Calls for “Abortion pride”
Posted by: kathrynjudson on: November 6, 2009
In the What We’re Up Against Department, Regis Nicoll takes a look at those who hijack religious terminology and rituals to promote abortions, or even claim to be doing God’s work by killing babies - plus those who are openly dreaming of a day when, well, let me quote:
Concluding like Martin Luther King at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, [Jacob] Appel whips up a rousing vision, “I dream of the day when women are not afraid to walk the streets with pins reading, ‘I had an abortion and it was the right decision,’ and when station wagons bear bumper-stickers announcing, ‘Thank me for having an abortion when I wasn’t ready to be a parent.’”
Mr. Appel – are you ready for this? – is billed as an ethicist.
He flunks Reality 101 in my book. For starters, if you, or someone with whom you’ve had sex, is pregnant – you are a parent.
In the Relatively Good News Department, Nicoll’s column (“Abortion Pride: A Choice Strategy, BreakPoint, Nov. 6, 2009) starts out with:
The abortion industry has hit on hard times. Over the last two decades, the number of providers and abortions has fallen by 33 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
For a billion dollar a year enterprise, that’s a lot of lost revenue; and if recent polling is any indication, the slump hasn’t hit bottom yet.
Another free speech court win
Posted by: kathrynjudson on: November 5, 2009
A sidewalk counselor in Pittsburgh, with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund, has caused a “buffer zone” ordinance to be struck down. My thanks to nurse Mary Kathryn Brown for standing up for the right to peaceably help those who have had, or are considering, an abortion.
“We need to culturally reboot”
Posted by: kathrynjudson on: November 5, 2009
Kathryn Jean Lopez, responding to someone trotting out the old “abortion is pro-family because it can cut down on single motherhood” argument, says (writing at The Corner, at National Review Online):
No, we don’t need to embrace single motherhood or embrace murder to cut down on it. We need to teach self-respect and acknowledge that feminism and the sexual revolution led to a whole lot of insanity. We need to culturally reboot. I think we see people slowly realizing this.
There’s no pill to fix it. But then the magic Pill has been part of the problem, so that’s just as well. Quick fixes rarely are the panaceas they’re embraced as.
40 Days for Life in New York City
Posted by: kathrynjudson on: November 5, 2009
Videos made by pro-life youth
Posted by: kathrynjudson on: November 5, 2009
I have mixed feelings about getting kids involved in anti-abortion advocacy (oh, if only we could shield them from such knowledge when they are little), but there’s no doubt that some of the strongest voices against abortion are coming from children who know all too well (God help us) that they are survivors in a culture that kills babies. A call from one famous young pro-lifer for other kids to make pro-life videos got 40 responses. I should warn you, some of those I previewed had blood and gore.
This one doesn’t, but it ripped my heart out.
hat tip: Susan B. Anthony List
Pelosi’s bill still requires abortion funding
Posted by: kathrynjudson on: November 5, 2009
And it includes a monthly abortion premium, too? So says House Republican Leader John Boehner. (Via ADF Alliance Alert.)
Real Health Care Respects Life is also following what’s really in the massive proposals, as opposed to the reassurances from abortion advocates.
LifeNews.com is also following the issue.
The Susan B. Anthony List folks are also calling for a clear ban on government subsidies on abortion (which we don’t have yet).
OK, so people all over the place are unhappy that the bill contains support for abortion while the promoters are saying it doesn’t. If there’s a useful article or website you’d like to alert the rest of us to, please use the comments.
Added: National Review Online has an editorial that sums things up nicely.
Patience and prayer lead to conversion
Posted by: kathrynjudson on: November 4, 2009
You might have been hearing about a Planned Parenthood director in Texas who abruptly resigned her job after viewing an ultrasound? The news stories I’ve heard on the radio were a bit incomplete (in my view), leaving out the role of 40 Days for Life, and the years of quiet vigils they’ve held at the clinic. Read about it here. And, please, keep Abby Johnson in your prayers. Abortion providers are not especially known for kindness to ex-providers.
I think this story highlights something that sometimes we forget. For many people with pro-life views, it has taken years to work their way over to a consistent, solid, pro-life worldview. I think Jennifer Fulwiler’s post on How I became pro-life is a great illustration of the process many people work through coming out of a ‘pro-choice’ mindset. There might be one defining moment when there is no turning back, but so often that moment follows some serious internal wrestling, and some assessment of what both sides are saying. So, please, try not to lose your cool with someone who is finding it hard to defend her pro-abortion position, but isn’t quite ready to declare herself pro-life. A lot of us (myself included, sad to say), had to go through that middle ground before we could cross the bridge. Patience, ladies.
More allies: The Knights of Columbus
Posted by: kathrynjudson on: October 30, 2009
The Knights of Columbus have long been dedicated to building a culture of life. They also have a Fathers For Good program that should help with that. (Fathers For Good is for daddies, not priests, by the way.)
hat tip: Joe Healy
Open Threads: Oct. 23, 2009
Posted by: kathrynjudson on: October 23, 2009
Ladies and gentlemen, feel free to use this post to politely correspond on whatever strikes your fancy. WordPress now has it set up so you can respond to a specific comment, which means that there can be various subject-specific threads under one post.
While we’re on the subject of comments, one of my favorite comment box statements is over at Wind Scraps, where Shannon Woodward has “Thank you for your kind, loving comment. Um … you were kind and loving, weren’t you?”
(Just something to keep in mind, folks, should you be tempted to be something other than loving and kind.)
Those of you with previously accepted comments should be able to post away without me, but sometimes that doesn’t work. For the sake of newbies, and for comments that might get hung up for whatever reason, I’ll try to check back a couple of times later today to clear out the inbox, and maybe join in the chat.
We haven’t tried this before around here. Help us get it off the ground, OK? Fire away with questions, favorite recipes for this time of year, news tips, homemaking tips, policy concerns, culture of life ideas, useful links, fun links, parenting tips, notices of blog carnivals, online petitions you’d like to promote, what have you.
7 Quick Takes Friday
Posted by: kathrynjudson on: October 23, 2009
1. Last weekend, hundreds of thousands (perhaps as many as two million) people took to the streets of Madrid to protest the Spanish government’s proposals to reduce restrictions on abortion. (Via Alliance Alert, Oct. 19, 2009)
2. A Canadian student who tried to join in the Pro-Life Silent Day of Solidarity this week was put in isolation for the day by the school principal. But hundreds of thousands of other students throughout the world got to not speak to their classmates and communities.
3. AP reports that “Abortion advocates are fighting a proposal to build a new Catholic hospital near Washington, DC. …”. It seems odd to me to fight a hospital simply because the administration and staff plan to not kill anybody. But isn’t that what these activists are doing? (Via Alliance Alert, October 22, 2009)
4. The Catholic Archbishop of Denver, Charles J. Chaput, writing at InsideCatholic.com, discusses The Task of the Catholic Medical Profession. It’s a fairly lengthy article, adapted from a recent speech the Phoenix Catholic Physician’s Guild, but it’s worth a read. A special heads-up to those of you who love someone who has Down Syndrome. Well, and another special heads-up to those of you concerned with the culture wars. OK, in short, it’s not just for medical professionals. Not by a long shot.
5. There’s a National Pro-Life Conference for Canadians Oct. 29-31, in Saskatoon. The theme is Building Bridges: Making Choices for Life.
6. Also from Canada, the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association has awarded its The Humanity of the Unborn Child Pro-Life Award to former U. S. President George W. Bush.
7. A news update: the middle school student in Pennsylvania who was forced to turn his “Abortion is not healthcare” t-shirt inside out last month, can now wear the shirt, thanks to a temporary agreement approved by a federal judge this week. Kari Andren, reporting for The Patriot-News, has more on the story.
Find more 7 Quick Takes Friday posts at Conversion Diary. My thanks to Jennifer for hosting. (And, by the way, Jennifer has a couple of pro-life Quick Takes in her post this week. Check it out.)
Alliance Alert/ Sanctity of Human Life feed
- U. of Neb. board votes down stem-cell rule changes
- Contraception education now part of “sex ed” policy in Collier County schools
- Illinois parental notification law off the books until 2010
- Stem-cell debate unlikely to fade after Neb. vote
- White House at odds with bishops over abortion
- Washington: Foes fighting Planned Parenthood clinic for Pasco
LifeNews.com news feed
- President Obama Again Attacks Stupak Amdt, Backs Pro-Abortion Senate BillWashington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- During an interview with Fox News, President Barack Obama again condemned the Stupak amendment added to the House health care bill to stop abortion funding. Meanwhile, the Obama administration says the president supports the new Senate health care bill that contains massive abortion subsidies.
- Senate's First Health Care Vote Saturday, Pro-Life Democrat Holds Abortion KeyWashington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson is the most consistent pro-life Democrat in the U.S. Senate and he may hold the key to the outcome of the pro-abortion health care bill. The Senate is expected to cast its first vote Saturday and Nelson indicated today he may join Republicans in filibustering.
- Bioethicist Wesley Smith: Senate Health Care Bill is Assisted Suicide FriendlyWashington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Bioethicist Wesley J. Smith says the new Senate health care reform bill contains another problem apart form abortion funding. The new measure is friendly to assisted suicide in that it contains language supporting physicians who don't want to kill their patients but promotes the practice nonetheless.
- Senate Confirms David Hamilton, Obama's First Pro-Abortion Judicial NomineeWashington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Senate voted today 59-39 to confirm a pro-abortion federal judge President Barack Obama appointed to become a new appeals court justice. David Hamilton, of Indiana, is the first pro-abortion judge Obama selected, but he was held up for months because of his extreme views.
- UNFPA Report Uses Popular Green-Environment Campaign to Promote AbortionNew York, NY (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released its annual State of the World Population Report yesterday, linking efforts to promote "sustainable development" and affect "climate change" to its "reproductive rights" agenda.
- Abortion Advocates NARAL, Boxer, DeGette Love New Harry Reid Health Care BillWashington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- NARAL and Senator Barbara Boxer, the leader of the pro-abortion activist contingent in the Senate, have issued statements today saying they love the new health care bill Harry Reid introduced yesterday. That pits abortion proponents against pro-life advocates who are squarely against the bill.
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