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Life and academics

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An upcoming event on the ethics of prenatal screening. It sounds interesting. I read the abstract–the speaker will, I think, argue against prenatal screening on the basis that it doesn’t serve women well:

I argue that in the vast majority of cases the option of prenatal screening does not promote or protect women’s autonomy. Both a narrow conception of choice as informed consent and a broad conception of choice as relational reveal difficulties in achieving adequate standards of free informed choice.

I will, however, further argue that she might benefit from the firm hand of a non-academic editor.

Putting our money where our mouths are

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And let’s face it: At ProWomanProLife our mouths are pretty big.  

So what would it cost to support a woman and her baby? Til they were self-sufficient and out of the woods?

An approximation of monthly expenses: 

1200 rent

500 food 

110 phone/internet 

300 miscellaneous

500 baby supplies 

 for a total of 2600 per month.

On a “World Vision” model of 30 dollars per month I need 87 people (ok, 86.6 people). 

Or I need 50 people at 30 dollars a month and 11 people at 100 dollars per month. 

Or 26 people at 100 dollars a month. 

You get my point. 

I consider this because I recently offered full financial support for a woman facing a crisis pregnancy. She was a friend of a friend and wanted to get an abortion. I have no doubt in my mind that I would have been able to do this–for her–even if through a re-arrangement of my own finances. But to be able to do it on repeat for the many more women who need it, on a regular basis… that would require something else. 

I don’t know where ProWomanProLife will end up, but this is one model: And apparently whereas I can support a child on 30 dollars a month in Africa, the Canadian context calls for a lot more. 

Things to think about. 

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Tanya adds: I agree, and who wouldn’t. $35 a month essentially provides for a family of 5 in the Philippines. It is more expensive to live in Canada; that’s a fact. But what standard of living are we aiming for? What local charities are there to become affiliated with? And what federal and provincial social services are already in place? (How I would have loved to get to live on $2600 per month when my daughter was a wee thing.)

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Andrea adds: Those estimates were deliberately high–it’s easier to ask for less than more, in the end. I actually have little idea how much a baby costs–the rest of you will know that better than I. But what I’m aiming to buy for a young pregnant woman in distress is peace of mind–however much that costs. 

 

Death, taxes and The Toronto Star

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Sigh. Why do I always have to be different? I did not love the movie Bella, so of course it figures The Toronto Star really, really did.

But everyone loves Bella. I have not heard one bad review. So why did I feel like I could not connect with the characters and the story? Some possible answers: I am a robot. OR I expect saccharine Hollywood romance when I sit in a theatre and when I don’t get it, I’m not sure what to do. Perhaps given this crazy world, when a story conveys compassion and real love, it is altogether too confusing. Or perhaps, I have an anti-Toronto Star reflex, which forces me to disagree with their articles even prior to reading them. Je ne sais pas.

In any case, do not trust me and go see the film and decide for yourself. There are some beautiful scenes, and that Eduardo is a beautiful man, in every sense of the word.   

Good looking girls

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It’s not all doom and gloom. Good looking girls bucking terrible fashion trends. And smart too:

Elena Bitelli, 14, says, “I usually like to dress casual, with a pinch of elegance. Jeans and maybe an elegant blouse. I sometimes look at magazines [but] I don’t pay attention to ones with lots of celebrities. I think celebrities are often children who haven’t grown up…

Read about it here.

Librarian overreacts, blames Bush

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When I saw this in The Toronto Star today, I knew I needed to do some additional reading. Could it really be that the Bush administration has time to clamp down on librarians, of all people? That he was up late the last couple of nights, wondering how to make it more difficult for medical researchers? 

A casual perusal of alternate news sources reveals that my headline for this post is likely more accurate than the Zerbisias column. Read the real news, here and here. Sounds like one overzealous librarian made a mistake and decided to blame–who else–George W. Bush.

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Tanya says: Agreed. After all, if Bush is opposed to abortion, why would he want to hide numerous findings from from POPLINE about the correlation between abortion and depression.

Missing the point at University of Toronto

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The Varsity reports on a pro-life demonstration at University of Toronto, here.

Reading the article makes for interesting commentary on the reporter’s perceptions of abortion. Now the Genocide Awareness Project does not equate abortion and the Holocaust but rather says where personhood is denied, great atrocities occur. As in if we declare people of other skin colours are not people, then we are able to tolerate slavery. If we declare Jewish people are not people, we can tolerate the Holocaust. This nuance is apparently all lost on the reporter, however, so I am forced to wonder whether it will not be lost on most pro-choice students on campus.

I for one, believe the Holocaust is a stand alone event, and that word should not be used for any event other than the actual Holocaust in World War II. But I do not believe that the Genocide Awareness Project is saying that “abortion is a Holocaust,” rather to repeat, that the similarity lies in denying personhood to a particular group of people. In the Holocaust it was Jews, today, it is the unborn.

I’d appreciate nuanced feedback, in particular if you believe I am playing a game of semantics.

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Trish adds: There are several interesting little insights about the abortion debate to be gleaned from the Varsity article. First of all, note who the coalition of pro-choice campus groups were: they included “UTSU, ASSU, the Centre for Women and Trans People, the GSU, CUPE 3902, CFS-Ontario and the Steelworkers.” As usual, there’s the round-up of campus groups who collect their fees from those students who are just trying to go to school and then go spend that money on those causes selected by their professional student activist executives? Anyone who has gone to university knows just how representative those groups are. But CUPE and the Steelworkers? These are now campus groups?

In addition, prolife comments were collected from Rosemary Connell who is identified as an “anti-abortion activist (and non-student)” Comments regarding the students positive response to the pro-choice shouts of “20 years of reproductive freedom” were provided by Chantal Sundaram, “a CUPE 3902 staff rep”. Is she also a “non-student”? Gee, I wonder why the pro-lifer is identified as a “non-student” and a CUPE staff rep isn’t? Maybe she’s a part-time student?

Finally, check out the comments sections. Is that where we finally get to hear from actual students? (Presumably that is who is reading the Varsity.) If they are representative of the campus population (who knows?), the pro-choice side is not doing very well.

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Tanya adds: The Holocaust (capitalized, in reference to WWII) is a stand-alone event. However, a holocaust is “any mass slaughter or reckless destruction of life.” [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/holocaust] Genocide is “the systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group.” [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/genocide]

I rather think that abortion is more of a holocaust than a genocide, with some reservations. Nothing says it better than a dictionary. 
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Andrea disagrees with the dictionary: There are no “small h holocausts.” It’s a term used specifically for the event in WWII and ought to be reserved for that. Prior to the Holocaust we did not use the word. But the question is whether or not we can compare something to the Holocaust, for me anyway. And there, I believe we can draw comparisons, where useful, as in for example, showing that both today and in various times in history, like in the Holocaust, we choose to deny some people personhood status.   

I love secret agendas

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I missed this over the weekend. I’m still going to give a positive assessment of abortion in the media for my talk at The Interim’s 25th anniversary dinner. I’m not going to change that because of CTV’s Bob Fife.

But I might wear a costume.

And by the way, if you don’t already have one, anytime is a good time to order your “I’m a scary conservative with a hidden agenda” mug from Mark Steyn. I’d suggest getting one even if you aren’t conservative. After all, it’s fun to have a hidden agenda and only conservatives ever have those, as they make nefarious plans in back rooms, rubbing their hands together like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. Excellent.

(First saw this knuckledragging item on Small Dead Animals)

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