to be committed, the unlawful sexual act upon the child,” Democrat Mark Herring’s September 12 opinion said.
“It is also my opinion that the VDH licensing inspector is not required to make a report to law enforcement of the crime of carnal knowledge of a child between the ages of 13 and 15.”
Herring includes “prenatal or abortion services” among the signs of potential rape that he said do not have to be reported to law enforcement.
This is really unprecedented and disturbing.
[tweet_box]AG @MarkHerringVA thinks we should err on the side of rapists when it comes to adolescent pregnancy.[/tweet_box]
- At Coming Home, Dr. Gerard Nadal gives his take on the white lesbian couple who is suing for the wrongful birth of their mixed-race daughter, who was born as the result of a mix-up at a sperm bank:
For a mother so ostensibly concerned with her daughter being picked on by racist family, tortured by racist classmates and neighbors, failed culturally by her mother, she has chosen to label the little girl a mistake, a wrongful birth, a human who never should have been. All because of a little extra melanin and some different hair.
For all their talk of tolerance, and openness, and inclusivity, and compassion, it isn’t unreasonable to expect gays and lesbians to put their money where their collective mouth is. One would expect a lesbian couple, of all people, to abhor the notion of “wrongful birth,” claiming a genetic etiology for their own orientation as they do.
Pity the child born to such poverty and bigotry.
- Two weeks into the 40 Days for Life campaign, and already babies (and parents) are being spared from abortion. In Tennessee, which currently does not have an informed consent law, a couple walked out of the Memphis Planned Parenthood and took advantage of a mobile ultrasound unit to view their preborn baby. They chose not to abort. Don’t women deserve all the information before making the decision to abort? Currently Planned Parenthood is fighting hard against an amendment that would overturn the state Supreme Court’s 2000 decision and allow women the opportunity to be fully informed once again.
- At Bound4Life, Ellie Saul says she discovered a supposedly “pro-girl” campaign fundraiser for Girls Inc., launched by Jane.com, a shopping website. Girls Inc. is reported to be a supporter of abortion, and according to their web page, those Teavana Oprah Chai drinks from Starbucks are also providing funding for this organization.
- American Life League’s Judie Brown expresses disappointment with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for recommending long-term IUDs for teens:
… [W]hy is the AAP suddenly suggesting that the birth control pill can be bad for adolescents but an implant or an IUD can be better? The answer provided by the lead author of the policy statement is this:IUDs and hormonal implants cost more, usually hundreds of dollars, because inserting them involves a medical procedure typically done in doctors’ offices. But they’re less expensive in the long run than over-the-counter condoms or prescription birth control pills, said Dr. Mary Ott, an adolescent medicine specialist and associate pediatrics professor at Indiana University….
Teens have to remember to use pills and condoms consistently. By contrast, IUDs typically work for three to 10 years after insertion, while implants typically last three years.
This arrogant cynicism about young people raises that old argument about kids to a new level. You know the one: How can we trust a kid to take the pill regularly when she cannot even clean her room?…
Sadly the most serious problem with this latest policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics is that it implies that young people cannot learn self-control and therefore should be treated like the family dog.
[Photos via mommynoire.com, all.org]
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 way we treat minors in this country is appalling, and is reflected in two of the posts here.
First, the VA AG is treating minors (and potential victims) as if they’re basically adults. I mean, hey, if they were being abused, they’d tell someone, right? Because a 13-year-old is totally like an adult. Totally. It’s not like they’re groomed by their abusers or anything, or made to believe that they “wanted it.” Right?
Secondly, this whole push toward IUDs is because they know kids are irresponsible and use poor judgment, and that includes during sexual activity. I mean, we can’t expect them to remember to take a pill every day. Sheesh.
So which is it? Kids are basically responsible adults who can report their own abuse without any help from authorities, or kids are basically irresponsible children who need to be surgically (temporarily) sterilized to make sure they don’t reproduce.
Let me put these two together:
Hey, AAP and Planned Parenthood and Mr. Attorney General, I’d like to thank you for making it so incredibly easy for me to abuse and never have any evidence to show for it.
XOXO,
Mister Child Predator
Nice Job guys, don’t always agree with your stratagem, but glad to see ALL in the NEWS.
I’m “ALL in” !
Love the new TWEET feature, btw.
I mentioned before that both my children are biracial. A few ignorant ppl made nasty comments when they were younger but they were in the minority. They always grew up in diverse neighborhoods and had friends of all races. At least where I live mixed kids and families are pretty common. If these women are so concerned about their little girl getting harassed they need to move to a more tolerant neighborhood and make nicer friends. As for racist family members, just avoid them.
I would bet that these women are Obama supporters. He is biracial and he did well for himself!
Forgot to add — I wonder how many of these pediatricians’ underage kids have IUDs inserted? I bet not many. And IUDS and inserts do not protect against sexually transmitted diseases, so using them might lull kids into a false sense of security.
Remember those “Virginia is For Lovers” bumper stickers? I guess Virginia is for Child Rapists now.
reports that Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has ruled that Planned Parenthood and other health professionals will no longer be obligated to report statutory rape except when the perpetrator is believed to be the girl’s parent or legal guardian
Patently false. The AG’s opinion addresses one specific question: when a girl’s medical record is seen by a nurse who is not a hospital employee and has never treated, seen, or spoken to the girl.
Don’t believe me? Read it right here on this very post!
“It is my opinion that a Virginia Department of Health (VDH) licensing inspector who is a nurse and who, during the course of a hospital inspection, learns from the review of a medical that a 14-year-old girl received services related to her pregnancy is not required to make a report of child abuse and neglect pursuant to [etc]
Is Planned Parenthood a VDH inspector who reviews hospital records? No? Then why are you claiming that the opinion affects them? Are other health professionals who are NOT VDH inspectors actually VDH inspectors? No? Then why are you claiming that the opinion affects them?
And, of course, if this blog is repeating allegations that can be proven false merely by reading materials that are publicly available, why should anyone believe anything they read here?
LisaC if this blog is so terrible and Jill is so stupid and inaccurate why do you even bother to come here? You are not changing anyone’s mind. Most people here are 100 pro life. I don’t go trying to convert or “correct” any of the abortophiles at Salon or Jezebel It would be a waste of time.
Not everyone who reads this site is a committed anti-choicer phillymiss. That is why it is imperative that information be accurate.
Most people here are 100 pro-life
But surely some of those pro-lifers also like truth. So why don’t they deserve it?
Also, Jill herself didn’t post this story. It’s just a piece that reflects on the blog as a whole.
I point out errors at RHRC also,and they correct them without feeling persecuted.
So how are we reading the Virginia rule concerning reporting of sexual assaults on young girls?
A nurse is normally required to report evidence of statutory rape, as is an abortion clinic worker.
But a government nurse who is inspecting records at an abortion facility and finds evidence of a failure to report is only required to note the clinic’s failure to report the assault. The nurse is not required to report the actual rape to police.
This does not seem to be a problem, IF the clinic is the one compelled to report the rape promptly. But if NO ONE reports the crime, then the perpetrator is still at large and the victim is still at risk — and perhaps others as well.
The strange exception (“unless the perpetrator appears to be a parent or legal guardian”) is curious. It sounds like no one is required to report the crime under usual circumstances, and so the cover-up will also be covered up, buried in an inspection report and filed away.
“It sounds like no one is required to report the crime under usual circumstances, and so the cover-up will also be covered up, buried in an inspection report and filed away.”
That’s what it sounds like to me as well.
But the proborts will continue to try to divert others away from the dead babies and raped children . . .
But a government nurse who is inspecting records at an abortion facility and finds evidence of a failure to report is only required to note the clinic’s failure to report the assault.
That’s an interesting theory. But you’ll notice that several phrases that do not appear in the story are “abortion facility,” “failure to report,” and “note the clinic’s failure to report.” And the reason those phrases do not appear in the story is that the opinion had nothing to do with an abortion clinic.
The full opinion is linked below. It is a response to the state health commissioner’s inquiry about nurse who, in her capacity as a hospital inspector (not abortion facility inspector) saw the medical records of a pregnant fourteen-year-old. A nurse who learns about a pregnancy from conversation with the pregnant minor must file a statutory rape report under the mandatory reporter law, but the nurse in this instance did not learn about the pregnancy from the minor. The AG concluded that that section of the law did not apply to this situation. The next question was whether case needed to be reported as child abuse under Virginia’s statute defining an abused or neglected child (inter alia) as one “Whose parents or other person responsible for his care commits or allows to be committed any act of sexual exploitation or any sexual act upon a child in violation of the law.” Here the AG concluded that the nurse inspector was not required to report parental neglect or abuse unless there was evidence of parental neglect or abuse.
The opinion says nothing whatsoever about abortion facilities, and it affirms that a medical professional who treats a pregnant fourteen-year-old must make a report.
Bottom line: the assertion that Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has ruled that Planned Parenthood and other health professionals will no longer be obligated to report statutory rape except when the perpetrator is believed to be the girl’s parent or legal guardian is patently and demonstrably untrue. A site with journalistic integrity or some kind of religious calling to honesty would make a correction.
I can’t wait to see what this site will do.
Bottom line: this story is obviously, demonstrably untrue. It is false.
http://www.ag.virginia.gov/files/14-021_Levine.pdf