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Kevorkian has a fan club?

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The View’s Whoopi Goldberg said, here, she’s a “big fan” of Kevorkian “because he believed that he could help people who were… in a place where no one was helping them.”

Euthanasia, like race, is one of those things nobody wants to talk about. It makes people very uncomfortable. I think euthanasia is, is an important thing and it should be there for people to make that decision if they chose to,” she said.
Goldberg did not mention her belief about involuntary euthanasia, where patients are frequently killed by family members or medical staff without their knowledge or consent.

There’s a lot more Goldberg didn’t comment on, like how severe the illness should be before euthanasia becomes an “acceptable” option, or whether or not this sets a precedent for assisted suicide in the case of mental anguish or illness.

Dare I say it? This is nothing at all like the race issue. Using race as a precursor to this unrelated and hotly debated topic presumes that Whoopi’s opinion on both these issues is born out of the same personal place; that her point of view in both cases should not be contested. Manipulative, much?

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1gX27C5MWM]

Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt

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Abortion is legal in Canada right up until the mother goes into labour. No one can argue that point. What is often disputed back and forth is whether late-term abortions actually occur for non-medical reasons. Here (thanks to Big Blue Wave) is an example of such a debate.

 Says the pro-abortion side:

Although there’s no abortion law in Canada, doctors do adhere to the CMA recommendation of no abortions on request after 20 weeks. Even then, so-called “elective” abortions after 16 weeks are rare…

Though Joyce Arthur is quoted above, I’ve heard many an abortion rights activist cite similar information. Patricia LaRue, Executive Director for Canadians for Choice, claimed late-term abortions “don’t happen… No Canadian doctor agrees to do an abortion past 23.6 weeks for social reasons.” 

But fact responds in the form of Margaret Somerville’s personal experience. She enumerates such examples as a woman, 34 weeks pregnant, who did not want to have a baby with a cleft-palate. Or again, a 29 year old student who “was 32 weeks pregnant and wanted an abortion for social reasons.”

 There is an abortion clinic… in Montreal that… does all the very late term (over 22 weeks gestation) abortions… It’s been reported that the Quebec Government has sent at least one obstetrician to the US to be trained to do these abortions – if they were not happening, why have a clinic and why train someone to do them?

Denying that these late-term abortions occur would, I suppose, make the idea of them less haunting. How is it, then, that we who oppose abortion are faced with their very reality, while those who support their existence get to shield their eyes? In the words of Dr. Albert Schweitzer, I say to those abortion supporters: “Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.”

Common reasoning

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Here is a perfect example of the type of argument I find hard to swallow.

…the anti-abortion campaign is a scare tactic, not a pro-life lesson. If we want to debate children’s rights, let us look at all the neglected, abused and lost children who need loving homes.

Sadly, it seems that a woman can have numerous children to increase her welfare cheque…

This is a recurring thought. Let me point out, then, that abortion is legal in Canada, and that neglected children remain. How can this be? If abortion is legal and accessible, shouldn’t the problem of “unwanted” children be solved? However, the number of children in foster care increases exponentially every year. (There are currently over 76,000 children in foster care in Canada.)

Let’s face facts. Abortion has not created a society where “every child [is] a wanted child,” as the Planned Parenthood slogan goes. Rates of child abuse and numbers of foster-children have only increased since legal abortion became part of our national profile.

Is it safe for me to say, as it has been suggested many times before, that abortion has offered a skewed view of the value of children within our society? Could it be that our country has it all wrong? Maybe, just maybe, devaluing unborn children has caused Canada to under-appreciate the value of all children. Who dares call that a scare tactic?

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Andrea adds: That same letter writer says this:

The CCBR website offers a number of convincing but fundamentally wrong arguments. When anti-abortion gimmicks stop, and pro-life rationale presents itself in the abortion debate, I will be on board…

Really? For years and years and years the pro-life movement has been offering nothing but a sound rationale–reasoning up and down the block, reasoning that runs circles around pro-choice arguments. That letter writer may take issue with the Genocide Awareness Project; I know many reasonable people who do. But she says she’s on board if only pro-lifers could present arguments “minus the propaganda.” Well, this is her lucky day: I can personally refer her to any number of pro-life groups that do nothing but that, and have done so, day in, day out for years on end.

Mr. Mom

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A woman who underwent a transgender transformation to become a man is pregnant. The child is due to be born this July. Read more here.

Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am. In a technical sense I see myself as my own surrogate, though my gender identity as male is constant. To Nancy, I am her husband carrying our child … I will be my daughter’s father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family.”

After all, family is whatever you want it to be in this day and age.

[Ethicist Margaret Somerville] added: “It’s a very touchy thing, this deconstruction of our biological reality and the institutions that have existed across all kinds of societies over thousands and thousands of years to establish stability, respect and certainty. I think we’re just playing with fire.”

Have a good one

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Today, March 25, is “National Back Up Your Birth Control Day,” south of the border. Celebrate by getting Plan B emergency contraception at a great discount. Read more here.

No mention as to whether they’ll be giving out balloons and cotton candy.

Plan B emergency contraception provides a larger dose of the same hormones found in birth control pills…

Those hormones are estrogen and progesterone. Don’t worry, though. I’m sure it isn’t the same estrogen and progesterone which have been shown in extended doses to contribute to coronary heart disease and invasive breast cancer, just to name a few.

As part of this momentous celebration, Planned Parenthood will also be “lobbying members of Congress to permit over-the-counter access to EC regardless of age.”

What a proud day for women everywhere! Ladies, mark your calendars. This is something to be sure to celebrate every year.

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Andrea adds: It is very difficult to view unfettered access to Plan B for any age as being pro-woman and on this it really doesn’t matter whether you are pro-life or pro-choice. Many of the women using Plan B repeatedly are young girls–not women. Marketing the morning-after pill like this makes it sound as though it’s a piece of cake. You take a pill, et voila! your problem disappears. But many girls can’t tolerate those high doses of hormones and end up throwing up. At which point, one can’t be sure the pill stayed down. So back for a second over-the-counter dose. Repeat the agony, which is heightened because you are alone (no doctor’s supervision is the whole point). That’s not health care. That’s a joke.

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Andrea adds again: It’s also International Day of the Unborn Child. I’ll admit though, that whether on my side or the other side, “International Days” of most kinds don’t thrill me. I gather this day aims to change our culture, to recognize and accept the unborn, and I’m glad.

The day was expressly started on the Feast of the Annunciation, making this particular day for the unborn more or less a Roman Catholic celebration. That’s not to say it couldn’t broaden out, but I firmly believe we need all peoples and faiths to join the fight against abortion, and I’m not sure that linking pro-life events to Roman Catholic holy days will achieve this goal.  (I’m well aware that other faiths are not exactly out there leading the charge on this one, so I appreciate the RCs doing it.) Some convoluted thoughts then, on this day for the unborn. Would that we lived in a culture where such a day was completely unnecessary.

I laugh in the face of danger

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Joyce Arthur, coordinator of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, called the Angus Reid poll “dangerous,” here.

 Feminists who are politically aware hear about this bill and immediately know what the problem is,” Arthur [said].

Clearly, Joyce Arthur and I do not share the same definition of dangerous. I feel that stiffer charges for violent criminals (as itemized in Bill C-484) are conducive to a less dangerous society. What can I say? I’m a little out there with my views sometimes.

Angus Reid Strategies’ director of global studies, Mario Canseco, [said] that the poll was not financed by any outside party and undertaken “out of our own interest”. Canseco called Arthur’s criticism of the way the poll was conducted “normal” and added, “this is one of the ways people react to surveys that show that not everyone agrees with them”.

Cold feet

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In the UK, there’s big debate over a new fertility bill. Here’s some recent news.

Among other things, the bill raises IVF issues like “savior siblings” (couples having a subsequent child as an organ or tissue donor for a sick older sibling) and animal-human hybrids.

Even Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, seems to have reservations. He has spoken of the human-animal hybrids on which Shipley is placing her hopes as a “step too far”, warning that even scientists feel a “degree of repugnance” at the idea.

It is too late for ministers to back down: the legislation was in the Queen’s speech and is strongly supported by Gordon Brown.

Too late for ministers to back down? These sound like the sentiments of an uncertain bride on her big day. Sure the guests have arrived and the caterer has been paid, but call the wedding off before making a big mistake!

You’re looking for me?

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The Canadian Forces has a message for stay-at-home mothers: We want you.

Read all about it.

As a stay-at-home mom, if I don’t take the opportunity to get out amongst adults regularly – and I think this happens to many of us – I feel a sense of social awkwardness come over me. In Quebec, they refer to it as pas sortable (can’t be taken out). I encourage dinner companions to finish their vegetables. I wait for the word “please” before I relinquish the salt shaker. I excuse myself to go “pipi.”

Do the Canadian Forces really know what they’re getting themselves into? Can you imagine? New recruits will be peeking over shower stalls reminding everyone to “scrub twice.”

On the flip side, we would have the most polite soldiers on the planet.

A Saturday morning contemplation

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Sometimes I have time to sit and think. That happened this morning.

I was thinking about what it means to be pro-woman and pro-life, and how others view this.

There is a stigma attached to being pro-woman. Recently, I chatted with a man who was taken aback when I referred to myself as a feminist. The only self-proclaimed feminist he’d ever met was yelling, “We won’t go back!” and striking him in the head with a hanger. I assured him I was not that sort of feminist.

Being pro-life comes with its fair share of negative connotations as well. Here is the kind of pro-lifer I am not. But separating these people out from other pro-lifers in people’s perceptions is not easy.

ProWomanProLife comes across as an oxymoron to some.  That means it is challenging some preconceived notions on what it means to be both pro-woman and pro-life.  And maybe, just maybe, it will prompt some people to re-evaluate their own stance on issues of life and feminism.

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Andrea adds: I personally avoid use of the word “feminist” altogether. Why? Because it means many different things to many different people, and is entirely meaningless to many more. This group is therefore not called “feminists for life” for a reason. It’s those 1960s feminists who are responsible for abortion on demand, claiming it is good for women. Early feminists, those fighting for the vote, recognized and knew abortion was bad for women, bad for the child, and would never have called sacrificing the unborn a victory in any way. So I stay away from the term altogether. After all, those 1960s feminists have done a lot of damage; damage we must all work to undo. I will say this for them: They were very successful: Just look at how “the right to choose” is accepted dogma. Time to re-evaluate, indeed.

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Véronique adds: To me, being a feminist — and I don’t shy away from the word, how else can I redeem it? — is not so much a way of “doing” as a way of “thinking.”

Generally, I try to avoid equating feminism with certain principled conclusions such as “abortion is a human right” or “men are pigs.” It’s a little like “if you are pro-life, you must be a Conservative.” What does being pro-life has to do with it? Or if you believe in climate change, you’re a Liberal, if you don’t, you’re a Conservative. What does climatology has to do with political ideology? Same with feminism. What feminism is about is power struggles, inherent sexism, patterns of sex-based discrimination. You can advocate in favor of gender equity without ever mentioning abortion… in theory. In practice however, feminism is now associated with abortion as right. But I can point to power struggles, inherent sexism and patterns of sex-based discrimination in the abortion industry or abortion rhetoric any day of the week.

I’m proud to be a feminist. I’m just not sure feminists are proud to have me…

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Andrea adds: Well right here we have what ProWomanProLife is all about. Different pro-life women expressing their views, unplugged. The words “I’m proud to be a feminist” have never–and will never–pass my lips. Because the way feminism looks to me, I’d rather, um, be a chauvenist.

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Rebecca adds: I find it easier not to identify myself as a feminist, because for most people today it carries baggage I don’t want and connotations I actively reject. Lots of women I respect feel differently. I also generally subscribe to Christina Hoff Sommers’ distinction between “equity feminism” (which she considers to have realized its goals) that demands equality (same pay scales for men and women, women not needing their husbands’ permission to open a bank account, the franchise, etc) and “gender feminism”, which characterizes such lunacy as insisting that women be firefighters even if they can’t carry an average sized person, that women make up 50% of engineering students even if they don’t want to be engineers as much as men do, and getting Lawrence Summers publicly barbecued. Hoff Sommers also wrote the very important The War Against Boys, which all parents and teachers (of boys or girls) should read.

And the verdict is?

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A man was jailed Thursday on charges he forced his 7-year-old daughter to kill the family cat by holding a knife in her hand and making her stab the pet.

Read the full story here.

It’s disturbing, to say the least. The man certainly deserves to be held accountable for this heinous act. But no matter what the final verdict and sentencing is on this case, I will be distraught to hear it.

Here is some old news about another father forcing his daughter to kill; this time to have an abortion.

…police found a .22-caliber rifle, duct tape and rope in the parents’ car.

Under the agreement, the couple will avoid jail time and the assault charge will be dropped once they complete counseling…

So, you see, if the sentencing on the new case is light, justice isn’t served. And if it’s heavy, the verdict is out on the value of human life.  But that message might just be loud and clear already.

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