Sex selection abortion in China has come up again. This of course happens in Canada too and there’s nothing we can do to prevent it, so long as choice mantras dominate the debate. We prefer not to discuss it, because we’d be forced to acknowledge that there are public ramifications to abortion. If we discussed it, we’d also be forced to admit there are indeed very bad reasons for having an abortion. And apparently acknowledging one bad reason to have an abortion topples the whole house of cards. So let me ask the question we are actually asking by remaining silent: Who really cares about 32 million missing women, anyway? (China is far away, and this is not our problem.)
Archives for 2009
For those who suffer from morning sickness
Hey, if it helps:
A new study out of the Hospital for Sick Children found babies whose mothers experienced morning sickness later tested a few IQ points higher than children of mothers who had nausea-free pregnancies.
“In a very popular way it kind of says that this suffering is for a good cause,” said Dr. Gideon Koren, a top Sick Kids pediatrician and the senior study author. “So it’s very reassuring to know that your severe experience right now is likely to have a good outcome.”
Way to go, Congressman!
Congressman Jeff Fortenberry asks Hillary Clinton not to export abortion.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u47dmqiblI]
[h/t The Corner]
p.s. Try to imagine a Canadian politician giving this speech…
_____________________
Andrea adds: I can imagine a Canadian giving this speech, actually. He deserves a standing ovation. “Imposition of our own woundedness,” “neocolonialism,” “paternalistic,” “elitist,” AND “an assault on the dignity of the poor and the vulnerable…” These are all apt phrases to describe what exporting abortion internationally would mean.
Note that in face of his eloquence, we get one reply and one reply only. Clinton’s reply can be summed up in the phrase “it must be a woman’s choice.”
And so, once again, choice trumps all, as if there were no such thing as universal values. I was just at a talk about democratic discourse and civility in the public square. But we can’t debate civilly or otherwise if the only reply I ever receive is “your views are fine for you, but not for me.”
There’s got to be something more than that to this life.
Because we all have grave issues to ponder
Sometimes, we need a break. And a laugh. I’m happy to oblige.
Pamela Anderson wants to host a vegan cooking show in a bikini.
[…]
Writing on her blog, the 41-year-old blonde beauty said: “I’ve been cooking Vegan every day (myself) – experimenting – trying out new things – I still think I should have my own sexy/fun Vegan-cooking show?- maybe one day.
“Could always have Girls in bikinis cooking veggies on the beach. I keep getting crazy offers to go back on TV – I don’t think I have the passion anymore for it. What is TV these days anyway? Sensory overload – too busy living the dream… (unless I could do the veggie bikini BBQ show) – I just don’t think I could pull it off – no studio for me (sic).”
Yes. Because we all know Pamela in a bikini would go a long way towards solving the problem of “sensory overload” on television.
______________________
Andrea notes that Pammie is busy:
Company is called pamela-super-enviro-conscious-cruelty
free-yummy-natural-very-sexy-fragrance-I-wear-every-day
“Pamela-super-enviro-conscious-cruelty
free-yummy-natural-very-sexy-fragrance-I-wear-every-day”? Great name. So intuitive, and an easy acronym, too: PSECCFYNVSFIWED.
I should go into business.
______________________
Brigitte hates (hates!) to sound overly cynical, but: What’s “natural” doing there anyway? I’m calling it PSECCFYVSFIWED and you just try stopping me.
_______________________
Andrea to Brigitte: Now that last comment, that made me laugh. I’m not going to fight you on your new acronym. (How could I, in face of your second degree black belt? Let the record stand, folks. I defer to Brigitte often.)
What defines mental illness?
I believe most mothers no matter the circumstance want to love their children. And that it is highly unusual for a mom to bear a child and not love that child. This is in part why abortion is an affront to women: to their dignity and personhood, because it denies what is natural and normal–sex, leading to pregnancy, leading to children.
So when a baby is born, and the mom immediately kills that baby of her own volition, what am I to understand?
I have a couple of different responses swimming around in my head (along with the cold virus that hit yesterday) right now:
She should be blamed and take responsibility.
She must be mentally ill to do such a thing.
Or she is following the abortion-friendly culture we have. Five minutes before birth in a sanctified legal clinic and this would not be in the news.
(cross-posted to The Shotgun)
More from the UK
Abortion and condom advertising on TV at any time of day or night? That’s the debate in the UK.
There is a backlash to this idea as expressed in the article. Talk of “blushing” and “squirming.”
Well buck up, England. If you aren’t already blushing and squirming with what is on the television, then that is your first problem. Television is currently filled with all the acts that lead to the abortion clinic–let’s connect the dots, shall we? Say you’re watching Gossip Girl–a show about high school students having sex as far as I can tell–and it gets to the commercial break and there’s an ad for a pregnancy centre and an abortion clinic. Maybe you’d pause to consider what the ideas in hyper-sexualised Hollywood lead to. Sex can and frequently does lead to pregnancy–this is one of the great missing links on most television shows.
We have this quote from a pro-life advocate:
Ms. Aston, of Life, said, “Pro-life charities have no money, and pro-abortion charities have a lot. We will never be able to afford to advertise on television.”
Find the funding–there’s money out there–and create some really great ads. I’m sure it can be done.
I grant you that advertising abortion clinics would repulse me. But sex is advertised everywhere around me. Our society (advertising, the web, malls, TV shows) is well past the point of maintaining decorum and high moral standards everywhere else. So I’m sorry if I fail to get steamed about advertising on TV.
Getting back on track with regards to morals and sexuality will be a long hard road. I believe the UK has hit rock bottom. In that sense, this advertising debate is almost irrelevant.
For some reason…
This story reminds me to remind you not to forget to buy your shirt.
I dreamed a dream, too…
…but ended up writing public policy. Back in the day (grade two) I wanted to be a singer. Anyhoo–more power to Susan Boyle, who is becoming quite a hit in the UK, and even globally on YouTube. Enjoy.
Reduce, reuse, recycle!
This is recycling, taken to a new height. Dude is very earnestly blinking as he talks to me (ie. he’s alive) about how he is recycle-able. Right down to his eyeballs. This creepy campaign courtesy of the Ontario Trillium Gift of Life Network. (Note the recycling bin full of bloody body parts, on your right hand side. Cute touch, that.)
I can’t think of a more inappropriate way to talk about organ donation, and I can’t think of something that would make me less likely to consider it. “Recycle me”? Um, no thanks.
(cross-posted to The Shotgun)
________________________
Brigitte would like to add just one word: EEEEWWWWWWW.
Choice pushers
This synopsis of comments about Sarah Palin saying she briefly considered abortion is interesting. Note the last one which mentions Canada:
WillSeattle wrote, “…I wish we’d just move on, like they did in Canada, where it’s nobody’s business what the woman and her doctor decide.”
I think the point of Palin admitting she considered abortion shows nothing other than the pull of a bad option that appears to “resolve things” so quickly. The point should not be that Palin is a hypocrit, or that she’s denying the choice to others that she would not herself take–the point is that abortion is a magnetic, whispered seduction–“we can make this go away”–at low cost, at low risk, and you’ll never have to think about your mistake again. Abortion providers are the wicked witch in a fairy tale, holding a bright, shiny apple…
In short, it’s a malicious lie, pushed at the cost of babies’ lives and women’s health–but it’s attractive nonetheless, all in an anxious moment.
I’ve met women who were staunch pro-lifers, competent, in good marriages, OK for finances–and they briefly considered this idea that their unwanted pregnancy could just go away. I think it’s a human thing to admit. The main point is we should not be making such a vicious “choice” so easy.
________________________
Rebecca adds: The point of free will, and the definition of virtue, means choosing the right course of action when we could choose to do otherwise. I don’t think you’ll find an (honest) person on the planet who has never contemplated something they know is morally wrong: having an affair when they knew their spouse would never find out; walking out on a spouse during times of distress or conflict; stealing something under their noses; driving home when they’ve had too much to drink. We don’t judge people based on whether or not such thoughts cross their minds, we judge them based on how they behave. Someone who chooses not to have an affair when they know they could, to make a marriage work when they could end it, to scrimp and save to afford something, or do without, rather than steal it, to call a cab, or their parents, or a friend, for a lift home when they’ve had too many when they’re pretty sure they would make it safely home undetected – that’s someone being virtuous.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- …
- 81
- Next Page »