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Domestic violence and abortion

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Recent UK study sheds light on the correlation between abortion and violence against women.

A link was also found between domestic violence and women seeking repeat abortions. 30% of women having a second abortion reported relationship violence and women having a third or subsequent abortion were over 2.5 times as likely to report a history of physical or sexual abuse by a male partner.

As the article in the peer-reviewed journal points out, it’s the abortion providers who are in prime position to identify the earmarks of domestic abuse. (Comforting thought, ain’t it?)

These findings highlight the need for health professionals to be aware of, and sensitive to, the possibility of violence in the lives of women seeking abortion. Our society should have zero tolerance for domestic violence.

Meanwhile, news of this and similar studies is travelling slowly, perhaps via town crier or Pony Express; certainly not through the mainstream media. I have my own ideas about why that is…

Hey, that’s a start

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Good news from Pakistan:

PAKISTAN has moved towards outlawing domestic violence when lawmakers approved a bill that will punish those found guilty of beating women or children with jail terms and fines.

Domestic violence against women is not considered a major offence in our society. I hope this bill will provide protection to our women against all types of violence in their homes and living places,” Ms Rehman said.

The law was passed unanimously in the lower house of parliament or national assembly today, Yasmi Rehman from the main ruling Pakistan People’s Party said, hailing what she called a “big day” for Pakistani women.

It will come into effect after the senate, or upper house of parliament, approves the law and President Asif Ali Zardari signs it into legislation.

Those found guilty of beating women or children would face a minimum six months behind bars and a fine of at least 100,000 rupees ($1,431.46).

Laws typically reflect a society’s predominant values (yes, I know; that means Canadians don’t care nearly enough about abortion), and I for one am glad to see any country go from “not a major offence” to “crime punishable by jail” when it comes to domestic violence.

How to ensure you are never hired, ever

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Seems to me a public lawsuit against your college for failing to help you find a job would do it. (My job fresh out of university was very boring. I just never realized I could sue for that.)

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Brigitte tsk-tsks: Andrea, Andrea, Andrea. You can sue for anything. Want to help me launch a class-action suit against Al Gore for allowing us to think the weather was going to get warmer?

Birth control

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Perhaps not the best item for the childless girl in the crowd to comment on, but I tend to agree with this:

We need to celebrate birth as a normal event, not a surgical condition in waiting,” he says. “We need to give pregnant women the care and the support that they rightly deserve in this country.”

I’m not saying we should go back to home deliveries. But I don’t think we treat pregnancy like a normal event these days, either. By wanting to control absolutely everything, do we actually make it harder for everyone?

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Véronique adds: Being allowed to give birth at home is not considered “going back” in any way. In fact, when I moved from Quebec to Ontario and was able to give birth at home with a qualified midwife – as opposed to the “self-taught” midwife my Quebec friend had to use. Call me over-regulated but “self-taught” is not something I want to see on any of my healthcare professionals’ resume – I saw it as progress in healthcare. I had three children at home and three in hospital (one baby with a family doc, one with an Ob-Gyn and one with a midwife). Each experience was unique but the home births were by far the most beautiful and empowering experiences of my life.

In any case, I find it interesting that we are now talking about giving women freedom of movement during childbirth to reduce our ridiculously high c-section rate. My oldest daughter has seen the birth of two of her siblings: one at home with no medical interventions and one in hospital with induction and constant fetal monitoring. The attending obstetrician, when it was all over, asked her what she thought of witnessing the birth of her baby sister. Without missing a beat she said: “It looked a lot easier when she wasn’t lying on her back!” She told me recently that when she saw the hospital bed her first thought was: “How is she supposed to move around on a bed that small?”

So basically it makes perfect sense to a 13-year-old girl with no medical training but gynecologists are still wondering…

Little House on the Prairie

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As a child, I read and re-read that series, starting with Little House in the Big Woods and moving on from there in circular succession. I couldn’t get enough of it. I learned how to smoke meat, to make candy in the snow, to use all parts of a pig when slaughtered. (These are skills I have yet to put to use–but imagine my delight when I saw for the first time here in Ottawa that they too, as part of Winterlude, pour maple syrup taffee on snow and then you can eat it. Amazing.)

An article here, about the women behind the books.

Can someone define ‘elective’ for me?

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In an attempt to shed some light on Obama’s intended Health Care Plan, ABC’s John Stossel uses mainly examples from Canada. About three and a half minutes in, Shirley Healy’s story:

Healy had a blocked artery that kept her from digesting her food. She was starving to death. She’d lost 50 pounds. [In Washington State]… she saw an American doctor. (Healy:)”The doctor said that would have only had a very few weeks to live.” But the Canadian government calls her surgery elective. “The only thing elective about this surgery was I elected to live.”

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9GMKK_fWKg]

There are 6 month waiting lists for MRI’s. Surgery for life-threatening conditions are considered elective. Seeing as this is a pro-life blog, I think we all know where I’m going with this.

File under: Women don’t know what’s best for them

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Ha!

More than a third of working mothers want to quit their jobs to look after their children, research suggests.

A further six in ten would like to reduce their hours to spend more time with their young ones, the Government-backed study found.

Less than a fifth said they would choose to increase their hours if there was good affordable childcare available.

The findings fly in the face of Government claims that women would want to go back to work if they could find decent childcare.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. Mothers disagree with politicians and child-care activists. How annoying for the child-care activists. I am positively loving it.

China numbers

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Frightening:

There are at least 13 million abortions a year in China compared to 20 million live births, according to the official China Daily newspaper.

That works out to one abortion for every 1.5 births in China. The comparable statistic in Canada is one to 3.66.

The number does not include abortions performed in unregistered clinics, nor pregnancies terminated by women who used the 10 million abortion-inducing, “morning-after” pills sold per year in China.

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