Archives for 2011

And those are real women’s rights she’s fighting for, as opposed to the fake reproductive kind:

A Saudi mother said Sunday she defied a ban on women drivers in the ultra-conservative kingdom by getting behind the wheel for four days without being stopped. Najla al-Hariri, a housewife in her mid-30s, said she drove non-stop for four days in the streets of the Red Sea city of Jeddah “to defend her belief that Saudi women should be allowed to drive.”

“I don’t fear being arrested because I am setting an example that my daughter and her friends are proud of,” Hariri told AFP, adding she was offering driving lessons for women.

I didn’t think to film the whole thing, but I got the most important parts. This is Faye Sonier, a smart, fun woman, who also happens to be a lawyer with the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, speaking to the thousands at the Ottawa March for Life. I didn’t know her story and I always find it profound when I meet people who “should have been aborted.” It’s jarring, because certainly without Faye, the world would be a less happy place.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4SV-fGGPko]

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Update: Faye’s whole speech is available, here.

I took some photos as well from our March for Life. I couldn’t say how many people were there, but it was the biggest turnout we’ve ever had (and while we were there they announced that Ottawa’s was as big as ever as well, very nice to hear!).

The march started out in a very packed Centennial Square (city hall). I wish I had brought my wide angle lens with me to capture it better!

Walking down Government Street, the end in sight. It was a little more crowded than usual (well, for a Thursday) since at least one cruise ship was in port.

Arriving at the legislature lawn. We could not have asked for better weather. The forecast threatened thunderstorms, but we didn’t see a single raindrop and the temperature was perfect (strange, because it has been an unusually cold and rainy spring).

As far as I could tell, the orange sign there was the only anti-March for Life sign there. I wonder if anybody else around knew that one of the people holding the sign actually benefits financially from assisting in abortions.

Unfortunately I didn’t get any good photos of the speakers since I was at the very back of the crowd. You can view all the rest of my photos here though. Overall it was a very great, positive event. I went to the banquet afterward in the evening which was even better because I could hear the speakers (Rebecca Kiesling and Alex Schadenberg) better than at the rally, both of whom were inspirational and informational.

I’ll be on “The Rick Howe Show” on News 95.7 radio in Halifax at 5:15PM AST talking about the recent March for Life and other life related issues. You can click here to listen live. I’ll admit I’ve never done anything like this before, so if anyone has a rabbit’s foot or recently found penny I’d be happy to take it off your hands!

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Andrea adds: Way to go, Jennifer. I’ve heard you speak before and I know you’ll do splendidly.

Some photos from the rally on Parliament Hill yesterday.

If only the whole “pro-choice” movement were this lacking in communications training. “I hate life”? The flip side of that sign said “I love condoms.”

“Pro-life is anti-woman.” Let’s talk about that.

Media camera man who filmed the pro-abortion crew and then patted them on the back, literally, and thanked them for being there. NB: Individual members of the media have a lot of power just based on the footage they choose to film. Or not film. (I don’t begrudge him his bias, I’m just saying we ought to be aware of it and oftentimes pro-choice media are the ones claiming they make up a neutral middle ground.)

Some pro-life high school students from Keswick. I asked them if they had been forced to come or if they were only there for the day off. Apparently not. 

A pro-lifer from Toronto. Yes, there are pro-lifers in Toronto.  

Ruth Lobo on the right, and other reps of Carleton University.

Faye Sonier, lawyer with the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, gives an amazing speech. Video footage still to come.

A new poll out today:

More than one quarter of Canadians, 27%, said that human life should be protected from conception onwards, 21% said there should be protection after three months of pregnancy and 11% after six months. Only 22% agreed with the status quo which is no legal protection until a child is born.

“Politicians are out of touch with Canadian sentiment,” said Andrea Mrozek, manager of research at the Institute for Marriage and Family.

Mrozek also thinks most media are out of touch with public sentiment on this issue.

“We’ve been told that women are of one unanimous opinion on abortion, and that women are overwhelmingly pro-choice,” Mrozek said. “As it turns out this poll shows much more diversity and even much more of a pro-life sentiment amongst women.”

The poll shows that 63% of women believe in restricting abortion either before or at the sixth month compared to 56% of men.

Just to be clear, I don’t think most women are pro-life, either. But what I do think is that there is no one “women’s viewpoint” on this issue and if there were “my body, my choice” wouldn’t be it. It would be much more nuanced than that.

An article about abortion because of the March for Life, in today’s Globe. Feel free to comment on the Globe’s web site if you have a minute. Right now the comments are all on the pro-abortion, “leave good enough alone,” “don’t touch my uterus” side of things.

I think it’s pretty miraculous that the Globe ran anything about abortion that wasn’t overtly pro-choice at all.

The Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, has proclaimed that the day of this year’s National March for Life, May 12th, be honored as ‘Respect for Life Day’ in the city.

“The rights of the people of Canada including the unborn, the elderly and those with handicaps are gradually being eroded,” the proclamation reads, adding that “the community needs to get involved to ensure the rights of all people are respected and upheld.”

The proclamation notes that the National March for Life has taken place for the last fourteen years “to bring awareness for the need for life-affirming solutions rather than life-destroying results.”

I can’t imagine how this one got by, however, get by it did and I’m pleased to see it. Here’s to hoping there is no retraction.

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Update: You knew it wouldn’t be without controversy. Even though Ottawa has apparently had a Respect for Life day since 2002. I expect we’ll be seeing a Respect for Death day soon. Just to even things out.

From the NY Times;

Single mothers are still more likely to be employed than married mothers, for the obvious reason that they depend more heavily on their own earnings. But it’s harder for them to find jobs, in part because they find it harder to make child-care arrangements.

Unemployment rates among single mothers have long surpassed those among married men and women. In 2010, their unemployment rate averaged 14.6 percent, compared with 6.8 percent among married men and 6.3 percent among married mothers.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research emphasizes that women have historically had less access than men to unemployment benefits. Most states restrict eligibility to those who experience involuntary job loss and exclude those who quit for reasons such as loss of child-care assistance or the need to tend to a sick family member. Until recently, most states excluded part-time workers from coverage.

Ah, modern relationships. A young man writes about his successful journey to overcoming the religious admonitions of his mother to abstain from sex.

A couple of things stand out. Firstly, in typical college-age style, he thinks one month is a long time.

It was like this for a month. Sam was patient, but I didn’t want to wait for her patience to run out.”

“One month” and “patient” actually shouldn’t be written in the same sentence. Secondly, in order to get over his upbringing, he decides to stop thinking about his girlfriend as a person. Not what many women would call romantic.

Stop thinking about her as a person,” [his friend] told me. “People are animals, and having sex is a natural thing that animals do all the time.”

Most excellent. So now we’re all animals, just doing what instinct tells us to.

Finally, this story highlights how it’s simply not good enough for parents or priests to just tell people not to have sex, or worse still, scare them into not having sex. Without a bigger picture on how and what sexuality is, most everyone will do what this guy did. And then they end up in the pharmacy, desperate for the morning after pill.

All round sad.

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Jennifer adds: Ah yes, nothing like turning significant things into meaningless commodities. Aquinas once said in a homily that the people were so lacking in their spiritual lives that they couldn’t even have good sex. That’s right, good sex (this is MEANINGFUL sex). Many popes have even said that this good sex is a glimpse of heaven. It’s time to put the antiquated idea that religious leaders and the faithful don’t like sex, well… to bed. But I abstain, I abstain from bad sex all the time.