by Jill

Sixty years ago today the I Love Lucy episode entitled, “Lucy is Enceinte” aired. Quoting Wikipedia:

Later, during the second season, Lucy was pregnant again with second child Desi Arnaz, Jr., and this time the pregnancy was incorporated into the series’ storyline. Despite popular belief, Lucy’s pregnancy was not television’s first on-screen pregnancy. That distinction belongs to Mary Kay on the late 1940s sitcom Mary Kay and Johnny.

CBS would not allow I Love Lucy to use the word “pregnant”, so “expecting” was used instead. The episode “Lucy Is Enceinte” first aired on December 8, 1952 (“enceinte” being French for “expecting” or “pregnant”)….

“Lucy Goes to the Hospital” was watched by more people than any other television program up to that time, with 71.7% of all American television sets tuned in, topping the 67.7 rating for Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration coverage the following morning.

Here’s the clip of the announcement. The little tag at the end is sweet…

[youtube]http://youtu.be/oNZxb0wXZg4[/youtube]

More from Time:

It’s a testament to Lucille Ball’s clout that she managed to convince CBS executives – along with corporate sponsor Phillip Morris – to write her real-life pregnancy into the show’s plot in 1952, especially considering the industry’s priggish use of twin beds for married couples. The network’s bigwigs were so nervous about the idea that members of the clergy were brought in to oversee the writing of the seven episodes that mentioned Ball’s pregnancy, while the word “pregnancy” itself was banned from the script in favor of “expecting.”

Ball did such a thorough job of intertwining reality and the show that she even scheduled the caesarean delivery to correspond with the airing of the episode in which her on-air persona gives birth; it remains one of the most viewed telecasts in history.

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

This is a follow-up to last weekend’s question, which was, “Is abortion the problem?”

This weekend’s question is: What is the goal of the anti-abortion movement? What should be our goal?

(I singled out “anti-abortion” from “pro-life,” since the problems and goals of the movement at large are broader.)

Our Quote of the Day today adds real insight:

In every society, there are two critical lists: acceptable conditions for having a baby, and acceptable conditions for having sex. From time immemorial, the one thing that almost every society had in common was that their two lists matched up.

It was only with the widespread acceptance of contraception in the middle of the 20th century, creating an upheaval in the public psyche in which sex and babies no longer went hand-in-hand, that the two lists began to diverge. And now, in 21st-century America, they look something like this:

Conditions under which it is acceptable to have sex:

Conditions under which it is acceptable to have a baby:

As long as those two lists do not match, we will live in a culture where abortion is common and where women are at war with their own bodies.

Thoughts?

In every society, there are two critical lists: acceptable conditions for having a baby, and acceptable conditions for having sex. From time immemorial, the one thing that almost every society had in common was that their two lists matched up.

It was only with the widespread acceptance of contraception in the middle of the 20th century, creating an upheaval in the public psyche in which sex and babies no longer went hand-in-hand, that the two lists began to diverge. And now, in 21st-century America, they look something like this:

Conditions under which it is acceptable to have sex:

• -If you’re in a stable relationship
• -If you feel emotionally ready
• -If you’re free of sexually transmitted diseases
• -If you have access to contraception

Conditions under which it is acceptable to have a baby:

• -If you can afford it
• -If you’ve finished your education
• -If you feel emotionally ready to parent a child
• -If your partner would make a good parent
• -If you’re ready for all the lifestyle changes that would be involved with parenthood

As long as those two lists do not match, we will live in a culture where abortion is common and where women are at war with their own bodies.

~ Catholic author Jennifer Fulwiler, writing at salvomag.com, Spring 2010, as quoted by JillStanek.com commenter Barb on the “’16 & Pregnant’ star slammed as ‘anti-abortion extremist'” post, December 7

by Kelli

We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.

• Down on the Pharm juxtaposes the story of a man who has been jailed for putting live kittens into a freezer with our own Jill Stanek’s testimony of living aborted children left to die in the soiled utility room at Christ Hospital in a Chicago suburb.
• Moral Outcry notes the hypocrisy of different businesses who tout their use of “Merry Christmas” during this season but support Planned Parenthood.
• The FRC Blog discusses research which shows “growing up in a stable married household decreases a young woman’s likelihood of having either an abortion or an out-of-wedlock birth.”

• Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life shares an article from National Right to Life News on the irresponsible claim made by British medical publication The Lancet that “women’s choice is the key to reduce maternal deaths”:
  

  Maternal mortality is more a function of the overall medical circumstances than of the legal status of abortion. Ireland and Chile are two of the safest places in the world for women, and they do not permit the killing of unborn children. And some countries, like Guyana, have legalized abortion but have not seen maternal deaths decline (Guyana’s rate only increased)….

Developing countries must not neglect the basics of maternal health care in order to promote abortion — or implement WHO’s dangerous new abortion “guidelines,” as the Lancet editorial recommends. Women and unborn children deserve better.

• The Chiaroscuro Foundation has launched a new site, ReproductiveResearchAudit.com, in which Professor Michael New and bioethicist Dr. Jacqueline Harvey will regularly critique current reproductive research published and promoted by the pro-choice, pro-contraceptives crowd in order to advance their agenda. It will be the job of RRA to help keep the researchers honest and to counter the media’s promotion of contraception as a panacea for societal ills.
• At Ethika Politika, Andrew Haines notes the problem of the United States’ low national birthrate.
• Euthanasia Prevention Coalition says that despite reports to the contrary, Montana has not legalized assisted suicide.
• Live Action refers to a report which now shows Savita Halappanavar, who died in Ireland after allegedly being refused an abortion, may never have actually requested an abortion:
   

  The Irish Times journalist who broke the story now says that it may be found that Savita made “no request for a termination.” The reporter, Kitty Holland, is the daughter of two abortion activists: Mary Holland and Eamonn McCann. Previously, the Irish Health Service Executive investigation reported that no request for an abortion was documented in Savita’s medical records. If true, it may be that her tragic death was intentionally lied about, hijacked by sensationalist journalism, and used as a vehicle to push a pro-abortion agenda upon the people of Ireland:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiDSBHPwbeQ[/youtube]

[Photo via Ms. Magazine]

by LauraLoo

LifeSiteNews announced the launch of their 2012 Christmas campaign with a short film representing the importance of their mission. It is definitely worth the 4 minutes to watch.  (For the most enjoyable experience, view the full-screen version at maximum resolution).

[youtube]http://youtu.be/ypqODx6L5MQ[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: Jill]

I started to be more productive. Before I think I wasted more time just because I could…

[Motherhood] actually made me access a deeper emotion that I never knew. Even the writing on this record is deeper. It’s at a place where I probably could not have written two or three years ago.

~ Singer Alicia Keys commenting on the positive effect motherhood has had on her creativity, as quoted by People, December 5

[Photo via Alicia Keys.net]

As I wrote yesterday, since the election I’ve been pondering where we are as a nation and a world.

I vacillate between thinking 1) the end of the civilization known as the United States of America is near, 2) the apocalypse is near, and 3) I’m overreacting.

Most often I think it’s a combination of #1 and #2, although I do try to temper myself.

And what if this is so, I’ve asked myself? Where does this leave the pro-life movement? Why is God continuing to allow these millions of abortions – almost half a billion around the world per decade – and with them the worldwide decimation of demographics by age and gender? What is He thinking? How does unfathomable tragedy fit into His plan?

Well, of course I know His thoughts are not my thoughts, and His ways are higher than mine. But I still think about these things. I’ve learned there are four ways to determine the will of God: Scripture, prayer, Godly counsel, and circumstances. So I always do try to keep an eye on what’s going on around me, just in case there is something obvious I can take note of.

So I took all this baggage with me to the summit, knowing I would be in the company of Godly counselors. My takeaways, plagiarizing Mark Harrington of Created Equal in places:

1. My first priority to stop abortion is to my family, my church, my schools, and my community. Were we to each take responsibility for our direct sphere of influence, we might get more accomplished. The world is too overwhelming a place to start.

2.  Introducing Gospel conversations into our outreach needs to be more a point of emphasis.

3. Pro-lifers must consider “evangelizing” the collective Church a priority.

Regarding point #3, a viewpoint was presented at the summit that pro-lifers need to educate the Church on its critical role in stopping abortion. Generally speaking, Christian churches and church members are low hanging fruit to actively join the anti-abortion community.

We may assume church leaders understand their role, but they may not.

Then there are, of course, those leaders who know they should speak out more against abortion but find it unpleasant, for various reasons.

And there are also churches teaching heresy, that abortion is acceptable. In those cases, members are often totally unaware that their denomination supports abortion. We do them no favors by letting them remain ignorant.

So I am very high on a growing movement to prayerfully protest in front of either pro-abortion or apathetic churches. I expect to participate in this endeavor soon.

At the summit we also discussed the possibility of coming persecution. We watched a 20 minute video featuring Mike Spencer of Life Training Institute, who spoke at a 40 Days for Life rally last month. It’s a great speech, and sobering. As Mike pointed out, we may think we would have hidden Jews in our attics during the Holocaust, risking imprisonment and death to do so, but we don’t really know.

“But here’s what I do know,” said Mike. “If I will not stand for the unborn in America when there is virtually no cost for doing so, then I can know with absolute certainty I would not have stood for my Jewish friends and neighbors in Nazi Germany in 1943.”

UPDATE 12/11, 1p: The above video was shot at the 40 Days for Life campaign held outside late-term abortionist Marvin Haskell’s mill in Kettering, Ohio.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cX2Ct9vD8Q[/youtube]

by Hans Johnson

A couple uses over 1,000 photos to document the entire first nine months of their child.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbLpTgTZGsg[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: @AntiRHOfficial]