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“Even then, so-called ‘elective’ abortions after 16 weeks are rare…”

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We hear this a lot from defenders of elective abortion. It’s not true.  Abortions in the second half of pregnancy are less common than first trimester abortions, sure, but not by any means rare. From my days working at a women’s clinic (that did not do abortions but referred women to abortionists on request) I can confirm that arranging for a woman to travel to Alberta (at the time no Manitoba OB did elective abortions after 18 weeks) was not all that unusual. And the number of strings that were pulled to help women abort at 17 weeks and 6 days was most impressive. If only medical staff and administrators showed such zeal hastening waits for angioplasties and hip replacements.

On the one hand, I think this argument is a bit of a red herring. Whether or not something should be permissible, legal or desirable has nothing to do with how often it happens. But I think a lot of people have no idea how common late abortions – well after viability – are in Canada.

And if it’s truly just fine to abort at any stage, for any reason, why do abortion rights activists assert that these are rare? The mantra Clinton made famous – that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare” – contains within it a clue to the moral issues involved in abortion. Why do you wish, President or Senator Clinton, that abortion be rare if all that is lost is a clump of cells with no intrinsic value? Many people who consider themselves pro-choice are much less comfortable with abortion than they think they are, and they sometimes realize this when they’re asked, or forced, to ponder why exactly it ought to be rare.

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Andrea adds: “Safe, legal and rare.” So far, they’re legal. Safe and rare? Not really. (Someone else quipped that first, and as soon as I remember who, I’ll give them credit.)

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Tanya adds: Safe. As opposed to unsafe? The excuse so many use to keep abortion legal is infact to keep it safe. However, the year before Roe v Wade, the US reported 39 deaths in conjunction with illegal abortion. Compare that with the 40 or so annual deaths related to Christmas tree fires, and the same logic should outlaw this yuletide tradition.

The end justifying the means

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Why put a positive spin on this?

I had thought, “Surely this can’t be a good thing. This is sexual objectification of women.” I assumed most women who went into this would not be doing it for good reasons and would not have choices. What surprised me is that the dancers whom I interviewed for the most part were doing it very self-consciously as a way to finance a longer-term, often educational goal. Stripping is the most lucrative legal profession to a young woman who doesn’t have a higher education.

It’s safe to say that it remains sexual objectification of women, regardless of how much the woman is raking in. So let me re-iterate: “Surely this can’t be a good thing.”

Spring rant follow-up: It isn’t just me

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Women, especially mothers, may need a boost to re-enter the workforce. Read about it here. I do have to register an objection to one of the solutions and that would be more government involvement in childcare. As a woman who stayed home for a number of years, I am for choice where it matters. Women who decide to stay home to raise their children should be able to benefit from the same government support and fiscal policies as women who join the paid workforce. That being said, I agree that one of the keys to female employment is the availability of good, affordable childcare. I’m just not convinced that government is the key to good, affordable childcare. Let’s not forget that when the state decides what is good, it also decides what isn’t. Given our government’s stance on abortion, I’m not sure I want it involved in telling me what is good parenting.

Inspirational passion

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We who cleave to the title pro-life will be inspired by Tong Phuoc Phuc.

The 41-year-old Catholic from the coastal town of Nha Trang has opened his door to unwed expectant mothers in a country that logs one of the world’s highest abortion rates.       

It allows us to understand we can all do more.

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Andrea adds: I think whether pro-life or pro-choice you can be inspired by this man. I looked up some stats on Vietnam. They have a per capita GDP of USD$2,600. Compared to Canada’s USD$38,200. I like these stories of people doing the impossible. He’s a man with a vision, compassion, and I do indeed find it very inspirational. The long term vision of PWPL includes a charity–I’m not sure what form that might take. But stories like this remind me not to make excuses for myself. All things are possible to help others in dire circumstances. All things–whether you make a lot of money, have a lot of resources, or not. 

Meanwhile in the UK

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While we have issues in Ottawa with legal entities within other legal entities, over in Britain there seems to be an almost unprecedented level of co-operation among pro-life MPs from all parties to lower the abortion limit to 20 weeks from the current 24. Of particular interest in that news story is this:

John Hayes, a Conservative backbencher, said: “Abstentions will be the key. The public is increasingly intolerant of abortion, particularly late-term, and a number of MPs, including those who are not necessarily religious, are prepared to go to 20 weeks.”

Many MPs are likely to be wary of offending their constituents, so they will want to absent themselves on the day of the debate.

“We are confident that, given the likely number of abstentions, not enough MPs will vote against our amendment to cancel out those who are determined to vote for it.”

My, if true it’s awfully encouraging. For if indeed MPs worry that voting against lowering the limit to 20 weeks will anger their constituents, it means the culture is slowly changing towards a more pro-life stance. Splendid news.

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Tanya adds: Here in Canada, I believe people would grow “increasingly intolerant” of late-term abortion if only they understood its frequency. A great number of so-called “pro-choicers” I’ve spoken with don’t tolerate abortion past either 8, 12 or 16 weeks. That alone is a great sign of change in this country.

Kids these days

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My children Liesl and Kurt are in the same split 5/6 class in school. Liesl and Kurt are pseudonyms: since they sing a mean Sound of Music, I decided to dub my children with their singing part which is more or less age-appropriate and also reflects their birth order and personalities. Because they are my oldest children, Liesl and Kurt are the family’s guinea pigs. Age-appropriate parenting is not the only thing my husband and I experiment on Liesl and Kurt, we also discover new realms of peer interactions at every turn. Enter dating, crushes, flirtation and match-making… Did I mention this was a grade 5/6 class?

Since we shamelessly monitor our family email account, we already had an inkling of the underage equivalent of “Merlot and email don’t mix.” But I have to ask you what I asked Kurt and Liesl – who, I should mention, don’t have mates but associate with people who do – “What on earth are grade 5 kids doing with a boyfriend/girlfriend?” And this I mean both conceptually and practically.

What troubles me, above and beyond wondering how kids get such ideas, is the effect of these pint-sized soap operas on class dynamic. Liesl was up late yesterday evening worrying about recess. She told me: “Nobody plays anymore. Instead, they huddle in their little corners commiserating about their broken hearts and bad-mouthing whoever dumped them.” She concluded: “Playing tag is no fun with 2 players.” So there you have it: little cliques of broken-hearted 10-year-olds who can’t play tag if that other clique is also playing ‘cuz that would be disloyal. The drama has somehow percolated to the younger grades, meaning that Martha and Brigetta are also acquainted with such delicious morsels as whether or not Nick kissed Jen on the bus ride back from ski club. Supper time conversations at my place sound increasingly like a clip from Entertainment Tonight and I don’t mean this as a compliment.

With apologies to Brigitte for yanking the Crusty-Ol’Goat crown so abruptly, I am wondering if I am the only one who sees a problem? Let me be quite blunt here: physical and emotional attraction between these kids is not likely to decrease as they reach adolescence. And by adolescence, I mean the real, medical, adolescence, not the silly state of mind these kids think themselves in. When you start dating and hugging at 10, what do you do at 12 when you meet that “really-really-nice-guy-you-totally-crush-on”? And when you start kissing and fondling at 12, what do you do at 14 when you meet “the-real-love-of-your-life”? And when you start kissing and fondling at 14, what do you do at 16 when your hormones are raging for real and “the-most-adorable-guy” asks you on a date? You become a statistic. A teen sex, teen pregnancy, teen STD, teen abortion statistic. Parents, wake-up! This is not cute!

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Brigitte is: Quite horrified by these stories and does not mind sharing the goat crown.

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Rebecca goes off to reread Wendy Shalit, but first adds: I’m going to enter the bidding for the Crusty Old Goat crown this week, too! Seriously, I’ve seen all too many examples of this, and it makes me contemplate homeschooling and/or single sex schools.

But really, what do we expect when we wallow in today’s popular culture? When 5-year-olds watch prime time television (which they don’t in my house) and see the sexual behaviour that is now considered unworthy of comment, it’s so common, why is it surprising that they think that normal behaviour includes sexual innuendo, kissing, hand holding, and, especially for little girls, the kind of hip-wiggling walk and coquettish behaviour that was in the 19th century literally the province of prostitutes?

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Tanya wonders: Can I send my daughter to school in the 19th century? Do they do that?

Our consumerist, materialistic world

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This letter in today’s Montreal Gazette lays bare what standards society has set for raising a family:

The crux of the problem is that young mothers do not have a choice [to stay home with their children] any more. Most must return to work for financial reasons and place their children in care settings.
Our very consumerist, materialistic world emphasizes paid work as a means of delivering the good life – bigger houses, bigger cars, every imaginable gadget.
Our children quickly learn the importance that they hold in their very busy parents’ lives.

Imagine what an unexpected pregnancy’s prospects are in such a setting? Oh, wait, no need to imagine. We’re living it.

Kevorkian has a fan club?

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The View’s Whoopi Goldberg said, here, she’s a “big fan” of Kevorkian “because he believed that he could help people who were… in a place where no one was helping them.”

Euthanasia, like race, is one of those things nobody wants to talk about. It makes people very uncomfortable. I think euthanasia is, is an important thing and it should be there for people to make that decision if they chose to,” she said.
Goldberg did not mention her belief about involuntary euthanasia, where patients are frequently killed by family members or medical staff without their knowledge or consent.

There’s a lot more Goldberg didn’t comment on, like how severe the illness should be before euthanasia becomes an “acceptable” option, or whether or not this sets a precedent for assisted suicide in the case of mental anguish or illness.

Dare I say it? This is nothing at all like the race issue. Using race as a precursor to this unrelated and hotly debated topic presumes that Whoopi’s opinion on both these issues is born out of the same personal place; that her point of view in both cases should not be contested. Manipulative, much?

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1gX27C5MWM]

Sympathy for Hillary?

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 What do you make of this? An op-ed writer for the Washington Post makes the point that Hillary Clinton suffers a disadvantage on the campaign trail because “on top of everything else, [she] has to spend an hour and a half getting ready for each day’s campaigning”.  And by getting ready, he means the getting yourself presentable part of getting ready – that part which, for most women, means doing your hair, putting on your makeup, deciding what to wear or, if you have someone else to pick outfits for you (as Hillary probably does), deciding if that person has made a reasonable choice.

Even John Edwards, the “Breck Girl” of presidential candidates, probably got away with half that amount of time. 

This could be a point about which I actually have some sympathy for Hillary. 

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Brigitte can’t resist posting this video:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AE847UXu3Q]

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