Rachel’s Vineyard is having a retreat April 8-10 in the Ottawa area for any person who has struggled with the emotional or spiritual pain of abortion.

Check their web site for more information.

Courtesy of Rondi Adamson’s blog. I can just imagine Judy Rebick out there, late at night, making her contribution to the Toronto scene. But people, well, all they really want are pets. Cats, apparently. (Wouldn’t be my choice, so I guess the editing could be improved. I’d choose dogs over cats any day.)

Right. So I had not paid too much attention to Justin Bieber. Until now. Asked for his views on abortion, he had this to say:

I really don’t believe in abortion,” Bieber told the magazine. “It’s like killing a baby?”

Now why the question mark at the end of that, I don’t know, and he went on to express reservations about rape. But this is still a positive statement.

I actually think his position on this stuff matters. When it comes to changing the culture, we could use a few more hip Hollywood voices to speak for life. And this guy has millions of adoring fans. I always figured that if you are going to be famous, even if it is only for 15 seconds, you should use that time well. I would anyway. For the record, yes, if I won an Oscar I would speak for life from the podium. You have my word.

Anyhoo. His positioning on sex before marriage strikes me as weak–since “waiting to fall in love” is just a little bit of a sketchy concept for your average teenager.

Nonetheless, I hereby do solemnly swear to stop making fun of Justin Bieber.

BPAS, a UK abortion provider, just petitioned the government to allow women to induce abortion at home. They lost.

But the point is, they want women to have less contact with a doctor, not more, less medical care, not more. When in fact these self-induced early abortions don’t always go quite according to plan.

I’m not sure what motivates them to push for this. Is it normalization? You can brush your teeth, make a cup of tea and now, have an abortion–all at home? Is it money?

I can’t step into the mind of a pro-abortion person and comment, but I will say this: I can’t see how it’s for women’s health.

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Jennifer adds: What really gets me is this little tidbit, “Ann Furedi, chief executive of BPAS, said: “It cannot be morally right to compel a woman to physically take tablets in a clinic and to subject her to the anxiety that symptoms will start on the journey back when her doctor knows it is safe and indeed preferable for her to take these at home. ” Furedi seems to assume that every woman is going back to her country estate for bed rest and foot rubs after taking the second dose! In reality, many are going back to a council estate, other children, daily chores, grocery shopping, possibly even their jobs. If symptoms “will start on the journey back”, maybe women need to stay under the doctors’ supervision even longer to ensure their safety.

I know we’ve already commented on the Philadelphia Kermit Gosnell case (the abortion “doctor” who killed babies after birth by plunging scissors into their necks among other macabre things) but I’m sorry, I’m going to return to it.

Here we have a piece grappling with the idea that everyone knew about his “work”–if this post is correct, Gosnell received referrals from the National Abortion Federation. And it strikes me, once again, that the media is not as horrified by what happened as they should be. Perhaps Mark Steyn is, so let’s give him credit, shall we? But for the rest of them–it passed them by. When Tiller was killed we heard about it endlessly, on repeat, in blogs, in the news, everywhere. I’m not sure why this is, but can only conclude that the media turns thinking off when they think the abortion debate might be on.

The disturbing thing to me is that with Gosnell I think I did that too. I was not as shocked as I should have been. I’ve always said I can’t afford to be shocked and sad every single day of the year and abortion happens all the time. But I should not grow so “used to things” that there is never a flash of anger.

When the Gosnell story broke, I seem to remember thinking “here we go again” or something to that effect. Way to go, Andrea, there’s moral clarity for you.

I think the takeaway is that it’s hard to be pro-life in our big ole’ pro-abortion world without losing your marbles, your good nature, your hope in humanity and/or your moral compass.

The writing of others calls me back, whether it’s Mark Steyn or this Real Choice blog. We forge on.

When you look at the picture above do you feel a deep sense of happiness? Peace? Love? The desire to become a surrogate mom? If you checked “all of the above” you are not alone. 

A woman acts as her daughter’s surrogate while chasing after that ever elusive goal, the subject of so many quests from ancient times. Yes, it’s the desire to achieve the Happiness of an Ostrich:

During a visit to Chicago — she lives in Virginia — Casey participated in a workshop led by Connell, a life coach, writer and lecturer on women’s empowerment. In one class exercise, she used pictures cut from a magazine to create a collage depicting a life’s goal. One picture grabbed her attention: an ostrich with an expression of wonder and joy.

Casey wanted to experience the exuberance captured in the picture.

“I found something that would make me feel like that ostrich,” she later wrote to the Connells offering to be Sara’s surrogate.

If I ever decide I need to do something different, something off the beaten path, I sure do hope I am never so vapid as to actually tell people it’s because I saw a picture of an ostrich looking euphoric and I hoped I could achieve that same nirvana.

You might like to track with this web site to see if the new pro-life documentary called Ten Fingers is coming your way. One of the people interviewed is Bruxy Cavey, whose church I used to attend in Toronto. Abortion never came up in that church (just as it rarely comes up in any of the many churches I’ve gone to) so I’m pleased to see he was happy to contribute to a pro-life documentary. (Bruxy also happens to be super smart and has a unique way of looking at the world. I think he would have interesting things to say.)

Hot women are pro-life. Hey,it’s not me saying it. It’s the New York Times. And oddly enough they don’t seem thrilled about it.”

(h/t)

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Brigitte adds: 🙂

Ottawa-based doctor extraordinaire René Leiva comments on the new Saskatchewan guidelines:

After reading the recently revised guidelines from Saskatchewan’s College of Physicians and Surgeons on unplanned pregnancies, I was amazed at some statements in this story. While it is true that the college expects doctors to provide full information to patients considering abortions, it seems incorrect to state that they are forcing doctors to go against their medical and moral judgments and refer to abortions. The guidelines contain very good points in terms of options for women facing an unplanned pregnancy. Furthermore, it is insulting to believe women who want abortions lack the intellect to search in the phone book for their local sexual health clinic and will need a doctor to open the book. I see this in my own practice.

My patients have been informed well in advance of my position that I will not refer to abortions, yet, I feel honoured that they will still look to me for advice in their crisis pregnancies. Some will go on to have abortions without delay but others change their minds after proper counselling. At the end, I think what we truly need is not guidelines but doctors who consciously want the best for their patients. 

Dr. Rene Leiva, Ottawa

Here, we see doctors counselling a mom to have an abortion at five months because she’s been diagnosed with cancer and needs to begin chemo. Her response?

Holding my daughter in my arms was an amazing moment. I might have risked my life for her, but she was worth it.”