by LauraLoo

Bader Ben Hirsi at TED discusses the culture of Arab countries who sanction giving away girls (as young as age 9) to be child brides:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf2MJEdbors[/youtube]

For those of Islamic persuasion, their role model for such practice is the prophet Mohammed.  He took a child bride (Aisha) in his 50’s while she was 6.  However, Mohammed waited until she reached “maturity” at 9 before physically consummating the marriage.

What I don’t understand (way beyond cultural “norms”) is what does a middle-aged man in the 21st century (or any century, for that matter) have in common with a little girl?  Despite the fact that this is a cultural practice held to for centuries, what is the desire or motivation for Islamic males to continue this sort of practice instead of choosing a woman of at least 18 years of age?

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

UPDATE 12/1, 5:10a: Jim Styer, President of Sarasota Right to Life in Florida, alerted me that Florida has no 24 hour waiting period. A bill for that failed in the legislature this past March. So the other side was wrong on that point as well.

11/30, 10:58a: One never knows which posts are going to get more attention than others. (I’m usually wrong when I guess, actually.)

So I was surprised my blog on Planned Parenthood of South Florida and the Treasure Coast’s Black Friday specials got quite a bit of traction, from Fox to the Christian Post to Human Events.

All the attention forced a response from the other side.

Writers at both Jezebel and RH Reality Check disputed whether Planned Parenthood’s Black Friday $10 discount could be applied to abortions, although why should they care? If one supports unfettered abortion access, what does it matter whether a clinic dispenses coupons to make an abortion that much easier to get?

Nevertheless, here was their rationale, quoting Jezebel:

The newest outrage? Activist Jill Stanek believes she caught Florida Planned Parenthood offering discount abortions as a part of “Black Friday” celebrations. It makes a great headline – get it? Black? Like the hearts of those who support a woman’s right to reproductive healthcare? Because the email offer broadcasted $10 off a clinic visit, she took that to assume it was a financial abortion incentive.

There are a few problems with this conclusion, the biggest of which is that Florida has a 24-hour waiting period, which would make a coupon sent out near a Thanksgiving holiday worthless.

But the $10 off applied to a “visit that day,” so it didn’t matter whether one had to wait 24 hours for that day’s appointment.

Silly pro-aborts can’t even read coupons right.

Back in the 16th century, you had a pro-choice view on abortion that was held by all three of the magisteria: The Papal and Episcopal Magisterium, the Magisterium of the Theologians, and also the Magisterium of the Laity, everyone accepted this was truth…

… Why not go back to Saint Antoninus, the Dominican Archbishop of Florence? Antoninus held that you could justify early abortions when necessary to save the woman’s life, a category in his day which was huge.

~ Daniel C. Maguire, professor of Theology at Marquette University, setting the record straight that the Catholic Church was pro-choice centuries ago and we just didn’t know it, as part of the Catholics for Choice documentary project, The Secret History of Sex, Choice, and Catholics, via Strong Families, November 29

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• At Live Action, Rebecca Frazer points out the ridiculousness of Planned Parenthood of Indiana promoting themselves as an adoption referrer:
  

  Yes, you read that right. Planned Parenthood is excited that they have contributed to a whopping twelve adoptions in six years. If we do some simple math that comes out to an average of two adoptions a year.

  Last year alone, Planned Parenthood of Indiana performed 5,250 abortions. 5,250. That means that if 2011 was an average adoption year, Planned Parenthood helped with one adoption for every 2,625 abortions they performed. Perhaps they should send their adoption counselors back to job training.

• Matthew Hennessy discusses how abortion caused a rift among Down Syndrome advocacy organizations:
  

  “As an advocacy organization, we don’t feel it’s appropriate to promote the value of those with Down syndrome while at the same time also discussing the possibility of abortion,” [David Tolleson, executive director of the National Down Syndrome Congress] told me.

  Notably, he said, this sentiment was given voice within NDSC by so-called self-advocates, adults living with Down syndrome who are participating in ever-greater numbers in the outreach and education efforts of such organizations.

  “Our self-advocates told us that it was not appropriate in a pamphlet coming from their advocacy organization to talk about abortion as co-equal to any other option,” Tolleson explained. “They did not feel that was respectful to them.”

• Wesley Smith links to a Daily Mail article which discussing how doctors in the UK are dehydrating infants to death:
  

  The LCP was devised by the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute in Liverpool for care of dying adult patients more than a decade ago. It has since been developed, with paediatric staff at Alder Hey Hospital, to cover children. Parents have to agree to their child going on the death pathway, often being told by doctors it is in the child’s “best interests” because their survival is “futile.”

  Bernadette Lloyd, a hospice paediatric nurse, has written to the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health to criticise the use of death pathways for children…. She said: “The parents feel coerced, at a very traumatic time, into agreeing that this is correct for their child whom they are told by doctors has only has a few days to live. It is very difficult to predict death. I have seen a ‘reasonable’ number of children recover after being taken off the pathway. I have also seen children die in terrible thirst because fluids are withdrawn from them until they die.”

[Photo via Daily Mail]

by Hans Johnson

This is the second in a series of short pro-life videos released by Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKhNrgV8JEA[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

What is the nature and purpose of the kidney versus the nature and purpose of the uterus?

A woman’s uterus may be in her body, but every month it gets ready for someone else’s body. It exists not so much for us as women, but for our offspring.

~ Stephanie Gray of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, via MattFradd.com, November 27

[Photo via CBR, HT: Nick]

by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat

• For some reason the editorial board of the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel thinks a poll showing the public favors more restrictions on abortion is a good argument against adding more restrictions to abortion:
  

  Public polling shows that most people in the U.S. favor the idea of legal abortion. A CBS News/New York Times poll in September is typical. It found that 42% thought abortion should be “generally available,” while 35% said “available under stricter limits” and 20% said “not permitted.”

• Abortionist Willie Parker (pictured left) and other Mississippi abortionists were unable to obtain admitting privileges at any hospital near Jackson, MS so the state’s lone abortion clinic has filed suit to prevent the state of Mississippi from enforcing the law which went into effect in July:
  

  The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Sam Mims, R-McComb, said the clinic has had ample time to comply with the new law. He also denied the clinic’s claims that the law hands over control to the hospitals, whose application denials could force its closure.

  “The legislature doesn’t control what hospitals in the Jackson metro area do,” Mims said. “They have their own committees and bylaws set up, and they have to make the best decisions.” Mims said it’s up to the judge now.

  The clinic’s providers already are board-certified ob-gyns, but only one had admitting privileges at the time of the law’s passage. That physician provides only limited service at the clinic…. Those who provide the majority of procedures, including Dr. Willie Parker, were denied privileges after a months-long effort by the clinic to obtain them.

• Why does abortionist Jill June (pictured right) think seeing 4D ultrasound images will shame, coerce or make a woman change her mind about getting an abortion? It’s just a clump of cells, right?
  

  An anti-abortion group wants Nebraska lawmakers to pass legislation that requires four-dimensional ultrasound images of human fetuses to be posted on a state website. So-called 4-D ultrasounds take images of the fetus from several angles, showing such things as facial features and capturing movement.

  Jill June, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, said women should have all the information they need to decide whether to have abortions.

  “Such information should support a woman, help her make the best decision for herself, her family and her circumstances, and enable her to take care of her health and well-being. Information should not be provided with the intent of shaming, coercing or making a woman change her mind,” she said.

[Photos via salem-news.com, journalstar.com]

UPDATE: Here’s the video from Buzz:60

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKdkpf-gs54[/youtube]

 by LauraLoo

Jessica Simpson Is Pregnant Again!

“It definitely wasn’t planned,” a source says of the “overjoyed” star, whose daughter Maxwell is just 7 months.

A video will be posted as soon as it becomes available.

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.